NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2016
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CAT CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:
TELL US YOUR VIEW OF THE NEW ‘OT’ SITUATION. HOW IS THAT GOING TO WORK VERSUS THE OTHER WAY?
“I think the overtime line in that situation is a halfway safe guarantee of giving the fans something they deserve and at the same time trying to keep it safe for us. The multiple-attempt part of it is a good thing. No matter what kind of system we have, there always will be an opportunity of manipulation. It’s up to the drivers as responsible representation of their owners, the series and themselves to not have what happened at Talladega again.”
THE MEDICAL WAIVER… KYLE (BUSCH) USED THAT PRETTY GOOD EFFECT. HOW DO YOU FEEL KNOWING THAT IT’S SORT OF THERE? YOU CAN MISS TWO RACES AND BREAK YOUR WRIST, MISS TO RACES AND IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL ANYMORE…
“We don’t officially know that yet, right?”
WELL, SORT OF.
“You’ve got a situation where somebody crashed a racecar at a racetrack, then you have one that’s totally opposite where it’s not racing-related. We haven’t gotten the official announcement on if that’s is the case, right? As far as we know… If it wasn’t the year that someone was retiring, would it be the case?”
BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO YOU THINK IT’S OUT THERE TO USE IF YOU’RE HURT?
“It’s nice to know that it’s potentially there to use if you’re hurt. But there are no guarantees. It’s not what I want for myself or my sponsors to have to go through that. There’s a lot of things that you guys probably don’t see or know or think of when it comes to what happens when that situation does occur.”
WOULD IT CHANGE YOUR THINKING ABOUT GETTING IN THE CAR IF YOU HAD YOUR ARM IN A CAST OR SOMETHING?
“I think the situation today is more a matter of if they’ll let you drive and not do you want to drive or can drive. That’s the tough part, whether it’s a concussion or broken arm or whatever. It really is up to somebody from what I understand – not a board of people – to give you that waiver. If I was physically capable whether I had a cast or a splint on my tongue, I would still want to be in a racecar. And I know Tony does but his situation is different. It’s different than a cast on your arm. I’ve seen guys with patches on their eyes drive racecars and drive them really well, and that would be one of the things that would consider to be more powerful than a broken arm.”
LOOKING AT YOUR DAYTONA 500 WIN, HOW DID THAT CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
“It changes people’s impressions of who you are. It’s like having the ultimate hardcard walking around Daytona. It doesn’t change how I do things, what I do or how I think. But it changes people’s impressions of me in a good way, which is what you want compared to some other things out there. But having that credential is amazing. From my dad’s standpoint having him spot for me and with the things we did to get down here, which I’ve talked about several times in several different ways, it made it ultra-sweet.”
TO BE INTRODUCED AS A DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION, HOW DOES THAT FEEL?
“To be able to say it in the same sentence as a Brickyard 400 champion is what’s really special. There are some guys who work their whole career and never win a race. To have both of them is pretty special. I’m not trying to pat myself on the back. I’m just saying that you’re in a group with Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, Jaime McMurray… even Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t won the Brickyard. So there are a lot of guys who have great reputations that haven’t done it.”
TO WIN IT FOR RCR AND GIVEN THEIR HISTORY WITH DAYTONA, CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW THAT WOULD BE?
“Yeah, we’ve been working really hard to get our first win together. We haven’t done it yet but there would be none sweeter than Sunday evening.”
YOU MENTIONED EARLIER THAT ARE SO MANY THINGS THAT PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE…
“Just with responsibilities to sponsorship and things like that that get handled in so many different ways. You may have a sponsor that says, ‘That’s OK we’ll just put somebody else in the car.’ Or you might have someone who says, ‘We have to change our deal.’ That’s part of the business, but it’s a part that the fans don’t quite see or understand.”
THE NOTION OF SOMEONE DRIVING YOUR CAR FOR ONE RACE…
“I’ve only done that with respect to what I had to do when my wife was pregnant, and someone had to get in the car to practice it. That is a unique situation in itself. It’s probably a different situation because you’re physically able but you’re watching someone else versus when you’re not physically able or physically cleared to and you know it has to happen.”
YOURS WAS A DIFFERENT SITUATION BECAUSE YOU WERE BACK IN THE CAR LATER THAT WEEKEND, BUT THE NOTION THAT SOMEONE ELSE DRIVES YOUR CAR?
