Johnson, Kenseth on bubble heading into Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Jimmie Johnson took time this week to drive the car pool for Hendrick Motorsports whiz kids Alex Bowman and William Byron, while Matt Kenseth joked last weekend about driving a school bus if he fails to find a ride for next season.
Both of the NASCAR veterans would be happier driving with a Cup Series title still a possibility next week.
Johnson is in the eighth and final spot to avoid elimination in the playoffs entering Sunday’s cutoff race at Kansas Speedway. Kyle Busch is seven points behind him as the first driver out, while Kenseth is another point off the cut line.
“We’re a team and a group that thrives on adversity. Whenever we’re backed in a corner, we always step up and deliver,” said Johnson, whose hopes of winning a record-breaking eighth championship took a big hit during last week’s crashfilled race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Johnson was caught up in a 17-car melee with 16 laps to go, then his Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet was parked for the rest of the afternoon when its crew prematurely began working on the car during a 12-minute red flag.
“During the week it’s easy to get frustrated, at the start of the week, reliving what happened,” he said. “But that’s part of pro sports and the position I’m in, chasing my eighth championship.”
If the pressure is getting to Johnson, he isn’t showing it. The cool Californian posted a selfie of himself and his future teammates on Instagram on Wednesday, showing the 42-year-old Johnson in the driver’s seat and Bowman, 24, and Byron, 19, hanging out in back. His caption: “Just taking the kids to lunch.”
“The funny part was being in car seats,” joked Byron, who is on top of the Xfinity Series playoff standings heading into today’s race at Kansas. “That was
cool to spend time with him, pull from his knowledge, see how he was going to approach this weekend. It seems like he’s really ready to go.”
Looking at Johnson’s cheesy grin, you’d never guess how
much of a struggle this year has been. He hasn’t had a top-five finish since winning at Dover International Speedway in June, and he has led just five laps in his past 14 races.
“The speed department has
been a little tough on us,” he said. “We’ve been frustrated through the summer months, and that yielded poor results, but we’ve been on the right track the last few weeks.”
Kenseth was similarly optimistic about Kansas, where Toyotas in general and his Joe Gibbs Racing team specifically have experienced plenty of success over the years. He has won twice at the 1.5-mile oval and led 116 laps on the way to finishing ninth a year ago.
But while Johnson has at least been running up front, Kenseth is still alive in the playoffs only because of his consistency. He rarely has a bad afternoon, but he hasn’t won since July 2016.
“There’s only five races left, last race of the round. We’re kind of running out of races this year,” Kenseth said. “Obviously winning has been important to us, and we haven’t been able to do that in a year and a half. But having said that, (if) we can’t run well here, we can’t run anywhere. This has always been one of my better race tracks from a driver standpoint.”
The fact that Kenseth hasn’t won is a big reason why JGR is turning the No. 20 car over to Erik Jones next season, forcing the 2003 Cup Series season champion to muse about driving a school bus next year.
“That was 95 percent a joke,” he said Friday.
Busch’s hopes of winning a second title in three years also hinge on Kansas, where the JGR driver has become a consistent top-five finisher. And unlike Johnson or Kenseth, he has run up front most of the season but is only in elimination danger because of poor finishes the past two weeks.
“We just have to do a good job,” Busch said. “We have to come through this race — it’s not a must-win, but it’s a must-perform. We have to go in there and do everything right.”
Truex takes pole
Martin Truex Jr. continued his winning ways by earning the pole position for Sunday’s race, turning a fast lap of 28.719 seconds (188.029 mph) during Friday’s qualifying.
A six-time winner this season who is also on top of the points standings, Truex was already assured of advancing to the round of eight in the playoffs after his win at Charlotte Motor Speedway two weeks ago. Now he heads into Sunday’s race looking for his fourth straight victory on a 1.5-mile track. He also earned the crucial first pit stall for next week’s race at Martinsville Speedway.
Truex was followed by playoff contenders Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Kenseth and Denny Hamlin. Busch was eighth, Jamie McMurray was ninth and Brad Keselowski was 11th after winning last week at Talladega to punch his ticket to the next round.
Johnson will start 13th, followed by Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the only driver who failed to advance from the first round and qualified 25th.