NASCAR: Matt Kenseth can get serious now
By Tina Akouris takouris@suntimes.com September 10, 2012 8:36PM
Matt Kenseth is one of 12 drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, which begins with Sunday’s Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet. | AP file photo
Nascar race weekend
At Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet
Thursday
Hauler parade, downtown Joliet to the Speedway, 6 p.m.
Friday
Gates open, 11 a.m.
Sprint Cup practice, 12 p.m.
Nationwide practice, 1:40 p.m.
Final Cup practice, 3 p.m.
Final Nationwide practice,
4:40 p.m.
Rally in downtown Joliet, 4 p.m.
Saturday
Parking lots open, 7 a.m.
Gates open, 9 a.m.
Nationwide qualifying,
11:05 a.m.
Sprint Cup qualifying,
12:40 a.m.
Dollar General 300, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday
Parking lots open, 7 a.m.
Gates open, 9 a.m.
Luke Bryan infield concert, 11:15 a.m.
Sprint Cup driver introductions, 12:20 p.m.
GEICO 400, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Tickets are available by calling 888-629-7223
Updated: October 12, 2012 6:16AM
The “Silly Season” in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garages seemed to begin early this year when Matt Kenseth announced in June that he was leaving Roush-Fenway Racing at the end of the season.
The silliness is officially over for Kenseth now, as he heads to Joliet as one of 12 drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, which begins with Sunday’s Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Kenseth, 40, announced last week that he’d drive in 2013 for Joe Gibbs racing. In so doing, the 2003 Cup champion, eighth in this season’s points standings, will take over the ride of Joey Logano in Gibbs’ No. 20 Toyota Camry.
“I was so comfortable (at Roush) and (staying) would have been the easiest thing to do,” Kenseth said. “I know almost everybody that works there. You know the place and you’re real comfortable, but I think just getting started (at JGR) and getting to know everybody, getting them to know me, getting started with something new is probably the toughest part.”
Out of the picture at Gibbs, Logano, a 22-year-old Connecticut native who was the 2009 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year, found an opportunity at Penske Racing. The same day Kenseth announced his deal with Gibbs, Penske revealed its deal with Logano for 2013 to drive the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford. Penske is dropping Dodge and moving to Ford starting in 2013.
Logano is inheriting a troubled ride in the No. 22. Kurt Busch drove the double-deuce for Penske in 2011 but was fired in the offseason after verbally abusing a pit reporter in the season finale at Miami-Homestead.
A.J. Allmendinger took over the ride this season but was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for failing a drug test. Allmendinger admitted later he tested positive for the prescription drug Adderall, which was given to him by a friend. Penske later fired Allmendinger.
The No. 20 has a more illustrious past. Before Logano took it over in 2009, Tony Stewart had driven it to three Cup championships. Some might find irony in the fact that Kenseth will have the ride made famous by Stewart, who was so incensed by a Kenseth maneuver at Bristol in late August that he threw a helmet at Kenseth’s car as it passed after the race.
As for Logano, he reportedly turned down an offer to stay at Gibbs and run a full-time Nationwide schedule and a partial Cup slate.
Gibbs also tried to get a fourth car added to his stable of Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin to keep Logano in the organization, but it didn’t work out.
J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR, would not divulge details of Kenseth’s signing. Gibbs acknowledged the team jumped at the chance to get Kenseth, who has spent his entire 15-year career at Roush.
“When you realize there might be a possibility to get Matt, we felt like we’d be foolish not to pursue that,” J.D. Gibbs said. “We had some conversations and said there might be a shot here. It took a while to put all the parts and pieces together but we’re just really excited to have that future out before us at JGR and that was the biggest thing — just getting the right foundation for our future.”
