NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GOODY’S HEADACHE RELIEF SHOT 500
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 24, 2014
GREG ZIPADELLI, DIRECTOR OF COMPETITION FOR STEWART-HASS RACING, met with members of the media at Martinsville Speedway and discussed the crew chief (Daniel Knost and Tony Gibson) and team swap of the No. 41 Chevrolet SS and No. 10 Chevrolet SS teams. Full Transcript:
TAKE US THROUGH THE CHANGES THIS WEEK:
“This week obviously we have made some changes for Texas between the No. 10 and the No. 41. We are just basically looking to try to get both teams to be a little more consistent. They have had speed throughout the year, but haven’t necessarily put the whole season together all the races at the level that we expect from them. Tony Gibson has got a lot of experience. That group has been with a lot of veteran drivers. We just felt like it was worth moving him over to Kurt (Busch). We feel like his experience and things will help put that group together and get the finishes that we need out of that team. As far as Daniel (Knost) he is a young aggressive, very smart engineer. Danica (Patrick) is used to more of that dealing with the engineers from her background. She actually, a while ago, talked about having the opportunity to work with a younger engineer and build the relationship over time. I just kind of feel like it was the time to do it. We have three races with us not sure what the testing policy is for next year. This is a good opportunity for us to switch things up for Texas. The last three races and just see how things go.”
DANIEL (KNOST) IS THE INTERIM DOES HE HAVE THREE RACES TO EARN THAT JOB?
“No, we just have a lot of things going at Stewart-Haas. We have a lot of people moving here this fall. I would like to believe that Daniel will have that position. I think it is just kind of wait and see, Danica how she works with him and how they get along. Then with Haas F1 Matt (??) moving over there we have got a lot of things moving in our company. Daniel is going to be with SHR for a long period of time. It’s not a matter of whether he doesn’t do a good job there. He has done a great job. We really fed him to the wolves. He was a guy without a lot of experience. He won a race, made the Chase, it’s just been and up and down year. I think he has a lot of potential, we put him with Danica. I think they have got the opportunity to learn and grow together as Danica continues to grow every week. Like I said Kurt and (Tony) Gibson have a lot of experience in the past and hopefully the experience the two of them have we can put that together and make a pretty solid team.”
TONY GIBSON HE PUSHED HER BUT HE ALSO UNDERSTOOD HER. IS DANIEL KNOST GOING TO BE A DIFFERENT APPROACH?
“Yeah, I think more of a methodical build a relationship and work through things together, kind of that type of relationship more than maybe the Gibson. I think Tony Gibson and his guys have done a great job. She has come an amazing way in two years of Cup racing.”
QUITE A NUMBER OF DANICA’S FANS THEY HAVE BEEN QUESTIONING WHY UPSET THE APPLE CART THAT SEEMS TO BE GOING IN A GOOD DIRECTION? DO YOU THINK IT CAN BE EVEN BETTER THAN IT IS RIGHT NOW?
“I do. I think long term it’s the right thing. There might be a step backwards while they get to learn each other and they grow, but long term, a full year, two years from now I think their personalities between Daniel and Danica will work together much better. I think at the same time the same thing will happen on the No. 41 car. That is a team that we have to get going immediately. There isn’t a lot of time for growth. We know Kurt (Busch) is kind of in the prime of his career. We know that he can go out and win races and every race track we go to. We have got to give him that and we have to give Danica the ability to continue to grow and build a relationship with somebody, because she plans on being here a while. We just look at that and it’s kind of the best of both worlds right now. We have both people in house. One thing we don’t like to do is bring people in from the outside and try them. We like to try to promote and give the people at Stewart-Haas the opportunity. That is kind of why we elected to do what we did.”
FROM AN OUTSIDERS VIEW IT JUST SEEMED LIKE (TONY) GIBSON AND DANICA GOT A LONG REALLY WELL, SO WHY WOULD HER PERSONALITY FIT WITH AN ENGINEERING TYPE BETTER THAN A GUY LIKE GIBSON?
“That is what she grew up with. She came from IndyCar that is what they had. They dealt with a lot of engineers and the way they do things is a little different than the old school racer does things. She wants to know more about what they are doing and the comparisons and this and that and just trying to learn at the same time. She has made a ton of progress. Her speed on the race track, her qualifying is better, but our race finishes aren’t. At the end of the day that is really what counts. So how do we help and encourage that? Right now I just think that for where we are at this is a pretty good change. It should be very positive for our company as a whole. We need to have all four cars running more consistently week in and week out. That is what we need to do is to try and mix things up.”
ANYTHING COMING FOR THE NO.14?
