Two Podium Finishes for Action Express Racing Corvette Daytona Prototypes
at Road America
Chevrolet solidifies lead in Rolex Series’ DP engine manufacturer championship
 
ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. (Aug. 10, 2013) – Action Express Racing’s two Corvette Daytona Prototypes (DP) placed second and third at Road America in Saturday’s VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250, the ninth round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa were runner-ups in the No. 5 Corvette DP, and teammates Brian Frisselle and Burt Frisselle were third in the No. 9 Corvette DP.
 
The finish enabled Chevrolet to maintain its lead in the engine manufacturer championship in the DP class. The No. 5 Action Express entry was one of three Chevrolet-powered entries to lead during the two-hour, 45-minute race.
 
GAINSCO/Bob Stallings’ Racing’s pairing of Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney closed to within four points of the DP driver’s championship and stand second. The No. 99 Corvette DP squad remained third in the team standings with three rounds left in the season.
 
“Today was another exciting day of Rolex Sports Car Series racing at Road America,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “Congratulations to the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP driven by Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, and the No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP driven by Brian and Burt Frisselle on their podium finishes. Their efforts along with the other Corvette DP teams helped Chevrolet gain valuable points in the Rolex Series DP engine manufacturer standings.”
 
In GT, the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports’ Camaro GT.R of Robin Liddell and John Edwards placed eighth in a tough GT fight. Liddell and Edwards maintained their second-place position in the class’ driver’s championship with Stevenson Motorsports second in the team standings. Chevrolet is third in the GT manufacturers’ race.
 
Saturday’s Rolex Series race was the first half of a historic sports car doubleheader at Road America that also features the American Le Mans Series. The Rolex Series and ALMS will merge for 2014 to create United SportsCar Racing and a single, premier North American sports car racing championship.
“It is fantastic to see so many road racing fans here at Road America to watch the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series this weekend,” Campbell said. “Attendance is up as the fans staked their favorite place around the four-mile track. You can feel the excitement of the fans as they get a preview of road racing in 2014 and the United SportsCar Racing series.”
 
The next round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is the SFP Grand Prix on Saturday, Aug. 17 from Kansas Speedway.
 
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES:
 
JOAO BARBOSA, NO. 5 ACTION EXPRESS CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 2ND: “It all comes down to execution. Action Express did a tremendous job coming back from a little hiccup. They gave us a great car; the Corvette (Daytona Prototype) drove awesome today. We didn’t have the fastest car today. But that is why we keep telling is we have to execute, and we have to be consistent. We have to bring podiums and we have to bring points. This was a great points day, and I am really proud of all the Action Express people for a second and third place today. I am happy for Brian and Burt Frisselle on their third place finish today, they did a tremendous job. That’s a big statement to the team.”
 
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI, NO. 5 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 2ND: “Unfortunately I flat-spotted the tire and we had to come in a little bit early, but still at that point we were in the race. We enough fuel to do the same amount of stops as all of the other guys. When it recycled, I was running P2. We were in the race. On my first stop, for some reason, the fuel didn’t come in the car, so I had to stop about six laps earlier than what we were planning. That definitely messed us up. But the yellows helped us today. It goes both ways; today we got helped by the yellow flags, but the same way he have been hindered in the past, at the end of the day, luck evens out. We’ll just keep on trying. Today was a good points day for us. We are solid in the championship and we are going to continue trying our very best.”
 
BRIAN FRISSELLE, NO. 9 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 3RD: “The difference today was things kind of broke our way there at the end with the yellow. We’ve had some bad breaks, but this team has just been awesome all year. The No. 5 and the 9 both, the Action Express guys have been rocking. The Corvette Coyotes have been rocking. We finally got some track position at the end and were able to use it.”
 
BURT FRISSELLE, NO. 5 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP – FINISHED 3RD: “I definitely threw a curve ball at Elton (Sawyer, team manager) and Brian when I flat-spotted that tire with at minutes into the race. Elton took that curve ball, and hit is out of the park getting Brian the track position he needed. Brian drove a brilliant last stint, so I feel lucky to have gotten away a little error. These guys gave us such a good car underneath us. That Coyote Corvette was a joy to drive”

CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD AMERICA: Solid Starts for Compuware Corvettes
Garcia qualifies second in No. 3 Compuware Corvette; Gavin fourth in No. 4 entry
 
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 10, 2013) – Corvette Racing’s two Compuware Corvette C6.Rs qualified second and fourth in class Saturday for the Orion Energy Systems 245 at Road America. That means the two velocity yellow Corvettes will roll off the grid one behind the other for Sunday’s sixth round of the American Le Mans Series. Antonio Garcia was second-quickest in the GT class with a 2:04.212 in the No. 3 Corvette he shares with Jan Magnussen.
 
Oliver Gavin qualified fourth in the No. 4 Corvette at 2:04.277 that he drives with Tommy Milner. The defending ALMS GT champions stand second in this year’s championship. Garcia and Magnussen are third. Corvette Racing and Chevrolet lead the team and manufacturer standings, respectively.
 
“I am very happy with the way we performed,” said Garcia, who made his Road America debut in 2012. “We got 100 percent out of the car. I believe everything will be even better for the race. We can use both cars to fight at the front.”
 
The Road America round begins at 3 p.m. ET with live coverage on ABC.
 
Saturday’s qualifying session was another tight one in the class. Only 0.699 seconds separated Garcia from the ninth-place qualifier. The pole-winning time was a 2:03.410. The Corvettes have a strong history at Road America with six class victories since its first race here in 2002.
 
So far in 2013, Corvette Racing has won three times in ALMS competition. Gavin and Milner won the most recent round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and opened the season with a victory at Sebring alongside Richard Westbrook. Garcia and Magnussen were winners at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
 

JAMIE MCMURRAY LEADS TEAM CHEVY IN QUALIFYING AT WATKINS GLEN
 
WATKINS GLEN, NY – August 10, 2013 – For the 12th time this season the drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series set a new track record. Ten drivers broke through the old threshold with speeds toping 128 mph.  Those breaking the old record included Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s/Monopoly Chevrolet SS and Paul Menard, No. 27 Menards/Splash Chevrolet SS who placed their Chevys in the Top 10 for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International.  Drivers will take on the twists and turns of the 2.45-mile course as they compete in round 22 of the 36-race season.  With only five races until the field is set for the Chase, a solid run at ‘The Glen’ this weekend is crucial for the Bowtie teams.
 
McMurray will roll off the starting grid in the sixth position in his No. 1 Chevrolet.  He was the road course pole sitter earlier this year at Sonoma Raceway.  Menard will follow McMurray in his No. 27 Chevy SS starting from the seventh position.   This marks the fifth time this season Menard will start inside the top 10.
 
Other Team Chevy members starting in the top-20 are: Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS – 11th, Kurt Busch, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Denver Mattress Chevrolet SS – 13th, Ryan Newman, No. 39 Haas Automation 30th Anniversary Chevrolet SS – 14th, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS – 18th and Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS – 19th.
 
Marcos Ambrose (Ford) was the pole winner, Clint Bowyer (Toyota) was second, Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota) was third, AJ Allmendinger (Toyota) was fourth and Kyle Busch (Toyota) was fifth to round out the Top 5.
 
The Cheez-It 355 at The Glen takes the green flag on Sunday, August 11th at 1:00 p.m. ET, and will be aired live on ESPN.
 
 
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S/MONOPOLY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SIXTH
ON HIS RUN:
“Well, our McDonald’s/Monopoly Chevy just didn’t have the grip. I went into Turn 1 the second lap and I could just tell I didn’t have the grip I did the previous lap. And so, it was somewhat of a waste of time to run through the remainder of the lap knowing that you’re going to go slower. It was a pretty good lap. I gave up quite a bit through the esses. The track had a fair bit more grip than what it had yesterday. And where the water was in the bottom of Turn 2, I had never run against that curb. And today there wasn’t water. So I got the car low enough, but I just couldn’t get turned back to the left. I was a little bit loose and it doesn’t look like it on TV, but that is one of the most thrilling corners I feel like we have on our whole circuit because you’re sliding off towards that guardrail. The car is hung out and it takes a lot of courage to run through there flat-out. I just couldn’t get pulled back to the left enough. But it was a good lap. We qualified on the pole at Sonoma, so I felt like we would qualify well here. Our race pace is a little bit off but we’re going to work on it tonight and hopefully get a good, solid run tomorrow.”
 
PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 MENARDS/SPLASH CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED SEVENTH
YOU MADE YOUR SPRINT CUP DEBUT HERE IS IT KIND OF LIKE COMING HOME?
“Yeah, man 10 years go by fast.  Our first time was 10 years ago.  The car is really good.  We unloaded pretty happy with it yesterday, maybe lacked the speed of a lot of guys, but drove really good.  I feel like a longer run 10 laps into a run we might be okay.  That was a good little pick up there we will see how it stacks up.”
 
CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT KIND OF FEEL YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ON A ROAD COURSE VERSUS AN OVAL?
“A place like this you just need it to stay under you.  I mean you are in the gas so hard out of these corners that you start burning rear tires off.  Same as Sonoma and any of these road courses, you start burning rear tires off it just keeps getting worse and worse.  You need a car that is pretty well balanced even if the speed is not quite there.  I feel like our car is really balanced and it will be good on a long run.”
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 13TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“Just trying to get a read on our front tires and we didn’t quite carry enough speed through each of the corners.  So when you add up all the corners and you are off a little bit in each corner you are going to add up to an awful lot that you are off on lap time.” 
 
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 HAAS AUTOMATION 30TH ANNIVERSARY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 14TH
ON HIS LAP:
“It was a good lap. I obviously went out in an earlier group. We’ve just been struggling a little bit for speed. Hopefully we have a better long run car than a short run car. It’s been a bit of a speed struggle, I would say. Being P2 in your group isn’t bad, but that’s better than what is was in practice; let’s put it that way.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 18TH
ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP:
“It didn’t go as planned.  It was a lot harder to get around the track than I expected from what we had yesterday.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 19TH
HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS THAT QUALIFYING SESSION?
“I thought it was all right. It was pretty loose to the right on corner exits; I didn’t get down any of the straightaways real well. It screwed us up a little bit for time. But I thought the car felt really pretty balanced and something that will be nice to race tomorrow. So, this is a tough track for me, but I don’t think we’re as far off as it might look.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE FROM RUNNING IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES RACE THIS AFTERNOON TO THE CUP RACE TOMORROW?
“I think just practice. Just running this track and working on braking and just trying to get speed in every corner; a little bit here and a little bit there, and you can get some pretty good times. I did that year. I thought it helped for Sunday’s race. So we’ll see how today goes and try to help it for tomorrow.”
 
MAX PAPIS, NO. 14 RUSH TRUCK CENTERS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 29TH
TALK ABOUT YOUR LAP:
“The biggest obstacle for me was definitely going to be qualifying because I don’t do this very often.  I got a little too greedy in turn two.  I definitely got it better on the third lap, but the tires were gone.  I have really good confidence.  I improved my speed every time.  Definitely qualifying I left something on the table.  Maybe is not as much as it felt.”
 
DID YOU DO A QUALIFYING RUN IN PRACTICE YESTERDAY?
“No qualifying run.  Obviously that is something for someone like me who doesn’t have a chance to do this every time it’s much more than a hurdle.  I’m proud of my effort and I’m proud of how much better we made the car.  I really feel we can do something special from where we are going to start.”
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 35TH
ON HER LAP:
“The car turned a lot better than yesterday. It was loose, but improved from yesterday for sure. I think we’ve made good gains with the GoDaddy Chevy. I’m ready for tomorrow. It should be a good race.”

Jordan Taylor Puts No. 10 Corvette Daytona Prototype on the Front Row at Road America
 
ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. (August 9, 2013) – Jordan Taylor put the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) on the outside of the front row for tomorrow’s VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250, Round 9 of 12 for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series (Rolex). This is the fifth consecutive race that Taylor and co-driver Max Angelelli have captured front row starting positions.
 
In total, seven Corvette DPs qualified for the 2.75-hour race Saturday around the 14-turn/4.048-mile Wisconsin road course.  Sebastien Bourdais qualified the No. 4 8Star Motorsports Corvette DP in the fourth starting position on the grid. Christian Fittapaldi was fifth fastest in the No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP.
 
The No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Corvette DP will start sixth; the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP set the ninth fastest time; in the 10th starting position is the No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP and the No. 3 8Star Motorsports Corvette DP will roll off 11th.
 
In Rolex Grand Touring (GT), the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette GT.R will start 10th in-class. The No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R will occupy the final grid position following failing post-qualifying technical inspection.
 
The No. 9 Stevenson Camaro GS.R was fastest for Team Chevy in qualifying for the 2.5-hour Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race by posting the eighth quickest time.  The No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R was ninth in the final qualifying order.
The first race of the weekend, the CTSCC Road America Sports Car Challenge 2.5-hour contest,  is scheduled to take the green flag at 12:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, August 10. It will be followed by the start of the 2.75-hour VisitFlorida.com Sports Car Challenge for the Rolex Series at 4:00 p.m. CT (5:00 p.m. ET) with live television coverage on SPEED TV.  MRN Radio will also broadcast the race live on GRAND-AM.com live timing and scoring.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CHEEZ-IT 355 AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 9, 2013
 
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Watkins Glen International, and discussed racing at Watkins Glen, Tony Stewart’s injuries and other topics. Full transcript:
 
DO YOU FEEL THERE ARE MORE DRIVERS THAT CAN CONTEND ON ROAD COURSES NOW THAN THERE USED TO BE WHEN YOU STARTED DRIVING IN NASCAR?
“I still think there are a handful of guys that are the real big threats, the guys like Juan (Pablo Montoya) and Marcos (Ambrose), but there’s a bunch of other guys that are holding their own and putting up good laps, qualifying well and maintaining pace during the race, which makes it just more challenging than it’s ever been.  The cars are as competitive against one another as they’ve ever been as well.  It’s evolved and changed a lot over the years, but still love coming here.  It’s so much fun, fast race track, challenging race track and looking forward to enjoying our final road course of the year.”
 
DO YOU FEEL ENERGY BUILDING TO BE IN YOUR BEST POSITION IN SEVERAL YEARS FOR THE CHASE?
“Wow, how things change in one week.  Last week it was, do you have a shot at making the Chase?  I think that right now, what love about the Chase is that it offers just that, what you’re talking about.  You can be off the pace or not having things go your way early in the season and you can get it turned around and get that momentum and find the speed and do the things that you need to do as a team to get yourself geared up and if you make it in that Chase then you really could be a threat at winning it.  I think that this point, I don’t think that we’re considering ourselves the contender for the championship, but I think we’re a real serious contender in the wild card and that ninth and 10th position.  I’ve always been a big believer that you have to walk before you can run.  These next five or six weeks will decide whether we’re going to solidify that and if we can become a real threat for the championship.  We’ve got a little work to do yet.  More runs like last week and I will say yes.”
 
