Matt Kenseth made his Sprint Cup debut at Dover in 1998. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Although Matt Kenseth faces 400 tough miles of racing Sunday at Dover International Speedway, he probably figures he has the easiest job in the Kenseth household this weekend.
Katie, Matt’s wife, continues to heal from a broken shoulder blade and assorted bumps and bruises she suffered in a crash Monday during practice for a charity race featuring wives and girlfriends of NASCAR drivers.
It was the end, Matt said, of the shortest driving career in racing history.
“She’s doing pretty good but about the same,” Kenseth said Friday at Dover. “She’s still really sore but getting better. It’s hard for her to heal up with two kids and one arm.”
Kenseth attended the Monday practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway and rushed to his wife’s aid immediately after the crash. He later said it could have been much worse.
Kenseth will race from the middle of the pack – he’s seventh in points – when the Chase for the Sprint Cup resumes Sunday with the AAA 400. He has run well in the two Chase races to date but is still trying to recover from running out of fuel late in Race One at Chicagoland Speedway.
Asked about the prospects of five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who’s 10th entering the weekend, Kenseth said, “I’m just thinking about what we’re going to do to climb back up there. I’m just working on trying to get us running good and finishing the best we can every week.
“I’ve said it for six years straight: They (Johnson and his team) are the favorites, and they’re the guys until somebody can knock them off and prove otherwise.”
Kenseth trails point leader Tony Stewart by 26 entering the third race. He’s technically tied with Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“There are eight races to go, and that’s a ton of races,” he said. “The only way to know whether you can come out of that hole – it depends not only on how you do but how everybody else does.
“I suspect after this weekend you might be able to pick a few drivers that might be out [of the championship hunt], and every week along the line you might be able to do that. But, until you’re mathematically out, I think you’re still in it.”
Kenseth has a good track record at Dover. He has won twice at the one-mile track and owns 11 top fives and 16 top 10s. He made his Sprint Cup debut at Dover in 1998, serving as a substitute driver for Bill Elliott and sparking attention when he finished sixth.
“I enjoy the challenge of it,” he said. “I made my first Cup start here a long time ago. Lately, we’ve been able to do pretty well here. It has always been a good track for us and one I always look forward to.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
