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Matt Kenseth recalls legendary Dale Earnhardt story

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•07/05/23•

NickGeddesNews

Matt Kenseth
(Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)

Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth recently recalled an interaction he shared with the late Dale Earnhardt after an Atlanta Motor Speedway qualifying session.

Kenseth won the pole for the Busch Series race, beating out Earnhardt’s son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. The difference? Kenseth ran his car wide open around the track, while Earnhardt Jr. didn’t get there through a couple corners. Now more than two decades later, Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr. shared a laugh of the moment on “The Dale Jr. Download.”

“So you walk in, starting to take your shoes off ‘Leave your shoes on, carpet’s the cheapest thing in my motorhome, sit down over there,'” Kenseth shared that Earnhardt said. “And we were on the pole in Atlanta, and it was in the Busch cars where you could run wide open most of the time. He was like ‘Matt, good job on the pole.’ I was like ‘Ah thanks.’ He was like ‘Did you run it wide open?’ I was like ‘Yeah, I ran my car wide open.’ [He goes] ‘Dale Jr., did you run it wide open?’…

“He stops and looks right at you “Did you run it wide open or not?’ And you’re like ‘Well I didn’t quite make it through [Turns] 1 and 2 wide open.’ [And he responds] ‘Well that’s why you’re not on the pole.”

Matt Kenseth recognized as one of NASCAR’s greatest of all-time

Kenseth took his place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January, inducted alongside Hershel McGriff and Kirk Shelmerdine. The pride of Cambridge, Wisconsin, added another accolade to his resume in May, as Kenseth was named to NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list.

Kenseth, 51, is a 39-time winner in the Cup Series and 2003 champion. Despite winning just one race, Kenseth led the points standings for the final 32 weeks of that season. Kenseth was as consistent as they came during his run on top through the 2000s, finishing in the top-10 of the final points standings in 13-of-16 seasons from 2003-17. Kenseth narrowly missed out on championships in 2006 and ’13, finishing second each season.

Regarded as one of the best superspeedway drivers of all-time, Kenseth crossed the checkered line first in the 2009 and ’12 Daytona 500. In addition, he picked up a victory in the 2013 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway — known as NASCAR’s original superspeedway. Kenseth also won the 2000 Coca-Cola 600 and the ’04 All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.