Kenseth encounters opportunity at Loudon
Racing as a team sport is predicated on selfishness furthering the overall effort of the organization.
This weekend’s Overton’s 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was bound to be important to Matt Kenseth, especially since he and his teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing remain winless after having racked up seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories by this time last season. But as a future former driver of the No. 20 Toyota – with official word this week that he will be replaced next season by 21year-old rookie Erik Jones – the 45-year-old, 18-season veteran could very much benefit from a reprise of his recent success at the 1-mile oval.
Kenseth has won two of the last three races at Loudon and finished second in the most recent installment last fall after leading 105 of 300 laps. His victory in the 2015 playoff race put him atop the points standings and advanced him automatically to the second round. His victory there in the summer of 2016 – after taking the lead from teammate Denny Hamlin for the final 31 laps – was his second of the season. His runner-up finish last fall elevated him to fourth in points, and he kept his bid for a second championship viable until the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix Raceway.
Kenseth has an average finish of 12th and has completed 99.2 percent of the laps in 34 starts at Loudon.
Kenseth, 11th in the standings, arrives this time in search of much more humble progress – keeping his figurative crampons sunk into the granite escarpment that is currently the final transfer slot on points with eight regular-season races left.
His recent run of results doesn’t portend momentum, but his 20th, 27th and 17th-place finishes came on a road course, a restrictor-plate superspeedway and an intermediate track, respectively, which isn’t applicable to the variablebanked, relatively flat Loudon course.
Finding a comparison is not possible, Kenseth said.
“It’s really the only flat 1-mile track that we go to on the circuit, and I really can’t compare it to anywhere else that we go,” he said in a team release. “The track changes a lot from practice to race time since there are so many different divisions of races going on throughout the weekend.”
Kenseth acknowledged last week at Kentucky Speedway that he had no job for 2018 and the transition of Toyota prospect Jones from his rookie ride at Furniture Row Racing to JGR was no surprise when it was announced days later. Retiring Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed confidence that his longtime friend from their formative days together in the Xfinity Series would acquire a highquality job, but Kenseth was loathe to discuss the prospect of taking over the No. 88 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports.
“I probably already said too much about what I’m not doing next year,” the 2003 Cup Series champion said last week. “So I don’t really have anything to talk about for what I am doing.
“I don’t have anything going on for next year, and (I’m) pretty focused on trying to get running better this year and winning some races.”
Doing so would help solidify his case as a valuable free agent in a market in which at least one job could be available in the offseason, depending on sponsor acquisitions and potential downsizing on some power teams.
Kenseth could be a short-term fix for the No. 88 Chevrolet if owner Rick Hendrick and potential sponsors deem William Byron or Alex Bowman unready or unqualified. Kurt Busch is in a contract year at StewartHaas Racing and Danica Patrick’s No.10 Ford team has struggled with sponsor shortages, although the team has not officially commented on their futures.
There’s never a good time for limbo, but for Kenseth, a recent fitness enthusiast who won seven races in 2013 and five in 2015, there have been others in worse predicaments, especially with New Hampshire up next. Track: New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H. TV: Friday, practice, 8:30 a.m. (NBCSN), qualifying, 1:45 p.m. (NBCSN); Saturday, practice, 9:30 a.m. (NBCSN); Sunday, race, noon (NBCSN). Outlook: Aric Almirola plans to return to action this weekend after missing two months of the NASCAR season with a fractured vertebra . ... Matt Kenseth learned this week that he won’t be back with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2018. The team announced Tuesday that the 45-year-old Kenseth will be replaced by 21-yearold Erik Jones, a development driver for JGR. … Kyle Larson’s lead over Martin Truex Jr. atop the standings is now just one point. But Truex has the edge in playoff points, 28-13.
INDYCAR
Track: Exhibition Place, Toronto TV: Sunday, race, 12:47 p.m. (CNBC). Outlook: There have been nine different winners in 11 races in 2017. …Helio Castroneves broke a 54-race winless streak by dominating last week in Iowa. … Will Power has won three times in Toronto, the most of any active driver. … The winner at Exhibition Place has gone on to claim the series title in four of the past eight seasons.
FORMULA ONE
Track: Silverstone (England) Circuit. TV: Sunday, race, 5 a.m. (CNBC) Outlook: Valtteri Bottas beat Sebastian Vettel by less than a second last week in Austria, and is now 35 points behind the series-leading Vettel, with Lewis Hamilton — who failed to reach the podium last week — now 20 points back. … The first Formula 1 World Championships race was held at Silverstone in 1950, won by Guiseppe Farina in an Alfa Romeo.
OTHER RACES
Xfinity: Overton’s 200, Loudon, N.H. Friday, practice, 10 a.m. (NBCSN), practice, noon (NBCSN); Saturday, qualifying, 8:05 a.m. (CNBC), race, 1 p.m. (NBCSN).