TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An interview with:
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed . Full transcript:
THE MODERATOR: Helio Castroneves joins us.
At the end of last season, coming up short in the championship, you put that away.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: That’s gone. Yesterday’s news. Now we’re in 2014. We have a lot of work ahead of us. We’re ready. We’re starting some few testings already. We’re going to be testing Thursday in Barber, then Sebring before the spring training, then the race.
I’m excited and ready, to be honest, to start the season because it’s been a long off-season in a good way.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll dive right into questions.
Q. What are you going to have to do to win that first championship?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I don’t know. I have the right line with God, to be honest, and with the Pope, too, especially with John Paul. He said, When the time comes.
I just got to push it. I just got to keep pushing. You can’t waiting for something to happen. You have to continue giving yourself an opportunity. Well, it may be this year.
Certainly we did our job last year. Unfortunately circumstances outside of our control, didn’t happen. But right now that’s the attitude I’m going with 2014, give ourselves an opportunity, that door will open one day.
Q. Juan, we were talking about how you didn’t like each other earlier in the careers.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I think it was more rivalry. I don’t think it was personal. We cross our path many, many years, including the beginning, middle and end of the stage. Now we’re literally together.
I feel we’re in a different phase of our lives, there is a lot going around, we accomplish a lot in our career. I guess you can call that mature.
All of this, it’s part of life. Honestly, it’s amazing to have him in our side. He’s been an incredible addition, and I mean that. He’s definitely going to be a tough competitor. Most of what I noticed, which I knew he would be quick adapting on the car, but most of it’s the information that he brought, that I was very surprised and happy about. Certainly it’s going to make our cars better.
Q. Last year with AJ, you, Will and AJ bonded quickly and became very close. Can that same relationship happen with Juan, the three of you?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I think so. Right now that’s the way it is. We went to many trips together, all of us getting along very well. One thing is testing, another thing is competing.
In my end I feel that so far myself, Will, even Juan, we know the type of person he is. I know him very well. Anytime he step on somebody’s toes the wrong time, it’s going to be bad. What I’m actually happy about so far, we seem to be speaking in the same way, which is one way: win for Roger. We want to win this title as bad as anybody else.
Q. How different is this series going to be without Dario?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Good question. Dario, for me, I can’t say for others, but for me he was certainly an amazing competitor, an amazing driver first of all. Second, my competitors, they make me better. Not having Dario, for sure I’m not going to be as good as I was before.
However, he accomplished so much in his career. For me at least I’m going to be happy to see that he’s still here with us, not racing, but at least around. That for me, it’s happiness. It was a scary accident. He’s going to be able to tell stories to his kids or dogs or whatever, and I feel that at least for us — it was shocking for me. I’m glad at least I’m going to see him around.
Q. This year is the 10th running of this race with IndyCar. As the driver who has won it the most times, what can you say about this race, not just what it means to you, but to IndyCar?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Well, there’s several things. The first thing is after a long season, we starting in St. Pete, so everybody’s fresh, everybody’s ready. Second is the atmosphere. I mean, the weather is great. The fans are amazing. Over 120,000 people over the weekend. It’s becoming part of a big party in the town. Hen you put all these things together, it’s becoming a great event.
Plus the track. The technical side, it makes between the street course with an airport involvement. It’s not always a 90-degree corner like a typical road course has. You have high-speed corners, things like that.
It’s only four hours’ drive from my home. So everything counts. Plus, when the place suits you well, you tend to enjoy much better.
Q. What can you say about some of the young, up-and-coming drivers keeping the IndyCar Series fresh?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Briscoe is already old (laughter). But it’s great he’s landing in a good team like Ganassi.
I think the young generations is always going to have surprising drivers. Last year we have several new winners, might not be young drivers, but new winners. I think when the series, Indy Lights could be better in 2015 with new cars. That could become something more important for the new generation.
On the other side is leadership now with Derrick Walker and Mark Miles, it shows at the least, the meetings we had before, it shows leadership. Maybe that’s where we were at the weakest point, and now we see a lot of positiveness.
I feel great about the series getting in their feet, getting back the way it used to be. It’s been a long time I haven’t felt that positiveness in the series. I’m exciting. I’m honestly really exciting.
Media say, They always say the same thing. But this year with Derrick and Mark Miles, good things for the series and could create a new generation of drivers.
Q. At this stage of your career, what would mean more, the fourth Indianapolis 500 or finally getting your championship?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: For me, Indianapolis 500, if you got to win one race, that’s the race you got to win. Especially the position that I’m at, it’s a great opportunity to join an incredible club. Yes, that would probably be the biggest accomplishment I could do it.
The championship certainly is personal. It’s just something that I didn’t get yet. It’s like one track I didn’t win. That’s the way I see it. There are several places that I finish, like Milwaukee is one of the place that I’m always fast and I always finish second or someplace else. It’s a something that I want to accomplish and win the championship. I’m going to do everything I can to make it happen.
Q. Driving for Roger all these years, was there any thought of driving the Daytona 500 and win both of them?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I asked Roger if I could try a different car, he said no. I asked again, he said no. The third time he said no. So it’s not a lack of trying (laughter).
Q. Did you space it out?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: I space it out. I been there 14 years. It’s no. I think I got the message (laughter).
Q. 14 years in any form of motorsports, that’s an incredibly long time. Could you
speak to that association.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah, I feel it’s a great marriage for me and for the team. Right now both of us working together, we have the same goals, we have the same accomplishments that we want to make happen.
When you have that kind of a marriage, everybody is happy. We want to make it happen. Last year was a big prove that we want to make it happen.
Q. Expanding Team Penske up to three drivers, do you know who your race strategist is going to be for this season?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yes. Do you want to know?
Q. Yes.
HELIO CASTRONEVES: RP is going to be my strategist. I’m super happy. First time I had him was last year and I’m happy to have him back.
Erickson is now selling motorcycles in Detroit. If you need a motorcycle, Indian motorcycle, help him out.
Q. Roger said before he would be your strategist, if you didn’t win the championship, it would be his fault. Was there punishment?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: No (laughter). Roger does not make mistakes, if you know what I mean. No, like I said, I’m just honored to have him on the radio and happy to have him as the strategist.
Q. Did I see a picture of you on Twitter with Brad and you were wearing the yellow suit?
HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yes. That was Cooper Standard group that they sponsor him at the Truck Series. It was me and Chelsea doing a presentation for them. I tried to bring Brad to do a little moves. Looks like he was having an oversteer problem there. Wasn’t quite sexy.
It was a lot of fun. A great event for his sponsors.
THE MODERATOR: Helio Castroneves, thank you very much.
All posts by ARP Trish
Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Ryan Briscoe
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An interview with:
RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed his first full-season with Chip Ganassi Racing, expectations for the season, his CGR teammates, driving for Corvette Racing and other topic. Full transcript
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Ryan Briscoe.
How is it being a new dad?
RYAN BRISCOE: She’s doing great. She’s 10 weeks old now. No complaints. It’s all good.
THE MODERATOR: Ryan recently tested out on the West Coast. Tell us a little bit about that experience and what you can take away from going back into St. Petersburg.
RYAN BRISCOE: Yeah, good, really good. Any track time has been big for us with our crew. We’ve put together a new team to run the fourth car at Ganassi. Got a few familiar faces there, but a lot of new guys as well.
For Eric Cowdin, who is my engineer this year, we worked together for a few years at Penske. We’re both new, getting back integrated into Chip Ganassi Racing. A bit to learn for both of us. A few new mechanics and stuff.
The testing has been great, getting everybody working together, trying to get into a bit of a flow as we get closer to the first race. We’re testing one more time at Barber before the first race. Really there’s not a whole lot of track time.
We did Fontana last week on Monday, then to Sonoma on Wednesday. We got a lot of good data points from the oval to the road course, lots of good laps, lots of good information from the engine side.
All in all, it was really successful. For me, great to be getting the seat time. Feels good.
THE MODERATOR: You also participated in the Rolex 24. A little bit about that experience because it was a brand-new car you were driving.
RYAN BRISCOE: Yeah, I’m doing Daytona and I’ll be doing the Sebring 12 hours as well with Corvette Racing. It’s an awesome car. I’ve never raced GTs before, so I was a bit apprehensive going in.
The thing drives unbelievable. It really drives more like a sports car. Good downforce, lots of fun. From here I’ll be heading down to Sebring for testing this week. Anytime at the racetrack is good fun for me.
Q. Between driving for Chip and Roger, is there any thoughts of running both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500?
RYAN BRISCOE: I’ve never really put any effort into talking to anyone about doing that, so not really.
I don’t have any experience driving stock cars. I think it’s a cool idea, but it takes a lot of effort from the team’s standpoint as well to make that happen. They probably look more towards guys that have won those races to begin with if someone’s going to do it. So, yeah.
Q. What are your thoughts about how this month of May looks to you? Two races, two thought processes.
RYAN BRISCOE: I think it’s going to be good ’cause I like the fact that we’re extending the month of May. I think it’s going to be an exciting way to open up the month of May with a big event. Something new for a lot of fans that will be there that maybe just go to the Indy 500 every year, haven’t seen what we actually do most of the time throughout the year, which is road course racing.
I think being able to showcase our diversity as a series on one venue, in one place, I think that’s going to be great for the series and great for a lot of the fans as well.
I can’t wait to drive the track. I did the testing back in November. We drove a couple of variations of the circuit going both ways down the straight, and the track will be different again to improve the racing.
I think it’s going to be great. It’s going to be a quick turnaround from race day to opening day for the oval the next day. It will be a refocus like you’re going to a new place because your mindset changes completely.
I’m hoping it’s a success. I think it’s a great idea. I’m hoping the fans really take to it.
Q. You spent most of your career with Penske or Ganassi. You have to play a role as a driver when you have big owners. How does Kanaan fit into a Chip world?
RYAN BRISCOE: Tony? He’s driven for big teams, too. I don’t know. Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m just getting to know Tony really.
I think Chip knows Tony pretty well before just hiring him, so he’s pretty comfortable with him. They almost signed a few years ago, as well. I guess time will tell. He’s definitely a fun character to have around. He’s always a lot of fun. He’s aggressive. He’s definitely got a unique driving style that I’ve picked up on the last couple tests, which is interesting to look at and learn from as well.
I’m looking forward to working with him. How he’s going to fit in? He has his own style, so I think he’ll fit in the way he always does. I think he’ll be good.
Q. You’ve had an interesting view at Scott Dixon. What makes him so successful?
RYAN BRISCOE: I think he’s just solid, man, like a rock. Even-keeled. He just gets the job done. Definitely having the continuity he’s had through highs and lows, he’s just been there the whole time. When he’s had those bad days, he doesn’t say bad things about the team. He just gets down to work and works really hard behind the scenes without publicizing it so much. I think that’s what he’s good at.
He’s a phenomenal driver. He’s fast, he’s consistent. He’s just the same every year. You can always count on him going for a championship again
.
THE MODERATOR Last year you had a few races in IndyCar, injured your wrist, came back. Coming back for a full season, tell us your thoughts about that.
RYAN BRISCOE: It’s like everything I wanted after I didn’t get a full-time ride last year has sort of come true now. It’s really the perfect scenario. Last year we sort of got to a point around this time where I was like, Full-time ride is not looking good, but that’s all right, we’ll focus on doing something for the Indy 500, I’ll keep my racing up by doing the sports cars.
I didn’t think I would do as many IndyCar races as I ended up doing. The end goal was I want to get back to IndyCar and have a full-time ride in 2014. I thought my best way of doing that was to do the sports cars last year, then work hard from that point on on being here now.
It’s crazy. It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride to get here. Had a great run with Chip at the 500 last year. John Barnes gave me the opportunity with his team at the races that I could do, which was tough because I was racing the IndyCar one weekend, then I couldn’t do the next race because I was racing the sports car, then I could do the next race which was an oval. It was just all over the place. It was really hard to get that focus.
In the series that’s so competitive, you need that consistency to be competitive. But in saying that, things have worked out. I was there on the race weekends, keeping my face in front of the teams, everybody that needed to see me.
Anyway, things have worked out. I’m really excited to have this opportunity. It’s a huge chance to run with Chip this year. We’re working really hard on being strong. I’m working hard on being on top of my game and hopefully competitive.
Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Ed Carpenter
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An interview with:
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed team ownership, 2014 season and Mike Conway. Full transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We’ll get started with Ed Carpenter.
Ed, tell us about that transition in ownership and driving, the main reason for that with you and your sponsors and the rest of the team.
ED CARPENTER: We started the team two years ago. I want to be able to race as long as I can and do it well. At the same time the race team is something that I see as my future beyond driving, whenever that day comes. It’s certainly a business that I want to be successful for long after I’m driving.
That’s kind of where the decision came from, just to make sure that we’re doing everything we possibly could to position the team well and in a strong place to deliver for all our current partners, Fuzzy’s, Chevrolet, and hopefully to grow the team in the near future.
THE MODERATOR: Your team tested last week both at Fontana, then Sonoma with Mike. What did you learn from those manufacturer test days?
ED CARPENTER: Yeah, we’ve definitely been busy testing the past month. It was nice to get back on the track for me. It’s always fun to work with Chevrolet, developing some new things, it’s fun to be part of that process. To go back to Fontana, run there, continue working on that track is fun.
A lot of what we’ve been doing is really getting Mike comfortable with our team and at the same time us getting comfortable with Mike. It’s gone well. He’s been in the car four days now since he joined us, which other than Juan is I think as much as anyone has tested.
I feel like he’s made a lot of progress. He came to Fontana with us when I was in the car. I think that was a good exercise for him as well, just to see me not as a half driver/half owner standing on the timing stand, but to see me interact with the guys. I think it made him feel more comfortable seeing me in that element rather than seeing me as kind of an owner and a driver. I think it’s been different for both of us figuring out that role, but it’s been a fun process.
THE MODERATOR: Last year you finished second in Fontana. You sat on the pole of the Indianapolis 500 last year. Going into this season with Pocono, Indianapolis, Fontana, what are your thoughts about those big ovals, those super speedways with the Chevy power, what you think you can do?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, 500-mile races are fun. They’re more fun than the shorter races just because of how much more that goes into it. You have more opportunities to figure out how to win the race and you also have more opportunities to mess it up.
It definitely has a higher degree of difficulty. Really happy to see Pocono being a 500-miler. I needed an extra 100 miles there last year. Looking forward to having the extra mileage. Hopefully we can reclaim that one for Chevy after Honda kind of put it to us with Ganassi last year.
Just looking forward to getting started. Like you said, we have those three 500-milers. The rest are all great racetracks and races as well. So excited for my schedule.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Ed, it’s been alluded to with the strength of you on the ovals and Michael on the road and streets that you could challenge for the entrants championship this year.
ED CARPENTER: It’s been talked about definitely. I think that Mike and I are both capable of winning in our respective disciplines, so to speak, or strong suits. I feel really strongly about the capabilities of our team. I feel like we should be in the mix everywhere we go.
With that being said, the strength of the series, teams and drivers right now, is at a really high level. It’s no easy feat, but we’re definitely going to give it our best shot.
Q. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to do any testing, but I’m curious to know whether you see a difference in the Chevy engine.
ED CARPENTER: I’ve been on the track twice, both times with the new 2014 Chevrolet. It’s hard to really have a direct comparison because it had been several months since I had been in the car before. To be honest, both engines operate at such a high level. Chevy has continued to do a great job for all its teams and us.
Until we get to St. Pete, then Indianapolis for an oval, it’s really hard to know where it’s going to shake out. I don’t know that Honda has shown their hand yet. I don’t think we’ve shown our hand yet either.
I definitely feel good about where we are as a team. I feel really confident in Chevrolet, the work that they’ve done and continue to do, that they’ll put us in a position to be able to win races as a team.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Ed.
ED CARPENTER: Thank you.
C
Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Sebastian Saavedra
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An interview with:
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 KV AFS RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed joining KV AFS racing, teaming again with Scott Sebastien, looking forward to the season and other topics. Full transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Sebastian Saavedra.
Sebastian, the team has been joined by Gary Peterson. Tell us a little bit about that relationship and how it has transferred now to the IndyCar Series.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: Well, it’s something that has been working for a while now. When I came from Europe in 2009, Gary was pretty much like my second dad, having my first dad present here of course.
We built a very strong relationship. He took me below his wing to develop me inside his driving development program. We come through since then. Last year, of course, having a great sponsor. Dragon Racing was one year we got slightly separated. As soon as the season was over, we wanted to continue the great path we have.
Together with Jimmy Vasser, we got stuck on a flight going on our way to Toronto. We were side-by-side speaking for everything, future plans. Since then everything start to move forward.
Very happy that the KV AFS Racing program has come together. Now to put it in papers and make it a reality is something that makes me very excited and, of course, gives us a lot of positive energy going into the season.
THE MODERATOR: Moving from the IndyCar Series to the Firestone Indy Lights help you?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: Totally. It was not an option. It was that or doing nothing at all. But it came the opportunity to make our stronger with AFS and Gary Peterson, trying not only to prepare, but keep learning. At that time, being 20 years old, I had the opportunity to take chances, and still can.
Now looking back, this is a reality because of those days. Because of the not only trust that the Indy Lights Series had in me, but, of course, the trust of Gary Peterson and Michael Andretti. Everything is just a building structure.
THE MODERATOR: You made your Indianapolis 500 debut when you were 18.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: I was just turning 19, yes. I think I was the first driver from 1990 to be in the great Indy 500.
I think that first time, maybe being young, it was everything a bit too overwhelming, not understanding where I was in. But the second time everything becomes so clear and so real.
I’ve been blessed to be able to do this for a while now. This is actually going to be my second full season. I already had a long round with Conquest Racing. It’s something that makes me very proud to be around this great series, seeing its development throughout the years.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Sebastian.
Q. Were you getting nervous at all as time was going on that you weren’t going to have a ride for this year?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: I think as soon as I knew that Dragon Racing was not going, it was a bit late for sure. I had a three-year contract with Dragon. This was something that give us a little bit of relief, knowing I had somewhere to be in.
When they decided not to go, it was a late call. But fortunately enough, as I said, something was brewing very slowly inside KV and AFS. I was nervous in a way of not being able to race, but how quick could we make it happen. Now that the series has opened up testing a little bit more, I wanted to be part of that.
But at the end I think I knew I was in the hands of great people and that things were going to come through, the question was when. It came right at the time that we were expecting.
Q. The flight you were next to Jimmy, was it to the Toronto race?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: I’m pretty sure it was. We got stuck in New York. We had to change flights and go somewhere else. It was just a big mess.
So we had a good six, seven hours side-by-side. Then we arrived to Toronto. He took me to the track. I had to go to the track to sit fit. He was ready to go to the hotel, but he took me in the worst traffic ever of Toronto.
We had an interesting relationship there. Before it was, Hey, Jimmy, bye, Jimmy. That was as long as our conversations went.
But we learned a lot from each other that day and opened what we are building today.
Q. Do you like working with Bourdais?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: I’m actually being forced to (laughter).
No, we built a really great relationship last year. I think I respect Bourdais a lot and he respects me. I think that’s the key to building a great partnership with your teammate.
I think we were able to understand each other and see development-wise that we needed each other to move forward. So I think it makes it a lot easier to have somebody by your side. As Jimmy said, you broke those barriers of who the heck is by my side. Definitely it’s a plus to have him on my side, something that is already natural. We already get along very well.
Q. I know Juan is a lot older than you. He’s told us in the past he’s not that popular amongst Colombian racers. Did you watch him when you were growing up? Was he not someone that you followed?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: He’s one of the reasons I’m here. I was only eight years old when he won Indy 500. I was just starting my go-kart career by then.
It surely gave a little bit of, Hey, if you’re a Colombian, you can make it happen.
Since then we’ve had a couple of contacts. I raced in the 500 miles of Brazil. He was there. That was actually the first time we actually get to speak. I was 13. Since then we never spoke again until the Race of the Stars at the end of the year, when we became a lot closer.
I do accept that he’s one of those guys that came through on a very important time of my life, thinking, Is this what I want to do for my whole career? And it was, and of course, Roberto Guerrero was another guy that came through on my first Indy 500.
I’ve been very blessed with very good people around.
Q. What have you learned from Bourdais?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: He’s a very technical guy. I think we’ve learned from each other a lot. We do not have the same driving styles, so that’s something that leaves us to develop different paths throughout the course of the weekend. We are pretty much able to see what works, what doesn’t, pretty much adapt it to our specific cars.
What I’ve been able to learn from him is just experience. He has plenty of experience. He just portrays that very easily. It’s good when we were sitting with all the engineers for me to say my thoughts, listen to his thoughts, of course complement on those lines.
It’s been a good relationship. I’ve pushed him to different limits. It’s good that you don’t feel comfortable at all anytime. You always start to push when you have somebody behind you all the time. That’s the development; that’s how it works.
Q. Just looking at your team, times standing, people looking at data. Will you sit together with Sebastien’s engineers to look over the car data at race weekends? Will it be independent with separate engineers?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: That’s defini
tely one of the key points for this season: we’re going to be one team sharing completely everything. Very good relationship between our engineers. That’s something that helped to see what is the next step in every session that we are out.
