MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA DAY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 13, 2019

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Daytona 500 Media Day to discuss returning as the defending winner of the 500, the opportunity to repeat as winner and many other topics. Full Transcript:

What has this been like coming back to this place knowing that you’re the reigning champion?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, man, it’s been really nice to come back to Daytona. I’ve met a lot of people here and created a lot of family and friends over time. I always feel comfortable coming here. It definitely struck some memories coming back, so when you come through the tunnel, knowing what happened last year is possible again in 2019, you just enjoy that moment.

We’ve had a good week so far and things have kind of gone as planned, and just trying to build off of what we’ve created so far.

How did it change your life, or did it?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, man, just ‑‑ it’s a race that sticks with you forever. We got to do a lot of great things, created a lot of memories. Yesterday was a lot of fun going to Disney World, taking another kid with me that had never been. That was kind of a part of our Daytona 500. It’s been a blast, really.

Did anyone give you any more change, lucky pennies?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, no, no, no more pennies. Hopefully the magic from magic kingdom rubbed off, though, so hopefully it stays with us until Sunday.

Only three people have ever repeated. How daunting or what kind of rarefied air is that?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, that’s pretty impressive only three guys have been able do it back‑to‑back, and I’d love to be a fourth. That would be very cool. It seems like a hard thing to do. This place is not easy to win at. That’s why it’s so special, and so many people haven’t won here. It’s just a ‑‑ this place, everything has got to line up. Everything has got to line up just perfectly for you to go to Victory Lane, and that’s what it’s all about.

Of all the perks, obviously the trophy and the money, but what kind of fun stuff stood out to you last year?

AUSTIN DILLON: I think one of my best favorite things I got to do was I had a media interview with Shaq on a podcast, and that was just cool. I thought Shaq was impressive, and his interview was cool with me, and we interacted well, and obviously traveled a lot of places. New York was fun, going on Live with Ryan & Kelly was nerve‑racking but I had a blast once I did it. So, a lot of cool things that go along with it. It’s definitely a whirlwind.

The unpredictability of this race, is it hard to game plan?
AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, it’s definitely very hard to make a game plan that’s predictable. I think the only game plan you can make is anything can happen, and you have to be ready for that, and your team has to be ready for that. Just be prepared for everything that could happen and could go wrong and try and make things that go around ‑‑ last year with about 17 laps to go we were a lap down. If you can get a lap back in that period of time and put yourself in a winning position, that’s pretty good.

Will we ever see this race ever not coming down to the final two laps?

AUSTIN DILLON: You mean like a leader pulling away from the pack?

Yeah.

AUSTIN DILLON: I don’t think it’ll ever be that unless some freak ‑‑ you mean like a restart with two to go? Oh, I don’t know. I think it can go green until the end. It has before, but more than likely there’s a caution at some point in time, but I think it’ll be a good race either way. If it’s not green or if it is green, it’ll always be a great finish.

How does not having your car chief affect you the rest of the week?

AUSTIN DILLON: Not too bad because we’ve got to get through ‑‑ depending on damage, though. We’ve got to get through the Duels. I’m hoping for a clean Duel, but we’ve got so much depth in our team right now. We should be just fine.

(Indiscernible) with those guys and then does losing your car chief impact that more?

AUSTIN DILLON: So, Danny was a car chief himself coming up through, so he should be just fine. And then our leading mechanic under him was his car chief from last year on the Xfinity side, so he’s got a guy that’s been car chief ‑‑ Ebert, our main car chief, has done a lot of work there in that position for a long period of time, but we’ve got guys that can fill the gap and do just fine for this weekend. Now, you go to other places where you’re making lots of adjustments in a small period of time and it probably hurts you worse, but not as bad here.

Could you talk about how you’ve been able to contribute to your grandfather celebrating a big anniversary with the team and you really carried right on with it in terms of ‑‑

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, it’s pretty special. 50 years of anything is a long time, and to be a part of it when the 50th year is going on, I think that’s special. Just trying to do my part and represent RCR well.

It took Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt so long to win the Daytona 500. You got that box checked off fairly early in your career. Therefore, do you come down here with less pressure on you?

AUSTIN DILLON: My pressure, I want to accomplish a lot of other things. It was so special winning the 500 and accomplishing it pretty early is great, but just want to continue to show the 3 fans out there that we’re going out and trying to get to Victory Lane every weekend and the RCR fans, and this is another big year. It’s the 50th year, and it’s cool having something each year you come here to push you because I feel like memories are made here in Daytona. If you look throughout history, the people that have won, there’s usually some hype going in behind them during that weekend of some reason.

Any time you have some kind of momentum coming into this place I think it’s good, whether it’s just a 50th anniversary or not.

