NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPRINT SHOWDOWN
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 15, 2015
KASEY KAHNE AND KEITH RODDEN, NO 5 TIME WARNER CABLE CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed strategy for the All-Star Race, the new format, having a good start to the season, the recent test at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the possible 2016 package, and more. Full Transcript:
WITH A MILLION DOLLARS ON THE LINE, AND STRATEGY ALWAYS PLAYING A BIG ROLE IN THE ALL-STAR RACE, DO YOU HAVE A GAME PLAN FOR TOMORROW NIGHT?
KAHNE: “Yeah, I think there definitely is. I think you have to qualify pretty well, first and you want to try to start as close to the front as you can to get as many points throughout those rounds as possible. But I think also where you’re running on the track kind helps you decide your strategy. And that’s what Keith and our engineers will do throughout the race. They’ll figure that out. My job is to just go as hard as you can every lap and pass the car in front of you.”
RODDEN: “Yeah, we always have a plan and then as soon as the race starts, it all kind of gets blown-up in our face. We’ll see what kind of conditions we have in the race and that kind of dictates your strategy. We’ve talked about it and all our guys are prepared, but sometimes you have to jump ship and make adjustments during the race.”
WHO WAS YOUR MENTOR? WHO STARTED YOUR RACING CAREER?
“I’d say it was a lot just myself. I really wanted to race since I was pretty little. But the reason I wanted to was because I’d go to the race track with my dad. He worked on a dirt Sprint Car in Washington for about 20 races a year, and I’d try to go as much as possible. So, I grew up from being pretty young going to Skagit Speedway and just watching and watching and wanting to race. I had a 4-wheeler at home. My cousins were good on 4-wheelers, my brother, and stuff, so we always raced around our house and property as much as possible. I didn’t necessarily have somebody that pushed me into it at all. If anything, my parents tried to keep me away from it. It was like my dad wanted me to play baseball and basketball and things like that. That was what he did. So, I did all that. But I was the one who really wanted to race.”
IT SEEMS LIKE MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, WHILE YOU’VE BEEN AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, YOU’VE HAD TO SPEND THE FIRST PART OF THE SEASON DIGGING OUT OF A POINTS HOLE. HOW HAS THIS SEASON OFFERED A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE OR OUTLOOK FOR THE YEAR WITHOUT HAVING TO GO THROUGH THAT?
KAHNE: “It’s been nice not to be so far behind early in the year. We got out of Daytona without wrecking and that was something different than I think the six previous 500’s or something like that. So it was nice to start off in the top 10 right off the bat. We’ve been able to do a pretty good job of staying in that top 10 since. The only reason we’re in 10th right now is because of things happening. Tony (Stewart) got me at Bristol and then we got in a wreck at Talladega. That’s worth 60 points right there, so that’s why we’re in 10th. I feel like we’re doing a good job. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re much closer and we know the things that we need to keep working on. Keith has his things and the team guys do, as well. We’ve been trying to accomplish those things each week.”
YOU HAD A WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH KASEY BEFORE YOU BECAME CREW CHIEF. HOW HAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP CHANGED OR IS IT NOT MUCH DIFFERENT THAN IT WAS BEFORE?
RODDEN: “I don’t think it’s a lot different. We have some similar interests. Obviously racing, we’re really interested in that, and Sprint Cup cars and everything; and then he has his Sprint Cars for the World of Outlaws. I kind of like to pretend I can come up with something and I can’t. But it’s fun. We love racing and we love other forms of sports and stuff like that. So, we’ve always kind of had a common ground. We have something else we can talk about and then we have our job. To me, it’s been real comfortable and it hasn’t been a lot different.”
WITH THE RETURN OF KYLE BUSCH; YOU’VE RACED ON THE TRACK WITH OR WITHOUT OTHER BIG NAMES AROUND YOU. HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THE DYNAMIC OF THINGS WHEN SOMEBODY IS OR ISN’T OUT ON THE TRACK?
“I’m happy Kyle is back. I’ve never had to sit out like that because of injury or anything and I know as much as he enjoys racing and as good of a race car driver as he is, it had to be really tough on him. I’m glad he’s back. As soon as I heard he was coming back, I was texting him like man, it’s great to hear. I’m excited for you and things like that. I don’t know what he went through because it’s hard to know unless you’re in his shoes, but he has to be happy to be back in a car. He was fast in practice. So, I think it’s pretty cool to have him back. He’s a big part of the Sprint Cup Series, in my opinion. There are so many fans that enjoy watching him and I know racing with him and just seeing him out on the race track, it’s better when he’s there. I’m glad that he’s back out here.”
