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After a precautionary engine change on Saturday, Matt Kenseth will start from the rear of the field in Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Talladega Superspeedway. He will be joined by Brad Keselowski, the man he confronted in the garage after last week’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Kenseth’s crew found issues in the bottom of the engine and made the change, rather than risk a failure during the race. Kenseth currently is ninth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, one point behind Kasey Kahne and one position away from transferring to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
“…we didn’t have anything to gain because we have to start in the back with the engine deal, but you get in it and you get competitive and you’re getting mad and you’re trying to lay back,” Kenseth said following Saturday’s qualifying session, who was 13th-fastest.
Keselowski’s No. 2 crew, parked next to Kenseth in the garage this weekend, made an alternator change that will send him to the back at the start of Sunday’s race. The 2012 champion must win Sunday’s race to be among the eight drivers who will remain title-eligible in the Chase next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
“…we broke an alternator or something,” Keselowski said. “I don’t see how it impacts anything. I guess it is an earlier (pit stall) pick for (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) so he can go home earlier tonight.”
After qualifying fifth, Keselowski’s team chose the 16th pit stall at the end of the first group of pit stalls at the Turn 1 exit of pit road. Meanwhile, Kenseth will pit back in the 41st stall at the entrance to pits off of Turn 4.
In May at Talladega, a laps-down Keselowski triggered a 14-car wreck, collecting Kenseth, who wasn’t complimentary of his competitor’s actions following the race.
“Well, I will say one thing, if it was the other way around and it was anybody else except for him (Keselowski) we’d all be getting lectured,” Kenseth said. “I didn’t know he was that many laps down, honestly.
“He came down across the front of Danica’s car early (in the race) and spun in front of the field and thankfully didn’t collect any cars. This time we weren’t so lucky. He was driving really, really, really aggressively to try to get back up there.”
NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.
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