Michigan race recap
August 18, 2008

Michigan post-race quotes
August 17, 2008

MATT KENSETH — No. 17 DeWALT Ford Fusion (finished 5th)

“It was a struggle, to say the least. We were way off. We were really good here in the spring and probably had a car fast enough to win the race, but we were just really off today. All my teammates ran good. We got better at the end, these guys did a great job on pit road and great adjustments, we just struggled all day.”

BUT YOU FINISHED FIFTH…
“Really, hard work from my guys. They made good adjustments and got it better at the end. We had some really good green-flag transitions on our pit stops on pit road and we gained a bunch of spots during those green-flag stops. Track position is real important. If we would’ve been 15th or 16th on the last re-start, we probably would’ve finished somewhere back in there. They got me the track position and that helped get a decent finish out of the day.”

ON THE POINTS RACE.
“I haven’t really thought about it at all, to tell you the truth. I’m more than a little frustrated with the way we ran there. This is probably one of our best tracks. Like I said, we ran good enough to win in the spring, and Carl and all of those guys used the stuff we had in the spring and then went out and beat us with it. We did a little bit different stuff because we just couldn’t get the handle on it all weekend. We got here and right off the truck we weren’t right, and just could never hit it, so even though we finished fifth, that’s a bright spot, but disappointed with how we performed.”

~ Ford Racing

Michigan Ford Friday interview
August 15, 2008

MATT KENSETH talked with the media after practice today at Michigan.

WAS IT SLICK OUT THERE FOR YOU IN PRACTICE?
“You kind of threw me off with that one. We were actually just sitting in the front of the lounge looking at the time sheets and the track is about seven-tenths of a second faster than it was in the spring. I thought the track was all right. Like I said, we were just looking over our times figuring out where we were and the track is about seven-tenths of a second faster today than it was the last time we were here on a Friday getting ready to qualify, so it looks pretty quick out there to me.”

CAN YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM THE LAST TRIP HERE?
“I hope there’s something that can carryover. It wasn’t that long ago, so we hope we can. We ran really well here in the spring. I think we had a car that could have won without that fuel mileage deal that went on there at the end. We were real competitive, but we seem to be a little bit off compared to what we were here a couple of months ago. We’re trying some new stuff trying to get better, but we seem to be just a tick off.”

DOES THE ROUSH SUCCESS HERE GIVE YOU MORE CONFIDENCE?
“Not really just because of the Roush stuff, but in general at the 17 we’ve always run pretty competitively here. I can’t think of many times we didn’t run very good here, so it’s one of our better tracks. Obviously, with where we are in points and not having a win yet this year, and all that stuff, it always makes you feel better coming to one of your better tracks.”

HOW OLD DO FUEL MILEAGE RACES GET FOR YOU?
“The fuel mileage thing and track position thing is really aggravating and gets old for everybody except for the winner. The winner likes it, but other than that it’s kind of frustrating. It would be more fun to have the fastest group of cars racing for the win at the end. That’s kind of what you always hope for and you hope to have the fastest car.”

DO YOU FIND THINGS CARRYOVER FROM MICHIGAN TO FONTANA?
“Yeah, they’re pretty similar. They’re a little bit different, but I remember Kurt winning both races at Fontana and then coming here and winning. Usually if you run good at one, you’ll run decent or good at the other. Hopefully, we get running good this weekend and carry some of that momentum to California.”

IT WAS 114 DEGREES LAST YEAR IN FONTANA. HAD YOU EVER RACED IN CONDITIONS LIKE THAT?
“Yeah, the last time I can remember it being that hot was out there when the Nationwide Series had a stand-alone race in May or July, I don’t remember when it was, but it was the second or third Nationwide race I ever went to out there and it was way over 100 degrees and was pretty unbearable.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU’RE IN CHASE MODE ALREADY COMPARED TO SOME OTHER GUYS WHO ARE ALREADY LOCKED IN?
“No, from Daytona all the way to here you’re in chase mode because if you don’t make the chase, you can’t win a championship. We’ve been working toward the goal of first getting in the chase since Daytona, really. We wish we were in a better spot than where we were, but, on the other hand, it could be worse as well. We’ll just keep working at it. We’ve been doing our best every week, we just have to keep doing that and hope the finishes will come.”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INSIDE THE CHASE OR MAYBE SOMEWHERE LIKE 13TH WHERE YOU CAN BE MORE AGGRESSIVE?
“You’d rather be in than out no matter what time of the year it was. You want to be the highest you can possibly be in the points. Certainly, we’d like to be in better shape than what we are right now. We’d like to have some wins and we’d like to be securely in that top 12.”

