Not Quite Revved

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has hogged most of the headlines as NASCAR’s Winston Cup poster boy rookie, thanks in part to his illustrious racing father’s name, his own flamboyant style, his multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal--and a couple of wins.

He is not the leading candidate for rookie of the year, however.

Matt Kenseth is.

Filled with self-doubt, low on confidence and with a lifestyle the antithesis of the party-loving “Little E,” Kenseth has nevertheless managed to win NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in his Ford, has finished as the top rookie in nine of 15 races and has completed 4,539 laps of a possible 4,725, a remarkable 96.1%.

This has given the quiet-spoken 28-year-old from Cambridge, Wis., a 195-181 lead over Chevy driver Earnhardt Jr. for Raybestos rookie-of-the-year honors going into today’s Save Mart/Kragen 350 at Sears Point Raceway.

Typically, Kenseth is not optimistic.

“I just hope I don’t get embarrassed,” he said of his first appearance at Sears Point’s 11-turn, 1.949-mile road circuit--one of only two tracks where Winston Cup cars must turn right as well as left. “I’d never seen the track until practice Friday.”

His pessimism was somewhat warranted as his 96.272-mph qualifying lap was well behind pole-sitter Rusty Wallace’s 99.309 mph and left him 38th in the 43-car starting grid.

“I think by the time [today] is over, maybe we’ll feel a little bit better about everything and, hopefully, start to get competitive. I’m just hoping to get a halfway good finish and try to learn so we’ll be better the next time.”

Even when he wins, Kenseth downplays his accomplishments.

“I never expected to win a race this year,” he said after taking the checkered flag ahead of points leader Bobby Labonte for his first Winston Cup win. “I thought maybe we would be competitive and get a top-10 finish, but I certainly wasn’t expecting to win.”

Kenseth almost won two races earlier, dominating the NAPA 500 at California Speedway. He was leading with 30 laps remaining. When a yellow caution flag came out, Kenseth came in as the leader and took on four new tires. He left the pits fifth, though, losing track position because the other contenders took on only two tires.

He managed to finish third, remarkable considering his thoughts during the race.

“I just planned on losing all day long,” he said. “I knew something was gonna happen and the minute I was thinking to myself, ‘Boy, we are in pretty good shape,’ sure enough, something happened.”

Kenseth drives the Mark Martin-owned, DeWalt-sponsored black and yellow No. 17 Ford Taurus.

Martin and Kenseth met at a Busch Grand National drivers’ meeting when Kenseth was in his rookie season driving for Robbie Reiser, who is now crew chief on his Winston Cup car.

“When Mark was having those back problems a couple of years ago, he wasn’t sure how many years he would be able to keep doing this thing,” said car owner Jack Roush, whose Ford stable includes Jeff Burton and Chad Little as well as Martin and Kenseth. “He said he felt Matt would be a good guy to step in behind him.

“Where we are now with Matt and Robbie [Reiser] in the 17 car, I think we’ll find somebody else to fill Mark’s shoes down the road.”

Martin has been Kenseth’s biggest booster, treating him as his personal protege.

“When I first saw Matt, and talked with him, I was impressed with his questions and his response to my answers,” said Martin, in his 18th Winston Cup season. “He reminded me a lot of myself.”

Martin, who finished 12th at Charlotte, was one of the first to congratulate Kenseth.

“Honestly and truly, I think Mark was as happy for me winning as I was,” Kenseth said. “When I won my first Busch race [in 1998 at Rockingham, N.C.], he was pretty excited and happy. He’s told me he stuck his neck out for me [when] he got me signed up with Jack Roush when I really hadn’t shown anybody anything before that.”

It wasn’t the first time that Kenseth progressed through his association with a rival driver.

In Wisconsin, as a teenager racing late-model stock cars in the ARTGO Challenge Series, he met Reiser, a fellow racer. In 1997, Kenseth got a call from Reiser to come drive his car in the remaining Busch series. Tim Bender, Reiser’s driver, had been injured in an accident and Reiser remembered the young man from Wisconsin who had been the youngest driver to win an ARTGO main event.

The youngest before Kenseth had been a kid from Arkansas named Mark Martin.

“Robbie and I have been together nearly four years now, and I think our relationship has been important in our success,” Kenseth said. “We understand each other and that is very important in racing, especially at this level.”

Besides having Reiser as crew chief on his Winston Cup car, Kenseth is also driving a Reiser-owned car in 20 Busch series events. He has won twice, at Daytona in the season opener and at California Speedway.

In his first full Busch season, in 1998, Kenseth finished second to Earnhardt Jr. in season standings, and last year finished third, Earnhardt again winning.

What does he think, now that he is leading his chief competitor in the rookie competition?

“I don’t think much about it at all, except when you [media] guys bring it up. It’s a long season, so there’s no reason to think about it now. I’m real happy with the results so far, but there’s lots left to do.

“Dale and I are good friends, but about the only place we see each other is at the race track. We don’t socialize together, we just race against each other. I think we’re both happy when the other guy does well because we came up together.”

Said Earnhardt Jr.: “I am so happy for Matt and Robbie [about winning in their rookie season]. They are a class act. We became good friends with those guys the last two seasons in the Busch series. I know how hard they work at it, and they deserve it.”

Like so many drivers, Kenseth got into it because of his father’s love for the sport.

“My dad made me a deal when I was 13, he would buy a race car and drive it if I would work on it and keep it up,” he said. “Then, when I turned 16, I could drive the car. It was hard work but it was also a great experience and really prepared me to do more than just steer the car.”

In only his third race, while a high school junior, he won his first feature event at Madison, the first of 46 on Wisconsin short tracks. Twelve years, numerous championships and many checkered flags later, he still hasn’t grown accustomed to winning.