Reigning champ
Kenseth king of Magic Mile
LOUDON, N.H. — Matt Kenseth is positioned to score an historic threepeat in this afternoon’s running of the Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The Bad Boy 300 is the second event in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup that concludes with the Ford Ecoboost 400 at HomesteadMiami Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 20.
Kenseth won this event last September when it was called the Sylvania 300, then took the checkered flag at the Magic Mile in the New Hampshire 301 back on July 17. Jimmie Johnson (2003) and Kurt Busch (2004) are the only drivers to win both NHMS Sprint Cup events in the same year.
Kenseth is the operator of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry under the umbrella of Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth finished eighth in Friday’s qualifying round, with a top speed of 134.363 mph. He will begin the race in Row 4 alongside Jamie McMurray.
“We’ve just had real fast cars,” said Kenseth. “Jason (Ratliff, his crew chief) has done a good job of getting the car right for the race and keeping up with the race track and the changing conditions here which happens a lot.
“It happens a lot more than most tracks. Last fall we had some things kind of play in our favor. We had a really good strategy and the way the cautions fell or didn’t fall we were able to win that one. In the spring (July) we just had a really fast car, but it always starts with that.”
Three of the four Gibbs Chase drivers, Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, are multiple winners at Loudon, but Kenseth’s three top the group. They’ve come in his last six starts here, including 2013’s Sylvania 300.
Loudon was never one of Kenseth’s favorite venues when he was aligned with Roush-Fenway Racing, but things changed when he signed on with Gibbs in 2012. Kenseth took over the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota after Joey Logano decamped for Team Penske and won seven times in 2013, the last at Loudon.
“Kyle and Denny have certainly helped me here a lot,” said Kenseth. “Jason does a good job with his setups and some of his theories and so forth.
“I’ve become a lot better certainly since I started driving (for JGR), but it’s funny how that works. Some of the places that were my strongest when I was with Roush are probably some of my weaker places now and some of my weaker places when I was with them are some of my stronger places now.
“That doesn’t mean it is going to be this week but it has been in the recent past.”