Matt Kenseth has qualified in the top 10 just once in 2004. Credit: Autostock

Kenseth rebounds after practice crash

LONG POND, Pa. -- Matt Kenseth confessed to a severe case of brain-fade in Friday afternoon's Nextel Cup Series practice, but he credited his crew and car for a great comeback in Bud Pole Qualifying at Pocono Raceway.

Kenseth put his Ford onto the grid for Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 in 15th -- which isn't great until you consider his average start this season is 25th. But the circumstances are what make the effort shine.

"I can't exactly say we run that well in qualifying usually, so 15th is really good for us," Kenseth said. "I was comfortable with this car (because) it's a car we ran the last time we were here and it's a car we've used a lot in the past -- it's one of my favorite cars.

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"We just went and took the 6 car's (Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin) qualifying set-up, took it right out of his car and put it into ours. Mark and my stuff is usually pretty close -- I usually run slower than he does, but our cars take similar set-ups."

Martin qualified 21st, so that was a revelation for Kenseth, as well.

"He (Martin) said it drove good and we usually have the same aero packages in my cars, so it usually drives good in my car, too," Kenseth said. "I was confident with that. I appreciated his help, put his stuff in there, he told me it was gonna be a little tight, and it was, so he was right."

Kenseth ran only eight laps in the one-hour afternoon practice, posting the 34th best lap of 46 cars that practiced, before he hit the inside pit wall as he tried to make the left turn into the garage area.

"I just brain-faded, you know?" Kenseth said. "When I was a kid my mom backed through the garage door without opening it and it was a lot like that.

"I was coming down pit road and I was too far to the left side of pit road. I was dropping the window net with one hand and talking on the radio with the other hand, I cut the corner (into the garage) and that wall is so short, I didn't notice I was that close to it and tore the side off it."

Crew chief Robbie Reiser said the damage to the left side of the car was so severe the team's road crew couldn't make the necessary repairs to continue with it, so they took the engine out of the primary car and put it into its backup.

They had no time to practice with the car, with which Kenseth has won twice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and which he also finished second with last season at Indianapolis, a track with the same tendencies as Pocono.

"As good as our qualifying is, I don't think not practicing is going to hurt us too much," Reiser said with a chuckle. "But this has really been a good car for us, so we think we'll be OK."