NASCAR: Chip Ganassi Racing looked to the future by turning to the past

Hiring 48-year-old Matt Kenseth to compete in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season doesn’t exactly scream looking to the future. But that’s exactly what Chip Ganassi Racing did.

When the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season was brought to an unexpected halt by the coronavirus pandemic, nobody could have predicted that Kyle Larson would have driven his final race behind the wheel of the #42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Just over a month after the most recent race at Phoenix Raceway, the 27-year-old Elk Grove, California native used the N-word during a virtual race at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on iRacing. This race was being live streamed on multiple Twitch channels.

After Larson was suspended indefinitely and lost multiple sponsors, Chip Ganassi Racing cut ties with him, freeing up the cockpit of the #42 Chevrolet alongside Kurt Busch and the #1 team.

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Given his ties to the team, Ross Chastain made the most sense as far as Chip Ganassi Racing naming a replacement.

However, he is also currently competing full-time in the Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing, and he is competing for points. He sits in fifth place in the championship standings through four races.

Chastain has competed in the first four races of the Cup Series season, one for Spire Motorsports with Chip Ganassi Racing and the other three as the replacement for the injured Ryan Newman at Roush Fenway Racing.

As a result, he would have been eligible to compete for the Cup Series championship had he landed the ride at Chip Ganassi Racing.

But a move to Chip Ganassi Racing as a points-eligible driver would have caused him to shift his points eligibility from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series. He shifted his points eligibility from the Xfinity Series to the Truck Series last year, albeit in far different circumstances.

There were doubts as to whether Kaulig Racing would have allowed this change to take place, especially after they effectively bought him a car after he failed to qualify for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, where he won for the team last season.

Alas, Chip Ganassi did not go with the driver who he has had his eyes on for several years. He made the shocking move to go with a driver who is more than two decades older than the 27-year-old Alva, Florida native: 2003 champion Matt Kenseth.

By going with the 48-year-old Cambridge, Wisconsin native, Ganassi turned to the future, as strange as it sounds.

Kenseth has come out of retirement twice now, so there are certainly no guarantees when it comes to his future, or lack thereof, in NASCAR.

It certainly would have made sense for Ganassi to put Chastain, or even another young driver such as John Hunter Nemechek (or perhaps even some kind of driver rotation), behind the wheel of the #42 Chevrolet for the remainder of the 2020 season.

This would have given Ganassi the opportunity to assess the talent of these prospective full-time drivers of the #42 Chevrolet and develop their talent before making a decision about how to move forward in 2021.

By going with Kenseth, he won’t get that opportunity. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t pick Kenseth without the future in mind.

The season has already been a chaotic one for the #42 team. Kenseth brings with him a sense of stability. Throwing a younger and more inexperienced driver behind the wheel of a car at a top-tier Cup Series team unexpectedly during a season is a whole lot different than naming a replacement, even a first-year driver, during the offseason and giving that driver time to prepare to compete.

Ganassi’s focus wasn’t solely on picking Larson’s immediate replacement, nor should it have been. Seeing the #42 team win the 2020 championship is no longer than priority. They already have a driver whose contract expires after the 2021 season in Kurt Busch. Why rush somebody else to be his teammate and risk entering 2022 in a disastrous situation with zero stability?

We already saw Chastain perform for Roush Fenway Racing as Newman’s unexpected replacement this year. To say that he needs some work before becoming a full-time driver for a top-tier team is an understatement.

He is clearly loaded with talent. But now just wasn’t the right time. Even “developing” him at Chip Ganassi Racing for the rest of the 2020 season could have been counterproductive.

With Kenseth, the 2020 season can be somewhat salvaged from a stability standpoint, which is one thing Ganassi referenced regarding why he opted to go with a retired driver who was on pretty much nobody’s radar to land the ride. Plus, even a rough year for the #42 team this year won’t affect whoever ends up in the car next year and beyond.

Ganassi has already confirmed that he has a plan for Chastain. He is seeing the bigger picture here, even if it doesn’t look like that on the surface. Don’t let his decision fool you into thinking Chastain is no longer an option.

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When the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season rolls around, who will be driving the #42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing? Will Ross Chastain get the opportunity many thought he would get this year when Kyle Larson was fired?

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