Roush Fenway Racing announced today that Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, is returning to the organization and will share driving duties with Trevor Bayne in the No. 6 Ford Fusion.\u00a0\u00a0In addition, Wyndham Rewards was introduced as a sponsor for the organization.\u00a0\u00a0Below is a transcript of the on-stage Q&A session with participants, which included NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Co-Owner Jack Roush, RFR President Steve Newmark, and Wyndham executive Eliot Hamlisch<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
MARK MARTIN<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cJust because you walk away from the race car for a while doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re done forever.\u00a0\u00a0I had some of the best years of my life driving the No. 6 car for Jack Roush and it really feels cool to be hanging out here with you guys today.\u00a0\u00a0It seems like just yesterday that it was 1987 when Jack Roush and I were with a group like you guys announcing our intentions and our new deal.\u00a0\u00a0Moving forward about 12 years to 1999 I had the great privilege of introducing a really fine, up-and-coming race car driver to Jack Roush and from there I think the rest is history.\u00a0\u00a0With that, I would like to introduce the new driver of the Jack Roush No. 6 Ford.\u00a0\u00a0I had a lot to do with bringing him here 20 years ago and I\u2019m really, really excited to introduce him today \u2013 NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
MATT KENSETH, No. 6 Ford Fusion<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody thought Mark was coming out of retirement.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s great to be here today.\u00a0\u00a0Obviously, it\u2019s a big day, I think, for Roush Fenway Racing, a big day for me and my family.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s great to bring a new sponsor to the sport with Wyndham Rewards.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m real proud to be able to drive the 6 car.\u00a0\u00a0A funny story.\u00a0\u00a0When I started at Roush Fenway and Mark met me at Talladega back in \u201997 and he kind of went to Jack and said, \u2018Hey, I think this is a new, young guy.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0By the way, I\u2019m still pretty young, \u2018And I think you need to get him in here.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0As it went on for a year or so Mark was like, \u2018Look, I\u2019m not gonna do this much longer and when I get out of the 6 car I really want you to take over and drive the 6 car.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0So that was the plan and I think I was maybe 24 or 25 at the time.\u00a0\u00a0If I would have waited for him to get out and retire, I would have been about 39 my rookie year, so it took a lot longer than we thought, but I\u2019m proud to be driving the 6 car.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m looking forward to going to Kansas and obviously it means a lot to me to reunite with everybody at Roush Fenway Racing and I\u2019m really looking forward to the challenge and really looking forward to getting to work soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
JACK ROUSH, Co-Owner, Roush Fenway Racing<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cMy comments will be brief.\u00a0\u00a0I want to start by thanking Winston Kelley and the folks at the Hall of Fame for giving us this great venue.\u00a0\u00a0Thanks to Wyndham Rewards for coming to us and for the many hours in recent days putting the contract together and welcome to the partnership.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re very proud of those who sponsor our cars.\u00a0\u00a0Mark came down from Batesville this morning.\u00a0\u00a0It was a surprise to me a couple of days ago when I found he was going to be able to come.\u00a0\u00a0The linkage between Mark and Matt is very strong.\u00a0\u00a0Mark approached me in 1998, I think, and said that he was having conversation with this Busch Grand National rookie driver that worked hard on his cars and thought about racing like he did, and thought it would be a good place for him to join us and to work with Mark.\u00a0\u00a0He thought he could help him and he seemed to be worth the trouble.\u00a0\u00a0So he had two years in the XFINITY program, and then we moved him into the 17 car in the Cup Series for 12 years.\u00a0\u00a0He won 24 Cup races and many XFINITY races in that timeframe and had great success and I\u2019m anxious to get back on track and win some more races.\u00a0\u00a0We think Matt will give us a chance to work with some of our drivers that are rookies and also with Trevor and Ricky, who will benefit from his experience.\u00a0\u00a0Thanks to Mark and thanks for Matt.\u00a0\u00a0I look forward to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ELIOT HAMLISCH, Vice President, Worldwide Loyalty and Partnerships, Wyndham Hotel Group<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cWe are incredibly excited about this opportunity for a couple of reasons.\u00a0\u00a0Number one, great to be a part of Matt\u2019s comeback.\u00a0\u00a0That, first and foremost, is just incredibly exciting for us.\u00a0And second, just getting to know the Roush Fenway team, it\u2019s been a number of months now and I\u2019ll give you an indication from five minutes ago.\u00a0\u00a0I saw Matt walk in with his family and he was holding the baby\u2019s car seat and just that image \u2013 I\u2019ve got two small kids \u2013 just the family nature of this team is something that resonated so soundly with us.\u00a0\u00a0It very much goes that way at Wyndham Hotel Group as well, so we\u2019re thrilled.\u00a0\u00a0What an amazing opportunity and thanks again to the team, thanks to Matt for your hospitality and allowing us the opportunity to have this partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
