COMMENTARY: Kenseth Is The Right Man For The Job

We learned yesterday that Matt Kenseth will return to the NASCAR Cup Series this season, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.

He replaces Kyle Larson, who was released by the team after uttering a racial slur during an iRacing event two weeks ago. Yesterday’s announcement caught virtually everyone by surprise, including Kenseth himself, who admitted thinking his NASCAR career was over as little as two weeks ago. Some are questioning Ganassi’s decision to call upon Kenseth, instead of young lion Ross Chastain, to take over the reins of the No. 42 Chevy.

Why a 48-year old veteran, instead of a 27-year old, up-and-coming youngster?

In a word, stability.

Make no mistake about it, Matt Kenseth is not the long-term solution for Chip Ganassi Racing. Five years from now, we will not be talking about a 53-year old Kenseth laboring behind the wheel of any NASCAR Cup Series race car, much less the No. 42 machine.

Despite yesterday’s announcement, Chastain remains the heir-apparent for that ride; or the No.1 Chevy currently manned by Ganassi’s other veteran wheelman, Kurt Busch. But the timing for Chastain is not quite right, and here’s why.

In the aftermath of Larson’s controversial dismissal, Chip Ganassi has spent the last two weeks in damage-control mode. A significant portion of the last 14 days has been spent patching the hole Larson unwittingly punched in the hull of CGR’s corporate battleship, making amends with understandably jittery sponsors – McDonald’s, Credit One Bank, Advent Health -- and assembling an unassailable list of reasons why they should stay on board, rather than look elsewhere in the sport.

Kenseth fills the bill in virtually every way.

Kenseth fills the bill.

He is a steady, veteran presence who will calm the waters at CGR almost immediately. He is a former NASCAR Cup Series champion who finished Top-10 in the championship standings in seven of his last eight full-time seasons. Other than a somewhat fiery on-track spat with Joey Logano a few years ago – a dispute that lasted exactly two races – he has been essentially controversy-free through more than two decades under the white-hot spotlight of the NASCAR Cup Series.

Ganassi said it perfectly yesterday when he said Kenseth brings “no baggage” to the dance.

Ganassi knows what he is getting with Kenseth. He’s getting a driver who has unfailingly upgraded the performance of every single team he has driven for, from Robbie Reiser to Jack Roush (twice) to Joe Gibbs. He will do the same for Chip Ganassi.

Kenseth arrives at CGR boasting a ready-made relationship with his teammate, having worked alongside Kurt Busch for a number of years at Roush Fenway Racing. Both drivers refer to each other as the best teammate they’ve ever had, and putting that particular band back together makes absolute sense for Ganassi.

The team has petitioned NASCAR for a waiver that would make Kenseth eligible for the 2020 playoffs, and despite having to dig out of a four-race hole, it’s not hard to imagine him satisfying all the requirements necessary for playoff qualification and perhaps even winning a race or two along the way.

Don’t worry about Ross Chastain. He will contest strongly for the 2020 Xfinity Series title with Kaulig Racing, continuing to pad a resume that already ranks him as a can’t-miss star of the future. He remains under contract with Ganassi Racing, and he remains a big part of that organization’s future plans.

But the future is not now.

At this precise moment in time, Chip Ganassi does not have the luxury of thinking half a decade down the road. Right now, he needs to focus on stopping the organizational bleeding, pacifying his sponsors and charting a calm, steady, even-handed course through the remainder of a 2020 campaign that has already seen far too much upheaval and uncertainty.

Matt Kenseth is the right man for that job. That’s my view, for what it’s worth. When we come back, Tyler Reddick.