[media-credit name=”doverspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”100″]
[/media-credit]NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FEDEX 400 BENEFITING AUTISM
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
June 1, 2012
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Dover International Speedway and discussed the race this weekend and thoughts on his chances for a strong run, the new surface at Pocono, changing of the guard on the broadcast and radio fronts and much more. Full transcript.
TALK ABOUT COMING INTO DOVER THIS WEEKEND AND WHERE YOU ARE SO FAR THIS SEASON.
“We feel pretty good about being consistent and running well at every track. The cars are built really well. That’s a testament to all the hard work at Hendrick Motorsports by all of the team to keep the car on track every lap and be able to run every lap that’s been run this year. Just looking forward to what kind of race car we have here. We haven’t performed that great here over the last several years, and we feel like it’s a good opportunity this year for us to change that.”
WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO GETTING AROUND THE RACE TRACK HERE AT DOVER IF THERE ARE A SPOT OR TWO AROUND THIS TRACK THAT YOU SORT OF KNOW GOING IN ARE GOING TO BE THE KEYS TO A GOOD LAP?
“Getting into turn three there are some bumps that the rear tires sort of skate across, that’s always kind of difficult, getting the car to turn in the middle of the corner. Cars kind of slide the back tires getting in the corner, and then they kind of push through the center at both ends of the race track. That really doesn’t show up until race time.”
IT WAS MENTIONED YOU ARE THE ONLY DRIVER TO FINISH ON THE LEAD LAP EVERY RACE, STILL LOOKING FOR THE WIN OF COURSE, DO YOU SEE THIS YEAR AS THE YEAR YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE A SERIOUS RUN AT THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“We’re trying to make one. We’re trying to put ourselves in the Chase, and we are going to try to be one of the strongest teams when that time comes. I wouldn’t call ourselves a contender, we got a chance to be one this year the way we are doing it.”
WONDERING HOW YOU EXPLAIN THE FLOOD GATES OPENING FOR HENDRICK WITH THREE WINS IN A ROW, AND WHEN YOU SEE KASEY (KAHNE) AND JIMMIE (JOHNSON) WIN LIKE THAT DOES IT JUST GIVE YOU THAT MUCH MORE CONFIDENCE THAT YOU’RE TIME IS COMING?
“Well I think how you explain that is Jimmie can win just about any week. That’s the kind of team they are. Kasey has been one of the fastest of the four teams all year long. He just had really, really weird luck. He’s had cars that were fast enough to win a lot of races, and he always runs well at Charlotte. So, that was great, he could capitalize. I’m not competitive on the race track with my teammates at all, but when you see those guys win you do wish it was you going to victory lane. You are happy for them, but at the same time you’re a driver with a team that feels like they deserve to win, and they’re ready to win, and we’ve been wanting to win for so long. It’s a good thing. I think it motivate you to work harder, and try to find victory lane that much harder if at all possible. It doesn’t have really a negative effect on me or the team when those guys go out and win. But, you do wish it was you. You wish you were the guy going to victory lane. At Charlotte especially, that’s one I haven’t won at yet.”
YOU SEEM TO HAVE A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THIS PLACE, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL COMING IN HERE THIS WEEKEND AND MAYBE WHAT HAS GIVEN YOU ISSUES HERE IN THE PAST?
“I’ve had good cars here and I’ve had some tough runs here. This place has definitely been up and down for me for my career. It’s a unique track, and it is pretty fun. I don’t really like concrete tracks at all. There’s nothing I can do about the surface, and you just kind of come in here and try to make the best of what you don’t like about it. I like the banking and the speed. I really like the banking. I love the shape of the track. If it were asphalt it would probably be one of my favorite tracks. When you do run well here it can be a fun time driving the car. But yeah, it’s a real challenge with the concrete, the concrete dust, the track rubbers up and then with the way concrete works when we go out there we rubber the track down and when the caution comes out we pick it all back up. So, the track never really rubbers in really good and it kind of changes the whole race. The track does kind of change the whole race.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK WITH SOME OF THE UNKNOWNS ABOUT POCONO WITH THE NEW TRACK AND THE 400 MILES, AND ALSO SPENDING A COUPLE OF EXTRA DAYS UP THERE TESTING ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY?
