Kenseth Wins Fifth Race Of The Season; Martin Closes To Within 89 Points

FORD CONTINUES PHOENIX DOMINATION

Matt Kenseth registered his series-best fifth win of the season and sixth of his career. Kenseth is the 13th different winner in 15 NWC races at Phoenix with nine of those being Ford drivers. The win was Ford's 13th of 2002, which is the most among manufacturers. Ford has won 11 of the 15 NWC races at Phoenix. Davey Allison and Jeff Burton remain the only multiple NWC winners at Phoenix. Ford has had at least three top-five finishers five straight years and 11 times overall at Phoenix. Ford owner Jack Roush leads all car owners with four wins at Phoenix. RUSTY WALLACE --2-- Miller Lite Taurus (Finished 2nd) -- "Oh man, I want it real bad, I just didn't get it. I finished second. That was a really good run for the car all day long. We've had fast cars the last couple weeks and, man, we just screwed up in handling, but today we hit it right on. The old hot-rod was really strong today. Two tires was the right call pretty much most of the day. In fact, I think two tires ran faster than four tires most of the day, so that's kind of weird but it happened. We're trying to hold on in the points and trying to do the best job we can. The pit stops were good. I'd like to thank all the guys. I'd like to congratulate my buddy, Larry Dixon, on his championship in top fuel in NHRA. I thought that was really cool beating that Bud car and I'd just like to thank everybody." DID IT BOIL DOWN TO TRACK POSITION? "We had a pretty easy top five, top six car all day long and I really felt we could have won the thing at the end there, but Matt was just too tough. He had that clean air out in front and was just motoring."

MARK MARTIN --6-- Viagra Taurus (Finished 4th) -- "We had a car that could contend, we just didn't get the track position. Maybe we should have taken two there at the end. I was really thinking about it, but we also didn't want anything to go wrong there. We had a great car, it was a contender, we just weren't in the front when it was over." AND NOW THERE'S ONLY ONE TO GO. "Thank goodness." WHAT ABOUT YOUR RUN? "That was a fantastic race car. There weren't any cars on the track faster than us, it's just that we weren't faster than the top five there either. We didn't manage to put ourselves out front. If we would have done that, we could have stayed there but that's the way it was. It was an equal day for the top five cars and we just didn't do what we needed to do to get out front there. It was great pit strategy that won the race and a great race car with the Viagra Taurus ran fourth." DID YOU DISCUSS TWO TIRES? "I did. That's OK. We can't afford to do anything stupid either, so four tires was the conservative route." IS YOUR TEAM PEAKING AT THE END? "We started off the year pretty darn good too. We had a lot of bad luck in the summer and that dropped us back, but I'm very pleased with where we're at right now. You could certainly say we didn't fall off at the end. We've been fighting back hard."

MATT KENSETH --17-- DEWALT Power Tools Taurus -- VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW -- ARE YOU SURPRISED WITH FIVE WINS? "I know we have a great team. They've proved that in the pit stop competition every year so far, so I know we've got a great team behind me. But the way we ran last year, I wasn't planning on winning five races. I thought if we could get back to Victory Lane that would be a great accomplishment for us and I haven't really had the time to sit and think about it. It's been amazing to be able to win all these races this year. It's been unbelievable." YOU'VE WON ON ALL TYPE OF TRACKS? "Robbie thinks this is the prettiest race car in the world. He built this thing brand new for the Richmond fall race. It only has two races on it. We won there and we won here with it, so we might have to re-paint it and take it to Homestead."

DAVE BLANEY --77-- Jasper Engines Taurus (Finished 7th) -- "We were real happy with the car. Early on in the long run it was really nice. The second half of the race we tightened up a little bit where we could just kind of hang. We couldn't really gain on anybody and we couldn't get it freed up enough. We couldn't catch up with it so we kind of hung there. It was a solid day for the Jasper guys and I'm happy for that." ANY THOUGHTS OF TWO TIRES? "Yeah, but it was just too big of a gamble. We hadn't done it all day and they had. Maybe we should have, but we thought we were pretty solid with four. In the long run early in the race we were as good as anybody so that's what we were kind of hoping it would go back to, but it didn't quite work out. Still, it was a pretty good run." HOW DOES IT FEEL TO KNOW YOU GUYS CAN RUN THIS WELL? "You finish with a day like this and you say, 'My God, that's easy. How come we can't do that all the time?' But it's putting all the little pieces of the puzzle together. We had a good car right from the outset this weekend. It was good in qualifying and good in race trim and that's what it takes -- something that's really close. Ryan and those guys did a great job and you can just fine-tune it from there, instead of having to throw big things at it."