STEVE NEWMARK, President, Roush Fenway Racing<\/b><\/p>\n
HOW WILL THIS SITUATION PLAY OUT IN TERMS OF SCHEDULE?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe intent is for this to be a shared program with Trevor and Matt continuing in the car for the rest of the year.\u00a0\u00a0To us, this is an incredible opportunity.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not only special for us to reunite Matt and Jack and to have Wyndham help us reunite another family, but we look at Matt as the best in the business at helping to assess and diagnose and figure out how to make cars better.\u00a0\u00a0So our goal is to continue to race for wins and championships and we think Matt gives us a great opportunity to do that and will help Trevor, Ricky and all of our young guys in XFINITY.\u00a0\u00a0But as far as the details and how it will be split with Trevor and Matt, that is still being worked out.\u00a0\u00a0We know Matt will be in his first race in Kansas coming up and Trevor will obviously be in the car this weekend and next weekend.\u00a0\u00a0Then we\u2019ll be working through some of those details.\u00a0\u00a0I know a lot of that stuff is of interest \u2013 the number of races and all of that stuff \u2013 we\u2019ll be announcing kind of which ones will be the Wyndham races.\u00a0\u00a0They have a significant number going forward and we\u2019ve obviously got a couple of great partners already on the car with AdvoCare and Performance Plus that we\u2019re working through.\u00a0\u00a0Our focus right now is bringing Matt back into the fold and seeing how he can help us become a better organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WILL MATT BE IN THE ALL-STAR RACE?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMatt will be in the All-Star Race.\u00a0\u00a0Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
MATT KENSETH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 WHAT ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT COMING BACK TO THIS SITUATION?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m excited about all of it.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not like from the middle of last year until now there hasn\u2019t been any opportunities to go do some things, but you kind of know when something feels right.\u00a0\u00a0Certainly, to come back and hopefully help Jack, who has done so much obviously for my career, hopefully get Roush Fenway Racing running better again.\u00a0\u00a0I feel like they\u2019ve been definitely trending in the right direction.\u00a0\u00a0Ricky won a couple of races last year at the restrictor plate tracks and, like I said, certainly I feel like RFR is on the upswing.\u00a0\u00a0I think it\u2019s a good challenge for me that I\u2019m looking forward to and not just the driving part, but a lot of the rest of it too, to hopefully get in there and get my hands dirty and try to evaluate what we can do better \u2013 what we\u2019re doing good and what we can do better \u2013 and to go on from there.\u00a0\u00a0Just really all of it.\u00a0\u00a0The timing, I know to you guys it might seem weird, but the timing was right and it was the right deal.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s exciting bringing a new sponsor into the sport at the same time and it all just lined up and seemed like the right thing at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
JACK ROUSH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cWhen I contacted Matt to see if he had an interested in being involved in a limited program with objectives that we\u2019ve set forth, his question to me was, \u2018Why did it take so long for me to call?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI still had a little bit of a rawness over the fact that he left me when he did.\u00a0\u00a0We had another championship out there, I thought, that we could have had in short order.\u00a0\u00a0I missed that, so it took me a little while to get over it.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
MATT KENSETH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU GOT THE CALL FROM JACK?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt feels like the right deal at the right time.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s with Jack.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s an interesting challenge for me and not just being a driver, I hope I can be much more to the organization and I\u2019m hoping that there are a lot of different ways I can help in.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know that I can, but I hope that there is and that\u2019s kind of what I\u2019m looking forward to.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s fairly small right now \u2013 down to two teams and it\u2019s leaner \u2013 and I feel like they\u2019re on the right trajectory. I feel like there are a lot of advantages to where they are at right now, and I\u2019m looking forward to getting in there and being a part of it and getting back immersed in the organization and kind of hopefully evaluate some things, hopefully continue projecting upwards.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
