Team: No. 6 Performance Plus Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Matt Puccia
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @MattKenseth
Federated Auto Parts 400 – Saturday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN
ADVANCE NOTES
Kenseth at Richmond Raceway
· Kenseth will make his 37th career MENCS start at Richmond on Saturday. In 36 previous races at the 0.75-mile track, Kenseth has two wins, six top-fives, 16 top-10 finishes, three poles and an average finish of 16.8.
· Kenseth won his first race at Richmond in the 2002 fall race for Jack Roush, leading 134 laps in the No. 17 Ford. His second victory came just three years ago, also in the September event, leading 352 of the 400 laps.
· Since that win, Kenseth has started from the point in his last two races (2017). He also won the pole in the 2013 spring race before going on to finish seventh.
· Despite an average starting spot of 17.3, Kenseth has lined up inside the top-10 in seven of his last 10 events at Richmond.
· Kenseth has also made 21 starts in the Xfinity Series at Richmond, finishing 10th or better in 16 of those events. He has 12 top-fives with an average finish of eighth and three runner-up results.
Last Time at Richmond
· Trevor Bayne fought tight-handling issues in the spring race at Richmond before going on to finish 21st.
Matt Puccia at Richmond Raceway
· Matt Puccia will be atop the pit box for his 15th MENCS race at Richmond on Saturday. In 14 previous races, Puccia has one career top-10, a ninth-place finish with Greg Biffle back in 2012.
· Puccia has an average finish of 18.9 at the .75-mile track, finishing 17th or better in three of the last five events.
· Puccia called three Xfinity Series races with Paul Menard back in 2009-10, recording a best finish of eighth in the 2010 fall race.
QUOTE WORTHY
Kenseth on racing at Richmond:
“Richmond has always been a fun short track. It falls a little bit later on the schedule and is no longer a cutoff race, but I don’t anticipate that making any difference. Tires mean a lot at Richmond because of the falloff we see during a run. It’s pretty easy to spin the tires on corner exit too, so you need to really get your car handling well so you can keep your momentum through each corner of the track. It’s one of those weekends where we practice during the day and race at night. You try and get your car as close as you can without having a chance to practice in race conditions, and that can be challenging.”
Recapping Las Vegas
After being set back early due to a pit road speeding penalty, Trevor Bayne survived a flurry of late-race cautions and used some key strategy calls to drive his Ford to a 13th-place finish at Las Vegas.
On the Car
Kenseth will run the black and yellow colors of Performance Plus this weekend at Richmond. Performance Plus is currently in its third season as a primary partner in the MENCS for Roush Fenway. They spent one year with Greg Biffle on the No. 16 entry before switching over to the No. 6.
