MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500 MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 22, 2017
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at the annual Daytona 500 Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING 2017 STARTED?
“Absolutely, looking forward to 2017 getting started tomorrow night. It should be a great season. We’ve done a lot of work during the off-season. I think our whole team side, myself and the team and just trying to be as prepared and ready to go as possible. We worked in a lot of areas that seemed to help us at the end of last year. So, we kept pushing in those spots and feel good about where we are at.”
DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SAW TOWARDS THE END OF LAST YEAR?
“Yeah, I thought that was pretty good. We want to be better, but that was definitely a step in the right direction from where we were the first part of that year. I think we were moving in the right direction and we kept pushing in those areas and we want to be better than that.”
AT WHAT POINT IN THE OFF-SEASON ARE YOU READY TO GET BACK IN A RACE CAR AND HOW HAS FATHERHOOD CHANGED YOUR OFF-SEASONS?
“The first couple of weekends off I was fine with that. And then it was about the third weekend that I was ready to go if it was time, I was good at that point. I went to Australia and raced a little bit. Other than that, I was at the shop Monday after Homestead and I have worked non-stop on those types of things. Other than that, just spent it with my son.”
HOW HARD IS IT TO KEEP MOMENTUM GOING OVER THE OFF-SEASON AND CARRYING IT INTO A NEW SEASON?
“Well, I think there are certain things we can control, that I can control and we stayed on those areas and then the rest is the team and how they prepare the cars and bring fast cars to the track. They did that at the end of the year. Much quicker cars, so you just work in those same areas to do it this season. If you don’t have a good car you are not going to win. So, you have to work hard in those areas and that is what they’ve done.”
IS IT EASIER AS A DRIVER YOU JUST CLICK THE SWITCH AND YOU ARE RIGHT BACK ON?
“I think it is really, as a driver, it is pretty easy to race. That is all that I’ve ever wanted to do. So, when it’s racing season again you jump in the car and you are ready to go. I feel like there is a lot more to it than just that, especially 10, 12, 13 years into your career. You don’t just show up and race and expect to run really well all season long. There is a lot more that goes into it. To me it started after Homestead and a lot of it has to do with what we were doing at the end of the year to make the gains that we did and keep working in those areas and that is what we’ve done all winter long.”
HOW DOES DAYTONA FALL INTO IT? HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU FEEL LIKE IT WILL BE TO HAVE A GOOD SHOWING HERE?
“I think the speed of our car on Sunday was really good, it was really close. The No. 88 and No. 24 on the front row shows that the speeds at Hendrick Motorsports and we have some good cars. Just a result on Sunday would be great to finish up front, battle for the win, all those things would carry momentum and confidence into Atlanta and Las Vegas and on.”
THOSE ARE GOOD TRACKS FOR YOU TOO:
“Yeah, I mean the start of the season can be very good for us because they are all tracks that I’ve either won at or came very close at. And Hendrick Motorsports has won everywhere, so, I think if we do the right things we definitely should be performing early in the year.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED TO SEE THE TWO CARS GO OUT OF THE PARK AT VOLUSIA? HAVEN’T SEEN THAT IN A LONG TIME:
“I saw it two nights before that. So, I wasn’t surprised at all.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED ON WEDNESDAY WHEN THE FIRST CARS WENT OUTSIDE THE PARK?
“I wasn’t surprised, but I thought it was a big flip. I have always looked at that place as not surprising to see a car get over there at all.”
BECAUSE OF THE SPEED?
“I mean the speed and the wall is only that (shows with hand his height) high, so, now the wall is… how tall is the wall?”
THEY SAY IT’S 10 FEET:
“Maybe the fence. But the wall is probably like four feet, yeah, it’s definitely not taller than me, so it’s probably like four feet and then it goes grass and there is like a cyclone fence with some cable through it. Which the cable is about the only thing that is going to hold the car and it’s all pretty low in that area. I look at that as a spectator and I would never stand there.”
YOU HAVE NEVER STOOD THERE?
“I’ve actually sat in those grandstands for like qualifying and stuff, but for a main event… I would never stand right there.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THEY CAN DO BEYOND NOT HAVING PEOPLE THERE?
