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NASCAR CUP SERIES FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400 RICHMOND RACEWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript Highlights: TALK ABOUT HEADING TO RICHMOND AND HOW YOUR TEAM IS GOING TO APPROACH THE RACE“The confidence level of the team is still where it needs to be. Unfortunately, we made a big mistake going into Darlington. We had a lot of motivation to come out of the gate well. We focused on a lot of things really well. It was just kind of a product of it being Darlington, the first Playoff race, we’ve done a really good job of improving our car and we did a good job of hitting on some really important details and aspects of our race. But unfortunately, because Randall (Burnett, crew chief) and myself were so busy and so focused on a number of things, that we just kind of got away from the basics; like just being on the same page about where we’re going to be throughout the night and what adjustments we need to make. We started off the race with a really good car. We just didn’t have that game plan or the approach that we normally are pretty good about staying on through a race path. Five hundred miles is a long time at Darlington. A lot of sets of tires and a lot of opportunities to adjust. In hindsight, it really seemed like a really doom and gloom moment, which was a tough one to swallow after having such a good car to start to finish where we did. To peel the layers of the onion back, it really was obvious what we missed and how we missed it, isn’t something that can’t be corrected within one week’s time. It’s something that, going into Richmond we can have a hundred percent better. That makes it pretty easy to get positive once again. I look at where we were in the Fall here, I had a lot of learning to do over the course of this race last year. So, we started in the hole, and I worked to get closer and closer to my teammate, Austin Dillon, who had a good strong car here in the Fall. And by the end of it, we were right where we needed to be, pace-wise. We just had given up too much to that point to really do anything good or really serious about it. So, I like where we’re at. I like where our car is at. It was a tough lesson to have at Darlington. We had a great opportunity there but didn’t take full advantage of it. And I think it was a good humbling moment or a good painful experience to go through to start this thing off. Just a reminder that it totally didn’t take us out of the Playoff running, if you will, to make the next round.”
IS THERE ANY LESS ANGST NOW THAT YOU ARE NOT RACING YOUR TEAMMATE, AUSTIN DILLON, IN THE PLAYOFFS?“I don’t know if it really would have changed much. Austin and I, whether both in the Playoffs or not, both teams work really close together, which is something I’ve said a lot, especially in the last month or two. I’ve been asked more. The effort that we have combined works really good together. We have some differences in driving style. That driving style really showed up in the Spring Richmond. We pretty much brought back exactly what he ran in the Fall there. Yeah, it was a daytime race, but the way he drives his car, and everything, doesn’t really match up for me. It was a good lesson to go through in that race in the Spring. So, we’re kind of coming back to what I like, some of the details that I like, in the car; but with some tweaks to try and make it better. Between us, I don’t know if it really would have changed anything in being in the Playoffs, or not. We’re both going to push really hard, and I think we saw that at Darlington. A number of drivers that are in the Playoffs, they never really have, from my vantage point, the drivers outside the Playoffs have never really laid over for the Playoff drivers. Yeah, you give them a little bit more room. A little bit more space. You don’t race them super hard. But no one really gives an inch or much more than an inch out there. Maybe the non-Playoff drivers give that tiny inch. Everyone still knows how to race really hard within reason.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE FOUR GUYS BEHIND YOU IN THE PLAYOFFS, HOW IMPOSING IS THAT?“Yeah, we’re all aware of where they’re at. Those drivers are behind the cutline. But for us, and our situation, I think it’s more important to look at who is ahead of us and focus forward. Those guys, for sure, are capable of winning. We’ve seen Alex (Bowman) win earlier this year at Richmond. Kyle (Busch) has always been really good at Richmond. William (Byron). There are guys in there that have good speeds. Looking behind, while it could be beneficial a little bit, especially at a place like Darlington, Richmond, and even Bristol, it’s all about running your own race. And for us to win, you’ve got to run up front all day. You can’t drive through the field. You’re not going to get a magic adjustment, if you will, to get the car perfect. You’ve got to be up there all night long, working on it, if it needs it, and maintaining that track position. Winning versus running good enough to make it to the top 12, how you approach that, are pretty similar. I mean, you’re battling for the win at the end of the race, like we saw with Kyle (Larson) and Denny (Hamlin) at the end of the Southern 500, that’s when things change a little bit in that final run. But up until that point, the path on how you get either of those goals accomplished, are very similar on how your approach and execute that over the course of a race.”
