Kenseth Ends Up 16th in Daytona Shootout After Being Collected in Last Lap Wreck
February 7, 201012:11 PM
DAYTONA BEACH, FL (February 8, 2009) – For Matt Kenseth, traveling to Daytona for the first race of the 2010 season brought with it a lot of excitement for him and his No. 17 team. Kenseth and his team brought with them a new sponsor for the season in Crown Royal, and as the defending champions of the Daytona 500, they were eager to start off the season on a positive note. After running as high as third during the race, Kenseth was forced to leave Daytona Saturday night with a 16th place finish after his Ford was caught up in a multi-car wreck on what would be the final lap of the race.
The Budweiser Shootout at Daytona is an annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series exhibition event held at Daytona International Speedway in February the weekend before the Daytona 500. It began as the 'Busch Clash' and was a fifty-mile "all-out sprint." In its current format, it is made up of two segments: a short 25-lap segment, followed by a ten-minute intermission. After the intermission, the race concludes with a 50-lap segment in which each car will need to make a pit stop for fuel.
The race carries no points for the winner, but rather, a large payout. The Shootout selection criteria was changed for the 2010 season. Under the new format, a driver needed to have competed in at least one race in the last two Sprint Cup seasons. The twelve drivers who qualified for the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup got automatic berths into the race, as well as the reigning Cup Rookie of the Year. After those drivers, spots in the race were given to past Sprint Cup series champions, past Shootout winners, and any active driver who won either the Daytona 500 or the Coke Zero 400 in the past. The starting lineup is determined by a random draw, not by qualifying as all other races are determined.
Kenseth drew the eighth starting position at the draw party on Thursday evening since the starting line-up is set by a random draw. The green flag waved at 8:31 p.m. EST as the 24-car field raced two-wide into turn one. The Crown Royal Ford was on the outside line due to the starting grid and on numerous laps early on, Kenseth couldn’t get any help in the draft. The No. 17 Ford continued to get shuffled back and forth through the middle of the pack. Kenseth needed drafting help but as is the case with superspeedway races, help is generally tough to come by.
The first 25-lap segment ended with a caution after the No. 51 car spun in turn two. The ten-minute break allowed crew chief Drew Blickensderfer to get feedback on the car’s handling from his driver. Kenseth reported over team radio communications that the Crown Royal Ford was “too loose in and off the turns.” Blickensderfer opted to service the No. 17 machine with four fresh tires, fuel, as well as make a wedge adjustment.
The start of the second segment found Kenseth restarting in 16th, but once again, the Crown Royal Ford got mired in the middle of the pack and was having difficulty finding lines to advance. Two back-to-back cautions allowed the No. 17 pit crew to service the Crown Royal Ford with four new Goodyear tires and Sunoco fuel, but they also opted to reverse the wedge adjustment they had made earlier. Shortly after the restart on lap 44, Kenseth maneuvered his way from 17th up to ninth, and by lap 61, the Crown Royal Ford was in third and continued to hold on to a top-5 position on the leader board over the course of the run.
On lap 71, with only four laps scheduled to remain in the race, the caution came out after a three-car accident on the backstretch. Blickensderfer called his driver to pit road for two tires and fuel. Kenseth restarted seventh, but the lap after the restart, an eight car wreck ensued in turn three that collected Kenseth and his Crown Royal Ford. The race ended, and the field was frozen with Kenseth finishing 16th.
“This wasn’t the finish we wanted tonight,” commented Kenseth following the race. “You never know what to expect when you come to a ‘plate track’ because you know that you can wreck or be wrecked at any time at a track like this. I’m not exactly sure what happened to cause the wreck at the end of the race, but I wish we could have avoided that. We had gotten our Crown Royal Ford up near the front of the pack at the end of the race, and I wish we could have held on to that finish.”
Kevin Harvick won Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway after a multi-car wreck on lap 76 found eight cars damaged, including all three of the Roush Fenway Racing Fords in the race. After the smoke cleared, it was determined that Harvick was the winner. Kasey Kahne and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-three finishers Saturday night, and Matt Kenseth was scored with a 16th-place finish.
Next week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series begins the 2010 regular season at Daytona International Speedway for the 52nd running of the Daytona 500 where Kenseth will look to defend his Daytona 500 Championship title. The Gatorade Duel is the preliminary event to the Daytona 500. The Duel consists of two 120-lap races, and serves as a qualifying race for the Daytona 500. The finishing order in the two races will determine the starting lineup for the Daytona 500. Pre-race television coverage begins on Thursday, February 11th at 2:00 p.m. E.S.T. on SPEED. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN).
NEXT UP:
Gatorade Duel
Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile speedway)
Daytona Beach, Fl.
Thursday, Feb. 11, 2009
About Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR’s largest team operating seven motorsports teams. Four in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with drivers Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; and four in the Nationwide Series with Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Colin Braun, and Paul Menard. For more information on any of the Roush Fenway Racing teams, log onto www.RoushFenway.com. Become a fan of Roush Fenway Racing on Facebook by going to http://www.facebook.com/roushfenway. And for sponsorship inquiries please contact Robin Johnson at 704.720.4645.
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