TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
Matt Kenseth — Notes & Quotes
Darlington Raceway – April 10, 2014
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot/Husky Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What is it like to win at Darlington?
“I always feel like the Southern 500 is one of the biggest races of the year — certainly it was right up there towards the top of my list of tracks I wanted to win at that I never won at before last year. It was a really big win. It was exciting and it didn’t look like we were going to win and Kyle (Busch) had that problem late and we were able to sneak by him there with 10 (laps) to go or something like that. It was a big week for us and it was really, really cool to be able to finally win the Southern 500 for sure.”
How much does Darlington change from day to night?
“It changes I think quite a bit — over the years here it’s changed quite a bit and I think from when you first get on the track until you get done late Saturday night it seems like there’s quite a bit of change and something you definitely have to keep up with .”
Does the date change at Darlington change how you drive this track?
“It doesn’t change how you’re going to drive it at all. Conditions are a little hard to predict just because we only come here once a year — I don’t think anybody really tests or anything. With the weather forecast being decent, I can’t really remember the weather last May, but it’s supposed to be pretty warm the next couple days so I think that’s good. I think that will be good for the fans and I think that will probably be good for the racing and everything too. It’s not going to be too terribly cold at night.”
Is there a different way to approach races this season with the point’s format?
“No, not really for me. I’ve never been in a race that I didn’t want to win. We show up every week with bringing our best stuff with the idea of trying to figure out how to sit on the pole and win the race so that’s really never changed since I started racing. I think the only time it really changes is maybe when you get to Homestead. You’ve seen a lot of years where somebody has a pretty big point cushion or whatever and he’s not going to go out there and probably try to win the race, he’s going to go make sure he doesn’t fall out of the championship. It’s certainly going to change that and spice things up that last week for sure. You’re going to see those four guys racing as hard as they can to try to beat the other three. I think it might change a little that week, but other than that I don’t feel like it changes. It just rewards the winners differently. Obviously, it gives them a better chance of being qualified to be in the Chase towards the end of the year. I think there’s more significance to the win than maybe what there was at some of the races last year — if a guy was way down in points or didn’t think they would even get a wild card, that type of thing. Other than that, I really don’t think so. I really think that all these races are huge to try to win. You saw that with Regan Smith here a few years ago — just staying out and staying out on tires to roll the dice to try to have a prayer to win that race and was able to hold on and win it. I think people always have that in their mind.”
How much does running the Nationwide race help with the Cup race at Darlington?
“It’s always debatable — there’s always an argument there whether it helps or doesn’t help or whatever. I think these places that you come to only once a year, I always find it nice to be able to get the extra track time. You’re on the same tire and can kind of see the changes that the track will go through racing at night. Learn a little bit about the tire combination and what it’s going to do in the longer run and that type of thing. I don’t think it hurts. Sometimes I’m not sure how much it helps just because the rules are quite a bit different. Certainly there’s places that you only get to once a year and its fun to come out and compete the night before and get some track time.”
What does it mean to have your name on the ‘Wall of Winners’ here at Darlington?
“Like I touched on before, it’s I think one of the biggest races of the year and certainly one of the most historic. It was always on the top of my list to try to win the 500 on Labor Day back before they paved it when it was so slick and the race was so long and the conditions were always horrible. It was always just really, really hot. To be able to win here in any kind of race, any kind of car, any conditions and certainly the Southern 500 is I think special. I think you could ask anybody and that’s one that they would tell you that. Like I say, in my mind that’s one of the biggest races of the year and you always want to come here and try to run good.”
How interesting is the start to this season with seven different winners?
“I can’t say I’m totally shocked, I think whenever you throw a pretty big rules change at everybody some people are going to pick up on it sooner than others. I think it always spreads the field out a little bit because some guys are going to hit it and some guys are going to miss it and I think that always creates passing and mixes the field up and makes the racing more interesting in my mind. I think that everybody every week is probably gaining on it and the field is going to get closer together as we keep rolling through the year here. It’s been interesting because there’s been a lot of different winners and been some guys that have won a lot that haven’t won yet. It’s been an interesting year for sure.”
How close do you watch the point standings this season?
“I don’t know about close attention, you always kind of know where you’re at once the week is over you maybe glance at the standings. They always park in order of points so when you show up parked the next week you kind of know where you’re at. That really hasn’t changed. I don’t know I think maybe when you get closer to the 26 cutoff then you probably study it a little more and see where everybody is and who’s in and who’s out and that kind of thing. You just don’t really know how it’s going to turn out. Is there going to be 10 winners? Is there going to be 20 winners? I don’t know — the way it’s going. How important are your points going to be? I would think, history suggests that there’s going to be a few guys added by points that didn’t win. Certainly if that’s the case and you haven’t won yet then the point standings are very important. Come September you don’t really know how important they’re going to be.”
How comfortable are you with Joe Gibbs Racing after a full season?
“I think the longer you’re at somewhere the more comfortable you probably are, the more people you get to know. That type of thing. For sure, I don’t know it’s hard to put a number on it or really describe how much more comfortable you are really. Last year at this time I was pretty comfortable, we had a couple wins, we were leading a lot of laps and things were really clicking along. We had some adversity along the way and we had some things happen, but we were performing at a really, really high level so I was pretty comfortable and having a lot of fun. I’m still comfortable, we’re still having fun — we want to be better and we set that bar so high last year that I think we expect that from ourselves all the time. We’re still trying to get a little bit better to get back up and be leading more laps and put ourselves in position to win more races and hopefully get a win here pretty soon.”
What do you think about Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott?
“Kyle (Larson) has obviously got a lot of talent and he’s been running really good in Cup and taking off and running good over there. He’s actually been running a lot better in the Nationwide Series than what he did last year as well. Obviously, he’s got a lot of talent. Chase (Elliott) I’ve watched race a lot — he’s raced against my son a lot so I’ve seen him in Late Models for the last couple years and I’ve even raced against him in Late Models a little bit. You can see from the start that he’s very talented and at the same time he’s very smart and calculated especially for his age, which if you watch Bill (Elliott) race for a lot of years, I don’t think the apple fell far from the tree there. Obviously, both of those two have a bright future in front of them.”
