Roush Fenway’s Matt Kenseth and Todd Parrott enjoy solid first two weeks together
Matt Kenseth (17) battles Jeff Gordon for the lead during the early stages of the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kenseth scored his third consecutive top-10 with a fifth place finish.
// Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
LAS VEGAS – Twelve days into their driver-crew chief relationship, Matt Kenseth and Todd Parrott say they believe their relationship has plenty more good days to come. Kenseth’s fifth-place run in the Shelby American Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway followed a seventh-place finish last week at Auto Club Speedway in his first race with Parrott.
“It’s been a really fun two weeks,” Kenseth said. “I don’t know Todd really that well. I’ve just worked with him for a couple of weeks. I’ve known him from around the garage and stuff.
“He’s been around a long time. He’s just really fired up to be a part of this, which is fun. He’s definitely bringing some energy and enthusiasm.”
And what has Parrott learned about Kenseth in two races?
“He is one hell of a race-car driver,” Parrott said.
The 2003 Cup champion, Kenseth failed to make the Chase For The Sprint Cup for the first time since its inception in 2004 when he won the first two races of 2009 but struggled the remainder of the season.
After an unsatisfactory performance in the Daytona 500, Kenseth decided the team needed new leadership, and Parrott was tabbed to replace Drew Blickensderfer. In maybe his first test with adversity during a race, Parrott was able to help Kenseth rebound Sunday from an unscheduled pit stop for a vibration that Kenseth thought was a loose wheel.
“I’m pretty happy,” Parrott said. “We had a car that should have finished second today. … He kept his head together. The guys in the pits, we kept working on our strategy after that. We had a great car today. To come home fifth, I’m happy.”
Kenseth averaged a finish of 16th on the 1.5-mile tracks last year, so the fifth-place finish Sunday was a major step.
“I’m not going to get overly optimistic,” said Kenseth, who is fourth in the point standings. “I did that last year after two wins, and you see what can happen there. So you really have to take it one week at a time. I certainly feel good about the direction … of our cars and our team.
“We need to get through more than three weeks to make a prediction for the year, but certainly I feel like we’re on the right track. They’ve done a lot of work over the winter at the shop trying to get all the stuff better.”
Last week, Roush Fenway cars finished seventh, 10th, 13th and 23rd. At Las Vegas, Kenseth was fifth, with Greg Biffle 10th, Carl Edwards 12th and David Ragan 23rd.
“Most of us were disappointed with how [the cars] ran last weekend,” Kenseth said. “We couldn’t really compete. This weekend seemed to be better. The 16 [of Biffle], the 99 [of Edwards], all those guys seemed to run better than we have been.
“That’s an encouraging sign. But we’ve still got to get to more different race tracks and see if we can do it every week.”
