When #17-Matt Kenseth takes the green flag in this Sunday’s UAW-Ford 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway, he will be making the 250th Nextel Cup Series start of his nine-year career. Kenseth, the 2003 Cup Champion, will become the 76th driver in NASCAR history to reach the milestone.

Kenseth broke into the Cup Series in 1998 at Dover International Speedway, where he drove to a sixth-place finish while filling in for #94-Bill Elliott. Together with crew chief and fellow Wisconsin native, Robbie Reiser, and car sponsor DEWALT, Kenseth made the leap into full-time competition in NASCAR’s Cup division in 2000. That year, Kenseth became the only rookie ever to win the Coca-Cola 600, a victory that helped propel him to Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors.

In 2003, Kenseth brought car owner Jack Roush his first Cup Championship by claiming the final championship of the Winston Cup era. Since then, Kenseth has won the 2004 IROC Championship, won the 2004 Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and is one of only three drivers to have made NASCAR’s Chase for the Nextel Cup all three seasons.

[Roush Racing PR]

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