Sunday, August 4, 2002
RON GREEN: We will have the second and third-place finishers, as well as the highest finishing rookie. Joining us already is third-place finisher Matt Kenseth. Matt's previous best finish here at the Brickyard 400 was 26th in 2000, but he has three wins in 2002.
Matt, a long day out there on the track, but you really came on strong in the latter half. Talk about your run.
MATT KENSETH: It was a great day for us. Our Dewalt car was pretty fast all day. We just struggled getting track position. So we made our way up through there early in the race. Every run our car was real fast except in the…I don't remember which run it was, but I guess the run before our last run, the car got real tight, and I couldn't really make up ground like I wanted to. We had a little bit of an off day in the pits the first couple stops. For them guys I'm used to gaining spots, and we'd lose a couple here and there. Then the last pit stop we needed, we got a real good pit stop, and we only came out one car behind Bill (Elliott). So we had the position, we just didn't have anything to run with that 9 car. We had a good top-five car all day, but we didn't have one that good.
GREEN: We are transcribing these interviews and the winner interview, so I need you to ask your question in the microphone. We will open it up now with questions for Matt.
Q: Matt, as a young guy, can you talk about seeing a guy like Bill Elliott, who's been in the sport so long, winning here today?
MATT KENSETH: It's pretty cool. My first Winston Cup race I ever drove, I drove for Bill when Bill's father died over in '98. I got to know him a little bit through that. And you know, he's a great guy and a great race car driver. So to me it's cool. Not so much last year, but a few years before that, he struggled a little bit being as competitive as he used to be. So it's cool for me to see him getting a ride and win races and be able to dominate like that. So that's pretty cool. Real happy to see a guy like that win the race.
Q: Last couple years you haven't really done this well. What was the big difference from last year to this year that put you up in the top three like this?
KENSETH: First year we came here, we didn't run good, and we got wrecked on pit road. It actually wrecked it pretty bad on pit road, and we just ran around all day. Then last year we had a really great car. We had a great test here. We qualified 20th, but we didn't have a great draw. Happy Hour we had one of the fastest cars in the long run, pretty much the same as I felt like what we were today. We were pretty good, and I got in that Lap 2 wreck when the 96 car spun out. Last year we had real high hopes coming here, and we didn't get past Lap 1 or 2. I felt we had a good car last year, and our test was real productive here. We found something that made our car go fast, and it was just a good consistent car all day.
Q: Matt, the crew was pretty calm all day yesterday. I mean practice was done and things were pretty well put away, even after the Happy Hour practice. Has the car just been that awesome all weekend or what?
KENSETH: I guess it wasn't awesome enough. I was pretty happy with it in practice yesterday. I didn't want to put a lot of extra miles on the engine and the drive chain. This place has long straightaways, and I didn't want to break something in the engine, either. We did a lot of testing here, everybody tested here, and we were happy with our test. All we did, we didn't even take that car apart, we left everything on it and painted it and came back. So I was pleased with my car. We didn't have all the speed like Bill Elliott and some of them guys had, but we had a good consistent car, so we just put it away and waited to see what the race would do.
GREEN: Also joining us in the Trackside Press Conference Room now we have second-place finisher Rusty Wallace. Rusty finished second at the Brickyard 400 in '95 and 2000 and now in 2002. This is his eighth top-10 finish at the Brickyard 400. Also joining us is highest-placing rookie finisher Ryan Newman. We're going to continue questions with Matt, Rusty and Ryan.
Q: Anyone who wants to answer, could you talk a little bit about what the heat was like out there? Was it as bad as people expected? Did it drain you for a little bit? Just for the layman, if there's any kind of anecdote that you can tell, just to let people know how hot it is in those cars on a day like today.
RUSTY WALLACE: It's just flat hot out there, no doubt about that. The crews do all they possibly can with helmets, cool helmets and giving you some water in pit stops and stuff like that. But really on a day like this, you don't have a choice except to get a good night's sleep the day before the race and drink a lot of water and get in there and get after it. That's all I know to do.
GREEN: Rusty, let's go ahead and talk about your run. Another second-place run, but a strong run. Go ahead and talk about your run today.