When you think back, what was your lasting memory of last year’s race, crossing the finish line, celebrating afterwards?

AUSTIN DILLON: The celebration afterwards was pretty awesome. I remember looking up and going ‑‑ coming to the checkered flag off of Turn 4 and everybody is behind you. That’s a good feeling looking in the mirror where you know no one is going to get to you, and it’s over.

Just talked with your brother about potential chaos on these restarts with this new package. They’ve always been ramped up the last couple of years because that was your key time the first three or four or five laps to gain track position. Do you think that goes up another whole level in what happens now?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I think this year restarts are probably going to be more fire than usual. It’ll be more amped up. I feel like you’ll see guys spread from top to bottom trying to make time, and you’re hoping that your line moves forward. So, it’ll be impressive, I think. Once you get to Atlanta it’ll be a good show and then Vegas will really be wild on these restarts.

A lot of changes at NASCAR; looking down the road, how confident are you in this collaborative effort?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, I’m really confident in our leader in Jim France and what he’s doing. He’s really been involved and doing a lot with all of our owners and trying to make the best decision for our sport, and seeing some of the things that we’re looking forward to in the future, I think we’ve got a bright future ahead of us.

What would you like to see happen, schedule changes? What are some of the things you’d like to see happen?

AUSTIN DILLON: Truthfully as a race car driver, I’m just happy to be in NASCAR driving. For me, I’m happy. I mean, I really don’t care what they do as long as I get to keep driving, and I’ll support our guys and our leaders to the end for that, so I’m going to keep my mouth shut and do what I’m supposed to do, and that’s drive.

Do you think the season is too long and grueling?

AUSTIN DILLON: It’s a grueling season for sure, but you look at baseball, I’d hate to be a baseball player. They play so many games throughout a season. I’m not complaining. If it does shorten it, that would be great for us, would give us a little more time off. But I’m happy either way. It means a lot when you go out and you have to grind it out to the very end and have a good championship run because the strong survive in that series. Shorten it up, there’s some positives to that, too, for all of us, but it’s been this way for a while now.

Do you hear drivers complain at all about it being too long?

AUSTIN DILLON: I mean, I watch social media and I see other media outlets putting out what the drivers say, so I see what drivers put out there. Not that ‑‑ I just don’t care. I mean, I like being able to drive race cars. That’s my biggest deal.

40 years ago, Bobby Allison (indiscernible). When did you first see a clip of that?

AUSTIN DILLON: Man, when did I first see a clip of that? I’ve probably been seeing that clip for a long time since I’ve been watching a lot of Daytona 500s. I don’t know what my first clip would be, but I guess understanding it, understanding it and how important it was to our sport, I was probably 12, 13 when I really kind of got it, 14.

Is it that weird that a fight (indiscernible)?

AUSTIN DILLON: I think it’s ‑‑ there’s a lot of things throughout history and sports that don’t pertain necessarily to the sport that were important to the sport. You know, it’s huge because it’s entertainment, and that’s what we’re trying to do is entertain fans, and the moment we get away from that, we lose our fans. We need to stay entertaining and that’s a part of it.

Do you think we’ll ever see that again?

AUSTIN DILLON: I’ll tell you this year the way the package is there’s going to be a lot of aggressive racing, and I’m sure you’ll see some pushing and shoving, and if somebody can get a fist thrown, it’ll probably happen, but you never know.

Have you ever spoken to any of the three about that?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I got to have a really cool plane ride with Bobby, and it was cool hearing him tell different stories. Any time you’re around those legends, it just feels good to hear them talk and talk about the sport.

What was his take on it? Dale started it?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I think that’s their take.

His classic line was, “Then his fist began to hit my face, and that’s the end of the story,” or whatever.

AUSTIN DILLON: It’s pretty funny.

Could you talk about the benefits or how hard it is when you win the Daytona 500 in terms of chasing a championship? How much does your approach change or not when you win so early and you know you’re going to be in the playoffs?

AUSTIN DILLON: It was definitely hard being a first‑time winner last year and juggling everything that comes along with it, but I would never throw that away. It’s a championship in itself winning here, so it feels pretty dang good. But you’ve got to refocus at some point, and I think our team put together a really good championship effort in the final 10 races. We were in a position to make the next round, and I messed up at the Roval pretty much, and that took us out of the next round. We hunkered down and performed well until the end of the season.

It definitely took us a while to get our bearing straight with the Camaro ZL1, but after we did, I thought we did a good job finishing off the season. Middle of the season was a bit of a struggle, and I’m not going to attribute it to everything that went on with the 500, but we definitely weren’t where we needed to be after this race.

Will there be anything you’ll miss about restrictor plate racing?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, man, I don’t ‑‑ you know, it’s given me good times and bad times. You never know. I enjoy it. You’ve got to enjoy it because if you don’t, you begin to get bad at it because you look so negative toward it.

