CAN YOU GAUGE HOW GOOD IS YOUR CAR FOR SUNDAY?
“Well, not really. We didn’t get any race runs in today. We just did all qualifying runs. I really like this track and I’ve qualified good here before and I’ve had some pretty good runs. So if we do what we need to do tomorrow we should be able to put out a good race car for Sunday.”
HAVE YOU PRACTICED UP CLOSE TO THE WALL, AND WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING THAT CLOSE TO IT, DOES THE WIND AFFECT YOU?
“I haven’t run in race trim this weekend. This track does have a couple of different grooves and a couple ways you can go around the corner. The CoT doesn’t like the top of the race track as much, at least over the last year or two that we’ve been working with the car, I haven’t been able to get the top to be as successful as I had years ago. But you run wherever you can make time. So my intentions are, and have been for the last several months, to work the bottom of the race track in practice all day Saturday to try to make my car work down there because I feel like that’s where the races are won. When you run up top, I really don’t know what the wind does to the car or how that affects it. I’ve always felt like we move up there to get on some asphalt that’s not had a lot of wear and use on it that has a little bit more grip and has a little bit more tars and other particles on it that the bottom groove has been worn away and we just use that top groove a little bit. But sometimes, there’s a good chance that there could be something to what happens to the wind when it goes between the car and the wall itself, it may become denser and create some sort of a cushion, but that’s debatable.”
THEY ARE GOING TO DO A TEST AT RICHMOND NEXT WEEK WITH A LARGER TIRE. WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT A LARGER TIRE WOULD DO?
“I really don’t know. I’m excited that Goodyear is trying to look for new opportunities for the teams and the drivers. Hopefully they’ll have success in developing the new tire. A taller, wider tire could do a significant amount of things to the handling and the characteristics as to how the car feels and drives. But obviously if the tire is wider, we’ll have a much more larger contact patch and probably pick up quite a bit of corner speed. The wheel itself I think is what’s becoming bigger and the tire, I’m not sure about how big a difference that will be in the size of the tire versus what we have now. But if the sidewall gets smaller, there’s a chance that it’ll become harder. And I’ve always liked a stiffer sidewall because I have a more direct feeling of what the right rear or the right front of the car is doing than with a softer sidewall. A softer sidewall sort of dilutes the feeling of how much grip the actual tire has.
“So I’ve always had more success when the sidewalls are stiffer, especially on the left side of the car. So, if they make the wheel bigger, which is in all the press releases they’re talking about the size, they’re speaking more about the wheel. I’m not sure how much that changes the actual overall size of the tire, but hopefully if the sidewall gets a little smaller, and in turn, would have to be a little harder, I think it would produce a pretty good little tire if developed properly.”
WITH EIGHT RACES TO GO, HOW DO YOU MAKE THE MOST OF THOSE RACES GOING INTO 2010?
“Well, basically what we’ve been doing is looking at Jimmie’s been really fast and Mark’s been really fast and Jeff’s been running great too, just looking at the characteristics and how their using their race cars and trying to put that into my car and trying to understand how it feels and why it feels this way and what their searching for in the set-up and what’s working and what the driver’s looking for in feel. You’d love to be able to go out on the race track and be quick and provide them with ideas because they’re trying to win a championship; and if I could help them on any given weekend that would be one of the better accomplishments to these last 10 races for our team, aside from winning. But we’re still sort of trying to find speed so we’re still leaning on them quite a bit as we have been over the last several months trying to get our program to where it’s more consistent. And we have yet to really improve on anything they’ve been doing, we’ve just been trying to get that in itself to provide us with some more consistency and better performance.”
LIKE FINE WINE, MARK MARTIN JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER. DOES HE AMAZE YOU AS MUCH AS HE DOES THE FANS?
“Well, I’ve always thought that Mark was a great race car driver. Him coming back and running as good as he does doesn’t amaze me. I always felt like he was capable of doing the type of things that he does. Him and my dad had some very, very tough battles week after week and they in turn, became championship battles. So I watched Mark a lot because he was one of the guys that either Dad had to outrun or had to run with. And then I got to watch him out of the windshield a lot in ‘98 and maybe out the back mirror a little bit in ‘99 as we raced in the Busch Series. He has amazing car control. He has the ability to really hang a car out that a lot of guys don’t possess. There is something unique in his personality that has maintained his youthfulness as far as his exuberance for competing; just overall competition and just going out and hot-lapping or going out and winning a race, he still has the urge and the yearning to do it as if you were in your first season or as a rookie. So, you see a lot of guys, their temperament sort of softens a little bit over time and he seems just as excited about going around the race track as he was when he first strapped in a car. But he’s a very talented guy. And I’m real happy for him. He was a bridesmaid for so many years and so here’s one guy that’s pulling for him to win a championship this year because he’s deserved it.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, NO. 25 GODADDY.COM IMPALA SS, QUALIFIED THIRD
TALK ABOUT BEING IN THE CUP CAR THIS WEEKEND AND WHAT YOU’RE HOPING TO DO OUT THERE ON SUNDAY.
