Dover: Feast or famine for Kenseth

Matt Kenseth has had some really good races at Dover International Speedway, site of Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race. He won the June race at Dover last year. He also has two NASCAR Busch Series wins at Dover.
He also finished 35th in the Dover race in 2005 and all but took himself out of Chase contention. He was 32nd in the Dover race in 2004, and that pretty much ruined his chances of winning the Chase that year.
“It seems every time we go to Dover it's feast or famine," said Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "We had really good cars both times there last year and nearly swept. This year, we weren’t as good as we had been, but I’m hoping a lot of that was because we were a little behind on the COT (Car of Tomorrow) setup. I know the last two weeks at Richmond and Loudon, we ran completely different setups than we did the first time we went to those tracks, and as a result we were a good bit more competitive. I’m hoping for the same this weekend and I really don’t see why that can’t be the case."
Kenseth is coming off a seventh-place finish at New Hampshire International Speedway, the first race of the Chase. He is seventh in the Cup standings.
“Loudon (New Hampshire) was a good start to the Chase," Kenseth said. "Sure, we would’ve liked to have finished better, but considering where we started, and just how hard track position was to come by, we did pretty good. Dover is a good place for us. There have been times we’ve had problems there but it usually isn’t with the car. Hopefully, we’re able to compete a little bit better this weekend and make up some ground.”
His team is bringing the car it raced at Bristol Motor Speedway in August to Dover. Kenseth drove that car to a 39th-place finish. He crashed on lap 452. The car has also raced at Darlington Raceway in May and the Dover race in June. Kenseth finished fifth in the Dover race.
“Dover is probably my favorite track for a lot of different reasons," Kenseth said. "My first Cup race was there, plus we’ve won a couple times there in the Busch Series, then we got our first Cup win there last year, so we’ve had a lot of good times at Dover. The track is so fast and challenging. It’s unique because of the way you drive up out of the turns. The turns set a bit lower than the straight-a-ways and you can feel it when you’re driving out there.