Matt Kenseth 2010 Fantasy NASCAR Preview

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=matt+kenseth&iid=6986460″ src=”5/1/2/e/OReilly_Challenge_Practice_7224.jpg?adImageId=8823456&imageId=6986460″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /]Matt Kenseth

2009 Stats: Points Finish 14th, 2 Wins, 7 Top Fives, 12 Top Tens, Average Finish 15.5, Average Position 16.2, Laps Led 245, Driver Rating 83.5

No one started the 2009 season hotter than Matt Kenseth who won the first two races of the season. Despite his early victories Matt Kenseth missed the Chase for the first time since its inception. Matt Kenseth is a first-rate driver so don’t let the fact that he missed the Chase scare you off. I would like to inform you that things will be fine for Matt Kenseth in 2010. This winter I re-watched the fall Lowes race and it was mentioned on TV that Matt Kenseth was running the 2010 Roush Fenway new chassis. How did he do? He finished 2nd. A few weeks later he ran the same chassis again and finished 3rd at Texas. You can rest assured things will get turned around on the 17 team in 2010.

Strengths– Just like every Roush driver their primary strength lies on the intermediate tracks. Roush had a down year on these tracks in 2009, but the early indications say things will be better this season.

Weaknesses– Kenseth struggles on the shorter flat tracks (as most Roush cars normally do) such as New Hampshire and Phoenix. Kenseth also isn’t the best pick at the road courses.

Intermediate Track Grade- A-, Kenseth didn’t perform like an A- driver on these tracks for much of 2009 but as I mentioned earlier his 2010 equipment is going to be really good. Remember that when it comes to fantasy racing, “Intermediates win championships”.

Flat Track Grade- B-, New Hampshire and Phoenix both were unfriendly to Kenseth in 2009. Richmond has similar characteristics to these two and as you remember Kenseth couldn’t perform there if his Chase hopes depended on it. His best traditional flat track has always been Indy where he’s been close to winning a couple of times. He’s good at Pocono, but I certainly wouldn’t ever pick him to win there.

Restrictor Plate Grade- B+, Kenseth won the Daytona 500 in 2009 but lets remember he was only in the lead for 5 seconds before the rain came down. He’s been a consistent front-runner at these tracks for years now.  I would always favor him at Daytona over Talladega.

Short Track Grade- C, The only short track I would ever consider picking Kenseth at is Bristol. Roush cars have never been good at Martinsville and I’m sure you remember how poorly he ran at Richmond last year.

Road Course Track Grade- C, Kenseth actually had one of his better road course years in 2009.  He finished 18th at Infineon and 14th at Watkins Glen. In my opinion don’t even mess fire and don’t pick Kenseth at a road course.

How to use Kenseth from a fantasy racing perspective in 2010?

Really focus on using Kenseth at the intermediate tracks. There tracks are his bread and butter and there isn’t any particular track where he’s a bad pick. If you’re looking to pick him for a restrictor plate race I would strongly favor him at Daytona over Talladega.

Click HERE for more Matt Kenseth Stats

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