HOW WILD IS IT TO NOW HAVE TONY STEWART IN THE FIELD THIS WEEKEND?
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet.  I was in Knoxville (Iowa) this week with our ‘Kick it for Kids Cancer’ program there and they’re doing the kickball tournament today, which it’s been such a great relationship to be on Shane Stewart’s car at Knoxville, but to go there and be in that environment of sprint car racing and around the people that are feeling the impact of that and now here I come this weekend to this race where the impact is being felt here as well.  Tony (Stewart) is such an influential person in motorsports as a driver and just as a supporter of racing that it’s tough.  I was looking all over those cars trying to understand what happened and you’re there and you’re in awe of these awesome beasts of race cars.  930 horsepower, 1400 pound cars, tons of downforce.  They just fly and they impress you and it makes me want to get behind the wheel of one so I totally understand the appeal and then you look at Tony and his talents and to go out there and want to be as competitive as he is.  He has a shot at winning these races, which is unbelievable.  He’s racing against guys that do this every single weekend.  They are somewhat, compared to the space cowboys of the NASA program several years ago where they’re sitting on top of a rocket and without a lot of protection.  I hope that this can actually be a great benefit and influence on the sprint car community to make these cars safer.  There are some areas that could be improved.  These cars are lightweight and they’re fast and they’re cool and awesome, but we’ve seen a lot in seat technology in that series, but I think that we’re seeing this type of injury that’s happening from time to time with that torque tube and driveshaft being so exposed and the lightweight components.  I hope to see something like this advance that.  Yeah, we’re missing Tony and haven’t had a chance to speak to him yet, but can’t wait for him to get back as soon as possible.”
 
HOW HAS ROAD COURSE RACING CHANGED SINCE YOU STARTED BEING REALLY GOOD AT IT?
“Again, I go back to that I feel like we put a good amount of effort into our road course package, improving the brakes and the cooling and dialing in the transmission gearing and just like the cars on the ovals where you used to be able to do more things to the cars to have an edge over the competition because how they inspected the cars, there was just more gray area.  We would also take advantage of that on the road courses.  I think that not everybody looked at the road courses, they kind of looked at road courses as throw away races in some cases.  That’s just not the case now.  Everybody takes these races very serious, the cars can’t be manipulated as much, everybody has good brakes and everybody has all the equipment that you need to go be competitive so then it just comes down to the driver pushing the limits of the car and the team engineering finding the right package to go fast at those tracks.”
 
WHAT IS MAKING YOU BETTER THESE LAST SIX RACES?
“We haven’t been on pit road when the caution came out or getting ready to make our pit stop when the caution came out.  We had the ability to get much better results earlier in the year that we didn’t and the frustration was kicking in.  I think that right now we’re seeing an improvement in performance as well as things going our way a little bit better.  Sometimes those things kind of happen together.  If your cars are fast and you’re getting yourself in good position then it allows you to make a little different choices and decisions that sometimes just put you in a more solid position to get good results.  I think there were times where I think we were pulling at straws and just swinging for the fences and that was putting ourselves into some risky positions that cost us those good results.  I’m hoping that will continue and we’re certainly on a good streak.  You just feel the energy in the team and that confidence in crucial.  This is a people business more than just cars.  The cars are obviously important, but if the people around you don’t believe in you or you don’t believe in them then there is no confidence in what you’re doing and you’re telling them that you need this to go faster and they’re questioning it.  You don’t want people to question, you want absolute yes, that’s what we need to do to make the car go faster.  Yes, that’s what our driver needs to do to get the speed out of it.  It just starts building on one another.  It can build for the good or it can build for the bad.”
 
DO YOU FEEL THE CRITICISM OF TONY STEWART RACING SPRINT CARS IS UNWARRANTED?
“I absolutely agree with that.  When the conversation is on the flip side about who is a real racer in this garage area, who’s got the most talent, who’s out there doing the most for motorsports then Tony Stewart rises to the top of that list of the great things that he’s doing.  Then as soon as he gets injured then you say, ‘Oh boy, maybe he shouldn’t have been doing that.’  It’s certainly up for debate and it’s been talked about and bringing a lot of interest on the subject.  For me, I say yes that’s Tony and I tell him all the time when he goes and runs the sprint car races and wins or is competitive, I’m like, ‘Man, that’s awesome and that’s unbelievable.’  That’s because I couldn’t do that and I don’t choose to do that because of just different things that are happening in my life and the choice that I make, but I applau
d him and definitely support him in that effort.  It’s just unfortunate that  this has happened.”
 
WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRIVE IN THE BOOT SECTION OF THE RACE TRACK?
“Absolutely.  For years I always said put more turns in and I think we’ll have a better chance at better results.  I think for our fans watching at home as well as watching here, I think that the course we run is probably a little bit better and more laps, more suited to our cars.  I don’t know what would creep up if we went that direction.  Would we have brake issues?  I don’t know all the ins and outs because I’ve never driven it.  I like road courses and I like challenges so I at least would like to give it a shot one time.”
 
HOW DID THE GO KART RACE COME ABOUT WITH TONY STEWART?
“Through our ‘Kick it’ program and that sponsorship, Tony (Stewart) has been a great supporter of the kickball tournaments and obviously with his involvement with sprint car racing and that whole community has been so supportive and we always said this was a grassroots program, what better way to get it going and have some fun than a grassroots racing program and dirt tracks racers and the fans and the competitors.  Today we’re having a kickball tournament and it is on the fairgrounds property in Knoxville (Iowa) and there’s drivers that are on teams, wives and girlfriends that are on teams, fans that are on teams — it’s pretty cool.  Tony is a giving guy and has a big heart so he’s been involved in that as well as somehow this came along as far as doing a go-kart event and so I worked out my schedule so I could go there earlier to be a part of that.  He obviously really was a big influence on the whole thing coming together with sponsors and getting fans out there.  There is this really cool place called Slideways, it’s a sprint car slick track, go-kart track oval that’s out there and it’s a blast.  He had a pretty good feeling in Kyle Larson who would end up winning the event or finishing second.  It was a blast.  We raised, this small little go-kart event ended up raising like $25,000.  Hopefully it’s something we can build on and do more of and obviously would love to have Tony back at it again next year.  It was tough because he wasn’t there, but we also understand how big of an impact he played in that event happening and being a part of it.  I was excited about it, especially racing with him and we made the best out of it that we could.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HOW QUICKLY CLINT BOWYER HAS BECOME A ROAD COURSE RACER?
“I would say (Brad) Keselowski as well; he was real strong here last year.  Kurt Busch is fast on the road courses.  I separate Sonoma from here so people that were quick in Sonoma doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to be quick here.  I think Clint (Bowyer), yeah he’s another one of those guys that is just a solid race car driver everywhere you go and I think his diversity with his dirt track experience and different types of cars shows his talents and he’s a very talented race car driver.  It also shows by Martin’s (Truex Jr.) victory out in Sonoma and Clint’s strong finish here last year that their road course program is improving as well.  You take talented drivers, good race cars and an effort towards road course racing and you’re going to see results.  I look for them to be strong again this weekend.”
 
DID YOU GET THE FEELING WHEN YOU WERE IN KNOXVILLE THAT SOME SAFETY CHANGES MIGHT BE CONSIDERED OR DO THEY FEEL THEY ARE JUST IN A BAD STRETCH?
“I would like to have talked to, I never really talked to World of Outlaw officials and the people are the big influencers on making those decisions so I really don’t have a good answer for that one.  I talked to the guys on the teams earlier and they were like, ‘This is what we have and this is what we do and here’s what we’re doing, just go along business as usual and it happens.’  Nobody wants to give up an advantage in performance and these guys, like I said, I compare them to space cowboys, that’s what makes them awesome and that’s what makes the cars incredible, that’s what makes their fan base as loyal as it is, they understand that these cars are rocket ships and that there’s danger involved.  Me as a competitor and seeing what has happened in our sport and what has influenced change for the good in safety, I’m hoping that those with World of Outlaws and those that are the influencers, maybe the chassis builders.  I don’t know where it really begins that they would be willing to step it up.  They’ve made slight changes and improvements in this area and I don’t know all the details in Tony’s (Stewart) cars, I heard that there were things on this car that were maybe different from some of the rest that are intended to be safer.  Obviously, it’s not enough.”
 
DO YOU KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE NEW ZONE TREAD TIRES FROM GOODYEAR AND IF THEY WILL BE A GOOD IDEA MOVING FORWARD?
“I have heard about it, understand the concept and it sounds really interesting and that it has great potential.  I did see Kasey (Kahne), but we weren’t talking about any testing at Atlanta, it was all sprint car stuff that we were talking about.  I am interested.  I know they made a lot of laps so I’m interested to find out more about it.  I’m hoping that’s something that works for us to give a shot at the next Atlanta race and I think that’s a step towards finding ways — I’m a big believer that it’s not a tire thing, it’s the weight distribution of the car, total weight in general, downforce, our cars are very difficult on tires.  It’s not just, ‘Hey Goodyear, you have to build a better tire.’  It’s everybody has to work together to allow them the ability to make tires that have some fall off and that can wear and don’t just build a lot of heat and blister.  Maybe this is a nice compromise for that.”
 
IS THERE ANY FEELING OF NOW NOT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT TONY STEWART IN THE CHASE OR IN MAKING THE CHASE?
“That’s certainly not our initial thoughts.  Anytime one of our competitors is injured, we’re going to think about them and their health first, but there is no doubt that Tony (Stewart) plays a huge influence in the Chase and in the championship.  We saw him squeak into the Chase just a couple years ago and win the championship.  You never count them out.  Their cars are running really good right now and so I looked to him to being one of the biggest threats for the position that we’re in.”
 
HOW DOES HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS SHAKE OFF THE JUNE RACE AT MICHIGAN TO RETURN NEXT WEEKEND?
“I don’t think there is any organization out there better than Hendrick to analyze a situation, that race, take everything, all the information we could gather from each of the cars and find ways to improve that and make sure those things don’t happen in the future.  For me, it was qualifying as poorly as I did, being in that position to get caught up in a wreck.  It wasn’t, I don’t look at that as just bad luck.  We shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with and we’ve got to improve the qualifying effort at Michigan.  I like the things that we’ve learned lately that I think can really help our performance qualifying as well as in the race. I think we’re going to be pretty good in the race, I was pretty happy when they dropped the green with what my car felt like.  As far as some of the other things, there’s only so much that is in my control and in my hands.  I know when it comes to engines, there is nobody better than the Hendrick engine group at making sure we have good power and reliability going back.  I’m not sure on the tire issues, but we’re certainly, we’ve gathered all that information and I’ve got complete faith in Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and the team to make t
he right calls to when it comes to what’s going to allow us to have the best speed, but also reliability when it comes to the setup and the tires as well.”
 
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO PUT AN END TO MARCOS AMBROSE’S REIGN AT WATKINS GLEN? “What makes him so good, not to mention his road racing experience over the years is his aggressiveness.  He’s just so aggressive.  While I think sometimes that holds him back on the ovals, it pays off big time here.  That’s going to be tough to beat.  I think it was interesting because we were at Sonoma and he doesn’t do as well at Sonoma as he does here because this track, it loves aggressiveness.  Sonoma does not like aggressiveness.  I think you’re going to see him be extremely fast this weekend.  He was fast at Sonoma, but just the fall off was pretty big there where here that’s not the case.  I think he’s going to be very, very difficult to beat.  I’m definitely hungry, but again you have to walk before you can run and we have not been as strong here the last couple years.  I know that if we hit on something that we’re going to be very strong and hopefully we can go compete with those guys.  We had a shot to finish eighth or ninth here last time we were here and I think we need to be shooting for that or better.  I think that we had a slow start to the weekend last time we were here because we just didn’t get on top of it soon enough, but halfway through the race we really did and we just try to learn from that and apply that earlier in the weekend.  Hopefully we get some laps today that would help.”
 
WHY HAS THERE NOT BEEN A DROP IN ATTENDANCE AT WATKINS GLEN?
“There’s just something about the atmosphere of this place.  You go into the campground and there’s just people that love being here and love being a part of the event.  They’re having a good time and it’s not just about coming and watching a race, it’s a lot more than that and I think that’s just part of the appeal.  There’s a lot of very avid fans around this area too that don’t maybe get a chance to get to NASCAR races or they are just a little more road racing enthusiasts, hard to say.  We love it and we love coming here and the crowd that we get here is an avid one and fun to hear them having a lot of fun here in the infield all weekend long and see how excited they get on race day.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CHEEZ-IT 355 AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 9, 2013
 
DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Watkins Glen International and discussed visiting Tony Stewart in the hospital this week, her outlook for the race this weekend at Watkins Glen and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND AT THIS ROAD COURSE:
“Sonoma didn’t go as well as I thought it would, but that is definitely a challenging track as I’ve found myself and heard a lot since then.  We went and tested at Road Atlanta a week or two ago and felt really good.  This place has a lot more grip than Sonoma so I’m hoping that translates and that we have a better weekend.”
 
IF YOU COULD JUST TALK ABOUT YOUR REACTION TO WHAT HAPPENED WITH TONY (STEWART), HOW DID YOU FIND OUT AND HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO HIM SINCE TO GET AN IDEA OF HOW HIS SPIRITS ARE RIGHT NOW?
“Well, I didn’t know until, well I guess I found out late that night that it happened, Ricky (Stenhouse) watches all those races.  It’s the most exciting time of the year for them; it’s on every night for 10 days or so.  He said that he crashed.  Well his team is Jason Johnson I think he was running like third or second so they were both doing really well and he said he crashed and he was airlifted.  Later on I had woken up because I can’t stay up that late and he said that he had broken his leg.  We talked to Eddie (Jarvis) the next day and just kind of kept up with how he was doing.  We went and saw him in the hospital.  He’s in typical Tony spirits. He’s hassling the nurses and everything you could imagine Tony is.  He has pretty good spirits, but it’s one of those things, it happens.”
 
IN TERMS OF TEAM HE IS OBVIOUSLY OWNER AND LEADER OF THE TEAM.  WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO MISS THIS WEEKEND IN TERMS OF TONY NOT BEING THERE?
“Well he is like one of the masters of this track.  I called him the master.  He’s won here a lot and so before we left I asked for all of his speed secrets.  We will see if they work (laughs).  You know he just he has a good spirit about him and everybody that works around him or doesn’t to be honest, loves Tony.  He will just be missed from a presence and a morale stand point.  I said I would do my best to keep everybody on the up and up and the season well.”
 
WE SAW YOU WERE UP AT ROCHESTER FOR THE PGA YESTERDAY.  DID YOU HAVE FUN UP THERE AND WHAT CAN YOU KIND OF OBSERVE FROM OTHER PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO YOUR DRIVING?
“That us race car drivers are pretty cool and casual before we have to get out there and do our job and that we are very fan and sponsor oriented.  So many other sports they get to just kind of keep their head down.  Whether they go from practice to the course or whatever watching them practice every sport is incredibly difficult and it takes a lot to get to the top of any of them.  I have played golf a few times lately and I’m just happy if I make contact with the ball and get it above the ground by any measure at all as opposed to rolling it.  They are very good at what they do and dang they are good at putting.  They make those 10-15 foot putts look easy.”
 
DO YOU FEEL A RESPONSIBILITY OF ANY KIND TO LITTLE GIRLS WHO WATCH YOU RACE?
“I mean I think it starts off as you just race.  I think I’m kind of getting a little bit older now and recognizing how honored I am to be in a position to be looked up to and to have them want to grow up to be like me or to just purely cheer for me.  There are a lot of choices out there.  There are a lot of different sports to look at.  I do what I can to kind of nurture that or take care of it and spend time with kids.  If I’m ever running about and don’t have a lot of time, but I have a little bit I always try and make sure I pick out the kids and take time for them.  I guess I do.  I do feel some sort of responsibility to be someone that they want to look up to and a good role model for them.  Mostly just not break their heart.  I feel like one of the hardest things when you are young is you have this idea of your idols or your role models and it’s so high.  It’s hard to not disappoint because they have built you up so much.  I do my best to just not let them down and that if I have a second I at least say hello or waive.
 
“There was a little girl at the golf course yesterday.  She wasn’t little, she was maybe 10 (years old) and her Dad was telling her who I was as I was walking by.  I could hear it all happening you know it’s right behind me.  He had said ‘hello’ and so as I kind of turned off to walk another way I looked over just to waive at her.  It would be easy enough for me to just keep walking and they didn’t say anything to me.  They didn’t try and say hello again or take a picture or anything, but I thought you know what I can tell that she figured out who I was and she thought that was cool.  So I just turned around to waive at her.  She will have that story now as opposed to me walking away.  Just little stuff like that.”
 