I live in Indianapolis. I’m pretty much every day bothering the mechanics and engineers at the shop. That also makes a huge help. But we are meant to be just one.
Q. Sebastien also tested yesterday at Sebring and Sonoma late last week. You mentioned about Bourdais. Have you received any information or had conversations with Vasser on his input, on his style of management, how he relays information to the drivers?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: Jimmy sees Bourdais with a lot of respect, of course. He saw me as the youngster that pretty much still has no limits. So that’s great to keep the development and pushing Bourdais.
He has a lot of positive attitude around us. Demanding a lot, of course. That’s something we’re very welcome to. When he says he wants to see trophies in his trophy case, that’s something we’ve heard a lot, not only in a couple interviews. That’s, of course, one of the opportunities that KV AFS Racing is giving us.
We just need to keep focused. We know what we have. We know what we’re capable of doing last part of the season last year. We just need to continue that same path, already having knowledge from two sides. Having the great oval package from KV, then having great knowledge from street courses from Dragon Racing. That’s what we’re trying to combine and make a strong overall performance.
Q. Have you raced against Montoya before?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: Non-professional events.
Q. What do you think it’s going to be like?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: I think it’s going to be interesting, mostly for Colombia, for our country. Now having three Colombians already signed. I don’t see it definitely. When I put on my helmet, I don’t care who is by my side. I just focus on the cars, the track.
But it’s something definitely very big for history as Colombia has never had three Colombians ever in the same series or ever in the professional level.
It’s going to be a very proud moment for all of us.
Q. It has to go through your head that you watched that guy growing up.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: Definitely. But I also watched Helio, Dario, T.K. I’ve had the opportunity to work by their sides the past three, four years. So I think that moment passed 2009, 2010. That was the moment of saying, Helio is by my side.
I’ve been able to build a great friendship with them and not look at them as the professionals as they are, but more as friends and competitors.
Q. Is it a big deal in Colombia to have three Colombians in the series?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: It’s insane. It’s huge. Sports in Colombia has been growing exponentially in the past 10 years. Last year we won our first gold medal in BMX actually. It’s something that we’re very proud of our athletes.
It’s starting very slowly to portray the support from the government, from the public and private enterprises. So it is huge to have three Colombians in the same roof, the most professional series in America at IndyCar. There’s a possibility of having a fourth. That’s something that has never been even thought of in the past. We have Roberto Guerrero. Right now we have something like about 50 Colombians worldwide trying to make it.
Q. When you compete you want to do well for yourself. That’s pressure for you to win for yourself and your sponsors. Do you ever feel that you have to do well for your country?
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: I think in general you just want to be the best of the best. That’s my thinking, just winning the race or the season. In the end you want to be the best.
In this case, yes, you want to be the best of your country, but you also want to be the best in North America. I see the big picture more than just this regional goal.
THE MODERATOR: Sebastian Saavedra, thank you very much.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA: Thank you.
Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Scott Dixon
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An interview with:
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed winning the 2013 championship, preparations for the 2014 season, Tony Kanaan joining the organization, Dario’s new role and other topics. Full transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We are pleased to be joined by Scott Dixon.
Scott, the first question for everyone, what do you have to do to repeat as champion this year for the fourth time?
SCOTT DIXON: Beat everybody else.
Yeah, you know, stay with the same team, same pretty much combination on my car. There’s been a few changes with the 10 car. But big change obviously being engine manufacturer, then T.K. going into the 10, welcoming Briscoe back to the team as well in the No. 8. Lots of changes.
We haven’t done a lot of testing, maybe two or three days so far this year. Gone pretty smoothly. Confident in the season.
Personally and for the team, the thing on the 9 car side we need to do a little bit better is start the season off a little bit stronger. Looking for strong results straightaway in St. Pete. Long Beach has been definitely not a great track for results for us in recent history.
I think if we can start strong and carry the momentum through from last year, that will be goal number one.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Scott.
Q. Are you behind in the number of test days you’ve had compared to other people?
SCOTT DIXON: I think some teams like KV have done quite a few, six or seven days so far. We’ve done three. Juan obviously got gifted for tests. He’s on eight or nine so far.
Yeah, there’s other teams. For us we save a fair few for the middle of the season. It’s easy to get down the road in conditions that can be 40 degrees cooler than when you actually race.
We’ve just canceled the Barber test we had set for the 4th of March. We want to make sure we keep developing in the areas we need to from the off-season, then work on the car for setups during the hotter months.
Q. How is the communication different with T.K. than Dario?
SCOTT DIXON: Very different. Some is in Portuguese and then broken English (laughter).
But, no, you know, for him there’s lots of change. New team members, new engineer, totally different car setup. The one constant for him was luckily the engine package with Chevrolet.
Dario and I were very similar I think in debriefing and the way that we approached the weekend. Hard to tell with T.K. yet because we haven’t worked together that much. But obviously he’s a big personality. Fun to have him at the team. Just to see how we work on car setups is yet to be determined.
But he’s been quick at the first few tests. It’s nice to have a different driver to look at different areas where he may be quick and areas that the team and myself and the other drivers can definitely work on.
Q. Sounds like Dario can be a big benefit to the team in whatever role. You lose a contemporary, a guy who is actually pushing you.
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it is a big loss, not just for myself, but I think for the team and also for the series.
The positive side is that he’s still going to be involved with the team. He’s obviously very talented. He’s won a lot races, achieved many things. But when it comes down to the engineering side of it, his approach to a race weekend, I think it’s something that will be missed a little bit. Hopefully with his involvement we can keep that going.
As a friend, it’s going to be great to have him around. He’ll be sorely missed on the track. We’ll have to see how big that change is as we get through the year with different drivers and different combinations.
Q. The 9 and the 10 are very formidable, difficult to beat. Does the 9 suffer with Dario not in the 10?
SCOTT DIXON: No, I don’t think so. There’s many different ways to look at it. I think T.K. is a great driver. He’s won a championship. He’s won many races. He may be stronger in other areas and maybe a little weaker in others. I think with the team combination, drivers and engineering, we can try to bring that back together and make it a strong 1-2 punch.
I think you will lose some stuff in the respect of losing Dario, but you’re also gaining different areas, as well.
Q. Without Dario in the 10 with his hair and teeth, does Scott Dixon finally get to stand alone and the world see the greatness of Scott Dixon?
SCOTT DIXON: Well, I don’t know. We’ve all still got Chip at the team, too. T.K. definitely doesn’t have the Dario looks. We can talk about his big nose, I guess (laughter).
But, you know, I won’t actually go down that road. Dario will still be with the team and taking some of that limelight. I’m perfectly fine with that. Gives him more recreational time away from the track. I’m sure he’ll be sucking that up.
Q. Your championship last year, are you feeling like you are cementing your place, climbing up the ladder? Are you carving out your spot in the open-wheel ranks as one of the greatest drivers? Does it even matter to you?
SCOTT DIXON: I love my job. I love racing. I think that’s what matters to me. If you can build on those, that’s fantastic. I’m not a huge sort of stats guy. I think it’s something you can reflect on when you do leave the sport.
It’s important to me. It’s important to win. It’s important to win championships and Indy 500s, fly the flag obviously for the team. But it’s not something that I wake up thinking about.
I wake up thinking about that race day and trying to win that race day. I’m not looking for a goal of a certain amount of wins or championships. I’ve been very lucky with the success we have had as a team. I guess for us, what we try to do is build on that.
Q. Are you surprised to see Juan struggling, not getting up to speed, by his own assessment? It wasn’t like riding a bike. He doesn’t think he’s going to win St. Pete, per se.
SCOTT DIXON: Are you getting unofficial times from somewhere (laughter)?
It’s hard to comment on. You don’t really know what teams are testing. There’s different specs of engines.
Juan I think we all know is a huge talent, and he’s won in everything he’s raced in, many different formulas. It’s a big change, for sure, coming from mostly oval racing, such a big car. It’s a different car and the mindsets you get into.
But I think with the team and drivers he’s with, it will come along quickly. It’s just when it’s going to happen, whether it’s right out of the box or a few races. He’ll definitely be challenging for wins throughout the season.
Q. You and Dario may have been equals, but now you may be considered the team leader. How do you feel about that?
SCOTT DIXON: Well, you know, I think it’s hard to sort of answer that. There’s never been sort of ones and twos. Dario was definitely looked up to because he was someone that had been in the sport for a while and been very successful.
He definitely pushed me. I think we pushed each other, as well.
You know, I’m not real interested in who is a one or a two or who is leading the team. I
think we do it as a team effort. I think each driver on the team is like a quarterback to their own group of guys, and then Chip is the leader of the pack, I guess.
I don’t think anything will really change that.
Q. Being a teammate with Charlie, you have a firsthand look of what he deals with with his diabetes. What impresses you most about that?
SCOTT DIXON: I guess it’s kind of flying under the radar part when he’s involved with the team. It’s only at lunchtime that you see him break out a needle. He prepares himself so well with his dietary needs or training. He does a first class job on that sort of thing.
He’s done a great job in the last year. Even the tests we’ve had in the pre-season so far, he’s definitely upping his game.
When he first started, some people might have written him off. But he’s a smart guy. If he can’t do it, he’ll look and try to achieve it. For him to get a win at a tough road course like Mid-Ohio was huge for him and the team. He’s getting stronger and stronger each year.
Q. The St. Pete track has been a thorn in your side with the second-place finishes. If you could pick one thing, what would get you to the top there?
SCOTT DIXON: I think qualifying a little bit better. We’ve struggled. The last couple years we’ve struggled out of pre-season development, kind of gone down the long road. Last year was a big showing of that, obviously. I think we qualified 20th or something. To come back with a fifth place was definitely a big race for us.
But I think qualifying. I think it goes back to the pre-season testing. We have to be careful of what roads we go down and what works at a Sebring when it’s 40 degrees cooler to what it is when you actually get to the first race.
For me it’s preparing a little bit better, maybe not veering off as much as we did last year, try to have a clean race. In the early years we definitely had a few podiums. We’ve had speed there in the past and I’ve made my own mistakes, even leading the race.
If we just sort of go in, not put too much pressure on it, start the season strong, we can definitely do that.
Q. You struggled early last year, then where you ended it, where does it rank among your accomplishments in the sport?
SCOTT DIXON: I think the comeback for us as a team was huge. The three in a row with Pocono and Toronto was the start of the swing. The strength that the team had throughout the remainder of the season, with the exception of some of the big ovals where we didn’t have the speed. All the road and street courses, we were qualifying in the top three or four every race. For me, I think that was one of the biggest achievements was to keep strong.
I think that’s where this team is really good. Even when Dario’s championships in the past, they haven’t led a whole lot of the season. When it’s counted, they’ve pulled it out or been able to stay more consistent than some of the others.
For me each championship is so different because of the outside obstacles that you have. I think as sort of a pure enjoyment after the year, this one was probably my pick for the favorite.
Q. Is it official now that your number is the 9 and not the 1?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I think so. I haven’t seen a car with a 1 on it. That’s not up to me, that’s up to Chip. We could arrive at St. Pete and it could be a 1.
Q. Is it your opinion that you don’t want the 1 because of what happened a couple years ago?
SCOTT DIXON: It’s not a number. It’s a stigma, just a number on the car. I think for us it’s more the icon of the No. 9 and being a Target car, much similar to how the people recognize the cars in NASCAR. That’s becoming more apparent in IndyCar, as well.
The 9 has been good. It’s a team number. If they picked the 1, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.
Q. The Daytona 500 is this weekend. With Chip’s NASCAR program, has he ever asked you about that?
SCOTT DIXON: We’ve flirted with the idea of having a test. Last year I was supposed to do a test in New Smyrna. I only drove Jamie’s car for a swap thing we did at Barber. Talladega, wasn’t much fun driving around by myself. Jamie had a lot of fun at Barber in the IndyCar.
I would love to have a go at a short track or road course. We have to look at schedules. I think even if the Nationwide side, there’s some races that don’t clash with Mid-Ohio or Road America. I just want to have a go first and see what it’s like.
Those guys are very good at what they do, very competitive series. I think it would be a lot of fun to have a go maybe in a Nationwide race. It’s not something we talk about a lot. Sort of a once-a-year thing.
Q. So those sort of races would have to happen before the 500 before you go that route?
SCOTT DIXON: I don’t see the 500 in my near future. That’s for sure.
Q. Carlos was asked about pranks at Andretti. Now that T.K. and Dario are back together, are you worried about anything?
SCOTT DIXON: I don’t know how that’s going to go. It’s a good question. I could see it probably starting with me and Dario on T.K. we’ll have to see. There’s some entertaining things that will happen with truck drivers. I’m sure it will kickoff. I’m sure T.K. will be the instigator of most of them.
THE MODERATOR: With 33 wins, Scott is the active leader in wins. Just ahead of him is Al Unser, Jr. and Bobby Unser.
Q. You had to do a heavy load at the Rolex. How did you think Larson did overall?
SCOTT DIXON: The second stint I didn’t really see. I saw the first one. I was just going to bed. There was a problem with the pit speed limiter. When the car actually ran out of fuel, it wasn’t actually his fault. When one of those things happens, it tumbles into other things.
The problem is that it’s a very tough race for anybody. Even if it was me and I’d never done the 24 before, it’s a tough race to go from a race like a Cup car, not have any electronics, understand how things work. It was maybe his fifth road course race ever, we were going into a gun fight with a knife.
It was stacked against him, but for next year it’s going to help him with the learning curve. He’ll be not much better prepared but understand things better than before.
He did a hell of a job. I think the second stint went fairly well. The first one went fine. You’re getting in at night, cold. He was trying to be a little bit cautious. But he did a good job.
Q. Every time I looked up you were driving. Is that exhausting?
SCOTT DIXON: It’s fun. The cars are getting a little easier to drive because they’ve taken the shifter out of it. It’s paddles. Physically it’s not as demanding as what it used to be.
No, when I’m at a racetrack, I think you should be in the car. I’m always sort of the guy that’s pushing to have three guys for the 24 because you’re in the car more often. You might as well race if you’re there.
Q. Are you going to Sebring?
SCOTT DIXON: I’m going to the test this Friday. I think that’s probably going to happen. I hope so.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you,
Scott.
SCOTT DIXON: Thank you.
Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Charlie Kimball
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An interview with:
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO.83 NOVO NORDISK CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed expectations for 2014 season, relishing his win at Mid-Ohio, going back to four car team and CGR and other topics. Full transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Charlie Kimball Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Rasing. You’re not as gregarious as James Hinchcliffe, but if you are shy or retiring, does that make you a bad person?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: No. I think there are certain drivers with bigger personalities. Part of it is I think my upbringing has never been real outspoken. I’ve always tried to be pretty quiet.
Growing up my dad always had a saying, I will inevitably screw this up, But, It’s better to keep your mouth shut and thought a fool than open it and confirm the fact.
I think I’ve always tried to live by that and as much as possible let whatever it is I’m doing, be it on the track, young at school, on the tennis court, let my driving do the talking for me.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Charlie.
Q. Charlie, do you have any special memories of savoring the win in the off-season?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Definitely. You get more of a chance to let it soak in, for sure. Funny enough it was more of a poignant moment that I enjoyed most was looking back on that day, the podium ceremony. I guess it was Wednesday or Thursday after Sonoma, the week after the next race, I got an envelope from the team with all of Floyd’s photos from Mid-Ohio. It was his last race before he passed on. For me it was very special.
For me having that vision of him pushing through the crowd to get to Victory Circle to congratulate me, it brought home how special that was, to share that win with Floyd, everything he’s done, not just for Chip, everything he’s done, all the drivers. Every time at the track he would pull me aside asking me how I was, how my family was at home, knowing that racing is important, but it’s not everything.
Having caught my breath after Sonoma, looking back at that, that was very, very special.
Q. You do have a sense of humor with the videos.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: We had fun. I felt like I got swept along with that. When you put James in front of a camera, couple with Josef and Will, maybe it’s because Will is from the other side of the world, the humor comes out. We had fun doing those. James, JR and I did a video about who we were because we kept getting mistaken for each other.
It was a lot of fun. I hope at some point we’ll be able to do more of those because I think the opportunity to show our personalities, show our colors outside of a racecar, out from under a helmet, is really helpful as a series, and also for us as drivers.
Q. How different is the organization going to be without Dario there?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Well, I think it’s impossible to replace same with same when you come to someone like Dario as a driver. Tony brings a lot of different skills and a different personality, as does Ryan. I think going back from three to four cars will change the organization maybe more than what losing Dario as a teammate will.
Having said that, I think I will always miss having Dario as a teammate and competitor because of how much he helped me in the first three years, what his being involved in the team, being able to talk to meant. But gaining him as a mentor, assistant to the team, as a coach, he is invaluable.
Pull out another arcane saying here. He used to say, Just because I taught you everything you know doesn’t mean I taught you everything I know. So having him as a coach, maybe he helped more than he did as a teammate because he’s always at heart a competitor.
Q. Now that he’s not in the driver’s seat, it’s only been a short time, but what has he been able to do in this short time outside of the car that has helped you?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: He has such a fresh perspective, having so recently driven the car, this iteration of the car. While he hasn’t driven the Chevrolet we’re running this year, he has a fresh perspective on what the racing is like. Being such a student of the sport, he understands the history and development of that. Just that wisdom coming to bear, the three test days we’ve had, four even before Christmas, he was there, so having those four days with him lending advice has been huge.
He has a good relationship with Brad, my engineer. Brad was the assistant engineer on the 10 car. They can talk data. He knew what he did in the car. Comparing that to what I’m doing, as he said, it’s filling out my toolbox for the year. As things change and develop throughout the year, we’ll be able to go through that toolbox and rifle and, for lack of a better analogy, pick the right tool for the job.
Q. In the test sessions you’ve been fairly fast. Do you feel you’ve made a large step with the victory last year? In your career you’ve had a good progression, maybe moved up to the next level?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I’d like to think so, for sure.
I think being part of the 1-2-3 at Pocono, not riding on the coattails, being second, not third, beating Dario – and any time you beat Dario, it’s very confidence-building. Getting that victory at Mid-Ohio, not having had the experience, go there and get the victory, and get the win by going fast, not catching a yellow at the end, but winning by outright speed cemented my confidence level for sure, took that next step.
All the way along Chip’s advice has been to build the foundation for a long-term career, not one year flash in the pan. Try to build a one-way street, so when I take that next step I stay there. I think that’s helped.
Going away at the end of the season, having a little downtime, doing a lot of work with the Novo Nordisk allowed me to reflect on that and know coming into this season we’ve prepared as a team and we know we can win because we’ve done it. That lays the groundwork to have a great year.
Last year was good. Two wins would have made it great. We didn’t get that opportunity at Fontana. To get that opportunity coming into this year is what we’re aiming at.
Q. You mentioned why you think it’s important for fans to see who you are with the helmet off. Talk about why you think that’s important.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I think as drivers it’s easy to only know us by our car number or only know us by our car colors or our sponsors. With me I think maybe it’s a little different because I have such a connection to Novo Nordisk and the insulin they make.
But for fans to have that connection to a driver at a personal level, no matter what car number they’re in, what paint scheme they have, what suit they’re wearing, what race series they race in, you create a fan. When you create a fan at a personal level, you create a fan for life.
Q. You talked about what you learned from Dario. What have you learned from watching Dixon every day?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: More than he’d like, not as much as I’d like.
Having Scott to learn from, he’s so very good at so many things. He’s been with Chip Ganassi Racing for so many years, he’s young as far as long-term career length. He’s going to be a competitor for a long time.
Any day I feel I can get within a couple of 10ths of him on a test or race day, I know I’m doing
a good job because that will be the benchmark.
As much as he’s taught me how to do things in the racecar, drive style, technique, fuel saving, he’s a master at that, he’s taught me as much out of the car about how to handle myself, be a member of the team, develop and build the team, and also in the public eye, handle the media, handle the challenges and pressures of being a full-time IndyCar driver and a successful one.
A little bit back to the previous question. I’ve tried to lay the groundwork so when I take that next step, I’m prepared for it, all the things that come with it, not just the on-track success, but all the additional elements that are part and parcel of that off the racetrack.
Q. The St. Pete track, talk about how it starts off the season.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: It’s incredible we get the opportunity to race at St. Pete to start the year because it is a crown jewel in the series. It’s a little bit like coming back to the first day of school. While you see some teams and drivers at different test days throughout the years, Media Days like that, the physicals in Indianapolis, it’s the first time you’re there all together with the team and crew members. Inevitably you have friends on different teams, throughout the paddock.
To be in an environment where the weather is good or great, compared to the weather in Indianapolis this year, to a city that really embraces the Grand Prix, that has such a level of enthusiasm and excitement, really enjoys having us in town, it’s awesome. It’s really nice to start that way and keep that momentum building that whole year off that first springboard.
Q. This is your first opportunity since the season ended to now be with a new engine manufacturer. At the end of the season the engine manufacturers can go back and make changes. Can you talk about whether you noticed a difference.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I’ve driven a Honda engine for three years in IndyCar before switching to Chevy. I’ve had three days with Chevy. It’s difficult to delineate all the differences, I’d say.
