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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: BANK OF AMERICA 500

October 9, 2016

Concord, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by our second‑place finisher, Matt Kenseth, driver of the No.20 Dollar General Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. This is Matt's second runner‑up finish in the last three races and his third straight top 5. Congratulations on a great run. Can you talk about your race today and the momentum you have in this Chase?
MATT KENSETH: Yeah, we didn't make it easy. We had to go to the back, so we had a part go bad in inspection or something, and then we got our way worked up there a little bit and then got that pit road penalty and went to the back again. It was an uphill battle, but Jason made some great adjustments, had some good pit stops, a great pit stop when we needed there at the end to put us in position to try to go for a win.
We were just a little off. I just couldn't run that 48 on a short run. I don't think I could have done anything different there.
We'd love to have the win, make you feel better about the next two weeks, yet it was a solid run. We were able to have avoid the trouble they had in the front stretch and work our way toward the front, had a good competitive car, so it was a good day.

Q. Matt, with the 48 being as out there as he was, I know the late race restarts helped you guys, but was there anything else you could have done after he got back in clean air to try and run him back down?
MATT KENSETH: Nope. That was all I had on the restart, and after he got in front of me, that was all I had. Every lap, I think I hit it every lap except for one time I missed 3 a little bit. I just didn't have that kind of speed.

Q. Matt, on the last restart, did inside, outside make any difference?
MATT KENSETH: Well, I mean, there was a bunch of oil on the outside, so I was going to take the bottom, but I watched him a lot today on restarts. There was a few that I saw, and he seemed like he could run the middle pretty fast.
If I knew I could have got through the gears and cleared him going into 1, I for sure would have took the bottom, but I just thought he'd still be hanging on the right rear and then I wouldn't have any air going through 1 and 2, and I thought he'd come off of 2 and just pass me. I just didn't have much speed on short runs. When everybody was in the gas real hard, I just didn't have any speed really.
I was actually happy with my restart. I know it looked like he almost cleared me, but I got the air back off him and never had to lift going through 1 and 2, and I had the momentum off of 2, and I was half a car length in front of him, and he just drove right by me. I don't know what I could have done any different there.
THE MODERATOR: We're also joined by our sixth‑place finisher and third highest finishing Chase driver, Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota. This is Kyle's fifth straight top 10, and he overcame a pit road penalty to finish sixth. Can you just talk a little bit about your race this afternoon?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, we had an okay day, I guess, just was able to work our way back and did a good job of that. I can't say enough about my guys, everyone on this team. The Interstate Batteries Camry was good. It was fast. It had speed even after we were crashed, we just needed to be in clean air. We just had a tough time dealing with cars, a bunch of cars on restarts and not being able to work our way through fast enough.
All in all, though, proud of the effort and good to come home where we did.

Q. Today is a good example of coming back and rebounding after a very tough afternoon. How does that help you with your drivers in Kyle Busch Motorsports that are going through a Chase for the first time?
KYLE BUSCH: Fortunately they've done a good job so far, and we've had two Chase races on the truck side, and they've been right up there in both of those where they're one, two in the points, so they just need to make sure that they r mind what they're doing and try to stay out of the wrecks here coming into Talladega in a couple weeks. Feel pretty good about those guys.
There are certain circumstances that could go against us, and obviously they've got to be able to battle through just like we did today and not let it deter them.

Q. We've seen some races this year where there's been a lot of green flag runs and guys have gotten a lap down, haven't been able to get their lap back. Were you concerned at all about getting back on the lead lap?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, I was. As a matter of fact it was me at Michigan who was on the Lucky Dog spot for at least half the race, I think. But yeah, I mean, you're always concerned about that, especially when guys have better driving cars than normal and there's not a lot of crashing going on, things like that. Fortunately today there was just enough stuff that kind of happened that got us back on the lead lap and also got Larson back on the lead lap and they were a little bit farther behind us there on that restart when everything kind of went haywire in front of us where we tore up our car, they kind of made it through clean.
You know, it just depends on where you're at, man. Lightning will strike at any point, so you've just got to be ready for it.

