Matt Kenseth – NSCS ADVANCE
Team: No. 17 Affliction Clothing Live Fast Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig Chassis: Primary: RK-763 (last run at Dover)
Kenseth on racing at Kansas Speedway: “Kansas and Chicago are a lot alike when you look ahead to some of the 1.5-mile tracks we have coming up on the schedule. At Kansas lately the pavement has gotten really worn out, which is a good thing, so you need to have a good balance there on new tires and still be good at the end of the run. I think that’s the biggest challenge at Kansas is to get the car to drive good throughout the whole run. I can’t think of anything that really sets Kansas apart from the other 1.5-mile tracks other than the pavement and the way you kind of have to attack the track.”
Crew chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Kansas Speedway: “This weekend at Kansas we’re bringing our winning car from Dover. I expect this weekend to be fairly similar to when we raced there last Fall except that it will be quite a bit warmer temperature-wise but we’ll see how the cars handle in practices. Last year we ran really well and stayed in the top five for most of the race, but the car got a little loose, so we’re planning to adjust off of the set-up we used last fall to start off with. Kansas is a place that’s tough to pass with this car because you find the car tends to be very aero-tight, so qualifying will be a main focus of ours on Friday. We’ll do a few runs in race trim and then switch over to work on qualifying set-ups.”
FAST FACTS:
• Kenseth has an average starting position of 13.7 and an average finishing position of 20.6 at Kansas
• Kenseth has achieved one pole, two top-five’s and four top-10’s at Kansas in the Cup series
• Kenseth has completed 2,399 of 2,613 (91.8 percent) laps at Kansas and led for a total of 210 laps
• This weekend at Kansas, Kenseth will pilot the No. 17 Affliction Clothing Live Fast Ford Fusion
• Entering this weekend, Kenseth is currently seventh in the NSCS driver point standings