WALLACE: Yeah, I started the race, I had a real poor qualifying run. I got up to like ninth or 10th in like 30 laps, got up there pretty quick. After that I four-tired it, and the car got a little tight on me, and then I kept chasing it throughout the race. I took so much wedge out of it and aired the right-rear tire up so much and did so many crazy things I would never do, pull spring rubbers out of the left rear and raise track bars. I couldn't keep up with the racetrack. Finally, at the very end there, we kept hovering around eighth, ninth the whole doggone day. I said, 'Let's two-tire it.' We put more air in the right rear tire and took more wedge out. When I went out there, it was like perfect. Then it turned really good. I passed (Tony) Stewart and got the lead and really checked out, and I thought with 10 laps to go, I said, 'Man, I've got this thing won. I think can hold him off,' and I went off in (Turn) 2. I just took so much wedge out and got it so loose, I got a little too free off of (Turn) 2, and he got his nose underneath me, and that was it.
GREEN: Ryan, answer the questions about the conditions out there and then talk about your fourth-place run today.
NEWMAN: For me, I got spoiled today. It was the first time I got to use the air-conditioner in my helmet. It was a little different.
Talking about the heat, your adrenaline takes over so much, you can pretty much cope with it up to a certain point, and then it seems your body wants to start breaking down. Overall, you do everything mentally to try to avoid that. Definitely tough, definitely hot, but I guess that's why we get paid what we get paid, right, Rusty?
GREEN: For the media that joined us, we are transcribing this interview and also the winner's interview.
Q: Rusty, when you get that close to winning a big event like this and then Elliott's car is just that strong, how helpless of a feeling is it to see him pull away from you?
WALLACE: It's real frustrating because I lost it in '95 when Dale (Earnhardt) won the race. I led it all day long and then had a big pit road accident, got hung in the pits and couldn't make it out, and he won. But still I had like 30 laps to try to pass him. When I got behind him, I got this big aero push, and I couldn't pass Dale. We come across the line just boom-boom in first and second. The year before last, I led all day long right up to 12 laps to go, and Bobby Labonte got past me. I had a bad push that day and finished second. Basically, that's the same doggone thing that happened now, almost the same identical lap.
Q: Rusty, is this the best Brickyard 400 that you've been part of, number one. Number two: at the very end there were a bunch of 40-year-olds going after it, what does that say about guys driving well into their forties?
WALLACE: Well, that issue right there just gets under my skin. I don't even feel like talking about it because we're all race car drivers. These guys are all great drivers, and we're all doing our job. I will tell you it's not like stick and ball, how fast you can run and how much weight you can lift. In NASCAR, it's about how much you know and how long you've been there and understand the springs and shocks and your competitors. As far as the race, I think it was a great race. I've had races where I've led all day long and had races where I just was terrible out there. So to come from 35th up to the front and finish second, I'm real proud of my team and all that. I saw everybody two-tiring cars all day long, and I said, 'Hell, I'm going to try that.' I'm a four-tire guy, and I just did too many four tires. Finally at the end I was getting beat by it. When they diamond cut the racetrack, and I was looking at the track before the race. I thought it was so rough that it was really going to start killing the left side of the tires. I really thought that four tires were going to be the way to go. And the way it panned out, the track rubbered up pretty quick. You could run two tires for a long period of time.
Q: Rusty, over here. What is it going to take to win this race? And also for the three up there, I think you guys all had the opportunity to run close behind Elliott. Where was he strongest or what was it about him that he was dominant today?
KENSETH: I couldn't run close behind him for very long. If I left the pits behind him, I could run behind him, but I don't know. I didn't get to run behind him enough to know. He was just fast everywhere it seemed like. He was real fast on new tires.
Q: Ryan, any comment about Bill?
NEWMAN: Definitely a rocket. I got a chance to start third: Elliott, then Stewart and then me. I went into (Turn) 1, and my car was sliding all over. Those guys just checked out. From the aero pushed deal, it's just a situation where you might have a little better race car, you can race up with him, but to get by him it's a totally different thing.
WALLACE: For me to win this race, I'm going to have to keep plugging and have a good handling car. We had a lot of horsepower today, that was one thing I was able to look at all day long. I mean, the last 30 laps with Elliott, he would be right on my rear end coming off the corner, but by the time we'd get down to Turn 1, I had almost a car and a half on him, almost two car lengths. I would pull him in the straightaways. But he just had those four fresh tires versus my two, and I just couldn't hold him off. You've got to keep putting yourself in position. I've had a great record here, and I like coming here. Pays a lot of damn money here, too. That's one reason I like it. (Laughter)
Q: Rusty, you were around when Bill was winning four races in a row back in '92. Have you ever seen him as dominant on a racetrack as he was today all the time?
WALLACE: Oh, yeah, we've seen him back in the '80s just really flying. He hasn't lost anything, I don't think. He's got a crew chief and a team that's really behind him. They're well oiled, they're working great, their pits stops are fast, and Evernham is doing a great job running the company. That's probably one of the number-one teams out there. Quite honestly, I was really surprised they weren't doing better last year. But they've got together this year and a lot of poles, a lot of good runs, wins, led a lot of laps. They're on it right now.
