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Post Race Press Conference Interview...
Matt Kenseth ~ Jack Roush
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June 18, 2004
Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Taurus, held a Q&A session in the Michigan International Speedway infield media center prior to Friday morning's practice to discuss the late-race events of last weekend at Pocono.
MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DEWALT Tools Taurus - "First of all, I want to apologize to you guys for leaving last week. I always like to talk to you guys because you guys are always good to me, but my mom always told me if I didn't have anything good to say to not say anything at all, and I didn't have anything good to say."
WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK IN THE FINAL FEW LAPS? "I've always tried to live by the rule of race people how you want to be raced, but after awhile, if you keep doing that and don't get that favor returned, sometimes you quit doing that and start racing the people how they race you. Kevin and I have had a couple of incidents. They haven't been that big of a deal, but we've had a few. At Dover in the Busch race I wasn't quite clear. I slipped in front of him and he stayed in the gas just enough to wreck me and knew what he was doing. When we came off the tunnel turn, I still had two or three feet on him at least and he just came up like I wasn't there. So, instead of wrecking him at 175 miles an hour, which I didn't think was the right thing, I did get into his back bumper a little bit and I turned him sideways a little bit down the backstretch. Then before he lost control and wrecked, I let him go and wound up passing him."
"After that happened, the caution came out and I started slowing up for the caution and he caught me pretty fast and spun me out and I lost all of those spots. So I went back and did the same thing and that's where I went wrong. Before that, I didn't do anything wrong. He wasn't clear when he came up on me and with 95 percent of the field I would have lifted out of the gas and gave him that two or three feet, but he never gives me that two or three feet and that was still my lane. I wasn't done with that lane. He wasn't clear to move up and he moved up and ran into my left-front and got him picked off the ground doing that. I didn't think that was wrong. I think, if anything, I did him a favor by letting off the gas and not wrecking him - which I don't think he would have done to me. He would have wrecked me."
"It's just disappointing that all that happened afterwards. I probably shouldn't have went back after him, but I felt like at the time that if I didn't go back after him I was still gonna lose my spots. I was gonna lose my spots for sure. We were told that because if you don't maintain the caution car speed, you lose the spots that you lose by sitting there spinning out. I thought if I was gonna lose those spots, then he was gonna lose his, too."
HE SAYS YOU CHECKED UP ON HIM AND THAT'S WHAT TOOK HIM OUT. DID THAT HAPPEN? "No. That's what his claim is under caution. You look at all the tapes. I mean, yeah, he's catching me and I'm slowing down and he's speeding out, but the caution came out. In the beginning, I think the caution came out approximately when we were in turn three maybe. I don't know exactly where all that happened, but I started slowing down and he came after me because he was mad we got together down the backstretch and I didn't get all the way out of the gas for him."
"When he caught me, I was slowing down, yes. I did not brake check him and spin myself out at 100 miles an hour under caution. I think I can do a little better job than to spin myself out under caution. But I was on the brakes and I was slowing down, but he definitely got in the back of me at the same time I was doing that to get me spun out."
HOW HARD IS IT TO DETERMINE IF SOMEONE MADE A MISTAKE ON THE TRACK VERSUS IT BEING ON PURPOSE? "You always take it as a mistake when you can talk to somebody reasonably. I could go up to somebody and say I was wrong or maybe you say you were wrong or talk about it and work it out. That's never been the case with him. There have been times, maybe before, when we've been able to work it out but not the last few times. There are times when you know it's a mistake and there are times when you know it's not. When you get spun out under caution, it's certainly not a mistake. Moving up on me in the three feet on the backstretch, he knew I was there. But he usually knows you're there and comes up there anyway and takes it for granted that everybody is gonna lift."
"If I move up on him and need that two feet he's not gonna give it to me, then I'm not gonna give him his two feet anymore either. That's just the way it is. You have to race everybody a certain way. Most everybody out there would give you that two or three feet, but there are always those one or two guys that aren't gonna give you that two feet. I'm tired of giving it all the time. If they're not gonna give it, then that's still my lane too. A lot of guys, you would just lift in the middle of the tunnel and let them go up to the wall and let them get on their way and make time. But it was toward the end of the race where we were racing hard and I got shuffled out on that restart and that was still my lane. I still had two or three feet and that's basically how it all started."
