NASCAR CUP SERIES DARLINGTON RACEWAY COOK OUT SOUTHERN 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 9 NAPA/CHILDREN’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference in advance of this weekend’s Cook Out Southern 500 Darlington Raceway, where Gustafson will be calling his 600th career NASCAR Cup Series race. Press Conference Transcript:  MODERATOR: IN ADVANCE OF THIS WEEKEND’S RACE AT DARLINGTON, IT WILL BE YOUR 600TH START ATOP THE BOX. AS A CREW CHIEF, TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES IN THAT ROLE THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER?“Yeah, I think you remember the wins, obviously. But I think for me, when I reflect back, it’s the different drivers, situations with the different drivers and the personalities, pit crew members. All those different things. I guess some of my favorites – obviously, the first win with Kyle (Busch) was a big one. The Chicago win with Mark (Martin) really stands out to me. The Brickyard with Jeff (Gordon). And then certainly Phoenix with Chase (Elliott). Those are, if I had to say the ones that I reflect on the most, probably stand out the most.” 
WHEN YOU HAD START NUMBER ONE, DID YOU EVER THINK YOU’D EVER GET TO 600?“No (laughs). I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t know I was even approaching 600 and then Morgan said something to me a couple months ago – ‘yeah, Darlington will be your 600th start’. I’m like, wow that’s crazy. I think when you start at one, you’re just hoping to get to two. And then you’re maybe kind of hoping to get to get to 30 and then you’re trying to make it two years. As you go, you’re just really trying to survive. This sport is obviously super competitive and a lot of times it’s more bad news than good news. So, you’re trying to do the best you can to prosper and survive.”
I WANTED TO ASK YOU ABOUT DARLINGTON AND THE UNCERTAINTY OF THIS REPAVE IN TURN TWO. WITH THE XFINITY RACE BEFORE YOUR GARAGE EVEN OPENS, WILL YOU ALL BE IN A PARKING LOT SOMEWHERE MAKING ANY ADJUSTMENTS OR WILL YOU MAKE ADJUSTMENTS AT THE SHOP AND THE HAULER NOT EVEN LEAVE UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT?“No – I don’t think we can make any significant adjustments based on the Xfinity race. I think we can make some minor adjustments. I don’t really feel like even if they run something way outside of what we expect – which I certainly don’t think that’s going to happen – it’s a difficult correlation. There’s not a direct correlation between the Xfinity cars are starting with this and we need to do that. It’s still a bit different. I think just in generalities, you’ll learn some things from the Xfinity race. That is a big unknown over there, but I don’t know that we can fix it based on their experience.”
GOING BACK TO YOUR 600TH START THIS WEEKEND, WHAT’S CHANGED FROM START ONE TO START 600 FROM ATOP THE PIT BOX? “It’s changed a lot in 600 starts. I was kind of reflecting on this the other day; just thinking about it. It’s something I usually haven’t thought about. When I first started, it was really the crew chief and the team, and man, you did everything. You did everything – spec the chassis builds; where you wanted your front clips; where you wanted your rear clips; where you wanted your frame rails; where you wanted to install the engine; what this car was going to run and the body specification when we just had the templates; how far you wanted to offset your tail; and what do you want to do with your roof. Not only did you have a vast amount of options, you had very little information to make those decisions with. I just remember back then, there was a lot of freedom and room to run; and certainly, a lot of uncertainty that came with that. Now, it’s much more granular. It’s very small stuff and we do it collaboratively.”
“What I’ve kind of seen transition through my career is racing was very team-oriented to start. Then, it became very organization-oriented. And now it’s kind of becoming very manufacturer-oriented. So, it’s just moving that direction to where it’s a much bigger concerted effort.”
