NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified Fourth
THOUGHTS ON THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCESS?
“There were points in time where it is extremely chaotic especially after a caution and when the track first opens when you have all the race cars.  A couple of cautions could really create an issue for people, but we just had one today.  Everybody was able to get out and get their laps and the track opened back up towards the end of that opening session.  Then with 12 on the track it’s pretty easy.  It’s easy to find a hole.  Very good performance for us.  We had a challenging day had to work through a lot of different things with this new rules package, still not completely happy, but definitely on the right track.  Starting p. 4 is awfully good.”
 
DID YOU LEARN THINGS THAT YOU WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?
“The way we managed the qualifying session I think Chad (Knaus, crew chief) did an awesome job setting that up.  Our practice session before hand we didn’t have the practice that we had hoped to of had and left some speed on the table there.  As far as the qualifying session itself I think we definitely be smarter next time, but we didn’t leave much behind here.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON SLOW CARS ON THE TRACK COOLING DOWN?
“The only option is to let us have cool down units.  I’m not sure they are open minded to that.  I didn’t know if anybody was held up it seemed like there was a pretty quiet period and a lot of guys were cooling down to make a second run later.  I’m not sure it was a big issue today.”
 
HOW IS THAT GOING TO PLAY OUT AT A SHORTER TRACK?
“That is what we have been jumping up and down about for a while.  It’s the same for everyone and NASCAR we all understand what NASCAR is trying to do.  I’m confident if there is a problem they will make some changes.  Today went better than I expected to be honest.  That first five minutes was what I expected the entire time, but it finally did calm down and we did get some order out there on the track and were able to run some laps.”
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – Qualified Fifth
HOW DO YOU ASSESS THIS ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU WERE THE FASTEST IN PRACTICE:
“We didn’t know how that lap happened in practice because we were about 10th or so just inside the top 10 maybe in race trim.  That lap in practice was a bit of a surprise to us.  But we went into qualifying and we ran our first run and we were 24th and worried a little bit.  We did everything we could to get the temperature out of the motor so we could run again and we were able to put up a good lap somehow to get into the top 12.  Made a couple of adjustments and were able to get a good lap in the second segment to run a fifth place lap.  Real happy, I would have liked to have gotten the pole.  I felt like that we’ve got a good car and have got some good speed.  As far as the format I thought it was pretty interesting.  I think it was fun. I think the teams enjoyed it.  My team commented that they all really enjoyed the process.  I don’t know how it played out on TV or how it came across in the broadcast, but I thought it was pretty fun to be involved in it.”
 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 11th
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCESS?
“We ended up 11th so we didn’t really qualify that well.  I wish we could have done better in that second round.  I just made two runs and kind of went on to the second one after my first run.  We weren’t very fast the second time out.  The car was just a little bit tight, but I felt really good in practice so I’m looking forward to the race and maybe more practice tomorrow it just kind of depends on weather.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 13th
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“We didn’t make any qualifying runs so we just kind of missed the balance of the car on the first run out on the race track.  Got it a lot better for the second run even with everything heated up, but we just, we wanted to concentrate on race stuff and feel really good about our race stuff.  We just kind of I think waited just a touch too long and never really got a run in during practice.”
 
WHAT IS IT LIKE GOING AROUND COOLING THE CAR OFF AND NOT BEING UP TO SPEED?
“The cooling is dumb.  They needed to let everybody cool the cars down so you don’t have those cars running half speed out there.  We have been telling them that for weeks.  The concept is really cool, but they need to let you cool the cars down and that way you don’t have to have all those cars running around at half speed.  One of these times somebody is going to get clobbered in the back.  The concept is awesome, I like the pace of qualifying, but they need to let us cool them down so we don’t have the cars out there running around at half speed.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 17th
NOW THAT THE FIRST QUALIFYING OF THE NEW FORMAT IS OVER, WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS?
“I think it’s awesome. I love it. It didn’t go very well for us. We were just real tight ever since we put the car in qualifying trim. We didn’t get enough of it out there and drew a late number. A lot of guys got that cloud early on that we weren’t able to get. The biggest thing for us is that it’s all learning as we go through this. We have to figure out a way to cool the cars. You shouldn’t have to go ride around the track and try to cool it. You shouldn’t have to sit there with the engine fan on because it just doesn’t do the job. All we need is a way to cool the engines and we’ll go out there and make multiple runs and continue to make adjustments to try and improve the lap time. Unfortunately we had to sit there and try to get it cooled down to make one last attempt at it. We just didn’t quite free the car up enough. I needed one more run to free it up and I think we would have had a shot of getting in. What’s interesting about it is playing the clouds and trying to get a clean lap. I kind of expected those things. They are all really fascinating elements to this.”
 
ON HIS RUN:
“We drew a late number, so we weren’t able to go out early and catch that cloud like some guys, but we were just too tight. The cool down thing, they need to adjust that. To just sit there on pit road and run your fan and not getting any cool down. The only thing is eliminating us from going out and making more runs at it is the temperature of the engine. So, that’s what we knew would happen is that we’d go through it and we’d all learn. And so, I think it’s exciting, though. I think it’s very, very cool. It certainly was intense for us, the competitors out there, and it’s only going to get more intense for the guys who made it in the top 12. It obviously wasn’t easy to do. Some guys did a great job. We just didn’t do a good job today getting our car balanced for qualifying, but I have a lot of confidence in our Pepsi MAX Chevrolet for Sunday.”
 
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 18TH
“It seemed like a lot of guys went out early and it was pretty jumbled-up. So when we went out, we actually got a clear nice gap. That’s part of the name of the game in group qualifying obviously, there are so many people out there with different agendas that you’ve got to try to get a clean lap, first of all. And it worked out well for us. The GEICO Chevy was fast. We went out actually, to make a second run; and we had a lap that was clearly a lot better going, that probably could have put us in the top 12, and we got held up by the No. 77 (Dave Blaney). I don
’t know what happened there. We didn’t get through (Turns) 2 and 4 with him. But am excited about it. It’s good for us. I’m looking forward to Sunday.”
 
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 24th
HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT?
“I don’t know how interesting it was for the fans but for me, I think we have a lot to learn about it and be patient. You have clouds that come and go, and everyone is fighting for that position. There were people cooling their cars around on the bottom, and I was one of those. There is just a lot to learn. It’s just new. If you can get a clean hole, it helps.”
 
WHAT WERE YOU ABLE TO LEARN GOOD OR BAD FOR NEXT WEEK?
“You have to take it when you can – when you get the right time on the track. It’s interesting the difference between regular qualifying and this. There are a lot of things you have to take in account but there will be some tracks where only one lap matters anyway. It’s a waiting game or go and take your chances.  It’s tough. We might have been a little overanxious because we had a good car in practice. We just missed qualifying a little bit.
 
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 CLOROX FRAGANZIA CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 25th
THOUGHTS ON THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT:
“It really doesn’t matter to me honestly.  It’s still qualifying.  It’s cool.  There is a lot of strategy that goes into it.  I don’t know if they are going to do something about cars running around slow like that.  It’s kind of the box that you are put in trying to cool down the motor.  But at the same point it’s obviously not good out there if you get in somebody’s way.  That was I would say the only thing that has got me question.  It was cool.  It’s better than single car.  Hopefully the fans enjoy it because it kind of opens up the question of who is going to make it in.  There is obviously like (Dale Earnhardt) Junior and guys that were out that got themselves in on a second or third run.  It’s alright.  We just need to be better overall.  I’m just not happy with our day.  We struggled a little bit.  It’s part of growing.  I want to come out here and be amazing right away, but it’s part of growing.  We will keep working on it.”
 
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 27th
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE? WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE CARS GOING AROUND AT HALF SPEED TO COOL THE CARS DOWN?
“I don’t know.  I didn’t think that we would be allowed to do that.  It’s like during a race you have a minimum speed so you should have to have some sort of minimum speed.  Just because you don’t ever want to be on a run and have some guy pulling out in front of you going 50 mph it’s dangerous.  I don’t know.  I’m not the good person to ask today because we had a really good car in practice and it was absolutely horrendous there. I have no idea what happened.  I’m not sure what we did, but it’s pretty disappointing.  I thought we had a shot at the pole today and we are like 27th so it’s pretty disappointing.”
 
JUSTIN ALLGAIER, NO. 51 BRANDT AGRICULTURE CHEVROLET SS – Involved in a crash during the first qualifying session and will start Sunday’s race at Phoenix International Raceway 43rd
 WHAT HAPPENED?
“I tried to save it as much as I could, but unfortunately here at Phoenix, there’s not a whole lot of room to get out of trouble. It was my mistake; just trying to get too much on the lap there. I hate it for these guys. Everybody on this racing crew does a great job. So, we’ll get the back-up out and we can get it fixed and go; we’ll see what happens.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed how he feels, gaining chemistry with his new crew chief and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
KEVIN HARVICK WAS IMPRESSED ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU LISTEN AS AN OWNER.  IS THAT SOMETHING THAT HAS EVOLVED OVER TIME FOR YOU WITH ALL YOUR DIFFERENT RACING INTERESTS?
“I don’t know, probably, you’ve got to listen to the guys that are driving for you the same as the driver.  You have to relay that information to somebody.  From an owners standpoint you’ve got to spend more time listening and then acting on it.”
 
YOU GOT THROUGH ALL OF SPEEDWEEKS HOW DID YOU FEEL THIS WEEK?
“I’ll be honest, I’ll be more happy when everybody quits asking me how I feel.  I’m not 100 percent.  I’m not going to be 100 percent for a while.  It was fine.  There wasn’t any drama, same as we said for the shootout, same as we said for the qualifying race and same as we said after the (Daytona) 500.  I appreciate everybody checking on me, but it’s not going to change in a week.  It wasn’t a big drama, everything is fine.  Everything is fine in the car this week so far.  Hopefully, we will be able to talk a year from now about how far we have come.”
 
IN REGARDS TO CHAD JOHNSTON BEING BACK AFTER HAVING APPENDICITIS LAST WEEK:
“Yeah getting operated on.  I thought he did a pretty good job last week.  This week we are back to kind of the weekly side of it now.  I thought he did a really good job of fighting through the pain, getting operated on and being back at the track.”
 
IN REGARDS TO HIS NEW CREW CHIEF AND GAINING CHEMISTRY:
“I wish it was that easy to pick a number.  You have been doing this long enough that you know it can be weeks, it can be years.  You can’t sit there and say it’s going to take this long.  It never has been that way and never will be.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE EXTRA FOUR HOURS OF TESTING NEXT WEEK IN LAS VEGAS:
“Yeah I will take all the time I can get right now.  Those four hours at a race weekend is going to be big.  That is going to be a valuable four hours for us.”
 
IF PRACTICE GETS RAINED OUT TOMORROW WHAT AFFECT WILL THAT HAVE IF ANY ON SUNDAY?
“I don’t know.  You guys are asking stuff we don’t know about. We got an hour and a half of practice.  If it is it’s going to be like whatever we had at the end of practice.  I just don’t know.  ”
 
IS THE CAR GOING TO BE DIFFERENT THAN LAST YEAR?
“Of course it’s different than last year.  It’s a whole different package than last year of course it feels different.  We haven’t been in a race situation yet.  We ran an hour and a half of practice, which half of that you spend in qualifying trim.”
 
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI MAX CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway, and discussed the new Pepsi Max video, new qualifying format and other topics. Full transcript:
 
WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THE NEW TEST DRIVE VIDEO THAT PEPSI RELEASED?
“It’s been a fun week coming off the Daytona 500 finish and then knowing that Pepsi was going to be releasing this video.  I’m so proud of them for believing in us and taking risk to step outside the boundaries and what they call maxing it out and they definitely did.  It was a lot of fun, but it was nerve wracking because we had one take to do that and pull it off.  There was a lot involved, but the results are really, really good.  Having fun with it this week and can’t wait to get this race started this week, especially qualifying today.  I’ve been looking forward to that for a long time.”
 
WHEN DID YOU GO TO ACTING SCHOOL?  DID YOU HAVE FUN PLAYING THE CONVICT AND WERE YOU WORRIED AT ALL THAT THE GUY WAS GOING TO GO CRAZY?
“I like good editing because they can make me look as good as I can look.  The acting was pretty poor if you look at it from my standpoint, but when you get into makeup like that and they put this disguise on you and the tattoo and the outfit and everything, you start to get comfortable in it once you’re in it long enough.  Right before I picked up Travis we basically went through one run of how everything was going to go hopefully, there’s a lot of things you can’t prepare for.  You start to try to get into that character.  I’m no actor, but I did the best I could and luckily the disguise helped me pull it off.  You have to understand, this thing was like eight months in the making.  After the first test drive was so popular then Pepsi Max came to me and said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in doing this again?’  I said, ‘Yeah, but I want to do all the driving.’  I think it’s known that we had to have a stunt driver for timing purposes in the first one and I would love to do this thing as the driver throughout the whole thing.  Obviously coordinating that and figuring out who we were going to get in the car and how we were going to do it, it really started out as a fan promotion.  We were just going to get fans in the car and not necessarily prank them in this case, but just give them a really cool ride.  It started materializing and coming together.
 
“Safety was the first thing on the list of concerns.  Making sure that we did this with all safety precautions.  Making sure that he didn’t recognize who I was and we went through Jalopnik to get Travis there.  If they hadn’t have been a part of it, this thing would have never happened.  When I look at it, how we pulled this off is near impossible and the fact that we were able to pull it off and at the end of the day Travis had a big smile on his face finally was what made it so extraordinary.  It was an adrenaline rush for me.  An hour later I felt like I had just won the Daytona 500.  Just that kind of feeling you get when you’re in that kind of a situation.  We had a safe word, which was Nebraska.  I didn’t come up with it.  They said, here’s the word.  I had an earpiece where I could hear the crew talking, they could hear us and see video live of what was going on inside the car and so there was that moment that if it got to that point we called that word and it all stopped and when I first took off and I hit about 80 miles per hour and he started kicking that glass, I came this close.  You don’t know what that situation is going to be like until you have that person in the back of the car that is really scared.  I just knew that it’s all going to be over very quick and luckily when I opened that door and saw that smile on his face, it made it all worth it.”
 
HOW DO YOU THINK QUALIFYING WILL UNFOLD TODAY?
“That’s the whole question and I don’t really have an answer for it because we have to go through it a few times, not just today.  It’s going to change week to week based on the grip level of the tires, the size of the track and all those things.  I’m excited about the concept and I’m excited about how it is going to be so much different and I think it’s going to create a lot more interest in qualifying, but it’s the unknowns that we fear the most right now.  I think for that first session it’s going to be about getting a clean lap.  The ability to have a lot of cars out there trying to make laps, it’s kind of going to be like practice making qualifying runs except for everybody is in qualifying trim.  Usually we swap over and guys maybe do their qualifying runs at the beginning, some do it at the end and to have everybody trying to do it all at once is going to be tricky.  Coordination between the spotter and the driver and the crew of making that first clean run, I think really two or three laps seems to be best here with sticker tires and pressures up, but you’re definitely going to be able to make a second run if need be.  The bigger challenge there comes with cooling.  We have no way of cooling the car other than pulling the tape off and going out and driving around with no tape on, which I think that is going to be tough to pull off.  That’s going to be something that we’re all going to try to figure out.  It should be exciting.”
 
