Matt Kenseth is on top of his game in 2006. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Kenseth

Driver of Roush Racing's No. 17 Ford in championship form

Will the real Matt Kenseth please stand up?

Is he the Matt Kenseth who had just one top-five in the first half of 2005? Or is he the one who had 12 of them in the second half?

Matt Kenseth 2005 vs. 2006 (through eight starts)   2005 2006 Wins 0 1 Top-5s 0 5 Top-10s 1 5 Poles 0 0 DNFs 2 1 Avg. Start 18.6 13.9 Avg. Finish 24.0 7.9 Rank 28 1 MATT KENSETH •   2006 Driver Page

It is becoming evident that the real Matt Kenseth is the one who has threatened to win nearly every race this season. He is near the top of the list in every major statistical category, including top-fives (five) and laps led (353).

After he finished third at Phoenix, the Wisconsin native has regained the points lead.

Q: Matt, you're 34 years old. Are you at your absolute peak?

Kenseth: That is a loaded question. I don't know. I think that there is a point where you are young and you first start, I feel like you have maybe more raw talent, you know, but there are a lot of times where you get yourself in trouble or you do things where you don't know better.

I think if you can go into a 23-year-old's body with the reflexes and the lack of knowing ... I don't want to say fear because that is the wrong word, but just go out and do it and not worry about the consequences or whatever -- if you can take all that and put in 10 years of experience, so you had your brains and you said, "I have seen that before, I better not do that, I better not put my car in that situation, or that is not going to turn out good."

If you can combine that, that makes the best driver.

I do think there comes a time where your age makes you go downhill, but that doesn't come for a while.

Matt Kenseth and Robbie Reiser won the Cup title in 2003. Credit: Autostock

Q: With all these crew chief changes, I know it seems crazy now with the way you've run the last few years, but has Robbie Reiser ever been on the hot seat at Roush?

Kenseth: Man, that is a tough one to answer, too. I don't know. There are times where you're not doing good and things are not going right and you feel like you're on the hot seat and your crew chief is on the hot seat or whatever, but I don't know.

Jack and I have always gotten along really well, he has always talked to me about if he wants to make changes or not, and there has certainly been talk or trying to move things around before.

A couple of years ago there was talk when they were restructuring the organization about trying to move Robbie into more of a manager position, trying to get someone else in there, but Robbie has always wanted to do this job, and as long as he wants to do it, and especially with how we have always made things work together, I am certain he is going to want him in that position.

Q: Because you guys have always been a top team, you've been susceptible to being raided by other teams, but yet, your pit crew is among the best year in and year out. Why?

Matt Kenseth has always had a top-notch pit crew. Credit: Autostock

Kenseth: Just because it's a team. I think there is a lot of individuals that gets offers to go other places and teams always try to raid and think, "That is the guy. That is why they are running good."

But bottom line, it's a team, it's not about one guy or two guys or five guys, it's about the whole group we have that builds cars and does pit stops and puts in engines.

So really, even though we have gotten raided, and last year was probably the most people we have ever lost -- we lost four or five -- we are about to move people up in the organization and we are able to not miss a beat. And Robbie is so good at keeping all that together and keeping attitudes right.

We can lose a few people and we keep operating at that level. It's a good feeling.

Q: How is your flying going?

Kenseth: It is going really well. I am still standing here talking to you. No, it is going pretty well.

Q: You bought a small plane, right?

Kenseth: Yeah, I had a Cessna 182 that I did all my private training in last year. Got my license and did my instrument rating over the winter.

Victory LaneMatt Kenseth celebrates his win at California Driver ClipsMatt Kenseth's 2006 archive Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

I am getting rid of that and I got a Cessna 340, a twin engine -- I got my multi-engine rating. It is going really well, I have been flying that around. I have been flying as much as I can.

Q: Can you fly a turbo-prop?

Kenseth: Well, technically I could, but I don't have one.

Q: What are you watching on TV these days?

Kenseth: What do I watch on TV? Honestly, nothing.

Q: Why not?

Kenseth: Whenever I turn the TV on, I watch movies. That is about it.

Q: You just let your TiVo get full?

Kenseth: Yeah. I mean I watch little clips of the race here or there. Every once in awhile I watch Victory Lane. Just to see what happened. Really, with my flying stuff, I am reading or studying or something like that.

Q: You sound like you haven't been to a theater in years.

Kenseth: Yeah, we go every once in awhile.

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Q: What was the last one you've seen?

Kenseth: Good question. It was kind of stupid. I can't remember. I went to watch it with (wife) Katie. It had Kevin Costner and Jennifer Aniston. I can't remember the name. It was awhile back. (Editor's note: Rumor Has It)

Q: Was it good?

Kenseth: It was so-so.

Q: Gut feeling: Brett Favre stays or retires?

Kenseth: I don't know. My gut goes both ways. I was going to say that he was going to go for sure, but they keep pushing it back and back and I don't know why he would do that.

Q: What do you wish he would do?

Kenseth: I want him to make a decision! To be fair for the team, even though I am a huge Brett Favre fan, I think he should have made a decision before free agency was over and before the draft.

I don't think it is fair to have that $10 million or whatever sitting there against the (salary) cap. I don't think that is fair.