Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 R+L Carriers Ford Fusion, is in third place in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings heading into Saturday night’s Pepsi 400. Kenseth has one victory and 11 top-10s through the first 17 races of the season.

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 R+L Carriers Ford Fusion – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE IN THE RACING HERE BETWEEN THE DAYTONA 500 IN FEBRUARY AND THE PEPSI 400 IN JULY? “The races aren’t a lot different, it’s more slick, it’s a lot hotter at the track. The harder tire that we ran in February was pretty slick as well, so handling is probably a little bit more important here, so other than that, the race is the same.”

WHO ARE THE GUYS TO BEAT? “Probably the same guys you always look to beat at these restrictor-plate races; the Childress cars run all right. I think the Hendrick cars have been really strong lately, and Dale Junior is always strong here, so, you know, at Daytona or Talladega anybody can really get it, it all depends on how the race goes. I think handling will be really important unless you get a real short run at the end. You can have a car that’s not real fast and handles good, and if you get enough green-flag laps you’ve got a chance at it, too.”

ON THIS BEING THE LAST RESTRICTOR-PLATE RACE WITH THE CURRENT CAR. “I don’t know. It’s hard to compare it to what the COT car is going to be because I haven’t run it at a superspeedway yet; we haven’t done any racing. So, we’ll have to see. If anywhere the COT doesn’t make much difference it should be Daytona and Talladega. These cars are pretty close to same, anyway. So, we’ll have to see what it’s like.”

BACK IN FEBRUARY, WHEN THE SEASON OPENED HERE, IF SOMEONE WOULD’VE TOLD YOU THAT YOU’D BE THIRD IN THE STANDINGS AND COMFORTABLE IN THE CHASE WHEN THE SERIES RETURNED IN JULY, WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN COMFORTABLE WITH THAT PREDICTION? “You mean like how the year’s gone? Well, yeah. Obviously, we’re happy with where we are in the standings – it’s the third-best spot to be, I guess – but, certainly, we’d like to be running just a little bit better. But, so far, the year’s been pretty good.”

HAS THE YEAR GONE THE WAY YOU EXPECTED IT TO, OR HAS THERE BEEN ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY? “This year, especially, I don’t think you ever really know exactly what to expect – especially this year with the COT cars, and some of the different stuff going on.”

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Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion, won at Michigan three races ago for his first victory in the Cup series since he won four times in 2005. He is currently seventh in the standings, and is within 100 points of third place. Additionally, Edwards is dominating the Busch Series this year, with four wins and leading the standings by nearly 800 points.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion – CAN THE TWO RACES AT DAYTONA – THE 500 IN FEBRUARY AND THE PEPSI 400 IN JULY – BE COMPARED? “Any time you race on the same race track with the same type of car it’s going to be pretty similar, but right now, the way the restrictor-plate racing is here, you’re very close here at Daytona to being able to hold it wide open. So, if it’s a little cooler, and in the July race you’re racing at night, it get a little more racy, it kind of changes the way this race works out just because you don’t need quite as much downforce, the cars don’t get spread out quite as much.”

SHOULD THE BUSCH SERIES BE CHANGED TO THE CARL EDWARDS SERIES WITH THE WAY THINGS HAVE GONE FOR YOU THIS YEAR? “The Busch Series is going great. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m trying to enjoy it while I can, because this is the third full season where I’ve run the Busch Series and we haven’t had a season like this yet. So, I’ll definitely enjoy it.”

WHAT’S YOUR SECRET? “The secret right now to our success in the Busch Series is just great people, great race cars and a lot of really, really great luck, that’s been the key. I don’t want to jinx it or anything, we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing, and hopefully it’ll turn out like it should.”

LATELY, THAT SUCCESS SEEMS TO BE SPILLING OVER INTO THE CUP SERIES, TOO. “The Cup car has been great. This Office Depot team has been doing a great job. Last week was really frustrating to be right there racing the leader and have the car fall off the jack, but we still rebounded and finished 13th. We’ve got a strong team, and if we can maintain that kind of perseverance through the Chase, it’s going to awesome.”

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK AT DAYTONA FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS SEASON? “I don’t know if this is one of the most exciting places to come to as a driver, because, really, there’s not a lot you can do. You come out here and do the best you can, and you’re going to end up either in a big wreck or you’re going to have a blast and it’s going to be fine. So, to me, I try to just enjoy it and put all the stress aside, and I’m pretty excited about this weekend.”

FOLLOWING YOUR 2006 SEASON, HAD SOMEONE TOLD YOU IN FEBRUARY WHEN THIS SEASON STARTED THAT BY THE TIME THE SERIES RETURNED TO DAYTONA YOU WOULD’VE PICKED UP A WIN, BEEN SOLIDLY IN THE CHASE AND DOMINATED THE BUSCH SERIES, WOULD THAT ALL HAVE SOUNDED PRETTY GOOD TO YOU? “That would’ve sounded great to me, but I know how tough this sport is and it doesn’t take very much to really look like you’re performing badly – you can have some bad luck or be a little bit behind on your engineering, and you can look terrible. So, it’s really tough to have to the good fortune and have the good races, but this is where we would’ve wanted to have been last year, it’s just that we’re very fortunate to be here.”

YOU WERE IN THE TOP 12 BEFORE THE WIN AT MICHIGAN. DID THAT VICTORY CHANGE ANYTHING AS FAR AS THIS TEAM IS CONCERNED? “I don’t think that win changed anything except for it’s just a huge burden, a huge relief – it’s a burden that’s gone now. You carry around that losing streak, it kind of wears everybody down, so it’s great to get a win and move on.”

HOW DID THAT DROUGHT SPECIFICALLY AFFECT YOU? “Just like everybody, I love winning. You know, to win the races, that’s what it’s all about. It’s the greatest feeling in the world to win in Nextel Cup. To not win for so long, it’s frustrating. The hard part is to go to every race with the same mentality that we did in 2005 when we were winning, it seemed like, often. So, that was the hard part – to just really truly believe that we could win every weekend when you’re not winning. That’s tough, but that’s what it takes.”

HOW DO YOU DO THAT? HOW DO YOU CONVINCE YOURSELF EACH AND EVERY WEEKEND? “The trick for me is to make sure that I have good people around me. My crew chief, Bob [Osborne], knowing that I have a crew chief and a team that can win. And as long as you have good people around you and you have everything that you know that your need to win, then you just have to ignore anything negative – and that’s the key, it’s just to do everything you can, know that you’ve done everything you can and accept whatever comes.”