TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Matt Kenseth — Notes & Quotes
Charlotte Motor Speedway – October 11, 2013
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are you happy to be back at Charlotte?
“Glad to be here at Charlotte. I was really looking forward to getting here after how good we ran in the spring. We were off yesterday and really didn’t qualify very fast — kind of struggled in qualifying trim. Looking forward to getting in the car here in about 45 minutes and hopefully getting it dialed in for tomorrow.”
Do you look forward to every race weekend?
“I was looking forward to last week before last week too. I was honestly because you just never know how things are going to work out, how things are going to happen, how you’re going to run — so on and so forth. Obviously, going to Kansas I had a lot of confidence and really looked forward to going there because we won the first two races on the track since it was reconfigured. I couldn’t wait to get there and hopefully pick up where we left off. We didn’t do that and kind of struggled. I guess the same thing coming here — just looking forward to coming back here. In the spring we had just an unbelievable car at the 600, led a bunch of laps and then as soon as we pitted under green then we got a caution, got the wave around and got us behind. Then I think the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) spun out and we got caught in that wreck. Kind of ruined our day, but had a really good car and it’s historically been a pretty good track from a performance standpoint for us so whenever you go to a track that you ran well at in the past then you usually have more confidence going to them. It’s certainly no guarantee for results this time around.”
Is this the season you expected in the first season with Joe Gibbs Racing?
“I think it would be impossible to predict what the season is going to be like exactly when I went over to JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) — certainly we hoped for great things and expected to perform well and try to win and everything, but could have never predicted how the year would have went. Certainly to have the wins that we’ve had and some of the things that we’ve been able to do — couldn’t have predicted that. Certainly, if I didn’t think there was the potential to be better and to do better and to perform better from both sides then we probably would have never put the deal together.”
Would it mean more to win a championship in the new format after winning the old format?
“Your goal every year especially probably after we won the championship the first time, which was a really long time ago, is to win another championship — that’s your goal every year no matter what the rules are. Although there was one thing that changed this year with having that extra car, but basically before the season starts you know what the rules are going to be and you know what the points structure is so really you look at that and it’s your goal to try to be able to win it in whatever system or structure they have.”
How will you approach the Talladega race?
“The first Daytona and the first Talladega was really, really good for us and then the second Daytona wasn’t. If we had the speed we had the first time at Talladega, I look forward to that because we led pretty much all day and I ended up figuring out how to mess it up on that last green-white-checkered there. Real late we were leading on the last one and got beat — wasn’t in the right spot. I don’t know, Talladega is one of those ones kind of like a lot of tracks, but I know it’s different and I think it’s all whatever you want to make of it and however you want to look at it and how you want to approach it. I think most people there and who knows what position we’ll be in after tomorrow night, but most people if they have a legitimate shot and they are still in the mix go there really tentative and make plans and try to hang in the back and try to do all this stuff and try to minimize the damage. I think that’s good because I really try to approach it the opposite — I try to approach it as an opportunity. If the guys we’re racing and are trying to beat are being real careful and what to ride in the back and all that then I look at that as an opportunity to try to hopefully lead some laps, get some bonus points and be in the mix and if you do come out unscathed maybe have a shot to win. That’s kind of how we’ll go there is just go there and approach it like another race. Go race hard and hopefully thing work out for us.”
Do you consider Martinsville a wild card race?
“I think Martinsville is one of those real predictable ones honestly. A lot actually like Dover. I could throw you five names and I bet that unless they break that all five of them are in the top-eight. I think Martinsville is actually really, really predictable. I don’t look at that as a big wild card. I was really proud of our performance in the spring — we led a bunch of laps and I think we finished eighth or something like that. We kind of got off on our pit sequence a little. I think we probably should have finished fifth, sixth or seventh under speed and even when we got off a little. I look forward to going to Martinsville and again I look at that as an opportunity. Maybe not to beat the 48 (Jimmie Johnson), they’re pretty strong everywhere, but I look at that as an opportunity to go run good and hopefully run up in the top-five or six and get a good finish.”
How has the race team improved since the start of the season?
“Honestly, I have to say the race team was really strong from the start of the season. I feel like the first couple months we were hit and miss maybe a little bit on pit road where we are just nailing it all the time now. I think that the over-the-wall guys have got better, they’ve got more used to how I come in the box, how I leave — I feel like our timing is much better. Pit stops have a lot to do with that — timing and being there when the car stops. Just all the different things, I think learning each other, but I feel like after probably the second month of the season that they’ve been on it and they’ve really been killing it lately. Other than that, I feel like my team has been real strong from the start.”
Would you change the points to only gain points against others in the Chase?
