– Have you guys heard the news? Heard the news? The big news?
– I heard it.
– We heard it. Check it out. Check out, Matt’s back, or is he? We think that that might be the case. So Roush Fenway racing is having a press conference tomorrow at 10:00 AM. Multiple reports have linked Matt Kenseth with a return to the team. Sources have told Race Hub that Matt will return to racing in the 6 car. You remember Kenseth was left without a ride for 2018 after Joe Gibbs Racing opted to go with Eric Jones in that 20 car.
The move is a homecoming of sorts for Matt, who got his for NASCAR series win with Roush in 2000. OK, so if this is the case, and it’s happening, how much of a surprise is this to you?
– I was pretty shocked. I looked on my phone, and I saw that, I thought that’s fake news.
– Fake news.
– Is that real? I had not heard a single thing about this. I know rumors around the garage, at least I never heard it. Very surprised. Glad to see Matt back in a competitive ride, though. If that’s the case, that’s the reports that we’re hearing. I hope it’s true.
– You know, I wasn’t shocked by it, because I honestly thought that Matt would be in a race car at some point this year. I didn’t necessarily anticipate that it would be at Roush racing, and I didn’t know that it would be under these circumstances. I really kind of figured if somebody had an injury or something along those lines happened, that Matt would be the first guy to get the phone call to hop back in the car. But good for him if this all works out.
ANALYST: Well he was quick to point out late in 2017, I’m not saying that R word, retirement. And we know he can still be competitive because he won the next to last race at Phoenix, but as you said, driving for the Roush Fenway organization, cars have not shown a ton of speed. How competitive can he be?
– Well that’s going to be the biggest challenge of this whole thing, is these race cars that he’ll be getting into, if indeed it does take place, are not like the race cars he got out of the Joe Gibbs Racing. And that’s not to knock Joe– or not to knock Roush Fenway in any way. That’s just the reality of the situation, is they haven’t shown that speed or that ability to run up front right now, except for Bristol and the Speedway.
So Matt is going to have a lot of challenges there. But when you look at that organization, trying to get better, who’s the best guy you could put your race car to evaluate the program and help you out? I mean, I don’t know if there’s a better driver out there than Matt Kenseth for that.
Here’s the reality, OK? Trevor Bayne, this season, his average finishing position is 23.9. Ricky Stenhouse’s average finishing position is 21st. You take Matt Kenseth and you put him in one of those cars, what does a Matt Kenseth impact or factor do for you? Where can he bring those cars?
– Easy 10 spots in my mind that he would change those steps for Roush Fenway, that he could move them up into that room. And from there, you can build a winning program. So I mean, I just think Matt Kenseth brings so most to Roush Fenway, I believe that Jack actually pulled this off. I give him a lot of credit, if he’s able to do this, and this is all true that we’re hearing and he’ll be back in that car.
– Do you think we’ll see him full time again? Is that a real possibility that this is leading to him running for a championship again?
– I mean, I think we’ve got to wait and see before we get there. First, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we’ve got to make sure that he’s getting in this race car and he’s going to be driving this race car, as the reports seem to state. Once that happens, let’s see how they run. Let’s see what he’s able to do to help the program. And if Trevor Bayne is still in the race car, and this helps Trevor continue to improve, maybe Trevor, you know, stays put right there.
– I think what you said before is that he never used the R word. You know he wants to compete. If it’s a good enough ride, I think Matt Kenseth is still– he’s still able to do it, and still wants to do it.
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