Kyle Larson’s engine troubles and Jimmie Johnson twice spinning out opened the door for Matt Kenseth to move himself above the cut line and transfer into the Monster Energy Cup Series semifinal round Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Matt Kenseth eliminated from playoffs by pit stop blunder
A miscue on pit road cost Matt Kenseth, who was eliminated from the Cup Series playoffs Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Kenseth couldn’t capitalize, however. After being swept into a multi-car accident that saw Erik Jones’ Toyota get airborne, Kenseth brought his No. 20 car to pit road with what appeared to be fixable damage that would allow the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to continue.
But Kenseth’s team committed a gaffe as it patched up the No. 20 car. Seven crew members stepped over the wall to work on the car, one more than the allotted six. The infraction meant NASCAR immediately parked Kenseth for the rest of the race. When crew chief Jason Ratcliff radioed his driver to explain the miscue, Kenseth was dumfounded.
Kenseth: “Someone is going to have to tell me what’s going on.”
Ratcliff: “Seven guys over the wall,” said Ratcliff.
Kenseth: “What does that mean, can’t race anymore?”
Ratcliff: “That’s right. Can’t race anymore.”
Kenseth: “So we sent one too many guys over to start working on it and we’re not going to have a chance to race for a championship? That’s what you’re telling me?
Kenseth finished 37th, falling 30 points short of advancing to the eight-driver semifinal round. Also eliminated were Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jamie McMurray. Jimmie Johnson claimed the final transfer spot by nine points over Larson.
NASCAR instituted its damaged vehicle policy at the beginning of the 2017 season. The rule states once a driver has been involved in an accident, a team has five minutes to fix the damage and meet minimum speed before the clock resets. Only six crew members can work on the vehicle, and if that number is exceeded the driver is automatically disqualified.
“Honestly, I’ve never heard of disqualifying somebody from a race if you got one too many guys over the wall or whatever happened there,” Kenseth said. “I don’t really know.
“Pretty disappointing way to end. Can’t even go back on the race track because of the error we made. Couldn’t be any more disappointed.”
Kenseth, 45, is losing his seat with JGR at the end of the season and the 2003 Cup Series champion has not announced if he will continue racing next year.
“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,” Kenseth said. “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.”
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