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Kenseth inks multi-year deal to remain at Roush

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  • Kenseth inks multi-year deal to remain at Roush

    CONCORD, N.C. -- Roush Racing appears to have its Nextel Cup lineup set in stone for a long time.

    The five-car team announced on Friday that Matt Kenseth had signed a long-term extension to remain with the team.

    The deal was actually signed last fall, after Kenseth rallied to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was Kenseth's second consecutive Chase appearance.

    Kenseth, 33, had a career-high 12 top-fives and 1,001 laps led as Roush Racing placed all five cars in the Chase. Despite the success, the team suffered through the defection of Kurt Busch, who left the team to drive for Penske Racing.

    Shortly after Busch's departure, the team re-signed Kenseth.

    "We did it awhile ago actually," Kenseth said this week at the Nextel Cup Media Tour. "I plan on being here as long as Jack will keep me, and as long as we're running good.

    "It's been fun racing here, and there's really nowhere else I want to race. When you look at it, except for Kurt's deal -- and I don't really know much about it -- I can't imagine wanting to race somewhere else.

    "When you look at the record of Roush last year, there are a lot of people that want to be here, and I am one of them. I don't want to be somewhere else."

    Terms of Kenseth's deal were not disclosed.

  • #2
    Kenseth wants to fly out of the gates in 2006

    Having spent the second half of 2005 flying around the track as he charged into the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Matt Kenseth wanted to take it easy during the offseason.


    So, naturally, he went flying. Through the sky this time, as any racetracks were far beneath a man who earned his private pilot's license in May.


    "This winter, I went to school for about five weeks and got my instrument rating, and I just got that," Kenseth said. "I've been pretty much spending all my spare time flying this winter and going to school and trying to learn more about that."


    Now, though, it's all about trying to learn what will make his Roush Racing Ford Fusion fast from the season's outset. A year ago, the first half of the season was nothing but a nightmare for Kenseth, who seemingly couldn't catch a break.


    While his teammates were finding success at every turn, Kenseth couldn't get untracked. And when he did, it still seemed as if it was too late to make the Chase. Kenseth did so, though, and ended the year seventh in points.


    The goal this year is to start off solid and have a much easier time making the Chase. He hopes to accomplish that by learning from last season


    "We ran really well toward the end of the year and through the middle of the year. At the beginning of the year, we just didn't pay enough attention to our cars and probably what was going on [in terms of setting them up]," Kenseth says. "So I look forward to going into this year. The Ford Fusion is gonna be a great car. I think Robbie [Reiser] and all the crew chiefs are working really well together right now.


    "I've seen all the cars that everybody is building, and all the cars are pretty close to the same right now. Everybody seems to be working together -- more so, I think, than last year -- so I'm really looking forward to the season. Hopefully, we can get to Victory Lane a few more times and make the Chase again and race those last 10 [for the title].


    Kenseth knows that the equipment available to him will be solid enough to make the Chase and that much will be expected of Roush Racing after it placed all five of its drivers in the Chase last year. Jack Roush obviously would like a repeat performance, only with a slightly different outcome. And showing his faith in Kenseth, Roush signed the driver to a multiyear extension Friday.


    Tony Stewart took the title last year, ending Roush's bid to win the title three straight years with a different driver each season. Still, Roush drivers Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards took the second and third spots, each finishing 35 points back, and Mark Martin was fourth.


    "The number of cars we get in the Chase is gonna be real important to us," Roush said. "We make a strong case to our sponsors as we negotiate for support that all of our programs get the same access to technology, the same number of talented people and the same assignment of resources from every regard."


    There's no better way of emphasizing that than by placing all five teams in the Chase. And Kenseth figures he'll have a better idea how 2006 might unfold after testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week.


    With testing limited on Nextel Cup tracks this weekend, the Vegas test is considered crucial by most teams. Kenseth's hardly an exception in that regard.