DALE JARRETT --88-- UPS Taurus (Finished 9th) -- "We never got the car exactly the way we wanted it. We were too tight in the middle of the corner and that kept us from going fast. We tried two tires once and that didn't exactly work out the way we'd hoped, but it was worth a try."

KURT BUSCH --97-- Rubbermaid Taurus (Finished 6th) -- YOU'VE MOVED INTO THIRD PLACE IN POINTS. " It's almost scary because we're only nine out of sixth, so we're gonna keep running like we have. We had a great car today, but it just didn't match up with that last set of tires. That's a bit disappointing, but we've showed time and time again that the Rubbermaid Ford can usually adapt to different tire sets. We had a great set of tires when we didn't pit and that's when we led a lot of laps and stayed out front. That last set, I made an adjustment to tighten the car up, but it went loose on us and that's why we fell back a little bit. It's great to see Mark Martin competing like he is and I'm real happy with the points day we had. It's on to Homestead and it's gonna be a doozey down there. I'm real excited about it and, hopefully, we can run strong and get that third in points." YOU MUST BE EXCITED ABOUT THE WAY THIS YEAR IS FINISHING? "It's like a perfect blend of chemistry everywhere -- whether it's on pit road, at the shop. I'm just so impressed with the way these guys have been able to adapt to me and the way Jimmy Fennig controls the situation. It's just too much fun and with Matt Kenseth winning today -- congratulations to him -- and all of the Roush teams, there's too much to smile about but, yet, we've got a lot of work to do next week." THOUGHTS OF TWO TIRES? "No, we were pinned up against a rock and a hard place with our toe being bent out. We got in a wreck on pit road on lap 30 of the race, so we were scared a little bit about what our right-front tire wear was doing, so we had to be conservative. We took four tires and it ended up where two tires were quicker today, so we're still scratching our heads about that." WHAT HAPPENED ON PIT ROAD? "We were pulling out of our pit box and the crew chief said, 'Beat the 6, uh, can't beat the 6, pull in behind him,' and whether he said pull in behind him, I don't think he did, I just assumed that there wasn't a car behind him and I ran into Kenny Wallace. I feel bad about that. I ruined his door and I ruined our chances of keeping the toe straight, so it made for an interesting day. The car would adapt differently to different tire sets. We'd make an adjustment to make the car tight and it would go looser on us. We were really struggling down in one and two when the shade was coming further and further onto the track, but, all in all, it was a good day for the Rubbermaid Ford."

ELLIOTT SADLER --21-- Motorcraft Taurus (Finished 10th) -- "I tell you what, I had a ball racing today. It was a lot of fun, we ran in the top 10 all day. I just thought we were gonna be a little looser than what we were that last run, we were just way too tight to race with anybody and it's a shame. I had a top six or seven car and at least we got a top 10 with it. I mean, that's what we want to do with this race and at Homestead, finish the season with two top 10s with the Wood Brothers. We learned so much at that Homestead test. That's definitely the best we've ever run on a flat track and that's all due to the testing that they've done. It'll be a great job to go to Homestead and do the same thing."

RICKY RUDD --28-- Havoline Taurus (Finished 13th) -- "We really struggled this weekend. We unloaded and the car was very loose. We never got it figured out until today. Raymond (Fox) made a lot of changes this morning and the car was better today. We worked on it and got it pretty good. I'm really proud of these guys. They fought all weekend long and we ended up alright. Raymond did a great job leading this team this weekend."