WHAT ABOUT THE SKID MARKS AND MEASURING THOSE? "I heard a little bit about it and it's kind of stupid. There were so many skid marks out there and so much stuff going on that I don't know how you can find anything out from that. Obviously, I was slowing down because the caution was out and he was in the gas because he was trying to catch me, so I was on the brakes a little bit. I did not brake check him. I did not have all four brakes locked up. I was slowing down and he was speeding up to come and run into me under caution, which we're done racing when the caution comes out and he spun me out under caution. I don't know. I've done a lot of dumb things in my racing career, but spinning out under caution I don't think is one of them that I can remember doing."
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON PROBATION? No, I haven't. IS IT A BUMMER? "It's very disappointing. I thought that we both could have been more grown up and settled this thing a long time ago and I've certainly tried. But it hasn't worked out. What I did after the caution came out and when I went back after Kevin, I'm very embarrassed about and I think I totally did the wrong thing. It was not a professional way to act for my sponsor, for my team, for any of those guys. That was definitely not the right thing to do and that was not professional, but up to that point, I don't feel like I did anything wrong. I feel like I didn't do anything wrong."
"I felt like I could have wrecked him if I wanted to - the way I got wrecked at Dover when he was on the right side of me. The way Jeff Burton got wrecked at Bristol when he was on the outside of him and only had two inches. There are a lot of times he doesn't lift when anybody pulls up in his lane and I did end up lifting. I had his wheels up in the air halfway down the backstretch and I could have turned him into the fence. Obviously, I'm not gonna take a chance on hurting someone or wrecking at 170 miles an hour. I'm just gonna let him go and I went back and passed him. The reason we got together is because he took my lane. It's not for any other reason."
DO YOU CHANGE THE WAY YOU RACE WITH KEVIN? "Not really. Hopefully, we can just get running a little bit better so we can outrun him and not have to race him as much. I don't foresee any continuing problems, but you never know. I'm gonna race the style I've always raced. I don't worry about one car out there. I'm gonna race as hard as I can to try to win and try to run up front the best I can. I'm not gonna focus on one car. If he races me clean, I'm gonna race him clean. I said that in the trailer and didn't really get a response from him. I'm happy to call a truce and give everybody plenty of room to race. I have no problem with that, but I expect the same thing in return. If he doesn't want to give me any room, then I'm not gonna give him any room. I'm just gonna race him the way he wants to race me, so it's really up to him. However much room I get, that's how much he's gonna get."
WHAT'S HAPPENED THE LAST FEW TIMES WITH HIM? "I don't know. I guess I don't want to drag that all up, but we've just had a couple little minor run-ins here or there where we really haven't seen eye-to-eye or there was a lot of maybe me trying to go settle something. There maybe a lot of talk that maybe wasn't really gonna get anything settled. There was a lot of name calling and silly stuff like that and just couldn't get it really settled. That's beside the point. That was all in the past. Like I said, last week what I did under caution after I got spun out was totally wrong, but up to that point I didn't feel like I really did anything wrong."
WHEN DID THIS START WITH YOU TWO? "I don't know. I can't say there's been something going on forever. I mean, everybody has things they get into each other here or there or whatever and all get it settled. Maybe our relationship changed a little bit last year towards the end of the year when we were both racing for points a little bit and there were little things going on here or there. Maybe you couldn't tell, but it's not like we had this big ongoing feud going. I watch the races every week, too, and I see how much room he gives or doesn't give to other people. I'm not gonna race him dirty. I'm not gonna run into him on purpose, but yet on the other hand, if I still have a lane and he's gonna pull up into my lane, that's my lane. That's not his. He's gonna have to earn his whole keep and he's gonna have to clear me by 100 percent of the car. If he's not gonna give me an inch, I'm not gonna give him an inch. I'm not gonna do anything dirty or do anything to harm anybody. If somebody is gonna race you so hard for every single inch, then I'm gonna race him that hard, too. There's nothing wrong with that if it doesn't turn into being dirty. If you slide up into my lane, it's still my lane."
YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T GET A RESPONSE TO YOUR TRUCE, SO IS IT SETTLED? "I don't foresee any problems. I'd like to think - even though I maybe haven't been the last few weeks - but I'd like to think I'm a little smarter than to let a feud affect what our big goal is. The only people it really hurt last week was ourselves. It hurt both of us and I'm smart enough to realize that and I hope he's smart enough to realize that and we can go on and try to be smart and race for our goal. We're both trying to race for a championship. We're both trying to stay in the top 10 in points. We're both trying to win races and all this did last week was hurt both of our chances for those two goals. It's silly. We're both professionals and we both should be smarter than that. We should be able to just go on and go racing and not worry about it anymore."