DO THE TEAMS KNOW WHAT THEY ALL HAVE WITH THE NEW AERO PACKAGE?
“All I can tell you is what testing that we’ve done this has improved grip.  There’s challenges as far as trying to figure out the travels and the splitter heights and those types of things.  Everything I’m seeing, it complements the car, the track, the tire, the downforce is just making the cars drive better so we should be able to just push the limits a little bit harder, be more aggressive.  What that’s going to do around in traffic, that’s yet to be seen.  I always think of this place, especially double file restarts, you should have more grip to be able to play with in general, but the same things are going to apply as you get further back in the field you’re going to have less grip from an aero standpoint.  Should still be better because that splitter is lower, you don’t get as much ability of the air to get up underneath it.”
 
HOW MANY LAWYERS HAD TO APPROVE THE VIDEO AND HOW DID IT GET DONE?
“That’s why this was an eight month process and why I applaud Pepsi so much in stepping outside those boundaries to be that risky.  Sometimes you have to take risk in order for it to pay off and luckily in this case it paid off.  The coordination of getting Travis there without knowing what was going to happen, but yet also taking into account liability and waivers and all those things, obviously we still had to get his final signature at the end, but we had everything else in place with Pepsi Max.  Again, to just get it to that stage is impressive enough.  To actually then get Travis in the car, create this conversation that we didn’t know how that was going to go to try to set it up with me saying I’m an ex-con and just got out of jail with a guy from Jersey and some of that stuff, that all just creates the storyline.  You can’t make that stuff up.  You can plan, you can do certain things, but you can’t plan for the unknown.  That’s why there was such an adrenaline rush with it and the fact that I knew I had this guy’s safety in my hands.  I put a lot of pride into making sure that it was done safe and so did Pepsi Max.  I don’t know if you’ll ever see this done again, I’ll be honest, because it was that risky.  We did it and we can now laugh and Travis can laugh
about it and we can all enjoy the risk that paid off.”
 
WHY DID YOU WANT TO DO THIS?
“I like stepping outside the boundaries.  I think that when it’s something like this.  We did the first video and when you look at all the comments from the first video, I think that it was really the bloggers, the media, the fans, it was everybody really challenging us to go and do this because of their comments of saying, ‘Hey, Jeff wasn’t driving the car or this or that wasn’t real.’  Guess what, here’s the results of that because we wanted to go out there and show everybody how authentic and how real this can be.  Why would we do that?  It’s a good question, but I can tell you it was a blast doing it and I think the response that it’s getting certainly speaks for itself.  I was questioning that a few times myself during it so I know people are going to question that, but after it was over and we came sliding in, I was like, wow, that was the most incredible thing that I’ve ever done.”
 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT JR. THIS WEEK NOW THAT HE HAS JOINED TWITTER?
“I think we all knew that once he got on it that he would probably enjoy it.  It looks like he’s enjoying it.  I’ve never seen the guy with a permanent smile on his face like this before.  To see how much it means to him to win that race, to be on top of the sport like he is and it be just genuinely comfortable with himself and confident, that’s very, very cool.  That to me, that’s great for the sport, it’s great for him, great for Hendrick.  We’ve all had smiles on our faces and enjoying this week right along with him.  Seeing him on Twitter is something that a lot of us have been pushing him towards, ‘C’mon man, you can do it.’  I think winning the Daytona 500 is a great way to get that kick started so I applaud him on that.  He’s done a great job this week.”
 
HOW DOES BEING LOCKED IN THE CHASE CHANGE HOW DALE EARNHARDT JR. CAN APPROACH THE NEXT 25 WEEKS?
“There’s no doubt, this sport is so much about confidence and believing in one another.  We’ve all said that one race doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything, but boy with the new points system it certainly guarantees a lot.  That allows you to continue to build that confidence and just push the envelope of your setups, your pit strategy, how you’re driving and with the kind of confidence he has coming from last year and now off of this race, you would think that will transfer over to the next several races.  Now we get to the downforce tracks and if those guys perform well on these next few tracks, watch out.  I think anything is possible.”
 
HOW WILL YOU APPROACH QUALIFYING CONCERNING THE ENGINES?
“We’re going to have to go through this for a few weeks and I don’t mean just the teams but NASCAR as well to try to understand what challenges come along.  I don’t think we should be nosed in to start the qualifying session.  I think we should be nosed out.  After that, I understand the nose in.  The other thing is the cooling.  There are safety precautions that they are wanting to take and that’s why we’re not cooling the cars and the number of people on pit road and all those things, but if we want to keep in mind the longevity and reliability of the engines and keeping the highest performance, if we want to go out and make multiple runs then we have to cool those engines down.  That’s how we make qualifying runs and you have to run the most tape you possibly can on the front of the car.  Going out there and making a second run on older tires with less tape is not going to improve your time.  I think that’s something that as we get through we’re all going to be communicating with NASCAR to try to figure out what’s going to be the best way for the teams to go out there and get the best lap as well as keep it as entertaining as possible.”
 
HOW GOOD DID IT FEEL TO GET A TOP-FIVE FINISH AT DAYTONA?
“It felt amazing.  It seems like not just in the 500, but in the 400 as well it’s just been so long since we’ve been able to be in position at the end to have a chance at it.  Especially the way that race went down, it was a crazy race after the rain.  It was like a 10-lap shootout.  Just every single lap three wide, bump drafting and the fact that we survived those wrecks and had a strong car and to come out of there with a top-five, I’m still not sure and haven’t seen the video of why we’re not third.  I’m also still accepting of fourth because of what we’ve done the last nine years by not only having a top-five, but like a top-15.  It’s been really hard to get our season started with any momentum after coming out of Daytona so far behind.  That’s a great way for us to get started.  I can just see a difference in the team.  The team is really pumped up and excited to go to these next several races and show what we can do.”
 
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES IN PRACTICE KNOWING TOMORROW IS LOOKING TO BE A RAIN OUT?
“I agree and it is just taking what is already a challenging day trying to get prepared for this new qualifying session and taking it to a whole other level for all of us, but especially the crew chiefs and engineers.  We’re going to try to balance out that track time of preparing for this race, we’re going to have to go off of old notes.  We always say that, but the ride heights have changed and a lot of things have changed with the setup so I’m not sure.  I know that there will just be a time when we swap over.  Really in a perfect world you would actually want to wait and get as much rubber on the track as possible to get ready for the race.  That’s why we love Saturday practices.  Today because we have to get ready for qualifying and track position being so important at this track, qualifying is extremely important.  In some ways, it’s going to prioritize itself over the race practice or portion of the practice.  Not everybody might play it that way and that’s what I love about this.  It really makes you think about your strategy and how you’re going to go about managing the time that you have.  Again, we learn as we go.  We might find a team does it one way that we didn’t think of it that way, wow, that’s really smart and in the future we might do it that way.”
 
HOW MUCH GAMESMANSHIP IS ALLOWABLE IN THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT AND WHERE IS THE LINE?
“I think that gamesmanship when it comes to qualifying is about one-upping one another with a lap time not about blocking or doing something that is trying to hurt somebody else’s laps.  I don’t know if that’s what you mean from gamesmanship.  In my opinion, that’s not tolerated at all, but as I clearly read in NASCAR’s notes or memo, it looks like we’re going to take care of that ourselves.  We’ll see how that works.  It seems to work pretty well when they allow us to take care of it ourselves.  Usually doesn’t happen more than once.  That is definitely going to be a play here today not necessarily people intentionally doing it, people not being able to prevent it.  That’s my concern.  After you finish your lap, there could be somebody coming behind you and if you just mosey on around one and two and through the dog leg and don’t get off the track, that’s to me a gray area in NASCAR’s mind and not so gray if I’m the guy behind.  That person should know well enough to watch his mirrors, work with his spotter or her to get off the track and allow those cars to get their clean lap.  I don’t anticipate somebody playing that offense and defense on this track, maybe at Talladega or Daytona I could see that from a drafting standpoint, but here it should be just about respecting your competitors.”
 
DID HENDRICK PRACTICE THE NEW QUALIFYING ANYWHERE?
“
It’s not like we’re just going blind and saying, ‘We’ll just wait and see what happens.’  No, we can’t simulate that because we don’t have 43 cars or more at a track to test and go through that.  There’s a lot of simulation that we’ve gone into with cooling and understanding the amount of tape that we can run.  We’ve gone through a lot with this tire at this particular track and when we think it’s going to be at its best optimal pressure and temperature, but we can’t really control what the other cars are doing.  That’s the factor that comes into play that is going to be so interesting and that we’re going to just have to see what happens as we go.  We can’t simulate that even at a test.  We did not do that.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed his whirlwind week following his Daytona 500 victory, his thoughts on the new qualifying format, what he has learned about being on Twitter and many other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
GIVE US A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM YOUR WEEK THIS WEEK AND ABOUT COMING INTO PHOENIX:
“NASCAR did a real good job of structuring out the tour.  I don’t really remember much about what we did in 2004, but this was a lot of fun doing (David) Letterman was really exciting.  Going to FOX studios and what we did there was a lot of fun and work at ESPN was fun.  Every stop was enjoyable and I enjoyed talking about the win and talking about our experiences and sharing that with the fans.  It’s been a great week.  Got a lot of rest and we are ready to go here in Phoenix.  Kind of everything resets and goes back to zero.  We will try to run as well as we can this weekend, get a good result and go from there.”
 
ONE OF THE MOST SURPRISING THINGS THAT WE ALL LEARNED AFTER THE RACE WAS THAT DENNY (HAMLIN) HAD NO SPOTTER FOR ABOUT 150 LAPS ON AND OFF.  WHAT WOULD YOU THINK ABOUT HAVING TO RUN THOSE FINAL TWO LAPS WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO HEAR A RADIO?
“I mean the last two laps probably would have been easy to do it without a spotter, but just running the whole race there are a lot of challenging situations you get yourself into.  There are times when you need to be cleared when you are not sure.  For the most part as a race car driver you know where every car is around you, probably 60-70 percent of the time you make moves just on your own instinct and understanding of where cars around you without a spotter. But there is that 30 percent when you don’t know where the cars are around you and you need to move into another lane, you want to and you need your spotter to help you get there.  There are definitely some situations where that was a huge disadvantage for him not to have that spotter helping him when he is trying to march forward and get himself in position and get toward the front in that tight pack.  It’s a huge disadvantage, but toward the front in the top five I couldn’t tell you what TJ (Majors, spotter) said in those last two laps.  I was just going off of what I was seeing and what I was doing.  I was making decisions faster than he could feed me the information at that point in time.”
 
HOW IS TJ?
“TJ is good.  He had some issues with his intestines last year that caused him to miss the Atlanta race.  Some of those issues cropped back up just a small infection.  He is back home now; he is out of the hospital so he is fine. He just hates having to miss it.  He is a huge part of our team.  We have such great chemistry it’s going to be a difficult situation not having him, but we’ve got Bill Elliott of all people is going to fill in during practice.  That is going to be pretty awesome.  A lot of most popular driver awards right there, like 27 or something like that.  Then during the race the guy we had last year is going to fill in.  He did a great job for us last year.  I feel good about the race.  It will be interesting going through knock-out qualifying me and Bill (Elliott) both for the first time.”
 
YOU DIDN’T PACK A BAG, YOU DIDN’T HAVE CLOTHES PACKED FOR THIS WHOLE TOUR, AND CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW YOU GOT OUR CLOTHES? 
“Basically Amy (Reimann, girlfriend) is good friends with this gal Kristin (Heinrich) that works in Charlotte and has helped me a few times.  Amy works with her on when we need to go to special events and I need to get a sports coat or something.  So, we just by luck, Kristin was in New York working with Lavender which is the shop that Amy works with in Mooresville.  Amy has like a bit of a part-time job and so just by fate these people were in New York to help us get some clothes.  So on our flight to New York from Daytona Kristin was scrambling trying to put together some things judging by the schedule that I had.  I never had to wear socks twice or wear underwear twice so that was good.  Everything was clean.  Kristin did a great job.  That is one of the perks to having a good, dedicated girlfriend like that.  I don’t know what I would have done without Amy and Kristin at that particular moment.  I definitely wouldn’t have represented myself as well as I did this week.  That was a big help from them.”
 
COULD YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT WE WILL SEE DURING QUALIFYING TODAY?
“I don’t know.  I don’t know what we are going to see.  Do you guys have any idea?  We’ve all been in this sport for a long time and I don’t think any of us can anticipate how that is going to work.  I’m just going to go out there and run the best lap we can run. We are going to get our car prepared.  Your job is to go out there, find a clean place on the race track and run the best lap you can run.  The way the tires work here you can actually run some pretty good laps on some used tires.  You may run several laps then come in and then go out prepare to run your fast lap depending on what the tires need here to come in and be fast.  I don’t know exactly what Steve’s (Letarte) plan is, but we have a lot of time in between practice and qualifying to sort that out and get an idea of what the rumblings are in the garage.  You know people are talking and all kinds of information is moving around in that garage to try to capture.  We will see what makes sense.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT TOUCHED YOU OVER THE WEEK?  THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS VIDEO, THE FAN VIDEOS?  TODAY IN THE PAPER THERE IS A NATIONWIDE FULL PAGE, WHICH WAS WAY COOL:
“I thought that was great I saw Jeff’s (Gluck) tweet and I was like ‘man that is pretty awesome’.  The fan reaction videos were pretty incredible, that kid crying, when I was doing I think NASCAR Now some ESPN in studio stuff.  Just seeing the reaction for the fans that they get that much joy from it means probably the most.  Definitely hearing from the Redskins is pretty awesome.  Rendezvous ribs from Memphis is going to send me some ribs so that is awesome.  I mean all kinds of things keep happening.  Bill Elliott is going to spot for me.  I don’t know what is going to happen next.  It just keeps going.  That is the only bad part about winning at Daytona is you go to Phoenix and somebody else wins the next race.  Then they are getting the ribs (laughs).  If I can win it I will keep going, but it would be nice if we had an off weekend there where it could keep going because so much great stuff happens to you during this week it’s been great.”
 
COULD YOU ELABORATE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT GOING FORWARD?  WITH THE NEW CHASE RULES AND EVERYTHING.  YOU CAN REALLY SWING FOR THE FENCES THE NEXT 25 RACE.  ARE WE TALKING ABOUT SET-UPS, OR HOW YOU DRIVE, OR WHETHER YOU STAY OUT, OR PIT STRATEGY?
“Definitely set-ups, from what I’ve noticed when a team, especially one of my teammates where I can really see what is going on behind closed doors.  When they get comfortable that they are in the Chase they really start to experiment or try to find things outside of their comfort zone that can help them during the Chase.  We can start thinking about that earlier than most people and that is definitely one area where we can get aggressive.  Steve can get aggressive to a point on pit strategy, but common sense is going to tell you what the best thing is to do to win the race.  It ain’t going to be some kind of wild hair brained idea at the last minute.  What wins races is w
hat we have been doing, what everybody has been doing for years.  You are not going to go too far out of reality to yank out a win.  Or we would have already been doing that for years.  You are not going to stay out there on 100 lap tires and ‘man that is crazy, get a win’  you are not going to do that you are going to get run over.
 