RUSTY WALLACE PRESS CONFERENCE -- YOU WERE RIGHT THERE? "Yeah, I really had a great car all day long. Man, I don't know where we're at in the points right now, but I know it's really, really tight. We've got one race left to go and I hope we can win my first race of the year at Homestead next week. I really thought we could do it today. We had a strong car and had ourselves in position many times and just wasn't able to do it." YOU'RE TIED FOR FOURTH. "That's amazing how close the points are. You race all year long and the points end up that close. I just hope to God we get to Homestead and nothing goes wrong and we have a good, strong run there. We had a car scheduled to come out here, we called it our 27 car. We tested it in St. Louis and learned some things at St. Louis for this race track. We got back, put another car in the wind tunnel, found one better and decided to bring it, which is the car I raced today. We said, 'Boy, if we get through this race clean without a scratch on it, we're gonna have to take it back home, clean it up and take it straight to Homestead.' It doesn't have a scratch on it, so I get my best bullet going to Homestead this weekend and let's hope it'll work down there." POINTS AND THE STREAK NEXT WEEK. THERE'S A LOT ON THE PLATE? "Yeah, there's no doubt about that -- there's a lot on the plate. It's gonna be a high intensity week next week. I'm gonna go down to Homestead on Wednesday and relax and get ready for the big race and work real hard on the chassis setup and try to get a good, solid qualifying run. I qualified 29th here, which was terrible, but, I tell you what, we got through the pack real, real fast. That didn't seem to hurt us and made it about up to 12th or 13th. We two-tired it and made it farther up and then drove it up to second, but I don't want to have to do that again next week. I'd like to qualify a little better and not have to work so hard." HOW MUCH DOES TESTING HELP? "I think that everybody that tested Homestead or anybody that tested Phoenix had an advantage. Gordon tested here and ran really strong here. Last week he tested Rockingham and ran real strong there, so I think testing does help a lot. Ryan is out of test dates and I'm out of test dates, but we're just gonna give it our best. We've been talking to a lot of people about what setups they've been running down there and what's been happening, so we're gonna throw it in a big 'ol barrel and stir it all up and see if we come out with some honey." WAS YOUR LAST STOP TWO TIRES? "Yeah, it was a two-tire stop. Four tires before that and then two tires at the very end. We only had 28 laps on the left-hand tires and I did a stop earlier in the day with 24 laps and the car ran real great, so we were real confident at the end of the day that we could do that again."

RUSTY WALLACE CONTINUED -- YOU CHASED THE 17 FOR A LONG TIME. "I just couldn't get him. Man, that clean air was just incredible for the cars. You can just get out in that clean air and rocket. I had some pretty clean air too, but they were reading me the times off and the leader was 28.50 and I was 28.50. The leader was 28.52 and I was 28.48. It was going back and forth like that. It was leader 28.60 and you 28.40 like you like to hear. It was like I'd get a little bit and then he'd get a little bit. It was just going back and forth and I could pretty well tell it was gonna be a tough deal, unless he popped a motor or blew a tire right there at the end." WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STAY OUT FRONT IF YOU HAD GOTTEN OUT OF THE PITS FIRST? "I really do. I think if I got out front, I'd have pulled away just like that. I tell you, those first two laps are incredible with how much you can jump out and then maintain that. You can just jump out there and get in that clean air and those guys are back there struggling. I looked back in my rearview mirror and saw all of those guys with new tires just falling back. I thought, 'What in the world is going on here,' but I think it's really got something to do with the pressure already being up in the tires and then you let everything cool. The tires are real hard and they don't wear too much, so they were able to two-tire it." THIS CAR TO HOMESTEAD? "We're gonna take this car straight to Homestead. It's probably our best car in the shop, so we're gonna take it back and get it ready and call Larry Wallace and get our best, strongest engine we can possibly come up with. That's what I asked him for this week. I said, 'I don't ask you for a lot, but I do want the very best engine in the house in that 2 car this week,' and he said, 'No problem,' and it was a good engine." HOW DO YOU HANDICAP TONY AND MARK NEXT WEEK? "I'd rather be in Tony's seat, no doubt about that. Trying to make up 80 points, that's a lot. Basically, Mark's got to have a pretty good day. If Tony has a failure, then Mark's got it because you can lose 151 in one race if he wins and you finish dead last. I guarantee you they're both going into that last race with the trigger pulled off the safety and they're going for it." WHAT DID YOU THINK STARTING THAT FAR BACK? "We had a good practice session last night. We tried a lot of things that we don't normally run for our springs and things like that, and I had a really good indication last night that it was running really good. But I've got to tell you, I had that same indication going into Atlanta this year and I started the race and got really, really loose. I got my track position so screwed up that I couldn't make it up all day long. I ended up getting lapped only because when I was sitting in the pits, the leaders were still on the track. I had a real fast car. That kind of happened again at Rockingham last weekend. I was like, 'Man, I can't believe this.' I just came out of Charlotte and ran fifth, I go to Martinsville and run great, and I both of these track I run great, but I finally got it back today. I got my rhythm back and got my mojo going on again, so we're looking forward to next week." WILL YOU FEEL BAD FOR BILLY IF YOU DON'T WIN THIS WEEK? "I love the guy, he's great. If we don't win Homestead, which we are, we're gonna go to the Daytona 500 and we may win that sucker (laughing)."

