Kenseth hits wall during first practice at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- This was not the way Matt Kenseth wanted to bounce back from his first DNF of the season.

Kenseth, who blew an engine and finished 33rd last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, spun and backed into the wall early in Friday's first practice session at Kansas Speedway.

"I got loose and wrecked," Kenseth said. "Spun out. That's about all there is to it. Any more details? That's about it."

Kenseth's No. 17 Ford suffered serious damage to the left rear of the car. Kenseth was unhurt, but his car was loaded on a flatbed to be taken back to the garage. His Roush Racing crew had already pulled out the backup car to get ready when practice continued.

Practice started at 12:20 p.m. ET, but less than 10 minutes into the session, Kenseth was against the outside wall in Turn 2.

	Kenseth's crew begins work on the backup car. Credit: Autostock

Kenseth's team decided to take the engine out of the wrecked car and put in the backup car so Kenseth won't have to go to the rear of the field in Sunday's Banquet 400. Since Kenseth will use the same engine to qualify and race, he will not be penalized.

The car Kenseth will use Sunday was raced in both events at Richmond and New Hampshire. It has finished seventh three times, with a third-place result in the first New Hampshire race.

Going into last weekend's EA Sports 500 at Talladega, Kenseth held a 436-point lead, his largest of the season, over Kevin Harvick. But Kenseth's engine blew while running in second place with 30 laps to go, ending a season-long streak of top-25 finishes.

Kenseth had finished 14th or better in 26 of the 28 races. He lost 82 points of his lead, but still was up by 354 with seven races remaining in the season.