It’s been quite a while since Ross Kenseth last won a race.
While his most recent trip to Victory Lane occurred in August 2013, Kenseth has grown a great deal over the past year, building a Super Late Model team from the ground up and receiving an increased education in stock car racing.
He hopes those experiences will ultimately lead him back to Victory Lane as early as the Rattler 250 this weekend at South Alabama Speedway.
The 21-year-old son of Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth spent last season at Boyne Machine Racing, taking a break from classes at Clemson University to spearhead their efforts out of Jenison, Mich.
While the team wasn’t able to win, they did finish second in the ARCA\CRA Super Series standings and were competitive wherever they went, largely with Kenseth serving as a primary mechanic and engineer on his No. 77 Super Late Model.
That team folded during the off-season, choosing to go into track ownership and promotion instead, leaving Kenseth to return to his family-owner Generation 3 Motorsports No. 25 as a better-rounded competitor.
In short, he’s ready to win again.
“I feel like we had a really good season, especially in the second half,” Kenseth told Race22.com on Wednesday. “We did struggle a little bit at first as we learned our new roles and as I personally took on new responsibilities.
“I learned a lot about what goes into these cars, the set-up, body work, repairing and fabrication. We were a small team and if I couldn’t figure it out, we weren’t going to go to the race track. But working with Rich Lushes and building a baseline throughout the year really helped and we were as good as anyone by the time we reached the Snowball Derby.”
Back with G3M, Kenseth doesn’t expect to chase a championship in any single tour like he did last year when he finished 47 points behind Travis Braden in the CRA. This year, it’s all about traveling and winning marquee events.
“Last year, that just kind of happened,” Kenseth said of his CRA campaign. “Those races were in our backyard and we ran a lot of those races early in the year and got off to a good start. By time the summer rolled around, it made a lot more sense to go to those races than not to go.”
The first major event of the season, at least on the east coast, is the Southern Super Series’ season opener at South Alabama. Kenseth has made three starts in the Rattler but has yet to find himself running at the finish of the $12,500 to win race with results of 26th, 14th, and 19th — crashing out of his first and third appearance.
“Truthfully, we haven’t brought race winning cars to that track yet,” Kenseth said. “I love racing at South Alabama Speedway. It’s the first race of the season and it’s a fun track but if you don’t qualify well, you risk putting yourself in unfortunate situations and that’s what’s often happened to us.”
With three years of experience competing at the Rattler and his time spent with Boyne Machine Racing, Kenseth should be amongst the list of favorites on Sunday afternoon. Besides, the former winner of the All-American 400 and Winchester 400 is just due.
