On the Right Track
A NASCAR BLOG BY Jeff Gluck
Kenseth's best days may be behind him
As the dog days of summer continue to tick by, we keep hearing about how Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart have yet to win a race this season.
But there's another former Cup champion who is winless too.
Matt Kenseth, who has won a race in each of the previous six seasons, has yet to reach victory lane. Now he's 36 years old – about a year younger than both Stewart and Gordon – so it's fair to ask if Kenseth's best days are behind him.
For years, Mr. Consistent has been a fixture in the top five. Every time you looked up, he was running third, fourth, fifth...somewhere in there.
Today, he's still a regular in the top 10 – but that's not how championships are won. Roush Fenway Racing needs to get Kenseth running in the top five again.
In the Chase era, top-fives have become the key to a title-winning season. And Kenseth only has four of those in 20 races this year (last year he had seven at this point and ultimately finished with 13).
Last season, Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and runnerup Gordon each had six top-five finishes in the Chase.
Assuming that the Cup winner will have top-fives in at least half of the Chase races this year is realistic. But the way Kenseth's team is running these days, it's hard to envision him doing that.
Last year, as he closed the season with five straight top-fives and won at Homestead, Kenseth seemed like a logical pick to contend for his second Cup title in 2008.
He's 11th in points and contending for a Chase berth, but many of the races where he used to record top-fives have turned into top-10s instead.
It's hard to win races that way, let alone the Cup title.
Can Kenseth still get it done?
Jeff Gluck
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Jeff Gluck has covered NASCAR since 2004. He has worked for NASCAR Scene as an associate editor since 2007.
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Comments
9 responses to "Kenseth's best days may be behind him". Post a Comment.
John Lockhart said:
Aug 2, 2008 at 10:01 AMEvery driver and team will go through a slump time now and again.Matt his just going through his.Don't count him out just yet.He may not be the Cup Champ this year,but that man can still drive a race car better than alot of them can.
Kory James said:
Aug 2, 2008 at 3:19 PMI guess youd better ask if TS and JG's best days are behind the too(along with KB, RN and a wack of others), as neither have won a Nascrap race this season also. Last season, racing both cars posed a problem with RFR,and so far this season, MK has had lots of bad luck. Do you not recall that 6-8wks ago MK was like 22 in points.? If he hadnt blow his rear quarter panel off, chances are he would of posted another descent finish and probably be 7th in points. Nice article you troll.!!
Chazzo Ozzahc said:
Aug 4, 2008 at 7:38 AMi dont think juan pablo has won this year...or harvick...we better retire them...seems that they are over 30 and useless....what a dumb article
Robin Drummond said:
Aug 4, 2008 at 4:56 PMAre you kidding me? Matt is still one of the best Cup drivers! Remember, this is his first year without Robby who took him to a championship. Don't you think it's fair to give him and his new crew chief a "grace" period? Okay, he's not been a great qualifyer, but he can still get the job done. Time will tell.
Patricia McKean said:
Aug 4, 2008 at 6:03 PMI have been a Kenseth fan since Dale Senior passed(Kenseth was my Busch driver back then)and a Nascar fan for about 25 + yrs. Matt is far from done !! Can't believe you even waste peoples time writing an article like this !!He is still one of the best drivers on the track and the reason he is in the position he is in is not his fault!! Do you even watch the races? I say let Bolin and Matt get used to working together and you'll see another championship for Matt!!! GO KILLER BEES !!! Matt is and will be for quite some time a GREAT DRIVER !!
Tom Kilbey said:
Aug 7, 2008 at 10:48 AMGluck is obviously a passive observer. If he actually studied or followed Kenseth's performance this he would come to understand, like us 17 fans, that most of the serious problems with the team has been Chip's bad pit decisions, not the driver. Kenseth is still one the top 3 driver's in NASCAR. Once Chip gets canned or improves, Matty will be right back on top! I agree with Patricia's and Robin's statements
tom lehnis said:
Aug 7, 2008 at 10:35 PMthe ONLY good thing about thisarticle(?)was that you didn't mention junior once, and i'm certainly thankful for that.
Kim Palmer said:
Aug 8, 2008 at 2:59 PMHe better win, I got beer riding on him
4da88 said:
Aug 9, 2008 at 5:45 PMMr. Gluck, you speak better than you write. At least you don't sound like a complete idiot on video.