Toyota NSCS Las Vegas Matt Kenseth Notes & Quotes

“I thought our test went pretty good.  We seem to have decent speed — just worked on a lot of different things.  Tried to gather some data and tried to get the feel that we’re looking for.  Overall, I was pretty happy for the day.  We didn’t really do any real long runs.  Looking forward to getting qualified today — try to make that work for us and then get to work on race setup tomorrow.”

What’s the baby arrival ‘countdown’?

“It’s about three weeks.”

Do you have any back-up plan for that?

“Not really.  I just told her (wife Katie) to have it on a Monday.”

Where do you think the Joe Gibbs Racing intermediate track program is at the moment?

“Well, it’s tough to say since we haven’t ran at an intermediate track yet.  But, I felt like the test, like I just said, was okay.  I thought we had decent speed and the car reacted good to change, but anyway nobody’s raced here obviously with this new no ride height rule and with the new aero package and the bigger spoiler and all that stuff.  It’s a little bit of an unknown really until you get going.  I think today get qualified and then really get through a race practice tomorrow before you have a real good idea.  I haven’t got the chance to catch up with Denny (Hamlin) or Kyle (Busch) after the test yesterday.  But, I was encouraged with what we saw yesterday.  So we’ll just have to see how the weekend goes.”

How will Sunday’s results affect the rest of your season?

“I feel like when you get back from California you kind of have a pretty good idea where you stack up compared to your competition cause you’ve been on a superspeedway, you’ve been on a flat mile, and you’ve been at an intermediate like this.  Bristol’s a short track and then a real wore-out pavement type track like California.  You kind of get an idea where you are and where you need to improve.  It’s still early in the season I don’t think in the first handful of races you can really predict where you’re going to be at the end of the year cause things change a lot.  The rules package is a fair amount different than it was last year.  Obviously that’s going to evolve.  Either the people that are ahead you may get caught up to them a little bit or vice versa.  So, I think things change a lot in a year.  It’s really hard to say.  But, I think certainly after the next few weeks you kind of get an idea of where you are, where your strong suits are and where you need to improve.”

Does your approach to certain races change in the Chase?

“Man, we’re talking about the Chase already.  It’s the first week in March.  I have put almost zero thought into the Chase.  It’s so early in the season I’ve really been focused on the new procedures for qualifying. The no new ride height rule — try to get a feel for that.  Try to get a feel for changes — the new aero rules.  Honestly, at this point in the year — I could care less about the Chase.  I would really like to win a race so you feel like you’re qualified and then I think we got six months of racing to do before we got to worry about that.  I think it’s probably a little bit early.  For me, I haven’t thought about it.  Maybe other people have, I just haven’t.”

What does it feel like to be in the ‘zone’?

“Man, I don’t know.  Whenever, things are clicking it always feels good.  I don’t want to say it’s easy, cause it’s not.  But, you know when things are clicking and communication is good and you got a good feel for what you want and have a good feel for what to get in a car and what changes to make to get you what you want — that’s always fun.  But, I think it’s something you have to constantly work on especially as setups change, rules change, tracks change, tires changes — all that stuff.  I think it’s always something you have to work and try to keep an open mind and not get stuck on maybe what worked before because it might be different this time around.  Obviously, I’ve really enjoyed working with that team and I’m looking forward to our second year together and hopefully getting stronger.”

How has the track racing surface at Las Vegas changed over the years and will that impact your setup?

“The setup stuff is just so different — taking away the ride height thing.  It’s really hard to compare anything from the past.  I feel like the track has aged some especially when we first got on it yesterday before it had any rubber and got many cars out there.  It was a lot slower and slick.  Obviously, it got a lot faster as we got cars on it.  I feel like the track has changed some. It’s backed up some.  It’s aged some.  It’s got all the things that pavement does, but I think with the added downforce that they gave us this year and the other rules changes I think the speeds are actually higher than what they were last year.  Corner speeds I think are faster with extra downforce.  I think it kind of was a wash.  Probably a little bit quicker.  But, the track is definitely aging and last year it got pretty wide and I expect it to be pretty wide again.”

Is Las Vegas one of the better tracks for different places to run?

“Yeah.  I think so.  The track got pretty wide last year.  There were some guys way up on top.  Some guys way on the bottom.  So, I feel like it’s widened out and it’s pretty good.  It’s definitely got some options for where you can run.”