Matt Kenseth – NSCS ADVANCE
Team: No. 17 Jeremiah Weed Southern Style Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: Primary: RK-741 (Last run at Texas and won)
Kenseth on racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway:
“The challenge of 600 miles at Charlotte is that you need to be there the last 100 miles and not break or not wreck. Everybody’s stuff is more durable than it has ever been and there are more cars that finish these races than there ever used to be. The competitive level is tough, so it really isn’t a lot different for me than a 500 or 400-mile race. I think you really want to be in at least the top 15 the whole race, especially at the beginning to make sure you don’t get lapped or if you have a problem you get too far behind. There have been times we’ve run really well and then there have been times where we struggled, but the 600 is probably my favorite event of the season. It’s obviously the longest race of the year and a lot of things go on, but I look forward to that.”
Crew chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway:
“Racing at Charlotte is always exciting because it’s our home track so you always want to race the very best you can here since so many of our family and friends are around. It’s the longest race of the season, and because of that, we make sure that we have a car that will be competitive the entire race. We’re bringing our race-winning car from Texas because it was strong all race long. Adjustability is the key to finding success during the Coke 600 since the track conditions will change a lot as the sun sets from the start of the race. Matt has had very successful races here at Charlotte, so I hope we earn another great finish for our team on Sunday.”
FAST FACTS:
• Kenseth earned his first career Sprint Cup series win at Charlotte on May 28, 2000
• Kenseth has an average starting position of 18.8 and an average finishing position of 15.0 at Charlotte
• Kenseth has finished within the top five in five of his 11 Coca-Cola 600 appearances so far in his career
• Kenseth has achieved one win, six top-five’s, and 12 top-10’s at Charlotte in the Cup series
• Kenseth has completed 7,570 of 8,116 (93.3 percent) laps at Charlotte and led for a total of 306 laps
• This weekend Kenseth will pilot the No. 17 Jeremiah Weed Southern Style Ford Fusion
• Kenseth is currently sixth in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings
SPECIAL EVENT:
Friday, May 27th in Uptown Charlotte, Strongman Rendy DeLaCruz, star of the commercials for the new Jeremiah Weed Premium Malt Beverages, will attempt to pull Kenseth in his No. 17 Jeremiah Weed Ford 100 feet in 60 seconds or less. For every foot DeLaCruz successfully pulls the 3,500 lb stock car at Speed Street, Jeremiah Weed will distribute $10 pre-paid taxi vouchers to encourage responsible decision making among legal drinking age consumers. The Strongman will also act as honorary pit crew member of the No. 17 Jeremiah Weed team throughout race weekend.
