Engine woes plague Kenseth at Dover
June 2, 2013
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER,
Del. -- Matt Kenseth was the class of the field in Sunday's FedEx 400
benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway
-- but only for 159 laps.
Kenseth
fell victim to a failed valve train in his engine. He led 29 laps at
Dover before exiting the race on lap 159 due to the engine
problem, finishing 40th.
"I've
had great cars all year," Kenseth lamented. "I really feel like JGR
(Joe Gibbs Racing) has three of the strongest
race teams and the best cars in the garage. You have to be able to
finish these races to win, and you have to be able to finish races to
try to win championships. Hopefully, we'll have it all figured out
before September."
Kenseth was certain he hadn't abused his engine at Dover.
"There's
nothing I can do about it," Kenseth said. "I can't do anything from a
preparation standpoint, from a driving
standpoint. I mean, I can't be any easier on it than I've been on it,
so something is wrong. It's not driver-induced, it's not too many miles
in practice -- it's nothing like that. Something wrong with a part and
it broke."
MONTOYA EARNS RESPECT
Juan Pablo Montoya needs a victory on an oval track to validate his NASCAR career, and for the second time this season,
he came tantalizing close.
After leading at Richmond, only to be undone by an untimely caution, Montoya was out front at Dover after Jimmie Johnson
was penalized for jumping the restart with 19 laps left.
Montoya held the top spot for 16 laps, but Tony Stewart, on superior tires, passed Montoya for the win on Lap 398 of
400. Montoya didn't win the race, but he accrued an abundance of respect from Stewart.
"Both
of us are hungry for a win," said Stewart, who had suffered through a
slump of his own this season. "The thing
is -- Juan -- I spoke to him earlier in the week, and we are parked
right next to each other in the motor home lot. For someone like him,
he's an Indy 500 champion; he's a world champion. There's no doubt he
knows how to drive. There's no doubt he knows how
to win races.
"At
this level, it truly is about the people that you're with. It's like he
mentioned the other day, he went through
the lowest of low times last year with Ganassi (Earnhardt Ganassi
Racing), and those guys have made huge, huge steps in their program this
year.
"Now
they are reaping the rewards of it, both him and Jamie (McMurray). It's
good to see, because Juan is a championship‑caliber
driver. Where he was running in the field last year is not indicative
of his skill and talent as a driver, and it was good to see him in a
position to win the race."
With victory in his sights, however, Montoya didn't resort to underhanded tactics.
"Like
I said, he could have made it a lot worse on us and he ran with
respect," Stewart noted. "When you're hungry
for a win, it's easy to say, 'Hey, I did what I had to do.' He ran us
with the utmost of respect, and I think he deserves a lot of credit and
recognition for that."
SOLID RUN FOR EARNHARDT
All but lost in the flap over the penalty that cost Jimmie Johnson a probable victory was a 10th-place finish
that kept Dale Earnhardt Jr. sixth in the Sprint Cup standings.
Earnhardt might well have done better than 10th, but he could never gain the track positions necessary to
take advantage of an improving car.
We made our car better," Earnhardt said. "I felt like we had a real strong car the last half of the race. We just couldn't
get track position, couldn't pass. We were faster than the guys in front of us at the end, but just couldn't pass."
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