| | | | | | DON'T WANT THIS | Kenseth may be next champ to miss Chase | |
| | Bob Pockrass / SportingNews.com Matt Kenseth is about to join a group of former Cup champions that already includes Tony Stewart, Jeff
Gordon and Kurt Busch. His membership will be official when he becomes another former Cup champion who has failed to make the Chase, NASCAR's version of the playoffs.
Kenseth still has time to make a comeback, just as he did in 2005. But this time it's different. He's still trying to figure out a new car. And he has a new crew chief.
As Stewart, Gordon and Busch have proved in the past, a few accidents, a few wrong adjustments during the final pit stop and an inability to connect with the current fad of what makes a car go fast can doom the best of drivers and the best of teams.
Kenseth, one of two drivers to have made every Chase since the format began in 2004 (Jimmie Johnson is the other), is 20th in the standings, 153 points out of the 12th-place Chase cutoff with 15 races remaining.
To make the field, he will have to overcome Martin Truex, who made the Chase last year, Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman and others sitting outside the top 12.
In 2005, Kenseth ranked 24th in points and sat 320 points behind 10th place (the cutoff at that time) with 12 races to go. He didn't have a top five to his credit. But he then scored a win and six top fives to vault into the Chase.
Can he do it again? Kenseth had five top 10 finishes in the first 11 races this year with strong runs at high-speed intermediate tracks and Bristol. Still, it's hard to imagine he will improve eight spots before the Chase.
Kenseth has been the king of taking cars from 20th-place starts to top 10 finishes by suggesting adjustments and staying out of trouble. He's capable of taking a car from fifth place to the winner's circle when he has good pit stops and things fall his way.
But only at Atlanta and Darlington this year has Kenseth finished better than he started. In 2005, he finished better than he started in six of his first 11 races.
With the old racecar, Kenseth knew what adjustments his team needed to make. Former crew chief Robbie Reiser knew Kenseth's strengths and weaknesses and had a knack for making the right changes.
New crew chief Chip Bolin knows what to do with a racecar, too. It was Bolin who led Kenseth to a win last year at California, when Reiser was suspended. This isn't just a crew chief problem.
The new racecar has simply thrown Kenseth and his No. 17 team for a loop. Kenseth's average finish last year was 14.5 in races with the new car, 11.8 in races with the old car. Though Kenseth's teammate Carl Edwards has found a way to get his car set up so he can drive better than anyone else around the track, Kenseth hasn't found a consistent comfort zone and is running out of time to do so.
If Kenseth misses the Chase this year, at least he knows he's in good company. And more important, he has seen all those former champs rebound and make the Chase again.
| | Posted May 16, 2008 , 3:46 am EST
Last Updated May 16, 2008 , 9:30 pm EST | | | | | | | | | | |
