Matt Kenseth completed his first day of testing for Joe Gibbs Racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway as a number of teams ran with their 2013 cars on Tuesday.
The 2003 Sprint Cup champion had his on-track baptism at the wheel of one of next year's JGR Toyota's, sharing the session with his new teammate Denny Hamlin and another fourteen drivers from 10 different organizations.
Kenseth, who finished the day third fastest behind Hendrick Motorsport's tester Regan Smith and Hamlin, admitted he felt nervous ahead of his first run for Gibbs. His morning session ended with an engine change after he accidentally over-reved the V8 unit of his Camry.
"I've got to be honest, it was probably the first time I've been nervous in a racecar – getting in there and going out for the first time – in as long as I can remember," said Kenseth. "It's always exciting and you're a little anxious when you go do something different. It's been fun so far."
He added: "I just didn't want to do anything stupid like I did, pretty much. I don't know. I guess I shouldn't say nervous, just kind of anxious – it's just different, you know. Just go find a different group of guys in a different hauler and a different car and everything is different inside the car. Just to get used to it. I couldn't wait to get to the track today."
Kenseth, who drives for a different manufacturer than Ford for the first time in his Cup career, said it will take time to build his relationship with crew chief Jason Ratcliff and his new group, having already spent some time with them over the past few weeks before their first day at the track.
"It takes time to get to know each other especially at the track," said Kenseth. "How you do things and all of that stuff is certainly more than a couple of hours. But, it was really good.
"I spent a lot of time with Jason here the last month or so and getting to know all of the guys a lot better - spending some time over there getting to know the technical guys and all of that a lot more."
Joey Logano, who Kenseth replaces at JGR, also completed his maiden on-track outing for Penske Racing at the wheel of the No. 22 car.
Teams continue testing on Wednesday.