NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FOOD CITY 500
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 16, 2012
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Bristol Motor Speedway and discussed Danica Patrick’s addition to the Prelude to the Dream, his superstitions and other topics. Full Transcript:
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT DANICA (PATRICK) RUNNING THIS YEAR’S PRELUDE TO THE DREAM? “I’m excited. I told her ‘don’t feel like you have to come do this.’ She said ‘No, I really want to do this.’ I’m excited for her. I don’t think it’s something that she has had a chance to do very much. It will be fun to get her in an environment that is definitely new to her for sure.”
SHE’S GOT SUCH A FOLLOWING HER WHEN WE ARE AT THE TRACK WHAT IS THAT GOING TO BRING TO YOU GUYS AT THE PRELUDE? “We will know when we get there.”
SOMEONE WAS TWEETING THIS WEEK ABOUT YOUR BEARD. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER SUPERSTITIONS. “No, I guess my race day deal. I try to sleep as late as I can. I mean if it’s an afternoon race, I will lay in bed all day. I just don’t want to be up. I just try to stay to myself as much on race day as I can.”
LAST WEEK THE DRIVER’S MEETING WAS OUT IN PUBLIC. IT SEEMS THAT THE DIRECTION IS THAT OTHER TRACKS ARE GOING TO TRY AND FOLLOW THAT. ARE YOU OK WITH THAT? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IT GO BACK TO JUST DRIVERS AND CREW CHIEFS? “I think they did it first at Texas, may have been the spring of last year they did the first deal where they had the public in the drivers meeting with us. I thought it was fine. I mean I think it’s kind of cool. It allows the fans to also know what the rules are too. Especially when we change the point system to help everybody understand it easier and make it easier to follow along. If they are a part of the drivers meeting with us it makes it even easier for them to understand the rules and why we may line up in a certain spot on a restart. I think it’s a good thing. We just have to make sure they know that we got to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ and from point ‘B’ back to point ‘A’ and we are all on a time schedule on race day. But, I thought it was good. I think it’s a pretty cool opportunity for the fans. You don’t get to sit in pregame meeting with football teams or basketball teams and all that so I think that’s a pretty cool deal.”
WOULD YOU STILL FEEL COMFORTABLE ASKING A QUESTION? “Oh yeah, absolutely. It’s still our drivers meeting. If it is a question you need an answer to you need to, no matters whose there, you need to feel comfortable in making sure that you are clear about what that rule is.”
YOU ENDED UP 24TH IN PRACTICE WHAT DO YOU GUYS NEED TO WORK ON TO MAKE THE CAR BETTER FOR YOU? “For qualifying trim we just have to make it rotate in the center a little better. In race trim we have a lot of work to do. It’s loose on entry, tight in the center or loose in the center and loose off. I was pretty proud; they got a lot of changes done in this first practice session. The good thing is we have tomorrow, a couple of sessions, to work on it some more but we definitely have some work to do right now.”
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