NASCAR WC Champ Kenseth's Friday In New York

NEW YORK December 6, 2003; Mike Harris writing for the AP reported that Matt Kenseth remembers when he was going nowhere as a race car driver.

He was riding small tracks in Wisconsin, the glamour and big money of NASCAR a long way off.

"I thought my chance of moving up was gone, and I was going to spend the rest of my career driving in local short-track races," he said.

Kenseth is doing a whole lot better these days: He's the champion of NASCAR's top series, the Winston Cup.

"This is the coolest feeling in the world," Kenseth said before Friday night's NASCAR Awards Dinner. "I never could have thought something like this would happen."

Kenseth's nearly $9.5 million in assorted winnings this year was presented Friday. His payout includes a record $4.25 million from the Winston Cup points fund of $16.64 million distributed among the top 25 drivers in the season points.

Kenseth drove with extraordinary consistency this season. He had 25 top-10 finishes in 36 races. Only twice did he fail to finish. He led the standings through a modern era-record 33 races.

Now it is time to celebrate. He is being wined and dined in New York and already had an audience with President Bush at the White House.

But all of this might not have happened if not for an unexpected phone call. Robbie Reiser needed a driver for a shot at NASCAR's Busch Series in 1997. Kenseth managed to draw the attention of Winston Cup star Mark Martin.

Martin persuaded team owner Jack Roush to find a ride for Kenseth. Now, a few years down the line and with Reiser his crew chief, the 31-year-old driver from Cambridge, Wis., is on top.

Reiser used to beat Kenseth regularly when they raced at Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin. He said he knew from the start Kenseth was going to be a great driver.

"He just had the talent," Reiser said. "You could see it. All he needed was the chance in the right equipment."

This was also the first Winston Cup title for Roush. Martin had come the closest to giving Roush that first title, finishing second four times.

"There have been times in the past when I thought this would never happen," Roush said. "There have been a lot of disagreements with NASCAR over the way some things were done. But this is a wonderful feeling now."

This season was the last for Winston, which has been the series sponsor for 33 years and whose marketing ability was key to NASCAR's dramatic growth. But increasing government regulation and business setbacks prompted parent company R.J. Reynolds to give NASCAR permission to find a new primary sponsor for the Cup Series.

Communications giant Nextel signed a 10-year, $700 million dollar deal that begins in 2004.

"It's going to be hard after all these years to start saying Nextel Cup instead of Winston Cup," NASCAR chairman and chief executive officer Brian France said. "But we look forward to making this partnership as close and successful as the one we had."

The Bill France Award of Excellence was also presented Friday night to Dr. Dean L. Sicking, director of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska.

Sicking, working with NASCAR's research and development facility in Concord, N.C., is a leading figure in the design and implementation of the SAFER Wall - Steel and Foam Energy Reduction. SAFER walls have already been installed at several NASCAR tracks and are scheduled to be added at several more tracks during the 2004 season.