BIFFLE PUT HIS CAR BETWEEN YOU TWO ON THE COOL DOWN LAP? "I don't know about all that. He had a front row seat for it all. He raced behind me a lot all day, so he definitely saw what all went on. It was funny because when I heard the things about the brake check and spinning myself out and all that, I was slowing down because the caution came out and we were still running pretty quick. When I caught him to spin him out he almost stopped because I think he knew what was coming. You know what I mean? So he was really on the brakes hard. I don't know. It's just something silly that happened and kind of embarrassing. Hopefully, it's all behind us."
ARE YOU TIRED OF BEING MISTER NICE GUY ALL THE TIME? "I don't know. Like I said, nobody is perfect. I've made a lot mistakes and got into a lot of people through my career and done things that weren't right for sure. But I really have always tried to settle my differences with people. That's something Mark Martin has taught me. Back in the Busch Series when I used to have some battles, it was like, 'Listen, you need to just go and sit down and talk to people and get it settled.' I really have tried to do that. I've always tried to base my racing style off of Mark's, which he's always taught me to race people how you want to be raced. If you give them courtesy and respect, you're gonna receive it back. So I've always tried to live by that, but sometimes you just can't."
WAS ROBBIE ON THE RADIO WITH YOU AT THAT TIME? "Yeah because he was arguing with NASCAR trying to get our spot back and all that kind of stuff. He was trying to get it all sorted out and figure out what happened because he couldn't quite see it all. His blood pressure was a little high, but he was on the radio a little bit." YOU SEEM MORE OUTSPOKEN THIS YEAR. WHY? "There have been several things maybe that have been a little bit more frustrating or maybe have me a little bit more on edge than maybe what I used to be. Hopefully, after we're all done talking right here that it goes away and it can be a little bit more fun again and be more relaxed like we were last year. It's just hard to explain. I don't want to get into it all, but there have been a lot of little things about the races or about things that have happened or about the way they've happened or trying to figure out the new stuff and what's going on."
"There have been a lot of little things that I think have probably been frustrating for some of the fans and they've been frustrating for all of us a little bit - you guys, everybody - to try to figure out some of the stuff and what's all going on. So some of that has been a little bit frustrating too and trying to figure all that out and try to make it work for you and try to understand some of that too."
HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO STAY CALM LAST YEAR WITH ALL THE PRESSURE? "Yeah, I don't know - probably a little bit. Who knows, maybe there was a little bit more than I admitted. Maybe it carried on to this year. I don't know. There's always pressure. You want to win it again this year under the new format and all. There's pressure to do that. We came out of the box and won a couple of races, but then when you have a problem and run bad like we did at Darlington and have all the little problems we've had here and there, that frustrates you double because everybody - your crew, your fans - they're expecting you to be able to go out and win because we came out of the box so strong. So whenever you drop off that base a little bit, you maybe get a little more on edge trying to figure out why."
SOME HAVE SAID RYAN NEWMAN HOGS THE RACE TRACK AND YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT USING A LOT OF SPACE ON THE TRACK. WHERE IS THE LINE BETWEEN HOGGING THE TRACK AND RACING YOUR HEART OUT? "Using track and running somebody over that's outside of you is two different things. If you're using a lot of track and if somebody is behind you and you're not running into anybody, that's the way you race. That's totally different than if somebody is alongside of you and you run over them and pretend they're not there. Ryan is a great racer and that's a good example. I've raced with Ryan for the last few years and we race each other really, really hard. There have been a lot of times I've let him go and then he's race me hard or whatever. At California, we had a great battle. At the time it was for sixth or seventh, but people ran out of gas and it was for third and fourth. We ran side-by-side for 20 or 25 laps and I don't think he was expecting that. Afterwards, we talked about it and we said, 'Yeah, that's pretty cool.' I said, 'Yeah, I was in the gas too. It's hard to pass being side-by-side,' and we had a great time racing like that. Since then, we've raced each other different. When I catch him, he usually lets me go and when he catches me, I usually let him go. We have kind of a different respect for each other, I think. It's just a difference between racing someone hard and not giving them those few inches and running as hard as you can than there is when somebody is alongside of you and you run into them."