WITH THE FORMAT OF THE ALL-STAR RACE, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO WIN? THERE ARE NOT A HUGE NUMBER OF CARS, BUT IT’S VERY COMPETITIVE
RODDEN: “Yeah, it’s all the best guys and all the best teams and all the best equipment. It seems like every year is a little bit of a tweak; and this year the segments are a little bit longer and we’ll have to be smart about the type of race we try to call and how aggressive we are. But it’s really tough. It’s all about trying to get in the front two rows, I feel like, for the last segment and be able to race for a million dollars.”
KAHNE: “I agree. It’s the best of the best in stock car racing, so you have to have a car that works really well. Because if you can’t pass, you’re not going to win because you have to come in towards the very front of that final pit stop, so you need to pass and you need to be up front and finish up-front in the other segments. So, you have to have a great car and you have to make great calls throughout the race. You have to push hard. Our cars, each year it seems like the teams find more downforce. They took power away this year and have more downforce, so you’re running way harder than what we have in the past. So, that makes it tougher to pass as well. It will be interesting to see how the segments go. I’m glad they’re a little bit longer because at least the cars will give up some over those runs and maybe you’ll get an extra spot or two, depending on how well your car is turning and running. But, it’s not going to be easy.”
WE WENT DOWN WITH YOU WHEN YOU WENT DOWN TO FORT BRAGG A WEEK AGO, AND DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR RIPPED NECK SCAR AND IS THIS WEEKEND EVEN MORE SPECIAL BEING AROUND ALL THE MILITARY PERSONNEL?
KAHNE “That was a neat day and I enjoyed learning those things and hanging out at Fort Bragg with everybody there. It was pretty cool but it took about four days to heal my chin and neck. That was my fault. I jumped off that building in the wrong direction. So I screwed that up. But that is next week and they are going to be here supporting the 600 and it will be a neat event. It’s always great to race on Memorial Day weekend and know that we have that privilege and try to win one of our big races.”
ITS ALMOST BEEN NEARLY THREE YEARS SINCE YOU HAVE BEEN IN A TRUCK. HOW CRUCIAL WAS THAT FIVE-HOUR PRACTICE YESTERDAY AND WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR TONIGHT’S RACE?
KAHNE “I am glad we got to do it because it had been a while. The Junior Motorsports guys don’t race a lot on the 1.5-mile tracks because Cole is their driver, and he does a great job, but they run on the shorter tracks. It took quite a bit of time to find the bottom of the truck and where the heights needed to be. I think the extra time was good and we didn’t get the truck perfect but I think we will have a fast truck tonight and I am looking forward to tonight and trying to find the balance through the race.”
I DON’T KNOW IF YOU KNEW IT BUT LANDON CASSILL IS GOING TO RUN 14 MILES AFTER THE 600 TO THE HALL. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT DOING IT OR HOW MUCH OF A CHALLENGE IS THAT TO DO AFTER 600 MILES?
KAHNE “Why is he doing that?”
FOR CHARITY
KAHNE “You would have to be in really good shape and have run a ton of miles and log a lot of miles each week. When I ran my half marathons I was running like 35 miles a week or something like that. To run 14 after the 600, man that is going to be late. I don’t know. I wouldn’t do that unless it was for a good cause. Sounds like it is charity and is a really good cause. So that is cool on his part and I hope it goes well for him.”
THE LAST TIME YOU WERE OVER HERE YOU TESTED WHAT WAS THOUGHT WOULD BE THE NEW RULES FOR 2016, BUT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE IT MIGHT NOT BE. WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK OF THAT PACKAGE AND DID YOU THINK IT WAS GOING THE RIGHT WAY?
“I think it’s tough and all that stuff. Because it takes time. You know, you got out there for a couple hours and try and decide if you are going to run it next year is probably not the right way to do it. I don’t understand exactly how to do it. I like driving the car by myself way better than the car we have right now. You could actually lift and run and move around on the track. I was just to me, that the car drove way better by itself. You have to have a lot of cars out there to see how it races in traffic and things like that. You need a lot of time to work on it. So it’s time consuming, but just running single car runs – that car was a lot of fun to drive. It was kind of like it was back in 2004 or 2005 with the characteristics of the car and how it was handling. It was like that and I was remembering things as I was driving. I was like, ‘man, I used to have this feel’. We don’t have that feel anymore. You know, with all the downforce we have. We have so much downforce. So they have just changed it up a lot and I am not sure what they are going to do. But hopefully they keep looking down that path.”
RODDEN “I echo what Kasey said. The biggest issue for me was that it was Kasey and Martin and Aric. And just three cars running with each other, you just can’t make a decision from that for next year. I have no idea what will come of it, but I didn’t think it was a bad direction.”