View Chase Chronicles: Matt Kenseth
NASCAR Chase Chronicle: Matt Kenseth
By Gregg Leary
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
Heeeee’s BAAAAAACK!
“Mr. Consistency” strikes again. Matt Kenseth has finished in the Top Ten in NASCAR Cup points for the last six years. This year he is 12th in Points and makes the Chase for the Sprint Cup AGAIN…as he has every year. Is it Déjà vu?
Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Cup Champion, was cited by many pundits as the reason for the “NASCAR Chase for the Cup.” He won the Championship…but only ONE race. Many forget that in 2002 he led the Cup series with FIVE wins…and only finished eighth in the points. Some branded him a “robot”…and he took that all the way to the bank in a series of very funny commercials that poked fun at that label. He was also called “The Ice Man,” “The Silent Assassin,” and “Matt the Brat.”
Matt’s sister, Kelly Maruszewski, wrote the book on her brother.
“MATT KENSETH: Above and Beyond”was published in 2003. (The year of Matt’s Winston Cup Championship.) It paints a fascinating portrait of Kenseth.
Matt’s dad wrote the Foreword. It’s a family affair. The book incorporates family snapshots showing Matt as a baby as well as him riding his hot rod tractor in a parade.
Matt had a typical Midwestern upbringing. He built model cars and raced his dad on a slot car track. At 9, instead of a go-kart, Matt got a lawn mower, removed the mower deck and souped it up. Matt’s dad had a ’67 Vette and a ’69 Yenko Camaro that he drag raced, so love of cars and racing was imprinted early in Matt.
Matt’s uncles, cousin and dad raced limited late models…mid-packers with largely family sponsorship at local tracks. When Matt was 12 years old, his dad bought a race car and said, ”I’ll drive it and you can work on it.” Matt did…for four years.
When Matt turned 16 in 1988, he took over driving duties. It was a 1981 Camaro and Matt won his first race at Columbus, WI 151 Speedway in July of 1988. Matt’s dad had envisioned a two-car father/son team…but lack of finances dictated that Matt drive and dad crew.
Matt raced and worked on his car while in high school. When he graduated high school in 1990, he lived at home and worked at Lefthander Chassis in Rockford, IL building race cars. “I want to be a full-time race car driver. It doesn’t matter on what circuit or what part of the country. My goal is to drive race cars professionally.”
In 1991, he won an ARTGO race at LaCrosse at age 19, the youngest driver to win…breaking the record of the previous youngest…Mark Martin. He credits working on his dad’s race car as his edge…he knew what the car was doing and why. “Races are really won at home in the shop, not at the race track.”
1n 1993, Matt began his rivalry with fellow driver Robbie Reiser. Reiser won the Wisconsin Short Track Series Title. Kenseth finished sixth in points.
In 1994 Matt won the “Miller Genuine Draft Nationals” and picked up the nickname, “Matt the Brat.” He ran against the likes of Dick Trickle, Rich Bickle, Ken Schrader and Butch Miller. He won two track championships.
In 1996 Matt moved to NC and ran Hooter’s Pro Cup with one win at Anderson, SC, and finished third in points. In May he ran his first Busch race at Charlotte in an unsponsored Bobby Dotter car, and finished 31st.
In 1997 Matt returned to WI for an ASA ride. After finishing 2nd in his first race, he received a phone call from his long-time rival Robbie Reiser. They went Busch racing, and Matt finished 6th at Nashville in his debut with the team. He ended with 2 Top Fives, 7 Top Tens and second place in Rookie of the Year standings. After Matt’s second Busch start, Mark Martin offered Matt a test later that year at Darlington. After the test Matt was offered a “five year testing contract” with Roush as well as help in securing a sponsor for Reiser Enterprises in 1998.
Mark Martin said, “I’ve been wrong about a lot of things in my life, but I was right about Matt Kenseth. I’m real proud of that.” “Matt is a superstar in the making. He is a tremendous driver and if somebody said, ‘Why don’t you create from scratch the ultimate race car driver?’ That’s the one.”
Matt has this to say about Mark: “He is a great friend and has been a tremendous influence on my career, but if we’re both racing for the win I’m gonna try my best to beat him.”