DO YOU THINK NASCAR HAS LOST CONTROL OF THINGS THE LAST FEW WEEKS? "I don't know. The only part I can really control is our car and what we do. We've lost control of things a little bit the last few weeks. Definitely last week at Dover, although I don't think we could have done anything about missing that wreck. I went into the corner so hard and just hit the oil in exactly the right spot. To be able to lose the car that quickly, that was something I've never had happen before. But those are still things you can work on and try to make better. You can try to see the car leaking oil a little early. You can try to see the wreck a little earlier. I don't know. The only thing we can control is what we do, what we think or what we see or some of the rules and stuff. There's nothing we can really do about that. Even giving your opinion about it really doesn't matter because there's really nothing we can do about it. We just have to take the set of rules and how they're calling races and how they set up the new procedures and make sure we understand them the best we can and make sure we don't make mistakes with them."
DOES A $25,000 FINE KEEP YOU FROM DEFENDING YOURSELF IF ANOTHER SITUATION ARISES WITH THIS DRIVER OR SOMEBODY ELSE? "What I say when I mean that is I don't mean what I did afterwards. Spinning him out under yellow is why I got the fine. I don't know what was gonna happen to him, but why I got the fine was I went back after him under the yellow and spun him out, which was the wrong thing to do. When I talk about not necessarily defending myself, but how you race people. I was talking about our first incident when I was still up alongside of him and he went right to the wall like I wasn't there. If he was outside of me and I went to the wall, he would have wrecked me because I saw it at Dover the week before. I've seen it couple of times. What I mean by that is just my driving style. If that's gonna be my lane, I'm not gonna lift and get out my lane and get out of your way. I'm gonna stay in the gas and run that lane as hard as I can and once you pass me, fine, that's your spot. But until you get cleared from me, that's not his spot."
IT SOUNDED LIKE YOU WERE JUST TAKING MATTERS IN YOUR OWN HANDS. "What I was mainly talking about with my driving style is not just giving up that lane. There are a lot of guys you race who will be faster than you. Instead of holding them up and costing you both time, you'll let out of the gas and let him go and keep going. Then there are other guys that will race you really hard and slow you both down forever and you can't quite get clear for a long time. That's really what I meant by that. The going after him under caution was the wrong thing to do. I explained why I did it at the time. If I had to do it again I probably wouldn't do it, but, yet, I didn't know how it was gonna be played. I didn't know if they were gonna let him finish 10th and I was gonna finish 20th after he spun me out under caution. I didn't feel like that was the right thing, so I wanted to make sure he finished back there with me and that's why I did it. Yeah, it was the wrong thing to do and I'm embarrassed about it, but that's what my thinking was and why I did it." WHAT ABOUT NASCAR'S PENALTY. WHEN YOU CHASE SOMEONE DONE VERSUS AN ACTION ON THE TRACK IS THAT EQUAL? "It had nothing to do with the track. He chased me down under caution and spun me out, and I chased him back under caution and spun him out. The track incident had nothing to do with anything. What happened under green had nothing to do with it." WAS THE PENALTY FAIR? "Like I said, I'm embarrassed with what I did. My part in it after going back after him under yellow is what I'm embarrassed about and whatever I got I probably deserved because that wasn't the right way to act."
IF THEY TAKE PAYBACK OUT OF THIS SPORT WILL THAT TAKE OUT SOMETHING AS NATURALLY AS BREATHING AND TAKE SOME OF THE FLAVOR OUT? "I don't know about that. You should be able to use your heads. If you have a problem on the track, we should be able to go work it out. There are only 43 of us that get to race on Sundays and we should all be mature enough where we can sit down together and figure it out. If I'm wrong, be able to admit wrong or blame and be able to sort it out so it doesn't come to what it did on Sunday."
IT SEEMS LIKE INSTINCT TO DO WHAT YOU DID. "Yeah, but you have to remember we're not on short tracks anymore. Most of these tracks we're running 180 miles an hour on and it's just not a good practice. Things have been safe lately, knock on wood, but it's still not a good practice."
WOULDN'T IT BE GOOD TO TRY TO SETTLE THIS BEFORE THE CHASE BEGINS? "Yeah, I've already covered that. We both know what our goals are - to try to win a championship and try to stay in that top 10 and do all that, and I think we'll both be smarter from this day forward."
Courtesy Ford PR
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Post Race Press Conference Interview...
Matt Kenseth ~ Jack Roush
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June 18, 2004
Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DEWALT Tools Taurus, held a Q&A session in the Michigan International Speedway infield media center prior to Friday morning's practice to discuss the late-race events of last weekend at Pocono.