IS IT SAFE TO SAY THIS IS LONGER THAN ONE YEAR?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere are a lot of things we\u2019re working through right now.\u00a0\u00a0We kind of got this all together pretty quickly, but I think that\u2019s what all of our hopes are \u2013 is to continue this long-term and get back to turning the TV on and seeing the Roush cars up front every week.\u201d<\/p>\n
JACK ROUSH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cWe see a potential for Matt being involved with the company and race team past his driving.\u00a0\u00a0We haven\u2019t talked much about that, but we certainly feel like he\u2019s come home to us.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s a significant part of the history and legacy, as is Mark.\u00a0\u00a0We have two great drivers and great people that have helped us build this thing and we\u2019d like to keep them involved if we can going forward at some level.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
STEVE NEWMARK CONTINUED \u2013 IS IT A MULTI-YEAR DEAL?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe generally don\u2019t get into details of the contract, but our view is that Matt will be with us for as long as we can.\u00a0\u00a0He and Jack have forged a pretty strong relationship and our role is to have Matt continuing to drive until he no longer has that desire, and knowing Matt that will be for many years into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
STILL TWO CARS FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThat is correct.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WHAT HAPPENS WITH TREVOR AND HIS RACES?\u00a0\u00a0WE KNOW HE HAS A TIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH ADVOCARE.\u00a0\u00a0WILL HE JUST BE IN THOSE SPONSORED RACES?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re still in process of working through which races.\u00a0\u00a0Our goal is to have Trevor continue to grow and mature on the track, which as you know he\u2019s one of the highest character guys in the garage and we\u2019re proud of having him as part of our family.\u00a0\u00a0He will continue to be in the car and we hope that Matt\u2019s assistance with all of this will elevate not only Trevor\u2019s performance, Ricky\u2019s performance, but we haven\u2019t delineated all of the different races and who will be in what race.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ve obviously been in contact with our partners and with Trevor and we have an open dialogue about how all of that will sort out, and we\u2019ll try to do it in a way that gives us the best opportunity to excel on the track.\u00a0\u00a0So we\u2019ll look at different races, different tracks, where we need help and where we can probably utilize Matt\u2019s skill set the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WHAT HAPPENS IF TREVOR WINS TALLADEGA THIS WEEKEND?\u00a0\u00a0WILL YOU GO TO A THIRD CAR?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s a problem that we hope we have after this weekend.\u00a0\u00a0Obviously, our cars have been really good.\u00a0\u00a0We won last year at this race with the 17, so we would be thrilled if either the 6 or the 17 wins the race this weekend.\u00a0\u00a0That would be a great problem to be facing\u00a0on Sunday<\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MARK MARTIN CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 HAVE YOU GIVEN MATT ANY TIPS ON HURDLES HE MIGHT FACE BY NOT RUNNING FULL-TIME?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cNo, I haven\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0Matt is not someone who would need any tips from me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s why he\u2019s my favorite driver.\u00a0\u00a0If he did, he knows my phone number.\u00a0\u00a0He usually texts, though, but I would say he doesn\u2019t need that.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re talking about Matt Kenseth here.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JACK ROUSH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cIf you\u2019re asking why is Mark here and why is he so revered in our history and why is Matt here?\u00a0\u00a0They were the two best guys at really finding the speed in their cars.\u00a0\u00a0These stock cars are not very easy to drive and they do three or four things that they do every lap that you really want to fix and there are one or two of them that you can address and find speed in the car, and if you address the others you don\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0These are the best two guys that I\u2019ve had of the 50 drivers who we\u2019ve worked with in NASCAR at finding speed in the cars \u2013 both in making recommendations to the team for hardware changes and for the things they face behind the steering wheel to make the right choices for the things they brought to the attention of the crew chief.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MATT KENSETH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 HOW MUCH WILL YOU WANT TO GO IN AND WIN RACES AND SHOW PEOPLE WHAT THEY PASSED UP ON?