NASCAR: Five Cup Drivers Who’s Only Luck Has Been Bad Luck
Matt Kenseth
It’s pretty easy to spot when things when sour for Matt Kenseth in 2016. In fact, fans wouldn’t have to look any further then The Daytona 500, where Kenseth was booted out of the lead by his teammate, Denny Hamlin, and ultimately finished outside the top-ten. Kenseth did take the incident in stride, even congratulating his teammate, but deep inside, fans knew that he wanted that win.
Things only got worse the next week at Atlanta, where despite leading 47 laps and looking like he could run away with the win, Kenseth’s team was penalized for an illegal fueling incident and needed to come down to pit road to serve the penalty. Unfortunately for Kenseth, his team didn’t keep him informed of the penalty, and Kenseth lost more positions on the track for not knowing what was going on.
As if that wasn’t bad enough for the Wisconsin native, he was never able to climb his way back up to the lead and ended up finishing 19th. This finish was followed up with a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that left Bowyer with yet another disappointing finish to try to forget. Not only that, Kenseth now had to deal with his slide down the standings as well.
Things turned around briefly for Kenseth, who nabbed two top-ten finishes in five races and managed to climb up the point standings a bit as well. The good times didn’t t last for Kenseth however, as he fell victim to a hellacious crash in the closing laps of The Geico 500 at Talladega. Not only did the former champion’s car do a barrel role in the air, it also nailed the inside safer barrier of the track.
Kenseth was fine after the accident, which is pretty surprising considering the angle in which his car impacted the wall, but he still made it a point to voice his anger to his longtime rival, Joey Logano. The two gabbed for a few minutes outside the infield car center before Kenseth alluded to the media their rivalry may not be over yet. If anything, that’s the worse luck you can hope for if you’re Matt Kenseth.
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