MATT KENSETH - No. 17 DEWALT Tools Taurus - "First of all, I want to apologize to you guys for leaving last week. I always like to talk to you guys because you guys are always good to me, but my mom always told me if I didn't have anything good to say to not say anything at all, and I didn't have anything good to say."
WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK IN THE FINAL FEW LAPS? "I've always tried to live by the rule of race people how you want to be raced, but after awhile, if you keep doing that and don't get that favor returned, sometimes you quit doing that and start racing the people how they race you. Kevin and I have had a couple of incidents. They haven't been that big of a deal, but we've had a few. At Dover in the Busch race I wasn't quite clear. I slipped in front of him and he stayed in the gas just enough to wreck me and knew what he was doing. When we came off the tunnel turn, I still had two or three feet on him at least and he just came up like I wasn't there. So, instead of wrecking him at 175 miles an hour, which I didn't think was the right thing, I did get into his back bumper a little bit and I turned him sideways a little bit down the backstretch. Then before he lost control and wrecked, I let him go and wound up passing him."
"After that happened, the caution came out and I started slowing up for the caution and he caught me pretty fast and spun me out and I lost all of those spots. So I went back and did the same thing and that's where I went wrong. Before that, I didn't do anything wrong. He wasn't clear when he came up on me and with 95 percent of the field I would have lifted out of the gas and gave him that two or three feet, but he never gives me that two or three feet and that was still my lane. I wasn't done with that lane. He wasn't clear to move up and he moved up and ran into my left-front and got him picked off the ground doing that. I didn't think that was wrong. I think, if anything, I did him a favor by letting off the gas and not wrecking him - which I don't think he would have done to me. He would have wrecked me."
"It's just disappointing that all that happened afterwards. I probably shouldn't have went back after him, but I felt like at the time that if I didn't go back after him I was still gonna lose my spots. I was gonna lose my spots for sure. We were told that because if you don't maintain the caution car speed, you lose the spots that you lose by sitting there spinning out. I thought if I was gonna lose those spots, then he was gonna lose his, too."
HE SAYS YOU CHECKED UP ON HIM AND THAT'S WHAT TOOK HIM OUT. DID THAT HAPPEN? "No. That's what his claim is under caution. You look at all the tapes. I mean, yeah, he's catching me and I'm slowing down and he's speeding out, but the caution came out. In the beginning, I think the caution came out approximately when we were in turn three maybe. I don't know exactly where all that happened, but I started slowing down and he came after me because he was mad we got together down the backstretch and I didn't get all the way out of the gas for him."
"When he caught me, I was slowing down, yes. I did not brake check him and spin myself out at 100 miles an hour under caution. I think I can do a little better job than to spin myself out under caution. But I was on the brakes and I was slowing down, but he definitely got in the back of me at the same time I was doing that to get me spun out."
HOW HARD IS IT TO DETERMINE IF SOMEONE MADE A MISTAKE ON THE TRACK VERSUS IT BEING ON PURPOSE? "You always take it as a mistake when you can talk to somebody reasonably. I could go up to somebody and say I was wrong or maybe you say you were wrong or talk about it and work it out. That's never been the case with him. There have been times, maybe before, when we've been able to work it out but not the last few times. There are times when you know it's a mistake and there are times when you know it's not. When you get spun out under caution, it's certainly not a mistake. Moving up on me in the three feet on the backstretch, he knew I was there. But he usually knows you're there and comes up there anyway and takes it for granted that everybody is gonna lift."
"If I move up on him and need that two feet he's not gonna give it to me, then I'm not gonna give him his two feet anymore either. That's just the way it is. You have to race everybody a certain way. Most everybody out there would give you that two or three feet, but there are always those one or two guys that aren't gonna give you that two feet. I'm tired of giving it all the time. If they're not gonna give it, then that's still my lane too. A lot of guys, you would just lift in the middle of the tunnel and let them go up to the wall and let them get on their way and make time. But it was toward the end of the race where we were racing hard and I got shuffled out on that restart and that was still my lane. I still had two or three feet and that's basically how it all started."
