NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FOLDS OF HONOR QUIKTRIP 500
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Atlanta Motor Speedway and discussed his win at last fall, the new rule changes and many other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK HERE THIS WEEKEND:
“I would say just sort of a really great race track. I really enjoy racing at this place. Just the surface and the speeds, the track is rough, you can move from top to bottom. It has always been one of my favorite race tracks. Coming off last year’s win that was a huge win for our team to make the Chase, get us into there. It is a neat track. I’m glad we are here. The weather is great so far. Hopefully it stays away on Sunday and we have a really good show. Yesterday went pretty good, our first kind of test with this new package. I felt really good about it. I thought the Hendrick cars were fast. Our car the No. 5 we hit on some things and were fast at times and not so good at others, but it was a nice learning day for us.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RACE IN THE FALL?
“It was really an interesting race for us. We started I think around 10th and it went green. Early on in the race we drove to the front. Then drove to the back, then drove to the front, we did that about three times throughout the race. We had speed at times and then we would lose it real bad. At the end we were back there a ways and just started coming forward. Then the final two restarts were really key for us. I got the lead and was holding it. Then they had the restart at the end and a couple of them and we were just able to get good restarts, good drive up through the gears and get by (Matt) Kenseth getting into Turn 3. It was close, but we had a great car throughout the race at different times, then a not very good car at times. Just keeping up with it was key. This place changes a good bit. We hit it right at the end when it counted.”
HOW HAS IT BEEN TRANSFERRING FEEDBACK TO YOUR NEW CREW CHIEF KEITH RODDEN?
“It’s been really good. When you are testing you can try a few more things. At the same time we were just trying to be prepared for today and for the weekend. We weren’t able to test a lot of things, but we were able to run through a fair bit of stuff. Working with Keith (Rodden, crew chief) has been great. I think it can only get better as we go, but it started off basically where it ended when he was my engineer. We started working I think the first time he was my engineer was 2004 in the Xfinity series and we have kind of been on and off together ever since then. It felt really good at Daytona, the test and now this weekend. The rest of the weekend I think will go great. I think there is a lot more to it than just the communication side. It’s kind of the preparation at the shop throughout the winter. The guys, how they look at things and how our cars are built. He has done a really great job with all that stuff.”
DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR OPINION OF HOW MUCH YOU LIKE THIS PLACE IN TALKING TO OTHER DRIVERS IS THAT SENTIMENT SHARED THROUGHOUT THE GARAGE? WHAT KIND OF ADJUSTMENT DO YOU MAKE AFTER THE LONG STAY IN DAYTONA TO GET READY FOR THIS PLACE?
“I feel like a lot of the drivers really enjoy Atlanta. I don’t see how they couldn’t because I feel like it’s definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite since I came into the Cup Series. Really since I came into stock car racing and got to come here for the first time. I would say there are a lot of people that really enjoy this place.
“Yeah, Daytona the race there, the practices, qualifying, everything about Daytona, a week and a half of being down there is different than Atlanta. It’s nice to get to this place. Get here and prepare and kind of see where our speed is at. See where we stack up the field. I think a lot of this weekend, next weekend in Vegas and Phoenix and understand where we are at and the things that we need to work on from that point.”
AFTER WINNING THE RACE IN THE FALL LAST YEAR IN THE NEXT-TO-LAST RACE TO GET INTO THE CHASE, HOW NICE WOULD IT BE TO WIN THE SECOND RACE OF THE YEAR AND BASICALLY HAVE A NICE, EASY CRUISE INTO THE CHASE?
“Yeah, it would be a lot better and lot less stress but it is what it is. We’ll take it any way we can. We want to make the Chase. We have goals this year like winning more races, running up front more often, being up front in practice, winning poles and doing things we didn’t do last year. It all starts this weekend. It would be great to come off with a win right away, be locked into the Chase and then just go from there and try to win many more from then on out.”
WHERE IS YOUR TRACK BAR ADJUSTER LOCATED? HAVE YOU PLAYED WITH IT MUCH?
“I’ve noticed that guys are putting them in different spots, so it’s whatever works best for them. Every time I reach for mine, I miss it and it takes about half the straightaway to find it. Mine’s off to my right… it sits on the right side of my leg brace. Push it forward and it goes up, pull it back and it goes down. It’s pretty easy, I might put my finger on it and hold it for a second or so and it’ll move a couple tenths or a quarter-inch or so. It’s pretty quick. You can move it a good bit down the straightway. I messed with a little bit yesterday. I don’t know if it helped or hurt. There are times where I thought it helped and there were times where I definitely know it hurt. We’ll have to keep learning about it. It’ll change from race to race and track to track. Your setups, as they change, will either make the track bar more sensitive or less sensitive. So that’s good, and I think there will be places where you won’t even touch it and not even think about it.”
IT SEEMS LIKE LAST YEAR THAT THE GIBBS GUYS WERE THE FASTEST ON PIT ROAD. WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN FROM YOUR GUYS IN THE SHOP AND LAST WEEK ON PIT ROAD TO CLOSE THAT GAP?
“The pit stops are so crucial and key to running well and having a great race. The pit stops are a big part of that along with the pit crew, the team and their speed and not making mistakes and being consistent. I’d rather have a consistent team that maybe isn’t quite the fastest but is consistent so we always know where we’re going to end up. We’ve worked hard on that. Hendrick Motorsports has always worked on having the best pit crew, but Gibbs was the best last year – I’ll agree with you on that. That’s something we’ve worked hard on over the offseason to have the best pit crew. It’s not just about the team; it’s about the pit crew coach and everything as they improve from the guns… there’s a little bit of everything getting worked on these days to compete. I think we got a little bit behind in a few areas so we’re working to catch up. Hopefully we’ll be a little better now and as the season goes on we’ll get closer and closer and eventually be the best.”
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