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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: POCONO 400June 8, 2014Kurt BuschBrad KeselowskiKyle LarsonLONG POND, PENNSYLVANIA KRISTI KING: We are joined by our fifth‑place finisher in today's Pocono 400, Kyle Larson, driver of the No.42 Target Chevrolet, who finished fifth in today's race, our top finishing rookie. Obviously can't get enough of the media center this week here at Pocono. This must be a good track for you. Talk about the race today and your fifth‑place finish. KYLE LARSON: Yeah, it was a lot better finish than what I thought we were going to get. After happy hour yesterday I thought we might be a 15th‑place car, maybe a little bit better, but all the guys on the Target team did a great job to get the car better. I knew from the drop of the green we were going to be pretty good. It seems like most races I fire off really, really loose in dirty air and today I had a lot of grip so I knew that was a good sign. Just worked on it a little bit throughout the day and got better and put ourselves in position on that last restart to try and make a move to get a better finish and it all worked out and we got to fifth. I thought we were a little bit better than Denny at the end, but he did a good job holding me off. I'll take a top‑five here at Pocono. KRISTI KING: We're also joined by Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Redd's Ford, who finished second in today's Pocono 400. You led 95 laps today, obviously the finish that you didn't want. Talk a little bit about the race and those last few laps. BRAD KESELOWSKI: Well, first off, really proud of the speed we had today. The guys did a great job. I feel like this one is kind of on me and the circumstances. I was trying to do something to help my car out and I knew it was going to break and I was going to get passed so I was trying to make whatever move I could do to help clean it off, and I'm not sure I did enough to make a difference. But I made enough of a difference to lose the lead in the process. I thought I had enough of a cushion, and when I got down in the corner and the car in front of me got sideways I realized I had made a mistake. But it was too little, too late, but still proud of the speed, good execution today on probably all ends but mine, and something to look forward to as we move forward and come back here in a month or so. KRISTI KING: We are also joined by our third‑place finisher in today's Pocono 400, Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet. Kurt obviously you started second, finished third, very good race and starting position here at Pocono. Talk about your thoughts on the race today. KURT BUSCH: Nice solid day, just a top‑five car and we cashed in on a top‑five finish. Starting second, we were able to hold the track position early. Daniel was smooth on what pit calls to make and the crew guys had sufficient pit stops, and it was just solid execution, a nice turn of the page, so to speak, and congratulations to our team and ourselves for shedding that new‑team skin and moving into the second part of the year with a solid‑type finish as this. This is what we need to start building our consistency on. Real proud of the change we made on the car to find some speed, and now we'll just try to develop it week in, week out. Q. Kyle, how was the shifting today and how much more time do you need in that Camaro? KYLE LARSON: To be honest with you, I did miss a couple shifts. Yeah, just twice, which is a lot better than probably it would have been if I didn't practice shifting a whole lot. But yeah, I mean, surprisingly there was only two times, was when I was battling people when I was pretty excited. I don't know, I thought it was a good day. Q. Brad, the trash I guess didn't blow off but your engine didn't blow, so was it a mistake not to yield the lead, or did doing that keep it from having the trash come off? BRAD KESELOWSKI: I don't think it came off. I don't know. I haven't seen what it looked like before and after. Yeah, it was definitely a mistake because the engine made it, but it probably shouldn't have. It was one of those deals, I think I was going to get passed because I was really down on power down the straightaway. I don't know, I think so, but it's hard to say. Q. Brad, had you not had the win this season would you have played that differently? Would you have stayed out to try to get your first win of the year? BRAD KESELOWSKI: No, I ran it like I would have ran it no matter what. It was going to break and I thought I had a shot to clean it off and not lose time, and I misjudged it. Q. Kyle, tell us what you learned from the track driving the ARCA race yesterday that helped you out in the race today. KYLE LARSON: I think I learned a little bit that helped me through Turn 2 in the ARCA cars. They're a lot slower so you have to roll a little bit quicker. I think I just took that into today a little bit, and it seemed like I was rolling a little quicker through Turn 2 than I had been in the test that we did last week and then all of practice this week. Also the car was better, too, so I was able to roll a bit quicker. But yeah, just a little bit of technique stuff. Q. Brad, Dale said that he felt like you had the better car. Is that how you feel, or do you feel like it was‑‑ BRAD KESELOWSKI: No, I thought we were pretty equal.  