WHAT ABOUT THE SKID MARKS AND MEASURING THOSE? "I heard a little bit about it and it's kind of stupid. There were so many skid marks out there and so much stuff going on that I don't know how you can find anything out from that. Obviously, I was slowing down because the caution was out and he was in the gas because he was trying to catch me, so I was on the brakes a little bit. I did not brake check him. I did not have all four brakes locked up. I was slowing down and he was speeding up to come and run into me under caution, which we're done racing when the caution comes out and he spun me out under caution. I don't know. I've done a lot of dumb things in my racing career, but spinning out under caution I don't think is one of them that I can remember doing."
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON PROBATION? No, I haven't. IS IT A BUMMER? "It's very disappointing. I thought that we both could have been more grown up and settled this thing a long time ago and I've certainly tried. But it hasn't worked out. What I did after the caution came out and when I went back after Kevin, I'm very embarrassed about and I think I totally did the wrong thing. It was not a professional way to act for my sponsor, for my team, for any of those guys. That was definitely not the right thing to do and that was not professional, but up to that point, I don't feel like I did anything wrong. I feel like I didn't do anything wrong."
"I felt like I could have wrecked him if I wanted to - the way I got wrecked at Dover when he was on the right side of me. The way Jeff Burton got wrecked at Bristol when he was on the outside of him and only had two inches. There are a lot of times he doesn't lift when anybody pulls up in his lane and I did end up lifting. I had his wheels up in the air halfway down the backstretch and I could have turned him into the fence. Obviously, I'm not gonna take a chance on hurting someone or wrecking at 170 miles an hour. I'm just gonna let him go and I went back and passed him. The reason we got together is because he took my lane. It's not for any other reason."
DO YOU CHANGE THE WAY YOU RACE WITH KEVIN? "Not really. Hopefully, we can just get running a little bit better so we can outrun him and not have to race him as much. I don't foresee any continuing problems, but you never know. I'm gonna race the style I've always raced. I don't worry about one car out there. I'm gonna race as hard as I can to try to win and try to run up front the best I can. I'm not gonna focus on one car. If he races me clean, I'm gonna race him clean. I said that in the trailer and didn't really get a response from him. I'm happy to call a truce and give everybody plenty of room to race. I have no problem with that, but I expect the same thing in return. If he doesn't want to give me any room, then I'm not gonna give him any room. I'm just gonna race him the way he wants to race me, so it's really up to him. However much room I get, that's how much he's gonna get."
WHAT'S HAPPENED THE LAST FEW TIMES WITH HIM? "I don't know. I guess I don't want to drag that all up, but we've just had a couple little minor run-ins here or there where we really haven't seen eye-to-eye or there was a lot of maybe me trying to go settle something. There maybe a lot of talk that maybe wasn't really gonna get anything settled. There was a lot of name calling and silly stuff like that and just couldn't get it really settled. That's beside the point. That was all in the past. Like I said, last week what I did under caution after I got spun out was totally wrong, but up to that point I didn't feel like I really did anything wrong."
WHEN DID THIS START WITH YOU TWO? "I don't know. I can't say there's been something going on forever. I mean, everybody has things they get into each other here or there or whatever and all get it settled. Maybe our relationship changed a little bit last year towards the end of the year when we were both racing for points a little bit and there were little things going on here or there. Maybe you couldn't tell, but it's not like we had this big ongoing feud going. I watch the races every week, too, and I see how much room he gives or doesn't give to other people. I'm not gonna race him dirty. I'm not gonna run into him on purpose, but yet on the other hand, if I still have a lane and he's gonna pull up into my lane, that's my lane. That's not his. He's gonna have to earn his whole keep and he's gonna have to clear me by 100 percent of the car. If he's not gonna give me an inch, I'm not gonna give him an inch. I'm not gonna do anything dirty or do anything to harm anybody. If somebody is gonna race you so hard for every single inch, then I'm gonna race him that hard, too. There's nothing wrong with that if it doesn't turn into being dirty. If you slide up into my lane, it's still my lane."
YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T GET A RESPONSE TO YOUR TRUCE, SO IS IT SETTLED? "I don't foresee any problems. I'd like to think - even though I maybe haven't been the last few weeks - but I'd like to think I'm a little smarter than to let a feud affect what our big goal is. The only people it really hurt last week was ourselves. It hurt both of us and I'm smart enough to realize that and I hope he's smart enough to realize that and we can go on and try to be smart and race for our goal. We're both trying to race for a championship. We're both trying to stay in the top 10 in points. We're both trying to win races and all this did last week was hurt both of our chances for those two goals. It's silly. We're both professionals and we both should be smarter than that. We should be able to just go on and go racing and not worry about it anymore."
