NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPEEDWEEKS MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 14, 2013
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media and discussed competing in triathlon’s, last year’s Daytona 500 and other topics. Partial Transcript:
DOES IT (COMPETING IN TRIATHLON’S) GIVE YOU A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OVER GUYS THAT DON’T DO IT AS MUCH?
“I don’t know. There is no way it hurts to do this other stuff and to be in really good shape. To take care of yourself and push to run a ½ marathon as fast as you can or a sprint tri or whatever it may be. There is no way that stuff hurts you when you are in the race car. Does it help? I don’t know how much it helps because Smoke (Tony Stewart) is about as good as they get and he doesn’t do that stuff. For me personally it helps me.”
INAUDIBLE
“I don’t know I haven’t talked to him about it. If he is that is really good. I originally when I signed up to do it, I wanted to do under an hour and 35 minutes so that is a lot higher than 650, but I’m in a lot better shape now than I thought I would be. So, we will see kind of where I’m at I don’t know.”
DO YOU GET BUTTERFLIES BEFORE A RACE? HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT?
“I get a little bit jittery just because I would say more the excitement and the feeling of just wanting to go the anticipation of qualifying or the race or even practice. It’s like two minutes until practice starts and it’s like ‘man just let us go early, I just want to get on the track.’ So, I get some nervous more anxiety like excitement more than anything. I think that is one of the things that I strive for to. I enjoy that and kind of like that side of things. I like it when you feel that pressure and stuff. It’s a good thing.”
IS IT MORE FOR DAYTONA?
“Not really. I know right now kind of what is ahead of me. Other tracks things happen and they just happen and they happen quick. But, Daytona you pretty much know what is going to happen here. Hopefully, you avoid it. It’s tough to say with this place just a lot of the same stuff every time we come.”
LAST YEAR’S RACE HERE WAS SO CRAZY WITH FIRE AND THE RAIN IS THERE ONE THING THAT STICKS OUT IN YOUR MIND ABOUT LAST YEAR HERE?
“I just thought all the rain on Sunday to put us to Monday night, just how long and drawn out the weekend was. I didn’t care for the racing at all last year myself. I ran in line for three-quarters of that race and couldn’t do anything. You pull out and lose spots so to me it was just horrible the whole package that we had last year with that car at the Daytona 500 was terrible and I’m glad that they have made big improvements for the season. I think it will be much more exciting fun race to be a part of for not just the drivers but the fans and everybody that is watching.”
WE NOTICED YOU GOT A HAIRCUT SINCE WE LAST SAW YOU…
“I needed a haircut before I came down here so I just trimmed it up.”
WHY NOT STAY WITH THE OTHER… WHAT WAS IT CALLED?
“I don’t know what that was called, but I don’t know maybe I will bring it back later in the season. I liked it myself. About 65 percent of people didn’t 35 did. I liked it maybe it will come back again some other time (laughs).”
AS A DRIVER DOES IT GET TO YOU WHEN PEOPLE ASK MORE PERSONAL QUESTIONS RATHER THAN COME IN HERE ON A DAY LIKE TODAY AND ASK ABOUT RACING?
“It’s hard to ask too many racing questions we are kind of clueless to some of the things that are getting ready to happen this season other than the testing we have done which has been great for the new Chevy SS. The Gen-6 car is much better than what we have had. I am definitely looking forward to that. It doesn’t bother me too much any of the questions.”
ARE PEOPLE GOING TO BE A LITTLE BIT MORE CONSERVATIVE ON SATURDAY NIGHT THAN IN THE PAST BECAUSE OF PERHAPS SOME CAR SHORTAGES?
“They may be at times, but I think when it comes to the end of the race it can still take half the cars. It’s tough, but I know that there is definitely a shortage of cars right now. I could see a little bit more conservativeness in the Sprint Unlimited, definitely in practice for the Unlimited. There may not even be an Unlimited practice because nobody, we can’t lose a car. We lost that one at the test which you don’t expect that so we need to make it through.”
HAVE YOU NOTICED A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE THREE MANUFACTURERS WITH THIS NEW CAR YET?
“There are a few differences here with pushing and being close to the car in front of you with the way that the front ends are on the cars. But that is the only place that is the biggest deal I felt other than that just seeing times and stuff it is just kind of whoever is figuring things out was running good times at Charlotte. I don’t think it necessarily matter which manufacturer as much as what the teams were doing and the drivers and things. I have felt like our Chevy SS is really good. Every time I’ve been in it since January of last season was the first time I got in it and it was great.”
DO YOU WANT FOR ANYTHING AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? AS A DRIVER IS IT EVERYTHING THAT YOU COULD HAVE EVER WISHED FOR IS IT THERE?
“Yeah, I have more than I ever wished for.”
WHAT HAS THE LAST YEAR BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
“It’s been way more to me just less worries. You don’t have to worry about so many things. Just worry about yourself, worry about communicating and the team and how we can all pull together and win. Because we have everything it takes to win it is sitting there. I get to drive it every week. How we make it go around the track right and if I do my job. As a driver you don’t get that very often. Those are the things with my Sprint car teams I try as hard as I can to make sure they have that opportunity the guys that work there and drive for us have the opportunity. Mr. H (Hendrick) gives all of us that opportunity. There is nothing I have even asked for because there is more than enough.”
HAVE YOU LEARNED THINGS AT HENDRICK THAT YOU CAN BRING OVER TO YOUR SPRINT CAR TEAM?
“Procedurally it’s so much different it’s just so big compared to our deal. We have three people per team so it’s a much smaller scale. I think since I started with Ray Evernham, Rick Hendrick now and different people that I have worked with over time. I’m always trying to listen and learn so that maybe we can apply that to our Sprint car teams or to the people. There are just different ways that they do it. So I try to pay attention to that and learn from it. It all is really good. It is things they have taken over time and been able to win championships with. It’s all neat things you can take.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A CUP OWNER SOMEDAY?
“I don’t think so. I don’t know. You never know what might happen in the future, but as of right now I really enjoy owning three Sprint car teams and racing Saturday’s, Sunday’s running my Sprint cars when I can and just being a driver. That is really what I enjoy. 10 years from now, you never know, tough to say. I like racing so much I need to be part of it for a long time.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU AND KENNY FRANCIS (CREW CHIEF) DON’T KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER? IS THERE ANYTHING THAT WOULD SURPRISE YOU AT THIS POINT?
“I don’t think so. We go to lunch we do different things together and are pretty much on the same page. We had lunch the other day and just kind of went over things that we had
talked about at the start of the off season and kind of where we are at. Just all good stuff, there is no one else I want to work with. I think he feels the same way right now. That is where we are at. I think we both feel that we have got a team surrounding us that it is capable of doing a lot this season.”
WHAT DOES MR. H (HENDRICK) SAY ABOUT YOUR SPRINT CAR ACTIVITIES?
“He likes it. He asks me about it and asks how things are going.”
