NASCAR Cup

Kenseth Martinsville II preview

Matt Kenseth: <B>Last spring you ran very well at Martinsville. Should we expect the same type of performance? "I hope we can go back to Martinsville using the same car and setup and do well again. Last race when I did so well there it ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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Matt Kenseth:

<B>Last spring you ran very well at Martinsville. Should we expect the same type of performance? "I hope we can go back to Martinsville using the same car and setup and do well again. Last race when I did so well there it surprised all of us. Martinsville has been a real tough track for this team. The way the year has been going it's probably going to be like hit and miss. For example, we ran well in the spring at Richmond and took the same car and setup back in the fall and didn't run well. I hope we can at least match our spring finish at Martinsville, or maybe even grab at top five."

What is the key to doing well at a short track like Martinsville? "Martinsville is flat and slow so I'll be using a ton of brakes. The car has to turn good in the center and has to get good traction off the corners. If the car is good in those areas we'll have a decent finish."

Is it common to have problems on pit road at Martinsville? "Yes. I can speak for that. Although problems on pit road are common, Martinsville has a tighter pit road than usual. They have expanded it recently and its much better, but I remember hitting a car that was stopped on pit road. I never even saw it, and even though it was not funny at the time, I still kid around with my spotter Mike Calinoff about it. He warned me about it just as I was hitting the other car. Since then, Mike wears special glasses as a joke so he can see better when we race there. Last week at Charlotte I was behind Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace when they got together on pit road. I think someone got three wide with them, but it reminded me of how it usually goes at Martinsville."

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser: "We are taking car No. 1 back to Martinsville. This is the car we bought in 1999 from Jeff Burton during our five race deal with DEWALT when we were still full time in the Busch Series. Matt drove really well in the spring race and the guys on pit road did well too. We didn't qualify as well as we wanted to, but used pit strategy to gain track position. We expect the usual beating and banging that racing at Martinsville is known for."

Spotter Mike Calinoff: "Martinsville looks like a simple place to spot since you can see the whole track without turning your head too much, but that is not the case at all. Much like Bristol, things happen really fast at Martinsville and you have to be on your game all day. If we qualify poorly we run the risk of going a lap down early, and as we all know, that makes for a very long day."

Kenseth and the team spent the week testing at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham. They will test at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 16th and 17th.

-DWR-

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