ARE YOU ON THE DEFENSIVE NOW?
“No. The only time that would ever happen is like Jimmie last year at Homestead, whatever his points lead was and he finished something like 16th after he won four out of the five races before that. If something comes like that and it’s for the championship or you’re in that 12th spot and you’ve got 100-point lead at Richmond, you might be a little bit more careful, but, other than that, you’re gonna race the same all the time. You give it your all. You give it your very best and just do the best you can every week and you hope the finishes will come along with it.”

DO YOU THINK ABOUT POINTS LIKE AT WATKINS GLEN DURING THE RACE?
“No. I don’t think about anything in the race car, except for finishing and doing the very best we can do that day, and trying to figure out what we need to do strategy-wise and getting the car around the track, pit stop-wise — all that stuff — to get the very best finish we can for that particular day. You look at it during the week or on the way home. Usually on the way home Sunday night you look at it and see where everybody is stacked up and where everybody finished and where you are, but, other than that, you can’t really do anything about it. The only thing you control is your car in that particular race and if you do your best job with that, there’s not much else you can do.”

~ Ford Racing

Michigan Sprint Cup Preview
August 13, 2008

Michigan International Speedway • Brooklyn, Mich.
3M Performance 400 • Sunday, August 17 • 1 pm/e ESPN

Sprint Cup Chassis — #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion
• RK-473: Last outing, June ’08, finished 3rd. Also in 2008: Bristol, All-Star, Coke 600, and Dover. Three top-five and five top-10 finishes in five starts this year

   
Matt Kenseth’s Cup performance summary at Michigan:

Date	S	F	Laps	Led	Reason
06/15/08	16	3	203/203	41	Running
08/21/07	21	4	203/203	31	Running
06/17/07	26	42	78/200	0	Accident
08/20/06	3	1	200/200	87	Running
06/18/06	20	13	129/129	0	Running
08/21/05	13	3	200/200	9	Running
06/19/05	21	4	200/200	0	Running
08/22/04	5	8	200/200	0	Running
06/20/04	18	7	200/200	1	Running
08/17/03	33	9	200/200	0	Running
06/15/03	21	4	200/200	0	Running
08/18/02	21	11	200/200	17	Running
06/16/02	20	1	200/200	26	Running
08/19/01	33	4	162/162	0	Running
06/10/01	31	15	200/200	10	Running
08/20/00	28	8	200/200	0	Running
06/11/00	23	17	193/194	0	Running
08/22/99	25	14	200/200	0	Running

    
Matt Kenseth Cup totals at Michigan:

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Laps Led	Poles
Cumulative	18	2	8	12	222	0

 
Matt Kenseth on racing at Michigan:

“Michigan is a track that we’ve been pretty strong at in the past. We usually have good cars there and this weekend we’re bringing what I think is a good car. RK-473 is a car that I’ve raced several times this year and it just seems to get the job done. I don’t think I’ve finished outside the top 10 in it all year. Hopefully we’ll hit on the right setup and get the car handling good — if we can do that, we should have a good weekend.

“Michigan and the next several races are some of my favorites for sure. Michigan, Bristol, Fontana and Richmond are some of my favorite tracks and I always look forward to this stretch of races. Everyone is going Chase-crazy these days and are really focusing on points and standings. For me, I just go out every week and try to get the best finish I can. If I do that the rest takes care of itself. And really, it doesn’t matter where you are in points until after Richmond.”

Sprint Cup Crew Chief Chip Bolin on racing at Michigan:

“We’re bringing the same car that we raced there in the June race. There’s something about that car that really compliments Matt’s driving style and as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. These next four races are extremely important for us to build momentum heading into the Chase. We need to just be consistent over the next several weeks so that we’ll have a shot in the final 10 races.

“The guys at the shop have done a great job building these cars and our pit crew has been second to none; so I’m happy with the job our guys are doing. We just have to get our cars to perform better, and that falls on me, our engineer and our driver. We’ve got to figure it out and get it back to where we’re competing for top fives and wins.”

Michigan Fast Facts

n Matt Kenseth will make his 19th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Michigan International Speedway in this weekend’s 3M Performance 400.

n In his 18 previous starts, Kenseth as accrued two wins, eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. He has led a total of 222 laps at MIS and completed 3368 of 3491 (96.5%) of laps attempted.

n Kenseth’s driver rating of 107.2 at Michigan ranks him third among Chase contenders at the two-mile track. He was narrowly beaten by Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards.

n Chase for the Sprint Cup… In and out of the top 12 over the past seven weeks, Kenseth looks to stay in over the next four races. According to NASCAR’s statistics, he has a series-best Driver Rating of 103.5 at the four remaining tracks before the Chase, as well as a win at all four.

n Kenseth is currently 12th in point standings with 2,628 points. He is 61 points out of 10th place and 22 points ahead of 13th place.

n The No. 17 DEWALT team will be unloading chassis RK-473 this weekend. Kenseth has raced this car five times thus far in 2008 and has accumulated five top-10 and three top-five finishes.