Matt Kenseth Out Of Retirement To Replace Kyle Larson With Chip Ganassi Racing

Matt Kenseth (Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth will come out of retirement to replace the recently fired Kyle Larson with Chip Ganassi Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series according to the Associated Press.

Larson was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing two weeks ago following his use of a racial slur during a broadcasted iRacing event. 

“I think Matt gives us the best chance to win, run up front and compete for wins,” Ganassi told The Associated Press. “I’ve always gone with the mantra of trying to take the best driver available, and he’s the best driver available right now. And he brings something to our sponsors that they need right now. Stability. No baggage. Family man. Daytona 500 winner. Championship winner.”

Kenseth, the 2003 Cup Series champion, is familiar with coming out of retirement. The 48-year old two-time Daytona 500 winner first retired from Joe Gibbs Racing following the 2017 season, but returned to run 15 races for Rough Fenway Racing in 2018. 

Kenseth, who spent the bulk of his Cup career (2000-2012) with Roush Fenway Racing, has 39 career Cup Series victories including the 2009 and 2012 Daytona 500’s. He joined Joe Gibbs Racing prior to the 2013 season and had 15 of his 39 Cup Series wins with the organization. 

Ganassi told the Associated Press that his team will petition NASCAR for a waiver to allow Kenseth to be eligible to race for the series championship this year. The Cup Series scheduled was suspended after four events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

NASCAR has not announced a timetable for a return to live events.




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Comments

  1. I was hoping Carl Edwards would come back.

    Nothing against Matt K.

  2. Matt K. out of retirement, great news. Hope he does well.

  3. Fast Eddie says

    Cool! One of my favorite drivers back behind the wheel! Hopefully someday soon I’ll be able to watch him run!

  4. So very exciting. When will he actually race?

  5. I heard Edwards turned it down. I was hoping Jamie Mac would come back.

    The race shops are open!! The 600 may be a go on Memorial Day weekend. Darlington on May 17th is a possibility.

    Since these are are all no fan races I would love to see them do shorter races old school style with no stages. Darlington 350, Homestead 250 etc. My guess is we get some weeknight races too in and around the Carolina area. Be creative, please!

  6. Given all the tracks within a few hours drive of the team shops in NC, and that the teams do not want to travel now, a good season can probably be made with those tracks, like a regional series but with massive TV coverage. Could work. Make it single day events all season.

    Def would love to see shorter old school, no stages, style racing.

  7. KYLE WILL BE PROBABLY BACK NEXT YEAR. HOW ABOUT #42 TO #48!!

  8. GOT A PROBLEM WITH “MATT THE BRAT” DID YOU ALL FORGET ABOUT CT. BOY GETTING TAKEN OUT BY HIM? JOEY WAS GOING FOR WIN ! HE WAS JUST A D- WORD! YOU PICK IT , YOU HAVE 2 GUESSES !! MINE ENDS IN A G

  9. Not going to happen Reg

  10. Viva race fan says

    So the “N” word stones again NICE. Glad to see Matt back in a car. Love he was a Mark Martin protege . Hope Kyle get a his life back on track we all deserve a second chance . I blame the up bringing of school people who can’t let it go. Time for all to grow and learn from this….

  11. Chip Ganassi is out of his tree putting this guy behind the wheel of the 42 ! He’s washed up and has no personality . There’s to much young talent out there to pick from . Goodfella may have been on to something with Carl Edwards [ Enthusiastic and plenty of charisma ] great for fans , sponsors,Tv. I agree with shortening the race’s ,these are not the same cars we watched in those jalopy enduros in the 50s 60s and early 70s

  12. Sponsors wanted Matt in the car to weather the storm. He has a clean off track record. He knows how to handle the media. Ross C or some other young driver will more than likely end up in the 42 next year.

    I’m sure “CT Boy” is thrilled about Matt coming back once again.

    Also, welcome back Ryan Newman. The dude has stones coming back after that wreck. Especially at age 42.

  13. Fast Eddie says

    Hey Reg, speaking of forgetting, apparently you forgot that Kenseth’s nailing of Joey, although wrong, was a retaliatory strike from Joey basically taking him out of the Chase previously.
    How about heat races to set the field with a shorter main event? Or twin events at half the distance with a lead lap car invert for the second one?

  14. Larson will be back with Childress racing and Liberty University sponsorship.

  15. Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports had an interesting article yesterday. Almost half of the top Cup drivers have expiring contracts this year. Get ready for an epic silly season this fall.

    With all of the available options it will only hurt Larson even further. SHR is the one team that keeps coming up but for it to work Bob said SHR would have to get ALL the sponsors on ALL their teams to sign off on it in addition to Ford. It’s not a matter of finding one sponsor for Larson. SHR would have to get every sponsor they have to give the green light. That won’t happen this fall. Too soon. Too many good drivers without baggage are available for sponsors to choose from this fall. It will be a long slow climb back to Cup for Larson. If it can be done at all. Every year that goes by some new kid will be waiting in the wings for his shot at stardom.

  16. knuckles Mahoney says

    It’s cup, this is modified country. Who cares.

  17. YOU MUST BE “SLOW EDDIE” IF YOU RECALL I SAID JOEY WAS GOING FOR A “””WIN””” THAT WAS A RACING “””DEAL””” HELLO!! BESIDES MARK MARTIN WOULD HAVE NEVER DONE WHAT MATT THE BRATT DID!! YOU KNOW WHO IS A TRUE PROTEGE OF MARK??? JEFF BURTON

  18. “MATT THE BRAT” AKA “DB” REALLY HAS A TITLE SHOT!!!! WHY? DOES HE KNOW SOMEBODY OR THE OTHER WORD THAT RHYMES WITH IT!!!

  19. HEY JD? CLEAN OFF THE TRACK RECORD!! HOW BOUT ON TRACK RECORD!!! GIVE US A BREAK!!

  20. The 600 has been given the green light! Looks like Nascar is going to run shorter Wednesday Night races (300 miles/laps) after the regular weekend event. So each track will get a weekend race plus a Wednesday Night race. That will be nice for a sports starved nation. Kudos to Nascar for thinking outside the box in these crazy times. Because of the tv contract don’t expect any different tracks involved.

  21. I’m glad to see Matt back. It’s a good opportunity in top equipment. Logano’s a punk, always has been. What Matt did at Martinsville was justified, too bad he took himself out doing it. It won’t be too long, somebody will end up drilling him again in retaliation.you can’t drive like a punk, and not expect payback.

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