Matt Kenseth hopes his hard luck at Charlotte is thing of the past

Ray Slover

Matt Kenseth hopes his hard luck at Charlotte is thing of the past image

Matt Kenseth should be forgiven if he is a bit leery about driving at Charlotte this weekend. His luck, it seems, hasn't been good at that track in recent years.

OK, but not great. A look back at last October shows Kenseth plugging along with a damaged car and dinged-up Chase aspirations.

MORE: Ranking contenders | Logano admits his Kenseth mistake | Rain threatens

Saturday night's Bank of America 500, weather permitting, is the first race in the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. It was in 2015, too, then known as the Eliminator Round. Rain delayed the race to Sunday; it might do so again. Kenseth started that race on the pole and limped home 42nd, starting his painful downfall in the championship series.

“Charlotte has been a tough track for us when it comes to this race weekend in the Chase for the last few years and it’s certainly a track that we need to work on in order to make sure that we qualify well and keep our track position," Kenseth said this week. "Track position is always so important at Charlotte and it’s been one of the hardest tracks to pass at recently, especially at night. It’s just very difficult to get around other cars at Charlotte even if you’re a lot faster than a car ahead of you.

"It’s important to put a lot of emphasis on qualifying, pit stops and restarts heading into this weekend.”

Qualifying at Charlotte is scheduled Thursday night.

Joe Logano won the October 2015 race, spun out leader Kenseth to win at Kansas the following week and swept the three-race round at Talladega.

Then came Kenseth's memorable, if lamentable, decision to wreck Logano at Martinsville.

“These are never the kind of days you want to have, for sure,” Kenseth said after he watched repairs after another crash late in the race. “It was just one of those days. We were real fast out front. We were real tight in traffic. We got behind on that first deal [a wall-banger involving Ryan Newman] and didn’t catch the cautions right and it went green. I overshot my pit and that put us in the back.

"It was just one thing after another after another. We should have never been back there to start with. It was my mistakes that cost us."

Drivers in the Bank of America 500. Chase drivers in bold.

No.    Driver, hometown Brand    Sponsor, owner
1 Jamie McMurray
Joplin, Mo.
Chevy McDonald's
Chip Ganassi Racing
2 Brad Keselowski
Rochester Hills, Mich.
Ford Wurth
Team Penske
3 Austin Dillon
Welcome, N.C.
Chevy Dow Coating Materials
Richard Childress Racing
4 Kevin Harvick
Bakersfield, Calif.
Chevy Busch Hunting Chevrolet SS
Stewart-Haas Racing
5 Kasey Kahne
Enumclaw, Wash.
Chevy Great Clips
Hendrick Motorsports
6 Trevor Bayne
Knoxville, Tenn.
Ford Advocare Ford Fusion
Roush Fenway Racing
7 Regan Smith
Cato, N.Y.
Chevy Nikko RC / Toy State Chevrolet
Tommy Baldwin Racing
10 Danica Patrick
Roscoe, Ill.
Chevy Aspen Dental Chevrolet SS
Stewart-Haas Racing
11 Denny Hamlin
Chesterfield, Va.
Toyota FedEx Office
Joe Gibbs Racing
13 Casey Mears
Bakersfield, Calif.
Chevy GEICO
Germain Racing
14 Tony Stewart
Columbus, Ind.
Chevy Mobil 1 / Rev the Vote Chevrolet SS
Stewart-Haas Racing
15 Clint Bowyer
Emporia, Kan.
Chevy 5-Hour Energy
HScott Motorsports
16 Greg Biffle
Vancouver, Wash.
Ford Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion
Roush Fenway Racing
17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Olive Branch, Miss.
Ford Sunny D Ford Fusion
Roush Fenway Racing
18 Kyle Busch
Las Vegas, Nev.
Toyota Interstate Batteries - ABC
Joe Gibbs Racing
19 Carl Edwards
Columbia, Mo.

Toyota

Stanley
Joe Gibbs Racing
20 Matt Kenseth
Cambridge, Wis.

Toyota

Dollar General
Joe Gibbs Racing
21 Ryan Blaney
High Point, N.C.
Ford Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center
Wood Brothers Racing
22 Joey Logano
Middletown, Conn.
Ford Pennzoil
Team Penske
23 David Ragan
Unadilla, Ga.
Toyota Dr Pepper
BK Racing
24 Chase Elliott
Dawsonville, Ga.
Chevy 3M
Hendrick Motorsports
27 Paul Menard
Eau Claire, Wis.
Chevy Valvoline/Menards
Richard Childress Racing
30 Josh Wise
Riverside, Calif.
Chevy Curtis Key Plumbing
The Motorsports Group
31 Ryan Newman
South Bend, Ind.
Chevy Caterpillar
Richard Childress Racing
32 Jeffrey Earnhardt
Mooresville, N.C.
Ford Can-Am
GO FAS Racing
34 Chris Buescher
Prosper, Texas
Ford Love’s Travel Stops
Front Row Motorsports
38 Landon Cassill
Fairfax, Iowa
Ford Rev the Vote / Snapchat
Front Row Motorsports
41 Kurt Busch
Las Vegas, Nev.
Chevy Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet SS
Stewart-Haas Racing
42 Kyle Larson
Elk Grove, Calif.
Chevy Target/Belkin QP
Chip Ganassi Racing
43 Aric Almirola
Tampa, Fla.
Ford Smithfield
Richard Petty Motorsports
44 Brian Scott
Boise, Idaho
Ford Jacob Companies
Richard Petty Motorsports
46 Michael Annett
Des Moines, Iowa
Chevy Pilot Flying J
HScott Motorsports
47 AJ Allmendinger
Los Gatos, Calif.
Chevy Kroger/Stouffer's/Stouffer's Kitchen
JTG Daugherty Racing
48 Jimmie Johnson
El Cajon, Calif.
Chevy Lowe's
Hendrick Motorsports
55 Reed Sorenson
Peachtree City, Ga.
Chevy TBD
Premium Motorsports
78 Martin Truex Jr.
Mayetta, N.J.
Toyota Furniture Row/Denver Mattress
Furniture Row Racing
83 Matt DiBenedetto
Grass Valley, Calif.
Toyota Pink Cosmo Motors Online
BK Racing
88 Alex Bowman
Tucson, Ariz.
Chevy Axalta
Hendrick Motorsports
95 Michael McDowell
Glendale, Ariz.
Chevy Thrivent Financial
Circle Sport-Leavine Family
98 Cole Whitt
Alpine, Calif.
Chevy TBD
Premium Motorsports

Ray Slover