NASCAR Cup

Fontana II: Matt Kenseth race interview

MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DeWalt Taurus (Finished 7th) DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE IN THIS POSITION SIX RACES AGO? "No, not probably since the last Pocono. I didn't think we had a chance to, but we've run much better and you know the guys that have ...

Published: Sep 12, 2005, 6:14 PM

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MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DeWalt Taurus (Finished 7th)

DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE IN THIS POSITION SIX RACES AGO?

"No, not probably since the last Pocono. I didn't think we had a chance to, but we've run much better and you know the guys that have been around us in points have had some trouble and maybe haven't run as well the second half of the year and had some things happen to them, too. No, not really. I didn't really expect it. We're not in it yet. We still have another week to go."

GOOD PIT STOPS PUT YOU IN FRONT.

"Yeah, we had great pit stops and kept us in front all night, but you knew all of those guys were gonna get two at the end and I was just real scared to put two tires on it for some reason. My car wasn't very fast for the first five laps of a run. It would be real loose and we just put four tires on it and got in the middle of the bees nest and got passed by a bunch of cars at the end. I don't know what to tell you. I took a second-place car and finished seventh with it, so it's a little disappointing."

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR TEAM FROM THE START OF THE YEAR TO NOW? MARK SAYS YOU'RE THE FAVORITE TO WIN?

"I don't know about that. The team is the same. They did a good job at the beginning of the year and they're doing a good job now. We had a lot of things happen to us at the beginning of the year - a lot of flat tires, some broken parts and I wrecked some stuff. We had a lot of things happen and we didn't perform well, which wasn't really necessarily a team thing. We just weren't building our cars right and doing the right thing. They were doing what they were supposed to do, but we just weren't telling them to do the right stuff. I'd say it's about the same. They do a great job on pit road. They're probably better than any other team up and down pit road and they're doing a great job right now. I'm still having a hard time getting over finishing seventh, but they do a great job. They did a good job all night and they deserved to run second or third - third at the worst tonight, I thought."

WERE YOU SURPRISED THE GUYS WITH TWO HELD ON LIKE THEY DID?

"No, I wasn't surprised. There were only seven laps to go. Every car in front of me took two. Almost every car behind me, except for Tony took two. It's just the way it was. If it would have gone green to the end, I was making some progress and I probably would have finished third. I don't think I would have gotten Greg or the 5, but I was getting ready to try to pass the 25, but my car just wasn't very good on restarts. It would just be really loose on restarts and I couldn't do the things that Carl and Tony and the 5 and those guys could do. They could just run around there and fly around the corner. I just couldn't do that without wrecking. I just got cars all around me and they got the air off of me and lost those spots. Hindsight is always 20/20, but we never, ever, ever gamble and take two and we should have took two. We would have come out of the pits first or second and I think we would have finished there."

-ford racing

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