“Well it’s been a phenomenal day so far. The No. 25 car, GoDaddy.com on the Cup side is extremely strong and the Nationwide car is even better yet. So figured I would leave well enough alone and come over here and talk to you guys. It’s been good. I really didn’t expect to be this fast. It’s just a testament to how good the Hendrick cars are and that’s something to be proud of for sure. They’ve done a lot of work and I’m proud to be part of that and looking forward to finishing my opportunity with the No. 25 team out strong. We have this race here and Kansas and then we have Charlotte. They have this wall over there in the shop with a bunch of H’s with dates underneath them that signify wins with the driver’s name underneath them. I told Mr. Hendrick before I was done I wanted to get my name on that wall. It looks like I’ve got a good opportunity to do that this week here in Kansas so I’m pretty excited about that. I don’t want let Mr. H down so I’m going to put a good effort into it and it’s been phenomenal to date. Just a great day and a great car.”
ARE YOU TRYING TO RUB OFF A LITTLE MARK MARTIN MAGIC? “He’s got the magic right now. Man everything he does it turns to gold. He’s a Midas I guess. He’s just good. Whatever he’s got going on now it’s clicking for sure. He came into the deal at the perfect time and he’s so good. It’s just everything came together and Mark is like the perfect storm right now. He’s about unbeatable the way things are going right now. Hopefully I can pull something off.”
DENNY HAMLIN HAD SOME CHOICE THINGS TO SAY FROM DOVER AND WAS DISAPPOINTED YOU DIDN’T CALL HIM AND YOU SHOULD BE NERVOUS WHEN YOU ARE AROUND HIM BECAUSE OF THAT, DO YOU HAVE ANY REACTION TO THAT? “I didn’t know I was supposed to call him I thought he was going to call me. I don’t know. This is what makes racing awesome. Otherwise it’s just cars going in circles so you’ve got to have some human drama. As to how I feel about it, I’m looking towards the future and I’m not looking toward the past. As for as how I’m going to race around him because I’m sure that’s the next question somebody is going to ask, no differently than I’ve raced around him before. He’s another race car driver and that’s how I see him. I race him like he races me as I race everyone like they race me. That situation just evolved into what it has based on how he’s raced me. Mentally I’m tough enough to where whatever words he has to say it doesn’t bother me. It’ doesn’t phase me. At the end of the day that’s how I’m going to look at it and continue to look at it. It comes down to the race track and the performance not the words said on or off the race track. That’s just how I’m going to view it. I don’t wish to have any conflict in the garage but that doesn’t mean I’m going to rest on my laurels to try to fix it.”
DOES IT BOTHER YOU THAT THAT CONFLICT WITH DENNY IS NOT SETTLED YET? “I mean nobody likes to have an open conflict out there. To be honest it was never really settled after Charlotte in my mind. I don’t know. I read what he said before I came in here so I would know because I figured you guys would ask me. He’s just frustrated which that’s just the way racing is. Racing is hard. It’s frustrating. You get mad, you get angry. Sometimes that’s right and sometimes that’s wrong. It seems to me a lot gets put into a specific situation when really it’s a lot broader picture and you have to really step back and see that. I know I’m kind of circling around here. I’m working on my politician but as far as it being unsettled on my mind I just take a page from the Jimmie Johnson book and mental toughness is what wins races and wins championships. I’ve put a lot of emphasis on that and I feel like I’m tough enough to where it doesn’t bother me.”
HOW IS YOUR CAR FOR THE RACE ON SUNDAY? “That’s a really good question. It’s to be determined at this point. Toward the end of qualifying the track got the slightest bit better. I’m not sure that can really be attributed to my strong qualifying run because I did have a good car and that goes both ways because I’ve had it go the other way where I had a good car and got a lousy draw. For it to qualify as well as it did with the limited experience I’ve got it must be pretty dang good. So I’m really happy about that. I feel really good about it.”
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