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TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 13, 2012
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1 ADVANCED FUEL ECONOMY/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Texas Motor Speedway and discussed going to a back-up car this weekend at TMS, the success of Stewart-Haas Racing in 2012 and other topics. Full Transcript:
FROM WHAT YOU CAN GATHER WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN PERFORMANCE BETWEEN THE CARS? “It is hard to say right now. We haven’t got a lot of laps on this one. I think we feel better with this one so far. It’s doing everything that we were trying to get the other one to do.”
WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED? “I just got loose and didn’t have enough race track to get it gathered up. So, driver error.”
TALK ABOUT THE GOOD PERFORMANCE FOR STEWART-HAAS RACING, WHAT DOES THIS SUCCESS FEEL LIKE IN THE MOMENT? “It’s great. You look in this garage area and you look at the depth of talent, not only drivers, but crews and crew chiefs and car owners here. It’s an awesome feeling to of had the string that we have had here these last 16 races. We are really proud of our guys and the hard work. Every time you think you have gotten 100 percent out of them, they show you they’ve got more. That is impressive to see as a car owner. We couldn’t do it without Hendrick Motorsports and the chassis and engine department. They keep pushing as hard as we do.”
TELL ME ABOUT GOING TO THE WHITE HOUSE NEXT WEEKEND: “I am more worried about what I’m doing here right now to be honest. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it, but I’ve got a big day tomorrow I’ve got to concentrate on first.”
DOES IT COME AS A SURPRISE TO YOU THAT YOU HAVE STRUGGLED HERE SO FAR THIS WEEKEND? “I mean we tested here too and we ran really well at the test but it was 40 degrees cooler too. I think we tried some things that we thought were better and it probably was for the conditions, but I’m not sure in the heat it was quite as good. We are kind of going back the direction that we were last fall now.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE TEST MAY HAVE POINTED YOU IN THE WRONG DIRECTION? “I’m not going to say it pointed in the wrong direction but I think we thought we were better with some things that don’t seem to be better with these conditions the way they are. I think when we were here the stuff we learned was definitely productive, just maybe not for 40 degrees warmer.”
ANY REAL CONCERN ABOUT GOING TO A BACK-UP CAR? “No, not at this level. The top tier teams, their back-up cars are just as good as their primary cars, so definitely no concerns.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR OVERALL MORAL FOR BOTH CARS ARE WINNING? “It’s just makes everybody at the shop feel good. They are all working on all the cars anyway. To have both of us win a race this year and have this strong start to the year that we’ve got it’s huge for an organization. These guys show up they are smiling they are happy when they get there. It’s because they are seeing the results of their hard work.”
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.
