KIDWCKED
07-17-2010, 06:04 PM
c/p from nascar.com by David Caraviello.
With his back-to-back victories to open last season, Matt Kenseth seemed the driver who would lead Roush Fenway Racing back to the top of NASCAR's premier series. In the pre-Jimmie Johnson days, Jack Roush's program had been a powerhouse, celebrating two titles and a memorable night at Richmond in 2005 when it claimed half the spots in a then-10-man Chase. Among its drivers, Kenseth always had been the stoic leader, by virtue not just of his championship but also his willingness to roll up his sleeves and tinker with the inner workings of the organization.
So when Kenseth opened the 2009 season by winning the Daytona 500, and then followed that by winning again the next week at Fontana, it all seemed a quite natural return to place. No one could have foreseen what happened next, a precipitous decline that knocked Kenseth not only out of the championship picture, but out of the Chase altogether, and signified larger issues within Roush Fenway and Ford's NASCAR operation. Since then there's been much flailing by the Ford camp, which has won exactly once -- on a restrictor-plate track, no less -- since Kenseth's once-promising sweep of the first two races a year-and-a-half ago.
That Roush is frustrated, that Ford Racing is frustrated, there is no doubt. These are proud organizations with a history of winning in NASCAR's top division, and something like the 1-for-53 skid they're on now surely doesn't sit very well. But no one seems to bear that frustration more visibly than Kenseth, who despite his taciturn Midwestern nature wears emotions that often are easily readable, and holds a sense of ownership in his No. 17 team that belies his position as the man behind the wheel.
"I don't know what is going on, to be honest," he said last week at Chicagoland, in what appeared a nadir in his dissatisfaction over how his team has run. "I wish I had a better answer for you, I really do. We have had a lot of things change over the last couple of years, but I just don't really know what the answer is right now."
Granted, some context is needed -- Kenseth spoke those words after a pair of practice sessions that saw him place a shocking 38th and 40th on the speed chart, and before teammate Carl Edwards finished second in the race to give his organization the first tangible sense of forward progress all season. For Kenseth, though, last Saturday night brought more of the same, a long evening of running in the middle of the pack, and a 13th-place finish in a race where he never was a factor.
That kind of stuff burns up Matt Kenseth. Yes, he's rather soft-spoken; no, he doesn't scream and throw things in public when things don't go right. But make no mistake about it -- this is a driver who takes things very personally, who isn't just there to pick up a check, blame the crew chief, and move on to the next race. He's said on more than one occasion during these 17 months of limbo about how he believes the No. 17 car belongs among the best on the circuit, up there contending for race victories and championships. When those things aren't happening, it eats at him.
Because while Roush may own the team, it's Kenseth's as much as anyone else's. Kenseth has made many of the personnel decisions on the No. 17 program in the past, including the call to replace Chip Bolin with Drew Blickensderfer in December 2008, a move that produced the Daytona 500 triumph. But ever since Robbie Reiser -- the crew chief who helped Kenseth break into NASCAR's big leagues and win the 2003 championship -- left to become general manager, the No. 17 team has been something of a revolving door. Bolin returned to his team engineer role because he seemed more comfortable managing data than people. Blickensderfer was replaced because Kenseth didn't feel he brought enough energy to the team. Todd Parrott was let go because Roush saw something he didn't like during inspection at Sonoma. Now Jimmy Fennig, who won the 2004 title with Kurt Busch, takes his shot.
"It does seem like I'm pretty hard on crew chiefs lately, that's for sure, but we've just had some opportunities within the organization," Kenseth said when the move to Fennig was announced. "Jack has a lot of quality people working in R&D and the speedway department and other places -- championship-winning crew chiefs like Todd and Jimmy -- and we just had some opportunities to mix things up a little bit and see if we can get the team heading in the direction we think it needs to be headed in."
With his back-to-back victories to open last season, Matt Kenseth seemed the driver who would lead Roush Fenway Racing back to the top of NASCAR's premier series. In the pre-Jimmie Johnson days, Jack Roush's program had been a powerhouse, celebrating two titles and a memorable night at Richmond in 2005 when it claimed half the spots in a then-10-man Chase. Among its drivers, Kenseth always had been the stoic leader, by virtue not just of his championship but also his willingness to roll up his sleeves and tinker with the inner workings of the organization.
So when Kenseth opened the 2009 season by winning the Daytona 500, and then followed that by winning again the next week at Fontana, it all seemed a quite natural return to place. No one could have foreseen what happened next, a precipitous decline that knocked Kenseth not only out of the championship picture, but out of the Chase altogether, and signified larger issues within Roush Fenway and Ford's NASCAR operation. Since then there's been much flailing by the Ford camp, which has won exactly once -- on a restrictor-plate track, no less -- since Kenseth's once-promising sweep of the first two races a year-and-a-half ago.
That Roush is frustrated, that Ford Racing is frustrated, there is no doubt. These are proud organizations with a history of winning in NASCAR's top division, and something like the 1-for-53 skid they're on now surely doesn't sit very well. But no one seems to bear that frustration more visibly than Kenseth, who despite his taciturn Midwestern nature wears emotions that often are easily readable, and holds a sense of ownership in his No. 17 team that belies his position as the man behind the wheel.
"I don't know what is going on, to be honest," he said last week at Chicagoland, in what appeared a nadir in his dissatisfaction over how his team has run. "I wish I had a better answer for you, I really do. We have had a lot of things change over the last couple of years, but I just don't really know what the answer is right now."
Granted, some context is needed -- Kenseth spoke those words after a pair of practice sessions that saw him place a shocking 38th and 40th on the speed chart, and before teammate Carl Edwards finished second in the race to give his organization the first tangible sense of forward progress all season. For Kenseth, though, last Saturday night brought more of the same, a long evening of running in the middle of the pack, and a 13th-place finish in a race where he never was a factor.
That kind of stuff burns up Matt Kenseth. Yes, he's rather soft-spoken; no, he doesn't scream and throw things in public when things don't go right. But make no mistake about it -- this is a driver who takes things very personally, who isn't just there to pick up a check, blame the crew chief, and move on to the next race. He's said on more than one occasion during these 17 months of limbo about how he believes the No. 17 car belongs among the best on the circuit, up there contending for race victories and championships. When those things aren't happening, it eats at him.
Because while Roush may own the team, it's Kenseth's as much as anyone else's. Kenseth has made many of the personnel decisions on the No. 17 program in the past, including the call to replace Chip Bolin with Drew Blickensderfer in December 2008, a move that produced the Daytona 500 triumph. But ever since Robbie Reiser -- the crew chief who helped Kenseth break into NASCAR's big leagues and win the 2003 championship -- left to become general manager, the No. 17 team has been something of a revolving door. Bolin returned to his team engineer role because he seemed more comfortable managing data than people. Blickensderfer was replaced because Kenseth didn't feel he brought enough energy to the team. Todd Parrott was let go because Roush saw something he didn't like during inspection at Sonoma. Now Jimmy Fennig, who won the 2004 title with Kurt Busch, takes his shot.
"It does seem like I'm pretty hard on crew chiefs lately, that's for sure, but we've just had some opportunities within the organization," Kenseth said when the move to Fennig was announced. "Jack has a lot of quality people working in R&D and the speedway department and other places -- championship-winning crew chiefs like Todd and Jimmy -- and we just had some opportunities to mix things up a little bit and see if we can get the team heading in the direction we think it needs to be headed in."