Matt Kenseth: Sharing is caring at JGR
FORT WORTH – Matt Kenseth said the teamwork of he and fellow Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin is “second to none” a week after some members of the group bemoaned their deportment during the Chase for the Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.
Busch, who finished fifth, and Kenseth, fourth, questioned the tactics of Hamlin, third, as Jimmie Johnson won the race and secured a berth in the championship final in two weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“It’s not very hard,” Kenseth said of the dynamic as four Gibbs drivers vie for three remaining spaces in the final. “I think being a good teammate is working as hard as you can during the week, working hard during practice sharing what you learn throughout practice – sharing information on the car and trying to help each other. We all rely on that on Sundays.”
But this elimination-style iteration of the Chase is a complication, he conceded.
“The format has brought up certainly a lot of different scenarios,” he said. “It’s not as cut and dry as probably when it first came out when everyone thought it was just about winning. There’s things that go on and lots of moving pieces.
"I think there’s a lot of huge benefits to having good teammates and talented teammates and crew chiefs and all that stuff. The only downfall you can find of it is it’s hard to beat them when they are in the same stuff. I reap the benefits every day of having great teammates and crew chiefs and competitive cars.”
Hamlin enters Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway second in the standings, with Kenseth third and Busch, the defending champion, holding the final transfer spot. Edwards is last of eight drivers who remain title eligible.
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