In the last 10 Cup races, Matt Kenseth has finished everywhere but first place.
Sunday in the ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kenseth finished third, once again within spitting distance of a trip to victory lane.
Since the July race at the 1-mile track, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has finished in the top 10 eight times and in the top five a total of five times.
Kenseth had to settle for placing behind teammate Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson.
“We had the track position I just couldn’t restart good,” Kenseth told NBCSN. “Everytime we restarted I’d lose anywhere from one to four spots I felt down in Turns 1 and 2 no matter what lane I was in.”
With eight races left in his tenure at JGR and possibly his Cup career, Kenseth was aiming to earn his first win of the year and his fourth at NHMS since 2013.
“If you can’t win, you want to finish as high as you can,” Kenseth said. “So if you can’t run second, you want to run third. We’re going to need a win. Really do, really need a win bad. I’m a little let down we did get it.”
Kenseth and the rest of the field head to Dover International Speedway, where Kenseth scored a win last year. He has three wins in 37 starts at the 1-mile oval.