“The No. 14 car is a different subject. These guys have gone through a lot. Chad (Johnston) has come in, new engineer, they are trying to learn each other plus deal with the situations they have gone through. We are looking at that situation completely different right now and we haven’t quite got to the end of what we are doing there. If changes need to be done we are just really trying to get that group to bond to work together to figure out what Tony (Stewart) needs. They went to this rules package and a lot of these things. They missed a lot of the testing last year with his (Tony Stewart’s) broken leg, this year with the incident that he had. That is a completely different element that I really don’t want to get into today.”
WERE THE CHANGES YOUR IDEA?
“As a team it’s something that we have talked about for a while. What do we need to do? Obviously, like I said Kurt (Busch) has not performed at a level that we expect. We know our cars are good because they have had speed at times. They have qualified up front. The No. 4 car runs up there. It’s not a matter of equipment, where I feel like last year we struggled a little bit. We got behind on our cars and this year I feel like we have made some pretty good progress. So know it’s a matter of matching personalities, getting engineers moving them around and things to get all four teams to work better together and to be able to build for the future.”
DO YOU THINK TONY GOES IN WITH INSTANT RESPECT WITH KURT THAN MAYBE DANIEL HAD?
“Yeah I think there is probably some truth to that. I mean that is just because he has worked with a lot of veteran drivers. He has been around a long time. Daniel (Knost) came in and like I said we fed him to the wolves. We put that deal together really late and we wanted to give somebody internally the opportunity to grown and we did that. We are going to continue to give them that opportunity with Danica.”
DOES IT NOW COME DOWN TO THE NO. 4 AND THE NO. 24 VERSUS THE OTHER SIX IN THE REMAINDER OF THE CHASE?
“It is the No. 4 against everybody else. Then, as far as allies, that is the only one we have in the next four races, if even that. Let’s face it. I’m sure Jeff (Gordon) is as hungry as Kevin (Harvick) is. So it will be business as usual for us. So, the information that we get from each other will remain the same as it’s been all year. Right now you are racing more than just that one guy. You get to Homestead, it’s whoever is in it, and you race those individuals. I don’t think you can worry about one particular team right now. Our job is to go out and be as consistent as we can, and try to win one of these races, and move on to the next round.”
WHY DIDN’T KURT AND DANIEL NEVER DEVELOP ANY CHEMISTRY?
“I don’t know. They are just two different people. Daniel is a very methodical guy. He’s spent a ton of time in college learning the things that go on behind the scenes. Kurt is kind of more of an immediate want an answer results kind of guy. I really mean it. Daniel’s done a great job. When you look at a guy that has never crew chiefed anything, and you put him with Kurt, and you look at the finishes; the qualifying that they’ve had, and the win here. They won that race here head’s up. It wasn’t like it was a fuel mileage, or a tire race. They’ve done a good job. We just can’t wait another year for that to continue to grow. It is as simple as that.”
DID YOU NOT MAKE THE CHANGE THIS WEEK BECAUSE THEY WON THIS RACE IN THE SPRING?
“The last thing I want to do is disrupt what we have going on at the shop. By the time we got everything done, and everybody understanding where we were, there’s sponsors, there’s owners, there’s a lot of people, and a lot things behind the scenes that we kind of had to go through to get everyone on the same page. That gave us the opportunity to take all this week to get ready for Texas. I don’t want to go to Texas and have it be a bad show. We need to put our best foot forward. We could have done it for here, but I don’t think it would have given them the opportunity to think about their cars, and spend time with their drivers, and lay out a plan. Texas was the best opportunity for us I felt.”
WHAT WAS THE REACTION FROM THE TEAMS? INVIGORATED?
“Honestly everybody has been extremely excited about it. There’s been no pushback from the guys on the team; from the people in our company – they understand that the best thing we can do is to get four cars that run at more of a competitive pace every week. And it benefits those guys. There are bonus plans at the shop, and everything else is based on wins. So whatever we have to do to give our drivers their best opportunity, that is what we are going to do.”
IS TONY GIBSON EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH KURT’S PASSION IN THE COCKPIT?
“That is just one of those things that comes along with Kurt. He dealt with Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. back in the day, Michael Waltrip so I think he has heard it all. He’ll let it go in one ear, and out the other. I think because of his experience, the time he’s been in the sport, he will probably be able to handle that a little bit better. He’s been around a long time and dealt with a bunch of different people. He’s kind of toward the end of his career. At the shop we’ve talked a lot about the next couple of years of being moved into a position inside the shop to help our company grow. He’s not all revved-up, and young and worried about anything other than trying to go out and win races. I think in all honestly it is a really good opportunity for him with the cars he’s been building to go out and try to win a few races in the next year or two.”