MATT KENSETH – No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion – AFTER STRUGGLING THE LAST FEW WEEKS, DOES THIS TRACK OFFER AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A TURNAROUND? “I guess I won’t know until Monday. I hope that we can get some momentum back, get some good finishes and get back on the right track.”
THIS IS AS GOOD A TRACK AS ANY FOR THAT, RIGHT? “In the past, it has been, but you know, Bristol used to be a good place for us in the past, and it wasn’t, so you just never know.”
HAS ANYONE PUT THEIR FINGER ON WHY THE FORD TEAMS STRUGGLED AT THE TWO SHORT TRACKS THE LAST TWO WEEKS? “I can only speak for our team and what we had go on. At Martinsville, we ran about what I think we always run – probably good enough to run seventh, best-case scenario, 15th, probably, worst-case scenario, with no problems. But we just got a pit-road penalty and never could come back from it.”
ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC EVERY WEEK, OR ARE YOU A LITTLE MORE OPTIMISTIC BECAUSE OF YOUR PAST SUCCESS HERE? “When you go to your tracks that you perform better at, you always feel a little bit better, but that doesn’t always mean a lot, you know, for what’s going to happen this weekend. Vegas is probably one of our really good tracks, and we didn’t even make a lap. Certainly I feel more optimistic coming here.”
SO FAR THIS SEASON, WHAT HAS BEEN THE POSITIVE ASPECT? AND, WHAT HAS BEEN THE LEAST POSITIVE? “Winning the first two races was pretty unbelievable, and winning the 500. Winning the 500 would be hard to top, but, yet, to back it up at California was huge. But then every week since then has been a punch in the stomach. It’s been disappointing, because we didn’t even make a lap at Vegas. We broke, which is really something that doesn’t happen very often. And then it’s been problem after problem, really. So, definitely, we need to get back on track here pretty quick.”
DOES A BAD EXPERIENCE GIVE YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN AND DRAW SOMETHING FROM IT? WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? “Good or bad, you try to learn from it. It becomes harder next time. We always go back and talk about it, get a de-brief, try to figure out our strong suits, improve on them, and figure out what we did wrong and try to make that better, every week, no matter how you do. Every week seems like a different circumstance, so, we certainly try to learn from.”
HOW SURPRISED ARE YOU ABOUT THE EARLY SUCCESS OF NEW TEAM OWNER TONY STEWART? “Well, I’m not surprised at all. I don’t really know, exactly, but I guess I assume it’s just two more Hendrick teams, basically, so they got a lot of stuff to draw from. The teams run really good, and they have all the equipment there right away. And, obviously, Tony is one of the best drivers in the garage. I mean, it really doesn’t surprise me at all.”
AS A GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHICAGO BEARS’ ACQUISITION OF QUARTERBACK JAY CUTLER? “It’s got to make them a better team. They haven’t had, really, a starting quarterback from a lot years. So, being a Packer fan, I liked it when they had Grossman under center.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – “This track is great to us. We’ve had a lot of success here, run really well, and I love coming here for a number of reasons. The fans are great, the track is really fun, the weather is always nice. It’s just a cool place to come.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON GOING FOR THREE IN A ROW AFTER SWEEPING BOTH RACES HERE LAST YEAR? “That would be huge. We only got to run a few laps in race trim, but the Aflac Fusion seemed really good. That would be cool. This is a great place to win – for a number of reasons. It would be really good for us right now – our finishes the last couple of weeks – it would be perfect to win a race right now.”
THIS IS THE OBLIGATORY FINAL FOUR QUESTION: WHO’S GOING TO WIN? “Mizzou did a great job, but since they’re out of it, it’s North Carolina. My wife, her favorite basketball player ever is Tyler Hansbrough, so I have to cheer for him.”
SIX RACES INTO THE YEAR, AND YOU HAVE YET TO WIN AND HAVE ONE TOP FIVE. IS IT TIME TO PUSH THE PANIC BUTTON? “It’s been six races since we’ve won. I don’t think we need to panic. We’re fine. We’ve performed very well. For instance, last week we were the best I’ve ever been speed-wise at Martinsville. I’m really proud of that. Had a flat tire and didn’t finish well in the race, but we’re doing fine. Obviously, we’d love to have six wins, but we’re fine.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO COME HERE AND GO FAST AFTER BACK-TO-BACK SHORT TRACKS? “You know, short-track racing is a lot different. I grew up racing short tracks, they were dirt, so they were a lot different than places like Bristol and Martinsville. I’m glad Bristol and Martinsville are back to back because it lets me kind of get into the swing of it. But. It is a lot different coming here – you go down into the corner at 200 miles an hour, and big, wide, sweeping, fast corners. It’s a way different pace. It’s cool that schedule sort of switches up like that. It makes it more fun.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE REPORTS OF THE POST-SEASON BANQUET GETTING MOVED FROM NEW YORK TO LAS VEGAS? “I think it’s cool. Like I said at the beginning of the year, they can come and have it on some farm land that I have there in Missouri, and invite everyone. Whatever makes it easier for the fans to come show up and be a part of it, makes it more fun for the sponsors, I think that’s good. Nothing against New York, it’s a fine city, but I think everyone will be a little more excited to go to the banquet in Las Vegas. It has a lot to offer for a lot of different people, so it’ll be fun. I hope we’re there, and I hope we’re there for a long time.”
LAST YEAR, IT SEEMED LIKE YOU WERE WINNING EVERY THIRD OR FOURTH RACE. IT MIGHT SEEM TRITE, BUT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE FORGET HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO WIN EVEN ONE RACE. MAYBE THAT WOULD EXPLAIN WHY, AND I DON’T WANT TO SAY YOU’RE OFF TO A SLOW START, BUT YOU’RE NOT THE CARL EDWARDS YOU WERE LAST YEAR. “You’re wrong. That’s not accurate at all. Results and performance are two different things. We are the same team, I am the same driver, everything’s fine. I think if you look at the drivers that have won no races for the last year, the drivers who have won one race in the last year or year and a half, shows you how difficult winning races is. And so it makes those seasons, like last season, seem that much more special. But, literally, we could win here and win the next 10 in a row, or we could run second in the next 10, and the difference could be six inches in each race, and people would say, ‘Wow. Why haven’t you won race?’ It’s been a total of five feet, you know? The perception is always different than the reality. It’s kind of interesting. I guess my answer is, just like earlier, it’s been six races since we’ve won. I don’t think we’re in any sort of trouble.”