One of the things is while I’ve only had three days, it’s been a lot of fun ’cause it is a transition period. It’s not just unbolt an engine, slide another one in. There’s electronics packages, so many mechanical parts and pieces to make it work. The transition has been pretty painless and very seamless. To be able to jump in the car the first day, do as many miles as we wanted, getting used to it, has been surprising, but also very, very nice.
Working with the guys from Ilmor, Pratt & Miller Engineering, GM and Chevy, getting a chance to go to the Detroit Auto Show as a member of the Chevy family was neat. Gave me goosebumps to see the championship-winning car and engine from NASCAR as well as from IndyCar with the same badging, bowtie, knowing I would get the chance to wear that bowtie all year, it was pretty cool. It definitely gave me goosebumps and a level of excitement I didn’t expect coming into the year representing the Chevrolet brand.
I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. The transition has been largely seamless, but there’s still some work we need to do as a team. As I said, the whole back half of the car is different.
Q. I’m not sure exactly how this works out on a race weekend, but from what I know from the outside, Ganassi, when you had four cars on the team, you and Graham were on one team, then you have Dario and Scott Dixon together. From what you’ve said in the past, the data is there for everybody to share. Last year you went to a three-car arrangement, now you’re going to a four-car arrangement. How does it work on a race weekend? Will you and Ryan Briscoe sit down with your engineers in a group or each driver does their own things with their engineers?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: You touched on it a little bit. Last year with three cars, that integration into more of a one-team mentality, it’s always been an open-book policy, those resources, both engineering and drivers, crew members, all of that, have been available to all of us, all three, four drivers. Last year the integration was maybe a little smoother because there were only three data points, it was quieter.
I think the single best definition of teamwork I’ve ever seen is the number of crew guys in a tiny Mid-Ohio sports car garage rebuilding a car after I crashed in practice so I could go out for qualifying and qualify fifth. It didn’t matter what color shirts they were wearing, they were all in working on the car getting it ready to go.
We rolled onto the 10 setup pad and rolled straight out for qualifying. I think that one-team mentality built very strongly last year and is something that will continue this year.
I don’t know sort of how it will all work. I think that the four of us drivers, engineers and assistant engineers will all debrief together at some point. I think that will be very helpful in that we’ll be able to hear what other people are thinking and pick up something maybe we weren’t expecting.
As I said, that one-team mentality has only gotten stronger over the last couple years and will continue to get stronger. One of those things is getting the 83 car to a race-winning operation where we can contribute. Rather than just draw resources, we’ll be able to give something back.
THE MODERATOR: Charlie, thank you.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Thank you.
Chevy Racing–2/18/14–IndyCar Media Day–Sebastien Bourdais
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An interview with:
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO.11 MISTIC KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed in move to KVSH Racing, pre-season testing, expectations for the season and other topics. Full transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We’re ready with Sebastien Bourdais.
Your thoughts about testing at Sebring and the testing overall so far this off-season?
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: First off, good morning, everybody. It’s really been a great winter for me, obviously signing with KV, joining Jimmy and the whole crew. It’s been quite an experience. Really feeling very fortunate because I got a great group of guys around me. They’ve been working really hard all winter. It’s really paying off.
I think it’s needless to say that work is rewarded. As far as we’re concerned, it’s been the hardest winter in terms of work that I’ve seen my team go through in a long time. It makes you feel great because you know the level of preparation is quite high. We’ve been able to test four times. Another one at Barber before the season starts.
Couldn’t be happier. We’ve made a lot of progress on all fronts. It’s probably not going to be perfect right off the bat, but it’s a two-year deal and I’m excited to see the progress we made. Hopefully we can hit the ground running and just keep on getting better.
THE MODERATOR: St. Petersburg being the town you reside in now, your thoughts about racing there.
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: Yeah, St. Pete has been home for me since 2003 kind of on and off. It was my very first race in open-wheel in the U.S., started out on the right foot. Great memories from that. It’s been really a great place for me to spend time, obviously bring the family over.
When I arrived in the U.S., I was a kid kind of. I evolved from being married, having a child, then another one. We’re raising the family in St. Pete in a great neighborhood. Starting the season at home is a great feeling. Hopefully we can get things going right and have a great weekend in St. Pete, because it’s not been so great so far since I returned to IndyCar.
Hopefully we can have a better showing this year.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. You have been top three every time you’ve tested. That’s caught people’s attention. Chip Ganassi said, Who is his engineer? Do you feel people are noticing and people are remembering that you are an elite driver who can win races and challenge for championships?
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: It’s funny, we were having that same conversation last night. Somebody was like, Why did you not get picked up by a big team? The common thread in racing is short-term memory.
I don’t look at what people say, write or think of me. I try to be myself, do the best I can, and hopefully eventually it pays off and works out.
For sure this year I do feel like there is a lot of potential, unexplored potential at KV. Last year was an eye-opener when Tony won the 500. I think it’s pretty much to the credit at KV. They worked very hard. They have a great group of guys who really love racing, which is not so easy to find. I could not put a strong enough point on saying that this group can win, that’s for sure.
I don’t know how long it’s going to take before we do it, but only because competition is so difficult in IndyCar these days. You look at the number of cars you need to beat to just get there, it’s really hard. But at the end of the day everybody has the same equipment pretty much. It’s just a matter of how you use it, how much work you put into it to get it right.
Every time we’ve unloaded the car, it’s been a bit of a struggle at times, but we just kept digging in, kept digging in. As long as we know and understand what actually makes the car faster, I think we’ve done just that during all these tests this winter, we end up finishing the test in good shape. That’s making me feel very hopeful.
It’s not a moving target. You might struggle a little bit to find the answers and solutions, but we do find them eventually. They know what they’re shooting for and why they work so hard. It’s great. I haven’t felt that way in a long time. I feel like there’s something pretty awesome to do and am really pumped about it.
Q. When the season was winding down, you weren’t sure what you were going to do, you knew Dragon was going away, did you think you would land on your feet and it was as good as it’s turned out?
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: No. I was getting pretty not scared, but I didn’t really have any idea how that was going to turn out. Maybe it was going to be sports car racing for good or something else. I didn’t know which way it was going to go.
You don’t control the opportunities that present themselves to you. I think it’s about as good as it could ever get. Obviously the only other thing could have been the 10. I don’t think I really ever was on that list, and that’s fine. Just going to do the best we can with our group and try and beat these guys and show them.
Q. In the last week your teammate from last year will be your teammate this year. Is it helpful you worked with him last year?
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: He’s a good kid. It’s helpful in the way it helps the team set all the base work, have a two-car team, know all the people, keep everybody onboard. Otherwise you have to start to lay people off, do all sorts of things that disturb an organization and are painful to do because you don’t want to see anybody go when everybody has been working so hard through the winter. That was a relief for everyone.
The guys never really doubted it was going to happen, but the longer you wait, the more questions come up. As far as I’m concerned, you know, I have a really good relationship with Seb. But I’ve never been one to rely on my teammate.
The way the weekends go, it’s really hard to feed off each other. You can look at a couple data and see, He’s done this in that corner. It happens. But it’s not the big picture. You need to find the answers you’re looking for within your group and make the best of your car.
I don’t think it’s going to play a big factor.
Q. You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who believes in karma or fate. Opening the year with the win in the Rolex, do you allow to think, This is going to be a really good year for me?
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: No, I’m not superstitious. I don’t believe in momentum or anything like that. But starting the season on the right foot never hurts.
It’s helpful. When I was in Champ Car, everything was going our way. Didn’t matter. Everything was working out. Maybe because we were in the best team, working more than the others, generating our own good luck.
For sure for the longest time in the last few years it felt like, heck, you know, when is it going to work out. Yeah, finally we kind of clicked at the end of the season, got a few podiums, things looked like they were turning around. I was kind of looking forward to building on that. It all went away. Well, where do we go now?
Now this new program with KV has come together. I’m definitely very much looking forward to these next two seasons and very excited about the prospects.
Q. You touched on how much of a struggle it was coming back to IndyCar racing. Do you ever
question whether you can get back to the top of the mountain?
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: Well, yeah, you always question that. Obviously you’re only as good as your car is. That’s always been true for me. I’m no super hero. I can be very fast in a good car with a good team around me. On my own, I’m no better than anybody else.
Yeah, I guess that first half season when I decided to give it a shot and do the road courses, we had some strong showings, but were never race-winning material. Maybe once in Toronto. Apart from that, we were not quite strong enough. It felt like it was going to be a very steep mountain to climb.
You don’t question whether you can do it or not, you just know you can’t do it alone. You never know whether you’re going to get the opportunity to get back in the winning seat. That’s the thing.
Like I said before, when I left Newman/Haas to go after that dream of mine in F1, there was no guarantee if I ever tried to come back getting a top seat. I knew that. It happened before with Zanardi and Cristiano. I knew once I left, I had taken a one-way ticket. It’s not that I couldn’t buy a return, but nothing was guaranteed.
Yeah, for the longest time it just felt like it was not meant to be. Hopefully I’m going to prove myself wrong.
Q. Could you talk about how things developed with Dragon Racing last year when you sort of realized there wasn’t going to be a full-season ride? When did the interest from KV occur?
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: Well, yeah, it was kind of difficult really because, like I said, it felt like the IndyCar with Dragon was still very much steering in the right direction. But then all the sponsor money was on this two-year deal, which was coming to an end.
To Jay’s credit, he had put a great program together. Unfortunately circumstances with the Lotus at first, it was just one step back after another. Not really anything that Jay could control.
Then when you start obviously exhausting all the options, very soon, in the middle of the season, I got to understand through talking to Jay that there was going to be a 30% chance it was going to happen again. As time was going on, there were a couple of sponsor issues and stuff, it was pretty clear it was maybe going to be an Indy-only deal. Then we started talking with Jay. He got all my attention. I got all his attention when we started talking about it. It was really an open discussion.
At the end of the day, he had an option he could have executed. He didn’t. He really understood what was a goal of mine, which was to, you know, stay in IndyCar and try and be a champion again. He knew he could just not offer that to me.
We decided to keep the relationship, obviously. I’ll probably end up driving his Formula E once the IndyCar season is over. We’ll see how that works out. He let me go to chase my main target. It kind of all happened at the same time.
When Tony announced he was moving to Ganassi, the next choice for KV really was James. James was going back and forth between Andretti and KV. At some point KV really needed some commitments from a driver to finalize the sponsor deal. When James didn’t commit to it, it was me. That was that.
It was obviously very straightforward. All along I knew exactly what the deal was. I was kind of third in line. That’s the way it was. When they didn’t take it, I was like, Yeah, I’ll take it. We went for that.
THE MODERATOR: Sebastien Bourdais, thank you very much.
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: Thank you.
Chevy Racing–2/18/14 IndyCar Media Day–Juan Pablo Montoya
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An interview with:
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, met with members of the media and discussed his return to IndyCar, pre-season testing, his teammates at Team Penske and other topics. Full transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We have Juan Pablo Montoya rejoining the IndyCar Series.
Juan, going through some testing already, your thoughts?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I’m really excited. I mean, I feel like I’m not where I want to be yet with the car. I feel we have come a long way.
It’s weird. Sometimes we’re really good, some we’re average. The first Sebring test was horrible. I feel like Sonoma was pretty good. I was really happy.
It’s hard because the new tires are different than the ones I’ve been used to the last three years. I’m starting to get it, but the problem is I don’t get to put it all together.
If you look at my laps, if you put my fast three laps together, everything is there, it’s just a matter of putting it together in a lap. I think it’s just experience.
I feel like we gaining on it. I think I drive the car a little bit different than the other two. I think Helio drives a little bit more like me. Will just got used to driving the car in an awkward way to be quick. We’re just trying to make the car drive a little better.
You’re always on the limit, but to be more comfortable at the limit. So we’ll see.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.
Q. Juan, how odd does it feel to you when you see a red car now on the track? Does it feel odd?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It’s kind of weird. I mean, a lot of the mechanics worked with me at the 24 Hours, especially when I was in the 02 car, it was all the Indy crew. It’s okay. They’re good people. That’s it.
Q. You’re rivals now.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Right now I’m my biggest rival.
Q. Why?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Because I feel like I got to do a job, push myself. It’s good to have a guy like Will on the team that’s really quick and gets the job done. Helio has a lot of experience.
If I have my experience plus what they do, I think it’s pretty good. I felt like I brought a few things to the team already to make the cars better. We’ve gotten a little bit better, so I’m pretty happy. No complaints.
Q. Can you reflect a little bit on the NASCAR journey? What are your thoughts with Speedweeks going on? Does it feel odd at all that you’re not there? Do you feel like you’re where you belong?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It’s a feeling that I wasn’t missing it probably. It was weird actually. A month ago when they did their first set, I was with my son racing at Homestead. I got a text from Chevy, We’re missing you. I’m like, Why are you missing me (laughter)?
I had no idea they were even testing. It’s nice to do what I’m doing right now. I feel really happy. I’m really excited to be part of Team Penske. It’s a tough challenge ahead of me. I know that.
It seems weird because it seems like race speed is really good when we’re in race trim. Our pace is really good. I was telling my guys, like my race engineer, If you really look at it, even on new tires, I’m not missing corners. There’s a lot of room there for improvement and I know that. It’s not bad. It’s a process, I guess, I hope.
Q. You were talking about it being a difficult challenge. Obviously it was a difficult challenge when you moved over to NASCAR.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It’s completely different. The NASCAR one was one that it was like, Where the hell am I? The cars were very different. There was a lot of movement. This is the opposite because in NASCAR the limit of the car is very easy. You can get to the limit of the car very easy. The big thing is you’re driving it too hard. In IndyCar, you can’t drive it hard enough, or at least I can’t yet. I’m leaving a lot on the table. I think that’s the biggest thing.
Q. Having been successful in virtually every motorsports field you have taken part in, how do you look back and judge NASCAR?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: When we had good cars, we did good. When we had bad cars, we did bad. I think as a team we threw a lot of races away. It’s part of the thing you always do.
The point is when you’re winning races, you throw a lot away and you still win a few. When you’re not winning races, you notice the things you throw away. I think that’s the biggest difference.
The focus for me now is IndyCar 100%. I’m pumped about it. I feel like a complete rookie right now, so it’s pretty cool.
Q. Kurt Busch is talking about wanting to come and do the Indy 500. For somebody who has your experience in open-wheel, trying to get up to speed from that point, after running NASCAR to now, how difficult do you think it’s going to be for him to jump in there for the month of May and get the job done?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I think the configuration, the low downforce configuration of these cars, it’s not too bad. I haven’t driven around Indy. But like Fontana, I was up to speed in five laps. When I went to Phoenix, it took me half a day to get up to speed, it really did.
It’s hard because, Helio went out, ran wide open. You think, It’s wide open. Your brain says it’s wide open, but your body says, Hell no! You’re going into turn one wide open, you say, No, not happening.
It’s hard to get comfortable. Three and four wasn’t so bad in Phoenix. One and two were hard. That’s the high downforce. The high downforce, it’s just a matter of learning how far you can go with the car.
Low downforce, I think anybody would get used to it a lot easier.
Q. Roger said with the right funding, he’d like to see you run the Brickyard 400. Is that something else you want to do? A fan on Twitter wants to know if you have any interest in running the NASCAR road courses as well?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I think the Brickyard would be a good thing. I’ve been so close so many times, it would be a good way of closing that chapter with a good win there. I know Roger hasn’t won there. If we could get the opportunity to do it, I think it would be pretty cool.
Q. Juan, comparing the IndyCars that you drove previously, what are the biggest changes you have noted?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: The biggest thing is braking. The braking is unbelievable. Used to have a lot more power. But the initial acceleration is very similar. It’s when you go through the gears…
The braking in the corners, it’s unbelievable. The grip level of these cars, it’s like an eye-opening, to be honest.
Q. Would you have thought a couple years ago that you would ever be returning?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: At that point, no, because I felt comfortable with what I was doing and everything. But if I look back at everything I’ve done, the most fun and best racing I’ve done in my career, it’s been in IndyCar.
This was the perfect time to do it. I felt like two years from now, wouldn’t be able to do it. Timing-wise, it was ideal.&
nbsp; So we’ll see.
Q. Are you surprised that you haven’t just jumped back into the IndyCar and it’s like riding a bike again?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No, no. I mean, the speed was there right away. Once I pushed the car, the speed was there. The problem is, if you try to be too greedy too early, let’s say we got to Sonoma and I tried really early to push really hard, throw the car off, you spend the rest of the day repairing the car, you don’t learn anything.
Laps I think are very important at this point.
Q. You said you want to go back to IndyCar because you want to win again.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yeah.
Q. If it takes you time to win…
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It’s going to take me time to win. How much time, I don’t know. I’m not expecting to go out the first race and win to be honest. I have to understand strategies and everything.
If the team does a good job of that, it’s good. There’s a lot of things with saving fuel. There’s a lot of strategy that goes in that that I know of, but I haven’t experienced it.
Q. Your reputation and legacy being what it is, is the expectation and the pressure on you to be good immediately, to turn this series upside down quickly?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: My expectations?
Q. Not for yourself, from the outside.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I don’t care what the outside thinks. I really don’t. I put myself enough pressure to perform and do whatever it takes to get it done. I probably put more pressure on myself than anybody else.
For me, it’s all about winning. You know me, I never really care what people think of me. I care what I think of me. I know when I do a good job and a bad job.
I feel I’ve done a really good job with the IndyCar so far, that I’ve done a good job getting up to speed.
It’s funny because a lot of it is, let’s say you run through the day, at the end of the day you look at the data, you look at what Will or Helio are doing, Oh, I got to do that. I go out there and just do it.
That’s going back to, okay, you could probably run wide open through here, nobody done it. If I tried and get it wrong, then I throw away half a day of testing.
I’d rather look at what they’re doing, copy what they’re doing. Then they do something different again. You go, Oh, next time I got to try this. It’s just a matter of doing that.
Q. Roger told us after the Sebring test it seemed you struggled, at least on paper. He said everything was going to be fine, that your biggest concern was getting him in the black pants. Is that accurate (laughter)?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: The first Sebring test was a struggle. It was a struggle for all of us. The new motors, the old motors. It’s hard to judge how far behind are you. You say, I did that corner great. Coming down the straight, Oh, there you go.
At this point it’s been tough to really compare and know.
I would say, looking at Sonoma data after the test, I felt I could have been a little quicker than Helio. If I would put a lot together, I would be a 10th or two behind Will. I know there’s still a lot of work to do, but it’s not like, He’s so much better everywhere.
It’s just two corners. One of them, I screw up. Like I went in, got a huge moment. I know I can do that. The other one was like, Wow!
The good thing with me, when I go, Oh, wow, I just go and try it. I always have had the attitude, if somebody can do it, it can be done. What the heck, give it a try.
Q. Are you wearing the black pants now?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Absolutely. Proudly. I told them today actually white shirt, the Verizon white shirt looks better than the black shirt. But they say, White shirt is management. Again, I’m not management, I’m just a driver. Black shirt for me (laughter).
Q. How familiar are you with the St. Petersburg track? What are your thoughts on it?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I’ve seen about a hundred videos of it. I watched the races. I will start watching the races again just to figure out how to drive the car, see what they do and stuff.
That’s one of the hardest challenges, the first time on a street course, St. Petersburg. I think it’s going to be eye-opening. I think it’s going to be a slow-building weekend, getting comfortable in the car.
It’s something I’ve been getting better at, work on the car. Going fast, it’s easier. If you’re not comfortable in the car, first of all the chances of getting it wrong are big and you’re never going to be good enough.
I’ve been working hard on things that I like about the cars, things I don’t like about the cars. Setup-wise we’re a little different at the moment.
Q. Given the fact you’ve had so much success throughout your career, but also you’re kind of a rookie again, what would be a successful season for you?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Winning the Indy 500 and fighting for the championship. You would say that would be a good season.
Q. You think those are realistic expectations?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: You look at my oval experience in NASCAR, it’s huge. I did ovals before. You have to figure out again in IndyCars what you can do and what you can’t do. It will be fine.
Going back to the same thing: if you can get the car to do what you want, you’re going to be really competitive. Is it going to be easy? No. If it was easy, anybody would do it.
Q. In the 2000 Indianapolis 500, it was said you weren’t impressed with the car. How much have you seen this car evolve?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: This car is more of a CART car than an IndyCar. They’re completely different, I think, personally.
Q. Is this a hard car to drive? What makes them different?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: When it’s bad, it’s a horrible car to drive. When it’s good, it’s really, really good. When we did the Sebring test, it was awful. My first test was there. My first test I ran half a second quicker than I was running there. I ran a half second quicker without any effort. When we went back, What the heck is wrong with this?
We’ll see.
Q. Is there any consideration this year to try to run the Daytona 500 and Indy 500, to be the guy to win them both?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No, unless Roger asks me.
Q. Have you asked him?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No. I got enough things going on. No, no, no, no, no (laughter).
