Matt Kenseth has cracked the top 10 in half of the races in 2004. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Matt Kenseth

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Rain has delayed a test session in Atlanta, but it's all good for Matt Kenseth. He's tired. Like the rest of America, he stayed up late the night before watching the Red Sox-Yankees game.

TrackPass Audio Conversation: Matt Kenseth

Not like Kenseth is a huge baseball fan. Far from it. But he had to watch it. Now he trying to wake up while waiting for the rain to stop.

Aside from racing, football is Kenseth's sports passion. The Wisconsin native turns off his cell phone as soon as he gets to the track on Sunday, and then avoids listening to the radio until he returns to North Carolina that evening. Once there, he starts watching his beloved Green Bay Packers.

Brett Favre Credit: AP

It's hardly robot-like behavior. Kenseth, 32, is far from boring. Reserved is a better word.

Still, Kenseth is not about flash. At Talladega, he was able to walk anonymously through the garage, while both of the Earnhardt brothers got mobbed.

But that's the way Kenseth likes it. He's only boring if you're not a race fan, because racing is his favorite subject.

Kenseth talked with NASCAR.COM's Ryan Smithson about the state of the Busch Series, Mark Martin and Metallica.

Matt, you've got a 28-race losing streak, and it has to bother you a little bit that you won two of the first three, and have been shut out since.

Well, you like to win every week, but that is not possible. We were able to win the All-Star race in May and that was a big win for us, and we have had some good runs since then, but, you know, it's difficult to get into Victory Lane.

And whenever you can win at this level, you have to make sure you enjoy it somewhat and think about what you've accomplished because it's tough to get there.

Matt, when you broke into the Busch Series, it seems like there were more quality cars than there is now, do you think that it's possible, in 2005, to start a Busch team from scratch and be able to compete with all the Cup teams?

I think it's much, much more difficult than what it was before. The back half of the field is a lot less competitive than it was before for sure. So I think that you can do it easily go do it and run in the top 20, where that was tougher before, but Busch racing didn't used to be taken quite as seriously.

Kenseth (left) with Mark Martin Credit: Autostock

Mark Martin and Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett, those guys would run races and were very difficult to beat, but they didn't spend all the money in the wind tunnel like they do now and run it like a Cup team like Childress, Ganassi, Hendrick and everybody, run them like Cup teams.

They didn't do that before. They just built cars and go race out of their own shop, do it as a side deal or whatever. Now, all the big teams are spending a lot of money.

The cost is probably 4-5 times what it was in 1997 when we ran the thing. What you need from a sponsor to be able compete -- so, I think it would be much more difficult for an independent to do it.

I think they can do it and run competitively, but I think would very difficult for them to do and build a championship team without being associated with a Cup team.

Over the course of your career, are you going to continue to run two-thirds of the Busch races?

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I don't know. If the schedule keeps up like it is, I will probably slow down in the near future somewhat. Next year, I am running 17 races, and beyond that, I don't have any plans.

If our deal works out good next year and we can be competitive and have fun with it, I will probably try to extend it. Just some less races probably the year after.

It's getting tough. It's getting grueling to do all these races in a row, and the way they mix the schedule up, with I think 2-3 more West Coast races than we've ever had, it really takes it toll on you and really take its toll on the time you get to spend with friends and family outside the racing circle.

You were talking to Mark Martin earlier. Are you surprised that next year is going to be his last full-time year even though he is only 45 years old?

No, not at all. He's talked about it for two, three, four years about 2005 being his last full-time year. I understand it, especially if these guys like Bill (Elliott) and Terry (Labonte) can get away with running partial schedules.

Crew chief Robbie Reiser (left) with Kenseth Credit: Autostock

That's the ultimate answer. It's not that they don't want to race, it's not that they don't want to race at this level, it's what NASCAR has done with the schedule to make the sport grow and be more popular and take it to bigger cities.

You're just on the road so much and you have so little time. I think in Mark's situation, his son is 13 years old and he wants to spend some time with him and spend some time with his family.

The way the schedule is now, compared to what it was five years ago, life will pass you by in a big hurry and all you will see is airplanes, hotel rooms, motorhomes and transporters for 40-something weeks out of the year.

Kurt Busch is in title contention by doing the same things you did last year. Has he come to you for advice at all?

Kurt Busch Credit: Autostock

No. Not really. But sometimes when you get the karma rolling and the luck rolling and things going your way, you stay in that zone for awhile. When you stay that zone for five weeks, you're tough to beat, because even when things go wrong, they go right.

We had that happen to us a lot last year. Kurt is running good and when he is making mistakes like spinning out at Kansas or having things go wrong like that that wreck at Charlotte, everything still gets fixed and they still finish good.

Even when they going wrong, they are going right. So when you got that going, you've got to enjoy that and ride it as long as you can.

Time for a less serious question. Have you gone to go see that Metallica documentary yet?

No, I have not looked where it is playing lately. I tried to look when it first came out, and it was in a few towns when we were around, but we were always doing appearances and stuff so I have not seen it yet.

Have you seen it?

No, I haven't. But I am definitely wanting to because I heard it is hilarious. Do you have an MP3 player?

No. I am not very technologically advanced.

What is in your CD player in your car? Is rock just as good now as it was in the early 90s?

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I actually just last night went out and bought a bunch of new CDs, just bands I had heard of but I don't really know what they sing and stuff.

I was listening to them a little bit last night. Slipknot -- what else did I buy -- I bought Good Charlotte, couple other CDs, I don't remember what all I bought. Slither, I think maybe is the name of them?

Seether?

Seether! There we go! Is that it? Is there a Slither too?

Not that I know of.

I bought them. Slipknot, maybe that is what i am thinking about.

But I bought a bunch of them and I bought a different Metallica CD, some kind of soundtrack to their documentary, they had some live tunes on there so I was listening to that on the way to the airport this morning.