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for a long time.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t really feel like I have anything to prove.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0Obviously, every time you get in a race car and go to a race track you want to be your best and you go there with the idea of trying to win and that\u2019s never gonna change as long as I drive.\u00a0\u00a0I would say that this opportunity is probably as much about the rest of it \u2013 the rest of my role and possible future role than it is just the driving.\u00a0\u00a0If it was just strictly about driving, I probably would have been at Daytona driving something.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s more about the rest of it.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s more about coming here and trying to help and coming to see what the farther out future looks like for me \u2013 three, four, five years down the road \u2013 if it\u2019s something I\u2019m good at \u2013 trying to help in the shop, trying to just kind of see what it\u2019s like.\u00a0\u00a0Like I said, it\u2019s smaller than what it once was.\u00a0\u00a0I feel like I can be a real asset in a lot of different ways besides just driving.\u00a0\u00a0I hope that turns out to be true, so it\u2019s as much about that as it is driving the race cars.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m really competitive, obviously, with whatever I do and if I\u2019m not in the car, there\u2019s nothing I want more than Ricky or Trevor to be out there running up front and improving and doing better and working hard at it and hopefully being successful.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JACK ROUSH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 IS THIS A MOVE YOU FEEL YOU NEEDED TO MAKE TO WIN RACES SOON OR A MOVE TO EVALUATE YOUR CARS AND WHERE THEY\u2019RE AT?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s all of that.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a chance to look at our cars and find out if there\u2019s something glaring that Matt will see from his experience, which would be in line with what Mark\u2019s impression would be if he were in the cars as well.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m anxious to have that impression, but we\u2019re also anxious to start building back on the 33 races that Matt\u2019s won in XFINITY as well as Cup.\u00a0\u00a0Whether there\u2019s another championship in there for Matt with Roush Fenway, that remains to be seen.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s in years two or three out if there is a year two or three for Matt in the car.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ll just have to see how it goes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MATT KENSETH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU\u2019VE EARNED THIS?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t really know how to answer that question exactly.\u00a0\u00a0I feel like as long as I\u2019ve been in this sport I\u2019ve never really been totally comfortable, I guess, or comfortable with your job or however you want to look at it.\u00a0\u00a0I think everybody, every driver, every personality, there\u2019s something different I think that makes them unique or drives them or makes them successful.\u00a0\u00a0For me, it\u2019s just never being comfortable, never feeling like I\u2019m near good enough and I need to be doing better and figuring out what you can do better and moving on from there.\u00a0\u00a0That might be a better question for those guys whether you\u2019ve earned it.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know if you necessarily earned it, but certainly I go out every week and do my very best from\u00a0Monday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0through\u00a0Sunday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and that\u2019s something that never changes with me.\u00a0\u00a0I guess I decided to go do this we had some conversations and I really had to put a lot of thought into it because I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been happier and more content than the last six months, honestly.\u00a0\u00a0So to go back, and I know how I operate.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m not gonna go just ride around or just show up\u00a0on Sunday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and race.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m gonna put all of my effort into this and a lot of time into this, so I had to make sure I was ready to go do that, which I am, so I\u2019m looking forward to getting back and seeing what kind of impact I can make.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n STEVE NEWMARK CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cI think we feel privileged that Wyndham is come on board.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s no secret that pretty much every team in the garage has been courting them, so they had no shortage of opportunities and the fact that they elected to go with us obviously gives us a sense of pride and we hope it\u2019s a testament to some of the things we\u2019ve been doing on and off the track with a lot of the programs and the creative social media and the activation.