HOW DO YOU THINK IT WILL AFFECT TONY TO WATCH SOMEONE ELSE DRIVE HIS CAR?
“I mean I don’t know, but I think that he understands what happened and he is where he is.  I mean essentially he watches people drive his cars a lot. He owns a team and he has his sprint car stuff and so he watches and he has his own drivers already.  I don’t know if that kind of dampens it a little bit just because of his position of being an owner of a lot of cars, but I mean he really was getting on a roll this season.  Especially being at a track that you’ve done really well at as a driver I’m sure it’s a little bit harder to take that one.  He’s on the road to recovery and he is just going to have to keep his head down and get well.  Like I said he was in good spirits so I’m sure it won’t be easy, but I think it probably helps that he owns cars already.”
 
HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND ANALYZING AN ACCIDENT LIKE WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK TO LEARN FROM IT?  HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO TRAVIS (KVAPIL) AT ALL?
“I definitely think about it.  I don’t want to make more mistakes and I know that at least coming off of Loudon for sure into our break that I just said to myself I was just going to run my own races and I wasn’t going to let anything get to me.  It just is what it is and I have better days when I don’t think about, when I don’t get bothered by anything.  Honestly that was how I went into Pocono and I didn’t let anything bother me if someone was catching me, if they passed me, fine.  If I couldn’t get by someone that was just what was happening.  I really felt very calm in that race.  I did.  I did call him and did talk to him.  I felt like it was time to do that.  It was a good conversation and hopefully we don’t have any more issues in the future.  It’s not good to crash cars so I don’t want to be in that position.  I don’t want to be in the position to take anyone with me.”
 
GREG ZIPADELLI INDICATED THAT TONY FELT BAD BECAUSE HE FELT LIKE HE LET THE TEAM DOWN AND HE LET PEOPLE DOWN BY HIS BEING INJURED.  JIMMIE JOHNSON AND DALE EARNHARDT, JR. HAVE SAID HIM GOING OUT AND RACING IN THESE SPRINT CAR RACES IS WHAT MAKES HIM TONY.  IT HELPS THE SPORT.  IT’S A GOOD THING.  WHERE DO YOU KIND OF FALL ON THAT?
“Well, I mean it’s not a mystery he loves racing sprint cars. He has a team; he races them all the time.  When we were there saying hello obviously you get a lot of people on both sides of the fence about the safety of sprint car racing, but I said ‘beep’ happens.  It just does.  N
obody at the team is mad or upset we feel bad for him.  We all want him around.  At the end of the day those are the most important people are the people around you.  None of us are mad whatsoever we just feel bad for him.”
 
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CHEEZ-IT 355 AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 9, 2013
 
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Watkins Glen International and discussed racing on road courses, making the Chase, the progress of the No. 78 Chevrolet SS team and other topics.  Full Transcript:
 
WE’RE BACK AT A ROAD COURSE; YOU GUYS DID WELL AT SONOMA. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS COMING BACK TO THE GLEN?
“The Glen has been a little tougher for me over the years and when we came and tested a couple weeks back it really opened up my eyes as to why this road course is so much different than most road courses. It’s the fact that there’s such high speed braking zones and a good quantity of them, that it burns up the front brakes. And so over the years, not to get into too much detail, but I ended up glazing over my brakes a lot. The Nationwide race is a lot shorter here and I’ve won it two times and the Cup race I’ve only gotten one top-five because the brakes are such a big concern the second half of the race. So, I feel like this is the best that I’ve ever been prepared coming into Watkins Glen.”
 
BECAUSE OF SOME OF THE STUFF YOU JUST MENTIONED, DO YOU HAVE TO SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGE YOUR SETUP FOR THIS RACE AS OPPOSED TO WHAT YOU NEED THE CAR TO DO AT SAY SONOMA?
“The setup I’ve always understood was a little bit different. And now it’s gone into much more detail. The team and me testing here, we just opened up a lot of new things for each other to look at. The years I ran for Roush here were so-so, Penske we had that really good year in 2010 and finished second to Montoya, and since then the 2 car has done really well. So I feel like we’ve got the baseline close now I hope I’m opening a new chapter of finding the exact combination that it takes to win at a track. There’s times when you have good runs like at Bristol for years in a row but you have to change from that program in advance. It’s a good chance for us to again go to a track, test and then find good results from that. We’ve been on a good *** of testing lately. Kind of funny, I was just talking to the guys that they’re all excited to stay home next week in Colorado and mow their lawns, sit on their couches, and just kind of take it easy because we’ve done all our work to prepare our car to be the best that we can be for these next few weeks.”
 
HERE AT ROAD COURSE RACES THE SETUP IS LESS OF A FACTOR IN THE SUCCESS OF A TEAM THAN JUST THE DRIVER’S ABILITY. THE DRIVER REALLY HAS THE ABILITY TO SHINE WHEN HE HAS THE SKILLS AT A ROAD COURSE RACE VERSUS AN OVAL. DO YOU FEEL THAT EXTRA PRESSURE OR OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU AS A DRIVER TO RISE ABOVE THE PACK HERE AT A ROAD COURSE RACE?
“Yeah, I think short tracks demand different things than intermediate tracks, intermediates are different from superspeedways, just as road courses are different. We can say the percentage that a driver has on the equation is larger at a road course. And so, there’s more that’s in the driver’s hands. Maybe it’s 60% of the equation. Whereas at restrictor plate racing 95% of it is luck and 5% is the driver or crew or preparation. At a short track you got to have all the combinations. At intermediate tracks you got to have pit stops that are going to get you out in front of guys but you have to have the down force. So, road courses yeah you could say the driver has more of the equation than anything else. And for us, we lost Sonoma this year because of the driver. I was speeding on pit road and it’s just a stupid mistake that’ll take you out of the running.”
 
WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT BRAKES, HOW MUCH OF IT IS THE PACKAGE FOR YOU TO BE ABLE TO USE THEM AND HOW MUCH OF IT IS UP TO YOU TO KIND OF FINESSE YOUR WAY THROUGH?
“I’m going to try to explain this the right way. At all the testing we’ve done this year and me compared to the RCR cars, I’m the easiest guy on brakes. We came here to Watkins Glen and I’m the hardest on brakes. And we were confused on why that was. I mean we saw the spikes in the data, we saw the temperature in the rotors and it’s really odd. And I had no explanation for them. So, we had to go to work. We had to find out why my style of driving was so different here than at other tracks. I think we’ve done our homework. We’ve got a different combination on the car. And we’ll see if it gives us the results that we need. It just showed that I was aggressive on the pedal. I’ve won Nationwide races here but I haven’t crossed over the threshold to win a Cup race. Hopefully this is that last ingredient.”
 
SO DID THEY SET IT UP SO YOU CAN KEEP BREAKING THE WAY YOU WERE?
“Yes. Yeah, they tailored it to me. I’m like, “I’m confused guys I want to change but when I do change my lap times really suffer.” So, we tried to keep going with my lap times but tried to find the durability in the brakes.”
 
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO GET A WIN HERE NOW WITH TONY OUT WHICH OPENS UP ANOTHER WILD CARD POSITION?
“The Tony thing is a different subject but since he’s got a win he’s in that win column group. If we do win then we’re ahead of him and we’re ahead of other guys that have won as well. But if we don’t win we still jump up a spot. And there’s less guys running for those top-10 spots. It’s an interesting dynamic. With Tony’s injury, I won’t get into that. But the way that we just need to keep running consistent, even if we won we still need to stay ahead of guys that have that one win.”
 
HOW SIGNIFICANT IS IT AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON TO LOSE A CHASE COMPETITOR? “That’s where we just need to focus on our 78 car. We just need to worry about what we have to do to get our points and to not have bad things happen in the race. It would be the same as Tony spinning and wrecking on Lap 1 in a sense on Sunday. He’s just not going to get any good points.  We now have that forecast to know that that’s going to happen before the race even starts. We just need to stick to our game plan now and just stay focused on the 78 car.”
 
YOU PROVED AGAIN LAST WEEK THE POTENTIAL THIS TEAM HAS. HOW DO YOU STAND NOW AS COMPARED TO WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED BACK IN FEBRUARY WHEN ALL THIS CRANKED UP?
“I was hoping I’d get to answer some of that today. I feel like the team is at its peak right now. We’re going back to tracks for our second time. We know all of the mistakes we made at some of the tracks the first time around. We’ve been able to get stronger as the season has progressed but now we have exact notes together on what I did, what the team did, was the pit crew a little slow this race, was it the shock setup that we ran this race. Yeah, it’s Watkins Glen this weekend but we’ve already been to a road course and we know exactly what we did wrong. The team, like last week, first time going back to a track, second time at Pocono we delivered a top-three finish, ran top-five all day and it was one of our most genuine runs. So, I feel like we’re way beyond where we were in February. We’re way beyond where we were in May. And this is the best the team has been. And right now we’re in this Chase mix, which is a great feeling. I thought we could get to this point. I didn’t know when it would happen but I think all of the science has shown that we have matured and we’ve progressed and we’re now at a point to capitalize on being together the second half of the year.”
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON TONY’S INJURY? YOU’RE A TOP DRIVER THAT RUNS IN OTHER SERIES. WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR MIND ABOUT RUNNING IN A DIFFERENT SERIES AND GETTING AN INJURY WHERE YOU CAN’T COMPETE?
“There’s always that risk. We’re always on that edge when you’re racing. No matter if it’s a Cup car or a Sprint car. And when you’re out there, like Tony is, leading your crusade for short track racing, he was out there continuing to do what he has been doing a
ll along. He does it for many reasons. One is to keep himself busy and it’s his outlet to enjoy life at a level that’s fun for him. And I’ve been through the ups and the downs of finding fun in racing versus doing the daily/weekly grind. And for him, he’s been leading a crusade for short track racing. We all commend him for doing such. You look at it, he brought the truck series to El Dora and that was the feel-good story a few weeks ago. So for Tony, that’s just the next step of what he wants to do for short track racing. This won’t set him back from doing that anymore. He’ll get back in the car, he’ll keep running those Sprint Car races and he’ll be back in the Cup car. It’s just a bigger speed bump than we all expected. But as drivers they know that there’s a danger and there’s a fear of when things can happen. I mean I’ve run Grand-AM Rolex races, jumped in an Indy car at Indianapolis to drive around in an open cock-pit at 218 miles an hour. It’s a whole different experience and I’m hoping I’m making the right steps in transitioning to run an Indy race that if I do, to do it the right way. But tony, he is the most experienced racer there is, especially in Sprint cars, in jumping in them and jumping out of them. A freak deal happened. I mean I saw video of it and it was freak deal. It wasn’t anything he induced to put himself in a bad position. That’s the code I’ve always lived by. Don’t put yourself in a bad position to wreck.”
 
HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SPONSOR OR AN OWNER SAY, ‘WE DON’T WANT YOU RUN ANY KIND OF RACES BESIDES CUP’?
“I’ve never had a sponsor restrict me from doing any extracurricular racing or an owner. They’ve just always said, “You’re 100% responsible if something does go wrong.” Now Tony doesn’t have many people to answer to, being that he’s the owner of the Sprint Cup car. It’s a risk that you take. It’s the fulfillment of life that you’re trying to enjoy. At the end of the day who are we to judge what Tony is enjoying for life versus what he should be doing? It’s the battle I’ve been going through the last two or three years as well.”
 
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE AVERAGE DRIVER OR THE AVERAGE TEAM, ‘YOU’RE 100% RESPONSIBLE’? WHAT WOULD THE REPERCUSSIONS BE IF A DRIVER GOES OUT AND GETS HURT?
“You said the key word if. I don’t like to play what-if. Each and everybody is responsible for their own situation. And for Tony, none of us are going to look at him any different. He’s out there doing what Tony does best. And a freak deal happened. It’s unfortunate and there’s side effects that come with it.”
 
HAS IT IN ANY WAY CHANGED YOUR IDEAS ABOUT THE INDYCAR DEAL AND STILL TRYING TO MAYBE RACE SOME NEXT YEAR?
“It’s making me think about how I can pattern and channel more things to look at and more things to put my mind at ease and to be better prepared for when I go and if I go.”
 
INAUDIBLE:
“I don’t want to get into a battle of what the media writes versus my actual feelings. It’s as if you guys were saying, “Well he didn’t find the success on track therefore he’s not happy.” I’m very happy at what I was doing and to win races with Kyle’s team last year and to get Phoenix Racing to victory lane, albeit in a Nationwide car, it was something happy. It was something fun and exciting and different. But then you read that, “He’s just not happy because he’s not getting the same results.” And those are the types of things. How can we judge Tony for what’s going to be the side effects versus what happiness he gets out of running Sprint Car races?”
 
WHAT IS A PARTICULAR AREA ON THE TRACK YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO BE YOUR BEST AT?
“The year I did really well here to finish second I was good in the braking zones. There’s three big heavy braking zones. Getting into the bus stop, I call it Turn 10 and in Turn 1. But the most important part of the track, to your question, is Turn 2. I think Turn 2 leads into the longer straight-away and that’s where you can make big time passes if you get a run on somebody going into the bus stop. It starts at Turn 2.
 
HOW DO YOU SET SOMEBODY UP IN THAT AREA?
“Turn 2 is a focal point to make sure you’re not too tight or too loose and you get the car as best you can there I think. You take some other side effects from the rest of the track to not be as good there.”
 
CERTAINLY STRATEGY CAN PLAY A BIG ROLE AT THIS TRACK.  HOW MUCH ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THAT?  HOW MUCH ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT THAT OR DO YOU PREFER JUST TO TAKE THE WHEEL AND LET TODD (BERRIER, CREW CHIEF) FIGURE THAT STUFF OUT?
“It’s Todd and the guys understanding the pace of the race, I can’t see that. It’s also them understanding fuel mileage, I can’t see that. And so when they tell me, “We’re two laps shy.” Hopefully they tell me early enough in the run and I can make a difference and add to the strategy.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CHEEZ-IT 355 AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 9, 2013
 
MAX PAPIS, INTERIM DRIVER FOR TONY STEWART, NO. 14 RUSH TRUCK CENTERS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS AND GREG ZIPADELLI, COMPETITION DIRECTOR AT STEWART-HAAS RACING, met with members of the media at Watkins Glen International and discussed Tony Stewart’s status after his second surgery, this weekend’s race at Watkins Glen with Max driving, the future of who will be in the No. 14 Chevrolet SS and much more.  Full Transcript:
 
GREG CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PLANS FOR STEWART-HAAS RACING AT LEAST THIS WEEKEND AND MAX JUST FOLLOW UP ON THE OPPORTUNITY THAT YOU HAVE HERE TODAY:
 
GREG ZIPADELLI: “Obviously with the circumstances we are dealing with Tony (Stewart) out of the car Max (Papis) is here for us this weekend. He had done some road course testing recently, about two weeks ago, in the No. 14 car.  There was a little bit of a database built.  A little communication had already been started and we felt like that was our best option for this weekend.  Max has a lot of experience here and its road racing.  Obviously difficult situation for everybody at Stewart-Haas this weekend, but it’s the situation we are in and we will do our best.”
 