I don’t think I’ll miss it. I just hope what the next part that we do is fun and we can make moves and pass.

Did you sunburned yesterday?

AUSTIN DILLON: I got sunburned a little bit yesterday and then really bad the day before.

How was it hanging out with Jordan yesterday?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, man, it was so special taking his family around Disney World. They had never been to Disney World. That was their first time there, and just to see the smiles on their faces going down different rides, and I asked him who his favorite character was, and it was Mickey, so he got to meet Mickey, and just really special. Makes you think about how special life is and how thankful I am to be able to do what I do.

He was genuinely surprised to see you. I don’t think he was expecting you. That had to be ‑‑ to be in that position, to be that kind of role model to others, to genuinely surprise a kid like that must have been a nice warm and fuzzy?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yes, it was. He’s been ‑‑ something special about that kid since I moment I met him, and that’s why I kind of gravitated toward him, because he was so nice and just cared about what I said and felt and took it to heart. Any time that you make a connection with someone like that, you feel that you’re doing the right thing, and it feels good.

You mentioned last year you did have struggles in the summer. Do you think that was just getting used to the Camaro?

AUSTIN DILLON: Well, we just ‑‑ I don’t think we were ‑‑ we thought that what we had done in the off‑season with gaining the Camaro was going to be enough, and it wasn’t, so we had to decide to work harder to get to where we needed to be, so we were behind. I feel like building a new car, we weren’t as prepared as we needed to be when we got to the summer ‑‑ not to the summer but even before that. We started off pretty good at Fontana, we had a good run, but after that’s when I felt like our performances dropped off for a while, and we definitely needed to turn it around, and we did when it came down to it with the last probably 12, 13, 14 races of the year, we were right where we wanted to be.

When you won this race, did it change your mindset for how you viewed the rest of the season?

AUSTIN DILLON: On the ride home, you’re definitely ‑‑ every time you have a bad race, you’re justifying it, well, we won the 500, you know. So that is nice to have in your back pocket, but I think I’ll just respond differently now if I won it again, trying to stay on it each and every week, but you’ve still got to have the car capable of doing it and the speed out there each week to finish where you would like to finish, and that’s first.

Stay more even keeled kind of?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, it’s hard to stay even keel when you win this one. But we would definitely try to be ready each and every week.

Despite winning the 500, was one of the reasons you wanted Tyler Reddick and Casey Mears is just the power in numbers that you need for Daytona in the pack, with the Fords pulling everybody together and the Toyotas all working together? Did you guys feel like you needed more bullets in the chamber?

AUSTIN DILLON: No, I think it was just we had ‑‑ Reddick, they found a partner to run this race. Tyler is a very capable driver, he’s won here twice in the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, and to get him in the field, this is a big race for any team, and to have three cars, it’s really nice. I think it was a great call.

The Mears thing, RCR didn’t really have anything to do with that, that was Germain.

Do you think that benefits you, having that many Chevys?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I think so, but you saw how the drafting was in the Clash. It’ll be a little bit different when we get 40 cars out there and people splitting and doing things. Any time you have a guy that might could ‑‑ Bubba helped me win the race last year, so I guess yes. When you have a guy that’s behind you that’s going to stay with you at the end of the race or in front of you that you can help to win the race, two is better than one, so yeah, I guess it would be a positive for sure.

We’ve seen in years past at plate tracks the Fords and Toyotas work really well together, and the Chevy team’s kind of seem to be off on their own. You won last year like that, but can that really be the way going forward, or do Chevy teams need to ‑‑

AUSTIN DILLON: Chevy, if there is a plan, I haven’t heard it yet, for Chevy. That’s my answer.

Does there need to be?
AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I mean, if we get our tails kicked in like we did at Talladega, it’s going to look bad. But Daytona is a little bit different I feel like in the fact that handling is more in play, more often, where four cars getting in a line, the second and the third car in line probably aren’t going to handle as good, unless you’ve done a really good job on your homework. It’s hard to get everybody up there. What they did was so impressive. Their cars were unreal. They just led the whole race.

I don’t see that happening again. Penske did a really good job the other day I felt like of leading that pack, so that’s kind of scary. But with 40 cars out there, things change, and I do think it’s a good idea for us to get together and make some sort of game plan.
We do a pretty good job of trying to pit together and stay on the same pit strategies, so that’s something that will probably be talked about more and more as we get closer to the race, but yeah, we need to get together, I think, and work on that if that’s how the race is going to go.

You talk about working well together; does that just mean within the RCR technical alliance cars or all the Chevy cars?

