DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As Jeff Gordon did two years ago, Matt Kenseth is racing to lock down a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup while planning a child's arrival.

Kenseth, 37, has spent the past couple of summers splitting time between driving for Roush Fenway Racing and monitoring his teenage son, Ross's, racing career. The July arrival of his first child with wife, Katie, in some ways mirrors Gordon and Ingrid Vandebosch's experience.

Katie and Matt Kenseth

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There aren't many surprises left in life, so we're going to wait to find out. ... Neither of us really cares if it's a girl or a boy.

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MATT KENSETH

Kenseth, the 2009 Daytona 500 winner, recently was in Florida promoting Daytona International Speedway's July 4 Coke Zero 400 by delivering a ticket package, complete with a burnout, to a local fan and racing go-karts against the media. While there Kenseth touched upon several topics.

Q: We understand you took a page from teammate David Ragan's UPS book and played a courier?

Kenseth: Yeah, I delivered some tickets to some fans that have been coming [to Daytona International Speedway] for a long time. They hold tickets to the [Daytona] 500 and the [Coke Zero] 400. I was driving a Jack Roush Stage 3 Mustang and she wanted me to do a burnout by her house, so I did a little burnout on the street. It was a little different kind of autograph, but there were some cameras there, too. So I hope I don't get a ticket in the mail.

Q: When's Katie due?

Kenseth: Pretty quick, about a month from now. We don't know if it'll be a boy or a girl. We'll find out when you guys do, I guess. Actually, I hope I'll know a little while before you guys do [laughing].

There aren't many surprises left in life, so we're going to wait to find out. We talked about it [and] we don't really want to find out. Neither of us really cares if it's a girl or a boy. If it's healthy, that's all we really care about.

Q: What about your future schedule? Do you have a relief driver? Are you practicing diaper changes?

Kenseth: I can't really control when the baby comes that much, so I'm just going to kind of play it by ear. Hopefully, it decides to come on a Monday. I haven't made any plans [for a relief driver] yet. And no, I haven't made any plans [for diaper changes], either.

Q: How do you feel about racing at night, as you will at Daytona for the Coke Zero 400?

Kenseth: If I could pick the schedule, I'd race every Saturday night and have Sundays off so fans could travel home and we could see some of our friends that have normal jobs and don't work in this industry. Saturday nights, it's always cooler and the tracks are consistent. It's what we all grew up with, racing Friday and Saturday nights, so I enjoy that.

• Coke Zero 400 tickets

Q: You're always facing media questions, but if you were with 100 fans, is there a question you'd ask them?

Kenseth: I can't think of one, off the top of my head. But I do that all the time, when I'm doing appearances or hanging out with fans when I've got some extra time. I'll always ask them all kinds of questions; everything from personal stuff to what they like or dislike about racing or tracks or events or what-have-you. I think it's fun when you have some down time to get to know some different people.

Q: Your teammate Jamie McMurray is a big kart racer, who raced on this Daytona track the past couple of years. How did you like it?

Kenseth: It was fun, but I'm still mad that I got beat. It was kinda fun until I got knocked outta the way on the last corner. Everybody's competitive and I was mad that I got knocked out of the way and beat on that last corner. I mean, it was a really cool move, I just wish I would have done it. I had to quit playing Monopoly with my family because you get competitive and you want to win, no matter what you're doing.

Q: What separates you from other people when it comes to this kind of thing?

Kenseth: It didn't look like anything did, because I finished third in one and second in the last one [laughing]. I don't know, it's fun, these karts are all pretty close to the same speed and it's a neat little track, so we're just out here having a good time. But I've never raced go-karts or done much road-racing so I probably learned as much running around here as you guys do.

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Q: With the economy creating challenges for fans, did NASCAR's decision on dual-file restarts mean they're listening to fans more?

Kenseth: I don't know if it has anything to do with the economy, but I think basically everything NASCAR does is for the fans, with the exception of the safety stuff. Obviously, the better the show is and the tighter the competition is, I think everything they do, and really everything we do, we consider the fans because without the fans we couldn't race, we couldn't have sponsors that would pay us to race -- we wouldn't have anything.

I think no matter how good the economy is, you always want to make the show as good as you can make it for the fans that are paying the money to sit up in the stands or watch it on TV or buy the products that sponsor our cars. I think no matter if the economy is up or down, you want to give the fans the best show that you can.

I don't think any spectator sport in the last six months has grown in attendance, and I think we're all sensitive to that and we're trying to do all we can to help that.