Veteran won Sprint Unlimited, posted strong time in qualifying
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – He won the Sprint Unlimited and posted the fourth fastest time in the final round of qualifying for Sunday’s Daytona 500 (which became the third fastest in the final round after teammate Denny Hamlin’s time was disallowed).
Matt Kenseth is looking more like the driver that won seven times in 2013 and less like the one who went winless last season.
But there’s a long way to go between qualifying for the 500 and taking the green flag in the season-opening race.
Three more practice sessions (two on Wednesday and another on Thursday) are on tap, and that’s just before this week’s Budweiser Duel qualifying races on Thursday night. There are three more practices after the duels.
“We got through the first two processes and now we need to get through the (qualifying race) with a good finish and get ready for Sunday,” Kenseth said after locking in the No. 2 starting spot for Thursday’s opening 60-lap, 150-mile race.
“I feel like all our (cars) have been real competitive since we got here – we’ve got a lot of speed and that’s encouraging, but it’s speedway racing and anything can happen.”
Kenseth’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry will start alongside Daytona 500 pole winner Jeff Gordon in the opening duel.
Help from his teammates was crucial during Sunday’s qualifying, but Kenseth will have no such assistance come Thursday. Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin will be lining up in the second qualifier, based on the odd-even pairing to set the two fields.
Those three rolled into Daytona with new crew chiefs in tow – Darian Grubb with Edwards, Adam Stevens with Busch and Dave Rogers with Hamlin. Kenseth touched down with Jason Ratcliff, just as he did last year.
Team owner Joe Gibbs said there no reason to pull the plug on the No. 20 pairing. “There was no thought there,” he said. “We really felt like this is one team we wanted to leave matched up.
“Each one of those other situations was a little bit different.”
Kenseth didn’t make it to the winner’s circle last year in a points-paying event, but Ratcliff doesn’t sound too disappointed when ask about the results.
“We had a great season. When you look at our overall performance, our top 10s, top fives … we had a lot of good opportunities,” he said.
“Having two years under out belt, I think it’s a no-brainer. We’re looking forward to a remarkable year.”
How a team fares here at Daytona may set the tone for the season, but it doesn’t set the table. Restrictor-place races are few and far between on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. It’s the intermediate tracks that are the meat and potatoes.
And while history shows that Daytona 500 winners rarely go on to win the championship, that nugget doesn’t take any of the shine off winning the series biggest race.
Kenseth has been to Victory Lane here twice in the 500, both times while with Roush Fenway Racing. JGR drivers have won here once, and that was back in ’93 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett driving.
“We’ve been here 24 years. We’ve won once,” Gibbs said. “It’s extremely hard. … For us it has been gut‑wrenching. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been disappointed walking away from here.”
Getting a win in the Unlimited race, a non-points event, was big, Kenseth said, but it also afforded the team the opportunity to understand a few things that might be of use in the coming days.
“I felt like we learned some things about the race car, the track and the tires a little bit,” he said. “that will apply Thursday night. This is the only shot at it (in race conditions).
“It’s a great start. Hopefully we can keep the momentum for the rest of the week.”
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