Matt Kenseth

August 15, 2006 - Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion, has one NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series win at Michigan International Speedway, site of this weekend’s GFS Marketplace 400. Kenseth, who is second in the points standings, spoke about returning to Michigan and also his involvement in the upcoming Car of Tomorrow test at the speedway.

WHY DOES EVERY DRIVER LOVE THE MICHIGAN TRACK? “I think we like tracks where there’s a lot of room to race and then where you can pass or run side-by-side. None of the tracks where we run the same groove all the time and it’s hard to pass is really as much fun for a driver. Whenever you go somewhere and have options it’s a lot of fun. If the car is not working on the bottom, you can try something different.”

HOW MUCH DOES A DRIVER MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN CAR SET-UP AT MICHIGAN COMPARED TO SOME OTHER TRACKS? “I think there’s a lot of driver input everywhere. Talladega is probably the only place where there’s not a lot of handling involved. At Daytona you still have to handle, so it’s pretty much the same as most of the other tracks we go to.”

ARE YOU DOING THE CAR OF TOMORROW TEST AFTER THE MICHIGAN RACE? “Yes, that’s the plan.”

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’RE LOOKING SPECIFICALLY TO LEARN? “Yeah, first of all I haven’t even been in one of those cars yet. Carl did all of the other tests, so I haven’t even had a chance to do it. Now that the rules, as far as I know, are pretty well firmed up, and we know where we’re gonna have to run them next year and know as much as we’re gonna run them, I think it’s worth doing a test. Before this time I didn’t think it was really worth it because they still hadn’t decided on springs and all different kinds of body rules and stuff. I’m kind of looking forward to it. Since we’ve got to run them, we’ve got to start working on them or we’re gonna be behind. There are gonna be a lot of different things to work on – running bump stops and all that, like they’re probably gonna allow it sounds like. There are a lot of different things to work with. I have no idea how a wing acts and how to get a front end set up with the splitter and all that different stuff, so it should be a good place to test.”

YOU WON’T RUN THE COT AT MICHIGAN NEXT YEAR, BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER TO YOU? “I think it’ll be good for us because you get a feel of that car. Although it’s our first one and we’ve got a long ways to go in refining them and making them better, but it will give you a good feel just getting out of your car on Sunday and getting in that car on Monday, the differences of them and how they’re gonna act. It will still give you, hopefully, some trends to follow for other tracks when we start racing them next year.”