Q. Matt, has the Chase become for you – has it become something of a frustrating exercise for you, always making it but never getting that big splash of a couple of wins, that sort of thing? And do you have hope that your team could come up, given any week, you could put together one of those runs, like two wins in four races, something like that?
MATT KENSETH: Well, of course you’re always hoping for a good run, hope for wins, putting that together. But it’s not frustrating at all making the Chase four years in a row.
Obviously it’s a difficult thing to do, to put together a good 26 races, to be in that top 10. So I’m real proud of my team for being able to accomplish that.
Of course, we want to take that a step farther and win the Chase, as does everybody in the top 12 who makes it. We’re doing everything we can. Hopefully we can keep being consistent and get running a little bit better.
Q. Matt, how much of a bond do you have with No. 17? You have some ardent fans in Wisconsin. How attached do you think they are to that number?
MATT KENSETH: I don’t know. I mean, it’s just a number. Obviously, you know, the longer you can keep together a team and a number, a sponsor, all those things, kind of the better it is for your identity or the fans, the souvenirs they bought, stuff that they wear, all that kind of stuff that you wouldn’t really think about.
Other than that, it doesn’t really – it really doesn’t matter that much to me. My number was always No. 8. That’s the number I came up with to race short track cars. My dad was 88, I was No. 8. That was always kind of my favorite number. Robby’s numbers was actually 71.
When he ran down to run the Busch car it wasn’t available. The number of his Busch car was 17, and that’s really where it came from. When he started driving his Busch car it just happened to be what number it was.
That’s kind of how it is with most drivers. Whoever you start driving for has a number, and that’s what you usually end up being.
Q. What have you seen since the merger of Roush and February way seen a difference in the team?
MATT KENSETH: No, I really haven’t. The only real difference is, you know, is just changing some of the branding, the names, the signs out front, that kind of stuff. I mean, I have been able to go to Fenway Park a couple times, which was cool. The part I pay the most attention to, the performance side of it, the competition side of it, all that, hasn’t changed at all. It’s the same as it’s always been.
Q. How would you handicap the Chase contenders? Who looks like a favorite and, who likes like a sleepers, who’s not running good right now?
MATT KENSETH: To be honest with you, I don’t think it’s possible to handicap it today. I think you have to wait a few weeks. You know, I don’t think anybody really expected Clint to come in and win the race, lead all the laps, do all that stuff this weekend, move up to where he’s at.
He was real consistent and solid all year, but wasn’t able to win a race. You know, always ran okay, but was a threat to win a couple races. But I don’t think any of you guys probably thought of him as one of the guys who was really going to have a shot at it. Here he just kicked everybody’s butt this weekend. Just never know.
I think really all 12 teams today, you know, got a legitimate shot. You look at Kurt. He had problems. I think he’s 11th or 12th right now. Kurt put that run together right before the Chase, won a couple races, was real fast, worked his way up in there. I think anybody right now could get open a roll and be a real contender.
Q. Veering off topic here. What do you think about Juan Pablo Montoya racing in the Cup Series and the influx of open-wheel drivers coming in next season, Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti will be making his announcement this week? What are your thoughts on that?
MATT KENSETH: It doesn’t really matter to me. I mean, you know, there’s always positives and negatives to pretty much everything that happens in the sport.
I think the good thing is that it probably attracts a broader fan base. Have more people maybe watching the sport that didn’t watch before that were maybe fans of them drivers or fans of the series that those drivers used to race in, that type of thing.
I think it’s always good for the garage area and for the drivers, for everybody to be diverse. I think it’s pretty cool that drivers who have done that stuff before want to come and race the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. I think that’s a good thing for the series. Everybody at NASCAR is pretty proud of that, that them people want to come over from the top division of their type of racing and race with us.
Q. Having won the last Cup under the old format, having been in all four of the new deals, which do you prefer and which do you feel is more representative of a champion’s effort?
MATT KENSETH: Well, I think they both are. I don’t think you can take one away from the other and say, Well, this is more of a, you know, good representation of it or this isn’t whatever. I think whatever they make the rules, you’ve got to make them work and go from there.
You know, I guess I got a couple answers there. I mean, my personal favorite, just because I’m kind of a traditionalist, enjoy the history of the sport, what went on before, I like the traditional format. I like, you know, having to race 36 weeks and, you know, not make any mistakes, run hard and be good at all the tracks, the road courses, all them kind of tracks. You know, I enjoy that part of it.
But yet honestly my favorite, favorite way is whatever the fans like the most, whatever’s the most exciting. I think the Chase format has certainly made it more exciting for the fans. Kind of I think reenergizes everybody. Once football starts we’ve already been racing for 28 weeks. It kind of gets everybody jacked up about racing, gives them something to watch and follow and kind of see who the champion is.
Whereas if it was the old format, Jeff would pretty much have things wrapped up.
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