“You might see things in the middle of the race where we might do some strategy where we take two tires more often, instead of four tires to get the track position and see how the car handles up there and see if we can hold it until the next opportunity to put four tires on it.  We might do that more often.  Maybe things earlier in the race to sort of set us up that we probably wouldn’t do if we are trying to get points.  Points aren’t quite as important I guess as wins.  Things might change a little bit.  I’m curious myself really if the racing is going to pick up.  Like we saw the intensity at Daytona sustained over a longer period of time.  Normally people sort of get after it at the end of the race, but we were racing hard for a long time, for the last half of the race.  I’m wondering if that is going to be the norm now.  If the racing is going to be a whole lot more exciting and it’s going to be evident to the viewer and you guys that we are pushing much harder.”
 
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU HAVE DONE IN THE LAST 24 HOURS TO KIND OF GET YOUR MINDSET BACK TO THIS WEEKEND AS OPPOSED TO CELEBRATING THE DAYTONA 500 WIN?
“In my mind we haven’t celebrated yet.  We have been going around and talking about the win, but it’s been real subdued.  We haven’t cut up any.  I won’t get the opportunity to do that until after (Las) Vegas.  If we win Sunday we might have a little fun after that race Sunday night.  Due to the responsibilities to the media and to the media tour things have been very calm really this week.  So haven’t really celebrated the way I like to celebrate.  I look forward to doing that when we get a moment to do that when we get back home I guess.  I haven’t even seen Steve and the team since we left Victory Lane, since we left the media center.  It will be good to get in the garage.  We are still going to be talking and thinking and joking about that win even during this weekend.  But that is not a bad problem to have that is not a bad distraction to have on a race weekend talking about last week.  I feel like I shouldn’t have any problem getting out there on the race track and doing the best I can do.  I’ve been doing this a long time and have had the opportunity to win races and get back the next weekend and do well.  It should be no problem.”
 
THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT LEARNED A LOT ABOUT YOU THIS WEEK. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT TWITTER AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU TO BE ABLE TO KIND OF DISSEMINATE WHATEVER MESSAGE YOU WANTED TO TELL?
“Well I’m still learning.  There are still a lot of questions about how to use the software, how to physically use the software.  There is quite a difference between the iPhone version and iPad version so trying to work between the two, just simple stuff like that.  I mean I never used it before.  I got (Mike) Hoag and Laura (Scott) and them helping me so I don’t look like an idiot.  It’s been fun to interact with the fans.  Doing that Q&A on the way to Austin or wherever we were headed was fun.  That was kind of just a spur of the moment idea and it was enjoyable to be able to plug in like that whenever you feel like it.  Hopefully the fans appreciate that.  I’ve got a lot to learn.  I guess the hard part is there is so much coming at you that you miss a lot of stuff.  There is a lot of great information and a lot of great comments, just trying to read them all.  It’s kind of like reading your fan mail.  Back in ’04, ’03, ’02 Dad’s fan mail room was just piled.  I’m like how do you decipher all that?  How do you get through all that?  It’s just a lot coming at you and you want to take it all in and you don’t want to miss anything.
 
“Like (Mike) Hoag and them will come up to me and be like ‘man such and such tweeted you’. I’m like ‘what?  Where?  What the hell? How did I miss that?  Why am I missing that?’  (Laughs) I’ve got a lot to learn.  But it’s fun, it’s really fun to be able to just say, like we got these new hats today.  Or we got them this year and I am real particular about my hats.  So we were doing some fittings with this new company and I got them all laid out on the table this morning and I was like ‘man which one do I want to wear, this is so awesome’ because normally they say here is your pit cap and it doesn’t fit, you don’t like it and it’s just not good material.  Me and Steve we are particular about it so we cuss it all year long and finally I’m sitting there like ‘man I’ve got all these options and I can tell everybody how awesome it is.’  A guy from MRO (Motor Racing Outreach) brought me that picture of the verse that Stevie (Waltrip) gave me and I know it would make DW’s (Darrel Waltrip) day if I tweeted how much I appreciate that.  Just being able to do that.
 
“I don’t know what I was thinking why I didn’t get on there earlier because it’s a great way to tell people things you appreciate.  It’s instant.  So I’m learning, taking all kinds of advice if anybody wants to give me any advice if I get going in the wrong direction.  Throw back Thursday is pretty cool.  I’ve got a photo stream on my phone that is like 500 old pictures of my Dad and Ralph (Earnhardt) and Jimmy Means.  It’s just a photo stream that I just collect photos that I find.  There are a ton of people on that, but I got throw back Thursday for years.  I’m in good shape there that is going to be fun.”
 
WHERE DOES THIS RANK AMONGST VICTORIES YOU HAVE HAD? HAS THIS BEEN ONE OF THE BEST WEEKS OF YOUR LIFE?
“It’s up there.  It’s definitely up there.  It’s hard to say if it’s the best week.  Winning those two championships in the Nationwide Series was a lot of fun because it lasted longer than a week.  You had the whole off season to celebrate and hell we basically turned it into two years of just nothing but having fun and celebrating wins and running good and trophies and stuff.  That was a great two years.  I was blown away because I had run all those late model races and didn’t really win any.  Here I was Nationwide champion, just like that overnight.  That was an extremely enjoyable time in my life.  But if you said as far as weeks go, yeah this is probably my funniest week if you pack it all into a week.  I wish I could remember everything we did in 2004.  I don’t think it was like this for whatever reason.  Where we are today in social media and where we are today with our network relationships it seems like we were just everywhere all week long doing something.  Everything was interesting and fun.  Normally truth be told drivers complain about being run ragged and taken all over the place to do media.  I would have said that before the race, ‘man I hope I win, but I’m not looking forward to that media tour’, but as soon as I crossed the finish line I was thinking, ‘man I’ve got to go on that media tour that is going to be fun.  I don’t know what flipped the switch, but I looked forward to it as soon as we crossed the finish line I was looking forward to everything we had to do this week.  It was fun.  I had a great team with me.  (Mike) Hoag and Laura (Scott), Amy helping as much as she could, made it really easy and fun.  We enjoyed it.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed the new qualifying procedure, testing at Las Vegas, and more. Full Transcript:
 
ON THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE
“I think to me, qualifying is going to be a lot like how we practice qualify. So you’re going to be waiting in line to do your thing. But then, at that point, it’s still open. So you don’t have the opportunity to work on your car so much. You have to kind of come back to pit road and start it all over again depending on how you qualify or how you run. I hope that we don’t have a lapse in time on the race track or at different race tracks for different reasons. Ultimately I think we’re still going to have a pole winner; now the team is more incorporated with the things that are going on and the adjustments that you make. The spotter has a job with respect to qualifying that he never had before. But I think it all adds up to a team qualifying event more so than just a driver versus a race track qualifying format.”
 
LOOKING AHEAD, WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING ON THE 1.5-MILE TRACKS AS WE GO TO LAS VEGAS?
“We’ve done a little bit of testing between Charlotte and Nashville and tracks like that and so I think that Vegas that Thursday is going to be extremely important; especially not knowing what the weather is going to be like out there. We seem to be pulling rain wherever we go. But, just getting a good vibe for what is our backbone core of racing on the 1.5-mile race tracks is going to be important for everybody at Vegas.”
 
HOW IMPORTANT IS AN EXTRA FOUR HOURS OF TESTING AT LAS VEGAS?
‘I think it’s important. I think it’s important to know how your car is and how comfortable you are as a driver. It kind of gives you a different perspective on how you need to unload the race car on Friday; if you need to spend more time in race trim or in qualifying trim. That extra little bit of laps is good for giving you a heads-up. But I really wish we didn’t have it. I wish Friday practice and qualifying.”
 
WHY IS THAT?
“It’s just a waste of time for all of us. It’s extra effort, extra money, extra everything for all of us. It’s not going to change the way that we race on Sunday.”
 
WERE YOU SHOCKED THAT DALE EARNHARDT JR. LIVED UP TO HIS PROMISE AND GOT ON TWITTER?
“No, I don’t know so much about any of that. I was happy for him for winning that race. It’s a special race, having won it before. I texted him after the race and it was cool to get a response within the next day or so because I know how busy you are on your phone after an event like that. It was good to see him win.”
 
WITH RAIN LIKELY, WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES IN PREPARING FOR THE RACE?
“I think ultimately the difference now between racing and qualifying really is more so of adding the tape to the grill and a little bit of balance changing. We’ve got pretty good data on this Gen-6 car with that. We’re going to spend a good amount of time; I think everybody will, because of the rain, in race trim. And having that good race trim package will ease your mind a little bit. Hopefully we can have a good qualifying effort as well.”
 
BECAUSE OF THE RULES CHANGES, YOU CAN’T REALLY GO BACK TO THE OLD NOTES AS MUCH?
“No, there’s a lot of things you can go back to. You’re still putting shoes on to walk (laughs). There are a lot of things that have changed, but ultimately your race car, the body, the drivetrain, and everything else is the same. It’s just kind of how we work the aerodynamics in the changes with the tape versus the temperature versus the balance in where you are in your qualifying run.”
 
DID YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK TO AUSTIN DILLON AFTER LAST WEEK?
“We texted. I know there was nothing intentional. It was just a poor outcome for us. We were really excited. I sat in the back and waited all race long to show my stuff. I really waited all week long to show my stuff and got caught up in one accident there when he turned the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) around and got rear-ended by my other teammate. And then we got the car somewhat fixed after that and had a really fast car in the Caterpillar Chevrolet and just got checked-up going into (Turn) 3 and I missed the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray) car but Austin didn’t miss me. I know it was unintentional. It just kind of sucked for the organization.”
 
WHAT’S THAT LIKE IN COMING OVER TO A NEW ORGANIZATION?
“That’s just a product of that type of racing. That’s the way it is. We know that type of racing is different than what we’re going to have here (Phoenix) and in Vegas. It is what it is and it was what it was.”
 
ON THE QUALIFYING FORMAT, IS NEXT WEEK MORE CHALLENGING?
“I don’t know. I don’t have any idea what the difference is going to be between two sessions versus three and how that’s going to open up the race track with a less number of cars. You still have less time, so you really don’t have the opportunity to do multiple runs because you have less time. Again, I don’t want to get to the point where we have 20 minutes and 12 cars and we’re just sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for somebody to make a run. That’s not good TV.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, DRIVER OF THE NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with media today at Phoenix International Raceway to discuss being back at PIR, differences in setup from last year’s race here, his influence on Dale Earnhardt Jr., and more. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
TALK ABOUT BEING BACK AT PHOENIX CONSIDERING YOUR SUCCESS HERE.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: It’s always great to be back at a track where you and a team have had so much success. With the reconfiguration of this track, it’s been hit or miss for us. When we were here in November, it was really good for us especially from the championship perspective. To come back now, there is definitely excitement and confidence. The cars are far different than when we were here in November. This will be the first real test on which team and organization has found speed in their cars and been able to use the new rules package to their advantage. We feel good about what we have. We tested quite a bit to get ready for this moment. We will know more about 30-40 minutes into the practice about where we stand.”
 
I’M CURIOUS TO SEE HOW YOUR TESTING STRATEGY MIGHT CHANGE WITH THE NEW FORMAT FOR THE CHASE THIS YEAR.
“Ideally if all four (Hendrick) drivers win a race, we can just sit on our test sessions and know that we are in that first block. That’s really the objective I think for all the teams. We will have to see. We have tested a lot at tracks where we don’t compete at, and you learn so much more when you come to a track that you compete at. Next weekend in Las Vegas will be big for all of the teams in the garage area to have an extra day on the race track – getting data and figuring some stuff out. So yes, ideally let’s save our test sessions until the deep in the Chase if we can. If we’re behind, we’ll have to burn some of those sessions to catch up.”
 
IT WAS SO EXCITING TO TALK TO EVERYONE AFTER THE RACE LAST WEEK. THEY WERE ALL UP ON THE WHEEL AND EYES SORT OF GLEAMING. IS THAT A RESULT OF THE WEATHER AND DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE SOME OF THAT AS WELL WITH SOME OF THE NEW FORMAT? OR WAS IT BECAUSE IT WAS THE DAYTONA 500?
“The possibility of rain coming and shortening the race really did it. We saw before the rain came that we were single-file against the wall just riding. Most don’t want to do that. I think the top five were content riding. Everyone else wanted to be in the top five, and then they would be content. There are guys who would try to move to the inside lane and get something going down there but it would never materialize. Then with the long delay and the threat of rain out there, we were two- or three-wide the rest of the night and put on a great show.”
 
INAUDABLE.
“Yeah, the first 10 laps after a restart here are exciting. This is one of the craziest tracks, I feel, from a restart perspective. You have the dogleg on the back where you can find yourself four-wide through the center of the backstretch and hope you have it sorted by Turn 3. If we have cautions – and cautions usually breed cautions – it will be exciting for sure.”
 
SPEAKING OF RAIN COMING, HOW WILL THAT CHANGE THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND? HOW WILL IT SHAKE OUT ON SUNDAY?
“We showed up in qualifying trim, and with the threat of rain we switched over to race trim. We will open up the first 30-40 minutes in race trim and then flip over. It would be nice to have all of the practice tomorrow because everything is so new right now. That would be the biggest impact – less track time to work through our setups. It puts a little more pressure on us today to make it right.”
 
DO YOU HAVE ANY WAY – BEFORE GOING ON TRACK TODAY – OF KNOWING WHERE HENDRICK MATCHES UP WITH OTHER TEAMS WITH THE SETUPS SO RADICALLY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THEY WERE LAST YEAR?
“Not really. There have been so many teams at the Nashville race track running that we kind of feel like we’re good based on what we saw from other organizations there. But I still don’t have a lot of confidence in that. I think within the first 30-40 minutes we will have a very good idea once practice starts.”
 
RICK HENDRICK LAUDED YOUR INFLUENCE ON JUNIOR OVER THE LAST FOUR TO FIVE YEARS. JUNIOR ALSO HAS TALKED ABOUT HOW YOU MOTIVATED HIM AND HELPED HIM WHEN THINGS ARE BAD. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO HIM AND WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK YOU PLAYED IN HIS COMEBACK THE LAST FEW YEARS?
“You know, with Junior I always just kind of reached out to him and let him know I was there if he wanted to talk about race cars, the team or really anything for that matter. With his personality, if you’re in his face a lot or telling him what you think or almost preaching to him – telling him what he should do – it’s not going to work out. In some ways, I’ve tried to lead by example and just do my thing. He is a very, very observant guy – especially with what goes on in our shop. That’s taken me awhile to pick up and understand; how much he pays attention to what I do, how I drive my car, the things I’m interested in, things I focus on. And then being there and answering questions. From there, he has done the rest on his own. Between he and Steve (Letarte, crew chief) with the relationship they have… we may have been a carrot out there for the 88 in some respects but the hard work those two have put in and that team has put in has put them where they are today.”
 
