TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Matt Kenseth — Notes & Quotes
Talladega Superspeedway – October 18, 2013
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot “Let’s Do This” Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How does it feel to be back at Talladega?
“Yeah, so Talladega — man, I don’t know. Yeah, I mean obviously the Chase has been pretty good up to this point, so I’m glad to be leading, glad we had a good run last week — got a pretty good finish out of it — and at Talladega, the driver will draft a little bit today, kind of look at the weather and see if we need to put up a lap time or what we need to do. So, that kind of makes practice interesting if there is a threat of rain with everybody trying to lay back and get fast times and do all that. It’s kind of silly, kind of fun to watch and really it’s kind of a slow weekend until Sunday, so usually just run a couple times in the draft, make sure you don’t have any problems today, qualify tomorrow and get ready to race. So, as a driver, it’s a pretty low-stress weekend until the race starts on Sunday.”
What have you learned during your career about how to race Talladega?
“Well, I don’t know what good it’s going to do me to get freaked out about it right now. I think they’ve been working really hard on this car and I know TRD (Toyota Racing Development) has been working on engines, so hopefully we’ve got some speed when we get out there and draft a little bit today. If we don’t, there’s not really a lot I can do about it. And if we do, there’s not really a lot I had to do with it. Really just make sure there’s no problems today, try to learn a little bit if you can in the draft and, like I said, then qualify tomorrow and then get ready for Sunday. Just like every week I think, you go out and try to do the best job you can do with controlling the things that you can control and not worries about the things that you can’t.”
Do you think the Talladega Chase race is different than the spring race?
“I don’t anticipate it really looking a lot different. I think there was a big wreck where somebody ran into somebody else and caused a big wreck. I mean, you might not have that happen. I think when things like that happen you learn from them, but typically there’s always a good chance of having a couple wrecks and you hope to be out of that. I mean, the race might look slightly different. I just don’t really know — you never know — what agendas anybody’s going to have when these races start. Sometime people just play it by ear — if it feels like everything is fairly calm, they’ll race. Other times if people are stuck in the middle or maybe not even in the middle — a couple rows back — they’d rather just ride around, wait until the end, so you never know what’s really going to happen. I’ve never really had much success making too much of a plan. Seems like you just kind of try to do what comes natural. If it seems like you have the speed and you can lead, be up front, do that. If not, you’re not comfortable, maybe you change your plan then, but every time I’ve really sat down and tried to make a huge plan going into this race it never really worked out very well for me.”
Does Talladega level the playing field for drivers you may not normal compete for wins against?
“No, I mean the interesting thing about the races here especially is pretty much any of the 43 cars under the right circumstances could have a shot to win it. You really don’t know what’s going to happen and usually when you go race at Texas you probably can’t say that. So anyway, you just want to I think try to figure out how to be one of those cars and certainly I think your guard is up maybe a little bit more than normal. You pay attention to every car out there, where like last week there’s probably a few guys that weren’t going to race for the win. The groups may be a little bit smaller, so for sure when you come here it opens it up and gives everybody a shot.”
Do you have more to lose at Talladega being the point leader?
“Well, I mean yes and no. I mean certainly I realize today that we’re the point leader and pretty much pretty close to being tied with the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and if you have a bad week any week that’s going to hurt. And your chances of having a bad race here are probably a little bit higher than other tracks because you can get caught up in stuff. I don’t think you want to give up any race. I don’t think you want to have a bad finish anywhere. I don’t really want to be careful and then finish 15th anywhere. So, I don’t know. You just never know what’s going to happen. You could hang around the back all day and — the thing about that is, you’ve got to eventual go to the front. Last year, the wreck happened coming to the checkered (flag). You couldn’t still be really hanging in the back there, because if you would have made it through turn four you would have finished in the back anyway even without wrecking, so I don’t know. It’s a hard balance. I still feel like all the fans pay a lot of money and watch on TV to see a race and I’ve always just liked to go race. Sometimes that plan can change if your car is not fast or you feel uncomfortable where you’re at and there’s cars all over, all that kind of stuff, but I think I’ve been pretty spoiled the last few plate races when we led a lot of laps here in the spring and that’s probably in my opinion the safest place.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot “Let’s Do This” Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued)
Would you play the race by ear and hang back to try to avoid trouble?