I WANTED TO GET YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHERE THIS TEAM IS GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS AS THE DEFENDING CHAMPIONS. CHASE (ELLIOTT) SAID THIS WEEK THAT NOTHING IS REALLY DIFFERENT IN TERMS OF MINDSET. HE SAID HE FEELS YOU ALL ARE IN A GOOD PLACE AND READY TO GO. YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?“Yeah, I agree. We’re ready to go; we’re ready to race. This is our favorite time of year and this is when you have to make it happen. I think we’re in a good position to do that. I’m excited to get going and execute. If we do that, we certainly all feel like it’s under our control. We’ve got the ingredients in place and the opportunity there to do it. We’re certainly excited to go do that and feel good about it. I think we’ve got a great opportunity to win races and be there at Phoenix.”
THERE’S A LOT OF TALK ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY THAT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS COULD AND OBVIOUSLY SHOOT TO HAVE ALL FOUR CARS IN AT PHOENIX. IS THAT SOMETHING THAT GETS TALKED ABOUT AMONGST YOU ALL OR IS THAT SOMETHING THAT JUST DOESN’T NEED TO BE SPOKEN ABOUT? IT’S OBVIOUSLY A GOAL FOR EVERYBODY.“Yeah, I think it’s just the goal for everybody. We’re certainly all going to do everything we can to make that happen. That’s just kind of a given. It’s what we try to do every year. It’s certainly never been done and it would be extremely, extremely difficult. But that’s our goal.”
BACK WHEN THE PLAYOFFS WOULD START AT LAS VEGAS OR CHICAGO, SOMEBODY WOULD DO REALLY WELL AND OF COURSE WE’D ALL BE LIKE ‘THAT’S THE CHAMPIONSHIP FAVORITE’ BECAUSE THERE ARE A LOT OF 1.5-MILE TRACKS AND HOMESTEAD IS 1.5-MILE. NOW, THE FIRST THREE RACES ARE ALL 750 RACES. HOW MUCH SHOULD I READ INTO DARLINGTON AND/OR RICHMOND ON TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHO’S GOING TO WIN THE TITLE.“That’s a great question. That is interesting because that’s another huge thing that’s changed throughout my career is the Playoffs. It used to be 10 cars. I can remember when it was 10, that was tough. It wasn’t 10 and a win. It was 10 on points and everything had to.. (inaudible).” “Yeah, it’s changed. The first rounds are maybe not the greatest indicator on who’s going to win. I think you have to be competitive at those rounds; certainly, you have to be really good. But the guy that’s strongest in the first round, I wouldn’t say would necessarily be the odds-on favorite to win the Championship, in my opinion. So, it’s hard to say. Richmond certainly configures like Phoenix, but races way different. So, I don’t know that you can draw a correlation there. You look at the Kansas, Texas, Martinsville round – you really can’t draw a whole lot of conclusions based on what we’re going to do in this first round. I would say more than the first round, probably just the whole body of work of the season would be a better indicator than the first round.”
YOU KNOW THE MEDIA; WE WANT TO PICK A FAVORITE RIGHT AFTER THE FIRST ROUND. DO YOU DO THAT IN-HOUSE OR DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ‘THAT’S JUST ONE RACE’ OR ‘THAT’S JUST THE FIRST TWO RACES – WE’VE GOT EIGHT TO GO’. “Yeah, 10 races is a long time. To me, every race brings an opportunity. Every race brings an opportunity to score stage points, win points and bonus points. Throughout these 10 weeks, you’re going to position yourself at every race to either improve your position, decrease your position or hold neutral. That’s the way I look at it. So, every race you’re trying to better position yourself throughout the standings and throughout the playoffs. It’s very individualistic. We go to win.. (inaudible). If we go win at Darlington, the only thing I’m going to take away is A) we have more bonus points and a better position for the next round. But past that, when we go and reset at Vegas, it doesn’t really matter. All that’s going to matter about Darlington is what bonus points we scored there. I mean there are lessons learned, but that’s every day. But I think in general, when you’re talking about the playoffs, it’s very individual per race.”