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s also a testament to our relationship with the Boston Red Sox and the Fenway Sports Group.\u00a0\u00a0They were integral in making the connection and were with us every step of the way as we tried to create programs and show Wyndham that this was the right family atmosphere and gave them the best opportunity to connect with the entire NASCAR fan base and succeed both on and off the track.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ELIOT HAMLISCH CONTINUED \u2013\u00a0<\/b>\u201cI\u2019ll reiterate.\u00a0\u00a0This was a pretty straightforward decision for us as we worked with this team.\u00a0\u00a0This is really a stand-up organization, so we\u2019d like to extend our thanks.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re thrilled about the opportunity and looking forward to the season ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MATT KENSETH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 WHAT WAS THE TIMETABLE FOR THIS DEAL TO COME TOGETHER?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking for a little while and trying to get all of the details worked out and as Steve alluded to we\u2019re still kind of working out some details going forward.\u00a0\u00a0I have not spoken to Trevor yet.\u00a0\u00a0I was gonna give that a week or so to settle down.\u00a0\u00a0My hope is that after a few days when things kind of shake out, my hope is we can get together face-to-face, sooner-than-later, hopefully next week and sit and have a long talk because I really feel like there are a lot of things I could probably help him with.\u00a0\u00a0My hope is that he embraces that and turns this into something to drive him and he can get better, but I have not had that conversation with him yet.\u00a0\u00a0Trying to keep this under wraps, did pretty good until the day before, whenever it was.\u00a0\u00a0Ricky, I touched base with Ricky yesterday for a little bit and we\u2019re planning on meeting the first thing next week as well.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MARK MARTIN CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 THIS BLUE FORD LOOKS A LOT LIKE YOUR OLD CAR.\u00a0\u00a0WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SEE THE 6 CAR LOOKING LIKE THAT?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t tell you what I means to me.\u00a0\u00a0I have been so excited, but I don\u2019t know that I can describe to you what it means to me to look at that car and knowing that my favorite driver of all-time is gonna be in that car part-time.\u00a0\u00a0It is going to be working hard to improve the performance of Roush Racing.\u00a0\u00a0I have a lot sweat-equity and pride in this organization.\u00a0\u00a0Afterall, it was this man right here (Jack Roush) and all the great people that built that organization brick by brick that enabled me to become a part of this amazing Hall of Fame here.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t have the words to articulate what it means to me and what they mean to me and what that organization means to me.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a really exciting time for me.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n STEVE NEWMARK CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 HOW DID TREVOR TAKE THE NEWS?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI think he reacted just the way any of us would.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s a fierce competitor.\u00a0\u00a0He wants to be in the car every week \u2013 Cup, XFINITY, he will drive anything.\u00a0\u00a0We continue to have a dialogue and I think he\u2019ll see this as an opportunity to continue to excel, but there\u2019s no doubt that when we had the dialogue about it that his first reaction was \u2018I want to be in the car every week.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0In fact, we wouldn\u2019t want it any other way.\u00a0\u00a0If we had a driver who just kind of acquiesced, that would be an inherent problem in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MATT KENSETH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 HOW IS YOUR COMPETITIVE SPIRIT?\u00a0\u00a0WE KNOW YOU\u2019VE BEEN TO A LOT OF GYMNASTICS MEETS LATELY.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMy competitive spirit has been really good.\u00a0\u00a0Yes, the kids do a lot of gymnastics and I\u2019ve spent a lot of time sitting in lobbies at the gym and going to several gymnastics meets, which we have one actually\u00a0tomorrow<\/span><\/span>\u00a0that we\u2019ll go down to\u00a0tonight<\/span><\/span>, so my competitive spirit is good.\u00a0\u00a0My four-year-old loves to play games, so I\u2019m constantly \u2013 even when I win she tells me I lost, which I guess that runs in the family as well \u2013 so my competitive spirit is good.\u00a0\u00a0I certainly have not lost any of that.\u00a0\u00a0I think if there\u2019s anything you miss from racing is the competition, going out there and knowing you\u2019re racing against the best stock car drivers anywhere and the best race teams, crew chiefs and engineers and trying to figure out how to beat them.\u00a0\u00a0So, certainly, that\u2019s always the part you miss the most.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SO YOU HAVE MISSED THAT PART?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYeah, there are certain things you miss.