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Matt Kenseth hits wall hard, out of Camping World 500 at Phoenix

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Matt Kenseth had a brutal crash into the wall after his front right tire exploded.

Matt Kenseth’s run in Sunday’s Camping World 500 at Phoenix Raceway came to an abrupt end.

The former NASCAR Cup champion was running 15th with 119 laps to go in the 312-lap event when it appeared the right front tire on his Toyota Camry blew out on the front straightaway.

Kenseth’s No. 20 car turned to the right and hit the outside wall hard. While he said he had no indication that the tire was going to blow, Kenseth was philosophical about the incident when interviewed by Fox.

“No, I just had an indication I was going to hit the wall when that let go,” Kenseth quipped. “I didn’t know that was coming.

“We really struggled all day. That was the best we had been running. Most of the day we had been tight. We got rolling a bit better on that run and just a failed front tire. We didn’t handle good all day, tried to make the best of it and get our way to the front, but we just didn’t make it.”

Kenseth was able to climb out of the car under his own power. He was taken by ambulance to the infield medical center for examination, was checked and released.

He will likely finish 37th in the 39-car field.

Kenseth came into Sunday’s race ranked 13th in the Cup Series standings, the highest of all four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers. He finished last in the Daytona 500, third at Atlanta and ninth last Sunday at Las Vegas.

Follow @JerryBonkowski