MATT KENSETH PRESS CONFERENCE -- WHAT ABOUT THE LAST STOP? "Yeah, our last pit stop was a big key point of the race. The other thing was when we ran out of gas, we didn't get a lap down and that was a big help too. But the last pit stop, to get two tires, our car really worked well on two tires today instead of four for some reason. It was actually faster on two, so when we got two that last time, I got clean air and got up front. I was able to pull away right away and that was a big advantage."

JACK ROUSH, Car Owner --17-- DEWALT Power Tools Taurus -- WHAT ABOUT THE ROUSH CONSISTENCY THIS YEAR? "We've had a building year. We're looking forward to an even greater 2003. We expect to bring virtually everybody back that's got key position in the teams and it's been just an awesome year. Matt's had the kind of year this year that he hoped to have last year, and, of course, it didn't work out for us. Mark's back on the trail. Kurt is certainly on a mission and Jeff Burton is renewed with his new crew chief and his testing program."

KENSETH CONTINUED -- WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU RAN OUT OF GAS? "I was in almost the worst place you can be when you run out of gas. It started, I was past the pit entrance obviously and I was almost to the start-finish line and it started faltering. It kind of kicked up again and faltered again and the engine was totally off by the time I got to turn two, so I had to coast all the way around. I slowed up extra getting on pit road because I didn't have a tach reading to get on pit road and I was scared of speeding, so I slowed up extra getting on there. So by the time I got to my pit, we were real slow. We basically stayed on the lead lap because we had a really fast four-tire stop. They did a good job of getting fuel in the carburetor and fuel in the fuel cell right away and getting it cranked up. And we had a fast car. I think we were leading at the time, even though it was through green flag cycles. But before the pit stops started I believe we were in the top five or thereabouts, so that's what kept us on the lead lap." ARE YOU SURPRISED NOBODY ELSE TRIED TWO TIRES? "The 2 car did and you've got to remember we were running third at the time, so it got us two spots and that's the two spots we needed. It's an advantage to be up front, but, still, if the tire wasn't like it was today, usually four tires will still prevail with 50 laps to go. Almost every time you'd rather have four tires and get by, but just for some reason, my car felt better on two. If track position wasn't an issue and I could get two or four today and only had 20 or 30 laps on my left sides, I'd rather have two because my car was faster on 'em. So, that's something that's never happened to me in my racing career, but that's how our car was today." DID ROBBIE SAY ANYTHING WHEN YOU RAN OUT OF GAS? "Sorry (laughing). No, he didn't say too much. He just told me where the leader was and I was able to get away from the leader a lot because he was in some traffic and I was able to put about a straightaway on 'em and then we caught a quick caution and got caught back up. We just concentrated and tried not to take our eyes off the target and tried to concentrate on getting some track position back. We lost a bunch doing that and we had to concentrate on trying to get it back and that's what we worked on."

