TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Michigan International Speedway and discussed the high speeds, testing at Bristol Motor Speedway and other topics. Full Transcript:
TAKE US THROUGH THAT FIRST PRACTICE SESSION HOW YOU FELT ABOUT THE CAR OR THE TRACK: “The track is fine. We just have to get the balance like we were yesterday we were a little bit off where we were yesterday it was really nice. We will just tweak on it a little bit.”
HAVE YOU HAD ANY BLISTERING ISSUES OR TIRE ISSUES? “Not that I’m aware of. I don’t think we had any problems yesterday. We are not worrying about that right now.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE HIGH SPEEDS HERE? “That is not that fast. We ran a lot faster in Indy cars. It’s fast for stock cars but the good thing is I don’t know if it is the asphalt mix or if it is the tire that Goodyear has brought but when we ran Phoenix last fall and then Pocono last week and this week. It seems like the tires that we have like I say whether it’s the mix of asphalt with the tire or what but it doesn’t seem like it did when they redid Vegas years ago where you’ve got a lot of grip and then when you lose it you lose all of it. The cars get a little tighter a little lose but it’s not uncomfortable. The cars are stable out there even though we are running quick lap times.”
IS YOUR CAR STABLE AT THESE SPEEDS? “Yeah, I mean you know you can still get a little bit lose or a little bit tight and it’s still, you don’t feel like your out of control doing it. It’s kind of surprising because I didn’t think they would be as stable as they are but the whole time we’ve been here the cars have been really stable. I think a lot of that has to do with the tire that Goodyear brought.”
IS THERE SOMETHING MAGICAL/COOL ABOUT GOING 200 MILES PER HOUR? “No, not when you ran 247 miles per hour in an Indy car at Indy in rookie orientation. We’ve been around that number at Daytona and Talladega it’s just kind of cool to do it with an open motor at 200 miles per hour.”
IS IT GOING TO BE TOUGH TO PASS ON SUNDAY? “We are passing guys in practice. I think you guys have to keep in mind there is still two more Nationwide practices there is still another Cup practice. You’ve got ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) qualifying and racing and a Nationwide race there is a lot of track time coming up still. I would say by the time we get to Sunday the track will widen out even more but you can race on it.
GOODYEAR CHANGED THE TIRE ABOUT HALF HOUR, HOUR AGO AND THEY SAY THAT IT IS A HARDER COMPOUND HAVE YOU NOTICED A DIFFERENCE?
“I didn’t know we were on a different tire.”
YES THEY CHANGED IT THEY TOLD US THAT THEY WERE GOING TO CHANGE IT FROM WHAT YOU GUYS WERE RUNNING THIS MORNING AND I LOOKED UP AND YOU WERE DOING LIKE 198 THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU WENT UP TO 201. “Well it’s because we switched to qualifying trim. You are going to go faster when you switch it over. That is news to me on them switching tires.”
YOU SAID SOMETHING ON THE BROADCAST ABOUT THE SENSATION YOU GET AS YOU GET FASTER AND FASTER IT ALMOST FEELS SLOWER TO YOU? “It is for me. I don’t know why. I think it’s kind of getting to the speed where we were when we were running Indy cars a little bit. We are running 217 at the end of the straight-a-way here so your starting to get in speeds that I was used to running in the IRL (Indy Racing League) but the cars feel comfortable enough that they have got a stable enough platform that it kind of feels that way. It seems like the longer we are doing it and the longer we are running these speeds the slower it is starting to feel to us.”
SO YOUR BODY KIND OF ACCLIMATES THE SPEED? “Yeah I think so. It doesn’t seem like it’s a nervous 217.”
YOU’VE BEEN DOING A LOT OF TESTING THIS WEEK CAN YOU GIVE US YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE BRISTOL TEST THAT YOU DID? “We had a productive test for us. I think Goodyear learned some things too but as far as the track I don’t really… they did make some changes to it but I’m not sure how much of a difference it’s going to make with the racing. I don’t think we will know until we get back for the race to see exactly how much it’s going to change it.”
DID YOU TRY THE HIGH GROOVE ONCE DURING THE TEST? “Once, (laughs), once and I decided I would not be trying it a second time. I think they wanted to get us off the wall on the outside and they are definitely going to accomplish that.”
WAS IT JUST TOO LOOSE? “Yeah, too slick.”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE SONOMA IN ONE WORD? “Fun it’s a fun track.”
A LOT OF TESTING AT VIR, ROAD ATLANTA NOT SURE WHERE YOU GUYS TESTED BUT DO YOU FEEL PREPARED READY FOR SONOMA NEXT WEEK? “We actually ran into some fueling problems but the good thing was we found it there at the VIR test versus having it happen at Sonoma so hopefully we got that part behind us and dodged a bullet there.”
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