Q. What did you think of the pace car fire?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Which one?
Q. Not yours.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t see it. I was in a car. Sebastien was racing. We came back from a dinner. Actually my wife turned it on because she saw a tweet about it. They were interviewing Stewart after the crash. She wanted to watch the race and I fell asleep. I’m not saying I fell asleep because it was boring, I was just tired.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
Chevy Racing–2/28/14– IndyCar Media Day
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
INDYCAR SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAY
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
FEBRUARY 18,2014
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET met with members of the media and discussed pre-season testing, expectations for season and other topics. Full transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We welcome Will Power of Team Penske.
Will, just a little bit about how potentially the momentum of last year can carry over to this year and your objectives and outlook for 2014.
WILL POWER: That was an unusual finish to a season for me if you go off the last few years. Definitely had a good off-season and very motivated to have a good year.
We’ve had a couple test days with the three cars. Actually found some pretty good stuff. I feel as though we’re going to be pretty competitive. Kind of just working hard, not leaving anything on the table, not leaving anything to chance. You just can’t be lazy. You’ve got to work hard in this game if you want to continually be competitive. So that’s our plan.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Will, how is it different this year testing with two teammates? How is it with three cars?
WILL POWER: Just another car to give feedback and try things. Just more information.
With Juan, he’s had some good experience, good ideas. He’s obviously been very successful in Formula One. His experience in NASCAR, it’s kind of good having him there, for sure. He’s a guy that I looked up to when I was racing Formula Ford and he was in Formula One. Kind of cool to be working with him.
Q. Will, you and Helio got on along very well with A.J. What has the relationship been with Juan? Have you been able to adapt as quickly with him?
WILL POWER: Yeah. Juan’s obviously worked on a lot of teams before and understands how the whole thing works. Yeah, it’s worked well.
Like I said, he’s brought a lot of experience to the team and come up with good ideas. He’s already helped to point us in a good direction, along with Helio as well. We all kind of work together.
At the end of the day we all understand that we got to race each other on the track. During this testing time, part of the season, we need to work together and try things, find things that are going to help us be at the front.
Q. Talking to Tim Cindric last month, he mentioned the testing has not gone as well as you would like. What do you think is happening in early testing?
WILL POWER: Was that before Sonoma?
Q. It was.
WILL POWER: The test at Sebring, it’s kind of a hard place. It’s not a track that we run on. It’s probably a place you can try some unusual things and may not work.
I think we definitely found some good stuff.
Q. Last year was an unusual year for you in that you were not winning all the time. What did you learn about yourself last year?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I have to say I was a lot more relaxed in racing situations. I had spent three years being very conservative, feeling the points. Actually taught me you just need to race hard no matter what. At the end of the year, it was fun. You can just race hard, it does not matter. In fact, the results came a lot better when I did that.
It taught me a lot about racing, getting in the pack. When you spend a lot of time at the front, the restarts, you’re not in the pack. I feel that my race craft was really good by the end and I enjoyed it.
That’s how I’ll be racing this year.
Q. With the series having so many more street and road courses on it, how much does that kind of help set you up for a serious championship run this year having gone through the disappointments of last year?
WILL POWER: Like I said, I mean, it just taught me not to think about points, but just race hard and enjoy it. A lot of teams now are really compressed. There’s no one that sticks out. Obviously Ganassi was strong on the road and street courses last year. Every off-season, all these small teams, including us, you close the gap. The gap gets smaller and smaller.
It’s a different series or different intensity of competition, you could say, to what it was two or three years ago. It’s really ramped up. No one just takes all the poles. It’s quite difficult to get a pole, let alone get in the Fast Six now, which is great. It’s a good, tough series.
Q. Will, actually you started on the pole at St. Petersburg last year. You had your race craft toward the end of the year. Is putting those two things together one of your goals for 2014?
WILL POWER: Yes. I think if I raced harder at St. Petersburg, Helio would have never had gotten me around the outside. Joe would have never ran over me.
Q. How different do you think the Ganassi group will look like with T.K. there instead of Dario? Do you think Dixon will be a different kind of foe without Dario there?
WILL POWER: That’s hard to say. It’s the first time I’ve seen T.K. be quite serious in a press conference. He had the Target shirt on. He wasn’t joking around like the rest of us. He was dead serious. I don’t know.
I think he’s going to be really competitive. If you look at the four Ganassi drivers, they’re all really good. Briscoe, you can expect him to be right there in the championship, as well. And Charlie, he’s gained a lot of experience, won a race. He seems to be always getting in the Fast Six there towards the end of the year.
As a whole, that team is very strong. T.K. is obviously very good on ovals, too, which will probably bring something to the table there.
Q. What would we make of Bourdais? He seems to be fast in testing.
WILL POWER: Yeah, he is. He’s the quickest guy. It’s hard to know what they’re running. Yeah, I expect him to be a contender.
Weird last year, so competitive in 2012, he turned up, the tide changed a bit, he struggled, but then was there at the end of the year again. This guy is a four-time champion. And KV is a very good team. Resources and the money behind him.
Q. What is in the Penske files?
WILL POWER: I don’t know. Had to give a job interview. Thought I put it on strong, lots of information (laughter).
Q. You mentioned about the change in the tires throwing not just Bourdais, but maybe some of the other teams off. What about this season? Have you had a chance to work with Firestone? Have they made any changes? Do you have to start over again?
WILL POWER: Every year they tell us the tire is not different. The tire at Sonoma, the 2014 road course tire, better grip, so a better tire.
Those guys always doing a little bit of development. It’s a one-make tire, so not a huge amount of motivation to change it a lot.
Biggest change we felt was beginning of last year. I don’t think much is going to change this year.
Q. With Ganassi switching to Chevy power, how does that affect you guys?
WILL POWER: It’s just going to make Ganassi better, more reliable and better. Makes it tougher on us, for sure.
But it’s good to have them in the family.&
nbsp; Four more drivers giving good feedback to help Chevy, help point us in the right direction. Plus they’ve had the experience of looking at some of Honda’s strengths, see if we can transfer it over to the Chevy side.
Q. Do you think they’ll share?
WILL POWER: They have to. It’s an open book with the Chevy guys. Everyone has the same. So, yes, we all have the same goal in mind: to make the engine the best. We’ll fight it out on the track then.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
WILL POWER: Thank you.
Chevy Racing–2/15/14 Tony Stewart
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA 500
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE NOTES
FEBRUARY 15, 2014
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – EXPERIENCED AN ENGINE FAILURE DURING NSCS PRACTICE 2 FOR THE DAYTONA 500
WHAT DID YOU FEEL INSIDE THE NO. 14 WHEN THE ENGINE EXPIRED?
“Just something in the bottom end broke. It happened all at once. I was talking to Scottie Maxim (director of track support at Hendrick Motorsports) one of the head engine guys at Hendrick and went over everything. It’s a good thing about having the telemetry with the motor side is you can see what goes on, what’s happening, but it wasn’t anything that we knew with some warning. It just happened all at once. The good thing is we have a lot of depth at Hendrick and the motor they will put in for tomorrow will be just as good as this one.”
AFTER CONVERSATIONS WITH SCOTT MAXIM, IS THERE ANY CONCERN WHATSOEVER AFTER THOSE TWO ENGINE FAILURES?
“Not that I’m aware of. We basically just went over what happened. He said the one that is coming down, our back-up motor here; it’s just as good as this one. Not really concerned about it. We only have to make a small run tomorrow. I’m pretty confident we will be fine.”
DO YOU ALMOST HAVE TO TAKE THE ATTITUDE THAT BETTER NOW AND LET’S GET THIS THING GOING AGAIN?
“It’s just a motor. If it was getting ready for the race you would be a little more concerned. It’s just for qualifying. They pay the big check a week from tomorrow, not tomorrow.”
WHAT DID YOU FEEL?
“It broke a motor. Just a vibration. That is what happens when they break. It’s nothing fancy it just vibrates. As soon as it breaks apart it throws all the weight off and that is what makes it vibrate.”
HOW WAS YOUR PRACTICE TODAY?
“Typical (Daytona) 500 practice. Yesterday was a little more fun, today definitely feels like being back at work today. Single car runs aren’t very fun for the drivers but it’s a necessary evil here.”
MORE TIME IN THE CAR AND STILL ZERO PAIN?
“Yep, still feel good. We have all afternoon now to rest and get ready for tonight and go at it.”
TONY GIBSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS:
CONCERNING THE ENGINE FAILURE EXPERIENCED BY THE NO. 10 CHEVROLET SS:
“Several times you will see two and three of them (engines) at the same time blow up. When you get into qualifying trim, you are asking these things to do a lot. They have to run hot and a lot of RPM’s and a lot of crazy stuff. We will work it out.”
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS:
REGARDING LOSING AN ENGINE DURING THE FIRST PRACTICE SESSION FOR THE DAYTONA 500:
“I’m sure they are going to dig deeper. Hendrick is great support for us. I sat on the front row last year. I sat on the pole. I’m sure we will get it together and it’s better it happens; I mean I only had a few hundred yards to go before the start/finish and then I would have shut it off. So I said man I guess I’m glad it did it then as opposed to being five seconds away from blowing up because that would have been tomorrow. We will get our arms wrapped around it. We will figure out what we can, but more importantly just get the next engine in and get going. I said, ‘Can I still start on the front row?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, but you have to start at the back for the Duels.’”
IS THREE ENGINE FAILURES A CONCERN AT ALL FOR YOU?
“Sure, yeah, it was a concern when I saw Tony (Stewart) blow up and then I did. I was like man are we doing something but it doesn’t seem to necessarily be specific to our team I guess. But it’s something that we are doing in our family here and we need to figure it out. I was saying I bet other Hendrick cars are thinking ‘what’s going on’ so we have got time to hopefully figure it out. Definitely figure it out before the race.”
BETTER FIND THIS OUT NOW. IS THAT THE KING OF ATTITUDE YOU HAVE TO TAKE?
“That is the only way to look at it at this point in time. It’s definitely a departure from where we were last year when we unloaded and were very quick and really we made one run in each practice and everything was perfect. This is different, but it’s a different year and that’s what happens. That is why when y’all ask what you expect for the year you have to really get into the year to start to set expectation levels because this is very different than the last time. I don’t doubt everybody in their effort and their ability to fix it, so yeah, the bright side is that it didn’t happen on qualifying it happened before and we will get something else in there and we will do our very best.”
SCOTT MAXIM, DIRECTOR OF ENGINE TRACK SUPPORT AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS:
REGARDING THE THREE ENGINE FAILURES FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DURING THE FIRST DAYTONA 500 PRACTICE SESSION:
“Data that we have been able to look at would suggest that it’s something in the bottom end of the engine. Really, until we get the engines further apart to be able to more closely analyze them, I really couldn’t see anything anymore than that right now.”
WHAT LEVEL OF CONCERN DO YOU HAVE GOING FORWARD?
“Moving forward, we will be alright. We will identify what we’ve got and we will make changes needed and I think that we will be able to make corrective action. Certainly as well for tomorrow, we will be able to look the engines over closely and make sure that we are not going into tomorrow with an issue. Then after that, we will be all good.”
DOUG DUCHARDT, GENERAL MANAGER AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS:
WE SAW THREE HENDRICK ENGINE FAILURES IS THERE SOMETHING ACROSS THE BOARD YOU ARE TRYING TO DO THERE? WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE PROBLEM?
“Across the board we are trying to do the best we can for qualifying tomorrow for those two laps. We’ve worked through that process. Obviously we have been pushing the limit and we found the limit there. We feel like we understand what is happening. We will get the engines back over and tear them down from NASCAR. I think we will be able to confirm everything that is happening. The drivers have been consistent they feel like it has been something in the bottom end of the engine. We think we understand what is happening there and we will take a look at that. For tonight and for the rest of the week when we go to race we don’t have any concerns with the Sprint Unlimited or as we get into the twins or the (Daytona) 500.”
DO YOU THINK IT IS A COMPONENT?
“Well I think it is just part of us trying to maximize two laps for tomorrow. So it’s not a specific component issue. It’s just how we go about trying to minimize going around the track for qualifying.”
WE SAW JAMIE MCMURRAY ABORT HIS RUN COMING DOWN PIT ROAD. IS THAT YOUR CALL FROM HENDRICK ENGINES OR IS THAT THE TEAMS CALL?
“Once we saw some things that were happening and saw some data we knew they were on pit road getting to run again. They had started a run when Tony (Stewart) had an issue. So we wanted to get them back in take some time, look at that data, understand where they were at and make a decision. I don’t think they had enough time to get back out. That is why we did that we didn’t want to we just didn’t want to have another issue. We wanted to be on the safe side with that. So we called Keith (Rodden) and Keith understands he has worked with us before when he was with the 5 car last year so he understands how we work and go about things so that was pretty easy.”
Chevy Racing–Daytona–Martin Truex Jr
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPRINT UNLIMITED
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
MARTIN TRUEX JR, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Superspeedway and discussed his outlook for Speedweeks, working with a new team and many other topics. Full Transcript:
HOW IS YOUR OUTLOOK WITH YOUR NEW RACE TEAM? TALK ABOUT THE NEW CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT; YOU COME OUT OF DAYTONA WITH A WIN, YOU’RE LOOKING PRETTY GOOD. TALK ABOUT THAT, TOO:
“First of all, I’m glad to be in Daytona. I’m ready to kick off a new season obviously. I think going to a new team is always something that at first you’re nervous about, but then as you start to know the team and do some testing, you know go through all the things getting prepared for the new season it starts to become really exciting. A lot of anticipation. Really looking forward to the start of the season and trying to see kind of where you stack up, what kind of things you’re going to need to work on to get better at and all that. It’s been a really good experience so far. I’ve really enjoyed working with Todd and Cole and everybody at Furniture Row. I’ve been to Denver a few times, really impressed with the things they have, the stuff they’re doing and the things they are working on. Some of the stuff they did last year was really impressive. Just obviously looking forward to hopefully taking that team to the next level, going to victory lane and going back to the Chase again.
“With all the rule changes, not only with the car but with the Chase, I think it’s a good year to be with a different team. If you ever had to pick a time to switch teams, you would want to do it when there was some big rules changes. So, you kind of start off on an even playing field with everyone. We’re going to have to learn a lot of things about this race car with the new setups with the ride height changes and things. It really changes a lot about the cars, about how they’re setup, how they feel to drive. It’s going to change a lot about the things we need to do to them to make them fast. Definitely a good time to be starting with a new group and looking forward to getting the ball rolling and seeing where we stand.
ZERO FOR TWO FOR SCHEDULED IN-PERSON MEDIA APPEARANCES THIS YEAR. TELL US THE STORY OF GETTING DOWN HERE. WHAT HAPPENED?
“We were supposed to leave at 10:45. Obviously, that didn’t happen. We ended up taking off, um. We got to the airport about 2:15, 2:30, hoping to take off at 2:30, ended up taking off close to 5 o’clock. It took me an hour and 15 minutes to get from my house to the airport in my truck, which is like a big jacked up Chevy with 38’s on it. It was pretty fun in the snow nonetheless but hour and 15 minutes probably to get to the airport which is normally 16 minutes away from the house through the snow. It was pretty nasty. It was a lot of fun. Once we got to the airport, the runway was nowhere near as ready as we thought it would be. Ryan (Newman) was out there in his truck doing laps up and down trying to break up the slush and help the plow trucks. He had unstuck the plow truck once because the guy had went off the end of the runway and got stuck in the grass, so he had to pull him out. It was an interesting day to say the least, and we had a good time. Much rather would have been here talking to all you all, but we did end up getting here and got most of our things done yesterday and last night so it ended up working out. But definitely an interesting day to say the least.”
IT WAS YOUR PLANE?
“Yes, sir.”
THREE CHANGES FOR YOU – SPONSOR, CAR MAKE AND ALL THE CHANGES THAT NASCAR PUT DOWN. WHICH HAS BEEN THE MOST CHALLENGING OVER THE WINTER?
“I don’t think there has been one that really stood out. I think that’s a lot of changes at once. There are just a lot of things to get accustomed to. As far as going to a new team, it’s a lot of the little things. You know – how do you like your seat? How do you like your shifter? How do you like your brake pedal to feel? Master cylinder choice? What kind of steering box do you like at certain tracks? There are so many little things that you take for granted when you are with the same team for four or five years. You go through those things the first year and you kind of forget all about them. You forget that other teams do things differently, other drivers like things a little bit different. Going through the testing, going through all those little things about the car that I like a certain way has probably been the biggest challenge or the thing that has taken kind of the most time to kind get through and figure out. I’m sure there’s going to be other things that come up along the way that we’re going to have to figure out together. I think that’s probably the biggest challenge is just changing teams and they do things kind of a different way, and you have to kind of say ‘ok, I kind of like this way here and there.’ That takes a little bit of time to figure it all out. I feel like we have made some great headway on that, but again until you start racing a lot of those things don’t come up in the forefront as much as you’d like them to. So, we’ll learn as we go. Testing has gone really well with the team. Communication has been great so far. I really enjoy working with Todd and Cole, the engineer there. They’re some sharp guys. They’ve got some really neat stuff they are working on. I’m excited to drive their cars and you know, hopefully, I can do a great job for them.”
YOU MENTIONED YOU WANT TO SEE HOW YOU MEASURE UP AGAINST OTHER TEAMS. HOW MANY RACES DOES IT TAKE BEFORE YOU KNOW WHERE YOU’RE AT GIVEN THE DIFFERENCE IN TRACKS WE HAVE COMING UP IN THE FIRST FOUR OR FIVE RACES?
“I’d say not too long. I think by California you really get a feel for where you stand. You go to Vegas, which is a mile and a half, but it’s very bumpy. It’s a little bit different. It’s kind of got the newer asphalt. Then you go to California which is that old, wore out type asphalt. Really slick race track, need a lot of downforce and things. Of course, we go to Bristol in there – a short track, high banks. And a superspeedway here at Daytona. So there’s a lot of, a good mix of tracks. Phoenix, can’t forget that one, obviously that will be a good place to know where you’re going to stand at the short tracks – Loudon and Richmond and places like that. I think pretty early in the season you’ll kind of know the things that you’re going to need to work on – the tracks maybe you are strong at, the tracks that maybe you need to work on a little bit harder. It doesn’t take long.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK SOME OF THE DIFFERENCES WILL BE THIS YEAR WITH YOU BEING JUST THE ONE CAR AND WILL THAT MAKE IT A LITTLE MORE CHALLENGING GETTING FEEDBACK AND NOT GETTING THAT FROM TEAMMATES AND DO YOU HAVE ADDED MOTIVATION KNOWING THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO HAVE SUCCESS LAST YEAR WITH A GOOD DRIVER?
“Well, it definitely makes you feel better knowing that they have been able to put up some great results and that they have had some fast race cars. Obviously that is part of why I went there. I wasn’t going to go there if I didn’t think that we could win races – that is not what I am here for. So I definitely think that the team is capable and I really feel good about that obviously and just really looking forward to getting the season started. The off seasons are always tough. You are always wondering how it’s going to happen and how it’s going to go. You really just want to get in there and race. Especially when you start changing teams, you start talking to them, and you sign a deal. Last year we pretty much signed the deal in Texas and there is a lot of time in between Texas and the Daytona 500 if you think about it. So it’s really kind of a tough time and you really just want to get in the
re with your new team, and get to work and start racing together. But obviously you have to wait.
“It’s been good and I don’t think that there is going to be one thing that stands out about it being challenging. I think the relationship with RCR…they really have evolved with that and I am obviously pretty good friends with some guys over there. Ryan Newman is one of my best friends and I think that will be a big deal to be able to work with him and we are both looking forward to that. It’s obviously a single car team but they have the RCR resource and that teammate mentality to where if we are off or we are struggling with that, we can go to them for help. It’s the same thing on our side where if we are doing something well, and they are struggling, then they can come to us. So it’s got the benefits of a single car team where they can move fast and make changes quick, build their own parts and not have to wait to get them finished to put on the car. But at the same time if we get out in left field, then we have that catch fence to help us with RCR. So that is the great thing and I think there are benefits to being that single car deal and we will just have to see how it goes. It is going to be different for me because I have not been in a situation like this before, so it’s going to be interesting and it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be a new challenge and I always look forward to those.”
DO YOU THINK BEING RESILIENT IS WHAT HELPS GUYS LIKE YOU MAKE IT TO THIS LEVEL?
“Racing is a tough sport and there is going to be a lot of ups and downs and most likely a lot more downs than ups. This is a tough business and you are talking about racing against 42 guys every weekend and you don’t win fifty percent of the time. You know, if you win one percent of the time at this level, it’s pretty damn good. It’s a difficult sport and it takes its toll on your mentality. You have to be strong-willed, know what you stand for and know why you are doing what you are doing.
“Certainly last year was tough for me but I feel like we moved on from it pretty quick and things are still going pretty good for me. I am obviously very appreciative of this opportunity and very fortunate that I was able to land in a great position that I am in right now with how things went and how late in the season they were. So, honestly I am blessed to be here and looking forward to the opportunity. I am going to do my best to make the most of it like I always do.”
HAS THIS OFFSEASON FELT FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT AND DO YOU FEEL PLUGGED IN AND READY TO GO AT THIS POINT?
