This Week in Ford Racing: Jason Keller

Jason Keller has enjoyed success at Gateway International Raceway, capturing three top-five finishes in four starts. A win, however, has eluded Keller up to this point, and the third-place driver in the Busch Series point standings knows that the two drivers in front of him have both captured wins at the 1.25-mile oval. Keller closed the gap to both points leader Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle with a fifth-place finish at Chicagoland last weekend. Keller now sits 30 points behind Biffle and 168 points behind Harvick heading into the 20th race of the 33-race Busch Series schedule. Keller talked about his current position in the points standings, and commented on the announcement that his teammate Jeff Green would be leaving ppc Racing at the end of the season.

JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus - YOU WERE ABLE TO CAPITALIZE ON THE PROBLEMS OF GREG BIFFLE AND KEVIN HARVICK TO CLOSE THE POINTS GAP WITH ANOTHER TOP-FIVE FINISH. "The consistency is good. More and more, we're getting the hang of things with the new package this year with the Goodyear tires and the new engine. I think everybody has heard about it, but we're getting more accustomed to our Fords as well. I was really hoping that we wouldn't get ourselves way far behind as we were learning, and we haven't done that. We're right in the mix of things. We're starting to do things differently with our Fords, and hopefully we'll continue to get them better and I think we will. We're not so far out of it. These guys that we're racing with are going to be extremely tough. They're not going to finish 25th on a given week unless they have problems, and I don't wish any of those guys any problems. We just want to run strong every week and let everything shake out like it's going to."

YOU'RE KNOWN FOR YOUR CONSISTENCY. YOU'RE NOT ALWAYS CONTENDING FOR THE WIN, BUT YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO BE IN THE TOP-10 BY THE END OF THE RACE. "I think it is a little bit of my driving style. I really try my best not to take any more than the car is going to give me on the race track, but when my car is right and I feel like I can win the race, I like to charge up to the front and win. We've had more top-fives this year to this point than I've ever had, so I think our consistency is getting a little bit stronger. It's not that we just sort of ride around getting a top 10. We're moving the bar up and we're getting more and more top-fives, and that's what it takes. These guys are going to charge up there and lead laps and win races. It probably hurts me a little bit in the points because they get points for leading laps and leading the most laps, and I'm one of these guys that feels like the race has to place itself out. To be there at the end is what I focus on, and to have a chance to win it at the end is what I focus on, too."

YOU WERE STRUGGLING A LITTLE BIT IN THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR WITH QUALIFYING, BUT YOU SEEM TO HAVE TURNED THE CORNER. "No, we were struggling a lot. We were really struggling and I think that goes back to the feel of what I was searching for with the Fords. I don't what to make any excuses because it was there and we just had to find it. I think once we found it, we've been able to get stronger and stronger with our qualifying efforts, except for this past weekend where I messed up as a driver. You're going to have those weeks, and it's just a feel thing. It's getting the balance right on our Fords and it's getting the feel there. That's why I can't stop but think that we're going to continue to getting stronger and stronger because look at what the year has done for us. We've gotten stronger and stronger, and the more Steve (Addington) and I learn on the car, the better we're going to be and the better we're starting to be right now. The guys that we're racing with in points are extremely tough, but somebody is going to win the championship and I want to be right in the mix. It doesn't matter who led at the halfway point to me, it matters who wins at the end and I want to be battling with them at the end."

THE TWO DRIVERS AHEAD OF YOU IN THE POINT STANDINGS ARE GREG BIFFLE AND KEVIN HARVICK. ONE IS A ROOKIE AND THE OTHER HAS SOME SERIOUS TRAVEL PLANS AHEAD OF HIM IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. "Biffle is a rookie, but you have to understand that he's an experienced racer. I don't look at Greg Biffle as a rookie. He may have a yellow stripe, but he is an experienced racer and I think he has shown what he's made of. As far as Kevin's travel schedule, the way the travel situations are nowadays with the helicopters and the jets, I haven't seen it as a big issue all year long. Maybe he's lost a practice session here and there, but when you have the kind of race team that he's got, they're going to pull behind him and make it happen for him. He's a good driver also. I don't see that that situation is going to change things. I think the everything is going to be decided on the race track. If they get to battle each other, and Greg was battling hard this weekend and got into a wreck and Kevin had something break on his car. I can't focus on what those guys are going to do, I have to focus on what my race team is going to do. I plan on being up front every week and whatever happens to them, happens."

