AVONDALE, Ariz. – Ross Kenseth will have another opportunity to better his 17th place finish in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) debut next weekend at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
Kenseth, the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth will again drive the No. 18 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota Tundra in the Nov. 20 Ford EcoBoost 200, the season-finale for the trucks.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Kenseth. “It’s a race that’s always pretty entertaining to watch on TV, feels like you can work three, four different grooves there. Looking forward to being back in a truck next weekend.”
His goals for his second career truck start?
Simple.
“I think just make sure you keep the thing in one piece and just kinda finish better than where your running that day. If you happen to be running 15th, (then) just try to get a top-15 out of it.”
The last race of the season will provide Kenseth another opportunity to compete at another mile-and-a-half track, after the Wisconsin native made his XFINITY Series debut at Chicagoland Speedway earlier this year.
Kenseth faired extremely well in the Windy City, finishing sixth after qualifying second in the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Tundra.
While being called upon to wheel a car and a truck for owner Shigeaki Hattori in the final two events of the year can be considered a true blessing for Kenseth, he is still focused on turning single or even multi-race deals into something more concrete next season.
Ideally, the 22-year-old would like to race full-time trucks next season, but he also quipped that a lot of components would have to align in order for that wish to become reality.
“I hope so,” said Kenseth about the prospects of racing full time in trucks next year. “We’re trying to find money to run a full truck season next year, just looking for the funding to go do it. Hopefully, we just put all of our focus on these next two weekends and come out of Phoenix and go to Homestead and try to get a solid finish.”
This weekend, Kenseth is driving for Hattori on the XFINITY side at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway in preparation for Saturday afternoon’s DAV 200.
Next Friday, Hattori Racing Enterprises will also unveil a new sponsor for the 134-lap race.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