Q: Rusty, for all the success that Roger (Penske) has had up here in the Indy 500, how important it is for you to get him into victory lane for this race?
WALLACE: It's real important to do that. When I was sitting here leading with 10 to go, I'm thinking, 'Maybe I'll finally bring the boss a win home, because so we've tried for so long.' Got awful close, but he was real happy for the second-place finish and the fourth-place finish that we got as a team and whole. I know that everybody saw Team Penske out there, and they're real good. But, you know, just for him, I would like to win it for him. I think it would be pretty special, as many wins as he's had in the Indy 500, to finally get a stock car win would be cool.
GREEN: Matt joined us right away. Any more questions for Matt Kenseth?
Q: I would like to hear your thoughts on the heat. We heard from the other two guys. Did you have any problems?
KENSETH: It was hot, but I think we all expected it to be hot. When I get hot or tired in the car, it's the night before that I don't expect it to be hot. Like Martinsville this spring, I expected it to be 60 and woke up and it was 85. Those are the days when you're kind of not ready for it. But if you're prepared for it and drink a lot of fluids and, like Rusty says, get a good night's sleep the night before and the guys do a good job venting everything in the car. For me it was a just consistent heat all day, and it kept getting a little bit hotter and hotter all day, and I never got to a point in the middle of the race where I was thinking about saying, 'Man, it's hot, I wish it would cool off.' It just got a little worse all day. I was glad it was 400 instead of 500, though.
(Laughter)
GREEN: Matt, thanks for your time. Congratulations. We'll continue on with questions.
Q: Rusty, about every week you address the aero push. Last week Elliott got out front in Pocono and took off, he did the same thing today. He could possibly do that at Michigan. What do we do to correct that?
WALLACE: The only thing you can do to correct it, you've got to get all the downforce off the back or get more downforce on the front. There's no way you're going to be able to get any more in the front. We can't physically do that unless we take the air dam and put it on the ground. And then if you do that, you've got to change all the springs and stiffen everything up, and that's still not going to work. So I think probably the quickest fix for it is to take the rear spoiler off, and then Goodyear has agreed to go back in and soften the tires up if NASCAR agrees to do that. And then I think you're going to have good racing back. Then I think you'll see a lot of tire wear, you'll see a lot more passing instead of the problem we're having right now. Right now the tires are so good, they won't wear out. They'll just keep running and running and running. When you lose that air to the front end, that front just takes off, and that's it.
Q: Rusty, Friday night, you talked a lot about golf. If today wasn't a hole in one, you've got a pretty good under-par game here. Talk about the championship because you're getting a little closer.
WALLACE: A super-big setback last week at Pocono when I had that first-lap crash. But it's like everything I lost last week, I gained back this week. Talk about a teeter-totter. It's unreal. The 40 car had problems, and we needed him to have some problems to get back in the game. I haven't looked at the point standings yet, I don't know where we're at. But I know in order to win the thing, you've got to worry about it every single race. Every week you need to worry about it and need to lead a lap. I haven't been real good at that part. But you need to be consistent, that's for sure.
Q: For both of you, not age so much, but experience. Is this a kind of track that, you know, a more experienced driver -- some tracks, I guess, are different but is this a track where age and time pay off with little things along the way or experience.
NEWMAN: I think Rusty's point earlier, if you have the desire and confidence and team behind you, it doesn't matter. You can pretty much do anything if you want to as long as you have an ego. A lot of NASCAR Winston Cup racing is a big Lance Armstrong story. If you put your mind to it, you can do pretty much what you want to.
GREEN: Rusty, any comment on that?
WALLACE: Basically the same thing Ryan said, I guess, except that -- I think that these guys -- I can't talk for anybody else, but for Ryan, I can speak for him and say that if the driver has got the natural talent to drive -- there's some drivers that's took a long time to get good behind the seat. He's just got natural talent. He's kind of like my son, Steve, you put him in any type of car and he wins or wrecks. He's just on it. And Ryan has just got it together. You give them good equipment, you give them good, strong motors and give them a good, fast pit crew, it doesn't take a driver like him to spool up, especially with the constantly changing rules. Tracks change and rules change. Him and I have went to racetracks for the first time together, so I don't have any advantage whatsoever.
