RELATED: Joe Gibbs details agonizing decision
Matt Kenseth to the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet? Not so fast.
Silly Season chatter is rampant on where the veteran driver will end up next season since Joe Gibbs Racing announced last week that Erik Jones will replace the 45-year-old in the team’s No. 20 Toyota. Kenseth has most often been linked to the No. 88 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. retiring from full-time racing at the end of the season — the thought being Kenseth can drive that car for a couple of years until NASCAR XFINITY Series rookie William Byron, 19, is ready for a bump to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
During an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday night, though, Kenseth told hosts Kenny Wallace and Brad Gillie he did not think the No. 88 would be an option.
“I just don’t know,” he said. “I don’t feel like that’s going to be an opportunity I’m going to have. But I really don’t know. I don’t really have anything lined up for sure. I will say, though, I’m not really that worried about it. I’m not losing sleep over it.”
MORE: Silly Season’s key players | @nascarcasm chimes in
Kenseth joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013 after 13 full seasons with Roush Fenway Racing. The Kenseth-JGR partnership has produced 14 wins and 11 poles. His success made it difficult for team owner Joe Gibbs to cut ties.
“This wound up being a team decision, and obviously, me owning the team, it fell to me to make this decision,” Gibbs told NBC on Sunday. “We didn’t want to do this, it wasn’t the right timing for us, it’s just a lot of things played into it where we had to make a decision.”
Kenseth and Gibbs both have discussed getting everything they can out of their final season together, which Kenseth also addressed.
“We have a lot of things we still want to accomplish in the 20,” he said. “Its been a great four-and-a-half years and I certainly want the last four or five months to be great as well.”