    "When you go to Vegas, or any track where you've got to let off the gas, it's different because you're working on all kinds of different stuff. You're working on aerodynamics, but you're working on your handling package," Kenseth said. "It's a lot of fun to go out there. Vegas is a fun place to go, especially in the wintertime when you haven't been in the car a lot and go there and test, and then you'll kind of have some kind of idea about your downforce program. You know, we run 32 downforce races and four speedway races -- both are important, the Daytona 500 holds a lot of importance -- but as far as how your year goes, your downforce cars are the most important because that's what we race the most."


    As is the case for most teams, Kenseth's crew has a few new members this season. The turnover, though, hasn't been overwhelming, and the driver thinks some new blood could be a good thing.


    "We've got some young guys get moved up and are fired up about it," said Kenseth, who adds that preseason testing helps get everyone working on the same page before the season gets under way at Daytona.


    "It gets the whole group working together and getting in a routine and a system of changing things and everybody knows what their responsibilities are and that type of thing, so you kind of work the new guys in a little bit and work the rust off the others ones a little bit when you test at Daytona and when you go test at Las Vegas, so when you come down here for the real deal everybody's kind of ready to go," Kenseth said.


    As for Kenseth, he just used the test as a way to get comfortable flying around racetracks now that he won't have nearly as much free time to spend in the wild blue yonder.

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    • #3
      Kenseth at attention as Cup season revs up

      New car, new crew members force No. 17 team to focus


      It seems hard to believe from a team as business-like as the No. 17 bunch, but Matt Kenseth said it's possible that a lack of focus cost his team the jump on the rest of the Nextel Cup Series a year ago.

      Fool me once ...

      "At the beginning of the year we just didn't pay enough attention to our cars and probably what was going on," Kenseth said. "We had some problems with our cars aerodynamically that weren't quite right and we kind of figured out what we were doing wrong and fixed our bodies and put them back like we knew in the first place they should've been, and that got our cars running competitively.

      "So I look forward to going into this year," he said.

      With the introduction of the new Fusion into Cup competition this season, there's a lot for the Ford teams to pay attention to during Preseason Thunder. In Kenseth's case, he likes what he sees so far.

      "It's a nose and tail change and the nose is very similar to what we had," Kenseth said, "but it's probably going to be a little bit better and we already had a great race car last year so I think it's going to be a great car."

      Even in the draft?

      "It's going to be the same as we had the last couple years, I believe," Kenseth predicted. "The spoiler size and plate size and all that is the same, so unless they change that I think you're going to see about the same racing. It seemed like it was the same as always."

      Outside the car, there are a few new faces wearing the bumble bee yellow in the garage this year. While some might see new team members as a potential obstacle, the normally cool Kenseth doesn't forsee any problems.

      "I feel good about the new people we got," Kenseth said. "We really haven't had that big of a turnover, everybody's making a big deal out of it, but we really didn't have that big a turnover -- we moved one guy up to the car-chief role that's been there for a year and I got a couple of new guys, so I'm excited about it.

      "I'm not really worried about it. [The Daytona] test is actually, more so than on-the-track stuff, [that] test is good for that. It gets the whole group working together and getting in a routine and a system of changing things and everybody knows what their responsibilities are and that type of thing."

      As far as his teammates that drive other race cars, Kenseth said don't be surprised if the Roush boys make another rush on the Chase.

      "I've seen all the cars that everybody is building and all the cars are pretty close to the same right now," Kenseth said. "Everybody seems to be working together more so, I think, than last year, so I'm really looking forward to the season.

      "Hopefully, we can get to Victory Lane a few more times and make the Chase again and race those last 10."

      With everything in place, Kenseth said the pressure now falls squarely on the driver.

      "You know your equipment is good enough to go win races and that's a great feeling as a driver," said Kenseth. "Now it's just up to the team and myself to try to figure out how to do it. We have everything we need, we just have to figure out how to put it all together."

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      • #4
        bump for views

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        • #5
          Originally posted by JBC13
          bump for views
          all the assholes are out today I see

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