We normally save reader questions for our Wednesday Q&A posts, but I got this one in my email today, and I thought it would be interesting to throw this one out there for some discussion.
From reader Dave:
At Richmond last week, on the first two pit stops, Michael Waltrip blocked Matt Kenseth in his pit stall. On the next stop, Matt “accidentally” drove into Waltrip’s pit stall, preventing him from pitting. Do you think this was truly a mistake on Kenseth’s part, or was he making a statement?
In case you didn’t watch the race and aren’t sure what Dave is referring to, NASCAR.com has some video from the situation. Go take a look and let me know your thoughts.
I cannot tell you for sure that Kenseth slid into Waltrip’s pit stall on purpose. It may have been just a simple mistake. Drivers slide through their pit stalls all the time. We’ve seen Dale Jr. almost make a habit out of it. You’ve got to keep in mind that finding one small piece of real estate on a busy pit road can be very difficult.
Something I will say though, is that usually if being blocked in your stall is a possibility, the spotter and crew chief will communicate to find out where the cars are on track who are pitted around them. That way they can decide if they need to stop short or long in the pit stall to avoid being blocked in. So odds are in this case, Kenseth knew Waltrip would be coming in behind him.
Kenseth entered Richmond needing a good finish to solidify his position in the Chase. But his lack of performance during the race and possible frustration over the incident with Waltrip may have aided Kenseth’s decision to get revenge. Again though, I can’t tell you for certain if that was the case. But missing the Chase for the first time since it was implemented was not what Kenseth and Co. were looking for.
Before I turn this over to you, let me leave you with one final thought. As difficult as it can be to get on and off pit road, can you tell me the last time you saw Matt Kenseth slide through his pit stall? I didn’t think so…
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on Sep 16th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Of course he “slid thru” on purpose. He knew why MW was blocking him,so DR would have a better chance to make the Chase. Once MK knew he wasn’t gonna make the chase alittle payback was due. Rightly so.
VnF
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 12:03 am
DR you mean the #00 OMG what in the hell do these people think. Anyway i agree whole heartly he slid thru on purpose but mikey is just a bad driver unless you want to blame a little of it on TOYOTA and Vickers chances that I can handle
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 5:45 am
I asked that question to my peers, but most seemed to think that it hurt MK worse than it did MW because of the time it took to back out of MW stall and back into his own. He wasn’t “out” until later in the race. As far as MW being a bad driver, when he did spin in the grass, how come he didn’t hit the inside wall and tear the car all to pieces????
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 7:04 am
I was listening to MW’s radio via Trackpass the entire night. I really don’t think he intentionally blocked Kenseth in. He even asked his team to tell him what to do different. Based on what was said over the #55 radio, Kenseth’s team was so upset about the blocking issue that they gave NASCAR video to get the #55 team in trouble for rolling tires, so the #55 team was much more concerned with that and getting sent back to the longest line twice when they didn’t think they were doing anything wrong. Gene Nead told Michael to be careful about how he pitted and to not block the #17. As for Kenseth, it’s hard for me to believe that with his Chase chances on the line he would let himself be distracted with thinking about deliberately going into Michael’s pit.
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 8:07 am
You bet Kenseth blocked him on purpose. MW was an easy target for K’s frustrations with the whole Chase/bad car that night/bad pit melange.
Kenseth let his temper get to him. Instead of threatening to pummell Waltrip (a la Edwards and Kenseth at Martinsville) he utilized the short man’s revenge = the car/pit deal.
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Jeannie:
“when he did spin in the grass,”
Ummmmm. I think that addresses Waltrip’s driving ability perfectly. A Waltrip spin is not a matter of if but when. He gets so much practice at saving spinning race cars, he can keep a car off the inside wall with his eyes closed & one hand behind his back (which might lead to the spin in the first place).
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Matt is a really good guy, and he will treat you like you treat him. Enough said? The only reason Toyota is hanging onto Waltrip is that his retirement is imminent, and there are some good drivers that will do well when Mikey gets out of the driving business. It is almost inexcusable that a driver misses a pit box once, let alone twice in one race. These guys are pros, and being paid like them.
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Michael (POS) Waltrip is “THE WORST DRIVER IN NA$CAR, PERIOD”
Thanks to Clint Bowyer for stating the obvious.
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Licker: Haha, funny!! I think you forgot to mention Timothy Peters or Marcus Whatshisname in your post though.
Has Waltrip announced his retirement yet? Officially?
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I can’t honestly believe he did that on purpose, putting one more nail in his fleeting Chase chances. But, people do stupid things under pressure/anger.
Football players have gotten hurt fighting, Baseball players have gotten hurt throwing a tantrum- all during critical times in the season.
Now, if he had done this to Vickers- who he was fighting with for a Chase spot, I’d believe it more.
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Ross: Waltrip will run a minimum of 4-5 races next year according to jayski.
I know how much you love and can’t get enough of Peters.
But as far as I know, there has not been an announcement regarding his plans next year.
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
1) Reutimann had no chance of making the chase anyway, and i don’t think waltrip was trying to block kenseth for that purpose
2) why would kenseth PURPOSELY block waltrip in retaliation, if he was still trying to fight his way into the top 12. that seems like a suicidal mistake on his part.
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Whether it was on purpose or not, I laughed and thought it was great. Waltrip continues to get in the way and it would be different if he was competitive, but he is lucky to still have a ride. His TV skills and driving skills are pathetic and yet he is still around, hard to figure? Time for him to go, no more driving and no more TV. Can you tell I can’t stand the guy?
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I agree w/ Zieke’s asessment of MK being a nice guy and all, but he sure didn’t have any fire in him per his interviews pre or post race at Richmond. Kinda gave up….IMHO.
After winning Daytona, via silver platter compliments of Sadler, and then again in Fontana a week out he (and his team) did very little throughout the season performance wise. Yet they remained the top money winners until mid summer. This leads me to believe that a team that could just put all their eggs in the Daytona basket, win the super bowl at the beginning of the season and then just simply “park” could put together a nice business model.
Kind of the ultimate “Start-n-park”!
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
i’d like to know why kenseth had only 2 early season wins this year. he’s right, he doesn’t deserve to be in the chase.
on Sep 17th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
At the time he slid through he was still on the lead lap (I think) which means he still was in chase contention. Remember we are talking about Kenseth here not Kyle. I find it hard to believe that Kenseth would be ready to though in the towell on the chase as long as he had a chance. The man had bigger worries than Waltrip, he needed to get that car dialed in and get back in the race.
on Sep 19th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I’m just going to through this out there…what good would Kenseth sliding through Waltrip’s box and preventing him to pit do? Make him go all the way to the rear of the field. I love Waltrip to death, but there is not denying that he would have ended up there anyway. All it did was expedite the process of Waltrip finishing outside of the top-30 again.
However, Kenseth was having a bad race and was obviously very agitated at Waltrip, so it certainly is a possibility. Kenseth has gotten into scraps and has shown his anger before so it wouldn’t be totally unbelievable. And, Journo has a point in that Kenseth pretty much never slides through his pit still and doesn’t make mistakes on pit road hardly ever.
on Sep 21st, 2009 at 9:43 am
I absolutely believe Waltrip intentially blocked Kenseth for the purpose of helping another Toyota get into the chase.
Kenseth was probably just trying to back into his pit so he could get a better angle for exit:-)