Matt Kenseth, one of the hottest drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as Joe Gibbs Racing continues to put on a power display, was out of the Irwin Tools Night Race early Saturday night after the No. 20’s engine failed at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“It broke in the middle of the straightaway — it had that hop and that noise that it makes when you know you dropped a valve. Unfortunate, but man these guys at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) have been doing such an awesome job, we’ve had so much power and everything has been really reliable here the last year and a half.”
The No. 20 went behind the wall on Lap 114 after making it to pit road, smoking its way around the 0.533-mile concrete oval.
Asked if he saw any signs of trouble with the engine, Kenseth replied, “They never warn you, it would be cool if they would send you a text or something. Just the middle of the straightaway it made that pop where you knew that was it.”
Kenseth started Saturday night’s race in 13th but the engine failure would send the 2003 premier series champion to a 42nd-place finish. He won the spring race at Bristol from the pole. He has three wins this season and entered the Irwin Tools Night Race third in the Chase Grid and locked into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
“The encouraging part is that our cars are really fast and I thought we were an adjustment away from having what we really needed to run with everybody,” Kenseth said. “Wish we were still out there.”
Kenseth dominated the previous week’s race, the Pure Michigan 400, leading 146 of 200 laps en route to the victory.