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Matthew Roy "Matt" Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently drives the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Kenseth also drives the No. 20 Camry for JGR in the Xfinity Series, on a part-time basis. Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track championships at Madison International Speedway, Slinger Super Speedway and Wisconsin International Raceway. He moved to the ARTGO, American Speed Association, and Hooters Late Model touring series before getting a full-time ride in the NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) for his former Wisconsin short track rival Robbie Reiser. After finishing second and third in the standings, he moved up in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (later NEXTEL Cup Series and now Sprint Cup Series). He won the series' Rookie of the Year title in 2000 and the championship in 2003. The International Race of Champions invited Kenseth to race in their 2004 season as the reigning champion and he won the season championship. In 2009, he won a rain-shortened Daytona 500 and repeated as Daytona 500 winner in 2012. He is the father of Ross Kenseth. ==Early life and career== Kenseth was born in Cambridge, Wisconsin. He made an agreement with his father, Roy, that Roy should buy a car and race, and Matt would work on the car until he was old enough to race. Kenseth began stock car racing in 1988 at the age of 16 at Madison International Speedway.〔 "My dad bought a car when I was 13 and raced it at Madison," Kenseth said. "Neither of us knew much and it was a learning experience. He continued to race in 1988 and 1989. My first car – what might be considered a sportsman – was a 1981 Camaro that Todd Kropf had driven to championships at Madison and Columbus 151 Speedway. On the third night out I won a feature. I ran 15 features in 1983 and won two of them."〔 "The first night out in the Kropf car Matt won a heat race," said Kenseth's father Roy. "The third night he won the feature by holding off two of the best drivers at the track, Pete Moore and Dave Phillips, for 20 laps. Matt was smooth. I knew then he was going to be a racer."〔 He ran for the points title on Saturday nights at Wisconsin Dells in 1989. He finished second in points and won eight features.〔 On Friday nights, he ran about half of the races at Golden Sands Speedway and half at Columbus 151 Speedway.〔 In 1990, he bought a late model from Rich Bickle.〔 In the season-opening race at Slinger Super Speedway, Kenseth inherited the lead and won his only race of the season when track champion Tony Strupp had a flat tire.〔 He finished sixth in season points and won the track's rookie of the year award.〔 Kenseth entered fifteen ARTGO events that season and raced in 40 features that year.〔 After graduating from Cambridge High School that summer, Kenseth worked for four years selling and shipping parts for Left-hander Chassis, a late model racecar chassis manufacturer just south of Wisconsin in Illinois.〔 In 1991 he won the ARTGO race at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway to become the youngest winner in the series' history.〔 He passed Joe Shear and Steve Holzhausen, and held off Steve and Tom Carlson for the win.〔 1992 was a difficult year for Kenseth. He won three races and blew up more engines than he could count.〔 He was ready to quit racing after the season.〔 "I felt we were at a standstill", he said. "I wasn't gaining. My dad and I had some major discussions at the end of the year. We had to find the dollars for a good program or I told him I would rather not race."〔 Kipley Performance loaned a motor to Kenseth for the season-final race at La Crosse and the team ran better.〔 Kenseth built a new car for 1993 using a Kipley engine.〔 He used the car at Madison to win eight features and finished second in the points.〔 Mike Butz offered Kenseth the chance to race his late model, and it took some time for the combination to stop struggling before they started winning features.〔 At the end of the season, they won the final short track series race at Madison, La Crosse, and I-70 Speedway.〔 The 1994 and 1995 seasons established Kenseth as a short track star.〔 Kenseth made a name for himself while driving at several Wisconsin tracks, beating nationally known drivers such as Dick Trickle and Robbie Reiser. He raced 60 times in three different cars in 1994, winning track championships at both Wisconsin International Raceway (WIR) on Thursday nights and Madison on Friday nights.〔 Kenseth competed against Reiser at Madison, and won 12 of 17 features at the track.〔 He won the 1994 Slinger Nationals at Slinger Super Speedway.〔 In 1995, he repeated with back-to-back championships at Madison and WIR, plus he won the Red, White, and Blue state championship series at WIR on three Saturday nights.〔 Butz's wife Patty Butz said "We knew by 1995 that Matt had too much talent to be with us for very long."〔 Kenseth decided to move across the country in 1996 to the Southern United States to race for engine builder Carl Wegner in the Hooters Series Late Model championship.〔 The plan was to run the Hooters Series, five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, and five Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) before moving full-time into the Busch Series in 1997.〔 He finished third in the Hooters Series, nearly winning the series championship as a rookie.〔 In 1996, Kenseth made his Busch Series debut at the spring race at Lowe's Motor Speedway for Wegner, finishing 22nd after starting 30th in a car rented from Bobby Dotter.〔 Kenseth was disappointed because they were unable to attract major sponsorship.〔 "It was just like 1992", Kenseth said. "Plans just didn't work. I thought things would be different. Personally, I had moved and was adjusting to being a thousand miles from home."〔 At the end of the season, the Wegner/Kenseth team closed, and Kenseth found a ride for Gerry Gunderman's American Speed Association team, who was also Alan Kulwicki's last shop in Wisconsin before moving to NASCAR.〔 The team raced together for two races in 1997 before Kenseth received a telephone call from a former competitor.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Matt Kenseth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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