“I feel really good about it, yeah. Definitely refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to go. You know I think their approach was a little different and they didn’t feel like this was one of the places where they wanted to spend the time and effort testing. They felt like their time was spent better getting things ready at the shop to go test places like Nashville – which we have already been to. I think part of it is that (crew chief Todd) Berrier is a little bit superstitious and that the year that they didn’t test here, they won the 500. So maybe that is part of the reason as well. He hasn’t really said that, but that is kind of what I got from talking to him. So we will just see how it goes. But yeah, it’s been a great offseason. There has been a lot of work behind the scenes obviously in getting all the stuff ready and I have been to Denver quite a few times and all that has gone well. So it’s not been the typical offseason, but it’s been a busy one for sure.”
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE NEW CHANGES TO THE CHASE AND IF IT WAS IMPLEMENTED LAST YEAR, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO THE DRAMA THAT YOU WENT THROUGH AND THAT YOU MIGHT STILL BE WITH THAT TEAM AND YOUR SPONSOR ON THAT CAR?
“That crossed my mind, yeah. Obviously none of that would have ever happened. But that is not what the rules were last year, so there is nothing I could do about that. You can’t look back at things that happened and say, ‘well, if the rules were different, it would have gone this way’. Because the rules are what they were and it not even worth looking back on to be honest with you. It’s one of those things you just want to forget about and move forward. And I am excited about the new changes and I think it’s a great thing and obviously in what we have seen in football where it’s a more exciting playoff system – I think it’s going to be more like that. I think the eliminations are great and it’s going give everybody a chance to race for a championship. I think we are capable of getting in that top-16 and hopefully by winning a few races because that is the plan. So yeah, it’s going to be good and I am looking forward to it. It’s going to be exciting for everyone to watch, definitely going to be different for us as drivers, and there is going to be some good stuff in there.”
Chevy Racing–Tony Stewart
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPRINT UNLIMITED
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway following the first practice session for Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited. The three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion discussed how he felt in the car as he climbed behind the wheel for the first time following his accident last season, what he is expecting during tomorrow’s Sprint Unlimited and many other topics. Full Transcript:
HOW DID IT FEEL?
“It felt good. The great thing is there is zero percentage of pain in the car. That was nice. We will see what it feels like at 9 o’clock tonight, but so far so good. That is better than I was hoping for, honestly. I thought we would have some kind of ache, pain of some kind that would bother us. It was like putting on an old pair of shoes again.”
AT WHAT POINT WERE YOU SMILING?
“When we hit the end of pit road leaving. That is way too long to wait to get back in a race car that is for sure.”
IS IT A RELIEF OR ARE YOU JUST OVERJOYED?
“Well a little of both. I think once we got the relief of knowing we weren’t hurting anywhere then it was just joy of being back out there again. It didn’t feel like I had been gone seven months when we started running. It was today though, every five minutes I was looking at the clock from 3 o’clock on going ‘is it 4:30 yet’ because I wanted to get dressed at 4:30 and come in. That is a long time to be staring at the clock for an hour and a half. That is small compared to the seven months.”
YOU GOT IN THE CAR ABOUT 18 MINUTES EARLY, WHICH SEEMS EARLY FOR YOU…
“I told them don’t get too excited that is not going to be a habit. So I’m logging curtsey minutes so if that way I’m late for practice I got that credit.”
AFTER YOU GET YOUR HELMET ON WHAT IS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?
“Just waiting. I didn’t want to wait anymore to be honest. The biggest thing was going in there, as soon as I got in the car, I’ve sat in that car three times now. I still had to move the mirror when I got in there one more time. We just wanted to give ourselves a couple of minutes so we weren’t thrashing at the last second if there was something we needed to move. Sure enough I had to move my mirror.”
WAS THE WALK TO THE CAR ANY DIFFERENT? WERE YOU ANXIOUS; WERE YOU EXCITED, JUST NORMAL TYPICAL?
“I just put one foot in front of the other like I do every time I got to the car.”
ARE THERE ANY TEAMMATES YOU MISS? (Asked by Ryan Newman)
“I miss Ryan (Newman) and the good thing was that was who I had behind me for the first part of the practice. So it’s nice to have somebody you trust behind you like that. He took care of me a couple out there that we got kind of in a bind just the normal practice deal, but it was nice having him back there.”
HOW LONG BEFORE YOU FOCUSED ON WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THE CAR AND NOT WORRIED ABOUT THE OTHER STUFF?
“I already am. I already was. As soon as we came in from that first run there we were already talking about how it was sucking up, how it felt when we were leading. Already trying to go over details of what we can do to make it better for tomorrow already. Like I said once we got in the car and once I didn’t feel the pain right off the bat it was right back to business as usual.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY THERAPY TODAY OR ANY SPECIAL STRETCHES OR ANYTHING? OR IS IT JUST LIKE A NORMAL PRACTICE DAY?
“Knowing you are my back-up guy (referring to an inside joke with reporter Bob Pockrass) I didn’t do anything extra. I felt like my back-up guy is on par and ready to go. No, I didn’t do anything today.”
DID YOU MISS PIT IN?
“Well we were supposed to get a tire sheet so I just missed getting my tire sheet spot. But that was the first time we had gotten on the brakes hard with new pads so the second time it stopped a lot better.”
HOW WAS THE PRACTICE IN GENERAL?
“It was pretty sane. It was the same as it always is here. I mean everybody is just trying to figure out what their cars are doing and where they can get runs and where they can’t. If there car is stronger on the top than bottom, how it pulls up to the cars behind it, so pretty much just the same as always.”
HOW ABOUT GETTING IN AND OUT OF THE CAR?
“Piece of cake. I didn’t fall. I think that was what everybody was waiting for. If there was ever a time to not screw up it is getting in the car this time. About 400 cameras there so I didn’t want to be the guy that fell out of the car and got on the cover of the paper for that.”
WILL YOU WANT TO DO MORE LAPS THAN NORMAL SORT OF AN ENDURANCE TO SEE HOW GOOD THE LEG IS?
“No, we didn’t really get as many laps as we wanted to in the first session. We are going to run the second session anyway. So we will get plenty of laps in tonight.”
WHAT IS YOUR LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE OF DRIVING OVER 500 MILES?
“I don’t think Bob (Pockrass) is going to be able to have his first Cup start this week. I’m pretty confident we are going to be fine.”
WAS IT A GOOD FEELING TO SEE ALL THOSE CAMERAS AND EVERYBODY THERE? LIKE YOU GETTING BACK INTO A CAR IS A BIG DEAL?
“Yeah, and honestly last night I started getting a bunch of text messages. I got them from media members, from our dirt track guys, friends of mind from the West Coast. Everybody started texting saying how excited they were for today. Today in the big picture was just another practice day, but obviously it was a little bigger than normal for us.”
WHEN YOU GET INTO A BIND ON THE TRACK AND YOU HAVE THAT MOMENT THAT WILL LIKELY COME IS THERE GOING TO BE APART OF YOU THAT IS GOING TO WORRY MORE THAN YOU DID BEFORE?
“No, I mean Denny (Hamlin) pushed me down the frontstretch and I got a little wiggly and it just, like I said, it was crazy how it just felt like it was yesterday that we were doing the same thing. For somebody who hadn’t been in a car it sure doesn’t feel like I haven’t been in a car. It feels like I was in it a week ago already. I was pleasantly surprised for that.”
HOW ABOUT CHAD JOHNSTON AND BEING UP THERE AND HEAD OF THE NEW SCENARIO?
“It’s kind of cool because I can actually hear him on the radio. (Steve) Addington was always hard to hear. Steve has just got a very calm voice. Chad’s got a calm voice, but the volume is a little louder so I don’t have to jack the volume on the radio up so loud to hear him. It’s the first time I’ve heard him on a radio. It’s going to be different when we got to Phoenix in a couple of weeks, but for here it just sounds normal and natural already.”
WHAT IS PRIORITY ONE NOW?
“Wait for the next session and just do the same things that we always do. Just go through the steps of trying to figure out how to make the car better. I think we will probably do single car stuff the rest of the day just to make sure that we are making changes that we know what the effect of it is versus trying to be in packs. If the pack is five cars deep you are not going to learn as much as if it’s 10 cars deep. It’s hard to get accurate information so we are just going to do single car stuff the rest of the day and get ready for tomorrow.”
HOW MUCH DOES IT CONFIRM GETTING IN A CAR THAT YOU JUST LOVE RACING TO PIECES?
“If I didn’t think Greg Zipadelli would absolutely kill me tonight I would probably want to go race at Volusia
tonight. It felt that good. I don’t think Zippy would be the only guy. I think the entire organization here would probably duct tape me to the flag pole on the frontstretch so I couldn’t leave.”
EVENTUALLY YOU ARE GOING TO DO THAT?
“Yeah, I’ve said that all along. I haven’t waivered from that.”
ARE YOU RELIEVED THAT GETTING BACK INTO A CAR IS NOT A BIG DEAL AT ALL?
“Yeah, I thought it was going to be… I’m glad it wasn’t any bigger deal than that. That is the good part of it. I didn’t think it would just blend in like it did. It just kind of felt like any other day at the office. Once we got off pit road and got going and actually got in the pack there you forgot about all the other stuff and you went back to work. Just got back in the swing of things.”
HOW MUCH OF A RELIEF IS THAT?
“Especially not having any pain afterwards and not having any pain driving that is a big weight off our shoulders. It’s the only thing we couldn’t answer to you guys was what is it going to feel like after being in a car. Like I said unless after adrenaline wears off tonight at 9 o’clock I start getting sore it feels really good, much better than I thought it was going to be.”
Chevy Racing–Daytona–Ryan Newman
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPRINT UNLIMITED
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed his journey to get to the track from snow covered North Carolina, thoughts on what kind of race the Sprint Unlimited will be, how he is meshing with his new team and other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK AS YOU COME INTO SPEEDWEEKS:
“I’m excited as I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of people say, but from my position it’s a new situation for me in the essence that I’m going to a team that is already existing. An organization that’s obviously been around and it’s kind of a different step in my career. When I started at Penske we grew a team. When I went to Stewart-Haas (Racing) we put a bunch of people together, now I’m jumping into a seat that is just really a driver swap is a different situation for me and it’s something I look forward to. Just to know that Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is in control of their own destiny. Every part and every piece that goes under the race cars is built at RCR, one of a few organizations left that has that control and I think that control makes a difference when you are going to race to be a champion. Just look forward to representing Caterpillar and again Quicken Loans and WIX Filters and having some fun this year. Just getting the opportunity to start the season out with the Unlimited race. I look forward to that tomorrow night.”
TELL US THE STORY OF YOUR MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR TO GET HERE. WHEN WERE YOU COMING AND WHEN DID YOU FINALLY GET HERE?
“Originally we were supposed to take off at 10:30 a.m. We had gotten verification from the pilots that the city of Statesville (North Carolina) was going to be there 24 hours a day no matter what plowing the runway making sure that we could taxi out and take off. We ended up getting a whole bunch more snow than what was ever forecasted, about five inches yesterday morning. We had to wait because of the way the temperature was to roll the airplane out of the hanger after it stopped snowing. It was about 12:30 p.m. I think when the snow actually quit altogether. For whatever reason the trucks didn’t get dispatched and get to the airport until 1:30 p.m. and we were scheduled to take off at 3:00 p.m. which still would have gotten us here late, but closer to on time. I showed up at the airport, I ran the speed limit down the interstate; everything was good, I mean it was slushy, it was one lane, but you could still go a good speed. I got the airport and drove out onto the tarmac; got on the taxi way and saw that it was a little bit slushy and that there was a backhoe and a dump truck that was plowing. I drove down the runway to the other end of the runway and saw that it was still snow packed. There was not a spot on it that you could see asphalt. After I got down to the end of the runway the dump truck was stuck, backed off the end of the runway. So I helped the guy hook the chain up with the backhoe, after I broke my tow strap on my truck and pulled the dump truck out and basically just drove up and down the runway and broke the slush and ice up. I think we ended up taking off right around 4:30 p.m. yesterday.”
WAS MARTIN TRUEX, JR. WITH YOU?
“It was Martin’s plane, so I flew with Martin and we had a couple of other people on the plane, but we were all good to go expect for Mother Nature had a last interruption. Then the City of Statesville didn’t help us out.”
WERE YOU REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT MISSING THE DATE WITH US?
“(Laughs) After you guys knowing that I had given you pretty much the same answers the last 10 years, I figured you might be able to cut and paste a few things.”
HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO TALK WITH ANOTHER NEW GUY AT RCR MIKE COUGHLIN? DO BRITISH ENGINEERS SPEAK DIFFERENTLY THAN AMERICAN ENGINEERS?
“No, it’s still the same English language (laughs). No, I would say that there is maybe a little different twang in his voice compared to most of the people at the shop at RCR, but I have talked to him briefly. I’ve been having the most dialogue with Luke (Lambert, crew chief) and a few of the different engineers, but not him directly so much.”
WILL IT TAKE SOME GETTING USED TO AMONGST THE DRIVERS TO KIND OF SORT OUT WHO IS IN WHAT CAR AND TO KIND OF GET THAT ROSTER MENTALLY DOWN?
“I think there is always a sense of that no matter who moves around or the season or anything else. It’s a matter of what your competition level is, how you perform compared to everybody else. That might be different at intermediate tracks versus short tracks versus superspeedways then you throw in road courses, but in the end I think it doesn’t take us very long to make that adaptation. We saw, last year especially, with Matt Kenseth’s move that moving a driver into an existing team still gives him a great opportunity. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen every time or every season or with every driver, but that was a good example at least to say that yes it can be done. I look forward to all of this year. When it comes to drafting, testing and practicing here, it’s about two laps and we have a good handle on who is around us and who is in what car and everything else. We pay somewhat attention to what most of you guys write to know and look at a few pictures to see who is in what and what is in where.”
SOMETIMES LIKE IN FOOTBALL WHEN A PLAYER MOVES ONTO A TEAM AND THEY ARE ALL OF A SUDDEN EVERYTHING CHANGES AND THEY MIGHT BE STRUGGLING BEFORE THEN TURN INTO A SUPER STAR. HAVE YOU GIVEN THAT A THOUGHT AS FAR AS A MOVE THINKING IT MIGHT BE A BOOST FOR YOU?
“Well I mean without a doubt you would hope that, but I don’t think anybody ever looks at that and says ‘man this is the path that I want to take and I hope this happens.’ I just want to go out there and have fun with this group of guys and know that we have the ultimate potential to win races and a championship and just have fun with it. That is really what it’s all about. When it comes right down to it anything you do to add stress or have a path of expectations I think is just kind of give yourself potential for misguidance. So just go out there and have fun and do your job. In the end as simple as it sounds we are still just driving a car in a circle.”
YOU LOOK AT THE YEAR (MATT) KENSETH HAD LAST YEAR, KYLE (BUSCH) HAD ONE OF HIS BEST YEARS WHEN HE MADE THE MOVE FROM HENDRICK TO GIBBS AND KURT (BUSCH) LAST YEAR AT FURNITURE ROW. IS THERE SOMETHING TO BE SAID ABOUT A NEW ENVIRONMENT THAT MAYBE REINVIGORATES A DRIVER AND HOW IT PERHAPS CAN HELP LEAD TO ALL THAT KIND OF STUFF OR IS THAT JUST A COINCIDENCE?
“Yeah I mean change is good. If you had the right mentality it was probably not good for those people that came out of those seats and went someplace else. We never talked about that. There is equal and opposites in every reaction. I just want to go out there and have fun with these guys. I know and I have seen what Luke (Lambert, crew chief) is capable of with Jeff Burton and Elliott Sadler in his past. The guys on the team that core group of guys kept with them, stayed with them and we just need to go out there and have some fun. It’s really all about and Jimmie (Johnson) is standing over there. He can talk about it a little bit more, about the chemistry and the people that you have around you that makes a world of difference. They can be a great group of guys and I can mesh correctly and I can mesh incorrectly with them.
“We don’t know that until we get a few races under our belt. As of right now I would say
the testing that we have done I’m super excited about this opportunity and the opportunity that Richard Childress has given me.”
WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK FOR TOMORROW NIGHT? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IN THE WAY OF A RACE?
“That was kind of what I was talking to Luke (Lambert, crew chief) about before practice here was I really just want to get a good feel for the race car and use the experience tomorrow night to figure out what I have to do to put my car in position to win. I think that practice is still practice. It’s not like Martinsville or Charlotte where you know who has really got a fast race car it’s more of a chess match of putting yourself in the right position to make the move and that can be a matter of the driver doing that or the crew chief doing that on a pit call or whatever. I think my race tomorrow night about half way through if I could answer your question I can give you a better answer.”
WITH MOVING OVER TO RCR DOES THAT GIVE YOU A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE IN THE SENSE OF WITH THE NO. 3 CAR RETURNING?
“Well I mean there is no RCR answer that says this is the answer we should give you guys. To me it’s about a number and it’s about a number in combination with the driver. Our sport is entirely different than other sports with respect to numbers because there are only 43 drivers let’s say that really compete. I’m not sure if I’ve answered you or anybody else this way before, but that number was Dale Earnhardt’s number. That number was also Ricky Rudd’s number and Richard Childress’ number. Just so happens Dale Earnhardt made it the most famous. Austin Dillon now has his chance to make it the most famous, no different than Dale Earnhardt did. There is a lot of respect I think that goes both way no doubt, but I don’t want anybody to take offense in me saying that it’s just a number, but it’s just a number up to the point that somebody makes it famous and then somebody has got to have chance to out do that. It’s competition it’s fun.”
IN PREPARING FOR TOMORROW NIGHT’S RACE HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A RACE WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FORMAT IS GOING TO BE YET?
“That is a good question and a good question for everybody. I think that you don’t really know until you get some experience under your belt and that is what I said to Tom (Jensen) it’s just a matter of figuring out how good your car is, how easy it is to pass, how difficult it is to pass, how many cars are left after a certain segment or whatever it is just to know what the competition is going to be like. It’s really just a ‘wing it’ race so to speak in the essence of you don’t know. You know how many laps it is, but you don’t know how the competition is going to lay out and that is why the crew chiefs and the teams are a big part of that perspective and that part of the race.”
Chevy Racing–CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS
CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: Entries Confirmed
Corvette C7.Rs head to Europe for debut in annual French endurance classic
DETROIT (Feb. 14, 2014) – The most demanding auto race in the world again will have a distinctive American flavor with the returns of Corvette Racing to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. For its 15th consecutive appearance in the French classic, Corvette Racing will be armed with the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. Two of the new GT challengers were accepted to race at Le Mans in the GTE Pro class.
The goal of the two Corvette C7.Rs, numbered 73 and 74 for Le Mans, is to give Chevrolet and Corvette Racing an eighth class victory in the 24 Hours since 2001.
“It is always an honor to earn an invitation to race at Le Mans,” said Mark Kent, Chevrolet’s Director of Racing. “It is one of the most important races in the world for Chevrolet and is the ultimate proving ground for the technology that goes into our production line. The Corvette C7.R and 2015 Corvette Z06 are perfect examples of that automotive evolution and are the benefactors of Corvette Racing’s previous success at Le Mans.”
Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Jordan Taylor will drive the No. 73 Corvette with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook in the No. 74 C7.R. The pairings mirror Corvette Racing’s lineup the last two years at Le Mans. Garcia, Magnussen, Gavin and Milner all have won the race in a Corvette.
Hopes are high for the return to Le Mans with the Corvette C7.R. The car’s aluminum frame – the same as on the 2015 Corvette Z06 – provides an increased level of stability and control compared to the Corvette C6.R. The C7.R’s engine features direct injection for greater fuel economy and throttle response – key at a race as lengthy as Le Mans. The car’s aero package is the most aggressive found on a racing Corvette.
Corvette Racing first came to Le Mans in 2000 and has returned each year with a two-car effort. The first class victory came in 2001 with the Corvette C5-R GT1 entry of Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell and Franck Freon. Corvette Racing won again the next year and ran off three straight victories from 2004-06. The team’s GT1 era ended in 2009 with a sixth victory and another in 2011 in GTE Pro.
“Competing at Le Mans year after year is special,” said Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing Program Manager. “It’s always fantastic to see the European Corvette fans who are always incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about Corvette Racing. We’re all thrilled to race the Corvette C7.R there for the first time and are optimistic to return to the top of the podium for the eighth time.”
Prior to Le Mans, Corvette Racing will contest three races in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The next round of the TUDOR Championship is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday, March 15 at Sebring International Raceway.
Wood Brothers Racing–Woods, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Team Prepared For Daytona Despite Winter Weather Woes
Woods, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Team Prepared For Daytona Despite Winter Weather Woes
February 13, 2014
The Wood Brothers team will be ready for action in Daytona, despite numerous problems with the weather. Throughout the last few weeks, they have battled rain in Daytona during the test, a postponed Talladega test due to a snow covered track, and sleet on the roadways in the southeast this week. Despite all of this, nothing stopped Donnie Wingo and the Wood Brothers from arriving at Daytona International Speedway with a Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion ready to race.
Wingo and the Motorcraft Quick/Lane team kicked off the Woods’ 64th NASCAR season – and the team’s 14th with Motorcraft/Quick Lane colors on the sides of the iconic No. 21 – in January with a planned two-day test in advance of the 56th annual Daytona 500.
