NASCAR: Newsmaker Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth, the 2002 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion, is like everyone else at the Daytona International Speedway during the last two weeks. He's looking for speed for the Feb. 19 Daytona 500 -- and a fresh start to the 2006 season. Kenseth, who tested last week with the first wave of teams, talked about his new Ford Fusion and what he expects during the new year during a break. Here are excerpts of that press conference:

Question: It's a new year. What do you expect?

Kenseth: I don't know. We're happy to get the new Fusion out on the track. I always look forward to the Daytona 500, more so, probably this year, than years past just because we ran pretty good at all the plate races last year. So, we have hopes that we'll be competitive, and hopefully be part of the outcome.

Question: How does the Fusion compare to last year's Taurus?

Kenseth: You know, really with all the rules you're not going to see a big difference just because of all the common templates; it's a nose and tail change and the nose is very similar to what we had, but it's probably going to be a little bit better, and we already had a great race car last year, so I think it's going to be a great car. It's a great street car, that's for sure, and I think the race car will be just as good.

Question: Your car owner, Jack Roush, said last year was more satisfying to him to get all five of his cars in the Chase for the Championship, more satisfying than winning championships with you and Kurt Busch. What are your thoughts on that?

Kenseth: If we look at the year as whole and average everything out, I think it was a successful year for us. We were able to win a race, which we certainly want to much better than that, but I think we probably led as many or more laps last year than what we ever have. We were in position to win a few races, a couple of them we cost ourselves, and we had problems in other ones. So I think overall we ran pretty good. I think Roush Racing better last year than they have any other year. We ran the worst up to the end, and we just need to be a little more consistent. Overall, I think it was a great year for everybody at Roush and I hope we get more of the same this year.

Question: Will the test at Last Vegas at the end of the month be a better gauge for the Fusion?

Kenseth: Yeah, for sure. We only do speedway racing four times a year, and Daytona is fairly different from Talladega is, so really you only do this twice a year. You look forward to Vegas. This is a lot different testing. Basically we just run a couple of laps at a time to see how much speed you have. With all the rules today - you know, you can't change rear springs or rear shocks, all the different stuff in the back we used to change to try and get more travel, NASCAR's pretty much caught on to everything and made a rule for basically everything. There's not really a lot we can do when we get here. Really, what you run off the truck is about what your car's going to run - at least that's been our experience. It's kind of boring testing, really, at this track. When you go to Vegas or any track where you've got to let off the gas it's different because you're working on all kinds of different stuff. You're working on aerodynamics, but you're working on your handling package. It's a lot of fun to go out there. Vegas is a fun place to go, especially in the wintertime when you haven't been in the car a lot and go there and test, and then you'll kind of have some kind of idea about your downforce program. You know, we run 32 downforce races and four speedway races - both are important, the Daytona 500 holds a lot of importance - but as far as how your year goes, your downforce cars are the most important because that's what we race the most.

Question: Bump-drafting has become the way to get around Daytona and the Talladega Superspeedway. Do you like it?

Kenseth: It's like anything. It all depends on how and where it's done and what situation. I don't mind it. There's guys, like any kind of racing, any different types of racing we do during the year that you're more comfortable with than others, that are pushing you. The only time it gets a little bit dangerous, probably when you're like three-wide and you're in the middle and there's a car in front of you and the guy behind you is pushing you and maybe doesn't see the car in front of you that you're already on, so sometimes that kind of stuff happens. But I think if it's done in the right situation I don't there's anything wrong with it.

Question: Assess your team and NASCAR's new policy that limits testing to five tracks.

Kenseth: I feel good about the new people we got, I know we got a few new people. We really haven't had that big of a turnover, everybody's making a big deal out of it, but we really didn't have that big a turnover - we moved one guy up to the car-chief role that's been there for a year and I got a couple of new guys, so I'm excited about it. We've got some young guys get moved up and are fired up about it. The testing thing - I don't think it'll be an advantage to the veterans. The thing that really concerns me about the testing procedure is that as long as it's the same for everybody, I'm cool with it. But like this week, for example, they're doing a tire test at Atlanta. Well, none of us have a chance to test Atlanta. ... I don't have a problem with it - but the 2 car is testing with Kurt, and he's never got to work with his team and never got to do that, so they're going to do the tire test, so they kind of got a leg up on everybody coming to Atlanta. ... I'm sure they'll have a handle on it, hopefully, if nothing else, before the Chase, but I think that gives the teams that get to do that a big advantage.

Question: What did you do during the offseason?

Kenseth: I stayed pretty busy. We went back to Wisconsin for a little bit for the holidays. And then, for about the last year I've been learning how to fly and I got my private pilot's license in May, and this winter I went to school for about five weeks and got my instrument rating, and I just got that about a week and a half ago. I've been pretty much spending all my spare time flying this winter and going to school and trying to learn more about that.