NASCAR CHAMPION KENSETH LIKES WHAT HE SEES IN UNDERDOG CARDINALS

CONCORD, N.C. Jan. 27, 2009: Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth took the NASCAR world by storm when he pulled away early and never let up in the 2003 race for the Sprint Cup Championship. Few – if any – would have predicted Kenseth’s run in 2003.

The same can be said for the Arizona Cardinal’s path to this weekend’s Super Bowl in Tampa Fla. Arizona, a 35-1 long shot to win the Super Bowl going into the season, pulled off surprising upsets against Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia to earn their place in the big game. The team will, once again, go into this week the under dog against the favored Pittsburgh Steelers.

Perhaps that plays a part in Kenseth’s prediction for the Cardinals to win Sunday night’s biggest game of the year.

“I’m going with Arizona as my pick,” said Kenseth, who is a huge Green Bay Packers fan and actually took part in a “Lambeau Leap” a few weeks ago for a photo shoot at the historic Green Bay stadium.

“I think it will be a really close game,” added Kenseth. “Everyone is overlooking them and thinking that it’s going to be a blowout. The Cardinals haven’t gotten much respect the last two weeks, but they have the wins in the big games and that is what matters.

“Arizona is the underdog and it’s always fun to root for the underdog,” added Kenseth, who is one of only two drivers to qualify for the NASCAR ‘playoff’ in each of its first five seasons. “I think the key to the game will be no Arizona turnovers. If that happens I think they have a good shot and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Larry Fitzgerald as the Super Bowl MVP.”

Quite the football fan, Kenseth and his No. 17 DEWALT Team take part in a yearly team Fantasy league. Kenseth finished a career-best third this season, coming in behind car chief Greg Ebert and Kenseth’s son Ross.

“I would say that Matt Cassel was the MVP for my fantasy team this year,” said Kenseth. “I’ve struggled to find a fantasy QB and I was sitting there first on the priority wire when (Tom) Brady got hurt. I grabbed Cassel and it really added a lot to my team.

“Still though, I would say that a healthy Tom Brady would have to be the first pick in any Fantasy draft next season. When he is healthy he really puts up numbers.”

And as for his ‘leap’ at Lambeau Field a few weeks ago?

“I think I did pretty well,” said Kenseth, who didn’t know the ‘leap’ would be shown on the National television broadcast of the game. “It’s a long way up there you know. They offered to let me jump off of something, but I wanted to give it a try for real. I think I did okay. It was pretty cool getting to do that. Obviously it would be a lot more fun if you got to do it after really scoring a touchdown, but that’s probably as close as I’m going to get as a race car driver.”