KANSAS CITY, Kan – Matt Kenseth’s bid for a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship ended after being caught in a late-race accident in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
While Kenseth’s No. 20 DeWalt Toyota suffered extensive damage to his machine in the Lap 198 accident off Turn 2, NASCAR abruptly parked Kenseth’s car after his Joe Gibbs Racing violated the damaged vehicle policy with seven crew members attempting to repair his car.
Ironically, it was his soon-to-be replacement Erik Jones that triggered a 14-car accident that ultimately doomed his championship hopes.
When the Cambridge, Wisc. native came to pit road for body repairs. Too many crewmen came over the wall to service the car and NASCAR soon thereafter disqualified Kenseth and sent him to the garage.
Kenseth was credited with a 37th place finish.
“I don’t really have a lot of good things to say at the moment, so I won’t even try,” Kenseth said.
“They just said I had to park it.”
Kenseth was running 13th before the crash and had picked up crucial points in the first two stages of Sunday’s Round of 12 finale.
“I don’t know what any of the rules are. Seems like we got a lot of stuff that kind of gets, you know, changed so often I honestly can’t keep up with it,” explain Kenseth.
“My head kind of spins from putting lug nuts out of pit boxes to one to many guys over the wall, you’re not allowed to race anymore. I just don’t get it to be honest with you. I really don’t have a lot good to say right now. I’m more than disappointed. I’m just gonna say thanks to DeWalt. They’ve been a sponsor of mine off and on for twenty years. Awesome guys there. They deserve better than this.
“We showed some flashes of brilliance this season, been off and on, been fast at times, had great pit stops at times, just haven’t been able to put it all together like a championship team needs to. Unfortunately, this is an example of that. I hope that I can do a better job here the next four weeks and hopefully go get a win.”
Jones, finished 35th, two spots ahead of Kenseth ignited the melee when he lost control of his No. 77 5hour Energy Toyota off the corner and spun directly into the path of Daniel Suarez and collected AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, Clint Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman Danica Patrick
“I just got loose – I started getting free off of two when the 24 (Chase Elliott) starting-coming around us and I just lost it,” said Jones.
“It’s unfortunate, we had a good run going up there in third place and thought we were going to have a top-five day. Wish we could have ran it out, but it’s just an unfortunate ending. A strong day nonetheless and we’ll come back stronger next week for Martinsville.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
