Matt Kenseth
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| Born: | March 10, 1972 | |
| Birthplace: | Cambridge, Wisconsin | |
| Awards: | 2003 Winston Cup Champion2004 IROC champion | |
| NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics | ||
| Car #, Team | 17 - Roush Racing | |
| 2005 in NASCAR>2005 NEXTEL Cup Position: | 7th | |
| Best Cup Position: | 1st - 2003 (Winston Cup) | |
| First Race: | 1998 MBNA Gold 400 (Dover) | |
| First Win: | 2000 Coca-Cola 600 (Lowe's) | |
| Last Win: | 2006 Neighborhood Excellence 400 (Dover) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 12 | 109 | 3 |
| All stats current as of June 11, 2006. | ||
Early Career
Matt began stock car racing in 1988 at the age of 16, and won the feature in his third night of racing. Kenseth made a name for himself while driving at several Wisconsin tracks for Mike Butz in the #8 late model, beating nationally known drivers such as Dick Trickle and Robbie Reiser. He won the 1994 and 1995 track championships at Wisconsin International Raceway. He also won track championships at Madison International Speedway, including the 1994 late model track championship over Robbie Reiser. He decided to go south to the USAR Hooters Pro Cup series in 1996 and nearly won the series championship as a rookie.Busch Series
Kenseth made his Busch Series debut in 1996. In 1997, snowmobile racer Tim Bender got injured, and Bender's crew chief/owner Robbie Reiser called his former competitor Kenseth to fill in until Bender was healed. The Reiser-Kenseth combination proved successful, culmulating in a second- and third-place finishes in the Busch points. Matt drove the No. 17 car with sponsored by first Kraft, then Lycos, and lastly DeWalt.Winston Cup/Nextel Cup
Kenseth made his Winston Cup series debut in 1998 at Dover, Del., filling in for Bill Elliott who had to attend his father's funeral on the day of the race. He finished sixth. The last driver before Matt to debut with a top-10 finish was Rusty Wallace.In 2000 Kenseth's entire team joined the Roush Racing organization, where they won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. He won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, and finished 14th in points.
In 2001 Kenseth finished 13th in points.
In 2002 Kenseth won the most races (five) and one pole, but inconsistency caused him to finish eighth in the final points.
In 2003 he dominated in the points standings for almost the entire season and became the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup champion, the last driver to ever hold that title. In so doing, he also became only the second Wisconsinite to win the championship (the late Alan Kulwicki was the first, in 1992).
There was criticism about the conservative style he employed en route to winning that championship - he won just one race - which is widely believed to be the final straw that led the sanctioning body to incorporate the playoff-style Chase for the Championship that debuted in 2004. The championship had been clinched before the final race of the season in five of the previous six years, and television ratings dropped each time as the series battled the National Football League for autumn TV ratings.
In 2004 Kenseth won the Internation Race of Champions (IROC) championship. He qualified for the inaugural Nextel Cup, finished eighth in the final NASCAR point standings.
Kenseth started the 2005 season with relatively poor finishes but had a strong mid-season run. He rose from the 24th place in championship points after fourteen races to eighth after twenty six races, and he qualified for the Chase for the Cup. He finished seventh in the final points standings. Kenseth made his 200th career start. His totals after his first 200 starts were: 1 championship, 10 wins, 40 Top 5s, 85 Top 10s, 1 pole position, and more than $28.5 million earnings.
Matt had a fast start to the 2006 season. He led early in the Daytona 500, but then spun out after contact with Tony Stewart. He fell down two laps, but rallied back to a 15th place finish. Matt won the following race at California Speedway. He was the points leader after the eighth race at Phoenix. He won the Dover spring race by racing from sixth to the front in the final 60 laps. He made the winning pass over teammate Jamie McMurray with three laps left. Though still early into the season, Kenseth is well in contention to make his third straight Chase for the Cup.
Kenseth has driven his whole NASCAR Nextel/Winston Cup career in the No. 17 Ford car, which has been sponsored by DeWalt Power Tools and owned by Jack Roush of Roush Racing.
Personal
In 2000, he married Katie Martin. Matt has one child, a son, Ross, from a previous relationship. Matt and Katie have two cats, one named Lars after Lars Ulrich of Metallica (Kenseth's favorite band), and one named Charlotte after the site of Kenseth's first Winston Cup win.Criticism
Kenseth has drawn criticism for his relatively quiet personality and his conservative style, clean racing and not putting "the pedal to the metal" for the win.Since his 2003 championship season he has been involved in several skirmishes with drivers Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.
The Chase For The Cup has sometimes been referred to by the moniker "The Matt Kenseth Rule." by detractors. [link]
Trivia
- Kenseth can be created in NFL Street 2 for use in NFL Challenge Mode and "Own The City".
External links
- [Matt Kenseth's official website]
- [Career statistics at Racing-Reference.com]
- [Matt Kenseth: Bio, Team, Stats and News.]
- [Matt Kenseth: Tiger-USA.com's Fan Site.]
- [Matt Kenseth at Daytona 500 Racing]
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