1998: The Busch season began with the deal with their primary sponsor falling through. LYCOS came on at the last minute for a “Daytona only” deal. Matt finished 6th. The next race at Rockingham, Matt carried a small LYCOS decal on the quarter panel as a thank you for Daytona. During the race Matt was referred to several times as “Robbie Reiser” but when Matt bumped Tony Stewart out of the way for his first Busch Series win…he took the trophy in his logo-free driver’s suit…with “Matt Kenseth” embroidered on it. LYCOS signed on for the rest of the season. Matt finished second to Dale Jr. in Busch points. Matt filled in for Bill Elliott, whose dad had died, in the #94 McDonald’s Cup car at Dover. Matt worked his way up to second…and finished sixth…the best Cup debut since Rusty Wallace’s second place in 1980. Matt had many offers from impressed car owners…but remained loyal to Mark Martin and Jack Roush.
“Mark told me, ‘Just remember who is giving you the start and who is giving you the break.’ I will never forget that, and I will do whatever Mark thinks we should do as long as he is interested in me and wants to help me.” Matt Kenseth.
1999: Matt finished third in Busch points in the DeWalt car. His good friend Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won his second Busch title. Matt made five Cup starts with a best finish of 4th at Dover.
2000: Matt moved to Cup full time with Robbie Reiser as his crew chief for Jack Roush. Matt won the Coke 600…first time by a rookie… and Rookie of the Year. He finished 14th in points.
2001: The team never came to terms with Goodyear’s harder tire. They used 11 provisionals and their average starting position was 27.8. Rumors surfaced about an unhappy Matt leaving Roush. The end of the season saw a turnaround…his pit crew won the World Championship…Matt rebounded and finished 13th in points.
2002: Kenseth earned a series high 5 wins. (Rockingham, Texas, Michigan, Richmond, Phoenix) but only finished 8th in Points.
2003: Winston Cup Champion with only 1 win. He led the points for a NASCAR record 33 straight weeks. Hmmmm?
“Consistency is the key to finishing well in the points standings, and it’s what championships are built upon,” says Matt Kenseth.
Being from Wisconsin, Matt is a huge Green Bay Packers fan and exchanged helmets with quarterback Brett Favre at Lambeau Field in 2003. Talk about a Cheesehead fantasy come true!
Even though his favorite band is Metallica and he has a cat named “Lars,” Matt is often portrayed by the media as “boring.” He and his wife showed a great sense of humor when Katie wore a T-Shirt that said…WHAT’S HIS NAME IS SO GOOD TO ME.
Jim Hunter compared Matt to David Pearson. “David Pearson always moved around with a low profile. He did his talking on the racetrack. I mean, David talked to people. But he didn’t always come up with a catchy quote or something that would make a headline. And Kenseth is the same way.”
Mark Martin said, “I liked Matt from the first time I saw him. I liked the way he handled himself, both on and off the track. I could tell that he was a very talented young man who had a bright future in the sport.”
Matt used to spend LOTS of time at his Busch shop in earlier years…”I didn’t have any friends, so I hung out at the shop all day.” Today Matt has many friends, thousands of fans and the “toys” that come with wealth and fame. Matt’s 94 year old Grandpa, Helmer, got to fly co-pilot on Matt’s jet. He had taken Matt for his first plane ride year’s before in HIS single engine plane.
Some quotes from “Matt Kenseth:Above and Beyond” reveal much about Matt, and what others think about him.
“Matt’s driving style is not like Stewart or Busch…he’s more like Darrell Waltrip or Bill Elliott, just smooth. But Matt CAN drive the wheels off a car. He’s probably a little more of an aggressive driver than he’s given credit for.” Ray Evernham
“Matt can take a 40th place car and finish 20th with it….Matt never quits.” Roy Kenseth
Matt may not be known for his sense of humor, but his former spotter, Mike Calinoff…who has done stand-up comedy, said, “Matt has kept me laughing for three years.”
“Matt Kenseth: Above and Beyond” adds lots of color and flavor to a driver that has been wrongly labeled, “vanilla.”
Matt is currently seeded 12th in the Chase…only 80 points behind Kyle Busch- who has 8 wins. If the Traditional Points System were still in place, Matt would be 746 points behind Busch…and with essentially no prayer of winning the Chase. Isn’t it ironic? Matt won the 2003 Cup Championship with a brilliant but boringly consistent season with only ONE victory. Many consider it the reason for the creation of the Chase. Now with NO victories so far in 2008, Matt is still in the running to win the ten race Chase. “Mr. Consistency” has made every Chase. Can he win his second Cup Championship?