Catchfence

Matt Kenseth, right, driver of the No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford, talks with crew chief Jimmy Fennigin the garage during practice - Photo Credit: Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR

Team: No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Fusion
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: Primary: RK-808 (brand new chassis)

Kenseth on racing at Michigan International Speedway:

“Michigan is one of my favorite tracks throughout the season and I always look forward to going to Michigan since it’s in the Midwest. It’s really important to have a good-handling car at Michigan since it’s a big sweeping track. We participated in the tire test here in April and saw some pretty quick lap times. There was a ton of grip, and I assume it would be a little faster as the track gets dusted off and rubbered in, so speeds should pick up a bit. When we were in race trim, we were almost four seconds faster than we were racing last year, which is quite a difference. Racing at Michigan is a big weekend for us since the area is the headquarters for Roush Industries and Ford Motor Company.”

Crew chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Michigan International Speedway:

“We are going to start this weekend off at Michigan with our notes from the tire test we participated in back in April. With the new pavement, we really won’t use a lot of our notes beyond the repave, but we do have a plan to try some various set-ups during Thursday’s test session. Of course we hope to find a few things that we can use for this weekend’s race in our EcoBoost Ford. We’ll see how the track has changed since April because when we first got out there it was pretty loose and then tightened up as the test went on.”

FAST FACTS:

FansEdge.com

• Kenseth has achieved two wins, 11 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes at Michigan in the Cup series

• At Michigan, Kenseth ranks second for the best average finishing position with a 9.5 average. Roush Fenway teammate, Carl Edwards, has the best average finish among current drivers with a 8.2 average

• Kenseth has completed 4,771 of 4,894 (97.5 percent) laps at Michigan and led for a total of 262 laps

• This weekend at Michigan, Kenseth will pilot the No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Fusion

• Entering this weekend, Kenseth is currently leading the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings

Source: Roush Fenway Racing, Press Release