Support » SCENE-please remove inappropriate photos of the dead/horrific
sweetthing88. yes it is bad when a person like SS396 can talk to women the way he does. He should be banned from this site.
Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth can't put finger on recent struggles
By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor
Friday, July 03, 2009
Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth is 10th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series after 17 races this season.
Lee Holmes
NASCAR Scene
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The last time Roush Fenway Racing driver Matt Kenseth left Daytona International Speedway, he left a happy man.
Well, not the last time, but the time before that.
“The last time I was here, I wasn’t, because I got beat in the media go-kart race,” Kenseth jokingly said, referring to an appearance at Daytona last month.
In February, however, Kenseth won the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s biggest race. He returns to the famed 2.5-mile oval with mixed emotions for the Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night.
“Obviously, winning the 500 was huge for us and really kicked the year off, and we were lucky enough to follow that up at [Auto Club Speedway in] California,” Kenseth said. “Anyway, it’s been really up and down since then. We’ve had some good runs, some bad runs and some not-very- consistent finishes, so I’m glad to be back here and hopefully we can get our car to handle and be up front and have a shot at it again.”
Kenseth hasn’t been up front much since winning the opening two races of the season. He didn’t have another top-five after California until Texas five races later.
Things then seemed to turn around, as Kenseth and crew chief Drew Blickensderfer posted three straight top-10s – but Kenseth hasn’t finished higher than 16th in the last four events.
What’s missing?
“For us as a group, I’m not sure,” Kenseth said. “For us as an organization, I think we’ve been off on the short tracks and the flat tracks, places like last weekend [New Hampshire], places like Richmond and Phoenix. Tracks like that I think we’ve been off at a little bit performance-wise.
“As far as us as the 17 [team], if I just look at our team, we obviously started off real good, and after that it really hasn’t been one thing. We broke the first lap at Vegas; we broke a part, which is really strange. There’s been some races like Talladega where we were second with four laps to go, had ourselves in great position and then got a flat tire from a fender rub. Then we had a loose wheel at Charlotte.”
So it hasn’t been one area where Kenseth’s team is off.
“Now, we haven’t really been contenders to win races – there have been a couple of races where we ran pretty good – but we haven’t been contenders to win races,” Kenseth said. “I think we’ve been a top-10 car more times than not, but it seems like we keep turning top-10 or top-12 runs into 20th- and 30th-place finishes, from having problems, all kinds of different problems.”
Kenseth remains in contention for the Chase For The Sprint Cup, sitting 10th in the point standings. But he says he doesn’t look at the standings that much.
“I don’t really pay much attention to that,” Kenseth said. “Yeah, I’m kind of aware of where we’re at. I look at the standings every few weeks or something or somebody will say where you’re at. But if you run good and you finish good, you’ll get the points to make it to the Chase.
“Certainly, it’s a real big deal to make the Chase, and if you make it, you want to have a legitimate shot at a championship every year."
But Kenseth wants to be more than just a Chase contender.
“We’ve got to get running better to start with, but we’ve certainly got to get [to] finishing better,” Kenseth said. “Like last week, we ran 12th all week, which was nothing to be too excited about, and finished 22nd. We’ve been doing that a lot. Pocono, [we ran] in third all day and finished 18th or something. We’ve got to figure out how to get that to stop. There’s no way we’re going to make it doing that.”
Mentioned Drivers: Matt Kenseth
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
Popular News
-
Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. eager for return to Texas Motor Speedway
Comments (138) -
Richard Petty Motorsports' AJ Allmendinger charged with driving while impaired
Comments (73) -
JR Motorsports continues work on bringing Danica Patrick to NASCAR
Comments (68) -
NASCAR says bump-drafting rules not to blame for single-file Talladega racing
Comments (67) -
Dave Rogers to become Kyle Busch's new Cup crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing
Comments (64)
Recent Headlines
-
Kyle Busch pulls off Texas two-step by winning Nationwide race
Comments (1) -
Oklahoma teacher named Dickies American Worker of the Year
Post Comment -
Roush Fenway Racing's Donnie Wingo set to return to organization for 2010 NASCAR season
Post Comment -
Toyota executive addresses Formula One decision, Earnhardt Ganassi possibility
Comments (2) -
Jimmie Johnson leads final Cup practice at Texas
Comments (4)
Poll PositionView All
Which NASCAR Sprint Cup race winner from the past two seasons is most likely to earn his first victory of 2009 in the next three races?
Promotions
-
Play "WIX Filters' Pick 3" stock car fantasy and win prizes. Season 2 is now in session!
-
Tweet your thoughts about each race and join the conversation with other fans.
-
Drive an authentic NASCAR Sprint Cup car at the NASCAR Racing Experience.
-
Cast your vote for the NASCAR Illustrated 2009 Person of the Year, presented by Old Spice.
-
Make weekly pics for the Chase and be entered to win weekly SPEED Merchandise.
Comments
4 responses to "Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth can't put finger on recent struggles ". Post a Comment.
bluejay1flying said:
Jul 3, 2009 at 4:38 PMMatt you can only do what you can do. Let your pitcrew get the job done for helping you win.
Report as AbuseI will watch from start to finish GOOD LUCK AT
DAYTONA!!!!! Remember keep your positive attitude and a smile on your face thumbs up to you my favorite driver.
Report Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Jul 3, 2009 at 5:13 PMGo Matt, and ALL the Roushkateers.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportbthompson133 said:
Jul 3, 2009 at 9:29 PMrelax matt
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner said:
Jul 4, 2009 at 11:30 AMjust make sure you stay in the top 12 and then run the wheels off in those last 10 races...the ones that JJ and Knaus prepare for...
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Report