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"20 Year Anniversary: Kenseth's Return"

Posted by nascarman on April 25, 2018

Viewed 2427 times Tweet What a difference 20 years can make.



On April 25th, 2018, it was announced that Matt Kenseth will return to race at Roush Fenway. On April 25, 1998, a disappointed Kenseth watched as his race car was loaded into a hauler in the Talladega infield after he failed to qualify for his Cup debut.





Kenseth and Martin on pit road at Talladega



Kenseth attracted a lot of attention in early 1998. Driving an unsponsored car, he passed Tony Stewart on the last lap at Rockingham to win his first race. Watching from the Cup Series, Mark Martin was very impressed with the young driver. And his car-owner Jack Roush was equally impressed.



On April 8th, Roush announced that Kenseth would attempt to make his Cup debut for Roush Racing at Talladega later that month. His car would be the #60 Peterbuilt Truck Centers Ford Taurus and his Busch Series owner, Robbie Reiser, was named crew-chief. The team tested at Talladega on April 13th and 14th.



Roush Racing was attempting to qualify the most cars by one team in modern NASCAR racing; an astonishing six cars headed from the Roush shops in Concord down to Talladega. Kenseth joined Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Johnny Benson, Ted Musgrave, and Chad Little at the crowded race team.



"It's a great opportunity to drive for a car owner such as Jack Roush in your first Winston Cup race," Kenseth told Wisconsin newspaper The Capital Times. "Most people don't get opportunities that good. I'm really thankful to Jack and Mark Martin to give me that opportunity.'"



"Basically, I just want to qualify for the race," he said. "If we can get that thing qualified, hopefully in the top 25 the first day, we can go out and draft the second and the third day. That would be great. Basically, I want to make the race and I want to run 500 miles and get a lot of drafting experience."



As a full-time driver in the Busch Series, Kenseth entered Talladega second in the points standings, 31 points behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 15 points ahead of 3rd place, Elliott Sadler. In Thursday qualifying for the Busch Series event, Kenseth qualified 19th.





Kenseth's #60 Car (courtesy of jayski.com)



Unfortunately, every Taurus that Roush brought for the Cup event struggled with speed. When practice began on Friday, Chad Little was the fastest of the bunch in 25th. Over five mph off the leader, Kenseth's car was 44th and Mark Martin was 48th.



In the first round of qualifying that afternoon, Bobby Labonte won the pole at 195 mph. Eight mph slower, Kenseth was 50th of 51 cars attempting to qualify. If the rookie were to qualify, he needed to pick up a lot of speed before Saturday's second round of time trials.



In Saturday's morning practice, Matt was only 49th. During the second round of qualifying, he couldn't pick up enough speed and missed the race. Three of the other Roush cars needed to take provisionals to make the field.



In the Busch race that afternoon, Kenseth ran well. In a day filled with crashes, Matt stayed out of trouble and finished eighth. Earnhardt Jr. and Sadler both wrecked, moving Kenseth into the points lead.



Matt made his Cup debut at Dover in September; he served as a substitute for Bill Elliott and finished sixth.



20 years later, in the shadow of a Talladega event, Matt Kenseth's career is revived at the same place it was born.



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