When rain washed out the first day, Wingo, Trevor Bayne, and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team returned for the second day and literally ran from daylight to dark, turning 47 laps in a rain-delayed session before the track closed at 9 p.m.
Wingo felt there was more speed to be found, so he scheduled a test at Daytona’s sister track, Talladega Superspeedway, only to have the first test snowed out. Even the second test, last week, was delayed by snow, but the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team got in a full two days of testing with the car that will be the back-up for the Daytona 500 entry that was run in the January test.
“The Daytona 500 is so important to our team that we felt we really needed to test more, and Talladega was our best option,” said team co-owner Eddie Wood, as the Woods’ work toward a sixth Daytona 500 triumph. “It had been a long time since anyone tested at Talladega, and it was like old-school testing. We were there by ourselves for the most part, and when you got ready to go out on the track, you didn’t have to wait on anybody, you just went.”
Back at home base in Charlotte, Wingo and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team continued to fine-tune the car, taking it to the wind tunnel three times, including one session at 6 a.m. Tuesday, just before the car was loaded for an early trip to Daytona to avoid being caught in the sleet and ice storm that wreaked havoc on the highways around the Carolinas and Georgia.
“There’s been a lot of work done on this car since the Daytona test. I’m sure if there was more time, Donnie and the crew would still be working on it. Teams never stop until its time to load.”
Wood also likes the tweaks that have been done to the paint scheme.
“It’s still Motorcraft red, white and gold, but the Motorcraft/Quick Lane logos are a little different. I think they look racier, and they’re easier to read on the track.”
Qualifying for the 56th annual Daytona 500 is set for Sunday, Feb. 16, at 1:05 p.m. Eastern Time. The 150-mile qualifying races are scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m., and the Daytona 500 is set to get the green flag on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 1 p.m.
Chevy Racing–Daytona–Dale Earnhardt Jr.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPEED WEEKS MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD SS, met with members of the media at 2014 NASCAR Daytona 2014 Media Day and discussed: the return of the No. 3 car to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition; changes to rules package for 2014; Richard Petty and Danica Patrick; thoughts on new points system and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT HAS BEEN 10 YEARS SINCE YOU WON THE DAYTONA 500: “It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long, but time goes by pretty fast. It seems like these last several years have really flew by. Especially when you enjoy yourself. They seemed to grind out when you’re not running too well, but last couple of year have flew by pretty fast.”
DOES THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THAT MOMENT STILL RING TO YOU AS MUCH AS IT DID THEN? OR DOES TIME DILUTE IT? “Well, I think that you never forget exactly what that day is like. We come here every year and you get sort of, it all floods back to you as soon as you come back for Speedweeks each season. It’s very fresh, and you’re constantly reminded I think by just what goes on during Speedweeks how important that victory is and how much you would like to get it again. It’s definitely fresh.”
DO YOU STILL KEEP UP WITH A LOT OF THE GUYS ON THAT TEAM? A LOT OF THEM ARE AT TONY’S SHOP NOW, AREN’T THEY? “Yeah, some of them are. A lot of them are family members. Yeah, I definitely have stayed in contact with a lot of those guys. That’s been pretty easy. Everybody stays pretty close to home”
WOULD YOU WRECK THE 3 FOR THE WIN? “Wreck the 3? That’s a hell of a question. I’ve haven’t wrecked anybody to win a race in a long time. But we haven’t won any races either. I definitely wouldn’t want to wreck anybody to win a race, but when it comes down to it, you want to win no matter what and you’re not worried about who’s in the other car. You got to do whatever it takes to win aside from just putting a guy in the fence. That wouldn’t be a difficult situation for me at all. I wouldn’t think twice about
DO YOU THINK THE WAY NASCAR IS PROMOTING DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN THESE RACES WILL PERHAPS CHANGE YOUR DRIVING STYLE ? “I think it’s going to change a little bit about everybody’s driving style when it comes down to trying to get wins. When you think about, you could think about a lot of different races last year. I’ll use an example – a random example would be (Matt) Kenseth and Kasey Kahne at Bristol last year. That was a situation where Kasey may have done something different under the current rules package we’re going to have this season. I think you definitely may would have seen a different outcome to that race, maybe a little more aggression in that situation.”
TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT HAVING THE NO. 3 CAR OUT THERE. TALK ABOUT HOW YOUR VIEW MAY OR MAY DIFFER FROM WHAT YOUR DAD’S FANS FEEL. “I don’t know how everybody else feels. I haven’t been studying up on that. I feel good with it. I think it’s great for Austin (Dillon) and Richard (Childress) – grandson and grandfather being able to come together and doing something like that with a number that’s been in their family for so many years. It has a lot of history inside their family. I’m happy for Austin. I’ve known him a long time. I’ve known Richard forever. I’m happy for them. Once we get out on the racetrack, Austin’s a competitor. He’s a guy you’re gonna want to race and have to race to win races. You won’t even think about the 3 on the side. That will sort of become normal. I’m glad that it’s back. It was going to come back. You always wonder how and when and what the situation will be like.It’s a good situation that I can be comfortable with, and I’m happy for that because it could have just as easily been a difficult situation that I wouldn’t have been comfortable with.”
THE NUMBER HASN’T BEEN RACED SINCE 2001. BUT YOU STILL SEE IT IN THE INFIELD ON FLAGS AND T-SHIRTS. DOES IT FEEL LIKE THE NUMBER HASN’T BEEN AROUND? “I don’t know. It hasn’t been around. It hasn’t been on the race track. I haven’t seen it out there. I don’t really know what you mean by that. It’s a symbol for my father and that stylized number and that flag is a symbol to him. When somebody raises that flag up over their motorhome or wherever they may fly it, it’s a way for them to show their support and their fandom for my father. That may change a little bit because Austin has the same number. That could get watered down just a bit. You might not see it in the infield quite as often. People know what it means to them and that’s all that’s important. I don’t really tend to spend a lot of time thinking about it. I’m quite comfortable with how it’s going down. I’m glad it’s back. It was going to come back eventually. I think everybody knew that.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN LAST YEAR – ONE BIG LESSON – THAT WILL HELP YOU THIS SEASON? “I don’t really know if we had one that really stands out. We ran so well in the Chase. I’m excited about getting back out there. We’ve got some new rules and things like that. We had new rules at the beginning of last season, too, and we seemed to adjust to those pretty well. I’m just looking forward to getting out there and seeing how we can do and how our performance is going to be right off the bat. It’s going to be a fun year, I think. I think we’re going to enjoy ourselves. We did last year. We seem to get better every year and hopefully that trajectory is still be the same going into this season – we’re going to improve on what we did last year and that will be fun. It will be an entertaining season for me.”
WILL THE CHANGE IN POINTS SYSTEM IS GOING TO BRING BACK MORE INTEREST EACH WEEK PER RACE? “I think certainly it will bring interest to those deciding races where the elimination factor comes into play. The first race of the Chase will be well watched and people will tune in. As we get to those elimination races, there will be a lot of influence and viewership there due to the elimination factor. I think it’s gonna be tuned up a notch. Every time we change something, it brings people’s eyes onto the sport. They want to see how it’s going to change and how things are going to work out. I think it makes people curious. They’ll definitely be checking it out the first of the season. Hopefully, they’ll like what they see.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT YOU WOULD HAVE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP UNDER THIS SYSTEM LAST SEASON? “No, I wasn’t that surprised. We had a good season and a good Chase, a real good Chase. It was the bonus points that hurt us the most. Not winning any races in the regular season and not carrying any bonus points into the Chase. The blown motor at Chicago was a big deal. If we had some bonus points, and some sort of top 15 at Chicago, it might have been a totally different year for us. .”
WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT RICHARD PETTY’S COMMENTS ON DANICA? DID IT SURPRISE YOU? “I thought it was a little rough on Danica (Patrick). You can’t call out The King, because he’s The King. He’s such a patriarch and icon in the sport He has tons of wisdom and insight and a guy that everyone respects. He’s done a lot for this sport, and still does today. But at the same time, when I think about Danica, I just understand she handles, she deals with more criticism than anybody else has ever faced in this sport and that’s unfortunate. She goes by a different set of rules because of her gender, and that’s unfortunate. It seems like she always having to answer to something like that, and that’s a pain in her butt. And frankly, it’s just got to get old. ”
SHE RACED FOR YOU SO I MEAN, YOU WITNESSED SOME OF IT? “It doesn’t bother her. She doesn’t show that it, she doesn’t show i
t if it bothers her if it does. I’m sure maybe, under the surface, get a little perturbed about it. She’s really strong-willed when it comes to those type of things. I think she has dealt with it from day one. When you hear something like that, you’re kind of taken aback a little bit. Why would someone be so critical? She’s probably dealt with it forever. It’s nothing new for her, maybe she just let’s it roll off her back. Regardless of how she handles it, I think he was being a little rough there. ”
HE TOOK A SHOT AT YOU IN THE SAME INTERVIEW. “Me and him work together on that Goody’s deal. I hope he didn’t take too many shots at me because it don’t look too good when it comes to our working relationship. He’s an honest man and he’s got his opinions, and he’s not going to hold back. ”
IN THE MEDIA TOUR, HE SAID THAT SOME OF THE 88’S FANS WOULD GO TO THE 3. DID YOU EVEN KNOW THAT HE SAID THAT? “I don’t know if that’s a slight hack on me. I think fans of mine who were fans of may fathers will definitely want to see the 3 run well, and they will want to pull for Austin. There’s going to be a lot of emotions there, and that’s a good thing that the fans would do that. I’m not over here counting my fans like poker chips. If they want to pull for the 3, by all means, pull for the 3. They can pull for whoever they wish to pull for just as long as we’ve go a lot of them watching and a lot of them tuning in. My main focus is that the sport’s healthy and I think Austin in the 3 and what they are doing is healthy is good for the sport’s health. And I think what Danica does is good for the health of the sport. If my fans want to pull for me and the 3, or just the 3, whatever they want to do, I’m good with that. There’s a lot of emotions coming back with that 3 for them. I can’t imagine being an Earnhardt fan what that’s got to be like.”
THAT’S SOME STACK OF POKER CHIPS BY THE WAY. “I just don’t, it’s a person’s right and their choice what they want to do and who they want to pull for. I don’t take it for granted that I’m going to have all the fans and the biggest fan base every year. Young guys like Austin are going to come in and they’re going to turn the sport upside down, and one day, there’s going to be a guy who has more fans than anybody else and his name is not going to be Dale Jr. ”
THE DISCUSSION ABOUT THE 3 DEFINITELY HAS BROUGHT MORE CONVERSATION ABOUT YOUR FATHER. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR YOU? “It’s good I think when people are discussing about my father because he had a great impact on the sport. I get a good feeling about that when his name gets brought up. Under the circumstances, we are talking about it a lot with the number coming back. That’s a positive thing for me because I’m proud of what he did. I’m proud of what he was able to accomplish with the number, and I’m proud to talk about it. Again, I’m happy in the way that it’s coming back. I’m happy how it’s being packaged because it could easily have been a difficult situation. Maybe the number goes to a different owner or a guy that drives it I don’t like or someone that I don’t think respects the heritage or whatever. It could have been totally different, but it’s not. It’s going to be a great situation. We sort of get to celebrate not only the number coming back, we get to celebrate the history of the number and that obviously involves my father.”
MARTHA (EARNHARDT) SEEMS TO HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF A HARD TIME WITH IT. “I haven’t seen it. I haven’t heard. We haven’t talked about that. I’m sure that’s got to stir up a lot of emotions for a lot of different people. Some will be stronger than others, and that’s just up to the individual.”
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE HESITANT ABOUT THE NUMBER COMING BACK? “It’s coming back. Whether you are hesitant about it or not, a young kid is coming in here trying to pave his way and create a name for himself. He wants that number means a lot to him regardless of my father’s involvement in it, and my father’s connection to it. That number means a lot to Austin because of his grandfather’s history to the number. It’s a number that Austin used forever. I’m sure when Austin was playing t-ball with a 3 on his back, he wasn’t thinking about ‘Man, I wonder how hard it’s going to be when I go to Cup, and I want to use this number.’ He was just having fun. That was his number. When he played JV or varsity, he wanted to bring his number. That was his number. That wasn’t Dale’s number. That was his t-ball number. That was his JV number, his senior number. It means something different to him in a sense and I think you’ve got to appreciate that. You’ve got to appreciate this guy trying to pave his own way. He has every right to do that however he wants and this is the way he chose to do it.”
DOESN’T PART OF YOU JUST WANT TO RESPECT THAT AND MOVE ON TO RACING WITH YOUR OWN TEAM? “We will. We’re here for media day, and we can talk about anything you all want to talk about today. We’ll get to racing soon enough. I’m excited to be here, and to be back on the race track tomorrow and have some fun. I think we’ve got some great cars that we’ve built. We feel like we’ve brought a great car for the 500. It’s gonna be competitive. We’ve come close to winning it the last four years. And we think we’re going to give it another shot.”
HOW RELIEVED WILL YOU BE IF YOU WIN THAT RACE AND CAN JUST KIND OF TEST BETWEEN NOW AND THE START OF THE CHASE? “Yeah, that would be awesome to put a win behind you early and not have to worry about the stress of making the chase and doing the math on the new format. Winning a race early would give you the opportunity to go for another win and go for multiple wins and try to build up those bonus points that I think are everso important to win any championship.”
DO ANY OF THOSE CLOSE CALLS BOTHER YOU MORE THAN ANY OTHERS? “From last year?” FROM THE LAST FOUR YEARS. “You know, I really felt like when we ran second in most of those races. You know, Dover, I came so close to be able to get by Jimmie (Johnson). I don’t know whether I would have been able to hold him off. He was flying at the end of that race. Dover is a race that I thought about a little bit longer than most. But Homestead, we had such a fast car. I beat myself, I mean I just beat myself up so bad over that, wondering why I didn’t win because that car should have won that race. You know, it’s hard to get by guys at the end whenever we are all trying to use the high line and that’s really the only way you can pass. We did make a couple of adjustments to the car that changed the balance a little bit. I had such a good car throughout the majority of that race, and felt like if I’m going to win one, this is almost meant to be because Jimmie’s going to win the championship and I can knock out the last win of the season and get hyped up for next year. It just seemed like it was storybook for me to win that race and felt like it was all lining up, and I didn’t take advantage of it.”
HOW ABOUT YOUR LAST FOUR DAYTONA 500S? “You know, they’ve all been close, too. But I’m not – I never in none of those races did I have a situation where I went ‘I let it slip by slip by. I messed up right there.’ Most of the time, we run our guts out and come to the finish line and we just never had a chance to make a move on the guy leading the race. When you make that move or have a chance and you don’t do the right thing and you lose that’s difficult to swallow. Haven’t been in that situation even though we’ve run second, we still haven’t had that opportunity to pass the leader or make a move on the leader.”
WITH THE RULES THE WAY THEY ARE, IT WILL HAVE TO BE BALLS OUT AT HOMESTEAD BECAUSE WHOEVER CROSSES THE FINISH LINE FIRST WILL WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. “I’m going to tell you right now, I don’t know if we can run any harder
than we were last time we were there. I was running my guts out – I know Matt was too. I know the 11 was. That was fun. We had a lot of fun that day. I remember going into turn two passing the 11 and 2 on the outside when they were getting together. We were all running our guts out. That was exciting for me. That race was exciting for me. I don’t know what it was like as far as a fan or a viewer but I felt like that was a good end result for our sport. If we can come down to Homestead with a four-car battle and have that type of stuff going on that would be great.”
HAVEN’T SEEN VERY MANY FOUR CAR BATTLES AT HOMESTEAD. WILL A FOUR CAR BATTLE FORCE THE OTHERS NOT IN IT TO DRIVE EASIER? “I don’t know. I think you treat people how they treat you. If I’m racing, and I’m coming up on a buddy of mine and I’m one of the four cars and he’s not, I’m going to be like ‘Hey, come on, cut me a break here.’ But they don’t have to, and sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they do. Yeah, I think that’s kind of always been the case in the Chase when you have the drivers who are in and the drivers who are out. When you’re out, you definitely tend to not give the guys too much of a hard time that are in the Chase when it’s not necessary. You just try to go out there and win races though. ”
WITH THE NEW CHASE FORMAT, WOULD YOU WANT TO TEST HOMESTEAD MULTIPLE TIMES? “I don’t think so. That would be unconventional, and maybe that’s where we are headed – saving all your tests for Homestead. But you definitely probably, it depends on how your season goes the first 20 races obviously. If you barely squeak into that Chase, we’ve got four teammates amongst us, I don’t know that we could convince all four that we have to have one objective. All of them have different agenda. They’ve got to get better where ever they think they need to get better. We’ve got to spread the wealth a little bit and be understanding of the other teams needs when it comes to testing.”
Chevy Racing–Kurt Busch–Daytona
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPEED WEEKS MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed his trip to Barrett-Jackson, race car drivers salaries compared to other athletes, crew chief, Daniel Knost, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
WHAT’S YOUR BEST ADVICE FOR THE UP AND COMING YOUNG DRIVERS?
“Yeah, there are a lot of rookies that are going to be out there. And as a rookie, I remember just trying to do everything too fast and it’s a matter of digesting what’s around you and knowing your surroundings. You can wreck really easy as a rookie and you get out there slip-sliding around and when you wipe out somebody else, it affects a great deal of people that were involved. I guess the biggest thing is to just respect the responsibility.”
WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR WORK ETHIC?
“My dad instilled it in me; a blue-collared guy that was an auto mechanic and then a tools salesman. And when I first started racing, it was a car that we just bought as a chassis. And he said if you build it, you can race it. So, then we had to get the rear-end, the control arms, the motor, the wiring.
“And so he taught me everything about the car, which gave me a better understanding of the amount of work and time that it takes to build something and then to respect it when you have it. And so, you’ve got to get up early and you’ve got to stay late if you’re going to be successful.”
DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST WHEELS AS A KID?
“Oh, my dad gave me a plastic truck to gnaw on and chew on before I even had teeth. So it was always about cars with him. Mom, she loved baseball, and so I played baseball a lot as a kid, but cars, all the time. There was always a car in the garage.”
DO YOU HAVE AN UPDATE ON THE INDY 500?
“No update. No news to change or report different. But it’s still on the radar and I can feel it. It’s like I can almost grasp it, but I don’t have both hands on it yet.”
DO YOU HAVE A TIME TABLE AS TO WHEN YOU’D LIKE TO HAVE IT DONE?
“I would love to have it done already. But there is no timetable. The month of May is still a long ways away and there’s still good time to prepare and to find people to do it, even if the team has to field a second or a third or even a fifth car.”
WHAT DID YOU BUY AT BARRETT-JACKSON?
“I got a Shelby Cobra, 1965.”
IS IT ALL BLACK?
“Yes.”
WHY THAT PARTICULAR CAR? DID YOU PAY $150,000?
“One hundred. I stole it; yeah, I got it for a hundred (thousand). This trip to Barrett-Jackson, the focus was with the Armed Forces Foundation and Cessna supporting the foundation with two vehicles, an airplane, a C-19, and a military truck. And there is a great deal of responsibility when you come in as a seller. And then your advertising and the dinners and the entertainment; and then there is a different responsibility as a buyer, as well, with doing your research.
“And so to talk about the Cobra that I bought, it was the best situation for my father to come out there as his first Barrett-Jackson trip, and one of my long-time employees, which is my best friend from racing when I was a kid, he helped volunteer on my dad’s race cars and he was out there. He’s a car guy. He’s a car nut. So to have him and my dad and myself going around looking at cars, researching them, and then predicting what ones would get sold for. And we found this Cobra. We had our eye on it because it had matching numbers. It’s a ’65 Shelby Cobra. Traditional paint is blue with white striping. I’ve got a Ford GT that was given to me by Edsel Ford when I won the championship. And I made that Ford GT blue and white. So this GT just had this look, this cool look about it being all black, gloss black. My dad loves black cars. I’ve been getting into a lot of black cars lately, and it was something we bought as a family and friend.
“It just had that vibe. It had that feel. And we added-up all the receipts we could add up and we would have spent $125,000 if we were going to build that car ourselves. And that’s not including labor. So we had $125,000 as the line in the sand as to what we were going to pay for that car, and it stalled-out at 95. I threw down a hundred, they dropped the hammer and said sold, and we were like oh my gosh, we have a car. And we think we stole. You can’t say ‘steal’ and it was a great deal.
“The seller shook our hand. And the seller was Goudin Ford from Las Vegas, Nevada. Where I’m from, it was the biggest dealership in Vegas and it was the guy’s personal Cobra that he put a lot of heart and soul into. And he’s like; you’ve got a great car. I’ve got all these matching receipts to go with it. Congratulations. So it’s neat when the seller shakes your hand, and you know you got a good deal on a car. So, I told my dad when it lands back in North Carolina, he’s the first one to take it out for a drive. It was a good fun family story. Sorry I took too long.”
WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING TO SEE IN TONY STEWART WHEN HE GETS BACK IN THE CAR AFTER HIS LEG INJURY?
“I know he’s been waiting for this day for months. The rehabilitation, the physical therapy, the questions, the answers, the anticipation; I can’t wait for him to sit in that seat. I’m going to go shake his hand and say welcome back. And you’ll watch him drive out there and he’ll be happy again. He’s going to be the same old Tony, like we never missed him from before.”
HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE SALARIES OF RACE CAR DRIVERS TO THOSE OF OTHER PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES?
“Great question. To be as accurate as I can be without inserting my own foot in my own mouth, we are all independent contractors in the world of NASCAR, in the world of motorsports. And so as an independent contractor, there are two solid ways to make money and that is off of performance and purse money as well as your marketing ability and to sell sponsors or to attract sponsors; whereas, in other sports they have unions. The unions protect the contracts of those players and even if you get hurt, you still get paid if you’re in baseball, basketball, and football and maybe even hockey. It’s in the same category where the unions help their athletes.
“We don’t have that. And so it’s a different atmosphere. We have to work a lot harder for our dollar. But at the same time, there’s that freedom of being an independent contractor and not necessarily having to answer to anybody in particular other than the sponsor or your team owner. So, there is good, bad, and different. I enjoy the world of NASCAR. It’s a world that you have to pinch yourself sometimes because you are getting paid to race a car 200 mph. Is it a dangerous sport? It’s as dangerous as football is, in putting a helmet on and knowing that there are side affects that come along with playing a contact sport.
“Could the money be greater in the fact that we don’t receive, as drivers, a dollar of any of the ticket sales? I’ve never really received a dollar from all of the ticket sales I’ve seen. I’ve signed thousands of tickets from Bristol over the years of the times that I’ve won there, and it says $85 bucks on it, usually. Right? That’s a cheap seat. And are the drivers receiving any of that? Well, it’s probably through the purse money, but there’s a lot of money that exchanges hands. I guess at the end of the day, drivers, team owners, crew members, the Southeastern region is a better place because of the world of NASCAR. And we have a lot to be thankful for.”
WOULD IT BE EXCITING TO BE INVOLVED IN FORMULA 1?
“Oh, absolutely. Haas is a unique, eclectic individual, and when he says he’s going to do something, he means it. I’m a beneficiary of that with him signing me on for this fourth team at Stewart-Haas. The money in Formula 1
though, is astronomical. When you talk about $30 million to run a Cup team, it’s $300 million over there. So, you just throw on another zero. There’s a lot that goes into it. A guy like him, though, the way Gene Haas thinks is hey, I don’t need to get into motor building. I’m just going to rent motors from Hendrick Motorsports because that’s going to take $50 million or so to do and to develop. So, what does he think in his mind? Well, nobody’s got a wind tunnel. Everybody needs a wind tunnel. So he goes and builds a $40 million wind tunnel. What I’m getting at is the guy can drop the dime and go play with the big dogs and he’s got the coin to spend in Formula 1 if he want’s to go and do it.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED SINCE YOU MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT LAST AUGUST TO KNOW AS FAR AS WHAT THE NUCLEUS IS GOING TO BE SURROUNDING YOU ONCE YOU GET ON THE TRACK TOMORROW? TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT DANIEL (KNOST, CREW CHIEF).
“Well it’s been an evolution since July when I first talked to Gene Haas about his vision to start this fourth team. Then to go through the Chase working with the No. 78 guys and being on the outside of what was going on for development, but then once the off-season came then I could give it my full attention. By that time we had Daniel Knost in place as the crew chief. We had different crew members lining up, they had pit crew guys training and it’s been a nice evolution to watch the No. 41 car mature into the spot that it’s in today. The spot that it’s in today is a championship caliber team that has some inexperienced guys in certain situations, but it has very experienced guys in other positions on the team. So it’s an exciting time to have a shot at winning the Daytona 500 because Gene Haas expects Haas Automation and his brand to be competitive right away. His big thing is he just wants to win. He wants that hardware from Victory Lane and at the same time we have a regular season to develop as a team to be ready for the Chase when it starts.”
HAVE YOU TESTED A LOT WITH DANIEL (KNOST) IN THE OFF-SEASON? ARE YOU STARTING TO LEARN HIM?
“Last night was perfect. We went to dinner. I took the lead engineer, the crew chief and our assistant engineer, the three guys that sit in the hauler. Between us four we are the ones arriving at the set-up and the responsibility of this No. 41 cars success. There are crew members everywhere that add to this, but us four are the ones pulling the trigger on what set-ups and Daniel’s level of comfort and his level of confidence I think is the biggest word that I have seen develop every week during the off season. He is perfect. He’s ready and it’s a nice feeling to have him ready to go and have a fresh crew chiefs outlook. With the point’s structure this year, with the qualifying procedures this year, with the new no ride height rule and how a car has got to get through technical inspection, you almost want a brand new guy that has the least amount of experience to go off of trends, because this year there are no trends right now.”
IS THE PERCENTAGE LEVEL GONE UP SINCE YOU SAID A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO YOU WERE 70 PERCENT SURE YOU WOULD RUN INDY?
“It’s still that percentage, which is a good sign. If I was a weather man I would say bring an umbrella (laughs). But there is nothing new to report or change.”
THERE WON’T BE A MANUFACTURER ISSUE IF YOU DO RUN FOR A HONDA TEAM?
“You know we are talking with Chevrolet programs. There is a Honda team in the mix and that is a hurdle that we have to overcome. We have to do it the right way. I respect Chevrolet’s involvement in the NASCAR world and that is 99 percent of the focus this year. So that one percent we hope is not a problem.”
YOU MENTIONED THE RIDE HEIGHT HOW DOES THAT CHANGE WHAT YOU DO OR WHAT YOUR STYLE MIGHT BE? HOW IS THAT GOING TO IMPACT YOU SPECIFICALLY?
“The easiest way to explain the new ride height rule is that we can lower the cars as far as we want to go. We can raise it as high as we want to go. To me the cars are going to create an identity for themselves similar to a sports car where you see like the BMW’s or you see the Audi’s, the sedans that race on road courses they have very stiff suspension. I see our cars heading that direction because you want to control the ride height at the lowest level possible. I’m hearing teams are ordering very stiff springs from the different spring manufacturers which backs up that theory. We are going to be lowering our cars and riding stiff springs. What will that do in traffic? That is going to be the side effect on how stiff do you go versus the grip level in the tires.”
HOW MORE DIFFICULT DOES THAT MAKE YOUR JOB?
“It makes it very difficult. You have trends for specific tracks, but at the same time we don’t know what our final set-up is going to be and with Phoenix only a couple of weeks away we still have that question mark over our head on how we need to set the car up heading into that race.”
YOU HAVE SO MUCH TIME INVESTED WITH ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT SO IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO DO IT WITH THEM HOW MUCH DOES THAT KIND OF BRING YOU BACK A LITTLE BIT?
“Well it’s a matter of loyalty. I have tried to pride myself in being as loyal as I can be to a program or an individual throughout my career. When they give you, Andretti Autosport, a chance to drive an IndyCar and do your rookie test that is who you want to invest into if you are going to do a race. So that is where I would lean if I was going to make a decision. If I had two equal opportunities or maybe Andretti was a little less I would say the Andretti group, having his guidance and his expertise and his knowledge, you can’t find a better name in the world of IndyCar other than a guy like Penske or something like that.”
WHEN HE (MICHAEL ANDRETTI) SWITCHED TO HONDA DID THAT KIND OF IN YOUR MIND MAKE YOU WONDER IF YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS?
“Yeah I heard about that last fall when they raced Fontana. I was like ‘oof’ how is that going to impact the future. That is where you have to hire good lawyers, but at the end of the day you have to do the right thing. The right thing for me as a NASCAR Cup champion is to focus on the Cup car.”
THIS WILL BE THE 10TH SEASON FOR YOUR BROTHER IN THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES. HOW HAVE YOU SEEN HIM EVOLVE AND CHANGE? WHAT DO YOU SEE THAT IS SIMILAR FROM THE KYLE FROM 10 YEARS AGO?
“He has done a tremendous job to battle the greats in our sport and to do it at an elite level like he has year after year to race as much as he does. He races Nationwide, Truck, Cup; he has got over 100 wins in the three series combined. He has an amazing work ethic and he has a very high success rate. What we have to do is find that last percentage point it seems like. It seems like he is 99 percent there and I think he gained a percentage point last year by completing the Chase, by going through it all the way.”
THAT WAS KIND OF A BIG THING FOR HIM THAT HE DIDN’T GIVE UP…
“Yeah, as soon as you were eliminated in a sense he felt like he gave up. Well, no you can’t do that Kyle you’ve got to continue to push all the way through and if others have problems then you capitalize on that. Even if they don’t have problems you still have to do it for yourself.”
HOW DID HE GET TO THOSE RESULTS? HOW DID HE NOT GIVE UP? WHAT WERE THINGS HE WAS DOING THAT MAYBE HE HADN’T DONE IN THE PAST?
“I think he hit the reset button after Kansas and said ‘this is still about consistency and running well’ which you have to post results better than seventh in the Chase every week if you are going to win this thing. There are certain things you do to get in th
e Chase and there are certain things you have to do in the Chase. I think he found that after he had that trouble in Kansas.”
WAS THAT A SIMPLE LESSON OR IS THAT HARDER THAN WHAT PEOPLE MIGHT THINK TO LEARN?
“Every driver is a little different. I mean I’m his brother, I would probably know him best and it’s when you are defeated after you put 30 plus weekends throughout the year together and to have your shot at the championship now thinner than what it was before it’s as if you are not giving that full effort. So you always hope that your Chase starts off strong and that you are able to not have to play catch up and the moment that he was playing catch up he gave up. I think now that even if he is down a little bit he is not going to give up now.”
I HAVE BEEN TALKING TO A LOT OF DRIVERS ASKING IF THEY CONSIDERED GOING TO COLLEGE AFTER FINISHING HIGH SCHOOL. I BELIEVE YOU STARTED COLLEGE BUT FAILED TO FINISH THAT SEEMS TO BE THE CASE OF MANY OF THE DRIVERS. I WAS WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED? DID YOU JUST DECIDE THAT YOU WANTED TO FOCUS ON RACING FULL TIME?
“The best story I have is when I was leaving my dorm on a Friday after classes my Resident Assistant is standing there with his arms folded a few times going ‘where are you going’? I said ‘well I’m headed to Phoenix this weekend’ because I went to school in Tucson or I said ‘hey I’m going to L.A. because the South West Tour is racing at Orange Show Speedway. He goes ‘when are you going to give up on this racing thing and worry about your school work?’ He is a junior in college and he is trying to be a guidance and a mentor counselor and literally the books were on the back seat of my car as I was heading down the freeway chasing down my dream of racing cars. It’s hard to balance both. You have to stay involved in motorsports. You are always looking for that opportunity to break through. What ends up being sacrificed is the study time.”
DO YOU EVER THINK YOU MIGHT GO BACK?
“Probably not, there are so many things that you learn in life afterwards that they school of hard knocks happens out on the road and in life. I’m not the one for the books in a sense. I mean I got good grades in High School, but I felt like I learned more in life when I was outside of school.”
HOW MANY SEMESTERS?
“I did about five semester’s total. Some at UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) some at the community college back in Vegas. Three semester’s at University of Arizona.”
Chevy Racing–Jeff Gordon–Daytona
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPEED WEEKS MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
An interview with:
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at the 2014 NASCAR Daytona Media Day and discussed: expectations for the 2014 season; having Ray Evernham back at Hendrick Motorsports; the return of the No. 3 to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition; Tony Stewart’s return to the track and other topics. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Q. OBVIOUSLY THERE’S A LOT OF CHANGES THIS SEASON: CHASE, QUALIFYING, PENALTIES. WHEN YOU ADD IT ALL UP INTO ONE BIG PICTURE, DO YOU THINK THAT WILL BE A LOT FOR FANS OR PARTICIPANTS TO SWALLOW?
JEFF GORDON: Maybe. I think it’s different when there’s a lot of changes and some of them seem unnecessary. I like the direction and changes that have been made.
You brought up the penalties. I think that’s a structure that’s needed to take place for a while now. So I think if you have something that makes sense, why wait just because you’ve made other changes? So go ahead and incorporate that into there. We’ll adjust, we’ll deal with it. It’s going to take some time to work through it for NASCAR as well as for the competitors.
Same thing with qualifying. I feel like we needed to do that a few years ago. When F1 started doing it, I was instantly a huge fan and said, Man, I wish we had this. I love that they’re incorporating that.
Then there’s a few little tweaks that probably are going to need to happen with that as well. I was real happy to see them being open-minded and them recognizing some things that needed to be done and they did that.
The points, you know, I like it as well. I mean, I think the thing that stood out to me in the conversations that I had with NASCAR that really resonated was when the driver gets out of the car and said, Well, you know, third place today, it was a good points day. That just doesn’t sit well with anybody, not even us. I mean, we don’t want to say that. We don’t want to say anything other than, We won. If we didn’t win, that was not a good day. It’s win or nothing. That’s the attitude you want to have.
It’s not necessarily the reality, but getting us closer to that I think is important. I think this takes us that next step towards that, how important it is to win and the intensity level that’s going to be created from qualifying for all of us, crew chiefs, drivers, teams, as well as, you know, the importance of winning to get in and how important it’s going to be to compete at a high level and winning throughout the Chase.
Q. COLLECTIVELY EVEN IF PEOPLE DISAGREED WITH ONE OR MORE OF THEM, WOULD YOU NOT AGREE THAT TOGETHER THEY ARE GOING TO DRAW MORE EYES?
JEFF GORDON: I believe that for all those that are complaining about it and saying they don’t like it or will never watch another race, they’ll be tuned in, okay? It’s the ones that aren’t saying anything that you’re trying to grasp.
I have a lot of friends like in New York that are casual fans, and they’re talking to me about it. I think they’ve already made an impact and I think there’s a lot of interest around the things that they’ve announced. I think that interest is only going to get greater once we go through a couple of those qualifying sessions and go through one year of this points system.
Q. WHAT DO YOU THINK RAY EVERNHAM IS GOING TO BRING TO HENDRICK?
JEFF GORDON: Hopefully more championships.
I mean, I love Ray. Ray and I have obviously had a great working relationship, but we’ve also maintained a friendship over the years.
Ray is experienced in a lot of things: as a crew chief, as a car owner, as a businessman, TV producer. It can enhance what we do at Hendrick. I think it’s important to have someone that has been in that position as a crew chief, maybe doesn’t understand the engineering to the level today that some of our engineers go through, but he’s a quick study, he gets it.
I think that anything that Ray can do to help bridge that gap of communication between crew chiefs, engineers, the engine shop, the chassis shop, the team aspect from pit crews, all these things, he just has a great way of looking at things, analyzing them and giving good opinions to make it stronger.
Q. INAUDIBLE
JEFF GORDON: Do I think he’s missed competition? Absolutely, I think he has. There’s no doubt in my mind he has. I think he also knows being a crew chief today is a lot different than what it used to be.
I mean, if he was 30 years old and coming in, he would still make an excellent crew chief because he understands how to, you know, put a great team together and what it takes to go fast. That doesn’t mean that you always have to know everything about shocks to the level that they have to know or aerodynamics. You collectively bring that all together.
So there’s no doubt in my mind he would be an excellent crew chief. But I think what happened is if you step away from the sport for a period of time and try to come back, it wouldn’t work.
I say that as a friend of Ray because we talk and joke about it. On Twitter they’re constantly saying, I want Ray to be your crew chief, everything will be better. Not necessarily in all aspects.
But just having him involved, having him be a part of the organization again is exciting.
Q. INAUDIBLE
JEFF GORDON: Yeah, it’s not even a thought. It’s not on the radar in any way, shape or form. Yeah, you can just put that to rest.
Q. OF ALL THE ELIMINATION ROUNDS THAT ARE GOING TO HAPPEN WITH THE CHASE, THE GUY WHO ENDS UP WINNING IT, HOW SATISFYING WILL THAT BE? EVERY COUPLE RACES YOU HAVE ANOTHER ELIMINATION.
JEFF GORDON: You do. But, I mean, if you’re leading the points, you’re going to move on, right? You don’t necessarily have to win a race, but you still have to compete at a high level.
I still think the best team is going to win this championship, just like they have back before they made the points change to the Chase and since they made the points change to the Chase. In the future, whatever points system is in place, I still think the best team is going to win.
The best teams know how to put themselves in position to have things go their way. I’m a big believer in if you’re that talented, you’re that good, you communicate that well, you have the resources, you’re going to find a way, no matter what the system is, to rise to the top.
Q. INAUDIBLE
JEFF GORDON: In which race? Any race? I think where it’s possibly going to change, you got to understand the mentality of a racecar driver is win. You don’t have to dangle a carrot out in front of us. With double-file restarts, closing laps, let’s say a guy is leading by two or three seconds when the caution comes out, you have this new life in you that, I can win this race. By the way, that win can lock me into the Chase pretty much.
There’s guys that are going to have just that thought on their mind, and that’s going to make you take a few more risks and push just a little bit harder because a win now has become more important than it was before.
So I don’t think you necessarily want to just say, I’m going to wreck it, it’s either a win or bring it back on the wrecker. I might not have that approach, but some guys might. You got to weigh that out.
The risk versus reward is what it’s always been about. And the reward fo
r being consistent was very high in previous points systems. The reward for taking more risk is now greater, so guys are going to take more risk.
Q. WE’LL SEE A LOT MORE GUYS RUN OUT OF FUEL?
JEFF GORDON: You’ll see more people running out of fuel. You’ll see I think a little bit more bumping and banging on restarts and closing laps. The cars are still really stuck to the racetrack. That aspect is a little bit unknown.
But definitely, you know, this heightens things up a bit.
Q. THIS WILL BE THE 10TH SEASON FOR KYLE BUSCH IN CUP.
JEFF GORDON: Man, he’s getting old. Is he considered a veteran now (laughter)? No longer the kid. Okay, good.
Q. I WONDER HOW YOU’VE SEEN HIM EVOLVE OVER THOSE 10 YEARS (INDISCERNIBLE).
JEFF GORDON: He’s got a good memory, a better memory than I do. I just remember poking my head in the window and just saying, Man, that’s not really necessary right now. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but we don’t need to be three-wide out there in practice. There’s no good that’s going to come from it.
Also I think back to when I was young and coming into this sport, we got some great young talent coming up right now, rookies. That’s what I love about the young guys: their enthusiasm, their rawness. They’re just like young kids: you never know what is going to come out of their mouth or what they’re going to do.
It’s the same thing when they get in a racecar at that level. They don’t know exactly what to expect. They don’t have all this experience that’s sort of setting their mindset already for them. They’re just fresh, pushing the envelope, doing things unique and different.
I mean, that was Kyle being Kyle. If you asked Kyle, Would you still go do that today, I would guarantee he would say, No, I don’t see the benefits of it.
Q. WHAT IS KYLE BEING KYLE NOW?
JEFF GORDON: I think Kyle has learned. He’s still an aggressive driver, so it’s just how to make the most of that aggressiveness at the right time. It’s balancing the aggressiveness with patience.
I’ve always said that’s what makes a great racecar driver, is somebody that has the ability to be super aggressive. Now, of course, Kyle, you can guarantee if he’s behind you on a restart, he’s going to go and dust the wall and make it three- or four-wide. You just know that’s going to happen. He’s done it very successfully, so why wouldn’t he do it? He still has that in him. But it’s not every single restart and every single lap.
The best story I have is Alan Gustafson, when he was his crew chief, the frustration I could see on his face in debriefs or drivers meetings because they only got to practice half of the practice because the other half they were fixing the damage on the right side because Kyle constantly hit the wall, just brushing it. Darlington, boom. Richmond, boom. That shows you how far on the edge that Kyle was pushing it.
Now he does it once in a while but not every weekend.
Q. HOW DOES THAT FARE FOR QUALIFYING AND THE NEW CHASE FORMAT FOR THE YOUNG GUYS?
JEFF GORDON: Well, I’m a big fan of Formula One. I watch it, especially qualifying. I watch it very closely. One of the challenges that they have is trying not to block. They don’t always do it intentionally. It’s unintentional most of the time. Sometimes it’s, I’ll slowly get out of the way. There’s some judgment calls there. They only have 22 cars out there and we have 43.
There’s going to be weekends like Martinsville where if the conditions are right, the sun is coming, there’s a cloud, everybody is going to want to be out there on the track and you’re not going to get a clean lap.
I think for somebody who’s young, it’s going to be respecting the competitors and knowing how to best make your lap happen and then not get in the way of somebody else’s lap. That’s going to be true for the veterans as well. I think we’re experienced at doing those qualifying runs in practice where we don’t pull up on the track in front of somebody.
It’s not sometimes the drivers, it’s the spotters as well that are playing a big role in that.
Q. WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT SEEING THE NO. 3 CAR OUT THERE AND HOW DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE PERCEIVED BY FANS?
JEFF GORDON: It’s Richard Childress Racing. That number was his. I know everybody thinks of it as Dale Earnhardt, Sr., and it’s true, but Richard Childress played such a big role in that.
To me it just came down to when Richard was comfortable with bringing it back, what was the right time and the right driver. I think obviously Dale, Jr. could have pulled that off. But I think that Richard’s done a great job being very respectful of it. I know how much he cared about Dale. That’s extremely important to him.
