“The last real champion”- NASCAR Twitter reacts as Matt Kenseth named to the list of 75 greatest drivers
Matt Kenseth is the only driver to have won just one race to win the championship.
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Matt Kenseth
NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth is named to the list of 75 Greatest races of the sport. He is the penultimate driver added to the new list of 25 drivers that will join the greatest 50 lists from 1998. Seven times Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will be the final entry to the elite list. He is one of the most accomplished and celebrated drivers of the 21st century.
Matt Kenseth started his career at Wisconsin driving in feature races in a car that his dad bought for him, and he went on to establish himself as a highly-rated prodigy. He got his maiden NASCAR shot in 1996 in the Xfinity series with Wegner Racing. Reiser Enterprises gave him a proper ride midway to the 1997 season, and he spent two seasons with them as a full-time driver.
He made his Cup series debut in 1998 with Roush Racing and Elliott-Marino Racing. He landed a full-time ride with Roush in 2000. In 2003 he won the Cup championship by just winning one race the whole season, as his superior consistency earned him the top spot in the point table. He was the last champion in the non-playoff era. He is believed to be the reason NASCAR switched to the playoff system.
Kenseth drove for three manufacturers and six different teams in the cup series. He spent 12 years with Roush before finally moving to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013. He retired from full-time racing with JGR in 2017. He returned to the series driving part-time for Roush and Chip Ganassi Racing. He also drove in the SRX championship in 2022, driving three races.
The 2004 IROC Champion is the 21st-ranked driver in the all-time Cup winners list, with 39 Cup race wins from 697 starts. He won 29 races in the Xfinity Series and one in the Truck Series. He has won the Daytona 500 twice and the Southern 500 and Coca-Cola 600 once each. He also won the 2004 All-Star race.
Here is how fans on Twitter reacted to Matt Kenseth’s induction
Fans reacted positively to the news naming Kenseth to the list of 75 greatest drivers. Most are in agreement that the 2003 champion deserved a place among the elite drivers of the sport. There were also a few fans who mocked the move.
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Justin P Joy
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