Musings on Kenseth’s next adventure
Less than a week after Matt Kenseth said he “may or may not” race more locally this summer, Madison International Speedway announced Monday the 2003 NASCAR champion would compete there next month.
His appearance in the ARCA Midwest Tour’s Howie Lettow Classic 100 will be Kenseth’s first at the track since 2014, when he scored his 27th feature victory on the half-mile. Kenseth was the Madison International Speedway track champion in 1994.
Kenseth, the Cambridge native who stepped away from NASCAR at the end of last season, was back in competition for the first time in the 40th Slinger Nationals on July 9 and came away with his record-extending eighth victory.
His legion of home-state fans seemed to hope that would be the start of a new chapter in Kenseth’s racing career before he was truly done, but some people also got the impression it was a one-shot deal.
Here’s what Kenseth said about the topic after his Slinger victory:
“Not going to work every day anymore, not knowing really what’s going to be next besides being at home and being more of a part of my kids’ and wife’s lives and doing all that stuff – other than that, not really knowing what’s next – so when you get your first few months of downtime, especially, your mind wanders a lot, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh. What am I going to do? I’ve got to do something . ... Let’s call Joe (Wood, of Pathfinder Chassis) and see if he wants to build a car and go to Slinger. Let’s start there and then go from there.’
“We’re hoping to run some more latemodel races. We may or may not. I was hoping to this year. Not really sure where I’m going to go from here, but definitely a fun night. It was obviously a success here for everybody. They had a lot of people in the grandstand and a great car count and great race. So it was a lot of fun.”
Kenseth, 47, has said previously he would like to compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake. The trick is finding a competitive car, as first-rate teams don’t typically have open seats or field extra entries. The most notable exception probably was last year’s race, when NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott came out of retirement and drove for GMS Racing in a deal purportedly brokered by his son, Chase.
Here’s some of what Kenseth said on that topic in October:
“In the (2017-18) offseason I sniffed around a little bit about running the Xfinity road races, especially Road America.
“That was one of the things. I kinda looked into several different racing things over the winter when I wasn’t racing (for Roush Fenway). I had several different kind of offers laying there and some things that weren’t offers that I thought were kind of interesting to look into. … It never happened, but it was one thing I thought of that was kind of interested in at the time.”
As for local- and regional-level short track racing, here are some factors to keep in mind:
» While Kenseth may enjoy racing periodically in these types of events – particularly at tracks where he has a history, such as Slinger and Madison – stars typically are paid to participate. (Hence, VIP meet-and-greet packages such as the ones Madison is selling for $108, and the one Slinger sold with Kenseth, Daniel Hemric and others last week.) As long as a star’s appearance drives enough attention and attendance for a promoter to enjoy a suitable return on his investment, it makes sense. Clearly that’s not an issue with Kenseth at this point.
» Although Kenseth still has strong Wisconsin connections, he does live in North Carolina. The Slinger trip involved time with family for him and his wife and daughters, but the same might not be the case in, say, September, October or April. There could be a cost/benefit decision involved in a decision for someone who was happy to be out of the NASCAR grind and spend more time with his kids but also asks himself, “What am I going to do?”