BIFFLE PUT HIS CAR BETWEEN YOU TWO ON THE COOL DOWN LAP? "I don't know about all that. He had a front row seat for it all. He raced behind me a lot all day, so he definitely saw what all went on. It was funny because when I heard the things about the brake check and spinning myself out and all that, I was slowing down because the caution came out and we were still running pretty quick. When I caught him to spin him out he almost stopped because I think he knew what was coming. You know what I mean? So he was really on the brakes hard. I don't know. It's just something silly that happened and kind of embarrassing. Hopefully, it's all behind us."
ARE YOU TIRED OF BEING MISTER NICE GUY ALL THE TIME? "I don't know. Like I said, nobody is perfect. I've made a lot mistakes and got into a lot of people through my career and done things that weren't right for sure. But I really have always tried to settle my differences with people. That's something Mark Martin has taught me. Back in the Busch Series when I used to have some battles, it was like, 'Listen, you need to just go and sit down and talk to people and get it settled.' I really have tried to do that. I've always tried to base my racing style off of Mark's, which he's always taught me to race people how you want to be raced. If you give them courtesy and respect, you're gonna receive it back. So I've always tried to live by that, but sometimes you just can't."
WAS ROBBIE ON THE RADIO WITH YOU AT THAT TIME? "Yeah because he was arguing with NASCAR trying to get our spot back and all that kind of stuff. He was trying to get it all sorted out and figure out what happened because he couldn't quite see it all. His blood pressure was a little high, but he was on the radio a little bit." YOU SEEM MORE OUTSPOKEN THIS YEAR. WHY? "There have been several things maybe that have been a little bit more frustrating or maybe have me a little bit more on edge than maybe what I used to be. Hopefully, after we're all done talking right here that it goes away and it can be a little bit more fun again and be more relaxed like we were last year. It's just hard to explain. I don't want to get into it all, but there have been a lot of little things about the races or about things that have happened or about the way they've happened or trying to figure out the new stuff and what's going on."
"There have been a lot of little things that I think have probably been frustrating for some of the fans and they've been frustrating for all of us a little bit - you guys, everybody - to try to figure out some of the stuff and what's all going on. So some of that has been a little bit frustrating too and trying to figure all that out and try to make it work for you and try to understand some of that too."
HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO STAY CALM LAST YEAR WITH ALL THE PRESSURE? "Yeah, I don't know - probably a little bit. Who knows, maybe there was a little bit more than I admitted. Maybe it carried on to this year. I don't know. There's always pressure. You want to win it again this year under the new format and all. There's pressure to do that. We came out of the box and won a couple of races, but then when you have a problem and run bad like we did at Darlington and have all the little problems we've had here and there, that frustrates you double because everybody - your crew, your fans - they're expecting you to be able to go out and win because we came out of the box so strong. So whenever you drop off that base a little bit, you maybe get a little more on edge trying to figure out why."
SOME HAVE SAID RYAN NEWMAN HOGS THE RACE TRACK AND YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT USING A LOT OF SPACE ON THE TRACK. WHERE IS THE LINE BETWEEN HOGGING THE TRACK AND RACING YOUR HEART OUT? "Using track and running somebody over that's outside of you is two different things. If you're using a lot of track and if somebody is behind you and you're not running into anybody, that's the way you race. That's totally different than if somebody is alongside of you and you run over them and pretend they're not there. Ryan is a great racer and that's a good example. I've raced with Ryan for the last few years and we race each other really, really hard. There have been a lot of times I've let him go and then he's race me hard or whatever. At California, we had a great battle. At the time it was for sixth or seventh, but people ran out of gas and it was for third and fourth. We ran side-by-side for 20 or 25 laps and I don't think he was expecting that. Afterwards, we talked about it and we said, 'Yeah, that's pretty cool.' I said, 'Yeah, I was in the gas too. It's hard to pass being side-by-side,' and we had a great time racing like that. Since then, we've raced each other different. When I catch him, he usually lets me go and when he catches me, I usually let him go. We have kind of a different respect for each other, I think. It's just a difference between racing someone hard and not giving them those few inches and running as hard as you can than there is when somebody is alongside of you and you run into them."