GREG ALLUDED TO IT YOU HAVE A SPORTS CAR WIN HERE NOT TOO LONG AGO.  TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY WITH THE NO. 14 CAR AND THE HISTORY HERE AT ‘THE GLEN’:
 
MAX PAPIS: “First of all it’s great to be here with all of you guys.  I hope that Tony will be back soon because that is actually his car.  It’s just an honor to be able to be called by an organization like Stewart-Haas and fill the shoes of Tony.  It was not really a dream come true, but it was more like recognition towards all the work that I’ve done so far in my career.  I feel that I have a lot of confidence to go out there and give them solid results.  Obviously, if I would have been maybe 25 years old I would have been maybe sitting on the toilet for how nervous I was, but I guess now I’m 30 plus 12 so I feel pretty good about it.”
 
DO YOU HAVE ANY MORE OF AN UPDATE ON TONY SINCE HAVING THE SECOND SURGERY AND HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO HIM?  IF YOU COULD JUST GIVE US A LITTLE BIT OF YOUR INTERACTION WITH HIM:
 
GREG ZIPADELLI: “I saw him Wednesday night before his surgery.  I talked to him, texted, yesterday after everything went well.  As good as could be expected.  It’s going to be a day by day situation right now just with infections and things of that nature.  Hopefully, it will turn into a week by week here probably Sunday or Monday we will know a lot more.  Right now it’s a week by week deal.  We will see what doctors have to say at the beginning of the week and we will go from there.  Obviously Michigan, Bristol and those things we are looking right now for who is going to be in the car and trying to work those things out.  As far as that goes he was in great spirits.  As good of spirits as he could be in, he’s a little bit down.  He felt like he has let a lot of people down, the world, his fans, so I know all the support that he has gotten from the fans and the racers here I know has helped him a lot.  We talked about that and it’s cool the outreach that this area has given him.”
 
MAX, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN DOING THIS WEEKEND IF YOU WEREN’T HERE RACING AND COULD YOU TALK ABOUT THIS BEING A VERY HIGH PROFILE RIDE FOR YOU?

MAX PAPIS: “I think it is more sensational for you guys.  For me I love the opportunity.  I love that you guys talk about it.  I would have been in Elkhart Lake racing the Ferrari and actually that was going to be the plan to do both.  At the end Remo Ferri Racing decided that it would have been better just for me to stay focused on this deal here and not flying around.  Thanks to them as well for that.  Even if I thought there would have been a pretty cool deal to run both.  I kind of feel a little bit like an old style generation guy in a way.  For me I admire people like Mario Andretti, people like A.J. Foyt, people like Tony Stewart that can drive anything any day.  I text Tony a few times, obviously he is doing his own deal he is trying to recover, but I can tell you guys this watching and listening how much love there is for this guy in the sport it’s really overwhelming.  Everyone really loves him for real.  At the same time I feel that love has been spread around towards me driving as well.  I felt really good about it.  Like people were excited about me being in the car and everyone said just go out there and represent him the best way you can.  That is kind of what I feel like.  I’m going to go out there and do the best I can.  I have a lot of confidence in my own abilities.  You’re asking me if this is something that is going to change my career.  I am 42 years old.  I don’t think too many things change your career anymore.  It’s more just the satisfaction in a way.  I woke up this morning and I told my kids ‘guys Poppy is going to go out there and drive for Tony Stewart’.  That is something we are going to talk about in the year to come. 
 
OBVIOUSLY THERE IS A LOT OF SPECULATION ABOUT WHO MIGHT BE IN THE CAR AND THAT WILL BE LIKE WILD FIRE UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY ANNOUNCE IT.  ARE YOU GETTING CLOSER TO BEING ABLE TO SAY WEATHER IT IS GOING TO BE A ROTATING CAST OF PEOPLE AND CAN YOU TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES WITH RACES JUST A WEEK AWAY AND WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO?
 
GREG ZIPADELLI: “We would love to put somebody in the car until Tony comes back.  The problem we are faced with next week is if you look at the schedules and you lay out the Nationwide schedule at Mid-Ohio and us in Michigan they don’t match up very well.  Somebody would do two half-assed jobs or we can try and find somebody that is out of the norm and put them in the car and try to go to Michigan and do the best we can.  Then hopefully maybe Bristol we could pick up with one person that maybe able to do the rest of it and obviously it would be a Nationwide driver.  There are a couple of really good people that we have talked to.  There are an awful lot of people that have reached out and obviously a lot of people would love to get in that car.  Right now we are taking it slow; we spent a lot of time on this week.  Obviously we had a lot of stuff with our sponsors and we are trying to keep them as involved as we can.  They are very important partners to Stewart-Haas and our future.  We are trying to weed out, give them some options and get their input.  Just try and do everything in the right way.”
 
ASIDE FROM RACING THE CAR HOW SOON DO YOU SEE TONY STEPPING IN TO HELP MAKE DECISIONS AND RUN THE SHIP FROM WHERE HE IS AT BEING THE LEADER OF THE GROUP?

GREG ZIPADELLI: “He has been involved.  He was in and out Tuesday/Wednesday, but we shot him a text and I talked to him about Max and a couple of our options.  He was all about Max getting in and doing it, didn’t question it.  He actually sounded pretty excited about it.  In all honesty to answer your question we are waiting for him to kind of, I’m thinking tonight/tomorrow I will be able to spend a little more time talking to him and get his input as well.  We have got a little bit of time before we need to make that decision.  I feel like before we leave here Sunday/Monday morning we need to know what we are doing when we get home.  I will probably take all of that time to make sure we make the right decision and move forward from there.”
 
WHAT DO YOU THINK TONY’S MENTALITY IS GOING TO BE OR HOW DO YOU THINK IT IS GOING TO BE FOR HIM SUNDAY WHEN HE IS THERE WATCHING THE RACE ON TV?  HOW DIFFICULT IS THAT GOING T
O BE FOR HIM?

GREG ZIPADELLI: “I think that is a really difficult moment for anybody that has been in the sport and has raced.  I think his personality and as much of a racer that he is I think it will be harder on him than anybody else.  When you look at the consecutive starts that he has had over here and how many races he has run and now he can’t get in his car.  I imagine that would be really tough on him.  We will all be there and support him.  It’s still his car he’s just out for you know a temporary spell so we will do the best we can with trying to keep him cheered up as a group.  It is what it is.  He loves racing and knows and we all know that this day could be here.  It’s here now we are just going to do the best we can to navigate through the obstructions that we have one day at a time.  Before you know it we will be talking about him getting back in it and be business as usual.”
 
MAX PAPIS: “I can tell you from the drivers stand point.  You are definitely not happy.  I have been in this situation and you can picture it as you want.  You don’t want nobody to put his butt in your car, nobody.  Knowing Tony for over 20 years I just can tell you guys that I really feel that something like this that happen to him he is going to be back with a lot more aggression that he has ever had.  Because I think that being out of the car sometimes opens up your eyes on a lot of little things.  Sometimes God makes things happen for a reason.  You never know.”
 
WHAT WAS THE RANGE OF EMOTIONS FOR YOU FROM I’M GUESSING YOU GOT A CALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.  THEN YOU IMMEDIATELY HAVE TO GO INTO WHAT NOW MODE WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY DEALING WITH ONE OF YOUR BEST FRIENDS INJURY:

GREG ZIPADELLI: “Yeah, we were in Atlanta I was sleeping.  Obviously we went down for a tire test he was supposed to meet us there in the morning.  The phone started going off about 12:42 (pm) or so and hasn’t stopped since.  I don’t know my emotions obviously my biggest concern was he okay, was he going to be okay.  Then the reason I’m there is to try and deal with whatever circumstances get thrown at us.  Other than obviously feeling bad for him and wanting to know where he was at I haven’t had a whole lot of emotions through this whole thing to be honest with you.  I have just kind of just tried to stay as focused and as level as I can and do the best job that I can for him and Stewart-Haas Racing.”
 
IS THERE ANY THOUGHT WHEN YOU ARE FOCUSING ON WHO TO TAKE OVER FOR THE NEXT RACES ON KEEPING THE NO. 14 IN THE OWNERS CHASE?

GREG ZIPADELLI: “Yeah, if we have anything to fight for right now is owner’s points and representing our sponsors the best we can and getting that car to perform at the highest level that it can for our sponsors is first and foremost.  We owe that to them.  Obviously finishing these races and collecting owner’s points is obviously a very big deal.”
 
THE LAST TIME TONY HAD A SERIOUS INJURY WAS 2006 AND YOU WERE HIS CREW CHIEF.  YOU WERE CREW CHIEF AND HE WAS THE DRIVER FOR AN ORGANIZATION. YOU ARE NOW COMPETITION DIRECTOR FOR A MULTI-CAR TEAM HE IS THE TEAM CO-OWNER AND DRIVER.  HOW IS THIS EXPERIENCE BEEN DIFFERENT AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT ADDRESSING ONE TEAM COMPARED TO HAVING TO DEAL WITH ISSUES REGARDING A WHOLE ORGANIZATION?
 
GREG ZIPADELLI: “Yeah I mean there is a little bit obviously when you are a crew chief you are… I always said this that I was paid to be selfish for the No. 20 car for all those years and just do whatever I felt was best for that group.  Now it’s different, it’s three teams, from the sponsors from the people at the shop to everybody involved.  There is different roles and responsibilities at the end of the day it’s still to do your best job and do what you can to make the situation just to get through the situation as best as we can.  Can’t lose focus on the other two teams there is still responsibility there.  There is still make sure the No. 39 has everything that they need to try and make this Chase and for Danica (Patrick) to continue to make progress.  It’s a little bit different.  Obviously a lot of focus has been spent here the last couple of days and over time I think it will weed back out to be over the whole organization.”
 
YOU HAVE TALKED ABOUT YOU KNOW TONY WILL BE OUT AT LEAST A FEW WEEKS BUT NO REAL TIMETABLE.  IS THERE ANY HOPE HE COULD BE BACK AT ATLANTA OR RICHMOND? IF HE DID THERE THEORETICALLY WOULD BE A CHANCE HE COULD STILL MAKE THE CHASE:
 
GREG ZIPADELLI: “I mean I think it’s real early to hope for that.  Obviously that would be best case scenario.  I don’t know honestly without getting into a whole lot of details.  It’s going to be a few weeks before we can even look at that and talk about it.  Right now it will be a week to week prognosis on him.  It will be week to week for us as a team to try and put the best candidate we can in it at that race track and we will go from there.”
 
YOU SAID YOU ARE NOT OPPOSED TO HAVING A VARIETY OF DRIVERS IN THERE.  COULD YOU KIND OF CUSTOM TAILOR A DRIVER TO A TRACK?  OBVIOUSLY YOU WANT CONSISTENCY, MAX HAD CONSISTENCY SINCE HE TESTED WITH YOU GUYS LAST WEEK? WOULD YOU BE OPPOSED A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE SAID KYLE LARSON, BUT IS HE TOO YOUNG TO TAKE OVER A ROLE OF THAT MAGNITUDE THIS EARLY IN HIS CAREER?

GREG ZIPADELLI: “Kyle Larson is obviously an awesome race car driver.  I think we are only seeing the beginnings of what he has to offer to the sport.  I think he is at a really crucial spot in his career of learning everything he can and not getting ‘fed to the wolves’ too soon would you say.  I think I would prefer to put from this point on put one person in that we felt was capable of doing a good solid job and trying to build some chemistry with the crew and the crew chief.  There are a lot of those little details that make up for a good day on Sunday.  Pit stops and how the driver gets in and out of the box, on and off pit road, all those things you take into account so the longer you get to work with someone the better you get to know them.  I feel like the better chance we have of having some consistent results.  I don’t know that we will honestly be able to do that just with drivers.  The drivers that we would like to put they are all racing for a championship and we need to be respectful of their position.  Make sure we don’t hinder them in the position that they are in.”
 
DO YOU PUT THE FOCUS ON THE NO. 39 SO YOU AT LEAST HAVE ONE STEWART-HAAS RACING CAR IN THE CHASE?
 
GREG ZIPADELLI: “Absolutely, I mean we will put as much focus on them as we can.  We will do the best we can with the No. 14 to maintain its owner’s point’s. That is basically what we can do and we will do the best we can at it.”
 

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CHEEZ-IT 355 AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 9, 2013
 
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed Tony Stewart’s injury, sponsor approval process to race other vehicles, his expectations at Watkins Glen this weekend, Max Papis filling-in for Stewart, and more.  FULL TRANSCRIPT:
 
WATKINS GLEN IS ONE OF THE FEW TRACKS WHERE YOU HAVEN’T WON. THAT COULD CHANGE VERY QUICKLY. TALK ABOUT YOUR PROGRESSION AS A ROAD COURSE DRIVER:
“The road course tracks, this one came a little easier to me than Sonoma. We ran the Nationwide cars here, which certainly helped.  But I seemed to be up to speed right away when we got here with the Nationwide program. In the Cup car, I’ve been competitive. I think I’ve been a Top 3 or Top 5 car. If you run long enough in the Top 3 or Top 5, you’ll have your chances to win. But I just haven’t been that race-winning car or maybe the car’s been there, I just haven’t been the race-winning driver yet here. I look forward to another opportunity this year. It’s a very fun race track to drive around. I had the pleasure of racing the GRAND-AM car here and went through the boot and really enjoyed that experience. So, all in all, I love the area and I love the track. We’re generally pretty competitive and hope to be more competitive this weekend.”
 
AFTER LAST WEEK, DID IT EVER STRIKE YOU AS HOW CRAZY IT SEEMED TO LOSE A TIRE, HIT THE WALL, HAVE ISSUES ON PIT ROAD, AND GAIN GROUND IN THE POINTS?
“The last restart, I saw where the No. 15 (Clint Bowyer) was and I thought, okay, I’m not going to lose many points to him. And it wasn’t a lap later when he and I were close to one another and then I got to the outside of him I think off of (Turn) 1 and then we raced side-by-side through (Turn) 3 to the Finish Line. I knew it was close, but either way I knew I wasn’t going to lose a lot of the points lead. I lost some to the field, but not many to second place. So that was pretty cool to come back and I was shocked that it took over a day for Clint to send me a text, a very colorful text. I expected one much sooner from him but it took a day and then I got it.”
 
HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO WRAP YOUR MIND AROUND WHAT HAPPENED TO TONY STEWART ON MONDAY AND ALSO THE PROSPECTS OF A CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE WITHOUT HIM BEING A PART OF IT?
“Yeah, it’s a big loss for our sport and certainly I know that Tony is feeling bad about being injured and the affect that it has on his Cup team. It’s crazy to think that he won’t be a player in the Chase. It’s not something that I would have ever thought, as the year got started. But, you know, I look at the coverage and opinions that are flying around and it’s troubled me some to see people giving him a hard time about his decisions to race other vehicles. We always praise him for his contributions to the motorsports world and his ability to drive and race anything and to own all these different types of vehicles. And then you look at the race tracks that he owns and his involvement with. The guy has done so much for our sport and of course we don’t want to see him injured, but I’ve been disappointed that people have given him a hard time over it.
 
“I personally praise him for all that he does for our sport, including driving sprint cars Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It’s unfortunate he got hurt but at the end of the day, the opinions that matter the most are Gene Haas’s and his sponsors. And they all knew what was going on and the risks that come with racing a sprint car. And there are some. There are some in any form of auto racing. But, again, I hate he is injured but I would be bummed if he didn’t continue to race all during the week as he has, once he is healed up from his injury because that’s the Smoke we know and love and they guy we all praise. Again, it’s just kind of a bummer to see some people giving him a hard time over it.”
 
HAVE ANY SPONSORS OR OWNERS EVER TOLD YOU NOT TO RACE IN OTHER SERIES? ALSO, JOEY LOGANO IS DRIVING A NO. 48 CAR IN THE NATIONWIDE RACE. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
“I didn’t know (laughs). I didn’t know about that. You know, every driver has an approval process that he has to go to, to compete in any other form of racing. First you go to your sponsor. In some cases, you need to go to your manufacturer to get approval. And you always go to the sponsor to get their approval. So, any and every driver has approval before they can climb into another vehicle. Our Cup contract supersedes anything else that’s out there. And you need to have approval and everybody sign off before you enter another event.”
 