“It’s a mixed feeling because you want to see your car do well but you don’t want it to do better than what it would do when you’re in it. That’s a tough one and a catch-22.”
A BUNCH OF YEARS AGO, WE GOT SERIOUS ABOUT HEAD AND NECK RESTRAINTS. LAST YEAR KYLE HITS THE INSIDE WALL AND EVERYONE IS PUTTING SAFER BARRIERS ANYWHERE THEY CAN. DO YOU HAVE A FEEL FOR WHERE THE NEXT AREA OF SAFETY IS GOING TO FOCUS?
“To me, it’s two things and I don’t know one is more important than another. We need to get rid of the grass – the grass in the tri-oval and the grass at the end of the backstretch. You saw what Jimmie Johnson did cutting across there. If his nose would have snagged the grass the wrong way, he would have flipped over and could have ended up in the lake or close to it. There’s a lot of things we need to keep our eyes on. Did he stay safe? Yes. Did he stay off the wall? Yes. Did he rip the nose of his car unnecessarily? Absolutely.
“The other thing – and NASCAR has done a better job at it but we haven’t perfected it all – is a place like Daytona which is a multi-use facility is narrowing up the racing surface so we can only hit at a certain angle. That’s the ultimate thing. You don’t want to change and increase your angle to the point where it becomes more dangerous. Kyle Busch’s crash was the best worst-case scenario. There were no SAFER Barriers, he had an increasing angle of impact as he got down there and still hit going really fast. One of the tracks where I’ve seen that happen the best, with the exception of the grass deal, is Pocono. They’ve brought the inside wall out so that we’re not having that situation. Daytona has its own challenges, but there’s a fix for everything. It’s just a matter of spending time, money and effort to do it right.”
YOU HELPED BREAK GROUND ON DAYTONA RISING WITH CATERPILLAR? NOW TWO OR THREE YEARS LATER, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO YOU?
“To be honest, I haven’t seen all of it. I’ve only been on the inside of it, which hasn’t changed much from my perspective because I’ve only been in the garage. But I’ve heard some pretty impressive things on the outside. The garage is still a horrible layout, by the way!”
ARE YOU GOING TO TRY AND GET IN IT TO SEE WHAT IT’S BECOME?
“If I get up there for something, then yes. Otherwise it doesn’t really affect me. I know NASCAR wants me to say great things about the changes that have happened, but it’s really up to the fans to be here and pass the word themselves. That’s what we need to have to fill the stands. There aren’t enough drivers to go around and fill the stands.”
YOU MENTIONED GRASS BEING A CONCERN. ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT DURING A GREEN-FLAG STOP THAT THERE MAY BE A CAR THAT GOES THROUGH THE GRASS AND TOWARD A CREW CHANGING TIRES…
“Yes, I’ve always said every track should have a pitwall to protect the crews. Something like Michigan or a place like that. For the most part, it’s SMI tracks like Charlotte, Texas and Atlanta… those places like that where you have to play out the worst-case scenario. We’ve seen it happen at different racetracks. I remember Jeff Gordon ended up on pit road, Steve Park ended up on pit road. Some things have changed because we’ve added SAFER Barriers so the cars don’t recoil quite as much as they used to. But it’s still a concern of mine, especially with qualifying and qualifying procedures with everyone being out on pit road. I understand the concept of it, but having the guys on one side of the race car versus the other is just kind of delaying the negativity. You’re still going to have a car come through there; if a car hits a car it’s going to move it and squeeze a guy into another racecar. I don’t know exactly what we’re achieving. I know it’s a mental effort in the right direction. We just need to have the physical effort there.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE ON THE DRIVERS’ COUNCIL?
“I have mixed emotions. There’s nothing wrong with being too opinionated as long as you know what you’re talking about. The hardest part is having people understand what you’re talking about and getting them on-board. That’s what any kind of council is all about – having the right input at the right time to make people understand your perspective, your opinion and your educational background. To answer your question, parts of me do and parts of me don’t.”
WHY?