“Well, I think you can move the people or you could just build the fence higher. If you look at the fence it goes all the way to the middle of (Turns) 1 and 2. And it has like four or five cables up to the top of it. The cables are the only thing that is going to hold a car. That fence isn’t going to hold a car at 80mph or 100mph, whatever it would be when it hit it. So, what they need to do is take that fence from the middle of 1 and 2 all the way to where you enter the race track and put a couple more cables through there higher and then it’s fixed is the way I see it. I don’t know. I don’t build those fences. I’m not real sure on that, but that is what I would look at doing, something like that and then if not you just have to move the people. But the people should understand too, those cars are going fast, they could end up right where I’m at.”
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BOTTOM LINE IMPACT OF THE NEW FORMAT?
“From a driver’s standpoint, you are not…to me, it is always about being in the right position at the end of the race. And, working on car every pit stop. You are looking at 40-60 lap runs more times than not and what adjustments we need to make to make it better. So, you are doing that eight times during a race, and trying to be there in the right position in the end. Now, you need those points all race long. So now you are looking at one pit stop and then kind of the finish of a race in a way. I think that completely changes the way you look at it as a driver, and that you will always need to be up front. As a crew chief, engineer, strategist – I think you all have to look at the race completely different now. It’s not the same.”
ABOUT THE BALANCE OF BEING PATIENT VERSUS GRABBING AS MANY POINTS AS YOU CAN:
“It probably makes it even a little tougher to get it to the front later on if you were just patient all day. Probably just makes it a little harder with more guys being a little more intense to be there at the 25 or 30 percent mark and then again at the 50 percent mark.”
DO YOU THINK IT CREATES AN ENVIRONMENT FOR MORE WRECKS? “I think we are kind of at a wait and see how it all plays out because you still want to be there at the end. You still want to get the win, the trophy, the money. Those are all still a big part of the race, and a part of the championship. Those are big. But, it definitely has to change strategy and has to change your mindset throughout the race. There is no way you can just be okay with just giving up those points all season long.”
DO YOU LIKE THE CHANGE? “Yes, I like the change. I thought it was a great change. As soon as I heard about it, I thought it was pretty cool.”
DOES WINNING A SEGMENT MEAN SOMETHING TO YOU? “I think it would mean a lot to me. I think it would mean a lot to my team. I think it keeps building. Anytime you can even lead laps, just be there and have a car that goes to the top of the board in practice – or at least top-five. All of that stuff is meaningful throughout a race weekend and builds confidence to the guys and to myself going into each particular race. I think it could be a great boost to win some of those throughout the season. And maybe propel you into winning the entire race that day. You are leading laps. We didn’t lead many laps last year.”
HOW MUCH PRESSURE DO YOU FEEL HAVING TWO VERY SUCCESSFUL TEAMMATES? “I think you definitely feel pressure from that. I’ve got some of the best teammates that are in the sport…all of them are on my team. You feel pressure from it especially when they are performing if we aren’t. You want to perform, you want to be right there with them. That will definitely something we have to look at this year and do a better job of.”
HAVE YOU HAD ANY CONVERSATIONS WITH CHASE TO HELP HIM? “I talk to Chase after almost every race that he just about won last year, or had a really fast car. I told him how good of a job he does, and it will come. He’ll get it…blah, blah blah. He has a really good head on his shoulders, always has. Really mature. He’s in the position he is in for a reason. He is going to be really solid in the Cup series for a long time.”
WHAT DOES HE SAY WHEN YOU TELL HIM HE IS GOING TO GET IT? “He says ‘Thanks’. We don’t talk a whole lot about it, but he always says thanks and that is about it.”
DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT HAVING AN XFINITY TEAM OR A TRUCK TEAM TO JOIN YOUR DIRT TEAM? “I’ve just always enjoyed the dirt program. That is where I can from, so it is nice to be a part of it. It is where I learned how to drive. That is where I learned how to race. I enjoy being around all of that. I think once you move to either a Truck team or a Xfinity team, there are so many more people involved. I can do the sprint car team and enjoy it, love it and give a lot of opportunity. I have 10 employees total, maybe 12 and you can’t do that if you stepped up from there. I actually think where I am out is good. It doesn’t stress me out as much. The bigger it got, the more stress and harder it would be, and it is not something I want to mess with while I am still racing. There are lots of things I can do when I am done racing that I will look at and will probably want to be a part of. But at this point in time, the sprint car teams are plenty, and I still want to race for a while and I want to win and I want to do a good job at it so I have to stay focused on that.”
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