Q. Kyle, Jimmie has now led more than 100 laps in three of the last four races since the Chase began. Chase Elliott also led more than 100 laps today. Obviously the Hendrick cars had their stumbles during the regular season, but it seems like since the Playoffs Jimmie and that team have been a lot better.
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, no doubt. We definitely can see that ourselves, as well, too. Matt alluded to us not having ‑‑ him not having very good short‑run speed. I didn't feel like I did, either. Those guys could definitely fire off and go in a hurry, that's for sure. They had some good speed.
Be curious to look back, I guess, and see if these are all new cars that they're bringing, and obviously if it is then they've found something that they've been waiting out and holding out on us. That's to be expected, though, man. That's what this sport is all about. You've got guys that go to work and work hard and work smart and they're able to put better speed in their cars, and then we'll have to go back and do the same thing.

Q. In terms of after the wreck that had happened after the restart, did your mentality change in terms of trying to take it easy and have a better points day than some others, or was your mentality try to get to the lead with the car that still had the speed?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, my mentality at first was to just kind of feel it out, see what I had. You don't just want to go barreling off in there and not know exactly what it's going to feel like and crash it. So I took about 5, 10, 15 laps, whatever it was, to feel it out, see what everything was feeling like, making sure it was kind of normal, and then just go back at it and work hard to try to pass those guys that were in front of me. I didn't think we were going to be able to get to the lead by any means. Those guys were way too far out there, and I had a hard time passing guys as it was. You know, just try to get back up as far forward as I could. If something happened to give me the opportunity to get the lead, then certainly we'd have it, but I didn't think there was going to be anything that was going to play that way.

Q. Kyle, could you talk a little bit about what your tire problem was, and did it seem like it was similar to the blowouts that some of the other people were having?
KYLE BUSCH: As I was going down the front straightaway, I just heard tire chunks being thrown off the tire, and it was hitting the inner fender wall, so instantly I just checked up because you don't normally ever hear those sorts of things. I just checked up and tried to ease it back and get to pit road as best I could and just take the chance in that it was something wrong with the tire and not that I ran over something and just be on the safe side of it instead of continuing on and blowing a tire or something.
That all worked out for us. All I heard over the radio was it was a delamination problem. I don't know what the heck that means. Sounds like the normal problems I always have with Goodyear when it comes to Chase time and not having the confidence in the tire.

Q. What will you as a team at Joe Gibbs Racing do over the following three to four days so that you can have the best possible race at Kansas and not have to worry about Talladega?
KYLE BUSCH: We're going to do the same things we've always done, same preparation, nothing different. You know, in the spring earlier this year, Kenseth has always been super fast at Kansas, and so I went and we looked at a lot of his stuff, a lot of how his car was set up and whatnot and being able to learn some of those things from those guys that I felt like helped us and got us better in the ballpark for Kansas in the springtime and we won there.
There was a lot of work done for that, and on my behalf, as well, that I think helped out. We'll just do the same things this time around. It's no different than what we typically do each and every week, though.

Q. Kind of a follow‑up, as far as Kansas goes, with winning there in the spring after all the trouble and so many close calls and different bad luck things, does it up the confidence at all for you guys going in there and knowing that you finally hit on something, found something that did bring you some success?
KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, it certainly did. Obviously Truex has been super fast this year, as well. He was probably the car to beat in Kansas earlier this year, and we had‑‑ I think he had something happen to him on pit road, and we got off pit road better than he did on the final run, so we were able to win that one, but before that, we started on Kenseth's notes like I alluded to.
We've got some good teammates to lean on, and that's really helped us as the 18 car, and I look forward to Kansas. Normally years past I probably wouldn't say those words, but you know, it's actually not been a bad place for us here recently. We've had a good string of top 5s, so hopefully we can go there and have another good, solid run, have a good finish, and biggest thing for us is to justdon't beat ourselves right now. Don't make the mistakes that some of these other guys did, try to keep our nose clean, and if there's a win, great, get it, and if not, get what you can get, third, fourth, fifth, whatever it can be.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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