I thought there were five or six cars that were really equal, the 4, the 14, the 41, the 88 and us. I thought it was kind of a lottery draw as to whoever had the lead in the clean air as far as who was going to win it, and just‑‑ Dale once he got up front, he was probably a little better than I was with the clean air. Q. Kurt, you were the only one in the SHR camp to finish in the top 10 today. What does this mean for the 41 team moving forward? Do you think you guys are going to start contending for wins more on a consistent basis? KURT BUSCH: At one point today it was great to see Tony leading, Harvick was second, we were third, and then it swapped around and each of us were right up in the mix. That's what we want to see is our SHR Chevys up there. Today for us to finish in the top 10 it's because Stewart had a problem and was speeding on pit road, the 4 car had a left‑front tire go down, so we didn't have any type of trouble we had to overcome and we cashed in on a top‑five finish. For each car number, the 4, the 14, the 10 and the 41, this is the point in the season where each one starts to build its own identity, and for my team as young as we are, this is the type of finish that will help boost the confidence up, and the meeting we had last week we all had to look at one another and say are you willing to step this up, are you willing to put in the extra hours, are you willing to go the extra mile to make this happen, and everybody said yes, and when you cash in on a top‑five run after that, that really builds everybody's self‑esteem up, so I'm looking forward to it. Q. Brad or Kurt, the new Turn 2, any problems there, anybody do anything crazy? Didn't seem to be a factor in the race. BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, I thought it was great. I didn't see anything. I didn't think it was a major change other than if you got in a real jam you could still make it through the corner, but I thought it was great. KURT BUSCH: Yeah, it really didn't change much other than the fact that you didn't have a big curve that would jump out and grab the left front of the nose and do any damage if you got forced down there, so it was just a nice safety cushion that the track added for us. Q. Kyle, when you hear testing, you said Pennsylvania hadn't really been a good place for you and that they had some pretty weird race tracks. After winning the ARCA race and today's finish, did your mind sort of change about Pennsylvania and their tracks? KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I texted my sprint car crew chief from last year and said I want to race in PA, I think I'm ready to go back to Williams Grove. But no, Pennsylvania has always been tough for me for whatever reason, and maybe asphalt racing suits me better in Pennsylvania. Q. Brad, I just wondered how much you knew about Joey breaking down the stretch, did that enter into your head mentally at all? BRAD KESELOWSKI: No, I just picked up on it looking at the monitor about 30 seconds at all. I didn't know anything. Q. They didn't tell you anything? BRAD KESELOWSKI: Nope. Q. With Danica and her speed, she ended up going on the apron at the tail end of the race because she was handling so bad, did anything about her speed surprise you there or do you feel like that was all you just‑‑ BRAD KESELOWSKI: No, she just got in the corner and I could tell she was trying to let me go on the inside and I don't think she knew the situation I was in and I was trying to follow her, and I was trying to follow her towards the top side, and she just kept going higher and higher and higher until it sucked me in higher and higher. I just couldn't get out of the wake and lost my momentum. It's one of those things that happens. Q. Kurt, you guys have two straight top‑20 finishes, you've seemed to turn the page. What has led to that? KURT BUSCH: Oh, just trying to find a balance in the car. Last week we made some good steps, and then this week we really cashed in on finding some speed. Qualifying outside pole, coming within 2‑thousands of a second of the pole doesn't happen by accident. It's just the teamwork, it's finding a balance and building on it. So one step at a time. I'll take 18th last week and I'll take third this week. Q. Brad, can you stress how important clean air was for you today? BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, it just was going to dictate who was going to win the race. That's part of racing. That's part of really all of racing, the aerodynamics taking over motorsports, and we've all kind of learned to live around it and it makes the restarts so critical. But it's just kind of part of the deal. KRISTI KING: Gentlemen, congratulations on your top‑5 runs today. See you next week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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