NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth is "taking a break" from the Monster Energy Cup Series next year after 18 seasons at stock car racing's top level, according to Nate Ryan of NBCSPORTS.com. Kenseth, who earlier this year lost his ride at Joe Gibbs Racing for '18, said of the break, "I don’t know if that’s forever. I don’t know if that’s a month or I don’t know if that’s five months. ... I just came to the realization it’s probably time to go do something different." Hendrick Motorsports recently named William Byron to replace Kasey Kahne in the No. 5 Chevy, and Kenseth said, "Probably my biggest clue is when Rick put William in the 5 car, and I didn’t get that opportunity. ... Probably after that happened, that should have been the cold water in my face that, 'All right, you need to accept it and do the best you can this year and figure out what you’re going to do next year and move on.'" Ryan noted unless a top-flight ride somehow were to materialize, Kenseth said that he "doesn’t anticipate" racing next season (NBCSPORTS.com, 11/4). Kenseth yesterday said, “I've really known for a while, just been fighting it probably a little bit too long. I really believe that things either line up or they don't line up. ... It was pretty obvious the way things lined up I wasn't really meant to race next year" ("NASCAR RaceDay," FS1, 11/5). More Kenseth: "The retirement word doesn’t really make a lot of sense in this sport really because ... it’s not like the NFL where you get a pension if you officially retire or you do any of that stuff. Mostly it’s for people like (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. that got to fill the seat and have a sponsor and all that stuff. For me it’s just different because I didn’t really have that option, my seat got filled before, before any of that so there’s really no reason to talk about it" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 11/5).
WHAT DOES FUTURE HOLD FOR DANICA? In Charlotte, Theoden Janes in a front-page piece reported it is unclear how Danica Patrick "truly feels these days about being a race-car driver." Patrick appears in a new documentary premiering Wednesday on Epix, and at different points in the project, she "voices frustration and/or irritation with other drivers, with fans, with internet trolls, with the media, with her cars, with the fact that she’s held to a different standard in NASCAR because she’s a woman." Patrick said or being a racer, "I love parts of it. ... But I’ve never been someone that wants to go hang out at the track and watch other cars go around, and I don’t want to go drive someone else’s car for a joyride." ESPN's Hannah Storm, who directed the documentary, said, "The one thing that really gets lost and is underappreciated by a lot of people is the positive impact she had both on IndyCar racing and NASCAR racing, in terms of drawing new fans into each of those racing disciplines, in terms of bringing money in, in terms of lifting the tide of both sports and the interest level, which translates into television dollars, which translates into merchandise, and people coming to the track." The 35-year-old Patrick said, "It’s safe to say that I’m on the backside of my career and not the front, or the middle. But at what point that’s gonna be (retirement), I’m not a hundred percent sure right now" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 11/4).
