Last year, Matt Kenseth got to cross off one of the biggest races on his “to win” list as he passed Kyle Busch late in the race with 10 laps to go to take home the victory.
“I always feel like the Southern 500 is one of the biggest races of the year — certainly it was right up there towards the top of my list of tracks I wanted to win at that I never won at before last year,” Kenseth commented. “It was a really big win.”
While last year’s race in May marked Kenseth’s only fourth month behind the wheel of a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he now enters this year’s event with a year and a half under his belt.
“I think the longer you’re at somewhere the more comfortable you probably are, the more people you get to know. That type of thing,” Kenseth said. “For sure, I don’t know it’s hard to put a number on it or really describe how much more comfortable you are really. Last year at this time I was pretty comfortable, we had a couple wins, we were leading a lot of laps and things were really clicking along. We had some adversity along the way and we had some things happen, but we were performing at a really, really high level so I was pretty comfortable and having a lot of fun.”
Kenseth feels that same comfort and is still having fun, but wants to be better. He noted that they set the bar high last year with winning early and scoring seven wins in total last year. Seven races into this year, Kenseth has no wins and only one top five finish.
“We’re still trying to get a little bit better to get back up and be leading more laps and put ourselves in position to win more races and hopefully get a win here pretty soon,” he added.
With an emphasis being placed on wins this year, a repeat of last year would certainly help Kenseth’s Chase chances as currently a big 0 sits in the win-column. Kenseth has always been accused of being a consistent driver, not worried about wins – reference his 2003 championship with only one victory. Some would believe that could play against Kenseth with this new format. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver clearly tates that he wants to win every week.
“We show up every week with bringing our best stuff with the idea of trying to figure out how to sit on the pole and win the race so that’s really never changed since I started racing,” Kenseth commented. “I think the only time it really changes is maybe when you get to Homestead. You’ve seen a lot of years where somebody has a pretty big point cushion or whatever and he’s not going to go out there and probably try to win the race, he’s going to go make sure he doesn’t fall out of the championship. It’s certainly going to change that and spice things up that last week for sure. You’re going to see those four guys racing as hard as they can to try to beat the other three.”
Kenseth says beyond Homestead, he doesn’t see the new format changing his outlook on how to qualify for the championship chase – except for the fact that it may open up some interesting opportunities as the year goes.
“I think there’s more significance to the win than maybe what there was at some of the races last year — if a guy was way down in points or didn’t think they would even get a wild card, that type of thing,” Kenseth noted. “You saw that with Regan Smith here a few years ago — just staying out and staying out on tires to roll the dice to try to have a prayer to win that race and was able to hold on and win it. I think people always have that in their mind.”
In looking for the win, one of the things lying on Kenseth’s side in hoping to make that happen is his relationship with crew chief Jason Ratcliff, which will be important due to track conditions.
“Over the years here it’s changed quite a bit and I think from when you first get on the track until you get done late Saturday night it seems like there’s quite a bit of change and something you definitely have to keep up with,” Kenseth commented.
Ratcliff and Kenseth will have a new twist thrown their way, though, as the race is being ran a month earlier than past seasons. However, Kenseth says that shouldn’t change how you’re going to drive the track.
“Conditions are a little hard to predict just because we only come here once a year — I don’t think anybody really tests or anything,” Kenseth explained. “With the weather forecast being decent, I can’t really remember the weather last May, but it’s supposed to be pretty warm the next couple days so I think that’s good. I think that will be good for the fans and I think that will probably be good for the racing and everything too. It’s not going to be too terribly cold at night.”
To help with getting a handle on the track, Kenseth will run Friday night’s Nationwide Series as he feels it’s nice to get some extra track time at a track the series only attends once a season.
“You’re on the same tire and can kind of see the changes that the track will go through racing at night,” he added. “Learn a little bit about the tire combination and what it’s going to do in the longer run and that type of thing. I don’t think it hurts.”
