NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BRICKYARD 400
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 29, 2011
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and discussed the Sprint Showdown, racing at Lucas Oil Raceway, getting back into the Chase and much more. Full transcript.
TALK ABOUT THE SPRINT SHOWDOWN. “Being part of the Showdown would be huge. What a great idea. Great promotion for Sprint. I want to thank them for giving us all this opportunity and I don’t think we’re going to let them down. They are going to get their money’s worth. To tie it to a charity and to tie it to a fan and for us to win a million bucks as well, that’s a ton of money on the line. We’re going to see to it that it’s a hell of a race for it.”
SPEAKING OF THE MILLION, DOES IT TAKE AWAY ANY OF THE UNIQUENESS OF THE ALL-STAR RACE? “No, because it’s spread out over this summer series. I think it comes at a perfect time. Its football season starting and stuff it’s going to be something to stay tuned in on because there is a lot at stake here.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE RACING AT WHAT IS NOW LOR (LUCAS OIL RACEWAY)? “Awesome race track. Very fun, very challenging race track. Unique in the line that you run. It puts on great races. The ARCA race last night, it was a good race. It’s always been a lot of fun to be able to race over there. It’s one of those tracks that will always be that way.”
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TURN AT POCONO? “Probably turn three because I think it’s probably more passing off of three then there is off of (turn) one. It’s about the same. It’s not really one, its one and three is my answer to that question. They’re both where you can pass. If you’re passing in the tunnel turn it’s because somebody messed up big time. So one and three are definitely the important corners.”
THEY ADDED THE NEW GEAR RULE AND ADDED ELEMENT, IS THAT A GOOD THING IN YOUR OPINION? “Everybody has their own opinion, my opinion is if they were going to change it, change it to where we can’t shift. We had too many guys break a transmission and breaking things that we don’t normally have to worry about at Pocono. I think it took away from some of the passing. In the years past, as people got tight if you could keep your car freed up and rolling through the corner it gave you an option to pass. They would be bogging off the corner and really struggling down the straightaways and if you could keep it freed up and neutral throughout the run you could really prevail throughout a run and now it’s like even if your car is tight you reach down and get a gear and make it way more responsive and the car will turn for you. I don’t think it was a positive.”
RICHARD SAYS HE HOPES TO HAVE YOUR DEAL DONE HERE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS, ARE YOU COMMITTED TO HIM AND HE’S COMMITTED TO YOU? “I hope we have it done in a couple of days. We’re getting close.”
THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE SAYING IF CARL EDWARDS LEAVES AND THAT WILL BE AN OPEN SEAT AND YOU ARE LOOKING THERE, ARE YOU LOOKING AROUND NOW? “Yeah, that’s the biggest thing. There are a lot of pieces of the puzzle that have to be put in place. Like Carl where he decides to go is a big part of that. Like you said the puzzle is not put together yet.”
BUT FOR YOU, ARE YOU LOOKING ANYWHERE ELSE? “No, we are getting close to having a deal put together.”
POINTS ARE TIGHT, A LOT OF GUYS WINNING, A LOT OF TEAMS SHOWING THEY HAVE THE STUFF, WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT COMES FROM? “Just the closeness of the rules. The sandbox we’re playing in. I mean it’s tight right now. Everybody has good runs and everybody has bad runs. The level of competition is just incredibly close and that’s what it stems from. It’s the rule package and everything and everybody is hungry and nobody has that edge.”
HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO BE JUST ON THE OUTSIDE, ARE THERE ANY POINTS IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF RACES WHERE YOU MIGHT DO SOMETHING TO GET BACK IN THE CHASE? “We’ve just got to get smarter. We had two DNF’s in a row. Daytona, it’s a crap shoot. You are bound to get caught up in a wreck sooner or later there. We were leading the race at the caution before the last one; we got shuffled back a little bit and unfortunately got caught up in a wreck right in front of us. That’s part of it. Blew a tire in Kentucky and another DNF, two in a row, 35th and 36th-place finishes in a row. That’s not Chase material. It doesn’t matter who it is, that’s a huge hit. It knocked us out of the Chase but more importantly I’m just worried about getting back where we were running before and that recipe was good enough to be in the Chase and I think it’s going to be good enough to get right back in it.”
IS PART OF YOUR CONCERN THAT A WIN MIGHT BE MANDATORY TO GET IN THE CHASE? “No I’m looking forward more to being a part of it. We’ve been a top-10 team all season long and two DNF’s in a row knocked us out of it. We’ve just got to get back to consistency and that’s what’s going to win the championship in the deal.”
CONCERNING CONSISTENCY OF CARS AND TIGHT RULES: “Not really. It’s the same for everybody and you’ve got to make the most of those rules and give your best shot. You’ve got to do a better job than your competition of working within those rules.”
WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE TRAVIS PASTRANA DID? “No, hell no. There’s not too many people in the world let alone the racing world that would do what he does. He’s an incredibly gifted, incredibly talented athlete but I’m telling you he’s got a few wires loose, he’ll go for it now. He’ll jump out of a plane with no parachute. Nobody does that. He’s just always lived life on the edge and he’s made a hell of name for himself in doing so.
“Him doing that last night is what gave him the break in a race car. He don’t need that race car. He’s making a bigger living doing what he’s doing than he could ever do over here. He’s always been that way. He’s made a career doing that and I truly think he’s doing this NASCAR thing for fun and a new challenge. That’s exactly right.”
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