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[/media-credit]Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Aaron’s 499 (Talladega Superspeedway)
Friday Advance (May 4, 2012)
Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Best Buy Ford Fusion comes into Talladega with a superspeedway win earlier this year in the Daytona 500. Kenseth met with media members prior to the opening practice to discuss the weekend ahead.
MATT KENSETH, No. 17 Best Buy Ford Fusion – TALK ABOUT COMING TO TALLADEGA. “It is probably the most I have ever looked forward to coming to Talladega other than the first time I came here. Obviously we liked the rules package in Daytona and made it work pretty good company wide with Greg and Carl on the front row and our car seemed real fast in the race. Anything can happen here, so who knows. You can get wrecked on lap one and you never know. Knowing that our cars were fast at Daytona it makes you look forward to coming here a little bit more.”
DO YOU THINK YOU AND GREG COULD HOOK UP AND BE AS STRONG HERE AS YOU WERE AT DAYTONA AND WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF BEING ABLE TO HOOK UP LIKE YOU DID THEN? “Well, the tracks are a little different but since they paved Daytona they are a lot more similar than they have ever been. Handling isn’t an issue at either track. The biggest thing, besides the normal stuff, will be managing the draft and figuring out the moves you want to make and managing your temperature and keeping and eye on all that. I don’t really anticipate the racing being a lot different. I am not sure how this car will run because I don’t have my car from Daytona. You don’t know how much the other teams have caught up with their cars and engines and all that stuff from where we were at Daytona. We just had really fast cars and engines there and you hope it is the same or better when you come back.”
REGAN SMITH GOT HIS FIRST WIN AT DARLINGTON LAST SEASON. WHEN A GUY WINS HIS FIRST RACE, IS THE PERCEPTION OF HIM IN THE GARAGE CHANGED? DO YOU LOOK AT HIM DIFFERENTLY OR TREAT THE TEAM DIFFERENTLY? “Not really. I think that Regan has always been really fast and everybody has a lot of respect for him and that team and what they have been able to do being a single car team out of Denver of all places and being that far removed from the hub where everything is happening. I think when you see a guy who runs really good and works hard and performs hard, when you see him break through and win, especially at a race like that you feel good for the guy. I don’t think the perception of him or the team changes but you feel good and happy for him.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU REMEMBER FROM YOUR FIRST TIME COMING TO TALLADEGA AND HOW THAT HAS EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS? “Yeah, my first time here was in 1997 driving a Busch car. I think it was only my third Busch series start ever. I think Charlotte was my first race the year before and ran Nashville the week before and then came right to Talladega. It was interesting to say the least. We actually ran pretty good. I remember going out in practice and being in a draft and passing cars and thinking it was the coolest thing I had experienced at the time. I remember in the race having to do a green flag pit stop and not having had done many of those and not know what that was all about. I remember we decided to pit with Michael Waltrip so that I could try to get on pit road and that feeling of trying to get on pit road that fast and how crazy that seemed and shooting through my pit box. It was a lot of fun. It was something I had only watched before I got to go do that. I showed up and raced and it was only my third race. It was a pretty cool experience.”
ANY CONCERNS WITH THE HEAT AND HOW DO YOU AS A DRIVER MANAGE THE HEAT WITH THE MOTORS AND THE HIGH TEMPERATURES WE WILL HAVE THIS WEEKEND? “I am not really worried about myself but the engine stuff and managing that under these rules is always something you have to pay attention to. I think it is manageable and I think Daytona and the 150’s if I remember correctly was pretty warm. The farther you are back in the pack the warmer it is and you have to be careful and just pay attention to it. I think it is the same for everybody and another aspect of this kind of racing that you have to manage throughout the day.”
YOU ARE CELEBRATED FOR YOU LOVE OF THE PACKERS BUT OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD I DON’T REMEMBER YOU SAYING ANYTHING ABOUT THE BREWERS, BUCKS OR BADGERS. IS IT JUST A PACKERS THING OR YOU JUST LIKE FOOTBALL MORE? “If I am going to pull for other sports teams it is always Wisconsin sports first. I honestly don’t watch a lot of other sports. I have always enjoyed the NFL and was a big Packer fan growing up there. Other than motorsports I really just don’t watch a lot of baseball or basketball or any of that. It isn’t that I am not a fan. I would be if I watched the sport. I just don’t pay a whole lot of attention. I watched the Brewers a little last year but I just don’t watch them as much as when I was a little kid. I was a big Brewers fan then and collected all the cards and still remember that team. Then they went on strike and honestly I just forgot about them when they were on strike and I never really watched again. That was like 25 years ago. I don’t know why but I just lost interest when that happened.”
