Matt Kenseth has once again found himself on the outside of the Top-12.

With an 11th place finish at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, Kenseth was in position to place second. Before the rain delayed the race Kenseth decided to pit, forcing him to settle for 11th.

“You kind of know what’s going on, but it’s really hard to keep track of," he said. "We knew when we stayed out there when it rained that we were about three laps short of making it on one stop and everybody else wasgonna make it on one stop, so unless we had more rain or more caution laps, we knew we were gonna be a little short.  That’s just what we chose to do. I thought it was gonna rain one more time. We didn’t think it was gonna rain out, but I though there was gonna be another little delay and then we would have been able to make it.”

With just five races left before the Chase, Kenseth has to perform strong in order to make the cutoff, starting with Watkins Glen.

"Every point matters all year from Daytona to Richmond [the Chase cutoff race] to get in so, yeah, it matters -- but it doesn't matter today if you're 13th or fifth," Kenseth said. "You've got to be in after Richmond so we'll just keep digging as hard as we can and, hopefully, we'll make it."

Kenseth notes that he has been thinking positively throughout the season, but has not performed at the same caliber that the team is capable of performing. Kenseth has been as low as 22nd in the standings this year and has rallied his way back into contention. He is confident that the No. 17 Roush Fenway team is more than qualified to once again assemble another comeback.

"I've been optimistic the whole time," Kenseth said. "Our car was really fast at Indy. We qualified really well -- we qualified well here. Our stuff has been fast, so I'm optimistic about it. It's just that this is how things are now -- it's not racing as we knew it.

"It's not the fastest cars out front -- you pit, the tires wear out so everybody's got to come in for four tires and the fastest car passes the slowest cars and gets back in front. It's just not that kind of racing anymore. It's [figuring] out how much gas you've got in the tank and being in clean air. It's just really different. You've got to have a fast car to win, but it's almost as much or more about strategy and being in the front than having the fastest car. If you have one of the fastest 15 cars and pit the race right and get lucky and all that stuff and you're up front, then you've got a shot at it."