HAVING COMPETED AT CHICAGOLAND LAST WEEKEND, THE CIRCUIT HAS RACED AT THREE OF THE FOUR NEW VENUES ON THE SCHEDULE. ARE THEY TYPICALLY MORE STRESSFUL WEEKENDS? "I enjoy them. I was really laid back in Chicago. We went up there and tested for two days and I was really excited about my chances up there. After qualifying, I was a little bit uptight because I was really disappointed with my qualifying effort, but I enjoy the new places. We went to Nashville this year and I finished second and I went to Chicago and finished fifth. Any time that you can have stats like that, you have to enjoy going to those places. I really enjoy the race tracks coming up. You've got race tracks that I've won on coming up, so I'm excited going to those. These are the race tracks that I have to excel at to have a chance. These guys aren't going to lay down and give it to me; they're going to be hard fought every week."

THIS WEEK'S RACE IS AT GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, A RACE TRACK THAT YOU'VE HAD SOME SUCCESS AT IN THE PAST. "It's exciting because it's the home of Anheuser-Busch, which is the series' sponsor. Any time you can go there with that much excitement for the race, and they do a lot of extra things for the race to make it exciting because it is on their back porch. You keep getting those top-fives and you keep knocking on the door, you're going to get that win. My stats show that me and this race team know how to get around that place, now we have to tweak it that little extra bit to get that win, and that's what we're looking for."

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE 1.25-MILE TRACK? "I think you have to approach it with the same mentality you approach Darlington. You're going to get your car working good on one end of the race track, but you're going to have to suffer on the other. Usually, what you try to do, you really work hard on Turns 1 and 2, which are the really tight corners. You're probably going to be loose in 3 and 4, but you're going to have to live with that and try to get through 3 and 4 the best you can and focus getting your car turning good off of Turn 2. That's what we've done every time that we've been there, and it really seems to work for us."

IT'S A NIGHT RACE, SO HOW DOES THE TRACK CHANGE AS THE SUNS SETS AND ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING ILLUMINATES THE RACING SURFACE? "It changes somewhat, but I really feel that if your car is balanced there, the race track doesn't seem to be heat sensitive. If your car is balanced it is going to stay balanced through the night, and if your car is tight, it is going to stay tight throughout the night. It's not like Charlotte where your car goes from being real loose to real tight or something crazy like that. We'll build some adjustability in, but now with NASCAR not allowing us to have rubbers in the front springs, it's kinda hard to build a lot of adjustability in the front of the car. We'll do some things to make that happen, but usually the way it starts there and finishes the last couple of years, so it's not a big deal."

THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS MADE LAST WEEK CONCERNING JEFF GREEN'S RACING FUTURE. IS THAT A DISTRACTION FOR YOUR TEAM? "I don't think so. Jeff has been a wonderful teammate and he has a wonderful opportunity where he is going and I wish him the best, but there's a job to do at hand. I know what I have to do and what I have to focus on, and I'm probably more focused now than I ever have been because I've never been this close this late in the season. You have to understand that the closer you get to something, the more you want something. I can see the prize, I just have to go out there and make it happen. What he does on his team and what happens to them, it affects us some, but we're not going to get wrapped up in that."

DO YOU WANT TO HAVE ANOTHER VETERAN TEAMMATE OR WOULD YOU BE HAPPY TO SEE A ROOKIE TAKE THE SEAT OF THE 10 CAR? "I just want a racer in there. I want somebody who is as focused on their racing as I am on mine and as Jeff was on his. I really feel, by the people that I've talked to and the people that ppc has talked to, we're not going to have any problem at all. Jeff is a great race-car driver and I know he's going to do good where he's going, but there's a great race team there. Whoever plugs into that seat is going to do good, and I think it's going to continue to help our race team."

A ROOKIE WOULD HAVE ADDITIONAL TEST DATES. CAN THAT BE SOMETHING THAT YOUR TEAM COULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF? "We can use the data from the other race team because all of our cars are the same. They're built in the same places and that's why we do that. If a rookie is plugged into that seat over there then I'm sure it will help us. The more data that you've got, especially with the way we are right now, we're new to this multi-year program with the Fords. The more data that you have, the better off that you're going to be. It's good. We can go and get all the computer data off the 10 car and say this is what the car was doing and this is what we need our car to do. It's greatly important and I think it will be good for us."