THEY ARE PROJECTING ONE OF THE LARGEST CROWDS EVER AT THE GLEN THIS WEEKEND. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS TRACK HASN’T SEEN THE DROP-OFF IN ATTENDANCE THAT OTHER TRACKS HAVE?
“I think there’s great racing history here and people really love coming out here. If you go back to the Formula 1 days and IndyCar and GRAND-AM and NASCAR’s presence here, the fans here know and understand road course racing. And they appreciate it and love it. I think that’s really the reason why. They are familiar with road course racing and enjoy watching the Cup cars go around here.”
 
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT AT A TRACK LIKE THIS, AGGRESSION-WISE, FROM OTHER DRIVERS?
“It seems that we’ll start the race playing the ‘give and take’ game. And then as someone has something taken from the, they’re angry and then that take and take. And before you know it, the whole field is busy taking and no one is giving. The speeds are a lot higher here (than Sonoma). There’s really one area to be extremely greedy, which is Turn 1. Into the Bus Stop, you can try to be brave, but there are big penalties if you don’t make it. And I think out of (Turn) 10 into (Turn) 11, some guys can be greedy there; but again, the speeds are high and there is so much to lose if it goes wrong. Whereas when you go to Sonoma, the top speed is much lower and the majority of the braking zones are a lot slower, you can be brave. You can run into people; knock people out of the way and not lose as much. I don’t think we’ll see as much action as we did in Sonoma. But road course racing, especially any type of green-white-checkered at the end, you’d rather use someone up than be used up. I think that’s everybody’s philosophy when you get to a green-white-checkered.”
 
INAUDIBLE:
“The position we’re in, we can be aggressive; maybe not from running people over. That’s not in my wheelhouse to start with, but we can be aggressive from fuel strategy or tire strategy because of where we are in the points. When you get to the end of the race and it’s those short runs, if there is a caution, being aggressive usually pays off, it seems like to some degree. You do have to go race these guys next week. At least I think about that. I know some don’t, but I do.”
 
YOU ARE POSSIBLY ABLE TO CLINCH A SPOT IN THE CHASE. CAN YOU COMMENT ON THAT AND ALSO DISCUSS WHERE YOU NEED TO FINISH AND WHERE OTHER DRIVERS NEED TO FINISH FOR YOU TO CLINCH?
“Yeah, from the way I understand it leaving Pocono, Tony (Stewart) is in that position for us to clinch. It’s not the way I want to clinch, by any means with him not being here at the race track, but in my mind I’ve felt like our four wins have had us locked-in anyway. I’ve had great comfort and ease feeling like I’m locked in. So, if we do lock in mathematically, that’s great; but certainly not under the circumstances that I’d want it to happen.”
 
YOU’VE KNOWN MAX PAPIS FOR 100 YEARS. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OUT OF HIM THIS WEEKEND IN THAT KIND OF EQUIPMENT (SUB FOR TONY STEWART IN NO. 14 CHEVY SS)? AND, WHAT IS A SUCCESSFUL WEEKEND FOR HIM?
“First of all I’m excited because his mom is here and she can cook one heck of a meal (laughter)! So, I’m going to sneak over to the Papis bus. And Max an
d (wife) Tatiana can cook anything as well. So there’s good food floating around. I think Max has shown us all (his) love of our sport and we all enjoy being around him and experiencing his passion for the sport. I think the ovals have been a challenge for him to understand and learn, which it has been for a lot of open-wheel guys that come into our sport. But I wish he was still out there in that situation. But in a road course environment, he does an amazing job. And his has history with Hendrick. I think he tested the No. 14 car prior to Tony’s injury. His personality and enthusiasm is contagious. People want him around. I know he’ll do a great job on the race track. He’s been in position to run well, if not win, in the Nationwide Series; and guys have just used him up late. So hopefully with the No.14 on the door and the respect people have for that No. 14 car and the team, they won’t use him up when he’s having a good day on Sunday.”
 
REGARDLESS OF WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT EXTRACURRICULAR RACING, FROM A SPONSOR’S POINT OF VIEW DO YOU THINK WHAT HAPPENED TO TONY STEWART MAY CAUSE A MORE RESTRICTED CLIMATE IN TERMS OF WHAT SPONSORS IN GENERAL REQUIRE FROM CUP DRIVERS?
“It might. You have an opportunity to evaluate after you go through a situation like this and I’ll be interested, like all, to see what Tony’s sponsors say and then clearly, Gene Haas’s opinion on it all. But again, they knew the risks going into it on the front side. So, I wouldn’t expect a huge change and I really hope there wouldn’t be. On my side, my sponsor has been very supportive of other series that I’ve wanted to race and it’s really been my decision to not race other events. Just (due to) family time and to be around and to experience that stuff and not be racing all the time.
 
“But, we’ll have to see as time goes. I don’t think it’s going to change the environment for other drivers and sponsors because we have an approval process that we’ve always had to go through. I mean this doesn’t open up something new that hasn’t been discussed or thought about amongst driver/owner contracts or driver/sponsor contracts. Any time we want to run another vehicle, we have to go through the process and get approval. So, I don’t think it’s going to change that. Tony’s role might change a little bit. I hope it doesn’t, again. But that would be really just their team looking at it.”
 
YOU MENTIONED ‘THE BOOT’ HERE AT THE GLEN AND YOU’VE RACED IT IN GRAND-AM. DO YOU EVER SEE NASCAR DOING THE BOOT (INCLUDING IN CONFIGURATION)?
“I would love them to run us down through there. I don’t know the Turn number, but the first corner would be exciting in one of our race cars. You can crest the hill and have a blind entry into that left-hander. I could see us having some big problems there would be my only concern (laughs); but we’re professionals. We understand the risks and I think it would be worth the risk to run us through there. It is a very, very fun experience down through ‘the boot’.”
 
DO SEE ROOM, EVER, FOR A ROAD COURSE IN THE CHASE FORMAT?
“It wouldn’t hurt my feelings, but there are others much higher up the food chain than myself, that make those decisions. You’d probably have a mixed opinion from drivers as to who would want it and who would not. I think a factor to consider would be attendance and viewership; and for whatever reason, we seem to slip a little in viewership and attendance when we get to a road course event.
 
“The ovals seem to be stronger in what our core fans like to see and experience. So, I think the decision is more inside of that than anything. But if it was on personal opinion, I wouldn’t have a problem with it at all.”
 
YOU HAVE BEEN SAVING YOUR TESTS AS YOU RAMP-UP FOR THE CHASE. IN YOUR POSITION, EVERY RACE TO SOME DEGREE IS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THE CHASE. BUT WITH THIS WEEKEND PLUS MICHIGAN AND BRISTOL, THOSE TRACKS DON’T REALLY COMPARE, SO WHAT DO YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THESE TRACKS WHERE THERE’S REALLY NOT A DIRECT COMPARISON THAT YOU ARE GOING TO VISIT THAT HELPS YOU GET READY FOR THAT CHAMPIONSHIP RUN?
“We can learn a little at Michigan, I think, to carry over. But you’re right with Bristol and here. It doesn’t apply to anywhere. But they are great race tracks and trophies to go get. Both would be very meaningful to me; all three would. I have not won here before and I would love to scratch this track off the list. Michigan, I’ve been close six, eight, or 10 times and haven’t been able to close the deal there and would love that opportunity. And then the Bristol night race is just awesome, and I again, would like to win that race. So, there may not be Chase set-up implications through these three races, but they certainly are on (my) personal agenda and would do great things for the team (in) boosting morale, and bonus points to go get. So, there’s still a lot on the line and we’ll be aggressive to try to go out there and win.”
 
HAVE YOU SPOKEN WITH TONY STEWART SINCE HIS ACCIDENT?
“I have not. He was never good at answering his phone to start with (laughter) and now it’s an even more difficult time to touch base. I’ve certainly tried. I’ve been in touch with Eddie (Jarvis) quite a bit and I’m going to try to go see him next week. We’ll go see him and track him down because he’s terrible at answering his phone (laughs).”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
CHEEZ-IT 355 AT THE GLEN
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 9, 2013
 
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Watkins Glen International, and discussed racing at Watkins Glen, Tony Stewart’s injuries, Regan Smith and other topics. Full transcript:
 
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING INTO THE RACE AT WATKINS GLEN AS YOU PREPARE FOR THE CHASE?
“I don’t know, I’ve run pretty good here a couple times, but my expectations coming to these road courses is always pretty low.  That way I go away feeling pretty good about whatever result we get.  It’s a fun track and probably of the two road courses, the one I enjoy the most and I do appreciate the history of the race track itself.  Pretty aware of how this place came about and all the Formula 1 races and other events that have been held here way before we started coming here.  It’s a great area and a pretty fun race track.  It’s really one that we seem to kind of hit and miss on.  Sometimes we actually come here and we’re relatively quick and sometimes we come here and nothing seems to be working.  We’ll just have to see what kind of car we’ve got and work real hard and try not to ruin it.  Last year we were looking like we were going to get a top-10 and I spun out over there on the back side of the track so we’ll just try to do a better job of not making as many mistakes.”
 
WOULD YOU BE OPEN TO REGAN SMITH DRIVING THE NO. 14 CUP CAR FOR TONY STEWART IF THE OPPORTUNITY WAS PRESENTED?
“I’d be the first to put Regan’s (Smith) name in the hat for that kind of opportunity.  I understand that we are racing for a championship and I think that could actually help Regan understand.  It would be a challenge, but I think it could help him in some ways and be an advantage to him maybe to have that extra track time and just be able to have some other ideas in his head about what can improve his car.  I would be for that and it would also give him an opportunity to showcase himself and give himself possibly a chance to get some interest on the Cup side as far as ownership goes and get some guys maybe wanting to put him back in the car full time on this side of the deal.  That would be good for him.”
 
WOULD YOU NOT WANT A ROAD COURSE IN THE CHASE?
“Yeah, no I’m not a big fan of them.  They’re fun to watch.  If you could put aside your feelings about wanting to finish well, win or points then they are kind of fun to be in.  If you can get over the potential pitfalls and things that could happen to you, especially at the end, the restarts and everything when we have late restarts people just kind of go nuts and you have to run over people or be run over.  There’s two things that can happen to you, you are either going to run somebody over or get run over.  There’s no middle ground really.  It’s whatever the popular opinion is, if fans want to see road courses and if they want 10 road courses in the Chase then that’s what needs to happen.  I, myself, I’m just one guy, but I like ovals a lot better than road courses.”
 
DID THE INCIDENT IN SONOMA IMPACT HOW YOU VIEWED YOUR EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES IN RACE CARS?
“Well it had an effect on me, everybody’s different.  It’s everybody’s opinion is going to be different as far as being a driver and certainly the injury and style of injury that you have could make a difference as well.  I remember we went to — the burns that I had really didn’t talk about that much and tell a lot of people what kind of injuries we had or what the injuries were.  I know that when we went to Bristol and I still had some open wounds in my legs that I probably should have had skin-graphed, but those really stung when we got all that champagne in them from winning the Nationwide race and the Cup race.  It just sort of put things in perspective for me.  If I enjoyed road racing as much as Tony (Stewart) enjoys dirt cars then you wouldn’t give it up and I wouldn’t have.  I would have gone back and done it more.  Those were just really, I wouldn’t compare what I was doing to what Tony was doing because his passion and love for that far exceeded what I felt about racing sports cars.  I just really liked the relationship that I had with Corvette and Chevrolet, but I was really never a sports car fan per se.  That was not very hard for me to shut that out of my life and do without it.  Just going through the process of healing and knowing burns take so long to heal and knowing how much of a pain in the butt that was, it was easy for me to not want to do that anymore.  I think if I could, you know how some drivers run late model races like Brad Keselowski went up and ran a race in Canada a couple weeks ago, that’s something that I dream about or daydream about doing is on an off-weekend taking my late model and running Motor Mile or something like that.  The only reason I don’t is just because I’m not sure about what the balance would be between standing there signing autographs all day and being able to run a 50-lap feature.  I miss the comradery and all the volunteer help going and just being with your buddies and racing.  I’d love to do that and get back to that style of racing one day.  I think that for me shutting out the sports cars was kind of easy because it wasn’t something that I had that much passion for and it was just a one-off deal.  Every once in a while we would do it with Boris (Said) or anybody that we happen to team up with to go have fun.  The two are really not the same with what happened to me and what happened to Tony.”
 
CAN YOU COMMENT ON WHAT ITS LIKE FOR REGAN SMITH TO COME TO WATKINS GLEN AND RACE IN FRONT OF HIS HOMETOWN?
“I don’t really know how he feels about coming here and running.  He doesn’t have a ton of confidence about his road course ability, but he’s kind of like me.  I think he’s having a great year and he’s enjoying himself and he’d like to get back to finishing well like they were at the beginning of the season and get himself back in the points.  A couple of them races, Road America and a couple other places were pretty regrettable for him, but he’s trying to rebound and get back in the groove and hopefully finish this year out really strong.  I’m sure he’s looking forward to trying to do well this weekend.  We get along really great.  We hang out quite a bit away from the race track, most of the time drivers don’t really spend a lot of time around each other off the circuit, but we get along great.  He’s a lot of fun.  Good guy and it’s fun to sort of have him part of the team and everybody on the team and in the office enjoys him and it’s easy to want to get behind people that have the kind of energy and attitude that he has.  It’s been a real boost for our company and he’s worked really, really hard.”
 
WHAT IS YOUR GENERAL REACTION TO TONY STEWART GETTING HURT RACING SOMETHING ELSE?
“I was just real sick to my stomach about it.  I woke up for some reason at five o’clock in the morning, which is rare and I just couldn’t sleep so I grabbed my iPad and that was the first thing that I saw and I just couldn’t believe it.  I felt like I must have been dreaming.  Tony (Stewart) is one of my competitors and you really aren’t supposed to have, you really aren’t supposed to have the kind of admiration I guess that I have for Tony as he is my competitor.  You want to go out there and beat him on the race track and he’s fun to race with, he’s a hard racer and he takes it as good as he can get it.  A lot of guys can’t take it very well.  You all know what kind of guy he is so I won’t go on and on about it, but I hated it for him just knowing what being out of t
he car is like and knowing how much he loves what he does and loves how much he enjoys driving no matter what it is.  I know he feels bad you know.  He hates to put his company and team in this situation and he personally is a bit upset and saddened.  Just knowing the kind of guy he is, I hate that he has to go through that and I know they’ll be a lot of pain and rehab and things like that he will have to face and that’s unfortunate and you hate to see people have to deal with that.  He’s tough though, he’s really, really tough and everybody knows that he’s just going to beat the hell out of this and get back in the car before you know it.  He’ll probably be back in the car before the doctors want to let him in.  I don’t anticipate this really slowing him down at all.”
 
WILL THIS CHANGE TONY STEWART AND WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT?
“I don’t think it will.  I think it makes you appreciate what you do anytime something like this where you are put on standby or taken away from you, I think you appreciate it more, if that’s possible.  I think when you come back you are even more tenacious and fired up than you were before.  You just take it for granted that you just get to do it every weekend and once that’s gone just for a little bit even, you really sort of reset your priorities and I think you come back stronger and more determined.”
 