“First of all Greg (Biffle) was joking because I was sitting in the back of the room and he probably knew what I was going to say. I think we’ve had plenty of changes in the sport over the last decade or so and I think it would be really great to leave it the same for awhile. It’s something pretty simple, everybody can basically understand it — the fans are just starting to understand it and get used to the system and I think changing it every year is probably not in the best interest of everybody involved. That’s just my opinion.”
Does it matter that Kansas and Darlington have swapped dates for 2014?
“I don’t know — I don’t know what the dates are. Typically, Darlington was always Mother’s Day weekend so that was always pretty cool at night there anyway. I don’t know when they are. So Darlington will be cold and I don’t know about Kansas — that’s a tough question for me to answer right there. I can hardly remember last week.”
How much do you watch the rearview mirror for the drivers high in the Chase?
“I hope they’re in my rearview mirror, but I’m starting 20th so they’re all out my windshield. There’s so much competition I think you really have to run up in the top-three or four every week and you might not finish every week, but you have to be a contender every week and certainly we know finishing seventh and 11th isn’t good enough to win a championship against the guys that we’re racing against. Really I think we just try to control the things that we can control the best we can — go out there and race hard, go out and try to prepare and call the race and race and do all that stuff to try to win. If you can’t win then finish as high as you can and can’t really control what you’re competition does. Just have to keep going out there and doing your best.”
Would the view of the points be different if you weren’t in the Chase?
“If I was 40th in points I wouldn’t have a different view of the points system. I’m not saying it’s great or bad or anything, I’m just saying that there’s been way too much change and of all the years I’ve been in the Chase, which I’m very thankful has been a lot — probably 80 percent of them I’ve had somebody in the media ask me about changing the points system, every single year. I don’t know, they don’t really change the playoffs and Super Bowls and how they are ranked and they are pretty popular so I just don’t see changing every year for every single different situation. There’s 43 competitors out there every week and every one of these events is a huge event. It’s a big deal — I was racing 43 (Aric Almirola) for 10th and you should have seen how hard he was racing to finish 10th. It’s a big deal to get a top-10 — it’s a big deal to get a top-five. You can’t take away the importance of these races. They are really, really important and those people come to watch a race, it’s not just about the 12 or 13 guys that are racing for a championship. It’s about all of them out there trying to go race for a win. I don’t see any reason to want to change that.”
What is the plan for today’s practice?
“Just go out and try to get our car driving good. It’s been fairly cool and cloudy so I don’t think the conditions are going to be massively different tomorrow night. I think we just go out and practice like a normal weekend and try to get our car to drive good and find a nice balance that I like and hopefully the speed is there.”
How good are you at keeping focus and not watching other Chase competitors?
“It’s probably debatable. I feel like every week we’ve got everything we could get for those situations, but if you look at our finishes obviously last week was our worst finish so far. I think like I touched on a minute ago, you just have to focus on the things that you can control — you can’t control how your competition runs. The only thing you can work on is your own car and your own respective race team. I think we go on and race as hard as we can and try to get the best finish we can. Hopefully, we’ve got cars fast enough and I don’t make mistakes and we can do everything right and go up and be a contender to win each and every week and make it to the end and get some good finishes.”
What do you work on today after a disappointing qualifying lap last night?
“In race trim, usually when the car feels good and we have good balance this year we’ve been fortunate enough to have good speed as well. As far as qualifying, when it’s over we got together and talked about it a little bit and looked over some stuff to try to figure out where we lost the time and why we lost the time — what we need to do different next time. Did all that kind of stuff and then pushed it to the back of the folder and started thinking about race trim for today and what we wanted to try to accomplish Saturday. Lap was real disappointing — was one of our worst qualifying spots of the year and thought it was going to be one of our best. We came in here yesterday thinking we were going to have a shot at the pole. I don’t think the draw had much to do with it, I think the last four cars were all pretty fast cars anyway and they all picked up speed. Kasey (Kahne) held them there forever and he qualified second. I don’t really like making excuses and blame it on the draw or conditions or any of that stuff. We certainly didn’t get everything there was out of our car there and didn’t get a good lap and that showed up. That was yesterday, can’t do anything about qualifying and it’s just a starting position. It just matters where you finish. Hopefully, we’ll get it right today and be good tomorrow.”
How important is qualifying?
“Certainly this year qualifying has been better than any other year of my career and I will say that people typically say qualifying doesn’t matter are usually people like me who are bad qualifiers. Qualifying good has definitely been an advantage. You hear Kevin (Harvick) say that last night — it certainly gets you closer to the front, it gives you a better pit selection and gives you a chance early in the race to lead a lap and get a bonus point, which every point is important and there’s been weeks where we’ve had really great cars where it’s put us in position to lead the most laps. Starting 20th is not the end of the world, it’s a 500-mile race and I think that’s more than enough time to get to the front. Certainly, it’s going to take you longer to get there than if we would have qualified fifth or sixth.”
