Matt Kenseth’s son to run Xfinity race at Chicago for JGR
A second Kenseth will be in a car for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015.
Ross Kenseth, the son of 2003 Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth, will drive the team’s No. 20 car in the Xfinity Series race at Chicago on Saturday, June 20.
“Ross has been working really hard to try to get a good opportunity,” Matt Kenseth said Friday. “Certainly, I don’t think the opportunity could be any better than this. I feel like the 20 is one of the best [Xfinity] cars out there this year with [crew chief Mike Wheeler] running that thing. It will be a great shot for him and really appreciate Joe (Gibbs) and everybody at JGR giving him that chance and everybody at Dollar General to jump on there and sponsor his first ever NASCAR start.
“It’s exciting for me and it’s an off-weekend so I’ll be able to be there and be part of that. Looking forward to seeing how he does. It’s a great shot and he’s worked really hard for it. He’s won a lot of big short track races and he’s never going to be more ready for the opportunity than he is now.”
Ross, 22 in May, has been driving late models and has made two career ARCA starts, one each in 2013 and 2014. He finished third in his start last season.
The opportunity, Matt said, came when Darrell Wallace Jr. left for Roush Fenway Racing. While Wallace’s schedule for 2015 with JGR had never been defined, the team had said he would drive some Xfinity Series races.
JGR has also used multiple drivers in the No. 54 Xfinity car while Kyle Busch has been out with the broken leg and foot he suffered at Daytona. Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin have filled in so far and Boris Said will be in the car for seven races.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
