News

March 1, 2010 8:42 AM

Kenseth Earns First Top-Five Finish of the Season at Las Vegas in His No.17 Crown Royal Ford

Las Vegas, NV (February 28, 2010) – Lady Luck smiled upon Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 Crown Royal team Sunday in Las Vegas. Kenseth earned his first top-five finish and his third top-10 finish of the 2010 season. Kenseth and crew chief Todd Parrott combined to bring home the team’s best regular season finish even after a feared loose wheel forced the team to pit off sequence from the rest of the field. A caution came late in the race, which benefitted Kenseth and the Crown Royal team by allowing them to remain on the lead lap and finish in the top five at the end of Sunday’s Shelby American.

Sunday’s race saw temperature’s in the low-60’s and sunny skies which was an improvement over Saturday’s scattered showers. The Crown Royal Ford rolled off the starting grid in eleventh, but the first caution of the race came early on lap three after the No. 37 spun in Turn two. Kenseth restarted 13th and radioed in to his team that the No. 17 machine was a little loose in to the corners and lacked grip compared to Saturday’s practice sessions. Rear grip was what Kenseth believed would help him in the turns, especially in Turn 4.

Parrott called his driver down pit road on lap 48 for the team’s first pit stop of the day under caution for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment. Kenseth had entered pit road in eighth and restarted in fifth after a quick stop serviced by the pit crew. The Crown Royal Ford remained in the top five and was posting lap times which were as fast as the race leader’s times. On lap 66, Kenseth had driven his way into second place where he remained until the caution came out on lap 89. A stop for tires, fuel, and air pressure adjustments allowed Kenseth to beat the rest of the field off pit road to claim the lead.

The Crown Royal Ford restarted in first on lap 98, and on lap 109 Kenseth called in over team communications that the “car’s about right overall, but just a tick loose.” He pitted for two tires and fuel on lap 110 under caution. Once again, Kenseth remained in the top three until a call on lap 135 found the driver telling his team that he was beginning to feel a vibration in the rear of the car. He feared it was a loose wheel on the right rear, and although the team wasn’t scheduled to pit for another ten laps, they didn’t want to take any chances. Kenseth pitted on lap 147, under green and off sequence from the rest of the field, in order to resolve the problem with four fresh Goodyear tires, and fuel.

Ten laps later, the field began to cycle through green flag stops and Kenseth eventually was scored in third again. The team knew however, that since they had pitted off sequence with the rest of the field, they would need a caution to come out in order to allow them to hold on to their track position. If a caution didn’t break in time, Kenseth would be forced to pit an additional time to the rest of the field before the end of the race.

Kenseth and his team got the lucky break they’d been hoping for when a caution on lap 229 allowed them to pit for fuel and tires with the rest of the field on sequence again. Kenseth was third at the time, but restarted sixth after a few cars only took two tires. Despite the four new tires, Kenseth radioed in to Parrott that the No. 17 machine had become so loose after the stop that he was simply trying to hold on to his position in the final run of the race. He battled Mark Martin for the fourth position, but ran out of laps in order to be able to make the pass before the checkered flag fell after 267 laps. Kenseth crossed the line in fifth, and for the second week in a row, was the highest finishing Ford of the race.

Kenseth’s finish led the way for Roush Fenway Racing who placed two of its four cars in the top ten Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kenseth’s finish also moved him up three positions in the driver point standings to fourth.

“The Crown Royal Ford handled pretty well all day today,” commented Kenseth during his post-race media interviews. “The crew made some really good adjustments all day long, but we had that one run where we just got off sequence with the rest of the field. I thought we had a loose wheel and it turned out that we weren’t able to find anything. I got really loose and had a really bad vibration, so for safety’s sake, we went ahead and pitted for new tires. I was worried that if we didn’t get a caution it was going cost us, but at the end of the day, a caution fell like we needed it to, and everything worked out.”

Reigning Sprint Cup Series Champion, Jimmie Johnson, won Sunday’s Shelby American after he was able to advance past his fellow teammate, Jeff Gordon to claim the race lead. Gordon had dominated most of the race after leading for a total of 219 laps while Johnson only led for a total of 18. Kevin Harvick and Gordon finished second and third, while Kenseth finished fifth in his No. 17 Crown Royal Ford.

Next weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to Georgia for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Pre-race television coverage begins on Sunday, March 7th at 1:00 p.m. E.S.T. on FOX. Radio coverage will be provided by the Performance Racing Network (PRN).

NEXT UP:
Kobalt Tools 500
Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.54-mile speedway)
Hampton, GA
Sunday, March 7, 2010

More Headlines

PHOTO BOOK

NESN.com

VISIT THE ROUSH FENWAY RACING PAGE

on The New England Sports
Network (NESN.com) for more of the latest news on your favorite Roush Fenway teams.

VISIT TODAY >>