FOLLOWING UP ON THAT, DALE SAID SUNDAY THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ONE OF HIS BIGGEST FANS. IS THAT A NATURAL DYNAMIC OF TWO GUYS WHO WORK FROM THE SAME SHOP OR DOES IT GO BACK TO THE POTENTIONAL YOU’VE SEEN FROM HIM? WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT COMES FROM?
“Really from being in the same shop. Before that, I was always there for him but I didn’t have the opportunity to connect and talk at the level we do now. Being in the same shop has allowed that to happen. He and I have been friends for a lot of years – well before either of us were racing in NASCAR. I think the time and history there kind of helps take down some of the walls and lets us communicate.”

TAKE US THROUGH WHY YOU’RE RESPONISBLE FOR THE DALE JR. TWITTER PHENOMENON. WAS THIS A BET? WAS THIS PRODDING HIM, AND WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM HIM WATCHING HIM OPENING HIMSELF UP THE WAY HE HAS?
“He has taken it and run with it, huh? I, among many others, have been pushing him. There have been a lot of people involved on social media – even people from Twitter – who have put pressure on him and have come to me to put pressure on him over the years. It just wasn’t something he was interested in. As sharp as he is and as much time as he spends in the digital world, I knew that when he got involved that he would love it and it would work well for him. For myself, maybe in a different manner though, when you’re exposed like that and open yourself up like that, it lets your fans see the world through your eyes. He must have been watching from afar for awhile. He has the lingo down and is tagging people and replying to people pretty well. He didn’t enter as a rookie on Twitter in my opinion! He is off to a pretty strong start. All I did was explain to him how social media is the best way to show your value to your sponsors. I’ve taken a lot of time and put a lot into our digital presence because quite frankly I just didn’t believe in what I was reading in Joyce Julius reports – the way they poll people, form an opinion and give me a value. It didn’t correlate.  It just didn’t make sense to me. That’s what I explained to Junior – (social media) is a real-time, relevant way to show your relevancy and how you fit in the world. I think that really clicked in his mind and got him going.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
THE PROFIT ON CNBC 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed his approach to the new qualifying procedure, testing at Las Vegas, working with Stewart-Haas, and more. Full Transcript:
 
IS TODAY YOUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY?
“Yes, it is; 13 years. This is the first time that (wife, DeLana and son, Keelan) they haven’t been out here. It’s obviously another piece of our lives that Mr. Keelan has changed. But west coast trips, as all you parents know, are not good to changes the schedule. So, first things first.”
 
ARE YOU GOING TO CELEBRATE WHEN YOU GET BACK HOME?
“Well, I’m actually staying out here through Las Vegas just because of the travel, and having to be there on Thursday is such a short timeframe at home. So yeah, it’s hard to celebrate anything anymore. With everything that’s going on here and everything with Keelan, so it stays pretty busy.”
 
ARE YOUR SORE AT ALL FROM LAST WEEK? I SAW YOUR TWEETS AND AM CURIOUS IF YOU’VE GOTTEN ANY REACTION?
“The tracks, for the most part, don’t listen to really anything unless it’s profitable for their shareholders.  So, when you see somebody spending $400 million dollars on their track and they don’t have soft walls around the inside, maybe they could spend $403 million to go ahead and finish the inside of the superspeedway there at Daytona. Yeah, I was sore all week. And, just today feel good enough to do what I need to do.
 
“So, it was just a weird situation. The car didn’t have any brakes or any steering and the throttle was partially hung coming off the wall and going through the wet grass and then into no safer barrier at the end of pit road there. So, it was a hard shot. It’s a little bit frustrating because it really shouldn’t even be a debate. I know they have data that shows where the most frequently hit spots are but we wear all this safety equipment and do all the things that we do to these race tracks for that one freak incident to keep things from happening like happened back in 2001. So, it’s shouldn’t even be a debate. It’s just one of those things I guess that you just wait around for something else to happen and then they’ll fix it.”
 
INAUDIBLE
“I don’t know. I went through there before on the top line and the guys in the medical center afterwards, and the guys that I saw, they said they about wrecked there the lap before. So, I went in there and the thing went straight with the front end and I tried to pull it off the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and the car spun out. So, it hadn’t ever hinted at being tight for 499 miles, so it was definitely unexpected.”
 
ON TESTING AT LAS VEGAS
“Well, we tested with the no ride height rule at Charlotte when we did the NASCAR test and I just expect the cars to have a little bit more grip and a little bit more speed than what we had before. Along with that, when you have those changes in the car, it changes all the springs and the way that the engineers go about looking at everything that they do. And so it’s a whole different thought process than it was last year. And as we found out last week in the Unlimited, the main thing that you have to pay attention to is being able to get the tires off the car on a pit stop. So, we had to adjust for that during Speedweeks a little bit last week. And so, I know they’ve worked hard on it but things happen a lot more aggressively coming into the pit stall and everything is hot and so you’ve just got to make sure that’s right.”
 
SO HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THAT YOU HAVE AN EXTRA DAY OUT THERE TO TEST?
“For us, not only is it a new team, which I felt like we’ve worked through a lot of things really well last week. We had some things here and there, a lot of things here and there, that we had to work through and everybody did a good job. So, those four extra hours to get everything sorted out for us is important, but I think there are just so many new things and the way that you look at things and the way you go about things and the springs and things that you run underneath the car are so drastically different than what you ran last year, that we’re looking for that baseline to be able to understand exactly what we need and where to work from. In that same sense, things will evolve really fast because things are quite a bit different. So, you’ll have something that will evolve into something new by the time you get to the next week.”
 
HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE QUALIFYING SESSION? DO YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC PLAN OF WHEN YOU WANT TO GO OUT AND HOW LONG YOU WANT TO BE OUT?
“I think it’s going to kind of be trial by fire, here. I think everybody is anticipating and is excited about it, but we don’t really know exactly what to do because the hard part about it is really the engine. And I know they make it sound really simple; you just take tape off. But when you start taking tape off the downforce becomes less, the packer becomes different and you can’t adjust the packer in the front of the car. You can adjust the air pressure, but the ride is going to change as you take tape off the front of the car. So there’s just a lot of things that play into it that you anticipate. But there’s also a lot of things that you don’t understand or know about with the car that you’re not going to think of until you actually get into the situation that it’s going to be a challenge for everybody just to try to put your arms around everything and understand it. I think it’s going to be great once we get it all going and get all the kinks worked out with it. It’s definitely going to keep the on-track excitement up. So I think everybody is excited but everybody is a little bit on edge because you don’t really know exactly what you need to do. You’ve thought of everything you can think of, but there will always be a hundred things that you don’t think of.”
 
DO YOU EXPECT TRAFFIC TO BE AN ISSUE HERE?
“You know, we do practice all the time. When everybody starts doing qualifying runs, sometimes there are guys out there doing race runs and sometimes there are guys out there doing whatever. And so, there will be a lot of different agendas. But we deal with it every week pretty much during practice with the traffic.”
 
ON RAIN IN THE FORECAST POSSIBLY AFFECTING QUALIFYING AND PRACTICE
“Yeah, it’s a unique spot we’ve been talking about it for a week now because we’ve seen the forecast and you just have to go out and try to put as many things together as you can and collect as much data as you can so you can put your race set-up together for Sunday. But you know that qualifying is important, but you also have to concentrate as much as we can on the race stuff. So, there are so many things that you have to put into and hour and a half that you have to prioritize. Qualifying will probably be the last thing that we prioritize too, but we’ll definitely have to get to it at some point.”
 
HOW DOES IT FEEL FOR A TEAM TO WIN EARLY IN THE SEASON AND BE IN THE CHASE?  HOW DOES THAT CHANGE AN APPROACH? WHAT IS THAT EMOTION?
‘Well, this year it’s different. Because, not that you’re not going to be aggressive, but you have to keep the mindset right now of that you still have to finish the races; but as you get in that position you can start being a lot more aggressive with really anything. Car set-ups, fuel strategy, race strategy, all those things fall into being more aggressive so you can take a lot of chances and then really, all you’re after at that point is winning races to try to gain more bonus points to protect yourself in the first round of the Chase to get the cushion.”
 
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF JUNIOR ON TWITTER?
“I think he’s doing good. I knew he’d like it once he got on there. He’s kind of that techy-type of guy who likes all the cool gadgets and stuff. And for a guy
who is that popular, it’s a really easy way to interact without having to create a frenzy that happens when he comes around somewhere in public. For him it’s got to be almost a relief to be able to engage with people and do it at his own pace and not have to be in this total frenzy because he is a rock star.”
 
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT HIM THIS WEEK ON TWITTER?
“I think everybody did. One thing I like about what Dale Junior has is he’s got all those cool pictures of his dad. I’ll look forward to Thursdays now just for the fact that I know he’s going to post some really cool pictures from back in the day.”
 
AFTER GOING THROUGH THE WHOLE WEEK, IS THERE ANYTHING HE HAS TO WORRY ABOUT WHEN GETTING TO THE TRACK HERE ON FRIDAY?
“For him, he’s used to dealing with all the hype. So, it’s not anything different. Obviously you’ve been through a lot this week in just taking care of yourself and making sure you’re ready to go and not giving them the world and managing your time correctly is the hardest part to make sure that you focus on the race car and the things that you need to do in it. But he deals with that every week.”
 
HOW DOES THIS NEW CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT IMPACT YOUR STRATEGY FOR TESTING THIS YEAR?
“Honestly, we haven’t talked about a test yet. I think it’s just kind of seeing where you’re at and if things are going good, there’s no reason to use those tests up. You can save all four of them for Homestead. That would probably be the best way to do it.”
 
YOU HAVE A ROSTER OF FOUR-STAR DRIVERS AT STEWART-HAAS. HAVE YOU DISCOVERED THAT THERE IS A DOMINANT PERSONALITY THERE? DOES TONY STEWART HAVE MORE SAY BECAUSE HE’S THE BOSS? HOW IS THAT DEVELOPING, AS YOU ARE ALL GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER?
“I’ve learned that Tony listens a lot because he takes a lot of things in. When we sat in our first competition meeting this week, Tony seems like the guy that’s going to be the boss that doesn’t want to say anything and I can kind of relate to this. You don’t want to say something that’s out of line until you think about it and realize and understand how you need to approach it and fix it and do those things. But Tony is a smart person and I don’t think many people give him the credit. And I learned this sitting at the Roulette Table just how smart he was. He’s Rain Man smart with numbers and things.
 
“He seems like the guy that’s going to be thinking about things all the time and wants to give you the right answer instead of blurting out something; which you know, for us, we’re just brainstorming and thinking out loud and Tony is sitting there absorbing it all and wanting to make the right answer. And you can see that in him sitting there during the competition meeting and things that have happened so far.”
 
WHEN YOU SAY THAT, IS THERE A TOUGH BALANCE BETWEEN LEADING AS A LISTENER VERSUS AS A TALKER?
“Well, I think there’s a time for both. I think sometimes you have to set the tone when things are out of hand or something like that with a comment. I think there’s a time when things are calm and things are just progressing and you have to think about things and how to make things better. So, there’s a time for both of them. Like when I started my teams, I just wanted to if somebody did something wrong you just fire them. If something’s not going right, you cut it up. And you can’t run business that way. You have to be able to absorb it all and make a good decision for the company and it’s not just about one person or one car. You can tell that he’s been a part of a lot of things and understands that there’s a lot going on and everything affects something else.”
 
 

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference.  We’re joined by Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and the winner of the 56th running of the Daytona 500.  With the victory Dale became the 11th driver with multiple Daytona 500 victories.
 
Dale, congratulations to you and the entire 88 team.  It’s been about 36 hours since you took the checkered flag at Daytona.  Since then you’ve made the rounds in New York City, you wrapped up at ESPN in Bristol, now you are en route to Texas.  Has it all sunk in yet?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  This media tour is a great way to decompress off of something like that.  I don’t know how I would take it in just having nothing to do with myself.  It’s been fun being busy and talking about the win.  It’s an opportunity to celebrate my team and their effort, give everybody credit.
 
So I’m enjoying it.  It’s a lifetime opportunity to not only win the race but to be able to celebrate it and go talk to the world about it.
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll now go to the media for questions.
Q.  I want to ask you something about you talked about in the media center, mentioning that Jimmie Johnson has always been one of your biggest fans.  Speak more to your relationship with him.  I guess maybe you see each other more as equals than most people might think.  Is that the case?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I can’t really speak for Jimmie.  I admire his talent.  I admire the way he carries himself, how professional he is, even in crisis situations, difficult situations that he has to face. I do feel like as talented as he is, I think I am on the same level.  As a driver, you have to feel confident in yourself and believe in yourself.  So I think I’d put myself up against anybody in the field. But I think we definitely have a good friendship.  I enjoy seeing him have success because I know where he came from and I know the kind of person he is, who he was, who he is now.  I think he feels the same way. We’ve known each other a long time.  A lot of things have happened in that period of time that I think allows us to have a lot of respect and appreciation for each other.
 
Q.  The most compelling part was seeing the fans crying, excited, the video of the little boy.  It’s a compelling thing to watch the reaction.  Have you had much of a sense of the reaction from your fans?
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Not really.  Seeing the videos was really the first bit of reaction I’ve seen.  I just started using my Twitter handle that I’ve had for several years.  Haven’t had a chance to follow anybody yet.  Been so busy, haven’t even had a chance to eat anything (laughter).
 
It’s been hectic as far as the schedule that we’ve had.  So when I sit down to all those videos, especially the kid crying, it gets me emotional seeing their emotions because I know what the win means to me.  To see what it means for someone else, how it affects someone else is such a reward. It’s a really awesome thing when you can do something that brings joy to someone else.  There’s no greater feeling for me anyway.  So I did like that obviously. We’re doing some stuff with radio or RJN 360 where we compile some clips.  I think fans may be able to check it out on DaleJr.com and stuff like that.  We put some stuff up on YouTube.  That’s going to be fun to be able to see.
Q.  Yesterday after you took the photos by the car, Rick was talking about how he feels like last year they finally were able to knock some of the pressure off you, getting you comfortable with close‑to‑perfect cars, letting you be yourself.  I’m curious if you think that kind of finally did happen last year.  If it did, at what point of the year was it?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  The cars that I drove in the Chase were far superior to anything I ever drove.  Even earlier in that same season, we were building new cars.  We had gained a lot of information and understanding on how to improve on our cars since the beginning of the year.  So we were able to start really putting all those additional features into one vehicle. Right there at the end of the year we were running so well.  To be able to be as fast as we were at Homestead, to finish the season off with such a strong car, almost get a win there, did wonders for our confidence.  It obviously showed how we were able to take off at the beginning of the year, get the win. We have a great situation here to have something unique.  The team is in a perfect position really to capitalize on our final year with Steve Letarte.
Q.  Can you describe what the difference is compared to before?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Drivers always talk about the car being into the racetrack, being into the track, getting more comfort and grip.  I’d say that we have improved that tremendously throughout the year.
Q.  The response to your victory sort of emphasizes your popularity.  Do you ever feel you’re carrying the weight of the sport on your shoulders?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I don’t really feel that way.  I feel like I represent Junior Nation.  I represent my fan base and the people that support our team. I think the sport is really kind of divided into the particular supporting systems for each driver.  You have the fans of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart.  I think we all represent our own fan base. There’s people out there that enjoy our sport that aren’t particularly fans of mine.  I don’t carry the whole sport on my shoulders.  We have enough personalities in the sport to do that individually. There’s tons of great storylines out there with the 3 coming back, Austin Dillon, all the rookies coming into the series, all the rookies coming into the Nationwide Series, Tony Stewart coming back, Danica’s first couple years trying to get her legs, trying to get going.
 