Knowing that it’s his grandson, how he’s been really making a name for himself, I think that’s cool, it’s exciting.
Q. DO YOU THINK THAT WILL HELP WITH ACCEPTANCE FROM THE FANS?
JEFF GORDON: Absolutely. And that it’s Richard Childress Racing and a family member.
Q. WHAT KIND OF CHALLENGES, PHYSICAL AND MENTAL, DO YOU THINK TONY STEWART IS GOING TO HAVE COMING BACK?
JEFF GORDON: I think the biggest thing is just how long he’s been out of the car, how quick things changed from an engineering standpoint.
But, you know, I’ve not talked to Tony as far as what kind of physical shape that he’s in. Heck, he might be in better shape than he’s ever been because of the physical therapy. I don’t know. I haven’t asked him what it’s like to push on the gas pedal, if there’s still pain involved. I haven’t talked to him about those things.
There’s certainly going to be some challenges. But he’s Tony Stewart. I’m not overly concerned with the challenges that he’s going to have from being able to either withstand some pain or get up to speed and be a fierce competitor.
Q. INAUDIBLE
JEFF GORDON: Yeah, I mean, Tony is a factor. He’s always a factor. I think a lot of us were surprised that Mark had the challenges that he had with the car and adapting to those setups. Every weekend you can’t ever count out Tony Stewart as being somebody you’re going to have to deal with.
Q. INAUDIBLE
JEFF GORDON: Probably more serious. I mean, if I win the championship this year, I’ve put in, you know, 20 plus great years. I do this now because I love it, because I like being competitive, and because I want another championship. I want to get a Sprint Cup championship.
I go home, you know, and I look at my trophy room. I see four trophies, championship trophies. But they say Winston Cup on them. You can name me a four-time Sprint Cup champion for technical reasons all you want, but to me I’m still not. I want that before my career’s over.
If that happened, that would be all the reasons I need to say, This is it, I’m done. Go out on a high note, start playing baseball.
Chevy Racing–Daytona–Kevin Harvick
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPEED WEEKS MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at the 2014 NASCAR Daytona Media Day and discussed: the change in Sprint Cup for 2014; his teammates at Stewart Haas Racing; joining the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
KEELAN A FAN OF THE SNOW?
KEVIN HARVICK: “He likes the snow. He just doesn’t like it all over his stuff. He’s a little OCD.”
OBVIOUSLY, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS SEASON, A LOT OF CHANGES – CHAMPIONSHIP, QUALIFYING, PENALITES. AS A PARTICIPANT AND A RACE FAN, IS THAT A LOT TO GRASP IN ONE SEASON?
KEVIN HARVICK: “I love it. I love the fact that there’s a lot to think about and a lot of change. I’m sure that people who have worked with me would always tell you that when something wasn’t working, we would change it pretty rapidly when we owned our company. There’s been a lot of similarities is the reason I relate it to that, whether it be from the changing of the sport to the changing of teams is something that I’ve really enjoyed. Learning all the new names and faces, how everything works, and how the cars run. Then you add into that all the changes in NASCAR. The main goal right now is just getting to victory lane. That’s really the first goal because I believe the earlier you get to victory lane the more chances you can take, and if things are going well, you can win more races and help protect yourself in the first round of the championship chase. So, just gotta push and try to make it happen.”
EVEN IF THERE’S A LOT OF CHANGE DOESN’T NECESSARILY MEAN IT’S A BAD THING?
KEVIN HARVICK: “I love change. As I’ve learned over the off-season, change is very enthusiastic for not only myself but for all the people around me. I think everybody at SHR would tell you that the enthusiasm is contagious at the shop just because it just bleeds over from one person to the next. It’s been a lot of fun. Hopefully, the results will show everything that we think we should be able to achieve.”
WITH ALL THE CHANGES, WHAT’S THE ONE THAT EXCITES YOU THE MOST?
KEVIN HARVICK: “I love the qualifying knockout. It’s kind of the same situation with the championship knockout. I’ve liked that from the beginning. It took me a little bit to grasp the one race for everything. But I think it was explained very well and the fact that if you’re going to have a problem in that race, you’re going to have a problem in that race no matter what format it is. It’s going to be fun.”
HAVE YOU LEARNED ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR NEW TEAMMATES THAT SURPRISED YOU?
KEVIN HARVICK: “Not really. I had the opportunity to work with Kurt (Busch) all of last year. For me, I’ve been around Tony (Stewart) quite a bit in the Nationwide cars and personally. I think as we’ve gone through the whole process, the biggest thing I’ve learned is about the company in general. Whatever you need, whoever you need… go get it and let’s figure out how to make this all happen. That part to me has been fun. Everything on our car is brand new – from the hauler to every race car, every nut and bolt in the drawer. They’ve put an unbelievable effort into it. The other thing is that surprised me – I knew Tony was a pretty intense guy but we went to a Jimmy John’s event and we’re coming home Monday. He got on that plane and he was like a crazed lunatic. You could see that look in his eye. He looked at me and said, ‘I’m ready to… race!’ Just that look in his eye. I knew he was a pretty intense person but I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s cool.’”
DO YOU THINK THAT INTENSITY IS GOING TO BE MAGNIFIED TENFOLD GIVEN WHAT HE’S BEEN THROUGH?
KEVIN HARVICK: I know how excited I am getting in a race car. I couldn’t imagine sitting on the sidelines for months and not being able to get back in the car and put all those crazy thoughts out of your head – if you’d be able to race again, what’s it feel like, is it going to hurt? Just putting all those things to rest for him is going to be great. If anything is sore or hurts, you’ll never hear about it because he’s be so excited to get back in a race car that he can’t hardly stand it.”
HOW CLOSE DID YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH HIM THROUGHOUT HIS REHAB?
“I would see him periodically, but obviously there was a lot going on. Rehab hasn’t gone on that long. He went through a lot of healing more than anything. But we would keep up as much as we could. When he started coming back to the race track, he was easier to keep up with at that point.”
DOES WHAT RICHARD PETTY SAID ABOUT DANICA PATRICK MATTER AT ALL TO YOU BECAUSE SHE IS A TEAMMATE?
KEVIN HARVICK: “The hard part is that everyone has an opinion on everything that is going on. You try to just listen and observe and try to handle your situation as best you can. Obviously it’s hard to rattle her. She’s so used to people saying this and it doesn’t bother her. And that’s not a front. It really doesn’t phase her and you really don’t have to stick up for anything that someone says or does. She is not phased but anything I’ve seen. She just doesn’t care and moves on and lets it roll off. I think she’s dealt with so much for so long that she’s just immune to it.”
WHERE DO YOU THINK SHE’S CAPABLE OF WINNING A RACE?
KEVIN HARVICK: “I think this year is going to be really good for her and her learning curve just for the fact that we went and tested together at Nashville. Just a couple of conversations can help. She can drive the car. Most all of us have done this for… I’ve been in a stock car since I was 16 so that’s 22 years. You aren’t going to make that experience up. She’s realistic about what she needs to do and accomplish. Just getting those little conversations over before you get to the track can overcome a lot of hurdles.”
WITH ALL THE CHANGES THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE – GUYS GOING TO NEW TEAMS, GETTING INTO NEW CARS AND HAVING TO ADJUST TO NEW NUMBERS – IS IT GOING TO TAKE SOME GETTING USED TO FOR THE DRIVERS TO FIGURE OUT AND SORT THAT OUT. WHEN YOU SEE THE 31, IT’S NOT GOING TO BE JEFF BURTON…:
KEVIN HARVICK: “As long as he’s behind me, it’s all good! As you come to Daytona every year, there are always changes – whether it be car numbers, drivers moving teams, crew chiefs. It’s refreshing. It’s kind of like any other sport. You see people move around and it’s exciting. It’s no different that seeing Peyton Manning going from the Colts to the Broncos. There is a lot of enthusiasm around that. I know I’m excited and I know our fans are excited. We’ve looked at everything – website, Twitter, social media. It’s a time to update and refresh. It’s fun to learn all the new stuff that is going on.”
WILL IT TAKE SOME ADJUSTMENT FOR FANS TO KNOW THAT THE 29 ISN’T KEVIN HARVICK ANY MORE?
KEVIN HARVICK: “The good news for me is that the 29 isn’t in existence any more! They all know what number it’s going to be right now.”
HOW ABOUT THE NO. 3 CAR?
“I really don’t have a tie to it and it doesn’t affect anything I do. So I’m good with focusing on my job.”
WOULD YOU BE ANY MORE OR LESS AGGRESSIVE AROUND HIM (THE NO. 3) THAN ANY OTHER DRIVER?
KEVIN HARVICK: “I’d wreck my mom if I had to. One hundred percent! If we’re going to win the Daytona 500, it’s going around.”
THAT WOULD BE PRETTY DRAMATIC BUT WOULD THERE BE AN UPROAR IF SOMEBODY DOES WRECK HIM. AT LEAST FROM A FAN’S PERSPECTIVE THEY WILL THINK OF THE 3 BEFORE THEY THINK OF AUSTIN (DILLON). FROM A RACER’S PERSPECTIVE, IT’S STILL AUSTIN:
KEVIN HARVICK: “You just race him like you would anyone else. It’s really no different than any other car. You want to win the race and – outside of your teammates – you have to do what you have to do. You worry
about the rest of it later.”
YOU HAVEN’T RACED IN TRAFFIC HERE IN MONTHS. DOES IT TAKE A LITTLE WHILE TO GET BACK INTO THAT GROOVE?
KEVIN HARVICK: “The good news is this year is that I’ve been in the car a fair amount as we’ve gone through the offseason. We’ve probably been in the car eight or 10 days throughout the last couple of months. You just take your time. There’s no reason to take too many chances as you move into Speedweeks. I’ve laid in bed sick and watched my car get wrecked and seen wrecks and been involved in wrecks. A lot of them have happened in that first practice.”
BUT IT’S NOT A MATTER OF TRUST?
KEVIN HARVICK: “It’s just everyone is a little excited.”
HOW’S YOUR MARTIAL ARTS DOING?
KEVIN HARVICK: “It’s a little slow at this point. We’ve been so busy and it just takes time. I’m stuck at my red belt.”
ARE YOU GOING TO GO FOR A BLACK BELT?
KEVIN HARVICK: “Oh yeah. I’m too far into it to give up. I’m probably at this point probably eight to 12 months away. It depends on how much time I can spend.”
HAS IT HELPED YOU BEHIND THE WHEEL?
KEVIN HARVICK: “I know it’s helped my flexibility, which was the main goal. And if you have a bad Sunday, you get to take some aggression out Monday during sparring. But I think it has. I wish I would have started when I was a kid just to do something different. It’s great for the kids in their discipline and the way things work. It’s been a lot of fun and it’s something outside the box that I wouldn’t have done five years ago.”
YOU SAID YOU DON’T HAVE ANY FEELINGS ABOUT THE 3 CAR BECAUSE OF CIRCUMSTANCES. THROUGH THE YEARS YOU’VE SEEN 3 BANNERS AND T-SHIRTS. DOES IT FEEL LIKE THE 3 CAR HAS BEEN AWAY FROM THE SPORT?
KEVIN HARVICK: “That’s a good question. I don’t know if I’m the right guy to answer that, though.”
HOW DID THE CAL RIPKEN FOUNDATION BOARD DEAL COME ABOUT?
KEVIN HARVICK: “We’re excited to be members of the Cal Ripken Sr. Board. We’ve got some mutual friends in Mark Butler who owns Ollie’s Bargin Outlet and have just noticed they do a great job in what they do. We have the same common interest in trying to make kids’ lives better. Ollie’s is very involved in it and we will become more heavily involved as we move through the years. The first project will be in Greensboro, N.C., to build a new field. That’s one of the great things they do. They come in and build these $1 million-plus fields, a Boys & Girls Club or whatever the facility is that the kids can enjoy for years. It’s a great foundation and I’m looking forward to partnering with them and having a lot of great events.”
Chevy Racing–Kasey Kahne–Daytona
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPEED WEEKS MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed new changes to the Chase format, Ray Evernham’s role, the Super Bowl, and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
WITH MORE ON THE LINE, TECHNICALLY FOR WINS, WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO WRECK THE NO. 3 CAR FOR A WIN? EVEN THOUGH IT’S AUSTIN DILLON IN THE NO. 3, WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE, DRAMA-WISE, FOR THE FIRST CAR TO WRECK HIM?
“Oh, there would probably be some drama, maybe, I don’t know. I don’t usually wreck guys. I don’t know how to wreck someone. That’s my problem.”
DO YOU THINK YOU’LL BE ANY MORE PHYSICAL OUT THERE?
“I think what it’s going to be is you’re not going to have to worry as much about if I make a mistake, if something happens with me and this other guy, it really hurts our chances of making the Chase or being good in points.
“There are so many other ways to make the Chase and get in there. So, I think it helps some of that. You’re not always just so worried about points and things. So, yeah, they’ll be times when you’ll think about that and know and be able to do something that you may not have done last year, more aggressively.”
WHAT DOES RAY EVERNHAM BRING TO AREAS THAT YOU HAVEN’T HAD BEFORE?
“When I raced for Ray, he always worked really well with his employees and with his guys about improving. He was always working on improving any way that you can. How can you improve? How can engineering, how can the driver, how can the pit crews, the guys building the car and the bodies; there are so many aspects and things to look at. And if he’s always on you about improving, we got better that way.
“So, I think he’ll come in and kind of look over some of the ways that we do things and how the No. 5 and the No. 24 work together and things like that, and just try to help us with a little bit here, and a little bit there. Overall, I think it will be a good thing. It’s tough to say how much it will improve us, but overall it’s definitely going to be a benefit because Ray is good with people and he’s done that type of thing to kind of motivate.”
DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR IDEA OF WHAT ROLE HE WILL HAVE?
“I don’t really have a clear idea. I have an idea that he’s going to try to help us all improve and try to help us get a little bit better in different areas and in just things that he sees. He’ll work with the crew chiefs closely and some of the engineers. I just think it will be pretty neat to have him.”
AS A KID, WHAT WERE THE FIRST WHEELS YOU HAD?
“Well, it was probably a wagon, like a little bigfoot that you’d sit on and try to push yourself along with your feet. I remember that. That was probably one of my first. And then, probably a bicycle would have been early-on also.”
DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU GOT YOUR WORK ETHIC?
“I got that from my dad. He taught me at a young age that you have to work hard for things and if you want something, you have to work hard to get it and stay after it. I just kind of always had the same outlook on working and getting up in the morning and doing things like that. So he applied it when I was pretty young and I’ve always kept it because he was up and gone at five in the morning, every morning. So if he ever came home and I was still in bed that was bad. There were just different scenarios and things that went on, so I just learned from a pretty young age that you’ve got to get up and get things done and go for what you want.”
HOW DO YOU THINK THIS NEW CHASE FORMAT PLAYS INTO YOUR HANDS?
“I think it can. I think it can help anyone. It can help somebody who is very consistent, it can help someone who wins some races and has some back luck. For us, it would have helped us a little last year. But at the end of the day, we would have finished the same in points, I think; close to it because our Chase was what it was. So, we would have been locked-into the Chase way earlier and maybe that would have changed the way our season went or how we raced or how I raced, some of that stuff.
“So maybe that changes it up. Everything is different at that point. It’s hard to look at the Chase and say this is how it would have ended up with this system because it would have been way different and everybody would have driven different. Things would have happened at different times, so it’s hard to say that. But I think it could definitely help me. Over the years there have been some times when I’ve been a little inconsistent or had bad luck for a period of time and things like that. So this way, this system helps me a little bit get into the Chase. Once you’re in the Chase, you need to perform. That’s just all there is too it.”
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OUT OF TONY STEWART THIS YEAR?
“I expect Tony to probably run a lot of laps tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday, right? Yeah, so I’d say he’ll just run a lot of laps. Probably by himself and probably just feeling out his leg and his car and how well he can feel the throttle when he’s pulling back and forth and things like that. Daytona is not a track that he’s probably real worried about because you can run wide open.
“You can soften-up the throttle springs and it will be fairly easy for him to do that. But I think he can learn a lot about the next couple of tracks after this and how his leg will respond to that. So, he’ll just probably mess with that tomorrow. Other than that, I think he’ll be pretty darn good this whole season.”
DO YOU THINK HE’LL BE IN THE CHASE?
“Yes. I don’t see why he wouldn’t.”
WITH THE NEW SYSTEM, I THINK DALE EARNHARDT JR WOULD HAVE ENDED-UP WINNING LAST YEAR. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM HIM THIS YEAR?
“I expect him to be really consistent again this year. He’s been doing that for a while now. He’s right there every race, kind of like the top six it seems like. He’s always up in the top six. And I feel like he’ll be that same consistent guy. He puts a lot into it over the last couple of years, being his teammate; he puts a lot into it and understands what’s going on. None of that is going to change.”
DO YOU SEE A POINT WHERE HE TURNED THE CORNER A LITTLE?
“Ever since I’ve been at Hendrick, he’s been on top of it. I feel like he’s really been there. Prior to that, I knew Dale, but I didn’t spend a lot of time with him on why are you struggling or this or that; you used to be so fast. And since I’ve been at Hendrick and spent more time with him, he’s been super-focused and really aware of what’s going on and it’s showing on the race track. So, that’s the call that I’ve seen.”
ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE IMPACT OF LOSING KEITH RODDEN?
“It changes things a little bit for myself and our team. Not having him will be much difference once we get racing, but at the same time I felt like he was ready and prepared to take on the role that he has now. So, It’s really good for him to get to move on and be a crew chief and see how that goes for him. He’s very smart and he’ll work well with Jamie (McMurray), so I think that’ll be great for him.
“For us, I think it’s really good to get our guys, the engineers that we have, in working with (crew chief) Kenny (Francis) because that’s going to be overall a better situation now because everybody kind of knows their roles and really run with it. So, I’ve had a great time testing with the guys throughout the winter and I’m really looking forward to what we have now.”
INAUDIBLE
“I was a little surprised when he came to Hendrick with me and Kenny because I thought at that time he could have moved up and really searched hard for a deal. It probably wasn’t the best time for him with open jobs at that time, so that didn’t work. But I was ready at any time for him to take off a
nd get a crew chief role.”
INAUDIBLE
“I think it’s pretty neat. I think the tough part is depending on which car you run, which type of car it is, because everybody is so used to different cars and getting in if it’s similar to what one of the other champions races, then obviously he’s going to be pretty good an adapt much quicker. So, there’s just a lot that goes into that and the feel of the car and the brakes and shifting and all that type of stuff because it’s so much different in all different types of series.”
IF YOU HAD TO PICK FOUR DIFFERENT TYPES OF RACES OR VENUES, WHAT WOULD MAKE A GOOD MIXTURE OF RACES?
“Oh, probably something to do on dirt; I don’t know. I’d say maybe a World of Outlaw driver, a NASCAR driver, IndyCar driver and Supercross guy or something like that; just switch it all up. To me that would be a pretty neat group of guys.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO PARTICIPATE?
“Yeah, I mean if it’s a race of champions, I’d have to be a champion to participate. But I would definitely enjoy that. I enjoy racing as much as I can, any type of car, so that would be pretty fun if that opportunity was there.”
WHAT WAS YOUR SUPER BOWL EXPERIENCE? DID YOU WATCH IT AT HOME?
“Yeah, I just stayed at home and had some people over. I just couldn’t believe the first quarter and how confused the Broncos were compared to the Seahawks. You could tell right then it was going to be a blow-out at that point. So, I didn’t get too excited until like the third quarter when Percy returned it and then I was like, man, this is looking really good now because football can change so quick, especially when Peyton Manning is your quarterback. But it was exciting. We had a blast. My family is all Seahawks; and then most of my friends that were over were Denver Broncos. So I didn’t want to have to listen to them the whole game, so the way it worked out from basically the first ten seconds, they were quiet the rest of the game and we got to be loud and enjoy it.”
I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WIN A RACE, BUT WERE YOU AS FIRED-UP?
“I think it’s a lot different, but I can say that I’m actually still really excited about the Seahawks. And looking into next year already, that’s kind of similar what you do in a race. You win a race and instantly you’re looking at the next one and how we can do well there. Just this week I’ve talked two or three times to people about what they’re doing for next year and how they’re going to be just as good. It’s pretty exciting. They have something there that can go for a long period of time and keep winning.”
WHAT SPORT DO YOU THINK YOU COULD WIN A GOLD MEDAL IN AND WHY?
“I think the short track skating looks pretty awesome. It would be pretty neat to do that. And maybe even the bobsledding or something like that. It’s pretty cool.”
IS THERE ONE RACE IN YOUR CAREER THAT STANDS OUT AS ONE THAT GOT AWAY FROM YOU?
“Yeah, I think Darlington last year is the most recent race that got away. And there are a lot of races that get away throughout a season. We were really good in that race. We ran about third throughout a lot of the race; second, third, fourth; and then we got it right and drove past a couple of guys and drove past Kyle for the lead and then the next corner was when he kind of pushed up and we touched and I spun into the wall. And then Matt Kenseth ends up winning after all that. But we were by far the best car at the end of that race but just didn’t get the win because of circumstances.”