Matt Kenseth, the 2023 Cup Series champion, is one of the most underrated racers in NASCAR history. Well, he had speed, technique and performance. He was a Daytona champion twice. Kyle Busch, who has tremendous respect for Matt, said in a 2011 interview that Kenseth sailed under the radar during his peak simply because he was “quiet”.
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During a series of weekly driver interviews, Kyle was asked who according to him was the most underrated driver in NASCAR.
“I’d say (Matt) Kenseth, I guess. I mean, he’s a champion, he’s a Daytona 500 winner but he never really gets much attention on him. He’s always kind of quiet and under the radar,” Busch had replied.
“I mean, that’s his style, but he just doesn’t get much attention. I mean, look at all the attention Trevor (Bayne) got for winning the 500. Matt never got any of that,” he added.
Kenseth was always treated as an underdog, reiterated Busch. This despite him driving over 22 years in the NASCAR Cup series, making 697 starts. He won 39 races including the Daytona 500 in 2009 and 2012. He had 331 top-10 finishes in his career.
Kenseth had his most successful period with Rush Fenway Racing, the team with which he won the 2003 championship by being consistent throughout the season. He just won a single race that year, in Las Vegas.
Kenseth was associated with the Roush Fenway Racing team until 2012, after which he joined JGR and became a teammate with Busch and Denny Hamlin from 2013 to 2017. That’s when he had his last Cup win — at the Can-Am 500 race in Pheonix. It was the final race of the Round of 8 that season.
After that, although he joined Roush Fenway Racing once again in 2018 for a part-time stint, Kenseth didn’t see the same level of success as before. He ended P32 in the standings that year.
He drove in the Super-late models for a year in 2019. In his final Cup season in 2020, Kenseth was announced as the replacement for Kyle Larson in the #42 Chevy for Chip Ganassi Racing after the first four races. He could only manage to land the #42 team in 28th place that year.
Despite average outings in his latter years, Kenseth was respected for his consistency, a trait any team would like to see in its drivers.
When Busch gave out his ideal three-car team drivers
When Busch was asked about the racers he would hire to drive in his three-car team other than his then teammates, he chose Kenseth as one.
“I would say Tony (Stewart) would be one, Jimmie (Johnson) would be one, and…hmm. I don’t know who the third one would be. I’ll go with Matt. I get along pretty well with Matt. Matt’s good at what he does, and we both really like racing Late Models,” Busch had said.
Kenseth announced his retirement in November 2020. Busch, meanwhile, is still very much active. He will be looking forward to a resurgent year in 2025, after failing to win a single race in 2024.