There’s a lot of good things happening in the sport that are relevant.  I just feel like a part of it.  Definitely got to stand on the center stage this past weekend by winning the Daytona 500.  But I never would assume that I was the face of the sport, even though some people have said that before.  I don’t think that’s the case at all.
Q.  Your excitement on Sunday night was a lot of fun to watch as you came into the media center.  It struck me even like your session on Thursday, you had this upbeat feel compared to the way you were a couple, three years ago.  Certainly how you’re up right now is easy to understand.  Can you describe where you were in life that had you looking so glum a couple years ago and what has really perked you up even before obviously Sunday?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  We weren’t running good.  We were struggling.  I think people underestimated how much I care about performance.  I don’t think people realized how much winning mattered to me. When you look at the critics and you look at their comments, aside from people saying I was overrated, they would always say I didn’t have killer instinct, I didn’t have the stuff that I needed to drive to win a championship, I didn’t want it bad enough. I never was bothered by being called ‘overrated’ because it’s such a broad term.  When people really pick at your determination, your drive, your hunger, that bothered me more than anything else did, because I grew up around the sport and I love it to death.  I would do anything for NASCAR.  I’d do anything for the health of the sport.  I’d sacrifice anything for it. When you don’t run good, it makes you upset, it disappoints you.  If you look at how ha
ppy I was Sunday after winning that race, you’ll know how bad I want to win, you’ll know how much winning means to me, and you’ll know from now on that there’s no questioning my killer instinct or drive, whatever term you want to use.
 
When you don’t run good, I don’t know why, in ’09, ’10, we were 20th, 25th every week.  I look at that now, I can’t even imagine it.  But I know I went through it. It’s such a long ways from where we are now.  Ran so good when we first came into the sport.  Then to go through that, get so far away from being competitive, then to come all the way back to where we are now, I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am and thankful I am that (indiscernible) didn’t give up on me, that Rick Hendrick didn’t give up on me, that they believed in me, were trying to find ways to make the chemistry work, regardless of what anybody said, regardless of what the critics were saying, when everybody was saying I was finished, whether I was going to do anything ever again.
 
I’ve been pretty vindicated, but I’m in a good place now.  I got my priorities in better shape.  I feel, like I said, we’re embarking on a season that could be something really special for me. Whether we win the championship or not remains to be seen obviously.  But I had one of my greatest years last year, and I think we can top that this season.
Q.  For those of us that don’t do what you do for a living, going back to Sunday night, how do you keep your focus during such a long rain delay?  Do you take your mind off racing during that time?  Let us know what you were doing.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I just put on some sweat pants, sat on the couch, ate a bunch of candy, played with the dogs, talked to my girlfriend, watched some TV, ate some junk food.  Normally whatever I would do on a Sunday if I had a Sunday off. I can switch it off.  We looked at the radar.  We got relatively assured we probably would be going racing again at 8:00, 830.  It’s not always common that you have such a structured idea of when the rain is going to stop, when you’ll get the track dry.
 
The rain delays where you’re wondering if it’s ever going to quit, when you don’t just know anything, that’s harder to deal with, always constantly looking out the window, has it stopped raining, how long has it stopped, are they close to getting the track dry, trying to stay on the phone, get texts from NASCAR, kind of keep up to speed on how close the track is, whether we need to put the suit on, get the suit off, be at the car, what the hell ever.  All that is a pain in the butt. It seemed none of that was never the case Sunday.  It was like, All right, man, it’s going to rain for a while, we’ll probably do it again at 8:00.  Have your stuff ready to go, so that’s what we did.
Q.  I don’t know if you had a chance to go back and look at the race.  Brad Keselowski said it was the most intense 500 ever.
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I could feel it.  It was electric, man.  I don’t know what the hell was going on or why it was like that.  I wish I knew because that’s what NASCAR wants to bottle and sell. It felt so different than any other race I’d ever been in, any other Daytona 500 I’d been in for sure.  The intensity level was at a max.  Races usually have a lull in the middle, don’t get going till the end when it’s time to put money on the line, people start picking up the intensity.  We sustained it from the time we started, restarted, all the way to the end.  I couldn’t believe it. I think people were enjoying themselves.  I think everybody was having fun with each other, putting each other in difficult situations, bringing out the best in each other.  There was really something special going on.
 
I know everybody thinks it’s the greatest race they ever saw because Dale Jr. won it.  Taking that out of the equation, I think it really was an exciting race and one of the most exciting Daytona 500s I’ve ever been in and one of the most intense races I’ve ever been in. The drivers were really feeding off each other out there.  It was a really weird kind of deal.  But it was fun.  We were really having fun. I cannot wait to watch it.  I bet I watch it three times in a row back‑to‑back (laughter).  I can’t wait.
Q.  Dale, even with your huge volume of fans, you probably added even more new fans with the 500 win.  What would you share with your fans?  What would you say about what your fans mean to you?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I just hope they’re enjoying this win as much as I am.  They should celebrate it, celebrate it long.  If you’re a fan of a sports team, fan of the Washington Redskins, right?  They have won Super Bowls in the past.  They’re another storied franchise.  They haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1991. You face the trials and tribulations in the tough years.  Every off‑season you look at changes they made.  You hope they’re going to turn it around.  You hope they will, regardless if they will.  Even if you don’t know about the new coach, even if you question the changes they made, but you still put that belief and faith in them because you want them to win.
 
When that finally happens, like when they finally do win games and go to the playoffs, you love to celebrate it.  I hope they do.  I hope they celebrate that victory.  I hope they’re enjoying themselves this week.  I hope they enjoy the coverage.  I hope they think I’m doing a good job representing Junior Nation.  I hope they appreciate the coverage.
 
The new fans, I heard a couple people tell me they’re fans now.  Never watched a race.  Now they’re a NASCAR fan.  The race was fun and crazy to watch, now they’re fans.  I think we turned on a lot of people Sunday.  I think that race was destined to do that for some reason.  It had kind of that feel, that ’79 Daytona that was first live flag‑to‑flag broadcast that really turned the world on to what we were doing through network television.
 
My race might not have had that kind of impact, but it’s comparable I think in ways.  Yeah, hopefully this is going to be a solid year.  NASCAR made some changes to try to kickstart some energy and boost awareness and excitement in what our series can do.  I think we got a great start to the year, for sure.
 
THE MODERATOR:  That’s all the time we have for today.  Thanks for joining us and good luck this weekend in Phoenix.
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I enjoyed the teleconference.  Thanks for having me on.
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you to the media for joining us.

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – Experienced Motor Problems on Lap 31
YOU HAD TWO GREAT CARS HERE IN DAYTONA FOR SPEEDWEEKS.  DOES DISAPPOINTING EVEN DESCRIBE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW?
“No not really.  I mean it’s definitely a tough break for the team.  The car was super-fast today and I went to bed last night thinking that this was my best shot ever to win the Daytona 500 and really felt that way – even today.  The car was just so good and we were just riding around and biding our time you know, being patient and trying to get to the end of this thing.  Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.  It looks like something knocked the oil pump belt off.  Not sure if it was debris off the race track or what.  You typically get about two seconds to shut it off once that belt comes off or it will blow up and we just didn’t get enough warning.
 
“Definitely a shame and definitely a tough break for this team.  They built us a great race car.  I guess the only good news is that we have a car in one piece to race next time because it’s pretty darn good.”

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 145
WAS THAT THE HARDEST HIT YOU HAVE EVER TAKEN?  HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW?
“I don’t know it feels like they are all pretty hard unfortunately.  I think more than anything I am just upset that the GoDaddy car felt really good and it was the best car that I had all SpeedWeeks. It seemed like we could catch whoever and it seemed like we could move around, make lanes and just move around and move forward at the end of the day.  I felt like everything was going pretty well, so it’s just upsetting you know.  It’s just the culmination of sitting around all day and you know.  It’s a bummer, but you know that is the excitement of speedway racing that anything can happen, and it was unfortunate that I was on the short end of the accident.  But that is the kind of thing that happens and I appreciate everyone sticking around and watching, and we will go get them at Phoenix.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
DOES YOUR SECOND DAYTONA 500 WIN TAKE ON EVEN MORE MEANING CONSIDERING THE JOURNEY YOU’VE TRAVELED OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS?
“Yeah, I think so. Man, winning this race is the greatest feeling that you can feel in the sport, aside from obviously accepting the trophy for the championship. I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to feel that again and it feels just as good, if not better than the first because of how hard we tried year after year after year funning second all those years and wondering why and what we needed to do. I’ve got to get my head together. I’ve got to thank National Guard and Diet Mountain Dew and all our sponsors; Kelly Blue Book, Chevy, and Sprint and my team. This race car was awesome. We showed them there night long how good a car we had and it’s because of these guys right here putting it together in the shop. We could fight off battles after battles. We got a little help from Jeff (Gordon) to get away on that restart and tried to take care of it from there. This is amazing. I can’t believe this is happening. I’ll never take this for granted because this just doesn’t happen twice, let alone once. I’m so thankful. Thanks to all my fans out there for supporting. We pretty much might be in the Chase? We get that off our chest and we are two-time Daytona 500 champion.”

WHAT DID YOU DO ON THAT LAST RESTART?  WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO TO KEEP THE LEAD?
“We had enough car to battle them off all night long and if they took the lead we could grab it back pretty quickly.  We had a real fast car.  I’ve got to thank Steve Letarte, Mr. Hendrick, all this team that put this car together.  When you come down here and race the car does most of the work and these guys deserve a lot of credit for how good a piece they had out there tonight.  Just real proud of my National Guard team.  Got to thank Diet Mountain Dew, Kelly Blue Book, Chevrolet and Sprint, all our partners.  Those last few laps I just got in front of my teammate Jeff (Gordon) on that restart.  Worked with him on getting a good restart and getting pushed out in front, so I’ve got to thank him, without that I don’t win the race.  Then once I got out front I just kind of listened to my spotter TJ (Majors) and started watching in the mirror and seeing what lane I needed to get in front of, who I needed to get in front of to give shoves.  I knew I had some tough competition back there Brad Keselowski is getting smarter and smarter every time he races at these places.  He is as good as anybody now at plate racing and I figured he was going to put up a pretty good battle.  I was a little worried about that, but we had such a strong car we were able to hold everybody off.”
 
IT SEEMED LIKE THERE WERE A COUPLE OF TIMES YOU WOULD GET SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH FOLKS AND MAYBE GET BACK A LITTLE BIT, BUT YOU WERE ABLE TO BATTLE BACK.  WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?
“Just the race car was so superior to a lot of the competition out there.  It starts in the body shop, the engine room at Hendrick, all those guys that put all that effort in.  I keep saying it over and over, but just a reference to how much goes into the body of this car.  There are 11 coats of clear coat on top of the decal.  These guys work their guts out all winter long on every part of the car from front to rear.  It’s perfectly prepared.  The whole series is like that it is so competitive, but I love this crew that I’m with.  We are as competitive as we can be.  This could be a spectacular year for us.”
 
YOU MENTIONED THE CREW BEFORE YOU TALKED TO ANYBODY YOU GOT AND YOU WENT AND PERSONALLY THANKED AND HUGGED EVERYONE OF THEM:
“(Laughs) I love ‘em man.  We have so much fun, every one of them said last year even when we didn’t win a race that was probably the most fun a lot of them had, had in the series just in a year racing we were having so much fun.  This is truly a special group.  I won’t take it for granted.  I won’t forget it.  It’s been a real pleasure working with every one of them and we are making things happen.  Hopefully we will have solid year.”
 
YOU ARE THE FIRST ONE TO QUALIFY FOR THE CHASE:
“I know I’m the first feature winner and we are in the Chase.  I’m pumped up man.  Trust me man we are going to have a blast this year.”
 
STEVE LETARTE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
CAN YOU EVEN PUT INTO WORDS WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU AS A CREW CHIEF AND FOR YOUR FAMILY TO GET YOUR FIRST DAYTONA 500 WIN?
“Oh, no; this is the one.  You work all winter long at the shop and come down here with your best equipment. They built a great race car and everybody worked really hard. Dale drove a great race. But if you’re going to win one, this is the one you want to win. I’m glad. He knew I really wanted to win this one and he drove a great race. There is nothing better I could think of in the world than to give Mr. Hendrick a 500 win in the last year.”
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
TELL US ABOUT YOUR EVENING:
“Well I know it’s not a win for our Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet, but we have not made it to the end here in quite a while so I think it just shows what this No. 24 team is capable of when we are at the end.  We made a great effort at it.  Congrats to (Dale Earnhardt) Junior the world is right, right now.  Dale, Jr. just won the Daytona 500 to kick off 2014 that is a sign that the NASCAR season is going to be a good one.  I had some great pushes from Jimmie Johnson and some other guys out there.  That is what it takes if you are going to either win it or be in contenti
on to win it.  We had some good things go our way today, pit stops, everything.  The whole team just did an awesome job all winter long and down here all week.”
 
THREE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CARS IN THE TOP FIVE, OBVIOUSLY YOU WANTED TO WIN, BUT TELL US HOW THE FINAL LAPS UNFOLDED:
“Oh my God, I am so excited for Hendrick Motorsports right now.  Congratulations to Dale, that is so cool and I know how excited his fans are.  Rick Hendrick, another Daytona 500 victory.  Three Hendrick cars in the top five is spectacular.    You know, I don’t know what happened when the rain went away and the track dried, but everybody’s brains just flipped over to this is a shootout.  It was unbelievable the kind of racing there was.  Two and three wide, bump drafting and just craziness.  There for a while we didn’t have great track position and I was just hanging on and trying not to wreck and seeing other guys doing the same thing.
 
“We got through some wrecks and then we started having some things going our way.   We got good pushes, good lines and my spotter Eddie did a great job.  Alan and this team just did an amazing job and gave me a great car at the end of the show.”
 
IN RETROSPECT, WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT LAST LAP?
“No, I gave Junior a great push when we took the green so we got a good start.   The 99 got to my bumper and we got kind of going, but he got sucked-off of me or whatever happened, and I was just a sitting duck at that point.  I saw Jimmie Johnson go three-wide behind me and my lane started going backwards.  But he got to me and gave me a huge shove and the 11 pulled down in front of me and we just went.  At that point I am thinking maybe we can get to Junior, but when I got to third I thought anything in the top three at that point without a wrecked car would be a great finish.   We wanted to win and we had a car that could but we are also excited to see Junior win.”
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
TALK ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT, JR. WINNING THE DAYTONA 500:
“I want to talk about my teammate and the awesome job he did and how proud I am of Hendrick Motorsports and the 48/88 shop.  Steve Letarte and all those guys, Junior included obviously just very happy for them.  He has been knocking on the door here at the 500 for a lot of years and got it done tonight.  He did an awesome job.”
 
