DARLINGTON, S.C. — The fact Matt Kenseth hadn’t competed in a NASCAR Cup Series race in 18 months was not apparent based on his performance in Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway.
Kenseth, the 2003 Cup Series champion and a two-time Daytona 500 winner, made his debut in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro by earning a 10th-place finish in his first race since the 2018 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 48-year-old Wisconsin native’s results turned a lot of heads, including that of race winner Kevin Harvick.
“Here’s the thing about Matt Kenseth, he should have never quit,” Harvick said during his post-race teleconference. “Matt Kenseth was winning races when he retired. I think as you look at that whole situation of when he got kind of moved out of Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing), Matt Kenseth is going to be a huge part of that race team and making Chip Ganassi Racing better. He’s going to be great for the sponsors.
“Experience and skill go a long way in our sport. If you have those two things, like Matt does, you’re going to be successful. You don’t just forget how to do that,” Harvick added. “Matt is a pro, a very good one at that.”
During a teleconference on Monday, Kenseth said he appreciated the kind words from Harvick and noted that he’s enjoyed getting to know his new team as well as getting back to the race track.
“That’s really nice of him to say, especially when he’s out there winning those races. Certainly, it feels good to be back,” Kenseth said. “I’ve had a lot of fun the last two or three weeks working with Chad (Johnston, crew chief) and my new team, and getting back on the race track and being competitive.
“I wasn’t real competitive the last season that I raced (2018) and, certainly, the year before that really didn’t go the way I thought it should go or wanted it to go necessarily. It feels good to be back, to be wanted, to be part of that team and to get a good start. It’s only one race; I have a lot of racing to do and I realize I have a lot of improving to do. But it has been fun so far, for sure.”
For Kenseth, who’d never competed in NASCAR with the current aero package prior to Sunday’s race, the challenge of showing up and strapping in with no practice for his first race in more than a year was more of a mental test than a physical one.
“I would say to get prepared and get the mental mindset and everything ready to start the race was very difficult,” Kenseth said. “I was definitely anxious when they were getting ready to throw the green, firing off there in the first corner, and everything being new and different with having an extended period of time off.
“Really once we got into that second restart and ran three or four laps, I really felt pretty comfortable,” Kenseth continued. “There are a lot of things when you’re out for a while that you just aren’t as sharp on as when you left; just all the little detail stuff like getting in your pit box clean, pit road stuff, just a lot of different little stuff. But I really felt pretty comfortable in the car. They did a great job of getting everything ready. I felt really good physically. There were really no issues there, just trying to get rolling again.
“Certainly, this package makes the cars easier to drive than what they were when I left. When you have less power and more drag, everything is happening just a little bit slower and that helps with the adjustment as well.”
Kenseth will have another chance to learn his new race car and team when the NASCAR Cup Series returns to competition for Wednesday night’s Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway.
With the event scheduled to take place at night pending the potential interruption of Tropical Storm Arthur, Kenseth said he’s not sure what to expect.
“It’s just hard to predict who’s going to do better than everybody else on Wednesday, although it is a quick turnaround,” Kenseth admitted. “I wouldn’t expect the guy that won the race is going to run really bad or vice versa necessarily. I just hope to improve a little bit on everything we did. But, at the same time, that’s what everybody is trying to do.
“It’s not like you’re going to go out there and be like, ‘We finished 10th, I need to do this better and that better,’ and we’re going to go there and automatically do that much better because that’s what everybody’s goal is,” Kenseth continued. “Everybody went in there, nobody had any practice, all the drivers have been out of their cars for 60 or 70 days or whatever it was. I think everybody is going to get better. I have to try to figure out how to be better, we’ve got to get the car a little better. It’s definitely going to be different conditions, most likely, than what we had this weekend. So, there are a lot of variables.”