Talladega II: Matt Kenseth preview
FAST FACTS
* Since the beginning of 2005, Matt Kenseth has an average running position of 9.4 at Talladega Superspeedway, tops among all Cup drivers.
* Matt Kenseth's average finish during the Chase at Talladega is 7.0 ranking second only to Loudon, N.H., among tracks during the Chase.
* Matt Kenseth ranks fourth in laps completed (2,664) at Talladega since the beginning of 2000; Matt Kenseth's rookie season in NEXTEL Cup.
* Matt Kenseth has an average start of 12.3 during the Chase at Talladega; raking third among all Chase tracks.
* Matt Kenseth's Driver Rating of 99.6 at Talladega is third best among all Cup drivers since 2005.
* Bad time for bad luck -- Despite having competitive cars, Matt Kenseth has ran into some terrible luck the past two weeks, subsequently netting finishes of 35th both at Dover and Kansas. The last time Matt Kenseth finished 35th or worse in two consecutive races was in the fall of 2004 at Atlanta (41st) and Phoenix (36th).
Matt Kenseth on racing at Talladega Superspeedway:
"I don't really know what to expect this weekend. I've heard several drivers say several different things. Some people think it will all be a single-file line because the cars, when you do get out of line, fall to the back extremely fast. With the old cars you could kind of hold your own a little bit and hang in there, whereas these cars do drop back really fast if you don't have anybody with you and you get out of line. From what I saw in the draft and all the stuff that we did, the cars are very stable, they suck up really fast.
"I think it's going to be a crazy race. I think you're going to be three-wide most of the time and I would be surprised if nobody runs into anybody else because it's a little more difficult to see out of the COT cars than the other cars and they suck up a little faster in the draft. Plus, they're really easy to drive, so when all that stuff happens it usually makes everybody pretty brave and maybe do some moves or put their cars in places they maybe wouldn't put the other cars if they didn't drive as good."
Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Talladega Superspeedway:
"Everything's going to be new this weekend. The COT car is a virgin at Talladega Superspeedway, so it's definitely going to be eventful, I think. Just watching the cars draft during the test was interesting and that was with a small draft of only 10 to 15 cars. I think when it comes race time; it will be interesting to watch how all of that plays out. We have to figure out how the car handles and how to cool the car and how to do all of the different things that we normally do to our other cars that we already had figured out. That'll make it interesting to us. The racing should be interesting by itself.
"So far the Chase hasn't gone the way we've wanted to, but on the other hand, we've had cars capable of running in the top five in all three races. That part of it's good. The luck part of it will hopefully change. Looking back on it, we've had two bad races and it really doesn't have us out of it yet. We can rebound, but we have to do it right now."
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