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN.  WHAT IS IT LIKE IN THE LAST FEW LAPS OF THESE RACES?
“If you can be the lead car and control the lanes like Junior did there in the closing laps that is the spot to be in.  It’s not an easy job by any means, but I was trying to get in that position and got in the outside lane.  I got to the head of the outside lane and it just never really materialized and I slid back some.  A solid performance and just real happy for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.”
 
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED NINTH
ON GETTING A TOP-10 FROM THE POLE IN HIS FIRST 500:
“The biggest thing is just having that bottom lane at the end. My car couldn’t suck up as good after that wreck. We had a heck of a run down the back stretch, and everything started stacking from the middle to the top just from all the side drafting.  Man, the side drafting it just kills you. I just had clean space down there; used it, and it worked out. There was a big wreck and I just go by it.
 
“Getting through that wreck was pretty big. I don’t know how I didn’t connect with that outside wall. Somehow it slid through there perfectly, and back steering through it, caught it and drove on. And the save off of two; those two were my favorite moments today. I think we could have wrecked a race car pretty hard.
 
“For Chevy, I think it was a good day, and man, it is wild. I don’t know what to think right now. A lot of stuff happened fast.”
 
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
ON HIS RUN:
“It’s been an eventful week for us really. We’ve just had a lot of near-misses in practice and then in the Duel and then tonight was just really an eventful night. The entrance of pit road was wet and we locked-em’ up real bad. We didn’t realize how wet it was and I got a pit road speed penalty and got a flat tire sliding the tires. And then we recovered from that. We got back and raced up to the front and had a real fast car and got back on the lead lap. We had some really good runs back to the front again. I honestly think we could have been better. Well, we for sure could have been better than tenth. But it’s a solid finish for us considering it’s a new program and it’s a really good start to the season. A top 10 here is always good.”
 
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 13TH
WHAT HAPPENED?
“My car just went straight I thought I had a flat tire, but Carl (Edwards) and Reed (Sorenson) said that they about spun out the lap before down there with some oil or whatever was on the race track.  My car just went in there and went straight like it blew a right-front tire and I clobbered the side of the No. 18.  I hate it for everybody who got their cars torn up, but guys on our Budweiser Chevy did good all night.  We kind of got stuck in a bad spot there before that last yellow and kind of got back there where we didn’t need to be.  All in all it was a good week and even though we wrecked we still finished.  Good way to start the year.”
 
REED SORENSON, NO. 36 GOLDEN CORRAL CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 16TH
WHAT HAPPENED?
“From what I can tell it’s just that the track, I don’t know what everybody else is saying, but to me it didn’t look like the track got cleaned up.  I know the lap before a few of us about wrecked going through where the spillage was or whatever got spilled.  Then I knew it was going to be bad the next lap because everybody was three-wide going for it.  I mean as soon as the No. 4 car hit it I was one row back on the high side of him and as soon as he hit it he was wrecking.  There was no way he was going to save it.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 145
WAS THAT THE HARDEST HIT YOU HAVE EVER TAKEN?  HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW?
“I don’t know it feels like they are all pretty hard unfortunately.  I think more than anything I am just upset that the GoDaddy car felt really good and it was the best car that I had all SpeedWeeks. It seemed like we could catch whoever and it seemed like we could move around, make lanes and just move around and move forward at the end of the day.  I felt like everything was going pretty well, so it’s just upsetting you know.  It’s just the culmination of sitting around all day and you know.  It’s a bummer, but you know that is the excitement of speedway racing that anything can happen, and it was unfortunate that I was on the short end of the accident.  But that is the kind of thing that happens and I appreciate everyone sticking around and watching, and we will go get them at Phoenix.”
 
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 162
YOU JUST LOOKED AT THE REPLAY AND SHOOK YOUR HEAD.  IS WHAT YOU SAW ON THE MONITOR WHAT YOU SAW HAPPEN FROM THE CAR?
“Yeah, it was just a long day.  I got in the wall on lap one, blew the right rear and spun so we had a rough start from the go of it.  But we just kind of rode around the whole race there and finally got in the Lucky Dog position so we were racing pretty hard there.  I just pulled the middle line and I don’t know if Austin (Dillon) got a little loose, shuffled up the track and got into me and turned us sideways.  So it’s been a really long day.  I can’t wait to get to Phoenix and try and do better. 
Been at Daytona a lot and it sucks to end it like this, but we will go to Phoenix and try to rebound and get the momentum built up.”
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – Experienced Motor Problems on Lap 31
YOU HAD TWO GREAT CARS HERE IN DAYTONA FOR SPEEDWEEKS.  DOES DISAPPOINTING EVEN DESCRIBE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW?
“No not really.  I mean it’s definitely a tough break for the team.  The car was super-fast today and I went to bed last night thinking that this was my best shot ever to win the Daytona 500 and really felt that way – even today.  The car was just so good and we were just riding around and biding our time you know, being patient and trying to get to the end of this thing.  Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.  It looks like something knocked the oil pump belt off.  Not sure if it was debris off the race track or what.  You typically get about two seconds to shut it off once that belt comes off or it will blow up and we just didn’t get enough warning.
 
“Definitely a shame and definitely a tough break for this team.  They built us a great race car.  I guess the only good news is that we have a car in one piece to race next time because it’s pretty darn good.”
 
WAS IT INDEED AN ENGINE THAT PUT YOU OUT?
“Yeah it was definitely an engine.  What a shame we had such a fast race car. I was really happy with it today.  This car was a lot better than the car we raced Thursday night.  We were really pumped up about this race.  Just kind of biding our time out there taking it easy, made it a little bit of a run there before it blew up toward the front.  Wish we could have hung around all day to see what we could have done.  The car was super-fast and I have to thank everybody on the Furniture Row Chevy for giving me a great race car.  Just a shame.  Not sure what happened yet looks like the oil pump belt came off.  I don’t know if something came up off the race track and knocked it off or what.  You’ve got about two seconds warning when the belt comes off before it blows up.  That is what happened.”
 
WHAT WAS THE RACING LIKE OUT THERE?
“Yeah I mean guys are being patient taking their time, trying to be smart, giving each other plenty of room.  I expect that it’s going to get a lot hairy later on, but guys realize that this is a big deal this race and you’ve got to get to the end to have a shot at winning it.”
 
WHAT CAUSED THE ENGINE TO EXPIRE?
“Without having a camera under the hood you really don’t know what caused it.  I mean you can speculate.  We don’t have the [Oil Pump] belt so it’s hard to tell if it’s broke in half, if something hit it or what happened.  I will leave that to the engine guys.  I don’t want to speculate.  I just know the belt is not on there and it should be.”
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR DISAPPOINTMENT:
“Super disappointed.  I went to bed last night feeling like I could win this race that is how good my car was yesterday.  Honestly, felt like it was the best car I’ve ever had here.  It felt like for 20 some laps today I felt the same way.  I really felt like the car was super strong.  Anytime we could get even two or three cars lined up with us we could pass guys on the bottom pretty good. That is difficult to do here.  I felt great about the car and just a shame we didn’t get to hang around all day and show what we could do.  Just disappointing you know, you want to hang around this race long enough until it gets exciting and you really get to racing hard that is when it’s fun.  I didn’t get to do that today so it sucks.”

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Wins the Daytona 500
Chevrolet SS Drivers Capture Three of Top-Five Finishing Positions
 
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 23, 2014) – After an almost six-and-a-half hour rain delay, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sealed the deal with a popular win of the 2014 Daytona 500.  After finishing second in three of the last four Daytona 500 races, the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS fielded by Hendrick Motorsports captured his second career victory in the Great American Race by leading six times for a total of 54 laps.  His first Daytona 500 win came in 2004.
 
“Congratulations to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and the No. 88 Chevrolet SS team on winning the 2014 Daytona 500,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports.  “Dale, Steve Letarte,  and the entire crew demonstrated incredible focus, determination and teamwork all race long. They communicated really well on the radio in talking through race strategy, pit decisions and re-starts. This was a great start to the season by the No. 88 team in their pursuit of the championship.”
 
Earnhardt, Jr. was scored as the race leader when the race was restarted for the last time lap 199 restart and the race went into overtime with a green-white-checkered finish.  Earnhardt, Jr. got the restart of his life to lead the field for the scheduled final two circuits. However, a multi-car accident as the field thundered through turns three and four, forced the caution flag to fly which froze the field and gave the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS the win.
 
As the first feature winner of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) season, Earnhardt, Jr. is now well on his way to securing a berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. This win also marked his 20th career NSCS victory and his third at Daytona International Speedway.
 
Earnhardt, Jr.’s victory is also a hallmark win for team owner Rick Hendrick.
 
“In addition, congratulations to Rick Hendrick and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports on scoring their eighth Great American Race win,” said Campbell.
 
Giving Chevrolet three of the top-five finishing positions were four-time NSCS champion Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS, in the fourth finishing positions, and six-time and defending NSCS champion Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS in fifth.
 
Pole sitter Austin Dillon brought his No. 3 DOW Chevrolet SS home in ninth place followed by Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS, in 10th position giving Team Chevy five of the top-10 finishing positions.
 
The 2014 season continues with round two on March 2, 2014 at Phoenix International Raceway.
 
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
STEVE LETARTE, NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, WINNING CREW CHIEF
RICK HENDRICK, WINNING TEAM OWNER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS

