[media-credit name=”lvms.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″]
[/media-credit]NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
KOBALT TOOLS 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 10, 2012
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET met with media and discussed the tight level of competition, traveling across the country to race, how top finishers at Las Vegas do well in year-end results, and more. Full Transcript:
ON UPCOMING WINNER’S CIRCLE APPEARANCE FOR MARTINSVILLE
“Yeah, I think I’m doing some laps around the race track and we’re going to visit some of the local animal shelters. And that was, from our standpoint at the Ryan Newman Foundation, where we, (wife) Chrissie and I, got the idea of what was needed with animal welfare and spaying and neutering and things like that. So I’m really looking forward to going to visit that shelter and doing some laps around the race track with some fans.”
THE ENTIRE FIELD YESTERDAY WAS SEPARATED BY 1.2-SECONDS. YOU’VE GOT DIFFERENT BRANDS OF EQUIPMENT AND DIFFERENT SET-UPS ETC. HOW CAN THAT HAPPEN? IT JUST AMAZES ME.
“It’s just the level of competition. It’s much tighter than it used to be. I think you get to a place like Bristol or even a place like Dover where it’s even tighter than that; sometimes at Bristol from 1st to 15th can be five-hundredths of a second. It’s a product of NASCAR’s rules and there’s nothing bad about it, but it has leveled-up the competition and the competition gives many more teams the opportunity to be faster because of the quantity of rules and the refinement of that process of making the cars nearly identical.”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT IT’S LIKE TO RACE IN FONTANA? DOES GOING FROM COAST-TO-COAST HAVE ANY AFFECT ON YOU AS A DRIVER?
“The time change is more of an issue than the coast-to-coast thing. Trying to get acclimated or maybe not acclimated to the local time change; but I’ve grown to enjoy the race track as the pavement has gotten older it lends itself to better and more racing and wider racing and wider grooves and the ability to move your car around. It’s a really wide race track. And I’ve always liked Michigan and California is a sister track to Michigan, so it’s a track that I look forward to going to much more than I used to, especially this time of year. It was so miserable when we went there and it was 107 degrees. To go there in the spring the way we do now is much more fun.”
THIS RACE IS A GOOD PREDICTOR OF HOW THE SEASON WILL END-UP. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS RACE THAT IS PRETTY GOOD IN THAT REGARD?
“Are you referring to the fact that (Tony) Stewart should have won this race last year and Carl (Edwards) did?
NOT JUST LAST YEAR, BUT FOR SEVERAL YEARS IN THE PAST
“You know, I think that this is our first intermediate track and intermediate tracks make up such a big part of our schedule and obviously the Chase that this is truly a good litmus test of what to expect for not just the first 26 (races) but for the rest of the season. It also proves who’s got their programs together from an aerodynamic standpoint, from a ride standpoint. This track is really bumpy; bumpier than most. So there are a lot of things here that you have to be really refined and shined-up on to prove that you are a contender.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