WHAT DOES IT DO NOT TO HAVE TONY STEWART IN THE CHASE RACING AGAINST YOU?  “He’s a lot of fun to race with so you’ll miss that competition as much as everybody wants their job to be easier, you’ll miss the competition that Tony (Stewart) brings to the table every week and I think the fans will miss that as well.  There’s a lot of guys in the series that are just real fun to race against.  Especially when the cars are so equal and you can get out there and really get after it, he’s a lot of fun. He’ll be back before any of us are ready and he’ll be tougher and more determined.  I expect a lot of good racing lays ahead for him.”
 
DOES BEING OUT OF A RACE CAR DO ANYTHING TO YOUR CONFIDENCE?
“No, not really.  Not really.  I think as far as, drivers have pretty big egos so I don’t think that none of us, I don’t think our confidence is something that’s easily swayed.  I feel like you do everything you can while you’re not in the car to make you feel as close to the action as possible so you get the entire experience except for the driving obviously.  When you go back into the car it’s almost like you haven’t been gone or the process is seamless as far as the transition to getting back into the car.  You’ll go test and run somewhere I’m sure, most drivers when they have an injury that gets them out of the car, they get a couple laps somewhere to see speed and know that I’m not going to miss a beat.  This all makes sense and feels normal so by the time you go race you are ready to go.”
 
WHERE DO YOU FALL BETWEEN TONY STEWART FEELING BAD AS A TEAM OWNER VERSUS BEING GOOD FOR NASCAR TO HAVE HIM RUN OTHER SERIES?
“I think Tony (Stewart) just ought to do what he wants to do.  I think if he wants to race everywhere every night of the week that’ what he wants to do, that’s what makes him happy.  He understands the risks and the situations that can happen and it was worth it to put in that kind of effort and go do it.  I really don’t feel, I know he’s upset that he feels like he’s let his team down and that’s nothing you can really do to make him change his mind about that because he understands that his priority and top priority is his Cup program, especially being an owner.  He wears a lot of hats and he wears them really well and he’s such an asset to the sport as a driver and to come in as an owner and do the things that he’s done and have the success that he’s had.  He’s become even more important to the sport.  When we talk about personalities and how that drives the sport, he’s definitely the top of the list as one of the more important ones and the more influential ones that sort of drive the needle.  I think that he’s got to do what makes him happy and that’s why you like him.  That’s where the appeal is with Tony I think is he’s a blue collar racers racer.  He can get down on the ground level and he might be the owner of the Cup team and owner of a race track, championship driver, but he can get down in the dirt and get his hands dirty and get behind the wheel of a sprint car and win anywhere in the country on any night.  I think that’s part of the appeal with him is that he’s that kind of guy that can do that.  We all compare him to AJ Foyt and guys like that who used to race all the time and just compile an amazing resume and I think that’s definitely a positive for him.  He enjoys it.  It’s whatever makes him happy, I think he ought to be able to get out there.  He’s leveraged his life to where he can make those kinds of decisions and be able to enjoy that part of it.  I think more power to him.”
 

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.

BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT FROM TODAY’S INTERVIEW: 

JENNIE LONG:  Good morning, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference.  We are joined by Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet for Earnhardt‑Ganassi Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
 
In 13 career road course starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Montoya has two wins and eight top‑10 finishes.  His most recent premier series win came in 2010 at Watkins Glen International, site of Sunday’s Cheez‑It 355.  Juan, going into Watkins Glen, a place where you’ve won before, how important is this weekend for your chances to make the Chase?
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, I think this weekend for us is really, really important.  First of all, thanks for having me.
 
I’ll tell you, I think we’ve got a lot of really good tracks coming for us, and I mean, we know that we made a lot of ‑‑ we made as a team a lot of mistakes.  This weekend was mine, but overall as a team we made too many mistakes, and we do want to try to change the season around, and to be honest with you that’s the perfect opportunity to do it.
Q.  I was just wondering your general reaction to Tony Stewart’s injury and the fact that he’s going to be not racing at the Glen where he was obviously going to be one of the favorites along with yourself and some of the others.  I was also wondering if you could touch on your experience missing races when you injured your shoulder in 2005 and what that was like to be sitting on the sidelines.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, to be honest with you, I think what Tony is going to go through is pretty bad.  After what happened to Leffler earlier in the year, everybody was like, ooh, do we want to keep racing sprint cars and stuff.  I’ll tell you, NASCAR really does a very good job for safety.  The truck standards, the car standards are so much better today.  I’ve been here for seven years, and seven years ago it was good, and nowadays with the new cars, the cars are really, really safe.
 
I feel really comfortable.  Not having Tony there this weekend, it’s a shame, because as you said, he’s always a contender.  He always runs well there.  He’s going to be missed.
Q.  I heard you on a show last week talking about Sonoma versus Watkins Glen, and I know it’s real easy, a lot of people want to compare the two, but I thought you had a pretty interesting take where you were describing Watkins Glen favoring road racing skills a little bit more than Sonoma does.  Could you elaborate on that?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, my honest opinion, it’s fine because the first place ever I drove in the U.S., I did my driving school in Sonoma.  I did the Skip Barber Driving School back in ’92, and that for me I thought was a really awesome racetrack.  In a Cup car it’s actually a really easy track.  It’s a lot of ‑‑ you can’t hustle the car.  It’s a place where it’s all about timing it and being smooth on the throttle.
 
As a road racer, you don’t have a big advantage because there’s nowhere where you’re, okay, you need big cojones to go through the corner.  You don’t have that in Sonoma, where in the Glen all the esses, going over the curves and the backstop, it’s always a challenge, and for guys that run in ovals every week, that is very difficult.  And for me my background is road racing going over curves and hustling the car, that’s what it’s all about.
 
And something that has been really cool this year is with the new Gen‑6 car, it’s so much more agile on road cases, and that makes it so much more fun.
Q.  Is there any other tracks that maybe are not on the NASCAR schedule maybe that you’ve driven before that you’d like to see as far as road racing goes?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, sometimes I kind of envy the Nationwide guys when they go to like Road Atlanta.  There’s a lot of cool places where they go that we don’t, the way our schedule is, to get new races and new places, but Road America would be a great place.  Road Atlanta, oh, my God, that’s a place (inaudible).
 
Honestly, there’s a few places like mid‑Ohio, like mid‑Ohio, I think mid‑Ohio would be a fun place.  It’s a slow track kind of like Sonoma, but it’s got a lot more corners.  So what happens for me for Sonoma is, like the best part of the track was the loop and we don’t use it.  Same thing at the Glen.  It’s interesting because you talk to drivers and sometimes we gossip, and we all say, man, why we don’t run the boot, and they think the lap is too long with the boot and it would take too much time to go around all the track, but I think it would be an awesome track using the whole track.
Q.  I’m curious, you don’t run a whole lot of races beyond Cup.  I’m curious, do people ask you often to run either Nationwide or other events, and do you not do them because you just simply don’t want to, or do you want to avoid any sort of risk of injury?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, to be honest with you, I’m surprised that I don’t really get asked that much to be honest with you, especially like road racing.  I think people ‑‑ I’ll be honest with you, I was pretty outspoken especially earlier when I was doing the Nationwide races that I felt like it was too much.  I felt like we were doing too much racing, and it was too much, so I think people think that I don’t want to do them.
 
But I think if a good opportunity would come to drive a road course ‑‑ a Nationwide on a road course, I think I would probably do it.  I would have to ask Chip’s permission first, but I think he would be okay with it.
Q.  And looking at the Glen and the fact that you’re about 21 points or so out of 20th, do you look at this as any sort of opportunity that if you can win that you’re still Chase eligible?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Oh, absolutely.  There is a lot of really good races coming that we’ve been very close to winning this year that going there we know we have a chance, and you know, we know we’re throwing a lot of points away.  We ran out of gas with one lap to go at Sonoma, for example, running second, and we converted a second‑place finish into a 36th‑place finish.  We can’t do that.
 
Like same thing this week, I made a mistake, we had loose tires in the pits, we had a gearbox failed.  Everything freak that could happen has been happening, so it makes it a little hard.
 
But we know that if we go to the Glen ‑‑ and we’ve been testing.  We did VR test before Sonoma, and we did a Road Atlanta test, and we feel our car is really, really strong, and if you normally look at my performance in Sonoma compared with the Glen, in Sonoma I can run okay but I’m never really good, and this year I probably had one of the best cars there.
 
So going to Sonoma with the car the way it was and heading to the Glen this weekend, I’m really excited.
Q.  You and Marcos Ambrose both have two wins in Cup and all four on road courses.  Do you ever think about that?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Oh, that we won on road courses?  Of course we do.  And on ovals, as well, it’s what we’re here for.  90 percent of the season runs in ovals.  It’s not that we’re not trying.  I’ve been very close, a lot of opportunities, we’ve thrown them away. We’ve found ways to screw them up.  But to tell you the truth, as a team we keep our head up and we keep fighting, and believe me, we believe we have a chance.  We really, really believe that we have a good chance.
 
We’ve just got to make sure ‑‑ the way we do it, like probably Marcos and myself, the only thing we need to do at the Glen to have a chance of winning is not screw up.  Yeah, honestly.  If we have 10
pit stops, we’re in the top three.  I’ll guarantee you we’re in the top three.  Worst case scenario we’re fourth.  If we run out of brakes we’ll finish fifth.
Q.  Just to follow up on the earlier question about Tony Stewart, Tony is the boss there at Stewart‑Haas, but are you surprised that his sponsors let him do this, let him go out and ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, that’s just Tony.  I talk to Tony sometimes, and this year he was so excited he was going to go over 100 races in a year.  It’s like for him, making 100 races in a year was a big deal.  And you don’t see the dangers.  You don’t think it’s dangerous, but there’s always a risk factor; you know what I mean?  It’s racing.  There’s nothing you can do.  And when you’re the boss, as well, it’s a little more flexible, I think.
Q.  You’ve driven on some of the world’s best road circuits and have won at Monaco, Watkins Glen and elsewhere.  How does the Glen rank with some of the other courses you’ve raced on around the world?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think the Glen is a great place.  It’s one of those ‑‑ I don’t know how to explain it to you, but it’s got a lot of character, and it’s got the classic character of a really good track.  If you notice through the years with Formula 1, with safety and everything with the safety, the tracks, especially in Europe have lost a lot of character, especially with the Formula 1 races because the runoff areas are so far away.  You know what I mean? I think it takes a lot of the challenge.
 
And the Glen has that.  You go through those esses, the top of the esses, the exit is the guardrail.  I mean, oh, my God, if you get it wrong there it’s going to hurt.
Q.  You’ve come very close to winning on ovals this year.  Would winning on an oval in NASCAR be especially meaningful to you?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Oh, yeah.  I mean, I’ll tell you the truth, in a way it has really sucked that we haven’t won yet because we’ve been so close so many times, but at the same time we see it as that’s racing, and we can’t do anything about it but just keep working on it, and I think if we keep our head down it’s going to happen.
 
This year I felt like we’ve been closer than ever, and I think as a team we’ve just been doing a really, really good job, and we’ve been really proud of all the guys, how hard they’ve been working this year.
 
You know, you see our team where they came from last year, how far off we were last year to where we are right now, I think it’s been really, really exciting to see.
Q.  Have you had an opportunity to watch Kyle Larson race?  The fact that he’s been added to the roster as a development driver for Earnhardt‑Ganassi Racing, have you had time to spend with him?  What do you think?  What do you think his prospects are moving forward?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, I think he seems to have a lot of talent.  He’s been doing really good things.  With every young driver there’s weeks where they’re better than others, but I always believe that’s kind of normal.  You can’t expect a young kid to nail it every week, but I think he’s been doing a really good job.  Chip, he saw an opportunity to have a young guy for the future, and I think it’s great.  I think it’s great for the team and it’s great for everybody.
Q.  Can you just talk about what Shine has brought to your team over the last year and a half?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, I’ll tell you, when Shine came aboard it was hard at the beginning.  I think his point of view and my point of view were very different, what I wanted out of the car, what he wanted to bring to the table, and I think that made it hard in the beginning of the relationship, and I think as time went by he got more experience.  We got better at working together.
 
Right now we do a really good job.  We work really well together.
 
I’ll give an example.  The last couple weeks we felt we’ve been unloading a lot better, but through the weekend we haven’t gained enough.  We go testing, and when we go testing we feel we work the same way but we gain on the car a lot, and if you can see everywhere we test, we’re very, very competitive.  And we felt like, you know, we’re maybe trying to do too much, and we sit down and we talk about it.
 
It’s something that is really good with Shine.  It’s something that we don’t have to ‑‑ you know what I mean?  I tell him, if you don’t like it, tell me.  If I don’t like it, I’m going to tell you.  We have a very open relationship.  We know what we want to do, what we need to do, and I always say, if you feel I need to do something different, tell me.  If I want or need to do something different, I’ll tell you.
 
It’s very open.  He’s a really hard‑working guy, so it’s fun.  Right now it’s fun because we go every week, we run good, we qualify better.  I think my qualifying average is like 13th this year, that I think is pretty good compared to like ‑‑ I think it’s 10 or 12 places better than last year.  So it just makes it ‑‑ it makes it fun to go to the racetracks and know that you’re going to be good and you’re going to be competitive.
Q.  Have you used all your tests this year?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  No, not yet.  We’ve still got some.
Q.  What are your plans going forward for your remaining tests?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you or if I can tell you.  We’ve got a plan; put it that way.
Q.  With all your experience in racing at different levels, different sanctions and stuff, do you think it takes a special level of skill to excel at road course racing?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  No, it’s the same thing as oval racing.  I think the way I always seen it, if you’re a good driver, you can drive anywhere. You’ll drive dirt, you’ll drive ‑‑ you just need a little bit of time and good people around you to succeed.
 
The problem ‑‑ you know what I mean?  I have a lot of road course experience.  I did that all my life, so that’s like second nature to me.  You know, we go testing anywhere, tracks that I haven’t been in years, and within five laps I’m on pace, and it’s easy.
Q.  Tony Stewart won’t be back for a while ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Who’s going to replace him this weekend?  That’s what I want to know.  That’s good gossip right there.
Q.  Yeah, it’s wild on Twitter right now; everybody is wondering about it.  I talked to Dr. Jerry Punch some time ago about drivers racing when they’re injured, and he said often times they do better when they’re injured.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, look at Brad last year.
Q.  Do you feel that way, too?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, I think Brad did a really good job last year.  You look at every other year from Brad, and last year was exceptional. It’s pretty amazing.
Q.  You say you’re more of a road racer.  Do you feel like that’s your advantage going into this race?  There’s a lot of guys in the circuit, more of an oval race, that’s what they’re more used to in a way.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, there’s some guys that grew up in karting, but if you pay attention to guys that run good now on road courses, a lot of them have karting.  They have their own go‑karts, and with the track in Morrisville, they all go there during the week.  They all practice, so they’re getting better at it.  The problem is now they can drive a go‑kart, and that’s where I grew up.  I did 14 years of karting.  I grew up on that.  Now the hard thing is learning the transition from karting to that.
Q.  Do you find Watkins Glen to be a bit easier than Sonoma, or are both technical?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think both are technical.  I think the Glen i
s way challenging because it’s got way faster corners like the esses.  The risk factor of getting it wrong is a lot bigger at the Glen than at Sonoma.  I think at Sonoma you get it wrong you go to the dirt and you come back.
Q.  If you would have had the opportunity to use KERS and DRS in F1, how would it have affected your driving style?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I never really drove with DRS or any of that.  I think overtaking, it’s an art, and you’ve got to be good at it, and you’ve got to ‑‑ you know, you’ve got to make mistakes and you’ve got to screw it up a million times to learn to get it right.  And that’s how you grow up in racing, and you keep getting better at it, and it becomes like an art.
 
