Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kenseth ready for his debut at Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — It was about a year ago that Matt Kenseth thought he would be spending the year driving a school bus.
He is back to driving something with a little more horsepower.
Kenseth returned to NASCAR’s top series on Friday when he climbed into the No. 6 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, practicing and qualifying for tonight’s race at Kansas Speedway. The former series champion agreed to a deal last month to split time in the car with Trevor Bayne the rest of the year.
“The last few weeks have been fun, just trying to get a little bit caught up and reacclimated with the system and people and what’s changed,” Kenseth said Friday morning. “I’ve been anxious about today and getting through tech and on the track in time. I’m pretty anxious to see where we’re at.”
Kenseth was anxious for a much different reason the last time he was at Kansas.
It was toward the end of last season and Kenseth had lost his ride with Joe Gibbs Racing, which had decided to move forward with Erik Jones as part of a youth movement. The 46-year-old Kenseth knew he had the talent to keep driving at the Cup level, but there were no competitive rides available. At least, none that could afford his salary.
So, the self-assured Kenseth mused about the possibility of driving a school bus, since he already took his own kids to school most days. And while steering a big yellow bus never happened, Kenseth said he did enjoy the time away from NASCAR’s week-toweek grind, and that he wouldn’t have returned to such a pressure-cooker if it wasn’t the right opportunity. Team owner Jack Roush ended up giving him a call.
Kenseth began his Cup career with Roush in 1998, winning a series title and two Daytona 500s. But his move to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013 created a bit of a rift, and in the intervening years, a program that was once considered one of the gold standards of NASCAR began to slide.
Roush’s five-car stable had dwindled to two, and while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won two races and made the playoffs last year, Bayne has struggled to live up to expectations after his own Daytona 500 win.
So, Roush picked up the phone and made the offer: Kenseth would share time with Bayne the rest of the season, providing his opinions and expertise for a program searching for some results.
“We see a potential for Matt being involved with the company and race team past his driving,” Roush said last month, when the deal was announced. “It’s a chance to look at our cars and find out if there’s something glaring that Matt will see from his experience.” drivers’ actions are hurting the team.
Both drivers left Baku with zero points.
“If it got to that point again, where there’s banging wheels and stuff, then yeah,” Ricciardo said. “We are not going to have team orders, but if we find ourselves battling too hard or losing time to the others, especially if maybe there is a faster car coming through, then the team will step in before we start banging wheels again.”
Verstappen said that, although no specific new rules were in place, he expected the team to be more proactive.
“If it’s like Baku again, maybe at one point the team will say, ‘OK, maybe calm down a bit, just follow each other that last few laps,’ I don’t know,” Verstappen said. “In general, they still trust us and we also understand that we don’t want that to happen again.”
Ricciardo had a tough start to his weekend in Spain, crashing into a tire barrier in the first practice and losing a lot of track time. But he finished with the second-quickest time in the afternoon, behind Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and just ahead of Verstappen.
Ricciardo was faster than Verstappen in Azerbaijan but couldn’t get past his teammate. As Ricciardo tried to force his way past Verstappen at the end of the front straightaway, Verstappen closed up and Ricciardo couldn’t avoid the collision.