Ford Racing’s history goes back more than 110 years to when Henry Ford won his first and only race in 1901. There have been many drivers since then who have sported the Blue Oval, but  Matt Kenseth is establishing himself as one of the best when it comes to driving stock cars.

 

After winning three times in 2011, Kenseth broke into Ford Racing’s all-time top-10 with 21 series victories. That puts him ninth and within two of Rusty Wallace, who sits  eighth on that list.  In addition, Kenseth sat on three poles last season, which nearly matched his career total of four, and ended up fourth in the final standings. That  means Kenseth has finished 10th or better in points eight times in 12 seasons.

 

During that time behind the wheel of the No. 17 Ford, Kenseth has experienced some of the sport’s highest of highs, including a win in the 2009 Daytona 500 – the first for car  owner Jack Roush -- and the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup championship.

 

His win at Daytona was memorable because his well-timed pass of Elliott Sadler came seconds before rain came falling down and ended the race before the scheduled distance. He  followed that up the following week by winning at California, but his bid for three in a row ended on the very first lap at Las Vegas when his engine blew up.

 

Kenseth is one of seven different Ford drivers to win the championship at NASCAR’s highest level, along with Ned Jarrett (1965), David Pearson (1968-69), Bill Elliott (1988),  Alan Kulwicki (1992), Dale Jarrett (1999) and Kurt Busch (2004).

 

The championship Kenseth won was a series first for car owner Jack Roush and continued a stretch that saw him win the Craftsman Truck Series championship in 2000 and the Busch  Series title in 2002 with Greg Biffle.

 

Known for always having one of the top pit crews in the business, Kenseth led the Nextel Cup Series in wins with five in 2002. That offset a winless 2001 campaign and helped  return him to the form that resulted in Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors in 2000.

 

Kenseth, whose first Nextel Cup victory came in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 2000, got his first taste of NASCAR’s top division at Dover in the fall of 1998  when he was tabbed to fill-in for Bill Elliott, who was attending the funeral of his father. Kenseth looked as though he was a grizzled veteran as he ran in the top 10 all day  before eventually finishing sixth in the McDonald’s Ford Taurus.

 

Kenseth got his second chance in 1999 at the TranSouth 400 when Bobby Labonte suffered a fractured scapula in a practice accident at Darlington. After Labonte started the  race, Kenseth replaced him during the team’s first pit stop and went from 43rd to 10th when rain finally brought the race to a premature halt.

 

Those two performances opened a lot of eyes and by the time Kenseth ran five races with his own team later in the year, he had already made a positive impression. Kenseth made  his debut in the DeWalt Power Tools Ford at Michigan in August and finished 14th, but his best Cup effort to that point came a month later at Dover when he placed fourth.

 

Kenseth’s career got jump-started when Mark Martin took him under his wing in 1997. 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 1994 and at Wisconsin International Raceway in ’94 and ’95.