KERRY THARP:  Dale Earnhardt, Jr., what does it feel like to win the Daytona 500?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Man, it feels incredible.  You know, I was looking at winning this race in 2004.  It’s the greatest feeling you can have as a driver in NASCAR at a single event in a single day.  Just trying to explain what that feeling is to people, I’ve been trying to tell people for 10 years what that felt like.  It’s just hard to put it into words what winning this race really means you.
            As an individual, I felt lucky back then because I was with family, working with Tony, Sr. and Tony, Jr.  That was a great team.  Had my Uncle Danny on it, a lot of the guys that worked with my dad for years on the Nationwide team in the ’90s and even the ’80s.
            What makes this special is the people you’re with when it happens.  I have a great relationship with my crew chief, Steve.  He’s put an amazing team around me that we all really enjoy working together.  And Rick’s here to make all that possible.  It just seems like it’s too good to be true really.
  &nbs
p;         We ended last season on such a strong note.  In the garage area at Homestead after the race, we were standing there tearing apart racecars, talking about how great the season was.  A lot of these guys, like Jason Burdett has been in this sport for a long time, he’s my car chief, said that’s the most fun he’s ever had in a season in the sport ever.  That was the biggest compliment.  I took it personally as a compliment.  I know he meant he was really enjoying himself.
            That really summed it up to me that this group is unique and special.  That’s what makes winning this race that much more special.  Obviously it’s the biggest race and most important race we run.  But the people you do it with is really the icing on the cake.
            We really all are best friends, enjoy working with each other.  We pull for each other.  Lucky enough to have Amy with me, my sister Kelley, LW, my staff, Mike Hoag, Laura that helps with HMS.  All those people we grind every week throughout the season.
            When you got great people around you, it just makes that whole experience so much more special.
            KERRY THARP:  Dale, I’d be remiss also not to ask you, as you mentioned earlier, with this win, what do you think about the Chase?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Yeah, we don’t have to think about it (smiling).  We don’t have to think about it.  If everybody is telling the truth, we’ve won a race, we should be in it, so I’m not going to worry about it (laughter).
            Now, if I got to win two of these things, I don’t know if we’re that worried ’cause we’re going for the jugular this year.
            This is a good analogy for Steve I’ve been using with him.  You know, when you’re a kid, especially when you’re growing up around racing, me and all my buddies would go to pay to ride the go‑kart ride, whatever racetrack we were at.  Every racetrack, Talladega, every place would have them.  We’d get a hundred bucks from daddy and go ride the go‑karts till the wheels fell off, till we ran out of money.
            On that last ride, you let it all hang out.  You didn’t care if you got kicked off.  If you didn’t get kicked off, something was wrong, on the last ride.  This is Steve’s last ride.  He’s going to let the rough side drag all year.  He’s got a little racing left in him, I think he’s going to try to get it all out.  That’s good for me.  I’m fortunate to be on the ride with him.
            This is his first Daytona 500 victory.  So I was glad to be a part of that, to be part of the team that helped deliver that for him.
            But, yeah, making the Chase is important.  I didn’t anticipate having to put that to bed so quickly.  We’ll go ahead and concentrate on winning more races.  Like I said, at the end of last year, we felt like we were right on the cusp of doing just that, winning races.  We’re turning the corner right at the right time.  I got one last year with this guy and we’re going to make it something special.
            Steve, talk about the significance of tonight’s win.
            STEVE LETARTE:  I don’t even know if I know it quite yet.
            It’s Daytona.  It’s a place I’ve been coming my whole life, 20 years in the sport.  I remember before that coming with my dad, watching him run around here.
            It’s like when we sat in the drivers meeting today, when they announced the guys that were in the Hall of Fame, all the great drivers there, they don’t say how many times they won Martinsville, Bristol, Charlotte.  This is the five‑time Sprint Cup Champion, and a three‑time Daytona 500 champion.
            Any race they decide when you win it, you’re the champion of the event, not the winner of the event, it kind of sets it apart.  That’s really what this is all about, is to come down here.
            I think everyone in this room could be a resident of Florida as much time as we spent in Daytona over the years.  You spend so much time all winter long working on cars.  Everybody brings their best stuff.  These races are hard to win.  We’ve been fortunate to run second the last two years.  I’ve seen him put our cars in positions they shouldn’t be in.  He really makes something happen.
            He said it best earlier in Victory Lane.  For the last two years, we’ve been that car in third, fourth or fifth trying to figure out how we beat the leader.  Coming here today, we decided if someone was going to win it, they were going to have to pass us.  We wanted to be the leader at the end.  That strategy worked.  It only worked because he held it.
            We had a pit stop there with more than 50 to go.  So he held them off for a long time and we got help from our teammates.  The whole thing is kind of surreal.  I don’t think I’m quite eloquent enough in my words to describe it all.  It will probably sink in well maybe never.  We’ll see.  It’s a big day.
            KERRY THARP:  Rick, congratulations.  Certainly you’ve won many big races, this one several times.  Talk about the significance of this win by the No. 88 team.
            RICK HENDRICK:  I like to listen to these two guys talk.
            But, you know, this is really special.  I mean, after last year with Dale and Stevie running so good, five second‑place finishes, this year locking in Chase, I saw him put the sticker on the car, to win the Super Bowl here, he drove his butt off tonight.  He made some phenomenal moves.  Stevie called a great race.  T.J. did a heck of a job spotting.  I mean, it was flawless all night.
            But this race is so big and it is our Super Bowl, so it will carry us, this team.  I’m excited to watch them.  Now you’re in the Chase, just go race hard and have fun.  I think it makes a statement how good they were last year and carrying it forward this year.
            KERRY THARP:  Questions now, please.
            Q.  Dale, it seemed like no matter who was behind you, who was pushing you or who you were trying to block, you didn’t have any trouble maintaining your lead.  Was there anybody who gave you a particular problem tonight?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Biffle was rather competitive.  He was the guy I saw quite often.  My teammate Jimmie knows what to do when he’s up there.  He’s my teammate.  When he is leading the race and I’m running
second, in this particular moment, it’s in my best interest to protect both of us.  So that presents a unique challenge.
            We just had such a great racecar, I’ll tell you.  You guys know this place.  You got to have a lot of car.  The guy that wins this race has to make some smart moves and do some things either by luck or on a whim or experience or what have you, but the car really does the majority of the work.  Just the car has to be excellent and above par.
            My car tonight, I knew it was something special.  I didn’t know it was as good as it was tonight.  But in practice, a couple times throughout the weekend, I noticed it was something unique.  When we got the opportunities to sort of work our way into the lead, hold it, I was able to fight guys off, like you were saying, hold the lead, hold the lead, keep moving line to line.
            I learned a little bit about what I needed to do to hold the position.  The outside line worked best on the straightaways.  When they’re all side‑by‑side behind you, the outside line gets the run on the straightaway and the inside line gets to run on the corner.  You get in front of each line, depending where you’re at on the racetrack.  Just keep watching guys, watching how they’re tight together, whether they’re pushing each other.
            You can sort of anticipate a run coming.  You just sort of jump in front of it and they shove you away.
            But the car has to be something special.  Typically if the car isn’t anything special, you get diced around and guys can make a fool of you and send you on back outside the top five kind of easily.
            But our car was able to battle and fend off guys left and right it seemed at times.
            Q.  Dale, you were talking to Steve on the radio before the final laps about how nervous you were, how you couldn’t enjoy it at all.  Have you had that same feeling when you’ve fallen short or was there something about tonight that made it any different?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  No, you always have that feeling when you’re sitting in position.  When you’re close enough to the front to win races, there’s a lot on the line, it’s a big race, and you want to win it so badly, your team wants to win it so badly.  You realize at that moment, especially inside of 20 laps to go, you’re in the top five, you realize at that moment there’s countless people watching on television, there’s countless sitting in the grandstands with your shirts and hats on, your team over on pit wall, your crew chief, your family back home watching.  There’s so many people pulling for you that want to see you win, it’s a heavy weight.
            You get so caught up in trying to do what you can to make that happen.  When you finish second or you fall short, it’s really disappointing.  You’re proud of that effort inside somewhere, but outwardly you’re disappointed because winning’s all that matters when it comes to Daytona.  They won’t really remember you for running second a lot.
            It’s such a great feeling.  It’s such a great feeling.  You want to do it again.  I’m grateful to have one it twice now.  I was grateful to have won it once.  In about six months, I’ll be as urgent to try to do it a third times as I was after the first.
            Q.  Dale, was that tape deal much ado about nothing or was that a concern?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I had no thought about it.  He said the grill was half covered.  We had two laps to go.  We were cycling the engine, trying to save fuel.  That was bringing the temperature down quite a bit.  I knew that the motor was going to be fine.
            If anything, it would help us.  Anytime you add tape to the grill, you speed the car up.  If anything, it was going to help my car.  They could have taped it solid for all I cared those last two laps.  Would have been fine.
            I don’t know how Steve feels about that.
            STEVE LETARTE:  I think he’s right.  Once we saw the white, we knew it wouldn’t be an issue.  We knew at most we were going to run two laps at a time maybe a couple times.  We figured we could maintain good enough temperatures to do it.  It closed half the grill off, so I think we’ll take it.
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  It’s like fate.
            Q.  Rick, obviously this is a huge deal for your team, but talk about what it means for NASCAR to have Dale Jr. in this position this early, just the bigger picture for the season.
            RICK HENDRICK:  Well, I think you see the fans’ reaction.  We were in primetime.  It’s going to be exciting to see what the ratings were tonight.
            But Dale’s got a bunch of loyal fans.  It’s good for the sport.  It was good TV.  It was a great race.  It doesn’t hurt to have him, the most popular driver, win the biggest race, the Super Bowl of our sport.
            I think it will be good for NASCAR.  It’s good for all of us.  It’s definitely good for our organization.  It takes a little heat off of me with his fans.
            STEVE LETARTE:  I know what you mean.
            RICK HENDRICK:  Stevie and I know about that (laughter).
            Q.  Dale, a lot of drivers have been asked about what this means for the sport.  Do you have a sense of that?  What is your feeling about people talking about how big this is for the sport?  How much of a weight does that put on you and the relief you feel tonight?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  It’s not a weight when you’re able to deliver.  It’s a weight when you’re not able to deliver.  When people say you’re the face of the sport, you’re running fifth or 10th every week, it’s very challenging because you want to deliver and you’re not delivering.
            This brings me a lot of joy.  I look forward to going and doing all the media all week long and representing the sport.
            I don’t know that I realize how big a deal it is, but I know I got a lot of fans that are really happy, really enjoyed what we did tonight.  Can’t wait to go to work tomorrow to brag to all their buddies around the water cooler.  Monday is going to be a fun day for a lot of people in Junior Nation.
            Q.  Can you do that with the champion’s breakfast, too?
      &nbs
p;     DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I won’t complain much tomorrow.  I’ll be slow.  I’ll be there nonetheless.
            I’m looking forward to the entire week.  You just don’t get to do this every week.  I’m going to really embrace this whole experience.  I won’t be home for a while, but it will be well worth it.  I think I’ll have some fun even throughout the process.
            Q.  Did you really think it would take 10 years to get back to this particular Victory Lane?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Yeah, I did, because the competition’s changed so much.  I was talking earlier about how when we was winning all these plate races at DEI, there was a bigger tolerance in the field.  Our cars were so superior to other organizations.  About the only organization that could run with us was Rick’s.  Otherwise, we was out there running by ourselves.
            The competition, the way the rules are, the way NASCAR has transformed over the years, there’s no room between the competition.  There’s just no tolerance.  Everybody’s basically got the same car out there, and it just comes down to who can make the right moves.
            Granted, our car was definitely extremely unique tonight and special, one of the best cars that I think Steve’s ever put on a plate track in his career.  But I knew it was going to be challenging.  As soon as I set down in the drivers meeting, seeing all the talent in that room, I knew it was going to be a difficult day for anybody to win this race.
            It’s only going to get tougher.  This sport is just growing tremendously, getting so much more competitive every year.
            Q.  Steve, from a practical standpoint, now that you’re locked in the Chase, what does this allow you to do differently that you wouldn’t be if you had to be fighting for a spot?
            STEVE LETARTE:  I think without a doubt all the crew chiefs on pit road understand the risk versus reward.  There’s a line there.  It’s hard to explain.  It’s like a return on investment.  There’s a number there that everybody knows how many positions you’re willing to give up versus how much of a chance you have to win.  I think that opens our window tremendously.
            Now it’s easy to say you can run 20th and go for a win, where if you’re racing for the points, you can’t afford to give up 20 points.
            When they come out with this points system, we talked about it a lot, especially at Media Day.  I don’t think it changes much before you win.  I don’t think anybody can take any bigger chances we already take to try to win.  I think once you have won one, it gives you an opportunity to really take borderline ridiculous chances.  It really does.  If there is a slim chance, that’s really all the chance you need.
            We’ve been very fortunate to have good runs and there’s been a lot of seconds, close calls, run out of gas in the 600, a lot of stuff over the years.  I think those opportunities are going to come around more often now.
            Q.  Dale, do you think you could have won this race three to four years ago, given what you were facing given the talent running up behind you?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I tried, you know.  I’ll be honest.  There’s something about the car that you sort of connect with the car.  That car that I drove tonight, we got along.  You know, we worked as a unit.  It just happens.
            It’s hard to explain with this guy sitting next to me.  The cars we’ve had in the past, I drove ’em all week down here at Speedweeks.  I just didn’t have that 100% confidence in either the car or myself or us as a unit to be able to drive it with the confidence that you need to win.
            Yeah, that car tonight, man, it was just doing so many great things.  I could depend on it.  When I would ask it and put it in certain situations and expect it to do what I wanted it to do, it did it.
            The car’s everything at Daytona and Talladega.  I think I do a good job of drafting and understanding the draft, knowing what to do, when to do it, but you can’t without the right car.  The difference between the right car and what I’ve been driving is this much, that’s how close it is out there.  You know it when you’ve got that much more.  It’s an obvious gut feeling you feel from the seat of your pants.
            That car was just ready to go, man.  It was just asking for everything that I was giving it.  I mean, I felt like I was just out there just beating ’em off one at a time.  Man, it was awesome.  Just an amazing car.
            Q.  (No microphone.)
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I put one in there before.  It’s a good feeling.  Fans come down and take pictures of it.  I signed autographs with it sitting there all year long.  Memories will come back to you from tonight.  It’s a great thing.
            Q.  Dale, do you expect Mooresville to burn to the ground tonight?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  As soon as I said that, that was probably not the perfect choice of words.  I was exploding inside.  As soon as my mouth opened, everything just came on out (laughter).
            Yeah, you know, that’s how you feel.  You know, that’s the emotion you feel when something like that happens to you.
            Imagine in your profession the greatest thing that could happen to you.  That’s what happened to me tonight.  I just couldn’t contain myself.
            Q.  You talked about the car earlier.  Did you know before the delay that the car was going to be that good?  How tough was it to wait?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Made it easier actually to wait knowing we had such a good racecar.  Typically when you and the car aren’t on the same page, like I said, it’s just that little bit, you grow concerned about what you need to do to win the race.  The slope got steeper, gets steeper with every lap.
            Tonight, you know, as we drove, even as we waited it out, I knew we had enough racecar.  I was a little bit nervous because the pressure was on me because there was plenty of car to do it.
            Q.  Dale, is there anything special about the confluence with Austin?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I thought a
bout holding the three fingers running down the front straightaway.  I didn’t want to bring too much attention to that.  I just want Steve and Rick and the team, everybody, to enjoy this experience as it should.
            But, you know, it felt so comfortable all week for that number to be back.  I’m happy with that situation.  I’m happy for Austin.  You guys have gotten to know him over the last couple years.  He’s got a great head on his shoulders.  He appreciates the history of the number.  He appreciates not only what it meant as an Earnhardt fan, but what it meant for his family.  It means something entirely unique to him separate of my father.
            I appreciate that and I’m happy for him and Richard.  They’re really enjoying that experience together.  That’s got to be something special, grandfather and grandson, to be able to do that together.
            I’m very comfortable.  I had not thought about it once all week ’cause it just seems right.
            Q.  Dale, you said when you crossed the finish line, This one’s better than the first.  Then you said in Victory Lane, This one’s not better than the first.  Which one is it?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I was thinking about that.  When I crossed the finish line, I was relieved that I’ve done it again and I’ve done it with the people I’m with.  Initially the reaction was, This is better because I’m back in Victory Lane.
            It’s different because it’s the people, you know.  I was talking about that earlier.  It’s better because you had a taste of it before.  To win it the first time, you are blown away and sort of overwhelmed.  The experience is a blur.  It doesn’t sink in.  You don’t absorb much of the whole thing.  I can’t even remember half of it even after the fact, what we did that week.  I don’t even remember going over and putting the car in there.  It was just all so much of a flash.
            So now I realize that.  I’m surrounded by so many great people.  We got a great team.  So many people are able to enjoy this.  I’m reminded to let it sink in, reminded to enjoy it.  I really enjoyed driving down in front of the fans there.  I was having the time of my life inside that car going down the front straightaway.
            When I got to Victory Lane, I couldn’t wait to hug everybody, just enjoy it.  Didn’t do that the first time ’cause you’re just blown away.
            So this one’s funner (laughter).
            Q.  Rick, I imagine fielding cars for NASCAR’s most popular driver is quite a responsibility.  It must feel frustrating that you don’t have more success, you always give your best stuff to Jimmie, let Jimmie win all the time, according to the fans.
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I’m glad I’m sitting here.  I want to hear this (laughter).
            Q.  I don’t say it.  The fans do.
            RICK HENDRICK:  They’ve never said it to me.  You’re the only one that said it.
            Q.  Dale told Michael Waltrip if he wins the Daytona 500 he’s going to get on Twitter.
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  You’re paying attention.  I got to get my password (laughter).
            Q.  Do you feel any relief or satisfaction in getting this win with him?  Can you talk a little bit about the burden that you do feel in needing to have success with Dale Jr.?
            RICK HENDRICK:  You know, I think Dale had a lot of options when he was going to make a change.  We talked.  He wanted to come with us.  I wanted him to come with us.
            It was a lot of pressure, an awful lot of pressure, an awful lot of high expectations.  We didn’t have the success that we thought we’d have.
            I remember a lot of you said, He’ll win six races and a championship.  We came down here and we won the Shootout and qualifier right out of the gate.  We didn’t go where we needed to go.
            But we never gave up.  I was as determined as ever.  I told him that we would get it right and we would do what we set out to do, and we were not going to stop.
            But it’s a lot of pressure.  It was an awful lot of pressure.  I felt like I let him down.  He felt like he let me down.  But we locked arms and said, We’re going to figure it out.
            Last year was a great year.  I wish the success had come earlier.  But this is a tough sport.  I mean, it is a tough, tough sport.  There’s so much talent out there.
            Just like he said, it’s that little magic with the car, it’s also that magic with the guys here, with the team.  When you hit it, it’s amazing.  When Jimmie Johnson goes two years and doesn’t win a championship, something’s wrong.  Well, there’s nothing wrong; it’s just everybody else is that good.
            They’ve got that magic, and these guys have that magic.  I think this could be the year.
            Q.  Dale, Brad Keselowski was here earlier and he said that he thought this may have been one of the hardest‑run Daytona 500s from start to finish.  You’ve obviously been in a lot more than he has.  I wondered if you felt something similar.  If so, was it just being the Daytona 500, points don’t matter, or sitting around for six and a half hours?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I think it was the package, the way you were having to race to stand your ground.  I hated to do some of the things I had to do tonight to race.  There were a couple laps where I had to run Jeff Gordon right on the fence, down the turns, the straightaway, right on his door, to keep him from drafting by me.  I hate to do that to my teammate.  I hate to do that to anybody.  But that’s what it took.  That’s what you had to do.
            I knew, like we had talked about before, I talked to Steve about how we were not in the right place at the end of these other races.  We’d make a move and finish second.  We knew we didn’t have a shot at winning, knew we didn’t have a shot at the leader at the end.  Why?  What do we need to do?
            Tonight it was all about not giving an inch, not running fifth, not sitting there in fifth place all night and being okay with it.  We wanted to be in the lead every lap, be in first every lap.  Th
at’s what my motive was.
            It was a unique race.  I feel uncomfortable sitting here bragging that I drove my ass off or ran the best race of my life, but it was a unique race.  We all were pushing the envelope out there, asking a lot of each other.  I remember running real, real tight on the door of the 16 car for the lead.  He had the 20 behind him.  I just kept thinking, All it’s going to take is for Matt to make one move a little wide into the corner or something like that, catch my quarter panel, turn me into the 16, we’re going to be up in the wall.
            Every lap you’re asking every driver around you to be able to hold their line and be smart and see what’s happening and understand how close quarters were.  Everybody was shoving all over each other, climbing over the top of each other.  So you were asking a lot of everybody around you to be able to do that all night long.
            We all really put each other in a lot of difficult situations, but it was really fun even under the circumstances.  I felt like that for the first time in a long time you were able to see just how talented everybody out there was.  Biffle and all those guys, everybody was really bringing the best out of themselves tonight.
            Q.  Steve, I’ve had many veteran drivers say over the years how much they have spent time trying to win the Daytona 500.  Even Dale Jarrett who was in here earlier.  Once they accomplish that goal, the first thing they think of is how they win the next one.  You decided to take another career path.  Is this the optimal way to go out or do you think you might have some second thoughts?
            STEVE LETARTE:  I mean, it’s better than losing.  Yeah, I mean, I was telling my wife last night, we were riding to dinner.  We were just talking about stuff.  I said, It’s a little sad.  I never really put two and two together.  When you think about making that decision, you know, so many things that are so important in my life that drove that decision.  Going to dinner last night, I’m a little sad, this will be my last 500.
            I think I’m going to have a lot of those moments this year.  I’ve done this since I was a 16‑year‑old kid.  I don’t know anything else.  The joke with my team when you go anywhere, if you want to know where to eat, I’ve grown up at all these tracks.  Everyone has a bucket list, and you don’t work in racing without having the Daytona 500 on your bucket list.
            It seems a little bit surreal or awkward, but it appears that a career‑defining moment came in my last chance at it.  Like I said earlier, it’s one of the those things that they might say I won X amount of races as a crew chief, but Daytona 500 champion will always be set out of that list.  This one was special.  I’m going to enjoy this one, for sure.
            Q.  Dale, you talked about trying to remember more of this experience.  You mentioned driving in the car with the fans.  What stood out about that?  That’s your moment by yourself.  Also, obviously great moment, you’re excited.  When is the last time you felt like that?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  The last time I won the Daytona 500.  You win other races.  Other good things happen to you in life.  But this is a unique feeling.  It only comes with this particular win.
            You know, the fans are so supportive.  They stick with you.  We put them through so much.  We ask so much of them to plug into this sport, to be a part of it.  You think about that.
            Then you think on a smaller scale of your personal fans, the fans that pull for your team, what I’ve went through as a driver.  You know, the lows you go through, they’re with you.  They’re with you in the highs, obviously.
            We went through some pretty bad lows.  They’re still there.  I know when I drove down that front straightaway, I know it wasn’t, but it seems like everybody that was here was cheering.  I know we don’t have every fan out there, but it was certainly a happy crowd.  I really feed off of that.  That is as key to the moment, enjoying the moment as anything.  That’s as key to the moment as going to Victory Lane, seeing your crew, seeing Rick, seeing my girlfriend.
            All those moments where you see joy in someone else’s face during this evening, seeing all that in all those fans, you feed off of that so much.  You’ll never forget that, just looking up into the grandstands, seeing all those people cheering, so happy.
            Especially when you get the flag, you get right up on ’em.  Like they’re coming through the fence, you know.  It’s just incredible, the energy from that side of the racetrack.
            Q.  How much fun can the next 25 races be, being able to swing for the fences?  How can you use that to build momentum in trying to win a championship?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Well, I expect that we’re going to have some great racecars and some great opportunities to win.  I know that we run our guts out every week.  Steve and the guys give it all they got.  I give it all I got.  We did that last year and didn’t win any races.  We weren’t trying to be consistent.  We weren’t trying to just gather up points.  We want to win so bad because we know how important that is for our fans, how important that is to the sport, how big it would be for all the effort Rick has put into it.
            So we try every week to win.  We’ll continue to do that.  I don’t think we’ll do it any different than we’ve always done it.  Steve may be able to get in certain situations at certain tracks and make a different call that he would typically make.  I anticipate that, look forward to that.
            For the most part, the tracks and the tire wear and things like that will really dictate the strategy he uses regardless of the format, the points, the Chase, all that.
            You want to do whatever you can to win the race, and that’s dictated by the track, the tires, fuel mileage, what have you.  I don’t think our approach is going to change a lot.
            But we have a lot of confidence coming off such a strong year, obviously winning this race.  Our confidence couldn’t be higher.  Confidence is a great thing.  It’s half of the battle, you know, being confident in what you’re doing.  When you have the most, you’re in perfect situations to have some good things happen, so hopefully we can seize the moment.
            Q.  Rick, when you rode Jimmie’s car into Victory Lane, you said you never would do it again.  What possessed you to do it again tonight?
   &
nbsp;        RICK HENDRICK:  When I got to the car, he said, Get in.  I was so excited, I got in.  When we got to that corner at the gate, I couldn’t hold on inside.  The roll bar was slick or something.  I almost fell out.  I was hollering, Stop.  I almost didn’t come in here tonight.  Probably would have been over to Halifax.
            I won’t do it anymore.  I better not say that.  But I think the emotion just got me as soon as I got to the window.
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Need to learn how to get those side windows out, that way you can ride in the passenger seat.
            RICK HENDRICK:  As soon as I got over there, he said, Climb in.  I didn’t even think about it.  I’ll think about it again because I almost fell out.  I was wedged in with Jimmie.  My legs were wedged up under the steering wheel.  Riding like I was riding a bull.  This time I almost did fall out.
            Q.  Steve, what do you think it will be like a year from now when you’re not going to be able to defend this?
            STEVE LETARTE:  Oh, I have no idea.  I think I’m going to come back and get my car back.  Maybe I’ll come back and get it when they give it to us next year.
            I don’t know.  There’s a lot of water to pass under the bridge between now and then.  There’s still 35 other trophies to get.  There’s a big one at the end of the year.  I’m going to really, really enjoy this victory.
            But it’s kind of like Dale said, winning reminds you how great this sport is, why we all did it, why we’re all here.  It’s really as simple as that.  It seems odd, but that’s really what it comes down to.
            We don’t play in stick and ball sports.  A .500 year doesn’t exist with a race team.  You go and you compete against 42 other people.  Every Sunday you line up.  Nobody cares what you did last week.  It’s all about what you’re going to do this week.  You have that same sort of feeling.  You want to go and win every single week.
            That’s my biggest concern about next year is what is going to fill the competitive void because it’s all I’ve known since I was a kid.  We’ll see if my kid’s go‑kart will fill the void or not.  I think he’s going to be a tougher boss than this one.  I’m going to have to sharpen up a little bit before then.
            Q.  Dale, I wanted to talk about your teammates a little bit.  With around 10 to go, even when the lanes forced a separation, you had a clear commitment to work with each other.  How much of a difference do you think they made down the stretch?  How much did they keep your confidence up, especially Jimmie being in the same shop after all these second‑place finishes?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  Jeff pushing us on the last restart was key to us winning the race, a key moment for us to pull away, not get stuck side‑by‑side with the outside lane.  We timed that perfectly.  He did a great job.  That was definitely a very big moment for the victory there.
            You know, our teammates, they’re all great guys to begin with.  The reason why we all get along so well and tend to want to work with each other and even seek each other out at times on the track at Talladega and Daytona is because of the culture in the company.
            There’s no favorite.  No one’s singled out.  No pressure on one guy more than the other.  Everybody has the same commitment, whether it be the fabricators or the engine room.  Every team sort of gets the same commitment.
            It’s a very well‑run machine.  Just the culture in there, how everybody enjoys working together, we feed off of that.
            We see each other quite a bit.  Rick has us over there often for luncheons, what have you, in the shop.  We actually spend time with each other.  I’ve known Jimmie since he first started racing in the Nationwide Series, St. Louis since he ran his first race.  I’ve known Jeff forever, back when him and daddy were partners in several business ventures together.
            Dad introduced me to Jeff on the first straightaway at north Wilkesboro one time, told me he was going to be great.  Me and Kasey have been friends since when I started.  You know all these people because you’ve been around them for so long.  We’re all in great stuff.  Rick keeps everybody happy.  We enjoy seeing each other doing well and enjoy working together.
            The package tonight made you have to depend on people.  You couldn’t do things by yourself.  You definitely needed people to help pass other people.  You know you could count on your teammates to give that to you if you could get in a lane with them.
            As far as Jimmie being a good teammate, when we won when I was working with Tony, Jr., we won at Michigan.  It was my first win with Rick.  When Jimmie came into Victory Lane, the first thing I could think of to say to him is, I’m a winner.  He said, I know you are.
            Jimmie has always been one of my biggest fans.  Even before we were in the same shop, you know.  Like I said, I’ve known him for a very long time, before he was a champion, when he was just getting starting, he was wondering what kind of motorhome to buy.
            It’s been a long road for both of us.  He enjoys seeing me do well and I feel the same way about him.  So we got a great relationship.  It’s really great to be in the same shot together.  We feed off of their success.  I think they do the same with us.  Hopefully we can continue that.
            Q.  Dale, go back to the final lap.  The appearance was that no matter what Denny Hamlin did, you seemed to know what he was going to do before he did it.  Can you talk a little bit about that last lap.  And, Rick, did you hold your breath for a minute or did you just feel confident the whole time the checkered flag was coming?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I think I knew what had to happen for us to be passed, and I knew what I needed to do to combat that.  I needed to be in front of the cars that were moving to get a draft push from them, keep some separation, not allow them to get a run on me, whether it was the 2 car or Denny, whoever was going to come with a run.  I needed to be in front of them when they got there, limit their opportunities around me.
            Denny came pretty close.  He got very close coming off of turn four.  I didn’t know if he had enough to get to the quarter panel.&n
bsp; If he even sniffed on the quarter panel, he was going to get a hell of a run to the flag stand.  It was going to be tight.
            He’s obviously very good.  They ran well this week.  Won a couple races.  Showed their speed, his talent.  I knew when he come up through there, that’s what I was expecting, somebody to get up there and make a move.  He’s been able to show all week that he’s had a great racecar and knows what to do with it.
            RICK HENDRICK:  Yeah, this race you’re never confident.  I thought we were in good shape.  Those cautions kept falling.  We had to have those restarts.  You worry about that.
            I thought when he got that good push from Jeff that we were going to be in good shape.  But you just don’t count this race until you see the car come off the fourth corner, and the car running second on the outside can’t get to him.
            It’s an unbelievable feeling.  I bet if you had a heart monitor, you’d be amazed at what your pulse was that last couple laps.  I know your knees get weak when it’s over.
            I’ve been there so many times down here leading coming off the four, and wade ’em up.  So it was good to see that thing out front by itself.  I was very nervous.
            Q.  Where is the party tonight?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  I’m going to try to keep myself under control some, good shape tomorrow.  I’m going to have a few beers, spend time with my girlfriend Amy and whoever else wants to sit around.  See where the night goes.
            Probably won’t be able to party till we get to Vegas after Phoenix.  I’m going to Vegas straight from Phoenix on Sunday.  That might be our time to celebrate.
            RICK HENDRICK:  It’s five hours past my bedtime.
            Q.  You said you put yourself in some situations that you had to in order to win.  Is that kind of the mindset you’re going into this whole year with knowing it’s Steve’s last year and knowing you’re starting to get closer to the end of your career than the beginning?  Are you at that point where, in order to fulfill your dreams of winning a championship, you’re going to have to be more aggressive than you normally like to be?
            DALE EARNHARDT JR.:  We were running second every week, running in the top 10 throughout the Chase pretty much.  We were getting cars that were completely superior to what you had at the beginning of the season.  Hell, what I had at the beginning of the season was pretty good.
            Just when you think things are as good as they can get, they get better.  That’s been the situation with this team since me and Steve got together.  We’ve gotten better every year.  We said we were going to get better and we have.  We get closer and closer and closer to reaching our goals without any kind of setbacks or pauses.  So, you know, if things just keep going like they’ve been going, we should win some more races this year and the cars should be there and the confidence should be there.
            I’m perfectly comfortable forcing my way in any situation when I know the car’s capable of carrying its load and doing its job.  Steve knows that.  I think that gives him motivation to try to give me those cars.
            We were starting to see that happen last year.  Looking forward to this year.
            KERRY THARP:  Congratulations on this win tonight.
 
