Matt Kenseth is known as a fierce competitor and NASCAR Cup champion.
But qualifier? Certainly, you jest.
On Saturday, Kenseth surprised some competitors by not just earning the pole for Sunday’s Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway but his second pole of the season with a lap of 183.243 mph.
For the 39-year-old veteran, it’s just the second time (2005) he’s matched that feat in 12 full seasons of Cup racing. It’s quite the accomplishment for a racer who has just six career Cup poles in 427 races.
Kenseth graciously credited his team with providing him the pole-winning car.
“My cars have just been fast and driving really good,” Kenseth said. “I have always tried really hard. I have probably done a little better job at not over driving the car. That has been a fault of mine in qualifying in the past, over driving and driving the corner too hard and messing up the rest of the corner.
“Jimmy (crew chief Fennig) works really hard on it too and it has always been really important to Jimmy. Back in the day when it was easier to pass it probably wasn’t as important to us as it is today. Maybe I am a little better at it but the main thing is the cars have been really fast.”
Kenseth put his fellow Chasers on notice with his pole-winning performance but knows the finish is what counts. Still, he is dangerous enough when he starts from the back of the pack. Considering that Kenseth will have no one ahead of him at the beginning of the race — and the first pitbox on pit road, he’ll be a force to contend with on Sunday.
According to Kenseth, earning the pole has its plusses and minuses.
“You feel good about having the first pick for the pits,” Kenseth said. “You feel good about hopefully leading a lap and get one bonus point. It doesn’t sound like a lot today but it really kind of is.
“You feel better about those couple of things but on the other side of it you started on the front, you qualified on the pole and everybody is expecting big things. It puts pressure on you and the team to keep up with the track and adjustments and try to keep the car there all day.”
Traditionally, Kenseth and Roush Fenway Racing have been stout on 1.5-mile tracks. Kenseth’s previous pole came at Las Vegas in March and six of his 20 career Cup wins came on intermediate tracks. While Kenseth has never won at Chicagoland Speedway, he’s finished second twice, has four top 10 finishes and led 300 of the 2671 laps.
Although five of the 10 Chase venues are intermediate tracks, Kenseth says the organization will place equal value on all the races.
“All ten races pay the same amount of points and I don’t think you want to try to give up anything,” Kenseth said. “Really, we honestly do have a plan ahead of time for what cars we want to bring and things you want to implement through the next 10 weeks but we don’t really plan much farther ahead than one week.
“You try to bring your best stuff and put your best foot forward, get the best result we can tomorrow. We try to learn from that for the future tracks and put it behind you and move on to New Hampshire and do the same thing.
Ten races is a lot of races.”
GAME ON
Just because the Chase for the Sprint Cup kicks off on Sunday, don’t expect NASCAR to over officiate during the playoffs.
Last weekend at Richmond International Raceway, a couple of curious cautions led to speculation as to whether the incidents occurred at opportune times to benefit teammates. NASCAR president Mike Helton said the sanctioning body "saw no evidence of anything out of the ordinary as far as actions we would have had to react to."
Paul Menard was one of the drivers that came under fire as a result of a late race caution on Lap 384 not long after his Richard Childress Racing teammate loss the lead to Jeff Gordon.
Menard, who qualified second for Sunday’s Geico 400, was relieved to be exonerated.
“If they had something, I’d love to see it because I don’t know what we would have done,” Menard said. “But I talked to David Hoots a little earlier and we didn’t talk about that at all. We just talked about racing. So, if they said that, I’m glad it’s behind us and we’re moving forward.”
Carl Edwards supports NASCAR’s "boys have at it" mentality. Edwards, who rolls off fifth on Sunday, feels the officiating has been balanced.
“NASCAR’s stance on penalties and letting us take care of things on the race track has been very good,” Edwards said. “I think they have done a really good job of drawing lines when things get out of hand and letting us have at it when we need to.
“I think it should stay the same in the Chase. I think it has worked out really well and I don’t know that there should be any extra scrutiny on actions or anything like that.
"Right now, everybody realizes that there are huge implications to anything that goes on. I think you will see, at least for the beginning of the Chase, pretty polite drivers and a lot more give and take. That is self preservation and I think that is natural.”
GAME PLAN
Kurt Busch has geared up for the playoffs.
The 2004 Sprint Cup champion currently sits seventh in the point standings but posted two top five finishes in the last two races before the Chase and started the weekend with a solid third-place qualifying effort.
Busch and crew chief Steve Addington are approaching the playoffs methodically.
“We just can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Busch said. “Each opportunity that we’re out on track we have to maximize. With a good practice session, we have to make the right decisions on what we’re going to adjust on the car. Really, just go through a 10-week checklist.
“I’ve done this before and been in position through the Chase for many years and come up short. But the one year in 2004, it was nice, smooth, steady efforts each week. This is one checkmark of 30. We have 10 practice sessions. We have 10 qualifying sessions and we have 10 race sessions. So we have two checkmarks done so far and we’re one away from a third. Those two checkmarks don’t matter. They’re not anywhere near as important as what we get done tomorrow. And that’s just one big checkmark that we’re after.”
In 10 starts at Chicagoland, Busch’s best finishes were sixth in 2002 and 2007.
NUMBERS GAME
3rd — Brian Scott’s finish at Chicagoland Speedway — ties his career best.
4 — wins for Penske Racing in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series this season.
14 — point advantage for points Nationwide Series leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. over second-place Elliott Sadler.
30th — the lowest position any Chase driver (Kevin Harvick) will start on Sunday.
5th — Sam Hornish's career best Nationwide Series finish.
SAY WHAT?
Joe Nemechek was sporting an AMFMEnergy.com sponsorship on his driver’s suit when he qualified 36th on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. The deal came together two years ago after Nemechek met the company’s owner while sitting at the bar in an Outback Steakhouse in Daytona.
“We make cold calls all the time,” Nemechek said regarding sponsorship searches. “But the only money coming in is from the people we meet. Gotta go. I’m racing this weekend for a paycheck.”