ROUSH CONTINUED -- THE 25 POINTS WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO MARK NEXT WEEK. YOUR THOUGHTS ON ANY APPEAL? "Roush Racing's president Geoff Smith is really in control of this situation. I am so upset, so out of my mind, that I can't organize a decent thought that would be reasonable to set a strategy around. Geoff is looking at the thing, but, by my arithmetic, that's the third time something that was unwarranted and unjust and untimely has happened to me and I don't forget those things."

KENSETH CONTINUED -- HOW CERTAIN WERE YOU IT WAS OVER AFTER RUNNING OUT OF GAS? "I wasn't sure at all my day was done. Obviously, you're upset for a lap or two and you think about it a little bit, but, if you say my day is done and you give up, we wouldn't be sitting here. You just have to keep working. Obviously, it's frustrating and if we didn't get the car cranked back up and lost a lap and there was a quick caution, if we were a lap down it would have hindered our efforts, and it still did make it a lot more difficult for us to be able to pull off the win, so it was a little bit upsetting. But, yet, that is the first time since I've been with Robbie in '97 that he's ever run me out of gas, so that's a pretty good record."

KENSETH CONTINUED -- WAS TRACK POSITION IMPORTANT OR CLEAN AIR IN BUILDING THE LEAD? "It's a combination of many things, but the biggest thing that helped me get the big lead -- besides not having anybody in front of me for the first time all day -- was the tire situation. On two tires my car would really take off. Even on qualifying day here, if you'd run a lap and go right back out 10 minutes later, you'd run faster than you would on cold stickers, so it just seemed like the tires would take off when they were used like that -- at least for the first few laps. They'd give up a little at the end, but they'd take off right away. That was a big key. It still does help to be in the front. I had a great handling race car today, but when you got behind people you still had to really, really work hard to get by 'em. It would still make my car a lot, lot tighter than it was if I wasn't with anybody. So that's just kind of the nature of the beast and the way racing is today. It makes it tougher to pass, but, yet, if you can get your car to handle good enough you can still pass." DID YOU TALK TO ROBBIE ABOUT THE FUEL SITUATION GOING TO VICTORY LANE? "I was just joking with my guys, our jackman, Russ Strupp, he was the crew chief on our Busch car for a few years and when Jeff Vandermoss hurt his back, Russ came in and filled in as jackman. As it so happened with the way our Busch deal and everything went, that Jack and everybody brought him on full-time, so now he works for Roush Racing and he's our full-time jackman and fabricator in our shop. We were in Atlanta one time and we were leading the race in the Busch car and Russ was my crew chief. We were leading the race and I watched everybody pit and we were the last one out there, and he ran me out of gas. I give him a hard time about that. I've been teasing him about that for three years, so today I said we must have let Russ figure the fuel mileage. That's all I said. I was just giving Russ a hard time."

ROUSH CONTINUED -- DO YOUR OTHER THREE CARS BECOME BLOCKERS NEXT WEEK TO GIVE MARK A BETTER CHANCE? "The short answer to that is no. We are one race team that races four cars, but the feeling of fair play does pervade the team. If Tony Stewart wins by more than 25 points, we'll certainly celebrate his victory as we should, as being our champion going into next year and the guys, I'm sure, without any conversation, will give him every consideration to have clean track and an opportunity to do what he needs to do." CAN YOU CHARACTERIZE THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS WITH THE BUSCH TITLE AND THE POINTS SITUATION? "I feel like I'm 16 years old when I was a sophomore in high school and my most unfavorite teacher gave me a good conduct award. That's what a NASCAR championship means to me right now." HOW DOES YOUR TEAM'S EFFORT BOOST YOU FOR NEXT YEAR? "I don't want to sound greedy on this thing and I'm certainly not cocky. The year we had last year took me to my absolute knees. I was pretty sure I wasn't gonna be able to do this thing, but the way we've been running lately and after Kurt had won his two races, I was really looking forward to a sweep. I was disappointed. I was happy for Johnny Benson, but I was disappointed we were not able to win the last five."