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – TOP ROOKIE FINISHER EARNING A NINTH-PLACE FINISH
KERRY THARP:  Also joining us right now is our top‑finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, Austin Dillon. Solid run for you here today.  Maybe talk about your race.
 
AUSTIN DILLON:  Yeah, I think the yellow stripes on the bumper showed a little bit tonight.  But we made it through it.
 
It was fun.  I had a blast.  The car was fast.  After we got in the wreck, I don’t know how we didn’t hit the wall.  Had a little damage, but was just a lot freer after that.  Car was still fast, just a little loose.
 
All in all, it was a great start for our season, and hopefully we can carry it.
 
KERRY THARP:  We’ll continue with questions.
Q.  Austin, are the stars kind of aligned?  You had the No. 3 on the track, and Dale Jr. wins the race.  Talk about that.
AUSTIN DILLON:  Yeah, it’s very awesome.  Junior has been so supportive of me bringing back the 3.  I’ve gone to him for a lot of advice lately.  I can’t thank him enough.  He’s been awesome to me.  It made this whole transition a lot easier.  If we didn’t have him onboard, it would have definitely been tough to do this.
 
I want to thank him and congratulate him.  That was an awesome race.  He led a ton of laps.
 
For me, he’s been a little bit of a bigger brother right now.  It’s been pretty cool.
Q.  Austin, did you have contact with Larson and Newman on those accidents?  What happened?
AUSTIN DILLON:  Yeah, I had contact with both of them.  The 31, I had a run and everything was good.  I don’t know.  I haven’t seen a replay of either one of them really.
 
His rear bumper cover was off, I barely touched him.  It turned him to the left quick.  Definitely didn’t want to do that, he’s my teammate.  I think I touched the 1, it backed him up.  It happened quick.  Like I said, getting aggressive, 10 to go, just trying to make something happen.  It was hard once you got back up there to get back up front if you weren’t making moves to side draft.
 
Hopefully I can take this, go to Talladega and do a little better.
Q.  Austin, does this 10th‑place finish take some of the pressure off of you as a rookie or do you have just as much pressure facing you in Phoenix and Las Vegas?
AUSTIN DILLON:  I don’t think so, man.  It’s such a long year.  We got to keep the pressure on as far as our team.  We want to do well.  We got a lot of goals we need to accomplish.
Superspeedway racing is so much different than the mile‑and‑a‑half’s and the short tracks.  We have a lot to learn.  That’s what this year is about:  experience, trying to finish races and getting better each week.
 
We have a long year ahead of us.  I’d like to use some of this momentum going forward.  I know it’s going to be a long, tough year and hopefully we’ll be there to the end of these races and try to learn something.
 
KERRY THARP:  Congratulations on a successful Speedweeks.