rpm.espn.com: Matt Kenseth

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Friday, January 10
Updated: January 13, 2:40 PM ET

Matt Kenseth
By Rupen Fofaria
ESPN.com

Team: Roush Racing
Car/sponsor/make: No. 17 DeWalt Ford

Matt Kenseth
Kenseth

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Best finish

2002 8 5 11 19 First, five times

Career 6 20 52

2002 recap
The good: Kenseth won a series-high five races, shocking himself in the process. He started out by winning the second race of the year and ended up winning the second-to-last event of the year.

Season highlight: All five of his victories were highlights, especially considering how far he had to come to grab those checkered flags. The highest he started in a race he won was 20th.

The bad: Despite his victory total, Kenseth wasn't even the highest points finisher on his team. Mark Martin had a more consistent season and finished second. Kurt Busch was white hot at the end of the year and finished third.

Season lowlight: After such an outstanding year, Kenseth ended the season with an engine failure at Homestead that relegated him to a 40th-place finish. That wrecked any shot of him finishing top five in points.

Matt Kenseth

Key stat: 3. That's all the DNFs he had this past season.

2003 outlook
What needs to be done: Kenseth must find a way to be more consistent. Five wins balanced with 11 finishes of 30th or worse won't win championships. As impressive as his knack for winning was, Kenseth would be better off stacking top fives.

Prediction: Kenseth has got Roush power and that team was awesome last year. Look for Kenseth to improve on an already great year and compete for a top five finish.

Your take
After leading the series in wins in 2002, can Kenseth compete for a championship in 2003? Here are your thoughts.

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