Kenseth An Elite Performer - In Any Era

Kenseth An Elite Performer - In Any Era

Matt Kenseth. Under the radar no longer.
His second Daytona 500 victory, a straight-up, I’m-faster-than-you performance in arguably the most unique of the race’s 54 editions, confirms the popular Wisconsin veteran’s status among the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series elite competitors in the current era – and arguably in any era.
We should have known it all along – although Kenseth, like many racers from his home state, has always raced hard but with humility.
His post-race reaction? Typical: "I wasn’t expecting to win when I woke up this morning," said Kenseth.
That said, Kenseth has won a championship (2003), two Daytona 500s and 22 times overall. Those victories have come in 10 different seasons beginning in 2000 – his first full campaign with the Roush Fenway organization, his "home" for all but one of Kenseth’s 437 starts.
The two Daytona 500 victories alone move the Cambridge, Wis., driver into legendary territory. He becomes one of only nine drivers to win the race multiple times. Three of the other eight – Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison – are members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, a possible destination for the 39-year-old Kenseth.
Kenseth is the first repeat Daytona 500 winner since Jeff Gordon in 2005.
Now on to Phoenix, where Kenseth won in 2002. He followed his 2009 Daytona 500 victory by winning his next start at Auto Club Speedway.
Jack Roush and Roush Fenway finally posted NASCAR national series victory No. 300. The number is unprecedented and extends the record for wins in NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck series. "This is a special night," said Roush, who won for the first time in 1989 with Mark Martin.
Roush has won championships in all three national series.
Old school, new school – it doesn’t matter to the No. 17 crew chief Jimmy Fennig. The victory was the 34th for the 58-year-old pit road master, who guided Allison to his second Daytona 500 victory in 1988. Fennig has won with four different drivers from 1987 through the present: Kenseth, Allison, Kurt Busch and Mark Martin. He was Busch’s championship crew chief in 2004.
You can say Doug Yates has NASCAR’s new Electronic Fuel Injection system figured out. His engines powered the winner, third-place Greg Biffle and eighth-place Carl Edwards. They won the Coors Light Pole and a Gatorade Duel qualifying event. Ford won the Daytona 500 for the third time in four years.