{"id":17117,"date":"2018-05-10T18:01:48","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T23:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=17117"},"modified":"2018-05-10T18:01:48","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T23:01:48","slug":"matt-kenseth-returns-at-kansas-looking-to-rejuvenate-roush-fenway-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/10\/matt-kenseth-returns-at-kansas-looking-to-rejuvenate-roush-fenway-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Kenseth returns at Kansas looking to rejuvenate Roush Fenway Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Judging by the reaction and the general vibe, it\u2019s hard to tell who is more excited about former champion Matt Kenseth\u2019s<\/strong> return to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> competition this week driving the No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Fusion at Kansas Speedway<\/strong> for Roush Fenway Racing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Matt Kenseth. (Photo by Streeter Lecka\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/p><\/div>\n

The team? Fans? Kenseth? Roush?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a delicate situation, but all concerned are hopeful that the new team dynamic results in better days ahead. Kenseth is going to share the driver\u2019s seat with four-year Roush driver and 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

Kenseth last competed in the 2017 Homestead-Miami Speedway season finale and has fully conceded that he hasn\u2019t turned a lap in a race car since. But the always low-key Kenseth hasn\u2019t sounded too concerned about the challenge, either. On paper, people may expect him to be rusty, but this is a venue where Kenseth has had success \u2013 winning back-to-back Monster Energy Series races at the 1.5-mile Kansas track in 2012-2013 as well as the 2012 NASCAR Xfinity Series race there.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been six seasons since Kenseth was last in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford (2012). He won a Monster Energy Series championship (2003), two Daytona 500 trophies (2009, 2012) and 24 races for the organization. Prior to that, he drove Roush cars as he raced his good friend Dale Earnhardt Jr. hard in pursuit of a pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series titles (called the Busch Grand National Series at the time) \u2013 winning seven of his 29 Xfinity trophies in his fulltime 1998 and 1999 seasons. He finished runner-up to Earnhardt for that title in 1998 and third to Earnhardt in 1999.<\/p>\n

Kenseth left the Roush organization following the 2012 season to drive a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He was there five full Cup seasons (2013-2017), winning 15 races and 12 pole positions. He finished runner-up to Jimmie Johnson for the 2013 championship.<\/p>\n

But Erik Jones was given the full-time job in Kenseth\u2019s seat driving Gibbs’ No. 20 this year. And despite the disappointment and any internal frustration he may feel, the 46-year old Kenseth has been nothing but gracious publicly about the decision for the 21-year-old Jones to take the wheel.<\/p>\n

For many, the Roush news feels as if Kenseth has returned home. That certainly was the feeling when NASCAR Hall of Famer and former Roush Fenway Racing driver Mark Martin introduced Kenseth in the new role last month.<\/p>\n

Roush was adamant and direct in revealing his decision to hire Kenseth, even in this rather unorthodox manner and timing. And to have Martin on stage with Kenseth was a visual explanation point and vote of confidence from the legendary owner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were the two best guys at really finding the speed in their cars,\u2019\u2019 Roush said. \u201cThese are the best two guys that I\u2019ve had of the 50 drivers who we\u2019ve worked with in NASCAR at finding speed in the car \u2013 both in making recommendations to the team for hardware changes and for the things they face behind the steering wheel to make the right choices for the things they brought to the attention of the crew chief.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Martin is equally convinced that this will be a good situation. Or at least a better situation. He is supremely confident in Kenseth\u2019s ability to correct the team\u2019s course.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is zero rust, but slipping into something that\u2019s completely new, like Matt\u2019s said, the fit of everything and adjusting to where everything is in these cars, which is the last cars that he drove, those kind of things,\u2019\u2019 Martin said, adding, \u201cand then the other part of it is he won\u2019t have the opportunity to tailor anything about the race car going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, every single race that you do, you come back and go through all that, is an opportunity for the whole organization to address specific issues and think through logically how can we make this particular part of the car better. \u2026 I think that having Matt in the race car will send them directly to areas that will bear fruit pretty quickly as they address those and not spend a lot of time trying to address some of the ones that might not ever bear fruit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all, that\u2019s what puts teams ahead of other teams.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

There are many fond memories for Kenseth at Roush \u2013 and especially in the early days of this renewed partnership, that will be important. For him and the team.<\/p>\n

His Roush teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr.\u2019s two restrictor plate wins last season were the championship operation\u2019s only trips to Victory Lane since 2014. Stenhouse has a pair of top fives in his No. 17 Roush Ford and a best finish of fourth this season at Bristol. Bayne\u2019s best finishes were 12th at Texas Motor Speedway last month and 13th at the Daytona 500. He has eight finishes of 20th<\/sup> or worse and is currently ranked 29th<\/sup> in the Monster Energy Series standings.<\/p>\n

It may seem like a bold move to bring Kenseth in to the fold already 11 races into the season, but that\u2019s what Roush thinks the team needs. And Kenseth says he\u2019s ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t necessarily know about missing the first 11 races as the biggest challenge,\u2019\u2019 Kenseth said when introduced in his new role three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think even if it was the start of the season, the biggest challenges for me are gonna be that there is no testing, so you\u2019re gonna hit Kansas with an hour-and-a-half of practice or whatever, and get ready to qualify in a car that I\u2019ve never been in with a crew chief (Matt Puccia) that I\u2019ve worked with a little bit, but not a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think the few extra months off, I really don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s gonna be a big deal. Of course, I could be wrong, but I think you\u2019ll get on the track for 10 or 15 minutes and get out there and get acclimated, so I\u2019m not really worried about that part.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Kenseth revealed this week that he has spoken with Bayne and thinks the two can move forward \u2013 and work together – in a positive manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that he\u2019s fine with me,\u2019\u2019 Kenseth told NBC Sports this week. \u201cWe had a really good conversation, actually. I\u2019m looking forward to working with both of them. If you\u2019re another driver filling in, it\u2019s obviously not the driver\u2019s decision, it\u2019s an ownership thing. So certainly I don\u2019t think Trevor and I have any problems at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenseth definitely brings a lot of perspective to his new job. He was part of the Roush Fenway team when it fielded up to four cars, was winning races left and right and happily hoisting championship hardware. And he thinks the leaner two-car version may present a better opportunity to right the ship and return the former championship organization to the top again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting challenge for me and not just being a driver, I hope I can be much more to the organization and I\u2019m hoping that there are a lot of different ways I can help,\u2019\u2019 Kenseth said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fairly small right now, down to two teams and it\u2019s leaner. I feel like they\u2019re on the right trajectory. I feel like there are a lot of advantages to where they are at right now and I\u2019m looking forward to getting in there and being a part of it and getting back immersed in the organization and kind of hopefully evaluate some things, hopefully continue projecting upwards.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Judging by the reaction and the general vibe, it\u2019s hard to tell who is more excited about former champion Matt Kenseth\u2019s return to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition this week driving the No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Fusion at Kansas Speedway for Roush Fenway Racing. The team? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[224,16],"class_list":["post-17117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-matt-kenseth","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/NPMD-Kenseth-091317.jpg?fit=4828%2C3178","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-4s5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17120,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17117\/revisions\/17120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}