Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Matt Kenseth searching for second Richmond win, first since 2002

Matt Kenseth is 12/1 to win Saturday night at Richmond
Matt Kenseth/No. 20 Home Depot Husky Toyota Preview
Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway
No. 20 Home Depot Husky Toyota News and Notes:

JOE GIBBS RACING AT RICHMOND: Joe Gibbs Racing has 93 Sprint Cup Series starts at Richmond International Raceway and has earned nine wins, 29 top-five, and 49 top-ten finishes. The organization also has led for a total of 3,145 laps, has an average start of 15.0 and an average finish of 12.5 at the 0.75-mile track.

KENSETH BY THE NUMBERS: In 28 Sprint Cup Series starts at Richmond, Kenseth has completed 10,964 of 11,209 laps (97.8 percent) and has led for a total of 368 laps. Kenseth has earned one win, four top-five finishes, 12 top-ten finishes and one pole award which he earned in last year’s Toyota Owners 400. Kenseth earned his victory at Richmond back in 2002, and has earned top-ten finishes in his last three starts at the short track.

RACE INFO: The Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway (0.75-mile) begins at 7:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 26th. The race will be broadcast live on FOX, Sirius XM Channel 90 and MRN Radio.

Kenseth’s 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season Stats:
StartsWinsTop 5Top 10PolesLaps LedEarningsAvg. StartAvg. Finish
80261234$1,691,92914.07.8
Kenseth’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats:
StartsWinsTop 5Top 10PolesLaps LedEarningsAvg. StartAvg. Finish
51631140254129,160$101,234,19318.514.1

From the Cockpit:
Matt Kenseth:
“Richmond is a great race track from a design standpoint in my opinion. Everyone is close to the action, and it’s a fast track that gets slick pretty quickly, so you need to work on managing your tires there throughout the weekend. It’s a fun track from the driver’s perspective, and from the fan’s perspective, I think it’s one of the favorites on the circuit. I really enjoy getting to race Saturday night at a short track like Richmond because it reminds me of growing up and racing Friday and Saturday nights back in Wisconsin. We were fortunate enough to earn the pole for last year’s race, and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) has had pretty strong cars there in the past, so I’m looking forward to getting back there this weekend.”

From the Pit Box:
Jason Ratcliff:
“We sat on the pole for this race at Richmond last year and we led a lot of laps to where I felt we ran pretty well overall. The finish of last year’s Toyota Owners 400 came down to a green-white-checkered finish, and unfortunately, Matt (Kenseth) was stuck in the wrong lane at the end. I felt like when we left Richmond after the Fall race that I had a pretty good idea of what we needed to do to run better, but so much has changed this year with the new rules package. Richmond is such a unique track and so different from any other short track that we go to. Richmond is a place where you need to make sure that you come off the truck well, because I feel that how you unload, typically sets the tempo for the entire weekend. Having the weekend off last week, I feel like we were able to look a few things over and I’m excited to go to Richmond this weekend with some new ideas for us to try.”

About Husky Tools:
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- Joe Gibbs Racing

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