KENSETH CONTINUED -- WHAT'S IT LIKE TO WORK FOR JACK? "It depends on the day (laughing). Really, we're one big team. I honestly have to say that everytime I've asked Jack for something, and it works this way for everybody on the team, if we need something and we have a good case to support it and it's something reasonable, he gives it to us. It doesn't matter what it costs or how hard it is to get, he gives us whatever we need to race and that's my favorite thing about Roush Racing. If we want to build a car and put the body on backwards, if we've got a good case to support why it will be better, he'll let us build it. We have a lot of freedom to do the things we need to do to be good race teams. Sometimes we maybe have a little bit too much freedom and that's why we had years like last year, but, yet, it helps us learn to have years like this year and we're hoping that with the combination we have right now -- it seems Jimmy (Fennig) and Robbie being in the same building with me and Kurt has really seemed to help the program out a lot. And with the addition of Randy Goss and Greg Biffle, I think it's gonna make the team stronger too. We have a great organization and everything is going really good right now." ANY WORRIES THE LAST 20 LAPS? "It's easy to say afterwards no and it's smooth sailing, but I always do. Two of these races this year -- Michigan we were leading with three to go and they threw a red flag. We ended up winning, which was good, and Rockingham in the spring we were leading with four to go and a yellow came out and they almost got a red flag out of it. So it's not over till it's over. I get real nervous on those restarts and even if you have a good-sized lead and you're winding down to the end of the race, until I see three or four to go, I don't get comfortable at all because I know that they'll still throw that red flag. Sometimes the red flag is good and sometimes a lot of bad stuff happens with 'em, so it kind of makes the leader a target. So I always worry about that more than anything." YOU'LL HAVE THE MOST WINS THIS YEAR. HOW DOES THAT TRANSLATE TO A TITLE BID NEXT YEAR? "I mean, we had several things that cost us points. If you look back, the single biggest thing is the driver making mistakes. I've been places and lost my head a little bit. I've been so excited about running good this year that maybe sometimes I've overdrove my cars and made some mistakes. Like at Watkins Glen, for instance, we probably had a third or fourth place car -- or better -- and I drove it into the sand trap on lap 10. That's just stupid, so those kind of things I have to be smarter with. We broke some parts and pieces earlier in the year that I think we learned from and made them better, so, hopefully that will be better. Hopefully, I'll make less mistakes and we'll make less mistakes as a team. It's all about the guy who is the most competitive, but it's also about the guy who is the smartest and can get his car to the end of the race every week."

ROUSH CONTINUED -- HOW WILL YOU HANDLE THIS WEEK? "Mark, from time to time, gets down on himself -- to the point of destruction, to the point of not being productive. We had talked a little about his dad today, about Julian Martin, before the race started in the hauler. I stuck my head over the window and made an unpleasant reference to the car. I said, 'Just treat it like Julian Martin was sitting beside of you today. Just go for it.' But, anyway, I'm just trying to keep Mark focused. It would be great if he could win another race. It would be great if he could close on Tony, but Tony definitely has got the edge and it's based on NASCAR's action and the way Tony and that team has run all year. They've been the best team and the 25 points wouldn't have reversed the standings right now, it would have just made it closer."

KENSETH CONTINUED -- WHAT ABOUT ALL THESE WINS? "I don't know how to explain this properly, but in the Busch Series after we won five or six races, I'd be pretty comfortable. I knew we'd go to the track and we'd be one of the cars to watch and we'd have a shot at winning and should be able to win three or four or five races a year, if we have an average year. I don't feel like that over here. It's so competitive and so tough. I'm still surprised with all the wins this year, but I'm still surprised we've won 'em. I'm real grateful for the wins, I'm real surprised and when I show up at the race track I don't think, 'Man, we can win this weekend.' I think about trying to qualify in the top 25 and I think about trying to run with the leaders and put ourselves in position to win. I don't have that comfort level over here where I think next week I'm gonna go to Homestead and qualify in the top 15 and be one of the leaders and have a shot to win. I don't have that comfort yet. It's just so competitive over here. Some weeks we run great, like Rockingham, we won the spring race. We showed up last week and finished eighth, but we didn't run that good. We were a 15th-20th place car all day and through good pit work and strategy we got an eighth-place finish. It's so easy to miss it a little bit and it's so competitive that I don't get too far ahead of myself. I still enjoy 'em when they come and just hope that more of 'em come."