AFTER THE RACE, DENNY HAMLIN SAID HE KNEW HE WAS GOING TO WIN EVENTUALLY AND THINGS JUST FINALLY LINED UP RIGHT FOR HIM. YOU ARE STILL LOOKING FOR YOUR FIRST WIN OF THE YEAR. HOW MUCH ENCOURAGEMENT DOES IT GIVE YOU TO SEE HOW HIS LUCK CHANGED IN ONE RACE?“It’s not luck. I disagree with you there. It was a well-executed day. They were really good on pit road. Denny only hit the wall a couple of times and made minimal mistakes and did a really good job of managing the track position that he had. It’s not a matter of luck by any means. It’s adding up all the little details and having that perfect race. Sometimes your perfect race means that you get an 8th, or a 7th, or a 5th; it doesn’t always mean you get a first-place finish. But when you’re running, and you have the speed to stay in the top 5. Hitting all those extra details right can be the difference between running fifth and first. We haven’t had a whole lot of top 5’s this year, but we’ve been in the top 10 a lot. Those top 10’s have been with bumps in the road throughout the days. We just keep focusing on the little things that I need to be better at. Even the stuff that got us at Darlington last week. We were paying attention to a lot of things. We just got away from one of the most important parts. And that happens. And it didn’t cost us too much. It’s a constant moving target. Everyone is getting better, as always, and you just keep having to squeeze out more out of your car, your team, yourself. It eventually will add up. We’re in a good spot for that. The last month we’ve been a little inconsistent, finish-wise. But we had some different targets moving around with the cutoff and then, as much as we tried to be aggressive at Darlington, it was very obvious that we missed it. We were trying to recover. And the last thing we needed to do was to be super aggressive while free-falling and losing more positions than we did.”
DO YOU THINK FINDING THE BALANCE AND STAYING ON TOP OF IT WILL BE EASIER IN NIGHTTIME CONDITIONS GOING INTO THE FALL RICHMOND RACE?“I think it could. Whether it was a daytime race, I think it cooled off a little bit towards the end. So, there was a little bit of a transition. It will certainly cool off as the night rolls in at Richmond, as well. But I think how the track changes at night and how it may grip-up, if you will, in combination with rubber being laid down and the track getting worn in, I think it kind of doesn’t change an entirely large amount. So, we’ll see. I’m not expecting the track to change a lot. It should still change some. But having what we went through last weekend was kind of a good lesson reminder, so we have a game plan in place for what we’re going to do throughout the race, adjustment-wise. We don’t expect a lot though. We just hope that what we changed, the little tweaks that we’ve changed, are as expected; and the balance remains really close to where it was when we ran there last Fall.”
YOU SAID YOU WERE DISAPPOINTED WITH YOUR TEAM’S EXECUTION AT DARLINGTON. HEADING TO RICHMOND, WHAT ARE YOU CHANGING WITH THAT GAME PLAN AND HOW CLOSE DO YOU FEEL TO BEING IN A MUST WIN SCENARIO?“I certainly don’t feel like we are in a must win scenario. But it’s pretty simple. There are a lot of details that are really important to have right, going into a race; especially a race like Darlington. It’s important to have the car good. It’s important to, as a driver, have a good understanding of where you need to be, line, and a lot of details like pit road and green cycles and being good there. But there were so many things going on we were really focused on just to make sure we had every last detail checked off, that we just kind of missed one of the more obvious, maybe redundant, parts of our preparation; and being on the same page about how we think the track is going to change, what adjustments we like in our car, what ones we need to stay away from. It’s like showing up to a football game and not really ever putting together a game plan. It happens. And it showed. The car was good when we got there. We were confident in what we brought. We were right. We showed up with the right piece. It’s just that we were so caught up in a number of those things that really just kind of got away from some of the more easy, redundant, kind of repetitive motions that you have throughout the week. Change is tiresome sometimes, right? By trying to cover all the bases and making sure every little detail is right with this length of a race and how much we both like Darlington and we feel like we have good speed there. We just missed it.”
HOW DO YOU VIEW THE POINTS NOW? IS IT ANY DIFFERENT FROM HOW YOU LOOKED AT IT IN THE LAST RACE OF THE REGULAR SEASON?“Oh no. Not at all. As we saw with Darlington, so much can happen. The pressure is on not just us, it’s on everybody. Now a different kind of pressure is on. The pressure of not screwing it up is upon you. And it’s very easy to let that get to you more so than being in the hole. Wherever you’re at, I feel like it’s just important to have the same mindset, whether you’re in the hole or whether your plus 30 or minus 30, the same things need to happen. It’s just about running a clean race and getting the most out of your day. Without practice, and throwing darts at a board without even looking at it and hoping you’re going to get a bullseye. Nine times out of 10, it’s not going to work; especially in the Cup Series. So, to win these races, being consistent and being close to the front all day and hitting on all the details are important. And I don’t think running fifth and winning, there’s a bit difference in how you approach those things. It’s just a matter of did you do your homework perfectly, where all the little details add up. Was there a difference? Was there not? I don’t feel like we’re in a must win situation. Again, I really like all three of these tracks in this first round that we have. We had a little bit of a stumble, a trip-up, if you will. But thankfully, the misfortune of some of the other drivers really didn’t allow our struggles to really be that much more of a penalty than we did from our struggles Sunday.”