The news we were all dreading...

kymartin6 said:
I was responding to the family values sentence........ there are no ''family'' values in racing...... never have been..... Joe Gibbs tried to interject that to get a sympathy vote from the fans.....
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Thank you for making my point.
 
Damn shame to see, I would have liked to see him at HMS for a year or so.

Matt could have taken less money as well, if he wanted to keep going. Its crazy to see the former three flagship drivers of Roush are gone in Biffle, Edwards, and Kenseth. Yikes where has the time gone.
 
Kiante said:
Damn shame to see, I would have liked to see him at HMS for a year or so.

Matt could have taken less money as well, if he wanted to keep going. Its crazy to see the former three flagship drivers of Roush are gone in Biffle, Edwards, and Kenseth. Yikes where has the time gone.
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The REAL flagship driver at Roush was Martin........ Biffle... Burton..... Edwards....... Kenseth and many more.... including the current lineup would never have been there had it not been for Mark..... all of them..... including Jack..... owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude........
 
tooooo bad
jefff burton retireded as a driver
if only he would retireded again
 
Sorry to see Kenseth go. I hope he is a 1st ballot HoF driver. I think he is very underated. He is still driving well and deserves a better exit.
Dale Jr will be the one everyone talks about, for understood reasons. He is a bigger force, and brings a ton of positive things to Nascar. A better man for the brand.

But when it comes to driving there is no comparison, Matt is so much better, imo.
 
Sorry to see him go, I have followed his career since he was known as "Matt the Brat" Kenseth when he raced at Slinger. For those that don't know the Slinger Nationals was once a great draw of talent and included many Nascar drivers that would come down and compete.

" Bobby Allison was the first superstar to come to Slinger, flying his own plane here to compete at Slinger. Allison never won at the Nationals, but he won the hearts of Wisconsin’s racing community. Sharing stories with the crowd and making a point of racing his way into the main event instead of being a provisional, Allison ended each visit by flying over the track and dipping his wing before returning back to Alabama.

Kenseth recalled those years, “That was always the draw for the Slinger Nationals. The guys when I was growing up to watch were always Trickle, Shear, Reffner. You always had a lot of guys from ASA and NASCAR who would come down to race. There was always a ton of guys, like Schrader, Allison. There were a lot of cool guys who raced here back in the day. I always thought that was the neat part.” Mark Martin, Alan Kulwicki and Kyle Busch claimed Nationals titles. Dale Earnhart, Davey Allison, Neil Bonnett, Michael Waltrip, Kyle Petty, Ernie Irvan and many others did not." http://speed51.com/matt-kenseth-recalls-fondest-slinger-nationals-memories/

Kenseth is the only 6 time Nationals Champion

Matt is one of six drivers in the sport’s history to win a Cup Series Championship, the Sunoco Rookie Award and the Daytona 500; placing him in the elite company of Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, David Pearson and Richard Petty.

Yeah he should have been able to dictate how he went out, he earned it!!
 
kymartin6 said:
The REAL flagship driver at Roush was Martin........ Biffle... Burton..... Edwards....... Kenseth and many more.... including the current lineup would never have been there had it not been for Mark..... all of them..... including Jack..... owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude........
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As a collective Roush had a great stable of drivers. I mean all were premier drivers at one point, Mark is one of the all-time greats. Yet, I always appreciated the balance of drivers Jack had at one point.
 
StandOnIt said:
I've never considered them a team. KDB and Hamlin are incapable. When Edwards and Kenseth were there, they were teamates. But I think they like just about everybody else on the outside saw right thru the preacher. He has been talking out of both sides of his mouth for a long time.
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Most KTB fans are extremely thankful that Kyle is no team mate to Hamlin
 
Seems like Kenseth really wanted that 5 ride at Hendrick. Kinda feel bad for him but then again he's making millions of dollars a year so not too bad lol.
 
kyle18fan said:
The disqualification was caused by a pathetic lack of understanding about the rules. Jones was not to blame for that
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he wouldn't have been in the pits in the first place if it wasn't for his replacement taking out half the field including Kenseth when he ran out of talent and spun all by himself.
 
StandOnIt said:
he wouldn't have been in the pits in the first place if it wasn't for his replacement taking out half the field including Kenseth when he ran out of talent and spun all by himself.
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Kenseths team should know the rules ... wrecks happen often and they happen to many drivers. The 48 often spins by himself BTW
 
Matt, I believe, would have a ride next season if he was willing to take a significant haircut on his salary. The dynamics and economics of NASCAR have changed. That is the real reason he's in this situation. Nobody is owed a grand goodbye. Jr is doing his in the final year of his contract, not with an extra year added to do it. I am sorry our very capable veteran good drivers are faced with this, but don't blame owners who have an obligation to generate a profit against declining revenue and increasing costs.
 
Conover said:
Matt, I believe, would have a ride next season if he was willing to take a significant haircut on his salary. The dynamics and economics of NASCAR have changed. That is the real reason he's in this situation. Nobody is owed a grand goodbye. Jr is doing his in the final year of his contract, not with an extra year added to do it. I am sorry our very capable veteran good drivers are faced with this, but don't blame owners who have an obligation to generate a profit against declining revenue and increasing costs.
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So lets say publicly at the start of the season how much you love Matt and his family and want him to stay until he retires. 3 months later give him his walking papers. Short stroking it won't change any of that. Gibbs is nothing but a Toyota factory puppet anyway in his defense.
 
