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Matt Kenseth asserts that he isn't considering retirement

Line Matt Kenseth up against any of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, and it’s clear the driver of the No. 20 Toyota can hold his own.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Apr 17, 2016, 8:01 AM

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Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Race winner Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing celebrates

Race winner Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota celebrates

Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Daniel Suarez, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota race winner

Race winner Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota

Jeff Gordon

Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Until Kyle Busch’s title-winning run last year, Kenseth was the only Cup champion on the roster. Until Busch’s victory at Texas last week, Kenseth’s 36 career wins were tops at JGR. Now the teammates are tied.

I feel incredibly good, I’m driving I think arguably the best team in the sport, love the guys I’m working with and we’re still really competitive

Matt Kenseth

And although Kenseth hasn’t won this season and has just one top-10 finish, he’s exhibited as much speed as his teammates. His 164 laps led is third among the JGR drivers. Kenseth just doesn’t have the results to show for it.

So why are pundits and fans questioning Kenseth’s future in the sport?

“This is turning into a huge retirement topic right now for some odd reason--I’m not sure why and I’m getting a little bit of a complex about it,” Kenseth said sarcastically.

With Jeff Gordon, 44, stepping out of the seat last year — and Kenseth turning the same age last month, comparisons are inevitable. The recent retirements of Peyton Manning, who will be an honorary race official and guest of Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Sunday, and Kobe Bryant certainly have fueled the topic.

But perhaps the greatest reason the rumor won’t die is the long list of development drivers JGR has waiting in the wings — particularly Saturday’s Xfinity Series winner Erik Jones and points leader Daniel Suarez.

Kenseth's not going anywhere

But Kenseth’s boss, Joe Gibbs, insists emphatically his senior driver’s future is secure.

“Kenseth’s future is — we love him,” Gibbs says with a laugh. “I can tell you that right now. We love Matt Kenseth. He’s a big part of our program. We don’t need to announce anything. He’s solid.”

Kenseth is in his 17th season on the Cup tour — and shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, the move to JGR revitalized Kenseth, who has won one-third of his Cup races in his three seasons since joining Gibbs.

On Friday after qualifying second for Sunday's Food City 500, Kenseth said retirement was the farthest thing from his mind.

“I feel incredibly good, I’m driving I think arguably the best team in the sport, love the guys I’m working with and we’re still really competitive,” Kenseth said. “Our sport is just so different. I think you see a lot of people not go out on their own terms because they keep trying to do it for too long because they can still get a job and they can still maybe get in stuff that’s maybe not as good, but somebody is still going to hire them.

“This sport clearly isn’t nearly as athletic as those other sports so your body, you don’t have to throw a football 50 yards and you don’t have to be able to dunk the ball and run hard for an hour. You don’t have to be able to do that stuff as you can look around the garage and see there’s some people in great physical shape and some that probably aren’t in such great physical shape, and both groups win races and win championships. I think it’s a little different. I’m thankfully not to that point yet.”

JGR has several drivers waiting in the wings

Gibbs acknowledged there’s a plan in place for the up-and-coming drivers in the system. With the recent technical alliance with Furniture Row Racing — and just one team under the roof of the Denver-based operation — there will be plenty of space for Jones and Suarez when the time is right and as long as the sponsorship dollars continue to flow.

“I think we have a plan that makes sense,” Gibbs said. “Right now our focus has been Erik and Daniel. Now obviously, (Christopher) Bell has real talent. Toyota has definitely got their eye on him. I think those things, you kind of wait. That’s farther out. We’re still focussed on what we have here now. But we talk to Toyota all the time. We talk about the young guys that you see coming.

“We got a plan (for Jones), but I think the focus right now is this year in Xfinity. We want him to try and win races here. He’s going to be in a battle to win a championship. I think that’s good for him. He won one in truck. I think racing for a championship, we’ve all talked about it. Running it’s a little different than just all out trying to win a race. There’s mindset to winning a championship, he went through that, did it in truck. I think this year is going to be interesting. But you can see that everything we’ve put him in, he’s very talented.”

But one thing is certain. Jones won’t be jumping in the No. 20 car any time soon — not as long as Kenseth’s on his game.

Last year, before he announced his plans, Gordon explained to Kenseth the reasons behind his decision to move on. Although Gordon is just seven months older than Kenseth, the two champions are at different stages of life. Gordon’s chronic back issues and the desire to have a life outside of racing certainly expedited his retirement.

“He told me that it was going to be his last year and told me some of the reasons why and some of the things he felt and things like that and I haven’t had any of that yet,” Kenseth said. “Very few people get to do it on their own terms. I think first of all to even be racing at this level is a dream come true.

"Even though I’ve been here for a long time, I never dreamed in a million years growing up in Wisconsin racing a little late model car that we bought for $1800 at a little quarter mile track that I would ever be able to do any of this stuff.

"No matter what happens, it’s been awesome.”

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