 | | Matt Kenseth said every driver is going to have one or two bad weeks, so there's no reason to worry yet. Credit: Autostock |
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
March 10, 2005
12:30 PM EST (17:30 GMT)
Matt Kenseth developed a calm demeanor early in his career and it's served him very well so far. Sure Roush Racing has four of the top five spots in the season standings heading to Las Vegas and Kenseth himself sits a dismal 36th, but Kenseth, the 2003 NASCAR champ, sees no need to get overly excited after just two races in 2005. "As far as this season I don't think you can take one restrictor-plate race and one downforce race and say that there's a team dominating," Kenseth said. "And I don't think you can look at the point standings either because we're only two races into the year. "I think if we were halfway through the season and things were still running like this you could maybe talk about that a little bit, but right now we're fortunate to have five really good teams (at Roush). "I have four really great teammates that are really great drivers and we have good people working on our cars; we've got great engines with Doug Yates and those guys putting them together and good bodies on our car -- so, right now we have really good stuff." Kenseth even refuses to get overly enthused about returning to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend as the two-time defending champion of Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, though he's supremely confident. "When you have success at a track I think you always look forward to going back to it," Kenseth said. "But just because you've had success in the past definitely doesn't guarantee it for this time or the next time. "I thought we tested really good at California, but we were kind of mediocre at Vegas for some reason, so I am looking forward to going back there." Fords -- specifically those fielded by Roush Racing -- have dominated at Las Vegas, winning five of the seven Cup races held since the 1.5-mile ovals inaugural in 1998. And Kenseth knows his cars have been a lot better than they've shown in the results. "We ran really well at Daytona and dropped out early, and then we ran better at California than what we've run there in the last four years or so," Kenseth said. "We led some laps and it seemed like we had a car that could contend, so I feel good about that. "We just have to get some momentum rolling on our side." Kenseth said he's willing to be patient to see what the new aerodynamic, tire and gear rule package is going to do for the overall racing, but he said his first impression was that it favored his driving style. "Yeah, I do," Kenseth said. "I think when they first did it I thought it would be really good for Mark Martin and I thought it would be good for myself, too. "It seems like these type of rules are more like how you used to have to race when we first started and the tires would drop off. A lot of guys would run good on new tires, but then their cars would drop off more and the good handling cars would come to the front -- so I thought it would be an advantage for us. "I don't know what my whole take is on the thing until we get a few more races into the deal, so I think one race is hard to judge it on." Kenseth did say that what occurred at California was not a fair barometer for Las Vegas. "I didn't think the race was real great at California, but yet we ran good so I'm not sure what to think about it until I see some more races," Kenseth said. "California was a lot different than I expected it to be. "I think everybody, when they cut the spoilers off, expected the cars to be loose and turning really good (with) nobody complaining about an aero push and being able to run different grooves on the track -- and it seemed like it was the opposite. "It seemed like the second groove never came in at all -- the second or third groove -- which is a little bit disturbing because at California in the past we've been able to run two- and three-wide there pretty easily.  |  | | The No. 17 Ford of Matt Kenseth has yet to finish in the top 10 this season. Credit: Autostock |
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"That, and I did notice that for some reason when you got back in traffic the aero push seemed to be worse than what I remembered it being there last year, so I'm not exactly sure why that is, but I didn't think the racing was as good as we hoped it would be." But in the end, Kenseth is comforted by the fact that he's been able to go to the front. "It's always disappointing when you don't get the result," Kenseth said. "But I'd rather be running good and leading laps and feeling like we're capable of winning races and not getting the finishes due to circumstances, than to be running bad all day and then luck into a 10th- or 15th-place finish. "So that's the encouraging part. It's hard to be patient with it, but I think we all understand that this deal works in cycles sometimes. Sometimes you can't get anything to go wrong and no matter what you do, you can't mess up. "Then, at other times you really can't get anything to go right, so the last couple months of last season and the start to this one has been a time where we can't seem to get things to go right." It doesn't have him worried, yet. "I'm not overly concerned about where we are in the points right now to be able to make the Chase and get in the top 10," Kenseth said. "Yeah, we've had two bad weeks and we're way behind, but everybody is gonna have a bad week or two between now and September when we've got to be in the top 10, so I'm not overly concerned about it yet." But he did say his patience had limits. "If we have another bad week or two and we're still back there in points, then I'll start worrying a little bit more," Kenseth said. "But right now we've been running really good and we've had some bad fortune (so) I feel like if we can keep this performance up and our luck turns around a little bit, we shouldn't have a problem making the Chase. "But there are a lot of good teams and if we don't get everything rolling our way and we do have some more trouble it could be tough." | 
