NASCAR WCUP: Kenseth struggles in rainy weekend at Dover
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
June 5, 2001
DOVER, Del. - Mother Nature set the pace for the triple header race weekend in Dover as she wreaked havoc on the schedule. Winston Cup Series qualifying was canceled due to rain showers on Friday. The field was set according to the point standings, so Matt Kenseth and his DEWALT team started 13th.
Going into the weekend, Kenseth was picked as a contender to win the event as he finished 2nd at Dover a year ago. Kenseth finished 2nd in the NASCAR Busch Series race on Saturday. After the Busch race, clearing skies then allowed the Winston Cup Series to practice for an hour. Kenseth and crew chief Robbie Reiser felt the DEWALT Ford Taurus would be competitive because they ran well during practice.
When the green flag dropped Kenseth held his position but said the car was so loose he could barely hold on. Early race cautions kept the field bunched together. The DEWALT crew serviced the car for the first time under caution on lap 57, making an air pressure adjustment and changing four tires.
The adjustments did not seem to make the car handle better as Kenseth fell back through the field during long green flag runs. He pitted under green flag conditions on lap 148. The crew again made major adjustments. By lap 167, the leader and eventual race winner was in Kenseth's rear view mirror. The leader finally passed Kenseth putting him one lap down.
The critical point of the day came shortly after when a spin on the frontstretch brought out a caution. Although there were cars everywhere, Kenseth and the team felt they beat the leader back to the start/finish line. According to Reiser, timing and scoring read that Kenseth was back on the lead lap. Kenseth then brought the DEWALT Power Tools Ford Taurus into the pits for tires and fuel. NASCAR penalized Kenseth one lap, and made him go to the tail end of the longest line, because they said he did not beat the leader to the stripe.
Kenseth then battled his way up through the field attempting to beat all the teams that were one lap down. He ended up in 16th position.
"Today was a real bad day for this team," said Kenseth after the race. "I can't understand what happened there, I thought I beat the leader back to the line -- so did everyone else. This is a track that we usually do well at. Hopefully it will be a better showing in Michigan."
Kenseth is currently 13th in owner's point standings. The Winston Cup Series heads to Michigan next week.
Today the DEWALT Power Tools line consists of over 200 electric power tools and over 800 accessories including: drills and hammer drills; screwdrivers; circular, chop, miter, table, reciprocating, and jig saws; planers; impact wrenches; die, angle, and bench grinders; shears; nibblers; sanders; laminate trimmers; routers, and plate joiners. This year will be an exciting time for DEWALT as it offers its largest product launch ever -- even greater than the initial product line introduction.
Text provided by Amy Walsh
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