FINAL FOUR ALL SET FOR SEASON FINALE
Keselowski grabs last available slot for shot at Cup championship
AVONDALE, ARIZ.» Matt Kenseth may be going away, but he’s not going quietly.
Kenseth won for the first time this season in what might have been the second-to-last Cup race of his NASCAR career. He doesn’t have a job lined up for next year and said he will take a break at the start of the season.
“Just got one race left and everybody dreams of going out a winner,” a tearful Kenseth said Sunday after climbing out of his Toyota.
Kenseth passed Chase Elliott with 10 laps remaining to win Sunday’s playoff race at Phoenix International Raceway and deny Elliott the final berth in next weekend’s championship race. Had Elliott held on for the win, he would have qualified for the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Elliott finished second Sunday for the seventh time this season.
Brad Keselowski earned the final slot in the championship race on points because a playoff-eligible driver didn’t win Sunday’s race. Keselowski will compete with Martin Truex Jr. of Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick for the Cup championship next Sunday in South Florida. The field, two Toyota drivers and two Ford drivers, features three former Cup champions and Truex, the most dominant driver of the 2017 season. Truex finished third at Phoenix.
Kenseth had already been eliminated from the playoffs, so his victory at Phoenix was purely personal satisfaction. The 2003 Cup champion is a two-time Daytona 500 winner and consistent playoff driver, but he is 45 years old and will be replaced at Joe Gibbs Racing next season by Erik Jones.
Too expensive to land a competitive ride for next season, Kenseth has decided to take time away rather than drive a car that can’t win races.
“He’s been really down and frustrated and trying to figure out this season and what it’s all about, to try to go out there and try to win in his final season, not on his own terms final season,” said Busch, a teammate of Kenseth’s. “I think it shows that there’s no reason why he couldn’t have gotten a job anywhere else. It’s just, I guess, the industry didn’t see Matt Kenseth as their driver, and that’s really unfortunate because I love the guy and have raced with respect for him for a long time and will forever respect him for what he’s done for the sport.”
Kenseth’s win salvaged the day for the Gibbs team, which had a chance to get Denny Hamlin into the championship race until his feud with Elliott cost him the chance.
They were racing for position and Elliott gave Hamlin several taps as he tried to get past him for position, and when he finally was able to pull alongside Hamlin, their cars made contact. Hamlin grazed the wall and immediately began losing positions on the track. Just a few laps later, his tire blew, Hamlin hit the wall and his race was over. Elliott admitted he raced Hamlin aggressively, just as Hamlin did when he wrecked Elliott from the lead in Martinsville, Va.
“A wise man once told me that he’ll race guys how they race him with a smile on his face, so that’s what I did today,” Elliott said. “I raced him how he raced me, and that’s the way I saw it. That’s about all I have to say.”
Hamlin was racing to win, but he could have beaten Keselowski into the season finale on points had he not wrecked. He has maintained that he didn’t mean to wreck Elliott at Martinsville, and the payback Sunday was redemption.