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[/media-credit]NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
AARON’S 499
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 4, 2012
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed the first practice, car temperatures and handling and other topics. Full transcript:
HOW WAS THE CAR ON THE TRACK TODAY? “It seems fine. It is so hard to tell. Practice really is hard to gauge anything here until you get everybody out there. You don’t get the pack you are going to race in. You just go out and check for vibrations. Might try a couple of different cowl combinations, but that’s about it.”
ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT TEMPERATURES IN THE FIRST PRACTICE? “You look at it. Everybody was looking at their temps in practice to see where they are at, and what they are going to have to do to manage it. It’s part of what we know we are all going to have to pay attention to on Sunday, but it didn’t seem like it was something that was going to be out of control right now.”
ARE YOU HAVING AN ISSUE WITH YOUR FEET GETTING HOT? THE TEAM WAS SAYING THEY ARE PUTTING FANS ON THE FLOOR: “I’m not worried about it. The hotter it is, the better I like it. I’m not worried about temperature right now to be honest, as far as inside the car. I’m more worried about the motor than I am me right now.”
DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST TRIP TO TALLADEGA? “I do. I remember I wrecked in a Nationwide car in three and four, and backed up and caught Mark Martin between me and the fence. It pealed the whole door off the car. I remember how bad I felt crashing Mark Martin. It was a different animal than it is now, obviously. It had a lot more bumps, sealer and seams and everything. It is a pretty cool place to come to. It’s fun…actually this is the first time we have ever worked on handling is this weekend. It’s not a big issue. We’re finally having to work on the handling of the cars a little bit. It makes it fun.”
ROBIN PEMBERTON TOLD REPORTERS THAT THE DEBRIS (AT RICHMOND NEAR THE END OF THE RACE) WAS A PIECE OF ALUMINUM. ARE YOU OK WITH THAT EXPLANATION? “They picked it up. They know what it is. It looked like a bottle to me. But, the end result is the same thing. It still cost us an opportunity. It still cost us a win. The good thing is, no matter what it is on the race track. You can’t have a race car hit and then go in the stands and hurt somebody. You that they did what they needed to do, but you just hate the timing of it. And, you hate that it even happened in the first place.”
FANS ARE UPSET BECAUSE THEY DON’T SEE THE DEBRIS ON TV A LOT OF TIMES. SHOULD TV NEEDS TO SHOW THE DEBRIS SO EVERYONE IS CLEAR WHAT IT IS? “No. I think NASCAR has done a really good job in the last year or so of making sure if there is a debris caution, it’s not a just mystery caution. There is something out there that they are picking up. I’ve got the trust in them that when they through the debris caution that there is something out there. The big thing is you don’t want something to be out there and it get hit by a race car and it goes in the stands and hit somebody or hurt somebody. They have pretty good eyes around the race track to make sure that there’s not stuff laying out there.”
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.
