NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
KOBALT TOOLS 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at discussed driving Lewis Hamilton’s F1 car, racing at Las Vegas, Bristol and other topics. Full transcript:
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE CAR SWAP YOU ARE DOING WITH LEWIS HAMILTON TO GET IN HIS F1 CAR AT WATKINS GLEN? “Right now I am too busy worrying about what we’re doing, but, I am excited about it. It is an awesome opportunity. It is really a chance of a lifetime to drive something that is probably the most sophisticated race car on the planet. It is going to be really cool to get a chance to do it. We did a commercial shoot day with Lewis (Hamilton) and he is an awesome guy. We are really looking forward to talking to him about it and learning from him about what to do to drive his car fast.”
JUAN (PABLO MONTOYA) SAID HE TALKED ABOUT IT WITH YOU AT PHOENIX AND SAID YOU MIGHT HAVE TO WORK ON YOUR NECK MUSCLES ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE DOING IT AT WATKINS GLEN: “With the G-loads those cars pull, it won’t surprise me at all that that is the area I am going to need to work on. You don’t really think of things like that, but that’s aspects that you have to think about when you go to drive somebody else’s cars. It is kind of the same as running the winged sprint car, they pull on your neck muscles a lot harder too. Hopefully I will just keep running enough winged sprint car races and I’ll get it in shape that way.”
WHO DO YOU THINK MIGHT HAVE THE HARDER TIME WITH THE CAR SWAP? “It is hard to say. We are both going to be driving cars we are very unfamiliar with and I’ve never run that part of Watkins Glen so it will be interesting. The whole thing of it is to have fun and just see what the other guy goes through and what his car drives like. It is going to be fun to have that opportunity to both drive his car and at the same time be able to help him learn how to drive ours too.”
IS THIS THE FIRST WEEK THAT YOU WILL REALLY FIND OUT THINGS ABOUT THE NEW NOSE? “I think you are right. I think this weekend will really be the first key weekend on knowing what we have got with the new nose. In the little bit of practice that we have been out there, it has actually been pretty nice. It hasn’t been terrible behind traffic. I’m optimistic about it, I think it is going to be better.”
WAS THE OLD NOSE TERRIBLE IN THE PAST? “Well, in the past you just got really tight. While we aren’t running around a lot of cars today, but the little bit that I have been in traffic, it just didn’t seem like it was a big balance change, which is good.”
ARE SOME OF THE BUMPS BEGINNING TO SHOW AGAIN HERE AT LAS VEGAS? “I think it is getting a little rougher, but that is what happens as time goes on. That is what gives these race tracks the character that it says. It makes the crews and the drivers figure out how to get through them better and how to make their cars go through them better.”
DOES THE OFF WEEKEND COME AT A GOOD TIME FOR YOU GUYS? DOES IT BREAK MOMENTUM? “It never does. We don’t need a break after three races. We need a break instead of 16 straight races or 18 straight weeks at the end of the year, we need it before then. Somewhere in the middle of that. Three weeks into the season, nobody needs a break yet.”
DOES BRISTOL GET ANY EASIER OR IS IT JUST A TOUGH TRACK? “It has always been a tough track and I don’t care how many years go by, it is always going to be a tough track. Anytime you get on that small of a race track, it is a challenge to not get yourself in trouble.to be fast, but not get yourself in trouble. You can have one mishap that really messes up the rest of your day.”
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