Team: No. 6 Roush Performance Products Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Matt Puccia
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @MattKenseth
Gander Outdoors 400 – Sunday, July 29 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN
ADVANCE NOTES
Kenseth at Pocono Raceway
· Matt Kenseth will make his 38th start at Pocono Raceway this weekend, a track he’s visited victory lane once at along with 16 top-10 finishes.
· Kenseth won the 2015 August race after starting seventh, one of his four career top-five results at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’
· The 2003 MENCS Champion has finished 10th or better in five of his last seven races at Pocono, including a 10th and ninth-place finish in each of the two 2017 events. He’s finished no worse than 17th dating back to 2014.
· Kenseth’s highest qualifying effort at the 2.5-mile track is third, which came a pair of times in 2016, and again in the 2017 June race. His average starting position at the track is 17.2, despite starting top-10 in four of the last six events.
Last Time at ‘The Tricky Triangle’
· Kenseth drove his Ford Fusion to a 13th-place finish in the June race just a month ago, his best result in the No. 6 thus far in 2018.
· After starting 26th, Kenseth battled back from being a lap down and gained 15 spots in the final stage to record the 13th-place result.
Matt Puccia at Pocono Raceway
· Matt Puccia will call his 15th MENCS race at Pocono on Sunday. In 14 events with Greg Biffle, Trevor Bayne and most recently Matt Kenseth, Puccia has five top-10 and three top-five results.
· His highest finish came back in 2013 with Greg Biffle, a runner-up finish, and he also led Biffle to a pair of fifth-place results in 2014 and 2015.
· Puccia’s highest starting spot as a crew chief at the 2.5-mile track came back in 2013, a seventh-place start with Biffle.
QUOTE WORTHY
Kenseth on racing at Pocono:
“The challenge at Pocono hasn’t changed much over the years. Three very different turns create different handling challenges and finding the right balance can be tough. Trying to get the balance right in Turns 1 and 3 are important because of how long the straightaways are, but those two turns have very different characteristics. One slip can cost you a lot of track position. We got fortunate there in June with some timely cautions that allowed us to finish higher than where we ran. This weekend will be a good test to see if we’ve improved since we were there eight weeks ago.”
Recapping New Hampshire
Kenseth battled from a 31st starting position and finished 15th in Loudon last weekend, his second top-15 in four starts.
On the Car
Kenseth will carry Roush Performance Products on his No. 6 this weekend. Roush Performance Products, a specialty-vehicle company, manufactures and markets a line of vehicles, aftermarket performance parts, and crate engines. Its automotive products and services include various performance vehicles, assembled pre-titled vehicles, aftermarket performance parts, performance crate engines, performance part installation, hot rod restoration, and custom graphics