Q: Rusty, talking about Bill's driving style over the years, when he got by you over there, did it seem maybe a little more over to you even than if it had been somebody else, knowing here's a guy who historically when he's had a good car is almost flawless, just doesn't make mistakes, where maybe if somebody else you could hope for a mistake, say this guy isn't going to mess up.
WALLACE: If anybody is going to pass me -- when he passed me, I got a grin on me because I remember so vivid when all the media was just blasting Earnhardt and blasting Elliott, time to retire, you guys are washed up. They have one bad year, and he's gone. When Earnhardt came back and won the 500 and won Atlanta and was kicking everybody's butt, that was making me feel good, you know. Then Bill, Bill went from like, 'This is a struggle' to all of a sudden, great, he's the guy to beat right now. When he passed me, I was like that's okay. If I get passed by anybody, I would rather it be Ryan or him. That was it.
Q: Ryan, as an Indiana boy, if you had gotten your first career victory here, would the celebration in South Bend probably have been about as big as it is for Dingus day?
NEWMAN: There's more than Pollacks in Indiana. (Laughter) You know, it's just something that I can't really speak about. It would be really cool and be great. There's so many other things and wouldn't just be about being in Indiana or being the Brickyard 400. It's just about winning for Roger Penske and Don Miller and Rusty. All those things would be great, too. We finished fourth. I hope we don't have to wait to get our first win until next year.
GREEN: We've got one more question back here. Then we'll wind this thing down so we can get these guys out of here and cooled off.
Q: Can you tell me how close your two cars are? This year it seems like you guys are a lot, lot closer than you have been in the past.
WALLACE: I would say today's setup was pretty doggone close. There are a lot of things that happen during the race that I don't know exactly what Ryan is doing, and everything happens so fast. After a pit stop is over, we talk to the guys, say what did you do that time or what did you do for tire pressure. I just kept having to throw everything at it to loosen it up. But the bodies are the same, the frames are the same, the engines are the same. They're owned by the same car owner. They're about as close as I can expect right now.
NEWMAN: Pretty much the same thing. Just like Rusty said, all it takes is a pound or two pounds of air in one corner of the race car to make the cars drive different. So you have to compensate with a spring or a shock or something else or a sway bar. We do a lot of things principle-wise that are the same, whether it's making the car a certain way or how we tie the front of the car down with shocks and things like that. But like Rusty said, everything mechanically in the car typically is a hundred percent the same for both he and I. It's just, you know, I guess, specific parts when it comes to the suspension to balance the car out that gets a little bit different.
Q: Rusty, earlier in the season you were getting top 10's but weren't challenging all the time for wins. You're starting to do that more often now. What's the change? Is it just getting used to some of these setups or team improvement or something else?
WALLACE: I can't really say it's any of that, it's just circumstances. We had a great run going in the Daytona 500 and got in that wreck with five laps to go. And I thought we had a shot to win that thing. We had a good run in the Firecracker 400 in Daytona, good run at Loudon, good run today. A lot of great runs going on, but just no wins. I'm really dying to win real bad. I've won 16 consecutive years right now in a row. I'd like to at least win 18 and say I tied Richard Petty's record of the longest winning streak in NASCAR history. That would be cool. That's what I am gunning for.
Q: Rusty, having run here nine times now, the track looked a little racier today than it has in years past with the stock cars. What was it like out there? Were you almost two grooves?
WALLACE: No, I don't think you ever get two grooves. You'll pass a car up off of Turn 3, get underneath a guy there, get underneath a guy going into Turne 1 and going between (Turn) 2. I think the diamond cutting gave a little bit more grip to the tires. It showed that in qualifying. But I don't know, I'll tell you what, once that track started rubbering up, I don't know what Ryan's car did, but my car got major tight halfway through, halfway part of the race. I did outlandish things to try to loosen it up, and it wasn't affecting it. Finally I just had to get nuts with it. For me to take four rounds of wedge out of it at one time and put four pounds of air in right-rear tire at one time, that's kind of nuts for me, but we were doing it.
GREEN: Is there a final question for Rusty or Ryan?
Q: After watching what Elliott did today, would you put a vote in either way about going to Dodge at this point? Do you think Dodge has a stronger program? Will you have a say in Roger's decision at the end of the year?
WALLACE: Yeah, we'll definitely have a say in the decision what happens, that's for sure. There's no news right now whatsoever. There's many offers out there, all over, because everybody knows our contract is up at the end of the year with Ford. We're in negotiations with them right now. The way it's looking right now, I plan on being there still.
Q: With Ford?
WALLACE: For Ford right now the way it's looking, I plan on being with Ford right now.
GREEN: Rusty, Ryan, great runs. Thank you very much for joining us.
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