Catchfence

The top two drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle, came to the Charlotte Motor Speedway infield media center back-to-back and answered questions from the press about this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600.

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “I’m glad to be here for the 600. It’s one of my favorite events. I can’t wait to get out on the track and I hope you’re all having a good week.”

CAN YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST RUNNING HERE THIS WEEK FROM LAST WEEK? “Honestly, for me, it’s not a lot different. Last week was different with the pit stop competition and some of the stuff that goes with the All-Star Race and, of course, the different strategy and thinking about the last segment, but as far as preparation and practice and the things you want to work on and getting ready for the race, really none of that changes a lot. I felt pretty good about our car performance on Saturday night and today we just go in and try to get a lap for that qualifying draw – hopefully early – and then just make sure our balance is close in race trim and try to get ready to qualify, and then work real hard on Saturday and try to get ready for the race.”

IF YOU HAVE A RESTART LIKE LAST WEEK WHERE YOU’RE ON THE OUTSIDE, HOW WOULD YOU DO IT DIFFERENTLY? “First of all, I hope it doesn’t come down to either one of those (fuel mileage or restart). I hope it comes down to a longer run and the fastest car wins. The longer run is what I hope and we can just race for it without any of that stuff, but I say that unless I’m way far behind and then I’d want a restart and I’m on the bottom. But I don’t really know what I’d do different. The track was clean enough. Jimmie didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t hitting the wall, so I had enough room. I don’t know what I’d do different. I had a hard time getting the car rolling in a straight line. We even did on our pit stop Friday night, leaving pit road without the speed limit leading, so it’s something we’ve been working on and worked on it a little bit more for this week. Hopefully, it’ll be a little bit better. It just seemed like in re-watching that race it seemed like all the guys that started on the outside row had a hard time getting rolling for some reason. Most tracks you don’t really have that, but I’ve noticed that last fall here too. It’s almost like a drag race, where you want to pick your line just because of the forward traction to get the car rolling. I don’t know what I’d do different. Obviously it didn’t look very good and you think you’d be able to do better than that, but when I got done, I mean I knew when he was going. I anticipated it pretty good. I thought I got in the gas even a little bit before he did, I just couldn’t get any traction.”

YOU AND BRAD SAID NOBODY COULD GO ON THE TOP LINE ON RESTARTS, BUT IT SEEMED AMBROSE COULD. ANY IDEA WHY? “I think we’re probably talking about two different things. We’re mainly talking the outside line where the restart zone is from line to line – it was hard to get rolling right there. If we would have been side-by-side going into turn one, I probably would rather have the top than the bottom because that guy doesn’t have as much air on the bottom and you can get around there pretty good. And another thing on restarts, a lot of his restarts – I think the last one he restarted on the bottom and actually passed me, and I got back around him – but most restarts if you’re three or four rows back, I think I’d rather be on the top in an aggressive race like that and everybody slows each other up for the corner, you can get way around three-wide because there are a lot of lanes out there, so they were kind of two different things we were probably talking about. We were more talking about the zone to get rolling. If you can get rolling the same and get down into turn one, I think either lane is fine.”

DO YOU DO ANYTHING FOR REHYDRATION OR CONDITIONING PURPOSES FOR THIS RACE? “I don’t do a lot different than I do any other week. They’re all kind of long races. I shouldn’t say anything different, but not much different. I always try to take care of myself. I always try to eat good and stay hydrated and get some sleep. It does give me an excuse to sleep in a little bit in the morning because it’s a night race and try to sleep in for an extra hour or two on Sunday, which I don’t get to do very often and I enjoy doing, so, other than that, I don’t really do a lot different. I just watch the weather and if it’s hot, you might have some ice packs ready – that type of things – but mainly just eating good, drinking a lot of Gatorade and get some rest.”

DID THE SKIRT CHANGE MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE RACE? “I think it’s probably early to tell. I don’t think it’s a huge change. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to take some air off these cars. I think it probably helps the passing a little bit and be able to move around, but I know you didn’t have the wrecks and that 10-lapper Jimmie got out there and won, but, overall, I thought the racing was pretty good. I think Jimmie started sixth in the first segment and in 20 green flag laps went and took the lead and won that race. That’s pretty darn impressive here because it’s somewhat hard to pass. The track has a lot of grip and I know at least for me when you can pass somebody, especially the leader, it takes awhile to wear him down and get that done, so I think there was some passing and it seemed like there was a lot of side-by-side racing, even on those restarts. Marcos was able to get on the top three-wide, so it seemed like to me overall the racing was pretty good and you had a lot of passing and side-by-side.”

CAN YOU RECAP THE TIRE TEST AT MICHIGAN AND WHAT WE CAN EXPECT IN JUNE? “That was a while ago. It’s obviously really, really, really fast. I don’t know if it’s the fastest one we’ve been on, but it will be the fastest one we’ll be at all year and probably the fastest top speed we’ve ever run anywhere in a Cup car. It’s gonna be really fast. They did a fairly nice job repaving it. It seems pretty smooth. It didn’t seem as treacherous as Phoenix was with the repave if you got out of the groove, so I think everything with the track will be fine, especially after you get all the cars on it and get that full day of practice. I think it’ll be fine. I think it’s too early to say what the racing will be like, but that place has always had a lot of different grooves. I’m sure there is going to be a preferred groove, but I’d be really surprised if there wasn’t multiple grooves that you can race in and pass on.”