Kenseth has no regrets over end of the ride with Joe Gibbs

Matt Kenseth walks through the garage area after a NASCAR auto racing practice at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., Friday, July 14, 2017. Kenseth said Friday he has no hard feelings toward Joe Gibbs Racing after he was dumped by the team and has no concerns about his future, even though he has yet to land a job for 2018. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Matt Kenseth walks through the garage area after a NASCAR auto racing practice at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., Friday, July 14, 2017. Kenseth said Friday he has no hard feelings toward Joe Gibbs Racing after he was dumped by the team and has no concerns about his future, even though he has yet to land a job for 2018. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

By Associated Press July 14, 2017 4 min read

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) – Matt Kenseth knows his NASCAR career will soon fade to black.

But the same week he was given a pink slip by Joe Gibbs Racing, Kenseth hit the road for a Metallica concert instead of pounding the pavement to find a ride in 2018.

“Actually made me feel 20 again for about four hours, which was pretty fun,” Kenseth said.

If Kenseth actually was 20, he’d be an in-demand driver for a Cup Series rapidly undergoing a changing of the guard. Young is cool. And for a sport desperately angling to hook a new generation of fans, 20-something drivers such as Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Erik Jones could lead the charge into the next decade and beyond. Some of that evolution comes at the expense of veteran drivers such as Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion and a two-time Daytona 500 champion, who got the official news this week he was out at JGR at the end of the season.

The 21-year-old Jones will take Kenseth’s job in the No. 20 Toyota. Jones is on a one-year loaner contract to Gibbs’ sister team Furniture Row Racing, and Gibbs had to put Jones somewhere in 2018.