While Matt Kenseth continues to make his mark in what this year will be known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, he will continue to test his skills on a limited basis in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Even though he made only 24 starts during the 35-race schedule last year, Kenseth finished 10th in the final point standings after winning two races. He posted 15 top-5 finishes and 18 top-10 performances to offset the 11 races he missed, and moved into sixth-place on the all-time Nationwide Series win list when he captured the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in April. That victory enabled him to pass Sam Ard with his 23rd series win and leaves him only one behind fifth-place Tommy Houston.

Kenseth’s career got jump-started when Mark Martin took him under his wing in ‘97.That was his first full season in the Busch Series after competing in only one such event in ’96 and Kenseth managed a pair of top-five finishes and seven top-10 efforts in 21 starts.

Kenseth blossomed in ’98 with three victories, 17 top-fives and 23 top-10s in 31 races and challenged Earnhardt Jr. for the points championship before ultimately finishing second. He was equally strong in ’99 with four triumphs, 14 top-fives and 20 top-10s in 32 events as he placed third in the final standings.

Even though he never won a Busch Series championship, he’ll gladly live with being the final Winston Cup champion. Prior to that, the only other championships Kenseth claimed came at Madison International Speedway in ‘94 and at Wisconsin International Raceway in ’94 and ’95.