AUSTIN DILLON: We’ve got our partner. Hendrick, I think they’ve got a game plan. They’ve got their game plan together. They’ve got four cars that took the first four spots. I feel like they spent a lot of time in the wind tunnel this off‑season for this race specifically, seeing what Stewart‑Haas was able to do at Talladega, and they took over the first four spots.

Our job, we have two cars in the top 10. That was really great. We go race the Duels, see how it plays out, and link ourselves with them or together, we just put ourselves in the right position.

Sometimes being the odd man out is not a bad thing because you get to play off everybody else’s strategy and stay with it. We’ll just see how it plays out. I’m not sure ‑‑ we’ll have a game plan as RCR and our alliance guys, but this race is just like the fighters say, when you get punched in the mouth, everything changes. It’s just kind of ‑‑ you roll with the punches and see what falls your way. But we definitely need a game plan when it comes down to it at the end.

There are a lot more calls on the RCR campus now, whether it’s Bubba, whether it’s Germain with the two cars now, so there should be power in numbers?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, we should have enough cars to ‑‑ even Brendan Gaughan, he ties in there, too. He races well here. If you look at the past races, that 62 has been in there the last couple years. We’ve got guys that know how to draft. Casey Mears is a good drafter. I’ve always liked working with him in the past.

We have a good group of cars that aren’t afraid to put it where it needs to be, and if we come down to it and we’ve got the majority of the cars left, that’s a great opportunity for us, and that goes the same for anybody that has their car still running at the end.

I mean, that’s kind of what it comes down to. If you can be in a position to win on the white flag, you’ve got a great opportunity to win this race.

How do you go about the Duels, race or ‑‑
AUSTIN DILLON: I’m going to race it. I’m going to drive as hard as I can in that race because I want to see the ability of the car, and that’s a mulligan. The only mulligan ‑‑ the last mulligan you have is the Duel going into the 500. You can always pull a backup car out for that. So, I’m going to get after it pretty good, try and get the best starting position I can, see what the car is capable of, and have fun while I’m out there. It’s the last kind of fun race before the stress hits, before the 500.

In the past we looked at the racing around these tracks at Daytona and Talladega, and it really didn’t matter where you qualified because you can always draft through the field and make your moves over the course of the race, people would lay in the back to avoid the big ones, things like that. With the high line single‑file racing being the majority of what we see and what has to happen for the cars to get around the track the right way, what mentality change has gone on over the past few years with that?

AUSTIN DILLON: I mean, I don’t know if it’s a mentality or just ‑‑ if you’ve got a good group of cars that can get to the top fast, it’s hard to pass them. You have to have a committed group of cars on the bottom to make it happen. The bottom is obviously the fastest way around the track if everybody’s car can stay on the bottom. The way the handling of these cars are, it makes it difficult to stay on the bottom for some guys after a couple laps, so the top kind of allows your tires to, I think, stay a little bit cooler and the car drive a little easier because you’ve got room up there.

I hope that it gets hot and slick on Sunday. That makes for better racing, I think, here, and we’ll see. The top is kind of the line that we click laps off in, I feel like. I don’t know, people will ‑‑ 40 cars up there in a line is not going to happen. It might happen for a little while, but it just can’t stay that way forever. Somebody is going to want to move. They’re not going to ride in 40th.

How much does the aggression level ramp because you clicked off those laps on the high side, now you’re getting down to the end of it, and you’ve got to make your move, you don’t have the ability to pass like 2000?

AUSTIN DILLON: Patience is a virtue in that game, I guess. It’s just waiting to make the right move and putting yourself in position throughout the race. You can’t wait long is I think what you’re trying to get out of me. People are going to have to find their track position throughout the race, and I agree with that. You can’t wait until the end to try and drive up through the field. It’s just not plausible. But there’s also things that happen like big wrecks, like you saw in the Clash. There’s so many ways to win this race. You just hope that you did the right one.

Can you give me a Daniel Hemric story?

AUSTIN DILLON: First time I met him, he was in an orange fire suit, had orange hair over his ears, no shirt on, with his suit hanging at his waist, walking down pit road, and I was like, man, who is this guy, and we were like 13, 14 years old, and I was like, whoever that is is cool. I’m like, I want to be friends with him. From that point on, we were pretty much buddies and raced together throughout Bandoleros, legends cars, stuff like that. There’s a story. He used to be a shirtless, orange‑haired kid running around a track.

What race was that?

AUSTIN DILLON: It was a Bandolero race at Charlotte, the quarter‑mile inside the track.

Does he face anything unusual because he’s 27 and just now making the move up, and most of you guys kind of made the move sooner?

AUSTIN DILLON: I don’t think unusual. I mean, he’s here, so he’s done his job. He’s young enough to do it for a long time, and hopefully he’s successful at it. That’s what we all do it for.