Kenseth Relaxed Amid Pursuit Of Second Cup Title
Story By: REID SPENCER / NASCAR WIRE SERVICE
Photos By: GETTY IMAGES / NASCAR
CHARLOTTE, N.C.- January 25, 2017- Heading into his 17th full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, it seems as if Matt Kenseth is already in prime form.
Kenseth is entering his fifth year for Joe Gibbs Racing and has another chance at capturing his second championship in 2017.
The Cambridge, Wisconsin driver is coming off a 2016 that was filled with success, including two victories and 19 top-10 finishes over the 36-race season. He finished fifth in the championship standings and just barely missed out on competing for the title in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
But on Tuesday, Kenseth wasn’t playing the role of driver — he was playing the role of on-stage comedian.
“I’m fairly new at this, so I’m still trying to feel my way around it, you know?” Kenseth joked during the NASCAR Media Tour at the Charlotte Convention Center. “But really, I’ve raced since I was 16 and I’ve never really felt a change in pressure. It hasn’t really changed since I raced late models, you still have to drive the same and go get the same results.”
Going into the new season, Kenseth, his Joe Gibbs Racing team and the entire NASCAR nation got some news that wasn’t expected. JGR teammate Carl Edwards decided he was going to step away from racing earlier this month, and even Kenseth was surprised by the move.
“Carl’s not racing this year? Are you serious?” Kenseth said amid laughter from the media. “But in all seriousness, I didn’t know until (that) Sunday night when Coach Gibbs called me. It was the first time we’ve had a conference call with all the drivers since I joined the team. I was very, very surprised, but I’m not shocked the more I think about it. Anything that Carl does now doesn’t totally surprise me.”
For Kenseth, the news came during a test session he was running at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“I don’t really know more than you guys know, I was testing in Vegas so I didn’t really see the press conference, but Carl has always been his own guy, you know? I take his personality into consideration and after a few days it doesn’t shock me,” Kenseth said. “I called him and asked him straight up and it was less clear to me before I picked the phone up. But I don’t think it was my fault, so that’s good.”
Kenseth also welcomes a new Toyota teammate into the Toyota Racing stable this year, with the addition of Erik Jones at Furniture Row Racing. He will also be working with Daniel Suarez, who will take over the No. 19 Arris Toyota in place of Edwards and becomes a new teammate to Kenseth.
“Erik has a lot of talent, for sure,” Kenseth said. “I’ve followed Daniel’s progress from when he was racing the trucks to Cup, he’s a hard worker and always asks questions, he wants to learn and his drive in the Chase last year was amazing. I think both those guys have the talent, it just depends how quickly you can get everything rolling around them.
So what will 2017 offer for Kenseth? He isn’t exactly sure just yet.
However, he knows he’s going to go straight for the throat when it comes to trying to win his second Cup championship, because he is well-aware his career is starting to wind down.
“I don’t have any particular goals besides wanting to win and trying to win a championship, but to just improve and get better,” Kenseth said. “No matter how long you’ve done this there’s always room for improvement. You look back on a season and you always try and figure out what you did well and what you could have done better, and try to be the best every weekend.”
