NASCAR Cup

Bristol: Matt Kenseth race report

Kenseth Finishes 33rd in Tough Outing at Bristol BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 22, 2009) -- Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT race team were unable to get a handle on their No. 17 Ford Fusion during Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:48 PM

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Kenseth Finishes 33rd in Tough Outing at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 22, 2009) -- Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT race team were unable to get a handle on their No. 17 Ford Fusion during Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kenseth struggled with a tight handling car early, making contact with the wall at one point in the race and damaging the car's front splitter. The team was never able to correct the car's handling issues and Kenseth brought the car home 33th, six laps down in the first short track race of the season.

"Obviously it was a bad day," said Kenseth after the 500-mile race. "We ran bad in the beginning and then some of those guys got track position and we were buried in the back. I got loose and hit the wall a little bit, but Kyle Busch's (race winner) right-front looked worse than mine, so I can't believe that hurt it too bad."

Kenseth started the race 34th after struggling in qualifying on Friday, but the team continued to work with the car during Saturday's two practice sessions and they felt they had a car that would compete going into Sunday's race.

However, Kenseth struggled with the car from the first lap. He made contact with the wall on lap 50, damaging the splitter brace, while running in the 33rd position. The team continued to make adjustments to the car during various pit stops, but to no avail as Kenseth was unable to make any progress on the track.

"We just missed it today," added Kenseth. "The car was so tight in the corners that I had to slow down so much to get through, that it killed our speed all day."

With the finish, Kenseth dropped to 10th in the Sprint Cup point standings, 55 behind fifth and 184 points out of first.

Kenseth and the team will return to action next weekend at Martinsville Speedway, where Kenseth has finished top 10 in three of his last four starts.

-credit: rfr

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