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I bet that 7th guy was on someones orders to be over the wall. Gibbs is low enough to operate that way
 
I was trying to think of some of the individuals I was bummed to see leave racing or sports for reasons other than death or illness. Off the top of my head Bobby Orr and Barry Sanders departures were tough and seeing guys like Ronnie Francis, Marcelle Dionne, Stevie Y, Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall go were also tough but those 5 guys had played full careers.

Matt Kenseth leaving doesn't bum me out as he has had a long and successful career and unfortunately nothing materialized next year to his satisfaction. It is a shame he could not have moved to the 77 but there was no sponsorship for the car and Toyota seems happy with 5 teams. I am sure JGR would have liked to have retained Matt's services but with Toyota wanting Jones on the main team there was no room for Matt and no other viable options elsewhere. Some of the older drivers may retire as opposed to signing new contracts for pennies on the dollar compared to what they are used to.
 
formula racer said:
I bet that 7th guy was on someones orders to be over the wall. Gibbs is low enough to operate that way
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I am OK with people disliking Joe Gibbs, but he likely had nothing to do with Matt not getting a new contract or Jones coming over. I am sure it was all orchestrated by Toy and JGR was told how things were going to be. Business is business.
 
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I used to have a lot of respect for JGR but have lost a lot of it over how they handled Matt’s situation. While Rick Hendrick promised to personally help Kasey Kahne find a new ride for next year (even if he doesn't find one), there was no such statement of support that ever came from JGR regarding Matt, or at least one that I heard of in any case.

For his entire career, Matt has been one of the cleanest, most consistent and most skilled drivers in NASCAR. He also is one of the few drivers who can do all of that and not tear up a lot of equipment as well. I didn’t like what he did to Joey Logano but I think that the amount of flack he got as a result of that incident was unfair, excessive and didn’t take into consideration the long career he has had as an otherwise excellent racing driver.

At least Carl Edwards, Smoke, Jr. etc have left or are leaving on their own terms, it sucks to have to see him leave the sport in this manner.
 
Great career ... sad to see it end for Matt. I'm doubting I will continue to follow Nascar past this year .. Matt's my guy and I don't really care for any other driver enough to invest any time in. Sounds like Matt was a little bitter about not getting that #5 car .. might have thought he has something set up for a year or two until 19 year old William Byron was really ready for a cup ride. Sounded like Matt wanted a chance to drive another year or two and help mentor Hendricks kid drivers. Not to be. Oh well .. good luck to the young guys.
 
Look, let's call this what it is.
If you don't pay me 7 million per year.....I'm gonna go home.
I have had a good career, good life and I will now move on.
Good for you Matt. Good you have the money to take that stance. I do not begrudge you one bit.
But I also do not feel sorry for you. No one should.
With the troubled times in NASCAR and we all know the sport is enduring troubling times, without great sponsorship....ya can't pay a driver $7m per year. And as a team owner, you have rising young talent (which will be the "Matt Kenseths" for the next 15 years) and currently they will drive for $1m per year.....it's an easy decision. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Kasey was willing to take the pay cut to keep driving. Matt was not. Ok I respect both their decisions.
But do not take this out on Joe Gibbs....or on any oiwner......he has done what needs to be done to remain in business......like any responsible owner should.
Time to move on for us fans also. Enjoy NASCAR next season or do not follow the sport anymore. It's your decision. I'll still be enjoying NASCAR next year. And I will enjoy all the good young talent in the sport.
All things must change or die.
 
Does anyone really know what kind of money Matt was supposedly demanding during negotiations.
Or are people simply assuming he priced himself out of a ride.
 
Greg said:
Does anyone really know what kind of money Matt was supposedly demanding during negotiations.
Or are people simply assuming he priced himself out of a ride.
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8 Million is the going rumor.
 
donthaveanickname said:
I would have been suprised if he found a new ride. I saw that coming since he announced he wouldn't return to JGR.
btw.: Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Dale Jr. and Matt Kenseth have now retired. Morgan Shepherd is still racing.
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Morgan Shepherd qualifies, starts, and parks. He's NOT racing.
 
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kymartin6 said:
As much as Pious Joe goes on about family values and how religious he is and holding prayer meetings and all that..... when the bottom line is drawn..... he's just like the rest....... he's a greedy Bas@@rd that is driven by money..... making money by putting on a front........ no different than a Joel Osteen........
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Gibbs has several hundred employees to consider, not just Matt Kenseth. I sure don't see what your point is regarding Gibbs' religion. He isn't dumping Matt and Katie out on the street corner to sell apples and pencils. You and I don't have a look at JRG's books. With the declining revenues today, it make take dropping one of the highest paid employees to keep many lower-paid people working. But I guess letting a bunch of them go would have been a better demonstration of 'family values'.

Seriously, do some of y'all expect an owner to employ a driver forever? Some of y'all screamed when Edwards decided to leave from this team. Now some scream when Gibbs cuts a driver. Owner or driver, sooner or later, someone's going to make the decision to separate.
 
I've only ever had 2 favorite drivers; Bill Elliott and Matt Kenseth.

All good things do come to an end so I guess I'll be making a decision over the winter with what I want to do with with my Sunday afternoons.
 
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