August 8 & 9, 2020
Michigan International Speedway (Brooklyn, Mich.)
Race 1, August 8 - 312 miles
Start: 20th | Finish: 17th
Points: 20 | Standings: 28th
Race 1 Details of the Day
This was the first race of a weekend doubleheader at MIS
Kenseth reported the car being tight for most of the race. Late in the race, Kenseth pitted under caution for a loose left wheel, and restarted 28th with less than 15 laps remaining, but a flurry of cautions and restarts allowed the 42 team to make up positions and finish 17th
This was the first race with the “Choose Rule” in effect for restarts, where teams have the choice to restart on either the inside or outside lane
The “Choose Rule” will remain in use for the remainder of the season, with the exception of road course and superspeedway races
Today was the first race as crew chief for Phil Surgen, who moved into the position earlier this week after previously serving as one of the team’s race engineers
The caution flag was shown nine times for a total of 43 laps
The lead changed 12 times among seven drivers
Phil Surgen, Crew Chief, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
"We know we can be better than where we finished, so not the day we wanted, but we were able to steadily improve the car throughout the race and got it driving much better for Matt by the end. I think we’ve got some good notes to go off of as we get ready to race here again tomorrow. We haven't had much luck with the random draw for our starting positions, but with the invert for tomorrow's lineup we'll have a chance to start the race with some cleaner air, which should be a big advantage from where we have been starting races. Matt said the car was pretty unstable in traffic today, so hopefully we can take advantage of the starting position and what we learned today and have a strong race tomorrow."
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Race 2, August 9 - 312 miles
Start: 4th | Finish: 15th
Points: 22 | Standings: 30th
Race 2 Details of the Day
Today’s starting lineup was set by inverting the top-20 cars from Saturday's race, which meant Kenseth started fourth after finishing Saturday 17th
Late in the race the 42 experienced elevated engine temps as a possible result of some damage on the nose of the car
Today was the second race of the doubleheader weekend at MIS
The caution flag was shown five times for a total of 24 laps
The lead changed 10 times among six driver
Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
“We were wanting to get more out of today with the good starting position we had, but just couldn't seem to make our way back towards the front after getting shuffled back to start the race. Phil and the guys did a nice job setting the car up today, which helped us be quite a bit better to start the race. The car had a decent balance for most the of the day, but just couldn't seem to go anywhere and make up many positions throughout the race. Late in the race the laps started getting a little better, but it sounds like some damage to the nose caused the engine temp to get pretty high, which slowed us down a bit. The results may not show, but I think we made some more gains this weekend from where we've been, and we'll keep at it heading to the road course in Daytona next week.”
Next:
The NASCAR Cup Series will go to Daytona International Speedway next week for the Go Bowling 235 on Sunday August 16. NBCSN, Motor Racing Network and Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90 will have coverage beginning at 3 p.m. ET.