DAYTONA BEACH, Fla — Feb. 20, 2009) – Ross Kenseth is a 15-year-old high school basketball player who knows how to win on the court and on the track. The Spring Valley, Ill., teenager is also the son of the 2009 Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth. And like his father, Ross likes to compete, he likes to race, and he enjoys winning.
In 2008, Ross, Matt and Matt’s dad Roy formed Generation 3 Motorsports. The team fielded No. 25 Blaine’s Far & Fleet/DeWalt Tools Ford Fusion Late Models and Limited Late Models in which Ross competes in weekly racing in Wisconsin and Illinois, much like his father and grandfather before him. He also competes in a regional Late Model series, and in special events at the NASCAR-sanctioned Rockford (Ill.) Speedway and LaCrosse (Wisc.) Fairgrounds Speedway.
Young Kenseth broke through to Victory Lanes at four tracks starting midway through the 2008 season. His biggest win came in a 100-lap Late Model series event at LaCrosse during the track’s famed Oktoberfest extravaganza. He won the event 15 years after his father won the same race.
“It was awesome,” he said of the win. “There’s a lot of history at LaCrosse and you can tell that by the names that have won here. Dick Trickle was there and he’s a really cool guy. It’s just cool to win there.”
Ross had a tense day watching FOX Sports telecast of Sunday’s Daytona 500.
“I was praying for rain after the last caution came out,” Ross said. “I was really shocked and excited. That’s a really nice race to win, so I was happy for him.”
While Monday kicked off Matt’s Daytona 500 winner’s tour, visiting New York City-based morning and evening talk shows, Ross was busy as a sophomore at St. Bede Academy in Peru, Ill.
“I had school, so I didn’t see any of it,” he said. “But I got a few ‘congratulations’ and people said it was really cool to see my dad on TV. That kind of stuff.”
At 6-foot-1 Ross is also on the St. Bede Bruins basketball team.
“We had a great start this year and were 9-0. Now we’re 13-5,” he said.
Matt instilled some of his own racing traits in Ross, who learned his lessons well.
“He’s taught me a lot, but being patient I think is the biggest one,” said Ross, who lists his father along with Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya as his favorite drivers. “That’s really what I try to do. I’ve been told to just be patient and good things will happen for you.”
He has the same philosophy about his short-track racing program.
“I really don’t have any plans to do anything but race at Madison, the series we run up here… about what we did last year,” Ross said. He finished second in the Madison point standings in 2008.
When he turns 16 in May, Ross will be eligible to run in NASCAR’s regional touring series.
Since its inception, NASCAR’s local racing series has served as a springboard in the careers of many top-tier NASCAR drivers. Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Kurt and Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Elliott Sadler and Brian Vickers all began their careers in the NASCAR short-track program.
For more information, contact:
Jason Christley, NASCAR Public Relations, (386) 947-6788 or jchristley@nascar.com
