NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 PEAK ANTIFREEZE/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:
YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH THIS FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW. DESCRIBE THE WAY THE SEASON EBBS AND FLOWS.
“It’s momentum for sure. We’re locked in such a tight box rules-wise that if you can find one little advantage, you see a guy run really well until the rest of the garage catches up. There’s not a lot of secrets in the garage. People talk a lot, so if someone has an advantage then it gets evened out pretty quickly. You see momentum, though. Kyle (Busch) won four or five races in a short span. Joey (Logano) won three in a row in the fall. So there’s definitely a lot of momentum involved. But there are tricks and people catch on.”
WORD GETS AROUND, AND YOU CAN ONLY KEEP YOUR SECRET A SECRET FOR SO LONG?
“It’s a self-policing garage. Where we work, there’s only a few feet between cars. It’s hard to hide things. Again, there are grey areas in trying to figure out how to go fast.”
HOW STEEP IS CHASE ELLIOTT’S LEARNING CURVE GOING TO BE FROM MOVING UP FROM XFINITY TO CUP?
“It’s a whole different animal. Going up a step from Trucks to Xfinity would be like taking three steps to go to Cup. He’ll be fine. He’s in a good car with a good organization and good teammates. He’ll be fine.”
WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF HIM SO FAR?
“I’ve raced with him a few times – well, a dozen times in Xfinity. He actually wrecked me at New Hampshire and I wrecked him back. Then he was very apologetic about it. We had an issue and resolved it. He was a man about it.”
YOU’VE WON RACES AT WHAT YOU CALL YOUR FAVORITE TRACKS LIKE ROAD AMERICA AND THE MILWAUKEE MILE. WHAT WOULD BE NEXT?
“The Daytona 500. Indy was always No.1 on my bucket list and Daytona is No. 2. It all starts on Sunday.”
GOING BACK TO MOMENTUM, TONY (STEWART) WAS ALWAYS A LATE-BLOOMER IN THE SEASON AND YOU SEEM HAVE HAD MORE SUCCESS IN THE FIRST TWO-THIRDS OF THE SEASON. ARE THERE REASONS FOR THAT?
“I scratch my head about it too. The last four or five years, we’ve always been in the top-12 in points pretty much the entire first half of the year and then fell off. I wish I knew.”
YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH DIFFERENT CREW CHIEFS. DO YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT WHEN YOU CHANGE THAT THE TREND HAS STUCK WITH YOU?
“The sport is changing too. Slugger (Labbe) is an old-school crew chief and one of the best in the garage. The sport is so simulation-driven and very computer-driven, and Justin is more of an engineer. They’re two totally different type of guys and talented in their own right. We decided to go the technical route and made the Chase last year probably because we relied on our tools a little bit more. What you did in Bristol in March you can’t necessarily can’t do at Bristol in August. So I think that helped flatten our consistency curve.”
IS THAT PART OF THINGS THAT ARE CONSTANTLY CHANGING?
“It was hot versus cold. What worked in March maybe better than most, everyone has caught up and passed that in August. You see the same at Richmond and Texas in the spring and fall. The weather may be different, but the sport is always evolving. You’re always getting better and trying to make your car faster. If you had an advantage in the spring, you may not in the fall.”
INAUDIBLE.
“Our consistency was good. We needed to consistently finish better though. That starts with qualifying up front. We didn’t qualify very good as a company very well as a company. So we need to qualify better, maintain track position and lead laps. It starts in Daytona, goes to Atlanta, Vegas and every week is a new challenge and opportunity.”
YOUR TEAMMATE RYAN (NEWMAN) TALKED ABOUT CONCERN ABOUT GRASS CAUSING GUYS TO FLIP. HE ADVOCATED THAT GRASS SHOULD BE ELIMINATED. DO YOU AGREE?
“I’m all for that. I don’t think we need grass anywhere. It’s a safety hazard. It looks prettier than asphalt and is way cheaper than asphalt, but it is a safety hazard. I agree with him.”
WE SAW LAST YEAR WITH KYLE (BUSCH) THAT EVERYONE WANTED TO PUT SAFER BARRIERS EVERYWHERE. YEARS AGO IT WAS HEAD AND NECK RESTRAINT STUFF. WHERE IS THE NEXT AREA TO FOCUS ON?
“There’s a lot of guys working on it. The seat technology has gotten a lot better. We could probably have more of a cockpit style versus just a seat sitting on the chassis. I worry more about penetration into the racecar. Looking at the crashes at Daytona and Talladega with 20 cars crashing around, I worry more about something coming into the racecar than I do the seat bending or my head getting snapped.”