DO YOU THINK NASCAR HAS LOST CONTROL OF THINGS THE LAST FEW WEEKS? "I don't know. The only part I can really control is our car and what we do. We've lost control of things a little bit the last few weeks. Definitely last week at Dover, although I don't think we could have done anything about missing that wreck. I went into the corner so hard and just hit the oil in exactly the right spot. To be able to lose the car that quickly, that was something I've never had happen before. But those are still things you can work on and try to make better. You can try to see the car leaking oil a little early. You can try to see the wreck a little earlier. I don't know. The only thing we can control is what we do, what we think or what we see or some of the rules and stuff. There's nothing we can really do about that. Even giving your opinion about it really doesn't matter because there's really nothing we can do about it. We just have to take the set of rules and how they're calling races and how they set up the new procedures and make sure we understand them the best we can and make sure we don't make mistakes with them."
DOES A $25,000 FINE KEEP YOU FROM DEFENDING YOURSELF IF ANOTHER SITUATION ARISES WITH THIS DRIVER OR SOMEBODY ELSE? "What I say when I mean that is I don't mean what I did afterwards. Spinning him out under yellow is why I got the fine. I don't know what was gonna happen to him, but why I got the fine was I went back after him under the yellow and spun him out, which was the wrong thing to do. When I talk about not necessarily defending myself, but how you race people. I was talking about our first incident when I was still up alongside of him and he went right to the wall like I wasn't there. If he was outside of me and I went to the wall, he would have wrecked me because I saw it at Dover the week before. I've seen it couple of times. What I mean by that is just my driving style. If that's gonna be my lane, I'm not gonna lift and get out my lane and get out of your way. I'm gonna stay in the gas and run that lane as hard as I can and once you pass me, fine, that's your spot. But until you get cleared from me, that's not his spot."
IT SOUNDED LIKE YOU WERE JUST TAKING MATTERS IN YOUR OWN HANDS. "What I was mainly talking about with my driving style is not just giving up that lane. There are a lot of guys you race who will be faster than you. Instead of holding them up and costing you both time, you'll let out of the gas and let him go and keep going. Then there are other guys that will race you really hard and slow you both down forever and you can't quite get clear for a long time. That's really what I meant by that. The going after him under caution was the wrong thing to do. I explained why I did it at the time. If I had to do it again I probably wouldn't do it, but, yet, I didn't know how it was gonna be played. I didn't know if they were gonna let him finish 10th and I was gonna finish 20th after he spun me out under caution. I didn't feel like that was the right thing, so I wanted to make sure he finished back there with me and that's why I did it. Yeah, it was the wrong thing to do and I'm embarrassed about it, but that's what my thinking was and why I did it." WHAT ABOUT NASCAR'S PENALTY. WHEN YOU CHASE SOMEONE DONE VERSUS AN ACTION ON THE TRACK IS THAT EQUAL? "It had nothing to do with the track. He chased me down under caution and spun me out, and I chased him back under caution and spun him out. The track incident had nothing to do with anything. What happened under green had nothing to do with it." WAS THE PENALTY FAIR? "Like I said, I'm embarrassed with what I did. My part in it after going back after him under yellow is what I'm embarrassed about and whatever I got I probably deserved because that wasn't the right way to act."
IF THEY TAKE PAYBACK OUT OF THIS SPORT WILL THAT TAKE OUT SOMETHING AS NATURALLY AS BREATHING AND TAKE SOME OF THE FLAVOR OUT? "I don't know about that. You should be able to use your heads. If you have a problem on the track, we should be able to go work it out. There are only 43 of us that get to race on Sundays and we should all be mature enough where we can sit down together and figure it out. If I'm wrong, be able to admit wrong or blame and be able to sort it out so it doesn't come to what it did on Sunday."
IT SEEMS LIKE INSTINCT TO DO WHAT YOU DID. "Yeah, but you have to remember we're not on short tracks anymore. Most of these tracks we're running 180 miles an hour on and it's just not a good practice. Things have been safe lately, knock on wood, but it's still not a good practice."
WOULDN'T IT BE GOOD TO TRY TO SETTLE THIS BEFORE THE CHASE BEGINS? "Yeah, I've already covered that. We both know what our goals are - to try to win a championship and try to stay in that top 10 and do all that, and I think we'll both be smarter from this day forward."
Courtesy Ford PR
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They both have their perspective and they both are biased toward themselves.....both will have to get over it in order to continue to be competitive in the series. My bet is they will, but I doubt it's the last incident between them either. And writers and fans will bring up it again when it does........remember how long the Jimmy Spencer/Kurt Busch thing was in uproar last season? Heck it's still a hot topic occasionally.