The same thing overtaking on an oval; it has its own way that you’ve got to learn to do it, and when you figure it out, it works really well.  And when you put all those electronic aids, you don’t have to learn to pass anymore.  You catch the guy and then your wing drops and you drive past the guy down the straight.
 
JENNIE LONG:  Thank you for joining us, Juan.  Good luck this weekend.
 

GREG ZIPADELLI, COMPETITION DIRECTOR OF STEWART-HAAS RACING AND MAX PAPIS, INTERIM DRIVER FOR THE NO. 14 RUSH TRUCK CENTERS/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET SS, WERE GUESTS ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
JAYME AVRIT:  Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference.  Our guests today are Greg Zipadelli, Competition Director for Stewart‑Haas Racing, and Max Papis, interim driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet at Watkins Glen International for Stewart‑Haas Racing.
 
In 35 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Papis scored his career best finish of eighth at Watkins Glen in 2009.  He is a seven‑time winner in the GRAND‑AM Rolex Sports Car Series, which includes a Daytona prototype victory at Watkins Glen and the 2004 Sahlen’s Sports Car Grand Prix. Papis won the 2004 GRAND‑AM Rolex Sports Car Series championship with co‑driver Scott Pruett and is a two‑time winner of the prestigious Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in 2000 and 2002.  His most recent NASCAR start was in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series at Tours Speedway in France where he finished second on July 6th.
 
Greg and Max, despite a good bit of adversity this week you come into Watkins Glen looking as strong as ever.  Greg, walk us through how you selected Max to drive the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet this weekend.
 
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Max and I have worked together in the past when I was at JGR with Joey.  He helped us and went to Road Atlanta test with us and helped, and then Steve Addington and the 14 car wanted to do a Road Atlanta test about two weeks ago, and we reached out to Max, and he was able to do it.  Tony had some commitments and was going to come down the second day.
 
They had the car that we’re racing, the primary car at Road Atlanta.  We tested it with Max.  He did a really good job.  Steve felt like he had a good relationship with Max.  They communicated well.  So in all honesty it was a perfect shoe‑in for us, because as I said, we had been working together recently.  There was also a little dialogue between Steve and Max.  I’ve had a relationship with Max for a while now, so we just felt like it was our best bet to be able to communicate well over the weekend and get the most out of the car that we could.
 
JAYME AVRIT:  Max, what were your first impressions of Stewart‑Haas Racing as you tested with the team back on July 30th at Road Atlanta?
 
MAX PAPIS:  Yeah, first of all, I want to wish Tony a quick recovery.  I mean, he had odd circumstances, and it’s never good that something like this is happening.  But obviously I was here in Haas Racing like a long time ago when I actually raced for Haas Racing in Sonoma, and I was just a part of the test schedule, to go there and help them out, and obviously when the situation with Tony arose, I felt that if they needed my help, I was here and I was available.
 
I know I have the confidence and the ability to go out there and do the best for them.  I called Zippy and I told him if you need my help I am going to be here and available, and I let go and let the Lord take care of everything else.
Q.  Zippy, I’m just wondering, you guys have just basically talked about this weekend.  Is there any way to talk about what you’re expecting beyond this weekend?  Are you thinking that Tony could come back any time soon?  Is this going to be something that takes weeks or months, or what’s a general timeline?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Well, I don’t think we have a timeline right now.  I think Tony has one more surgery that needs to be addressed.  I think at that time in the next 24 to 48 hours we will have a much better idea of exactly what the healing process will be and will be able to do a better job of ‑‑ is it six weeks or is it longer?  Honestly we really do not have an answer for that right now.  As soon as we do, we will try and do a good job of keeping everybody updated of what it looks like.
 
As far as next week and on, we’ve got a few candidates and we’re talking to a few people.  We’ve got a lot of people that have obviously reached out.  We’re not sure if we can put one person in until Tony gets back or we’re going to have to do multiple people.
 
Our main priority was this was such short notice, and it was to get Max in here yesterday, get the seat and all the things that we needed to change in this car and get this car headed to Watkins Glen this afternoon, take care of all the stuff that we’re doing now, and then we’ll get behind some closed doors and kind of really decide who will be the best candidate for the 14 car and SHR to try and maintain what we can in owner’s points.  That’s all I have for you right now.
Q.  But it is something that you’re looking at that’s going to take at least a few weeks?  I mean, he’s not coming back ‑‑
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Absolutely, absolutely.  It’s a few weeks, so we need the next two or three weeks lined up, and that’s what we’re going to start working on this afternoon or tomorrow, and as soon as we have something, I promise we’ll do our best to get it out to you.  But there’s nothing there now.  It’s taken us all day yesterday ‑‑ we were in Atlanta for the tire test, had to wake up pilots, get on a plane yesterday morning, fly home.  We didn’t get to the shop until 8:30 by the time we landed.  Honestly we were just a little bit behind all day, and Watkins Glen and dealing with our sponsors and making sure that they were all on board and doing everything we can to make the best of a bad situation.  So like I said, as soon as we get done with this, we’ll start working on the next few weeks.
Q.  I’ve got two questions for you. The first one I just want you to address and clear up, because there’s been so much speculation:  What is your position on Tony racing in all these extracurricular things?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Hey, it’s a tough one.  We all know that.  We all know Tony loves to do those races.  We know that that’s his golf game, that’s his hunting, his fishing, all the things that the rest of us do.  You know, there is a difference in the amount of responsibility we have and obligations to other people, and that’s where I think that’s kind of where it gets sticky.
 
I think it makes him better at what he does here, but it obviously leaves the door open for a situation that we’re in now.  I think that as many races as he’s run in the past, we’re probably lucky that this is the first time we’re dealing with this to be perfectly honest with you.  You know, we’ll do our best at Stewart‑Haas to put pieces together and sit down and evaluate it, and I think it’s ‑‑ it would be a lot easier to look at and talk about things right now because we’re in the situation that we’re in moving forward.
 
That doesn’t mean anything other than we will talk about it, we’ll discuss it and we’ll try and do what’s best for Stewart‑Haas and our partners in the future.
Q.  My second question is as far as I can recall, a shoulder injury in 2006 in the Cup car is the only injury I can recall.  How are you guys dealing with this?  What’s the morale?  And what was your reaction, because I can’t recall any other injury?  Were you surprised?  What’s everybody feeling? What are you thinking?  And is this a discussion that you guys will have with him going forward?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Well, yes.  I mean, obviously I was in a hotel room in Atlanta when I got the call.  We always get updates.  He texts me every night after a heat race, qualifying; doesn’t matter what time it is or what’s going on.  And when my phone went off, it wasn’t a text or the call that I had expected.  Honestly, like I said, he’s run so many of these races and flipped in tho
se things.  I think me and him and everybody around us didn’t think Superman could get hurt.  This is his day.
 
As far as morale, everybody at Stewart‑Haas, all of our partners have been extremely, extremely positive, supporting in all the things that we need to do to keep racing, and hopefully, like I said, we’re certainly wishing him a speedy recovery.  We’ll know a lot more in the next 24 to 48 hours exactly what that recovery is.
Q.  I have one question for Zippy and one for Max.  For Zippy, obviously as someone who has worked with Tony for a long time, this possibility probably always existed even when you were a crew chief, and I just wondered how the team handled it.  I’m sure even people at SHR are familiar with what Tony does in his spare time, but how has it affected the people on the 14 team?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Well, I mean, let’s face it, first and foremost everybody is worried about Smoke and how soon is he going to be back.  He’s a crucial part of Stewart‑Haas Racing.  I mean, he’s the man.  Everybody, I think, right now has pulled together and doing whatever it takes to get this car to Watkins Glen and have the best day that we can there, and we’ll kind of take it week by week.
 
I think it’s real early to say to you anything other than that because that’s truly the atmosphere and the situation that we’re dealing with here.  I think will people be frustrated, will people be disappointed down the road and things of that nature?  I don’t know, hopefully we’ll do a good job of encouraging them and going to the racetrack and having good runs, and we’ll make the best of the situation.
 
Everybody here is disappointed because Tony is not in the car this weekend, and we’re all, like I said, wishing him a speedy recovery.  I hate to be so generic, but in all honesty that’s just really where we’re at right now, you know?
Q.  And for Max, I know this was short notice, but you did test the car.  Would you consider this one of the best opportunities you will have to collect a win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series?
MAX PAPIS:  Obviously it was a very short notice, but as I always say, if things are written, they are written, and in one way the things I’m the most proud of is that through the years, when I sat in the NASCAR car for the first time in Daytona in 1996, I’m sure none of you guys and even me would have ever imagined an Italian guy could have been sitting in a car.  Now I have this opportunity, I’m going to do the best I can.
 
Obviously I’m not going to go out there to run 20th or 25th.  I’m going to go out there to make everyone proud and do the best job I can, and I know that my best job is pretty good.  I have confidence in what I can do, and I have confidence, as well, that my personality and my spirit, it’s something good for this team.
 
Like in circumstances like this, I believe that the joy that I bring in my heart and I joy that I have for the sport hopefully is going to bring up the morale of everyone in the organization, and obviously if we add this to a good result it would be even better.
 
Kind of answering a little bit ‑‑ not answering, but talking to you guys a second about what you guys were talking before, we are athletes.  Race car drivers are athletes, so you can’t cut the wing of us in a way.  You can get hurt walking on the street or doing something like that, and we are good in what we do, and Stewart is good at what he does because he is Stewart. He’s a guy that is one of the unique guys that can go and drive anything.
 
I think at the end of the day, you can make out of this like big things or you can make out of this like something that happened and could have happened in your garage or driving out of the street or hurting yourself walking out here.  It’s just a matter of a situation.
 
The things that I enjoy to watch here in this organization is how fast everyone reacted and how decisions were made and intelligent decisions were made, and I think this proves the spirit of doing things right is all around here.
Q.  I have a question for Max.  You sort of touched on this, but I was wondering going into this weekend’s race, what are your expectations from a competitive standpoint as far as what you hope to accomplish, and what’s the team’s expectations of you to do, and are they different in any way?  In other words, are you going to go out there and obviously you hope to win, and is the team saying, look, we just want a good finish out of here?
MAX PAPIS:  I mean, I can answer that my expectations are always do the best I can.  I know that I have a gift from God to drive cars properly and do a good job, and that’s the thing I do.
 
How I look at this, and I told Zippy this yesterday, as well:  I’m 42 years old.  I’m proud of what I’ve done so far in my career.  Obviously this, I don’t look at this like a career‑changing something that is going to ‑‑ I look at this like an amazing opportunity in a terrible circumstances, and that’s it.  I’m just going to go out there and enjoy every lap I have, enjoy every second I have with the guys, and keep that seat warm for Smoke until he’s going to come back.  And who knows, maybe in the future we’re going to have some laughs to share about what I did in this car or anything.  You never know.
 
I think that things are written, and I believe that sometimes if you push for opportunities, they don’t come, and sometimes things come because of reasons.  And again, the things that I’m the most proud of, as I told you guys before, is the fact that I’m even considered about this opportunity.  There are hundreds of guys out there that can drive this car, but I guess that ‑‑ I always say it’s not about the money you make, it’s not about anything that you do, but it’s about the story you write.  And I guess that so far I’ve been writing a pretty decent story to get a call from Stewart‑Haas Racing.
Q.  Did you just talk with Stewart‑Haas Racing officials, or have you spoken to Tony at all?
MAX PAPIS:  What do you mean?  No, I didn’t talk to Tony.  I didn’t talk to him.  I sent him an email when I was testing his car telling him that his lap belt fit me, so it was actually funny stuff.  I don’t tell you the answer.
 
But besides everything, it’s okay.  No, I haven’t talked to him.  I only talked to the crew chief and Zippy.  Obviously it was very short notice.  I was going to go and do an appearance yesterday.  I turned my truck around with my kids in, and I came over here to work on the seat.
 
Again, it’s doing the best out of difficult circumstances.
Q.  Do you know the exact location of Tony’s fracture, how high it was above the ankle?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  No.  No, we’re ‑‑ I don’t know exactly where it is.  It is above the ankle, below the knee.  I hate to be so generic about where it was.  A lot of the particulars and things, like I said, Tony is still in Iowa, and I talk to him.  We get reports.  He’s doing okay.  It’ll be another, like I said, 24 to 48 hours before we have all the details.
 
MAX PAPIS:  The thing he told me is he’s going to be able to have kids in the future, so that’s no problem.
Q.  Greg, you just said that you had talked to Tony.  How are his spirits, and has he told you that he’s ready to get in a sprint car again so don’t ask him not to do it?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  I didn’t give him the opportunity to tell me he’s ready to get in.  I told him to hurry up and get his butt down here because I was going to break his other leg, like some of my ancestors used to do, old school, and maybe beat him with it, jokingly.  But he’s in good spirits, a lot of pain, trying to get comfortable, but overall he’s obviously ‑‑ he was worried about what everybody th
ought and apologetic and feels like he’s letting everybody down here.  At the end of the day the reason we’re all here is because of him, so I know he’ll get back in it and make it up to us.
Q.  I assume you were joking when you said that you’d break his other leg, but will you actually sit down and talk to him and discuss whether he should be racing outside events, and will you suggest that he not?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Yeah, I think a lot of that stuff will take care of itself in time here.  Most importantly is that he gets healed and gets the proper attention that he needs so that it’s not something that bothers him down the rest of his life and we get him back in this 14 car.  What he races down the road, like I said, I think it opens up a lot of discussions, and I think it’s way too early to really get in the middle of any of these details.
Q.  Tony Stewart is a tough guy and Stewart‑Haas Racing is a tough team, and I know you can’t answer a lot of questions looking forward, but as he talks about being in a race car, it’s almost like it keeps him mentally straight to be in a car.  Can you imagine a Tony Stewart out of a car for a number of weeks, and how will his being out of the car affect what information the team can get or what he provides the other teams at Stewart‑Haas?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  I think it’s you guys that are afraid of him out of a car and what he’ll be like in a couple of weeks, back hobbling around.
 
No, I never imagined this.  He is old school, tough, we’ll just deal with it and get the job done to the best of his ability, which is usually pretty darned good.
 
As a company, like I said, we’ll do our best.  We’ll hopefully get him healed up and to the racetrack and being part of this group and team as soon as we can and get him back in the car as soon as he can and keep his thoughts.
 
As far as what the team is doing and the race car and all those things, we’ll do our best to keep him in the loop and take the information that he has.  Yesterday in between doctors’ visits and this and that, we texted and we talked, and we talked about Max and some other people, and he’s been as big a part of the decisions that have been made here right now as anybody else.
Q.  Can you also talk about how the sponsors have reacted and how much support, not just ‑‑ you mentioned people wanting the ride or getting in touch with you, but what about like feedback from people wanting to pitch in, just other drivers, just to help?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Well, like I said, it’s all happened so quick.  Obviously we reached out to all our sponsors immediately.  They were all disappointed, which we understand that.  But they’ve all been really good to work with.
 
I think yesterday was more of a shock and you go through it.  Today it’s been more discussions about what we’re going to do in the next couple weeks and trying to give them all some suggestions of these are the people we’re thinking about and making sure that they’re all happy and feel that that person will represent their brand.  This is a big deal.  It’s going to take everybody as a team working together, and we’ll get through it and hopefully do a good job and hopefully they’ll all be proud of how Stewart‑Haas deals with everything.  Most importantly obviously it’s about performance and giving their brand the recognition it deserves.
Q.  Max, I apologize if you touched on this earlier, but you were slated for the GRAND‑AM Rolex race at Road America this weekend, and fresh off your first win at Indianapolis a couple weeks ago, what was the process of being able to get out of that and take this opportunity and have you talked with your team about their plans this weekend?
MAX PAPIS:  Actually that’s a good question.  I was ready, and here at Stewart‑Haas Racing we had actually everything organized for me to go and run the GRAND‑AM race there in Elkhart Lake.  We had a plane organized and everything.  But first of all, I need to say thanks for Remo Ferri Racing.  I talked to Remo yesterday.  He’s a good friend of mine for many years.  And I told him I was going to actually be at the track tomorrow testing, go back to Watkins Glen on Friday and Saturday, and fly back with Boris or someone back for the race.
 
