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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Matt Kenseth spent the majority of his most recent Sunday afternoon running in the top five at Martinsville Speedway, but when the STP 500 came down to a final 11-lap dash, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver began dropping like a stone through the field.
Hoping to battle teammate Kyle Busch for the victory, Kenseth instead found himself searching for any opening that would allow him to drop down to the inside and stop the free fall.
By the time Busch took the checkered flag, Kenseth had plummeted to 15th.
It was another missed opportunity for the 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, whose No. 20 Toyota has had plenty of speed but not a lot of good fortune in 2016.
“I thought when eight cars stayed out, the way my car handled and the way it would restart … and being on warm tires and all (that) stuff, I knew that it probably wasn’t going to be good,” Kenseth said Tuesday during an appearance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “But I didn’t think it would be that bad.
“I never thought I would get shuffled to 15th. I thought I would have been able to somewhere find a gap, pop in there fourth or fifth or something like that and hopefully make a position or two up. I knew that my chances for a win were greatly diminished, but I didn’t think that I would fall back that far.”
Busch and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin each now have wins (Hamlin scored in the season-opening Daytona 500). Teammate Carl Edwards posted a solid sixth-place finish on Sunday and sits fourth, just behind Busch, in the points standings after six of 36 races.
Kenseth is 14th in points but showing no signs of concern as the series prepares to head to Texas Motor Speedway this week for Saturday night’s Duck Commander 500.
It’s a long season and there are a lot of laps to be run between now and September, when the field for this year’s 16-team Chase field will be set.
His team’s results thus far have been disappointing, “but we’ve run pretty good,” Kenseth said. “We were in contention to win a couple of races, neither of them worked out. We had fast enough cars, if all the stars had aligned maybe even won a couple more.
“If you run good enough, over time the law of averages is going to work out and you’re going to win some races and get some (good) finishes. It’s just tough to go through when you’re not getting the finishes.
“I’d much rather run the way we’re running and perform the way we’re performing and not get the finishes than be a 15th-place car and luck into a ninth-place finish or something like that.”
Kenseth, 44, has the best average finishing position among active drivers at TMS (8.2) and only six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson has a better driver rating. But his last two starts on the 1.5-mile track haven’t been particularly memorable with finishes outside the top 20. Kenseth missed last year’s Chase race at Texas while serving a two-race suspension.
Two of his 36 career victories in the series came at Texas — both earned while he still was competing for Roush Fenway Racing.
“I don’t see anybody hanging their heads around (the team’s shop),” Kenseth said. “I don’t think we need a group intervention. … We’re all grown-ups, been doing it for a long time. I think Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) understands, I understand, I think my crew guys understand. …
“It’s easy to dwell on the negatives and be like, ‘Man we were in the process of making a pass for the lead and hopefully win the race and a caution came out and we finished 15th.’ Is that disappointing? Yeah it’s disappointing. But you’ve got to keep it all in perspective.
“You’re going to have days where things go right, as well. Like I said, it all starts with performance. … Sometimes it’s painful, but if you’re patient enough you’re going to end up getting the results eventually.”