“Yeah, I’m not real excited about being up there that long. I don’t think anybody is to be honest with you. That’s the schedule and we’ll go up there and just run around in circles. We’ve got two race cars in the trailer, and we’ll try to not tear either one of them up before the race starts. I’m looking forward to the new surface and seeing what the track is like. It should be really interesting the next couple of weeks going to Pocono and Michigan. I know NASCAR is wanting to get enough rubber down so we have a good race. That’s really the reason why we are going for so long, to really avoid any kind of debacle with rubbering the track down. There’s really no other excuse for being there the entire week. We’ll just go out there and try to learn what we can and use it as an opportunity to try some things we haven’t been able to work into the practice sessions this year. Just kind of go from there. I don’t know really what the track is going to be like. I heard that there’s a big curve in the tunnel turn that I was hoping would be gone, but that’s still there I guess. Other than that, I think the track is going to be in excellent shape.”
CONSIDERING YOUR APPRECIATION FOR THE HISTORY OF THIS SPORT, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD IN THE ANNOUNCING BOOTH? WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT BARNEY HALL, KEN SQUIRE, BOB JENKINS, DICK BERGREN HAVE MADE TO THE SPORT?
“I’m just upset that they are going to be gone. There’s been some really great broadcasters and radio personalities to come and go in this sport. The group that sort of been doing it for so long, Barney and those guys, they’re going to be hard to replace. It’s just an unfortunate circumstance that comes with it. Dick Bergren, he’s had an incredible career, and he’s put a lot of his heart and soul into the sport. He’s well respected and will be missed not just personally, but because of his skill and ability. It’s going to be hard to replace those guys as the turnover starts to happen. They just don’t seem to make announcers and radio personalities like that anymore.”
THE DEMAND RIGHT NOW IS NOT MEETING THE SUPPLY OF TICKETS AND WHAT HAVE YOU, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CUTTING BACK ON THE 36-POINT RACE SCHEDULE?
“I would think that shortening up the schedule is probably the last thing I would expect to happen. I can imagine a lot of crazy things happening before that would. There’s just too much money involved. There’s too much money moving around and changing hands for a half of dozen dates to be cut from the schedule. The impact on the economy in those areas per race that would be removed, the politics are too thick for anything like that to ever occur. I do know that there isn’t enough demand at the current time, and the model that the NFL uses is a pretty productive model. They seem to have it about right. When you’re a football fan you can’t wait for the season to start and it seems like an eternity before it does, and when it’s here it’s gone just as fast and you can’t wait for the next one. You are just enamored with it all the time. You’re just trying to get all the information you can get. So, they have a good model and I think that shortening the season would be a good thing, and would definitely sort of change some things for the better. But, I just don’t think that even a possibility, more of a daydream than anything else. It will never be a reality I don’t believe.
THERE’S BEEN 40 FEWER CAUTIONS THROUGH THE FIRST 12 RACES THIS YEAR THAN THERE WERE THIS TIME LAST YEAR, DO YOU HAVE ANY EXPLANATION OR THEORIES ON WHY THERE HASN’T BEEN AS MANY CAUTIONS?
“There seems to be less debris on the track this year. The last couple of years there was a lot more debris flying around the race track. So, that’s part of it. Guys have always points raced. Smart drivers have. Ever since I was a little kid, people considered winning the championship the ultimate goal and to win the championship you get the most points every week. So, I think guys have been points racing for a pretty long time. I did read some of the quotes and comments. A lot of it I don’t think has really changed. A lot of things that people are mentioning are the reasons for the green-flag runs have really been around for a long time. One thing I do agree with is the penalty for when you have a bad finish, if you blow up a motor or get in an accident early in the race, you only get one point or a half dozen points at best,. The percentage compared to the old system, the penalty for finishing in the back is a lot worse and harder to overcome. So, I kind of agree with that. Aside from the fact that you just lose a lot of respect from your peers when you make a lot of dumb mistakes and cause a lot of crashes, so guys don’t do that anymore. Rides are harder to come by, so foolishness and ignorance on the race tracks is sort of a thing of the past because of that. Guys can’t go out there and make costly errors with the way the environment is now as far as with the way rides are and trying to maintain a ride and keep a ride. You’ve got o keep your car clean and bring it home in one piece. You can’t go out there and cost a lot of money for your owner’s and other people as well. If you go out there and tear up a lot of stuff that kind of gets you send on out of the sport pretty quick. Points racing has been around for a while, but like I said I think the penalty for finishing last verses the old system is a lot tougher than it was. Everybody is not really settling for second-place points or third-place points and not racing hard for the win, you’re just trying for the majority of the raced to not wreck yourself into a 30th or 35th-place finish. Everybody kind of goes for it at the end and runs pretty hard like we’ve always have, but everybody is a lot more careful in regards to not being the first guy out of the race or making a mistake that ends the day pretty early for you. You don’t want to do that.”
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.