But he told me that he felt that it would have been a better thing for me to stay focused and help Stewart‑Haas Racing in this great opportunity for me and in this difficult circumstances.
 
In one way I was a little sad because I feel that I’m an old style guy.  I’m one of these guys that ‑‑ I feel like there are only a few left, like Stewart, like me, like maybe Mario Andretti, where you go and drive a Sprint Cup car, you go and drive a sports car, you go and drive a midget the day after, and that’s a little different.  So I’m sad I’m not going to be there, but I want to thank them for the opportunity and that they are going to let me stay focused on this and helping Stewart‑Haas Racing.
 
I guess that I need to find myself something to do in the afternoon of Saturday because when the qualifying is finished, maybe there’s not going to be much to do.  I might just maybe go and watch the GRAND‑AM race on TV or something like that.
Q.  This question is for Greg.  Just on the competition side of everything, is the focus now on Ryan Newman and getting him in the Chase, and as far as maybe even converting some of the No. 14’s over to 39’s, and what’s the outlook there?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Well, our focus has always been getting the 14, the 39 ‑‑ they’re both obviously had opportunities to make the Chase.  Our focus was to give them equal attention.
 
I think obviously now that the 39 is our only chance, we will do whatever we can to help.  I don’t know that it’s any more than what we have been doing, but we’ll certainly do our best to work together as a team, and if there’s anything they need, we will certainly do our best to give them what they need to have that opportunity.
Q.  After the Brickyard I guess you guys were on a high, you had two shots at getting cars into the Chase.  Does this knock some of the wind out of your sails in regard to that?
GREG ZIPADELLI:  Well, I mean, obviously it’s a huge letdown to everybody at Stewart‑Haas, knowing that we were making some great strides.  I think we’ve had some drastic improvements in the performance on the racetrack.  I felt like we were peaking at the right time with two race cars having an opportunity.  It’s a huge disappointment.  But we’ll try to do our best to take that disappointment and turn it into a positive push for the 39.
 
JAYME AVRIT:  Thank you, everyone, for joining us today.  Thank you to Greg and Max, and best of luck this weekend in Watkins Glen.
 

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.

BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT FROM TODAY’S INTERVIEW: 

JENNIE LONG:  Good morning, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference.  We are joined by Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet for Earnhardt‑Ganassi Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
 
In 13 career road course starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Montoya has two wins and eight top‑10 finishes.  His most recent premier series win came in 2010 at Watkins Glen International, site of Sunday’s Cheez‑It 355.  Juan, going into Watkins Glen, a place where you’ve won before, how important is this weekend for your chances to make the Chase?
 
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, I think this weekend for us is really, really important.  First of all, thanks for having me.
 
I’ll tell you, I think we’ve got a lot of really good tracks coming for us, and I mean, we know that we made a lot of ‑‑ we made as a team a lot of mistakes.  This weekend was mine, but overall as a team we made too many mistakes, and we do want to try to change the season around, and to be honest with you that’s the perfect opportunity to do it.
Q.  I was just wondering your general reaction to Tony Stewart’s injury and the fact that he’s going to be not racing at the Glen where he was obviously going to be one of the favorites along with yourself and some of the others.  I was also wondering if you could touch on your experience missing races when you injured your shoulder in 2005 and what that was like to be sitting on the sidelines.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, to be honest with you, I think what Tony is going to go through is pretty bad.  After what happened to Leffler earlier in the year, everybody was like, ooh, do we want to keep racing sprint cars and stuff.  I’ll tell you, NASCAR really does a very good job for safety.  The truck standards, the car standards are so much better today.  I’ve been here for seven years, and seven years ago it was good, and nowadays with the new cars, the cars are really, really safe.
 
I feel really comfortable.  Not having Tony there this weekend, it’s a shame, because as you said, he’s always a contender.  He always runs well there.  He’s going to be missed.
Q.  I heard you on a show last week talking about Sonoma versus Watkins Glen, and I know it’s real easy, a lot of people want to compare the two, but I thought you had a pretty interesting take where you were describing Watkins Glen favoring road racing skills a little bit more than Sonoma does.  Could you elaborate on that?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, my honest opinion, it’s fine because the first place ever I drove in the U.S., I did my driving school in Sonoma.  I did the Skip Barber Driving School back in ’92, and that for me I thought was a really awesome racetrack.  In a Cup car it’s actually a really easy track.  It’s a lot of ‑‑ you can’t hustle the car.  It’s a place where it’s all about timing it and being smooth on the throttle.
 
As a road racer, you don’t have a big advantage because there’s nowhere where you’re, okay, you need big cojones to go through the corner.  You don’t have that in Sonoma, where in the Glen all the esses, going over the curves and the backstop, it’s always a challenge, and for guys that run in ovals every week, that is very difficult.  And for me my background is road racing going over curves and hustling the car, that’s what it’s all about.
 
And something that has been really cool this year is with the new Gen‑6 car, it’s so much more agile on road cases, and that makes it so much more fun.
Q.  Is there any other tracks that maybe are not on the NASCAR schedule maybe that you’ve driven before that you’d like to see as far as road racing goes?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, sometimes I kind of envy the Nationwide guys when they go to like Road Atlanta.  There’s a lot of cool places where they go that we don’t, the way our schedule is, to get new races and new places, but Road America would be a great place.  Road Atlanta, oh, my God, that’s a place (inaudible).
 
Honestly, there’s a few places like mid‑Ohio, like mid‑Ohio, I think mid‑Ohio would be a fun place.  It’s a slow track kind of like Sonoma, but it’s got a lot more corners.  So what happens for me for Sonoma is, like the best part of the track was the loop and we don’t use it.  Same thing at the Glen.  It’s interesting because you talk to drivers and sometimes we gossip, and we all say, man, why we don’t run the boot, and they think the lap is too long with the boot and it would take too much time to go around all the track, but I think it would be an awesome track using the whole track.
Q.  I’m curious, you don’t run a whole lot of races beyond Cup.  I’m curious, do people ask you often to run either Nationwide or other events, and do you not do them because you just simply don’t want to, or do you want to avoid any sort of risk of injury?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, to be honest with you, I’m surprised that I don’t really get asked that much to be honest with you, especially like road racing.  I think people ‑‑ I’ll be honest with you, I was pretty outspoken especially earlier when I was doing the Nationwide races that I felt like it was too much.  I felt like we were doing too much racing, and it was too much, so I think people think that I don’t want to do them.
 
But I think if a good opportunity would come to drive a road course ‑‑ a Nationwide on a road course, I think I would probably do it.  I would have to ask Chip’s permission first, but I think he would be okay with it.
Q.  And looking at the Glen and the fact that you’re about 21 points or so out of 20th, do you look at this as any sort of opportunity that if you can win that you’re still Chase eligible?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Oh, absolutely.  There is a lot of really good races coming that we’ve been very close to winning this year that going there we know we have a chance, and you know, we know we’re throwing a lot of points away.  We ran out of gas with one lap to go at Sonoma, for example, running second, and we converted a second‑place finish into a 36th‑place finish.  We can’t do that.
 
Like same thing this week, I made a mistake, we had loose tires in the pits, we had a gearbox failed.  Everything freak that could happen has been happening, so it makes it a little hard.
 
But we know that if we go to the Glen ‑‑ and we’ve been testing.  We did VR test before Sonoma, and we did a Road Atlanta test, and we feel our car is really, really strong, and if you normally look at my performance in Sonoma compared with the Glen, in Sonoma I can run okay but I’m never really good, and this year I probably had one of the best cars there.
 
So going to Sonoma with the car the way it was and heading to the Glen this weekend, I’m really excited.
Q.  You and Marcos Ambrose both have two wins in Cup and all four on road courses.  Do you ever think about that?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Oh, that we won on road courses?  Of course we do.  And on ovals, as well, it’s what we’re here for.  90 percent of the season runs in ovals.  It’s not that we’re not trying.  I’ve been very close, a lot of opportunities, we’ve thrown them away. We’ve found ways to screw them up.  But to tell you the truth, as a team we keep our head up and we keep fighting, and believe me, we believe we have a chance.  We really, really believe that we have a good chance.
 
We’ve just got to make sure ‑‑ the way we do it, like probably Marcos and myself, the only thing we need to do at the Glen to have a chance of winning is not screw up.  Yeah, honestly.  If we have 10
pit stops, we’re in the top three.  I’ll guarantee you we’re in the top three.  Worst case scenario we’re fourth.  If we run out of brakes we’ll finish fifth.
Q.  Just to follow up on the earlier question about Tony Stewart, Tony is the boss there at Stewart‑Haas, but are you surprised that his sponsors let him do this, let him go out and ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, that’s just Tony.  I talk to Tony sometimes, and this year he was so excited he was going to go over 100 races in a year.  It’s like for him, making 100 races in a year was a big deal.  And you don’t see the dangers.  You don’t think it’s dangerous, but there’s always a risk factor; you know what I mean?  It’s racing.  There’s nothing you can do.  And when you’re the boss, as well, it’s a little more flexible, I think.
Q.  You’ve driven on some of the world’s best road circuits and have won at Monaco, Watkins Glen and elsewhere.  How does the Glen rank with some of the other courses you’ve raced on around the world?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think the Glen is a great place.  It’s one of those ‑‑ I don’t know how to explain it to you, but it’s got a lot of character, and it’s got the classic character of a really good track.  If you notice through the years with Formula 1, with safety and everything with the safety, the tracks, especially in Europe have lost a lot of character, especially with the Formula 1 races because the runoff areas are so far away.  You know what I mean? I think it takes a lot of the challenge.
 
And the Glen has that.  You go through those esses, the top of the esses, the exit is the guardrail.  I mean, oh, my God, if you get it wrong there it’s going to hurt.
Q.  You’ve come very close to winning on ovals this year.  Would winning on an oval in NASCAR be especially meaningful to you?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Oh, yeah.  I mean, I’ll tell you the truth, in a way it has really sucked that we haven’t won yet because we’ve been so close so many times, but at the same time we see it as that’s racing, and we can’t do anything about it but just keep working on it, and I think if we keep our head down it’s going to happen.
 
This year I felt like we’ve been closer than ever, and I think as a team we’ve just been doing a really, really good job, and we’ve been really proud of all the guys, how hard they’ve been working this year.
 
You know, you see our team where they came from last year, how far off we were last year to where we are right now, I think it’s been really, really exciting to see.
Q.  Have you had an opportunity to watch Kyle Larson race?  The fact that he’s been added to the roster as a development driver for Earnhardt‑Ganassi Racing, have you had time to spend with him?  What do you think?  What do you think his prospects are moving forward?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, I think he seems to have a lot of talent.  He’s been doing really good things.  With every young driver there’s weeks where they’re better than others, but I always believe that’s kind of normal.  You can’t expect a young kid to nail it every week, but I think he’s been doing a really good job.  Chip, he saw an opportunity to have a young guy for the future, and I think it’s great.  I think it’s great for the team and it’s great for everybody.
Q.  Can you just talk about what Shine has brought to your team over the last year and a half?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, I’ll tell you, when Shine came aboard it was hard at the beginning.  I think his point of view and my point of view were very different, what I wanted out of the car, what he wanted to bring to the table, and I think that made it hard in the beginning of the relationship, and I think as time went by he got more experience.  We got better at working together.
 
Right now we do a really good job.  We work really well together.
 
I’ll give an example.  The last couple weeks we felt we’ve been unloading a lot better, but through the weekend we haven’t gained enough.  We go testing, and when we go testing we feel we work the same way but we gain on the car a lot, and if you can see everywhere we test, we’re very, very competitive.  And we felt like, you know, we’re maybe trying to do too much, and we sit down and we talk about it.
 
It’s something that is really good with Shine.  It’s something that we don’t have to ‑‑ you know what I mean?  I tell him, if you don’t like it, tell me.  If I don’t like it, I’m going to tell you.  We have a very open relationship.  We know what we want to do, what we need to do, and I always say, if you feel I need to do something different, tell me.  If I want or need to do something different, I’ll tell you.
 
It’s very open.  He’s a really hard‑working guy, so it’s fun.  Right now it’s fun because we go every week, we run good, we qualify better.  I think my qualifying average is like 13th this year, that I think is pretty good compared to like ‑‑ I think it’s 10 or 12 places better than last year.  So it just makes it ‑‑ it makes it fun to go to the racetracks and know that you’re going to be good and you’re going to be competitive.
Q.  Have you used all your tests this year?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  No, not yet.  We’ve still got some.
Q.  What are your plans going forward for your remaining tests?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you or if I can tell you.  We’ve got a plan; put it that way.
Q.  With all your experience in racing at different levels, different sanctions and stuff, do you think it takes a special level of skill to excel at road course racing?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  No, it’s the same thing as oval racing.  I think the way I always seen it, if you’re a good driver, you can drive anywhere. You’ll drive dirt, you’ll drive ‑‑ you just need a little bit of time and good people around you to succeed.
 
The problem ‑‑ you know what I mean?  I have a lot of road course experience.  I did that all my life, so that’s like second nature to me.  You know, we go testing anywhere, tracks that I haven’t been in years, and within five laps I’m on pace, and it’s easy.
Q.  Tony Stewart won’t be back for a while ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Who’s going to replace him this weekend?  That’s what I want to know.  That’s good gossip right there.
Q.  Yeah, it’s wild on Twitter right now; everybody is wondering about it.  I talked to Dr. Jerry Punch some time ago about drivers racing when they’re injured, and he said often times they do better when they’re injured.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, look at Brad last year.
Q.  Do you feel that way, too?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Well, I think Brad did a really good job last year.  You look at every other year from Brad, and last year was exceptional. It’s pretty amazing.
Q.  You say you’re more of a road racer.  Do you feel like that’s your advantage going into this race?  There’s a lot of guys in the circuit, more of an oval race, that’s what they’re more used to in a way.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Yeah, there’s some guys that grew up in karting, but if you pay attention to guys that run good now on road courses, a lot of them have karting.  They have their own go‑karts, and with the track in Morrisville, they all go there during the week.  They all practice, so they’re getting better at it.  The problem is now they can drive a go‑kart, and that’s where I grew up.  I did 14 years of karting.  I grew up on that.  Now the hard thing is learning the transition from karting to that.
Q.  Do you find Watkins Glen to be a bit easier than Sonoma, or are both technical?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think both are technical.  I think the Glen i
s way challenging because it’s got way faster corners like the esses.  The risk factor of getting it wrong is a lot bigger at the Glen than at Sonoma.  I think at Sonoma you get it wrong you go to the dirt and you come back.
Q.  If you would have had the opportunity to use KERS and DRS in F1, how would it have affected your driving style?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I never really drove with DRS or any of that.  I think overtaking, it’s an art, and you’ve got to be good at it, and you’ve got to ‑‑ you know, you’ve got to make mistakes and you’ve got to screw it up a million times to learn to get it right.  And that’s how you grow up in racing, and you keep getting better at it, and it becomes like an art.
 
The same thing overtaking on an oval; it has its own way that you’ve got to learn to do it, and when you figure it out, it works really well.  And when you put all those electronic aids, you don’t have to learn to pass anymore.  You catch the guy and then your wing drops and you drive past the guy down the straight.
 
JENNIE LONG:  Thank you for joining us, Juan.  Good luck this weekend.