|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: FEDEX 400 BENEFITING AUTISM SPEAKINGJune 1, 2014Matt KensethBrad KeselowskiDOVER, DELAWARE AMANDA ELLIS: We're going to roll into our post‑race press conference here at Dover International Speedway for the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks. We're joined by our second place finisher, driver of the No.2 Miller Lite Ford, Brad Keselowski, and our third place finisher, driver of the No.20 Dollar General Toyota, Matt Kenseth. Brad, we'll start with you. You had a good solid restart there on that last caution and got within an arm's reach of Jimmie Johnson, but you just weren't able to close the deal. Talk a little bit about the race. BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, we just had an up‑and‑down day. I started up front, and that's a part, and faded to the back pretty early in the race. Just weren't where we needed to be in the car. Paul Wolfe and the team made some good adjustments and got us where we needed to be, and took back off and had a couple really strong runs and drove from I can't remember whether it was 13th or 14th up to second there. Thought we were going to get a crack at Jimmie and then that last caution came out and we just kind of whiffed on pit road, came out way behind. Drove back up there, and with the help of the restart got up to second, and I think we were pretty close to even to Jimmie, it was just a matter of who was going to be out front, and we just never could really take advantage of our pit stall to get in front of him. AMANDA ELLIS: And Matt, another strong performance; third place finish for your team. Talk a little bit about your race. MATT KENSETH: Yeah, it was a solid day for us. We started in the middle. I did a poor job qualifying, and we were able to just slowly work our way to the front. We had good stops, good strategy, good adjustments. The 48, the 4, a few other guys, Brad got going the last couple runs, they just were better than us, couldn't quite get the balance, 24 at times. There was that one group of cars that were just a couple tenths off and we couldn't quite run with them. But overall it was a solid day, just need to get just a little bit faster. Q. Matt, what happened on the restart? Did you spin the tires and then you got bumped by Clint into the wall, right? MATT KENSETH: Yeah, I mean, I think they're still spinning. I'm just dumb. The 48 spun them, and I spun them a little bit, and I was kind of in his door and I tried grabbing third early thinking that would get it to stop spinning and it didn't, and I just needed to do a better job. I needed to let off the gas and let the rear tires quit screaming so I could get rolling. I was still trying to get it going. I think I was still spinning tires in fourth gear, and Clint hit me I guess trying to give me a push there and just destroyed our car. I think I destroyed it. I was glad to still finish after that. Q. Both of you guys were struggling at one point in the day. How did you guys adjust to the changing conditions throughout the day? MATT KENSETH: I don't know. Jason makes all the adjustments. Really our whole day we were kind of in a range, and we had our balance pretty good a lot of times, we just couldn't run that fast. If I tried to run that quick, either started off too tight and be kind of okay at the end of the run, or if we started off decent we'd be too loose at the end of the run. We were about the same all day. I think we were just trying to keep up with track position, and Jason was just trying to make some adjustments to hope to get it better. Q. With the hole, I guess not really a pothole, but the crack or the crumbling track in Turn 2, what did you guys see? Did you come close to it when it was falling apart and did it seem to hold up well enough, or did you just avoid it after that? BRAD KESELOWSKI: I think NASCAR did a good job of‑‑ or whoever. I think it was NASCAR. Whoever fixed it did a good job of repairing it. It started to come back up at the end, but I didn't think it was a major issue. It was definitely a major issue at first when it happened. I could feel it when I was driving over it, and you knew it was only going to get worse. If somebody didn't repair a small hole, it was going to turn into a big hole, and I'll give NASCAR credit enough to realize that and stop and fix it before a problem like that escalated, which it would very quickly. I thought the repair was pretty good. Yeah, I didn't really notice it a lot. You could feel it a little bit, but I thought it was probably just right. Q. Brad, just wondering about the pit crew this week. You guys made some adjustments. Just wondering how it worked out and why the change. BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, we're just not where we want to be. We haven't been where we want to be for probably the last year and a half, and it's keeping us from winning races. You know, I think that's the bottom line. We're making adjustments and we're going to continue to make adjustments until we get it right. I feel really good about the last one we made, and the guy who stepped in did an excellent job in his position, but we still weren't where we needed to be in others. We have to keep working. Q. I know you guys have been asked a lot about Jimmie in recent weeks, most of it was why hasn't he won yet. Now he's won two in a row. Do you consider him to be a favorite at this point or is he the favored among a bunch of other people halfway to the Chase? MATT KENSETH: You know, I mean, I think for sure when you come to Dover it's always the 48. I mean, they are just unbelievable here. If you're going to have a shot to win here, that's the car you're going to have to beat every time unless they break. It's not unexpected when you come here, and I don't know if you guys notice, but he's pretty good at all the racetracks. I always think they're one of the favorites no matter where we go, and obviously all the Hendrick and Stewart‑Haas cars have been showing a ton of speed all year long, been in position to win a lot of races. We've got to figure out how to get ahead of them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|