\u00a0\u00a0There are probably a couple things you don\u2019t, but there are certainly a lot more things you miss than you don\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0Competing has always been the best part.\u00a0\u00a0Mark can tell you that.\u00a0\u00a0The best part of the weekend is when you start the engine\u00a0on Saturday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0night or\u00a0Sunday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0afternoon and you get to roll off and go race these guys as hard as you can for four hours or whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n DID YOU HAVE A POST-DRIVING CAREER IN MIND WHEN YOU ACCEPTED THIS OPPORTUNITY?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCertainly that came up in some of the discussions, for sure.\u00a0\u00a0Like I said, as much as just the driving part the rest of it interests me.\u00a0\u00a0I haven\u2019t been home long enough to be bored or like dying to go do something\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve been really busy at home actually.\u00a0\u00a0The last six months went by faster than I think any six months of my life.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s really busy, honestly, but also I think there\u2019s part of me that misses being part of something, especially when you\u2019ve been a competitor your whole life.\u00a0\u00a0Obviously, you\u2019re not gonna drive forever, so I think the part of still being part of something competitive and trying to make something better and trying to figure out how to do it better than the next guy and go beat everybody is still there, whether you\u2019re in the car or whether you\u2019re not.\u00a0\u00a0Not being in there every week will certainly be different.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s something I\u2019ve never done before, so I can\u2019t really tell you what it\u2019s gonna be like probably until I do it for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n DID YOU WATCH RACES ON TV?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI watched races, yes.\u00a0\u00a0I probably watched more closely the last few weeks than I did maybe the first few weeks, but the last few weeks as this certainly came together I\u2019ve been a little more involved in reading through some notes and looking through some data and watching races a little closer and kind of seeing what\u2019s going on here.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n HOW DID IT FEEL WATCHING RACES?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s fine.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not like I turned the TV on for the Daytona 500 and it was just killing me I wasn\u2019t in the car.\u00a0\u00a0It really wasn\u2019t like that at all.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a little different watching it, but I have watched all the races for years.\u00a0\u00a0You always go through it and I would always re-watch film before the next week to see what I can learn, try to pick up some things that maybe I wasn\u2019t thinking about or whatever, trying to make yourself better for the next week.\u00a0\u00a0So I can\u2019t say it was really necessarily a lot different than except for I wasn\u2019t really taking notes.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MARK MARTIN CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 WHY IS MATT YOUR FAVORITE DRIVER?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s not a hard one to answer.\u00a0\u00a0I want to say that Jeff Burton is probably the guy I have the most respect for ever as far as race car drivers go.\u00a0\u00a0He helped more than anyone ever and he is really special to me, but what I like about Matt is a little bit different than that.\u00a0\u00a0I met with Matt at the driver\u2019s meeting at Talladega and had a conversation with him for 30 minutes and knew right then that he was the guy.\u00a0\u00a0I had heard and knew what he had been doing in Wisconsin, but I knew.\u00a0\u00a0All I can say is I\u2019m dumber than hell, and I can\u2019t explain a lot of different things, but when I met Arlene Martin, I knew.\u00a0\u00a0And we beat a lot of odds.\u00a0\u00a0And that\u2019s how I felt about him.\u00a0\u00a0It was just different.\u00a0\u00a0I knew he was the right guy.\u00a0\u00a0Matt is definitely the right guy for the job.\u00a0\u00a0He knows about race cars.\u00a0\u00a0He knew about race cars then.\u00a0\u00a0He won races in different cars against people that I knew were hard to beat, and that told me that there wasn\u2019t a crew chief that made Matt fast and made Matt win.\u00a0\u00a0He knew race cars.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s enough old-school to be able to bring that to the table and yet enough new-school to be able to adapt.\u00a0\u00a0Racing has changed all through the years and he\u2019s been able to adapt to the simulation era and all this technology era.\u00a0\u00a0How I knew that?\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe I just got lucky, but I knew that he was that kind of driver \u2013 the kind of driver that could do it all and adapt and change through it all.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know why that is.\u00a0\u00a0I like his personality and the way he approaches things.