“I’m not really a people person. I like using my education to help people but it’s really hard to get them to understand because they kind of become biased that I do have an education. Sometimes with other drivers, it seems to be a language barrier or perspective. It’s a good thing from the drivers’ council aspect to be part of our sport. I’ve listened in on a couple of meetings and read some notes. It’s a good thing to have that common voice. Like any other situation, it has to be handled the right way. From what I’ve seen, there is a lot of positive feedback and a lot of positive reception from both the owners as well as NASCAR in some of the things we’ve brought up. It may be something as simple as hardcards for our kids or something like that. But it’s all in respect to making it a better place for everybody here.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CHARTER SYSTEM?
“From what I’ve learned, from what I’ve talked to Richard Childress about and other drivers, it’s a great thing. It was sprung on us as drivers late, and I can understand that. But from what I’ve seen, most every owner has been respective of the driver in sorting things out because everything changed so much. I don’t think you can take the history of these owners and business people, and put them in a room and have something worse come out of it. I think they’ve done a really good job of protecting themselves for the future and giving the sport a better direction when it comes to the owners’ side of things. From our perspective as drivers, we’re independent contractors so we’re not even employees of our owners. But we’ve had a good relationship with our owners and they treat us that way so there’s a balance there. So it’s a good thing. Actually I think it’ll be a great thing.”
THE TWO BIG ONES ARE THE 500 AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP. EVERYONE WANTS BOTH OF THEM. IF YOU HAVE ONE, FROM A CAREER-COMPLETED STANDPOINT, DOES IT CHANGE YOUR NEED TO HAVE THE OTHER?
“No. It’s not a need. It’s not like I sit out there and say that I need to win this race or that race. I want to win all the races. I’m like most of the drivers. I don’t feel any part of my career is complete. I definitely want to win a championship, and now you have to win at least a race in the last 10 to do that. I think it’s fun to be able to come out here and compete. It gives you a different perspective after you’ve done it to do it again. But it doesn’t make you want to do it any less.”
DO YOU PLAN TO DO ANY MORE RACES OTHER THAN IN CUP?
“Three modified races. The two at Loudon, one at Bristol and potentially a Silver Crown race, just like I did last year.”
DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE?
“It’s not that I wish I could do more. I wish I could do more right, because I can do more. It’s really hard to do more right and be fair to my self, my sponsors, Richard Childress Racing and most importantly my family.”
WITH NASCAR PRIDING ITSELF ON BEING TRANSPARENT, IS IT A HEAD-SCRATCHER THAT AS PART OF THE NEW CHARTER SYSTEM THAT RACE PURSES ARE NO LONGER BE MADE PUBLIC? DOES THAT MAKE SENSE TO YOU?
“Yes, because it’s still transparent. It’s just not broadcast to the entire world. That doesn’t mean it’s not transparent. I don’t know what the president of Caterpillar is making today, so why does he need to know what I make. It’s a need-to-know basis.”
IS THE SYSTEM FAIR WHERE ONE GUY CAN MISS 11 RACES AND WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP?
“If Kyle (Busch) hadn’t been granted his waiver and did what he did, and if you did the math, everyone in here would say that it’s not fair. He deserved it. He worked his tail off and fought through rehab. It’s all documented. It’s not like he just waited a couple weeks to come back. He did it right. He came back for the All-Star race and proved he was competitive. Aside from the boos and the personality issues that some people have with Kyle Busch, he was a deserving champion.”
WHAT HAS RCR DONE IN THE OFFSEASON TO GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE THAT YOU’LL GET BACK INTO VICTORY LANE?
“Just working on the racecars is the biggest part. There have been some people changes that have happened for us. We have two engineers that have gone and two engineers from within RCR. That was the swap. Ultimately, it’s about people and working together – myself, Luke Lambert and the new engineers. We have to take all the tools we have to make them better and have a better understanding. It’s as simple and as complex as that.”
GOING BACK TO THE CHARTER SYSTEM, THE FACT IS THAT THE OWNERS WILL END UP GETTING MORE MONEY DUE TO THE DISTRIBUTION. DO YOU WANT A BIGGER PIECE OF THE PIE BECAUSE THEY’RE GETTING A BIGGER PIECE?
“I’ve only asked throughout my racing career to be paid fairly. That changes according to the economy, your team owner, your situation, your primary sponsors and your contracts. I’m not the kind of guy who needs X amount of dollars to make a living or I want X amount of dollars. I just want to be paid fairly.”