Asked how he felt about advancing to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Matt Kenseth summed it up in one word during Friday morning’s question-and-answer session at Martinsville Speedway.
“Good,” Kenseth said, and that was it.
“Could you elaborate on that?” asked the moderator.
“Great,” Kenseth deadpanned, then smiled broadly.
That Kenseth made it to the final eight in the Chase is something of a surprise, given that the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota hasn’t won a race this year.
But with a spot in the final four on the line, Kenseth would like nothing better than to break his drought on Sunday at the .526-mile short track, where he matched his career-best finish with a second-place run in last year’s Chase race.
“To be able to win at Martinsville, especially the way it was my first however many years coming up here, would definitely be a career highlight,” Kenseth said. “Honestly—which none of us is this lucky—but if you got handed a menu before the season started, winning a race at Martinsville would be in my top two or three wishes, for sure.
“That would certainly be a career highlight. I haven’t been real close to winning here except for last fall. We had a pretty good shot. We just had too long of a run at the end there and Jeff (Gordon) got by me. Certainly that’s something I want to do.”
Of course, there’s an added incentive this year. A victory in any of the next three races, at Martinsville, Texas or Phoenix, guarantees the right to race for the Cup title in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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