Friday Kansas Notebook

Friday Kansas Notebook

Notebook Items:

·         Despite Charlotte fiasco, it’s still one day at a time for Matt Kenseth

·         Carefree Logano has two-week reprieve from stress

·         NASCAR Chairman Brian France, wife Amy France honored for charitable work

Oct. 16, 2015

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

Despite Charlotte fiasco, it’s still one day at a time for Matt Kenseth

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Matt Kenseth has excelled in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series by maintaining an unrelenting focus on the next task at hand.

The 2003 series champion remains constant in that approach as he comes to Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2:15 p.m. ET on NBC), even though he faces a formidable challenge with two races left in the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

A succession of mistakes, both major and minor, cost Kenseth dearly last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in the Contender Round’s first race.

But the beginning of the end was contact with Ryan Newman’s Chevrolet. Kenseth hit the outside wall and damaged the suspension in his No. 20 Toyota. Ultimately, he would slam the outside wall and drop out of the race.

The resulting 42nd-place finish left Kenseth at the bottom of the Chase standings, 32 points behind eighth-place Brad Keselowski with only two opportunities — at Kansas and Talladega — either to advance to the Eliminator 8 Round by winning or to make up that enormous points deficit.

But for Kenseth, it’s business as usual.

“For me, it’s really no different,” Kenseth asserted before Friday’s opening Sprint Cup practice at Kansas Speedway. “We show up and try to do the best we can every week. Same this week.

“Obviously, a win moves you on, but I don’t feel like it’s a must-win. It would make it easier if we could win. (But we’ll) just try to do the best we can to qualify as good as we can and hopefully start up front and get working on the race (in Saturday’s practice) and hopefully be up front Sunday.”

There’s one statistic that could mitigate in Kenseth’s favor in the Hollywood Casino 400. He’s the only driver to have won twice at Kansas since the track was repaved in 2012.

CAREFREE LOGANO HAS A TWO-WEEK REPRIEVE FROM STRESS

Unlike the 11 other drivers he’s battling for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, Joey Logano can relax and enjoy the next two races on the schedule.

Logano won last Sunday at Charlotte, ensuring he’ll be one of the eight drivers in the Chase’s Eliminator 8 Round, which starts Nov. 1 at Martinsville Speedway.

“I was sitting at the house on Monday night, and I was watching ‘Race Hub’ (on FS1), and I was like ‘Man, this feels great. Everyone else is stressed out in this garage, except us right now.’

“That’s something to be proud of and something we need to take advantage of. That stress will wear a lot of teams out, as we’ve seen, so right now it’s an important time for us to take these next two weeks, enjoy them, but still go out there and try to win the race.”

In fact, that’s the best strategy for keeping the pressure on his adversaries. Logano is the defending winner of the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas, and if he repeats on Sunday, he’ll keep the blood pressure of all his competitors pegged as the series moves to Talladega on Oct. 25.

NASCAR CHAIRMAN BRIAN FRANCE, WIFE AMY FRANCE HONORED FOR CHARITABLE WORK

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France and his wife Amy will be honored by Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation at the annual Angel Ball on Oct. 19 in New York for their contributions to pediatric cancer research.

Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon will introduce the Frances at the gala at Cipriani Wall Street.

NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Brent Dewar, International Speedway Corporation Chief Executive Officer Lesa France Kennedy, NASCAR Executive Vice President / Assistant Treasurer and The NASCAR Foundation Chairwoman Betty Jane France and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Ben Kennedy also are scheduled to be in attendance.

The couple will be honored alongside supermodel and “Project Runway” television host Heidi Klum during a program that also will include musical performances by One Republic and Patti LaBelle.

This will mark the latest philanthropic achievement from the Frances, who founded the Luke and Meadow Foundation, named after their four-year old twins, in 2011.

They have since supported, raised awareness, given their time and made multi-million dollar donations to a wide range of causes they are passionate about, including: Stand Up For Heroes in support of 9-11 families, Autism Speaks, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research, Providence Day School and many others.