Matt Kenseth isn’t retiring, he just has a new sponsor

When Joe Gibbs Racing announced last week it would hold a press conference involving Matt Kenseth on Wednesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, speculation immediately arose that it would be related to Kenseth revealing that he would retire.

Exactly when Kenseth would retire has become a popular topic on NASCAR-centric message boards. The 45-year-old is the oldest full-time competitor in the Monster Energy Cup Series, and with the recent retirements of Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart, conventional wisdom suggested that Kenseth would be the next driver to do the same.

Kenseth, however, isn’t retiring. Nor is it something he’s seriously contemplating. Of course, in this day and age when rumors spread like a wildfire, it wasn’t long before the gossip reached back to Kenseth, who was enjoying the off week with friends and family. And suddenly he had a barrage of texts wondering what was afoot.

“I didn’t realize they put out a release that we were having this press conference today,” Kenseth told reporters Wednesday, via NASCAR.com. “I had no idea what they were talking about.”

What Wednesday’s press conference turned out to be was a new sponsor for Kenseth’s No. 20 team. Circle K will serve as Kenseth’s primary in six upcoming races — Richmond (April 30), Talladega (May 7), Charlotte (May 28), Kentucky (July 8), Texas (Nov. 5), and Phoenix (Nov. 12) — and is multi-year deal, according to team owner Joe Gibbs.

But while Kenseth and Gibbs were at the NASCAR Hall of Fame to discuss their new partnership with the convenience store chain, Kenseth’s future was also a discussion point. The 2003 Cup Series champion isn’t sure how much he will continue racing, and when asked Wednesday he referenced a particular Super Bowl-winning quarterback as reason why he sees no reason to retire.

”If Tom Brady can play football at 40 and still win Super Bowls, I think 45 is pretty young to try and win races,” Kenseth said.

So when the time comes and Kenseth does decide to retire, will there be some kind of big announcement? Perhaps a farewell tour like Gordon and Stewart had during their last seasons?

Ah, no. That’s not how the unassuming Kenseth does things.

”As long as you guys (the media) have known me, if I was going to do something like that I wouldn’t call a press conference,” Kenseth said. “I probably just wouldn’t show up at Daytona and everybody would say, ‘Is Matt racing this year?’

“Or (I would) send out like a four-word tweet.”