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Sprint Cup
CUP: Kenseth Relies On Consistency
Matt Kenseth has completed more laps than any other Sprint Cup driver this season...
Despite not running up front much this season, Matt Kenseth has been remarkably consistent. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
To this day, some people credit — or blame — Matt Kenseth for the creation of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
In 2003, Kenseth took over the Sprint Cup points lead from Michael Waltrip after the fourth race of the season, which at that time was at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Two races later, he had opened that lead to 138 points, and for the rest of the season he was never challenged.
Kenseth’s lead hit an astonishing 436 points — nearly three full races — by the time he left Dover in September that fall.
The secret to Kenseth’s success was consistency. He only won one race all season long, but in the first 26 races of 2003, he scored 22 top-10 finishes. By comparison, Kevin Harvick has just 17 top-10s, the most of any driver through the first 26 races of this season.
This year, Kenseth is relying on consistency as well. He has completed more laps than any other driver in the Sprint Cup Series so far and has finished outside the top 20 in just two races this year.
What he hasn’t done is run up front.
The last time Kenseth led even a single lap of any Sprint Cup race was at Michigan in early June, where he led two laps before finishing 14th. And while Kenseth had top-fives in three of the first five races of the season, he’s only finished in the top five twice in the subsequent 21 races.
For him to be a factor in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, he’ll need to maintain his consistency, but find some speed that so far has been missing in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford Fusion.
“I am actually real excited that we're in the Chase because it hasn't been what we expected,” said Kenseth. “It's been a decent year. I mean, it's what everybody looks forward to and has their goals set on, is trying to make the Chase, trying to win a championship. You can't win a championship without making the Chase. So we did get that one.”
That said, no one is suggesting that Kenseth’s recent results — one top-five and two top-10s in his last 13 starts — make him a favorite to win a second title this year. No one knows that better than Kenseth himself.
“I'm also a realist and realize that if we keep our average finishes we've had for the first 26 races, there's not a snowball's chance of winning the championship and we need to do better than that,” he said.
The flip side is that after a dismal first half for Roush Fenway overall, the team has picked up its pace in recent weeks, with Greg Biffle winning at Pocono and Carl Edwards earning more points than any driver over the last 10 races.
“I'm really excited about our prospects and how much faster the company cars have been the last two months,” said Kenseth. “If we do the right things during the race, if we execute properly, if we have great pit stops, do all the right things, I think the potential is there to get some good finishes and get up there and challenge for some wins. Certainly if we can do that, we'll be a contender down the stretch.”
For the moment, Kenseth is maintaining a tempered perspective on the title battle. That could change with a victory or two.
“I'm one of those guys that gets excited after you do something, not before you do it,” he said. “So if we can win some races, we can run for the championship, I'll be more excited than anybody out there. But right now I'm just more thinking about the work that's in front of us, what we're going to do to try to accomplish those goals, and what we're going to do to get our cars running better and getting the finishes we need, that type of thing.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
In 2003, Kenseth took over the Sprint Cup points lead from Michael Waltrip after the fourth race of the season, which at that time was at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Two races later, he had opened that lead to 138 points, and for the rest of the season he was never challenged.
Kenseth’s lead hit an astonishing 436 points — nearly three full races — by the time he left Dover in September that fall.
The secret to Kenseth’s success was consistency. He only won one race all season long, but in the first 26 races of 2003, he scored 22 top-10 finishes. By comparison, Kevin Harvick has just 17 top-10s, the most of any driver through the first 26 races of this season.
This year, Kenseth is relying on consistency as well. He has completed more laps than any other driver in the Sprint Cup Series so far and has finished outside the top 20 in just two races this year.
What he hasn’t done is run up front.
The last time Kenseth led even a single lap of any Sprint Cup race was at Michigan in early June, where he led two laps before finishing 14th. And while Kenseth had top-fives in three of the first five races of the season, he’s only finished in the top five twice in the subsequent 21 races.
For him to be a factor in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, he’ll need to maintain his consistency, but find some speed that so far has been missing in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford Fusion.
“I am actually real excited that we're in the Chase because it hasn't been what we expected,” said Kenseth. “It's been a decent year. I mean, it's what everybody looks forward to and has their goals set on, is trying to make the Chase, trying to win a championship. You can't win a championship without making the Chase. So we did get that one.”
That said, no one is suggesting that Kenseth’s recent results — one top-five and two top-10s in his last 13 starts — make him a favorite to win a second title this year. No one knows that better than Kenseth himself.
“I'm also a realist and realize that if we keep our average finishes we've had for the first 26 races, there's not a snowball's chance of winning the championship and we need to do better than that,” he said.
The flip side is that after a dismal first half for Roush Fenway overall, the team has picked up its pace in recent weeks, with Greg Biffle winning at Pocono and Carl Edwards earning more points than any driver over the last 10 races.
“I'm really excited about our prospects and how much faster the company cars have been the last two months,” said Kenseth. “If we do the right things during the race, if we execute properly, if we have great pit stops, do all the right things, I think the potential is there to get some good finishes and get up there and challenge for some wins. Certainly if we can do that, we'll be a contender down the stretch.”
For the moment, Kenseth is maintaining a tempered perspective on the title battle. That could change with a victory or two.
“I'm one of those guys that gets excited after you do something, not before you do it,” he said. “So if we can win some races, we can run for the championship, I'll be more excited than anybody out there. But right now I'm just more thinking about the work that's in front of us, what we're going to do to try to accomplish those goals, and what we're going to do to get our cars running better and getting the finishes we need, that type of thing.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
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