dewalt tools : This Week In Ford Racing

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Fusion, and Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 National Guard/Subway Fusion, are second and 11th, respectively, in the points standings heading into this weekend’s Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Both spoke about the challenges of racing at the one-mile track.

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Fusion – NEW HAMPSHIRE IS A ONE-MILE FLAT TRACK. WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF RACING THERE? “Usually, passing is tough. But the race track has been a lot better the last couple of years since they kind of re-shaped it – you know, you can run the middle and the top, and you can pass pretty good. It’s a challenging track. It’s got tight corners, you’ve got to use a lot of brake and you’ve got to try to get your car to turn good in the middle.”

THAT TRACK IS COMPARED, SOMETIMES, TO A LARGE MARTINSVILLE. HOW MUCH DO YOU USE UP THE BRAKES THERE? “It all depends. Not as much as with Martinsville, but I try not to compare anything to Martinsville.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 National Guard/Subway Fusion – BECAUSE NEW HAMPSHIRE IS SUCH A FLAT TRACK, DOES THAT MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT TO MAKE THE CAR GO THROUGH THE CORNER, OR ARE THOSE TWO THINGS NOT NECESSARILY RELATED? “It is more difficult to get the car go through the corner. It’s hard to get it to turn right in the middle because it just wants to slide because it’s so flat, and that tends to be the most difficult. That’s the hardest part of a flat race track.”

BECAUSE IT’S DIFFICULT TO PASS DURING THE RACE, DOES THAT PUT MORE OF AN EMPHASIS ON QUALIFYING WELL SO YOU START NEAR THE FRONT? “Yeah, it can. Certainly, good track position there is always key on a shorter track – especially Loudon.”

ON RUNNING WELL HEADING INTO A FLAT TRACK… “We’ve been running really well. We ran fourth there last year in the Chase race and we’re pretty happy about that. And we’re kind of going back with that same set-up, and we think we’ve gotten a little bit better since then as well. I’m pretty confident we’re going to have a good top-five run there.”

by Backstretch Motorsports