NASCAR Cup

Dover: This Week in Ford Racing

This Week in Ford Racing June 1, 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Taurus, made his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series debut at Dover International Speedway in 1998 and that is the site this ...

Published: Jun 3, 2004, 5:55 AM

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This Week in Ford Racing
June 1, 2004

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Taurus, made his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series debut at Dover International Speedway in 1998 and that is the site this weekend for the MBNA America 400. Kenseth, who is currently third in the point standings, spoke about returning to one of his favorite tracks on the circuit.

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DEWALT Tools Taurus

THE SUMMER SWING STARTS THIS WEEKEND. DO YOU LIKE THIS PARTICULAR STRETCH?

"Yeah, they're kind of my favorites. We go from California, Richmond, Charlotte, Dover, Michigan, Pocono - those are all great tracks for us and that's a stretch I look forward to a lot every year."

IS DOVER A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN REALLY FEEL THE SPEED?

"Yeah, for sure. Dover is one of those tracks that you can be pretty aggressive with and attack the track pretty good. It's always been one of my favorite tracks to go to, but we haven't done that great lately in the Nextel Cup car. We've run OK, but we haven't run that great since the first time we've been there. We ran good there that time and that's the best we've ever run, so that's one of the tracks I'd love to be able to win at and run good at. We're gonna take the Busch car there as well and we usually run good there in that car, so, hopefully, we can put everything together and run decent."

GAS MILEAGE SEEMS TO BE A FACTOR AT THAT PLACE AND YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN PRETTY GOOD IN THAT DEPARTMENT.

"We've never been bad on gas mileage, so I think we'll be OK if it comes down to that. With the softer tire, I don't know if it will come to that or not, but, hopefully, we can figure out what we need in our car to get around there quick."

IS DOVER APTLY NICKNAMED WITH IT BEING CALLED THE MONSTER MILE?

"Yeah, it's a great track. We've had a lot of great times there and a lot of bad times there, so it's one of those tracks where if something happens you can tear up a car pretty hard. It's a track that you don't want to blow a right-front tire at or have any kind of problem."

THERE ARE NO SHORT TRACKS IN THIS STRETCH. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH YOUR INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM?

"Yeah, I think that's a strong part of our program. The motors have been great and our cars have been better balanced aero-wise lately than probably what we started off the year, so I feel real comfortable. All of the tracks are real good tracks for us and for Roush Racing, so this is a stretch I look forward to because they're all good tracks for us."

ROBBIE SAID YOUR TEAM GOT A BIG LIFT FROM WINNING THE ALL-STAR CHALLENGE. HOW MUCH DOES A WIN LIKE THAT HELP?

"That was cool. Robbie was happy until we qualified for the 600, but everything was good until then (laughing). It was a great race to win because we're usually not the best in the short runs. When we go to the all-star race and the Daytona 500 I get excited to go. Those are two of the biggest races of the year, but they're two that I don't really get that worked up over because I don't feel like I have a shot to win. So to be able to go win the all-star race in that type of format was pretty cool for us."

-ford racing-

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