The last driver to win the Winston Cup Championship, Matt Kenseth competed full time in the Cup Series from 2000 to 2017. Also competing in the Busch and Craftsman Truck Series, Kenseth earned multiple awards and accolades. Inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in 2023, the 2003 Winston Cup champion also finds his name in NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list.  Despite him being one of the most revered driver on the track, the end of the 2017 season spelled doom for Kenseth.

Failing to secure a full-time ride for 2018, Kenseth’s Cup Series ambition slowly dwindled. Recently Matt Kenseth appeared on ‘The Dale Jr Download’ podcast, recapping the end of his full-time Cup Series career. 

“There Wasn’t Any”: Matt Kenseth Reveals the End of His Career

Having started his Cup Series run with Roush Fenway Racing, Matt Kenseth moved on to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013. Replacing Joey Logano behind the wheel of the #20 Toyota, Kenseth bagged multiple wins. Sticking with JGR for five seasons, Matt Kenseth was dropped from Joe Gibbs Racing’s 2018 lineup, having his spot filled up by Erik Jones. Having struggled with a 51-race winless streak until his first win of the 2017 season at Phoenix, Kenseth failed to secure a full-time ride. At the time, it was speculated that Kenseth could secure a one-year ride with Hendrick Motorsports, but that didn’t work out. 

Speaking to his long-time friend on his podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr asked Matt Kenseth what opportunities were presented to him after the end of Kenseth’s JGR venture.

The 2003 Cup champion revealed, “There wasn’t any (laughs). Well there was a few. The Gibbs thing didn’t happen, and then honestly Rick fired Kasey (Kahne). So I went and talked to Rick, almost groveled and be like, “Hey, I don’t care what you pay me, I don’t care how long the thing is…I’ll drive for one year, I’ll do whatever you want. I just want a chance to go and prove I can still do it.” I was obviously extremely motivated at the time. “There’s nothing I’d rather do than go kick their b*tt every week” and it felt like honestly I still could.”

Revealing how his career met its end after Rick Hendrick’s rejection, Kenseth added, “You know that didn’t happen, and that was really about it. There’s maybe one other one, it didn’t quite kind of work out. And then I had several other offers to do stuff, but none of them were going to be nearly as good as what I was doing. And I didn’t want to take a big step backwards.”

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With his Cup Series career effectively ending in 2018, Matt Kenseth returned to Roush Fenway Racing for a short stint, continuing racing sporadically till 2020.

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Following his bitter departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, which left him without a ride for 2018, Roush Fenway Racing announced that Matt Kenseth would return to the team for the 2018 season, but on a part-time basis. Kenseth shared the driver’s seat of the #6 Ford with the full-time driver, Trevor Bayne. 

Competing in the Slinger Nationals in 2019, Kenseth was hired by Chip Ganassi Racing in 2020 as Kyle Larson’s replacement. As Larson was indefinitely suspended by CGR and NASCAR for uttering a racial slur at an iRacing event, Kenseth drove the #42 Chevy for the remainder of the 2020 season.

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Later, in November 2020, Kenseth announced that he would not return to a full-time Cup Series venture, choosing to turn his focus toward the late model series.