BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Charlotte, N. C. — Following last week’s firecracker weekend on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway, Matt Kenseth was quoted as saying "It is a load off my shoulders to get out of Daytona with a top 10 finish and not really lose any points.”

There’s a reason for Kenseth’s optimism as his point lead in 2003 is roughly the same amount of points he lost on restrictor-plate tracks in 2002. Looking back at Kenseth’s 2002 finishes on the plate tracks and we see Kenseth had scored just 220 points in finishes of 33rd at Daytona, 30th at Talladega, Ala., and 30th at Daytona in the summer. Compare those finishes to 2003 results of 20th at Daytona, ninth at Talladega and sixth at Daytona on Saturday and you can see that Kenseth’s plate results are helping, not hurting, his overall tally.

Points? In 2002 Kenseth scored just 220 points in the first three plate races while in 2003 he’s scored 406. That gives him 186 points in 2003 that he didn’t have in 2002, which ironically closely covers his 180 point lead in the points standings.

It’d be nice to say that all of Kenseth’s performance gains on plate tracks came strictly as a result of hard work on the cars. But as everyone knows, the saying better lucky than good strongly applies when plate racing.

Take for example Kenseth sliding through his pits during a visit on pit road under caution after Dave Blaney was shoved out of Turn 2 by Jack Sprague. If Kenseth left pit road in roughly the same spot he’d entered it he could well have been taken out in the wreck caused by the blown tire on teammate Kurt Busch’s Ford several laps later. But that slide put Kenseth back in the pack and in an area where he was able to drive through the wreck.

INDY TRIO
Three of the teams that are testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week are carrying the Oval on the snouts of their cars. The members of the Ford family are Mark Martin, last week’s race winner Greg Biffle and Dave Blaney.

Fastest of the Ovals was Blaney’s Jasper Engines Ford, which turned a lap at 174.228 mph on the famed 2.5-mile speedway. That speed put Blaney sixth fast of the teams that tested.

The iron man of the session — of all drivers — was Martin. He posted 125 laps in two cars during the session and eked out speeds of 172.942 in car 6A and 172.265 in 6B.

Testing for the early August Brickyard 400 will continue this week as well as well as the following two weeks as the teams prepare for one of the tour’s most prestigious races.

SCORE
According to a report in the Indianapolis Star, Robert Yates Racing has hired the Riley of Riley & Scott fame. Bill Riley, co-owner of the renowned race car fabrication company, joins Yates as their new chassis engineer.

ON TRACK
Despite rains over the area that slowed construction improvements to Martinsville Speedway, work is close to being on track.

Martinsville is undertaking ambitious programs, which include a new access road and new seating. The project will eventually include moving the railroad tracks that run along the back straightaway allowing for seats to be added on the backside of the track.

An interesting twist in the funding of the project has $500,000 of the $2.5 million project coming from the national tobacco settlement via the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission.