Kenseth, No. 17 DEWALT Team Battle Obstacles for Top-15 Finish at Martinsville
October 26, 200911:35 AM
Martinsville, Va. (Oct. 25, 2009) – Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT Racing Team fought back from illness, an early accident and a loose-handling race car to post an improbable 14th-place finish in Sunday’s Tums 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
An impressive call to short pit by crew chief Drew Blickensderfer late in the race would prove to be the catalyst to get the No. 17 Ford Fusion not only back on the lead lap, but ultimately inside the top 15.
“I’m happy with the final result,” said Kenseth who entered the race feeling ‘under the weather,’ suffering from flu-like conditions.
“For us, that’s pretty good here (at Martinsville). We didn’t run particularly well and I wasn’t at my best today. I think I ran into about everything out there. I had some issues on a couple of restarts and we struggled on our last pit stop, so all of those things considered, to finish 14th is really good.”
Roush Fenway driver Erik Darnell was in the pits in case Kenseth needed relief in the race, but the veteran would be able to turn all 500-laps of the event.
“I’d say at 9 o’clock this morning, if I would have felt like that when the race started I wouldn’t have made it,” said Kenseth. “But I got feeling quite a bit better and felt pretty good in the car the whole time.”
Kenseth and the team would have their work cut out for them from the start. After struggling in practice on Friday and qualifying 32nd,both practice sessions were washed out on Saturday due to persistent rains. Making matters worse, Kenseth was involved in an early accident, spinning out on lap eight of the 500-lap event, and restarting all the way back in 41st position just 11 laps into the race.
Kenseth would regroup and drive the car back to 32nd, before a two tire stop on lap 45 put the team back out in 23rd position when green flag racing resumed on lap 50. After driving to 19th, Kenseth reported that his Ford was ‘way too loose’ and be began dropping back in the field. He would spend the next 250 laps running between 25th and 30th positions, as the team tried a variety of adjustments under caution.
Blickensderfer opted to leave Kenseth out after the race’s 11th caution on lap 300. Kenseth restarted in fourth position, but would ultimately fall back to 23rd position, going a lap down to the leader on lap 376.
The team short pitted on lap 401 and was able to use the four fresh tires to race back onto the lead lap. When the race’s 12th caution was called on lap 442, Kenseth was back on the lead lap and in 17th position.
He restarted for the final time of the race in 16th position on lap 499 as the race entered a green-white-checkered finish and he was able to pick up two more positions to 14th for the come back top-15 finish.
The team returns to action next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, where Kenseth has six top-10 finishes in 19 starts. Kenseth finished 17th at Talladega in the spring. Green flag for the event, which will be the fourth and final restrictor-place race of the season, is set for 1:19 p.m. EST with ABC providing live coverage.
More Headlines
