KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Matt Kenseth walked quietly into the interview at Kansas Speedway, sat behind a microphone, and was asked to reflect on last year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

“I can hardly remember last week,” he replied, “much less last year.”

Probably a good thing.

Just about everything that could go wrong for Kenseth did a week ago at Charlotte, from pit-road penalties to rubbing the wall.

He ultimately finished so far off the lead that his Chase hopes took a major hit, and now he arrives at Kansas in desperate need of a victory that would guarantee him one of the eight spots in the “eliminator” round.

If not this week, then next at Talladega – an even bigger wild-card track.

“For me it’s really no different. We try to show up and try to do the best we can every week,” Kenseth said. “Same this week. Obviously a win moves you on, but I don’t think this is a must-win. Just try to do the best we can and be ready on Sunday.”

Kenseth has every reason to be optimistic this weekend.

Start with the fact that he’s won twice at Kansas, has sat on the pole twice more, and put together six top-five finishes at the speedy mile-and-a-half tri-oval. He’s led more than 500 laps in all, and has been in the top 10 in nine of his past 10 starts.

Then, consider that his five victories this season are the most of any driver, and that his Joe Gibbs Racing stable has won 13 times in all, more than any other team.

So, does all that positive karma combined with his back-against-the-wall situation mean Kenseth – who will start 11th on Sunday is more apt to take some chances in the 400-mile race?

“The rewards are greater if you win, obviously. I don’t know if the penalty is worse or not” if a risky maneuver fails, he replied.

“From what happened last week, we had a lot of things that got us to where we are, had a lot of things go wrong.”

Xfinity: Kyle Busch raced to his fifth victory of the year and record-extending 75th overall, outdueling Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth at Kansas Speedway.

Busch became the winningest NASCAR driver in Kansas Speedway history with four. He also won Xfinity races in 2007 and 2014 and a NASCAR Truck event in 2014.

After Kenseth led the first 117 laps and 148 in all, Busch grabbed the lead for good in his Toyota with 15 laps to go. Joey Logano was third, followed by Ty Dillon, Regan Smith and points leader Chris Buescher.

Busch appeared to have seized control on the 147th lap, but during a caution, he ran into debris that damaged the right front and dropped him far back into the field.

When the race resumed to green-flag racing, Busch returned to contention and rode Kenseth’s bumper before taking the lead.

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