Matt Kenseth gets four tires and fuel during a stop Saturday during the Koolerz 300. Credit: Autostock
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
February 17, 2003
10:38 AM EST (1538 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Throughout the entirety of Speedweeks 2003, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Richard Childress Racing have been utterly untouchable, leaving everyone else to scratch their heads in confusion.
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But when Matt Kenseth snuck his Reiser Enterprises Ford into the fold during Saturday's Busch Series race, teams everywhere breathed a small sigh of relief.
Sure, Busch cars differ from Winston Cup machines, but Kenseth's second-place finish in the Koolerz 300 -- just between winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and third-place Kevin Harvick - proved that given the proper circumstances, Juniorfest '03 at Daytona could be halted.
 | VIDEO CLIPS | | |  | Harvick ends up fourth after leading 53 laps
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| | |  | Vickers, Gibbs, Barrett find trouble early
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"I don't know about tomorrow, but today towards the beginning of the race when (Harvick) was up front, I don't think Dale Jr. could get around him and I feel like if I'd have been out front on that last restart it would have been tough to get around me, too," said Kenseth, who starts the Daytona 500 in 35th position.
There's no questioning Earnhardt Jr's superior equipment. He's had the best racecar since the minute Speedweeks began. But if he stumbles at all late in the race, the door will be open to dethrone the current king of Central Florida.
"You have to have a real fast car, but it's important to be out front and have the track position you need," Kenseth said. "That's the key - to be out front after the last pit stop."
Junior has been out front all week. He won the Budweiser Shootout, his Gatorade 125-mile qualifying race and the NASCAR Busch Series event in a newly designed Chevrolet Monte Carlo that drivers say is far better even than the make he won in Saturday.
That makes him the man to follow in the draft, regardless the stage in the race, but especially at the end. That makes passing even more difficult. The fear of being left out of the draft -- and hence losing many crucial positions -- is daunting.
"A lot of people don't want to take the risk of doing it," Kenseth said. "You can pass the leader if you have the right people behind you.
"But over those last 20 laps I wasn't going to drive outside Dale Jr. and have everybody behind me turn left and follow him and lose 15 spots. I was stupid enough Thursday; I wasn't going to do that again.
"Our cars were pretty equal. A lot of this race is track position and being in front - especially when it comes to the top three or four or five cars. I think if we would've been in front I don't think he could've passed me."
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