CUP: Hammond Reacts To Kenseth's Plans To Leave Roush Fenway

Sprint Cup

CUP: Hammond Reacts To Kenseth’s Plans To Leave Roush Fenway

SPEED analyst and former Roush Fenway Racing crew chief Jeff Hammond offers his take on Matt Kenseth leaving Roush Fenway...

Jeff Hammond | Posted June 26, 2012 Charlotte, NC

Jeff Hammond (Pictured) is a former crew chief turned NASCAR analyst for SPEED and FOX Sports. (Photo: SPEED)

REACTION TO KENSETH AND ROUSH FENWAY RACING PARTING WAYS IN 2013

Roush Fenway Racing officially announced Tuesday that current points leader and 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth will leave the organization at the conclusion of the season, and will be replaced in the No. 17 Ford by defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

Below, SPEED analyst and former Roush Fenway Racing crew chief Jeff Hammond offers his perspective on this situation and its ramifications not only within Kenseth’s team but throughout the sport:

Q: Do you think the fact Kenseth is leaving Roush Fenway Racing at the end of the season will be a distraction in his title run this year?

“The No. 17 is a veteran team led by Jimmy Fennig, and I don’t expect Jimmy to do anything but produce his absolute best. Having worked for Jack Roush, I know he won’t slight the No. 17 team at all with regard to what they need, and given the fact Matt has a lot of respect not only for his organization but for his fans, I don’t think we’ll see any ‘quit’ in this team at all. Them losing focus isn’t a factor in my book and I think they’ll be there until the end. It may be difficult, but they’ll keep focus and move on. Let’s roll back the hands of time to a year ago, and although he didn’t end up leaving for greener pastures, there was quite a bit of talk about Carl Edwards leaving Roush. He was leading the points at the time, too, and although he lost the championship, they were in the hunt and went down swinging right into the very last race.”
--Jeff Hammond, SPEED analyst and former Roush Fenway Racing crew chief

Q: Does Kenseth leaving signal any financial concerns within RFR, which struggled to capitalize on Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 win and wasn’t able to secure sponsorship for a fourth Cup car?

“Singling out Roush Fenway Racing would be irresponsible because there are very few Cup cars with consistent sponsorship for the year. Here we have a former champion and a two-time Daytona 500 winner who is having a hard time getting sponsors to spend the money to fully fund his team.

“This just heightens what is going on in the country as a whole because the economy is driving this issue – not the sport. Despite some people’s contention the economy is recovering, it remains weak when it comes to our sport. We still have some decline in attendance and the majority of teams are rounding out their sponsorship needs with several sponsors. Gone are the days of one big sponsor covering the entire year. We still have a long way to go to completely recover and regain the footing we had five or six years ago.”
--Jeff Hammond, SPEED analyst and former RFR crew chief

Q: It appears Silly Season now is in full swing with Matt Kenseth the first domino to officially fall. How does this affect other drivers whose names have been in the rumor mill?

“This announcement once again starts the talk and everyone wondering where all these drivers will go next year. It will be interesting because I think there is a question mark about who will be in the No. 55 next year fulltime or whether Mark Martin, Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip will continue to split that ride. Joey Logano’s safety at Joe Gibbs Racing continues to be debated, and Ryan Newman is a free agent. Don’t forget Martin Truex, Jr., either. There are a lot of unknowns at the moment and this is just the beginning. It’s a wild beginning because I wouldn’t ever have believed a 14-year veteran of Roush, who just won the Daytona 500 and is leading the points, would be out looking for another job next year. For a driver of Kenseth’s caliber to announce his departure this early in the season really grabs our attention. It also shows just how much of a major-league sport NASCAR really is. It’s like a LeBron James situation where he has been with a team for so long and has been a cornerstone of the organization. His departure rattles the whole sport and makes everyone wonder if he’ll end up somewhere where he will perform even better and possibly win even more championships.”
--Jeff Hammond, SPEED analyst and former RFR crew chief

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Hammond

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