Following a sub-par performance at Phoenix, Matt Kenseth comes into the final race of the season, 28 points behind Jimmie Johnson. It gives him a shot at the championship, but he has to rely on Johnson having some misfortune.
“I think Jimmie could run 28th through the grass or with three wheels on,” Kenseth joked of his chances.
In reality, though, if Kenseth was to win the race and lead the most laps, he could win the championship if Johnson was to finish 24th or worse.
At Phoenix, it was the opposite of a good performance for Kenseth as he would struggle all day with the handling on his Toyota on the way to finishing deep in the field. At one point, Kenseth’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff said on the radio that he was giving up on adjustments because nothing seemed to be working. Kenseth stated today that it was his worst performance of the year.
“We went back and tried to figure out what went wrong,” Kenseth added. “We think we have a handle on what went wrong, tried to figure it out for the next time. Certainly wanted to win. We still have a chance to do that if everything plays out right in our favor, I guess.”
Coming into the final race of the year, Kenseth’s focus is solely on performing well. He must perform well to keep second in points ahead of Kevin Harvick.
“We’ll have to be up in the top five to hold on to second or to overtake Jimmie if he has a problem,” he commented.
By performing well, he would be in position if Johnson ran well. Anything could happen to Johnson. He could have a motor failure, a tire failure, rear-end failure, or get caught up in a wreck. For that reason, Kenseth says you have to able to capitalize.
“You got to control the things that you can control to the best of your ability,” Kenseth said. “You have to go out there with the idea of trying to win and run up toward the front.
“We have to go out with the idea of trying to win the race, lead laps, be in the front group, trying to get the best finish we can.”
No matter how the final race plays out and where the cards fall, Kenseth knows that he has an incredible year in his first season at Joe Gibbs Racing. This yea was the first year that he won more than four races in a season since 2002 as he won seven races this year, along with 11 top fives and 19 top 10s. Most drivers in their first year struggle, though with Kenseth’s success, it makes the move to JGR look real successful and promising for the future.
“It’s been probably the best year of racing I’ve ever had in my career,” Kenseth summed it up. “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a great challenge personally and professionally. I’ve had a great time this year. I’m looking forward to this weekend, closing the season out. I’m actually already looking forward to next season, as well.”