\u00a0\u00a0He, like Jeff Burton, are smarter than me so I always liked being around them because if I just kept my mouth shut, I\u2019d learn something.\u201d<\/p>\n JACK ROUSH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cThe other thing about Mark and Matt is they don\u2019t care who they yell at to get what they want.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve been taken to the woodshed with both of them at different times and it didn\u2019t turn out in my favor.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MATT KENSETH CONTINUED \u2013 WHAT ARE YOU BIGGEST CONCERNS MISSING THE FIRST 11 RACES BEFORE GETTING BACK IN THE CAR?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t necessarily know about missing the first 11 races as the biggest challenge.\u00a0\u00a0I think even if it was the start of the season the biggest challenges for me are gonna be that there is no testing, so you\u2019re gonna hit Kansas with an hour-and-a-half of practice or whatever and get ready to qualify in a car that I\u2019ve never been in with a crew chief that I\u2019ve worked with a little bit, but not a lot.\u00a0\u00a0Something just totally different, so I think that will be the biggest challenge.\u00a0\u00a0I really think the few extra months off, I really don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s gonna be a big deal.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, I could be wrong, but I think you\u2019ll get on the track for 10 or 15 minutes and get out there and get reacclimated, so I\u2019m not really worried about that part.\u00a0\u00a0I guess the biggest thing is just not being in the car and getting all the little things right, making sure you\u2019re comfortable and knowing how you\u2019re gonna relay your crew chief information, how you adjust and how you talk.\u00a0\u00a0Not working together, a lot of that stuff is a learning process that takes a little bit of time, so that\u2019s probably the only concern I guess you have or the only part where you feel like maybe you\u2019re behind at first.\u00a0\u00a0But I don\u2019t really suspect it will take very long.\u201d<\/p>\n MARK MARTIN CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cI think that there is zero rust, but slipping into something that\u2019s completely new, like Matt said, the fit of everything and adjusting to where everything is in these cars, which is the last cars that he drove, and those kind of things, and then the other part of it is he won\u2019t have the opportunity to tailor anything about the race car going forward.\u00a0\u00a0In other words, every single race that you do, and you come back and go through all that, is an opportunity for the whole organization to address specific issues and think through logically how can we make this particular part of the car better because as Jack said before, there are a number of things on the car you can work on, but you can only fix so many things, especially at one time.\u00a0\u00a0I think that having Matt in the race car will send them directly to areas that will bear fruit pretty quickly as they address those, and not spend a lot of time trying to address some of the ones that might not ever bear fruit because, afterall, that\u2019s what puts teams ahead of other teams.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not because one team works that much harder than the other, they all work hard, it\u2019s just which ones work on the things that bear fruit are the ones that migrate to the front.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MATT KENSETH CONTINUED<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 WHO WILL BE YOUR SPOTTER AND WILL YOU BE AT THE TRACK EVERY WEEK EVEN WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN THE CAR?\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe first one, I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s gonna be any different than what it is now.\u00a0\u00a0I believe Roman Pemberton is spotting for him, so I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s gonna be any different.\u00a0\u00a0As far as being at the race track every week, that\u2019s not a discussion we\u2019ve had.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t anticipate being at the race track every week when I\u2019m not racing.\u00a0\u00a0I anticipate being there probably some of the time.\u00a0\u00a0I anticipate being in all the meetings whether I\u2019m driving or not and getting all of that organized and figuring out how I can help with some of that stuff, not that it\u2019s not organized, but organize it where I can be there too and be with Trevor and Ricky for the weekends I\u2019m not in the car and try to see what they\u2019re going through and see if there are some ways I can help.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Roush Fenway Racing announced today that Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, is returning to the organization and will share driving duties with Trevor Bayne in the No. 6 Ford Fusion.\u00a0\u00a0In addition, Wyndham Rewards was introduced as a sponsor for the organization.\u00a0\u00a0Below is a transcript of the on-stage Q&A session with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","category-touring-series-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23045,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23044\/revisions\/23045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}