“I think things kind of always change. For whatever reason, Daytona in July for some reason I was stuck in the middle and we didn’t have a lot of speed and I could see things around me were not looking great and I actually just decided that I was going to do something different and try to find a different lane or back up a little bit and try to get in a different lane to get going or whatever and a wreck happened that exact corner. I was in it. You don’t know what’s happened. I think you try to do what feels right at the time and hope it all works out.”
Are you looking forward to racing at Martinsville Speedway?
“I am. We had a really good run going in the spring. We got off a little bit in the middle of the race and then we pitted at the end and lost some spots, but I thought we were going to finish sixth or seventh if we wouldn’t have pitted. I think we led more laps in the spring than I led my whole career (at Martinsville) up to that point — actually, I think we led over 100 laps or something. I thought we had a good car there. Denny (Hamlin) is always really good there. Kyle (Busch) is really good there. I feel like our short track stuff is good even though it didn’t really show it at Richmond. I’m looking forward to going to Martinsville and looking forward to the challenge. It’s interesting. You know you look at tracks that you feel like are some of your worst and then you look at some you feel are your best and if I just look through the last five weeks, I think we’ve had our best finishes at the two tracks I thought would have been our worst, you know, and some of our worst finishes so far are at the tracks I thought would have been our best. You don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s been a fun year because they (Joe Gibbs Racing) has made me run a lot better at tracks where we usually don’t run good at. Hopefully Martinsville will be one of those.”
Have you always looked at racing at Talladega as an opportunity to win?
“No, I didn’t always look at it like that. I was probably — gosh, there were a lot of times when you’d come here and you’re like, ‘Man, when you do wreck, I hope nobody gets hurt,’ so you can get home after the race. Other times you’re like, ‘Man, I hope we don’t wreck.’ I went through a lot of that. Just last year and the first race here this year, the speed in my cars was just so fast, so that probably gives you a little different outlook. We’ve been able to lead a lot of laps. I was fortunate enough to win last fall. Before last year, I haven’t really had that opportunity before to feel like we were fast enough or I could do the right moves or the right things or whatever. So, that probably changes your outlook a little bit. I think if you go through a few plate races and you have trouble and get caught up in all the wrecks and all that, certainly I’m sure your view changes and you don’t look at it quite the same.”
What has been the difference in your recent success at Talladega compared to previous races?
“I think just mainly having faster cars. The tandem stuff we ran okay, but it wasn’t really my favorite style of racing and probably didn’t really have the best success. I felt like last year when they changed the rules package, that little spoiler and kind of separated the pack again and got rid of the tandem and you had to go back to more of a quote unquote ‘conventional- style’ drafting, I felt like not only did it speed our cars up, but I felt like I was more comfortable and probably made less bad moves than I made before, that type of thing. I think that’s part of it and our cars with that other package seemed to have had some speed.”
How does it feel to come back to a track where you’ve found success?
“I can’t remember ’05 and ’06, or ’06 and ’07 whenever you’re talking about — I can’t hardly remember the spring race. I think when you go somewhere and things have been going well, it’s easy to feel good about going there and having a good attitude and vice-a-versa, when you go somewhere and you just keep having trouble and get caught in wrecks or what have you, it’s easy to come with a bad attitude. I think you just have to come with an open mind and hope your car is fast and you can stay up front and stay out of trouble. If not, hope circumstance works out and you can get it in the right place and get with the right cars to get up there and get a finish.”
Do you think other drivers will be willing to help you because you’re the point leader?
“That’s a good question. You never know for sure what the cars around you or the drivers around you are thinking or what moves they’re going to make or what they’re going to do. At times it can be tough having teammates at tracks like this. For instance, Kyle (Busch) and I talked after Daytona and right before I got in that wreck, we got together and for whatever reason our cars weren’t very fast together and, man, I stuck it out behind him for 20 -some laps and we weren’t going anywhere and finally got in a wreck. I should have bailed a long time ago. I always try to go through the race and try to find a car that my car seems to be really fast with and usually when you find that the other person realizes that too and more often than not they’ll stick with you — teammate or not, same manufacturer or not. You want to do what’s going to be best for your respective cars to get the best finish you can. For instance, in the spring race, the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and my car together were really, really fast and I think we ran nose-to-tail for three-quarters of the race. Now, will that happen this time because circumstances are so much different? I don’t really know. I don’t know if that changes or not. From my standpoint, I want to finish as high as I can finish. If I find a car that my car is real fast with, I’ll try my best to work with that person to get us the best finish we can.
