Matt Kenseth Homestead-Miami Fast Facts
Official Team Report
Matt Kenseth
Homestead-Miami Speedway
1.5-mile oval located in Homestead, Fla.
NNCS: Ford 400
NBS: Ford 300
FAST FACTS
* Matt Kenseth's average finish of 25.5 at Homestead-Miami Speedway ranks tenth among the 10 tracks in the Chase. It also ranks last in average finish among the 23 tracks (including Rockingham) that Kenseth has raced in NEXTEL Cup, thanks largely to two consecutive mechanical failures in 2002-03.
* Kenseth's "Chase stats" at HMS:
Year Start Finish Laps Led Earnings Rank
2005 17 3 267/267 0 $219,711 7th
2004 21 27 266/267 0 $104,203 8th
* Kenseth enters the weekend 63 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. During the previous two Chase's, Kenseth has entered Homestead 228 points back in 2005 and 383 points back in 2004.
* In Kenseth's last visit to HMS he recorded a third-place finish in the 2005 season finale.
* Despite Kenseth's highly publicized "slump," in the past 13 races he has finished worse than 14th only once (23rd at Kansas).
* Kenseth will be racing the No. 17 Pennzoil Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Busch Series on Saturday. Kenseth has recorded five top-10 finishes in eight starts in the Busch Series at HMS.
* Kenseth's Busch Series win at Phoenix last weekend is the 20th of his career. He remains in fifth place on the all-time Busch Series win list, just four behind Harvick for second place.
Kenseth in the NEXTEL Cup points standings: 35 of 36 races:
Rank Points Dif. 1st Wins Top 5s Top 10s Earnings
2nd 269 -63 4 15 20 $6,448,245
Matt Kenseth
Team: No. 17 DEWALT Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Robbie Reiser
Chassis: RK-323
- Last ran at Charlotte in October; finished 14th
- Won Michigan in August and Fontana in February
- Ran at Texas in April; finished second
Kenseth, NNCS at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
Date Start Finish Laps Status Money
11-20-05 17 3 267/267 Running $219,711
11-21-04 30 19 271/271 Running $104,203
11-16-03 37 43 28/267 Engine $62,665
11-16-02 13 40 223/267 Engine $54,550
11-11-01 21 27 266/267 Running $49,450
11-12-00 38 21 264/267 Running $50,500
Races Top 5s Top 10s Poles Led Money
Totals 6 1 1 0 0 $541,079
Kenseth on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
"Homestead hasn't been a very good track for us, that's for sure. But, our finishes are kind of deceiving of how we've run there. Two engine failures have been a big cause for the average finish being so low, but I feel like we were competitive there last year and we had one of our better test sessions there earlier this year.
"As far as our championship chances… well they definitely aren't good. But, anything can happen. Really, all we can do is the best with what we have and see where we stand at the end of the day. We haven't run nearly as well as we did earlier in the year and it's definitely a bad time to be struggling the way we have recently. It's going to take the No. 48 having some big problems for us to have a chance, but we have to make sure that we do our part to be there if something does happen so that we can capitalize. It's a long shot at this point, but it's definitely possible."
Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
"We'll be taking the chassis we feel the most comfortable with this weekend and that's No. 323. It's won a couple of races this season and run really good on some mile-and-a-half tracks. It's been frustrating over the past two months as our cars just haven't handled the way we need them to in order to compete. We're working as hard as anyone to try and figure out the problem and if I knew what it was, I'd fix it. But, this team has still got a lot of fight in them. They haven't quit by any means. If you look at how we've run the past seven or eight races, which is probably around 20th to 25th each week, and then see our finishes, you'll understand just how hard this team has worked on race day to get the best finish possible. I'm proud of these guys for doing that."
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