| | Associated Press
DOVER, Del. -- Matt Kenseth has a chance to make history, and his boss wants to make sure he doesn't.
For Mark Martin, Sunday on the Monster Mile might be more entertaining than any he's had in a while. He and his employee-teammate are among the drivers to beat in the MBNA Platinum 400.
"I think it would be great if it came down to the two of us for the win," Martin said.
And if Martin reaches the checkered flag first, Kenseth won't reach the record book as the only rookie to win consecutively in Winston Cup history. The 41-year-old Martin, a partner in Kenseth's car with the boss of both, Jack Roush, isn't ready to concede anything to his 29-year-old protege.
"I think the old man should win," Martin said. "Youth should not prevail this time."
The protege isn't buying the "old man" talk. He knows Martin's record at Dover Downs International Speedway -- a rash of top-10 finishes and victories each of the last three Septembers in the second of the track's two annual Winston Cup events.
Kenseth does not figure as a major contender simply because he got his first victory last Sunday night in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He has a record of success at Dover that makes him hard to ignore.
He won a Busch series race in 1998 and dominated one last year until his friend, Dale Earnhardt Jr., crashed him. Kenseth also ran sixth as a late fill-in for Bill Elliott in 1998 and fourth last year in Winston Cup starts at Dover, so he knows he can stay close to Martin.
"That would be pretty cool," Kenseth said of a 1-2 duel near the end. "I hope we end up getting a shot at it."
They might get two, because both are driving Saturday in the MBNA Platinum 200, the Busch series event. Martin generally does not drive in Busch races at Dover, but is doing so in his final season as part-timer on the circuit. Kenseth still competes in most Busch races.
Martin, the Busch career leader with 44 victories, has won four times this year. Kenseth has won twice this season and nine times the last three years.
Being a superstar in Winston Cup, where he has 32 career victories, has done nothing to quench Martin's thirst for Busch success.
"I want to win all that I can now," he said.
Rookie or not, Kenseth doesn't beg off the role of top contender at Dover. In fact, he can't wait for the races on the narrow concrete surface banked at 24 degrees in the turns.
He's very much in the minority.
"A lot of people dread going to Dover," Kenseth said. "If I had a choice to go to any race track, Dover would be it."
The low-key Kenseth is not celebrating much his breakthrough victory at Lowe's even though it came in a NASCAR major. He thinks it should have been his second victory.
Kenseth dominated on April 30 at California Speedway, leading four times for 119 of 250 laps in the NAPA 500. But a decision to take four tires when most contenders took only two during a late-race pit stop cost him valuable track position, and he finished third.
"We probably had the second- or third-best car at Charlotte, and we won," he said of the race last Sunday night. "I'm a firm believer that if you run well, those things balance themselves out."
Kenseth also thinks the Dover Winston Cup event will be much
more than a two-car race.
Points leader Bobby Labonte is the defending race champion, and
series champion Dale Jarrett won in 1998.
Also, Earnhardt Jr., who has two Winston Cup victories this year
and took the NASCAR all-star race two weeks ago at Lowe's, won the
spring Busch race the last two years at Dover. He no longer races
in the Busch series.
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