TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Martin Truex Jr. — Notes & Quotes Martinsville Speedway (2013 NSCS Goodyear tire test) – August 7, 2012
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing What are your thoughts on the 2013 car in the morning test session? “This is the first time I have run the 2013 car obviously. Coming to Martinsville — this is a place where aerodynamics don’t mean anything so it’s hard to say — it’s going to be hard to learn a lot about the new car. The chassis’ are the same as what we’ve been running. We’re going to take a little bit of weight off, which is I think their plan to do next year. I think 60 pounds off the left and 40 (pounds) off the right. We’re going to do that and see what it does. Going through some different tires and things for Goodyear. Trying to learn as much as we can today not only for the upcoming race here at Martinsville, but getting ready for short track racing next year with the 2013 car.”
What can you learn at this test for the upcoming race in October? “I think quite a bit — I think we learned quite a bit today that will help us. The thing about Martinsville is with the concrete in the corners, it’s very, very difficult to test here and learn stuff because there’s not enough cars here to get rubber in the race track. This place changes so much as you go through practice, getting ready for the race when the track gets rubbered up. The track is very, very green and to say that you’re going to come here and learn a whole lot is probably reaching pretty far out on a limb.”
Does the 2013 car drive differently than the current 2012 car? “The car doesn’t drive any different — again, the chassis and the setup is basically what we ran here in the spring race. The only thing different is the body. We started with the same weight — pretty much the way we raced here. If we were at Texas or Atlanta or a place — a big, fast race track, obviously it would be a lot different because of the aerodynamics and the body is so much different. For here, honestly it doesn’t drive any different at all.”
How would you feel if NASCAR started red flagging races for severe storms that are 20 minutes away? “That is the first I have heard of that 20 minute thing. I don’t know, what happens if it breaks up or goes around you? That could change the outcome of the race in a big way just by throwing a caution. That’s like having a debris caution at times. We know how they can throw a monkey wrench into people’s plans sometimes and pit strategy and all that goes along with it. I don’t know — I don’t 
know what the answer is there. Obviously, with what happened this past weekend was tragic and you never want to see things like that happen. Whatever steps they think they need to take then we’ll support them 100 percent.”
What do you think about Dodge’s rumored announcement about leaving NASCAR? “With Dodge, I read that on Twitter this morning that Dodge was announcing today that they weren’t coming back. It’s disappointing. It’s obviously disappointing for the sport to lose a manufacturer. I can remember when they came into the sport kind of guns blazing with a big program. I guess it really wasn’t that long ago in NASCAR terms. They haven’t been around that long so it’s kind of strange to see them go. I know there’s a lot of teams out there that could use some factory help — some smaller teams that have really put a lot of effort into growing their programs and showing up every weekend and staying in the top-35 and doing all those things that you think they deserve some support and that would have been a good option for them. Obviously, I’m sure it had to do with some financial stuff. Hopefully, they’ll get that resolved and come back.”
Do you think Dodge’s departure will impact the racing? “There’s only two Dodge’s out there now so to say it’s going to affect the racing I think would be silly. If there was eight or 10 of them like there is Chevrolets — then it would be a huge deal. The fact that there’s only two — I don’t think it’s going to change a whole lot.”
How will the lower weight impact these cars? “I think the biggest thing is just taking the weight out is going to be easier on the tires. It’s going to allow them to soften the tires up and get some more tire wear without having tire problems. It will take heat out of the right side tires. It’s going to do a lot. These cars are big and heavy — a lot heavier than the old car and we’ve seen how much more difficult it’s been for Goodyear to build a tire when you go to a fast track like Michigan being repaved and places like that. The technology they have today at Goodyear to build tires is so far superior to what they had five or six years ago with the old car, yet we see more tires problems today and that’s just because of the weight. The high center of gravity puts so much stress on the right side tires and not enough on the lefts. I think it’s going to help. Everything they can take off, everything they can do to lower the CoG (center of gravity) is going to help them. Looking at some of the parts and pieces of these new bodies, I think there’s going to be some lighter pieces that maybe the hoods and the roof and decklid and stuff that we get from manufactures — I feel like are going to be lighter. That’s going to help lower the CoG too.” – more –
TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Martin Truex Jr. — Notes & Quotes Martinsville Speedway (2013 NSCS Goodyear tire test) – August 7, 2012
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MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing (continued) Are you excited to have a new look to the cars in 2013? “It’s definitely exciting to see what the manufacturers can come up with, especially this time around. These guys have had a little bit of area to work in more so than the last time around I feel like. The cars are all going to look a little different. Our car looks awesome and I think you’re going to see that where manufacturers have an edge there I think. It’s going to be exciting to see who comes out of the box with the big guns and can get out in front and run really good out of the box. I’m excited. I know the guys at Toyota Racing have put a lot of effort into their 2013 car. Hopefully, it will come out of the box strong.”
What is the status of your contract with Michael Waltrip Racing? “I think we’ll announce it soon. We’re really close — there’s no secrets to hide. We’re just finishing up the details. I really never talked to anybody else or even really thought about going anywhere else. It’s just one of those things where we were concentrating on racing, concentrating on putting all the pieces of the deal together during the week when we’re not racing. Really, it’s come together nicely. We’re very close and we’re excited about the future together.”
Would a weight reduction be beneficial on road courses? “Definitely at a road course it will help. It’s going to be very important here too and we haven’t done it yet. We started this morning with our normal weight that we’ve been running and we’re actually taking it out for after lunch. It will be interesting to see just how much it does — just how much more grip it allows us to have and how much faster we can go like that. Certainly I expect it to feel better, but until we try it we never know. We’ll just have to wait and see what it does.”
Will the 2013 cars be less aero sensitive than the current cars? “That’s hard to say whether it will be more aero affected by the other cars or not. It’s one of those deals where the faster we go, the closer the competition, the more we rely on aerodynamics to make our cars go fast. When you look at NASCAR compared to IndyCars or Formula 1, we’re way less aero dependent than they are because we’re making a lot less downforce. Anytime you have competition that’s as close as what it is in Sprint Cup, all that little bit of air on the nose is always going to mean something. Unless we’re racing 50 miles an hour or 100 miles an hour, it’s always going to be part of racing. I don’t know that there’s any way you could ever get rid of that besides slow the cars down or take the bodies off them all together.”
Will you forget some of what you learn today before the October race? “I might, but the guys write it all down and put it in the computer. As long as we don’t lose the computers or the hard drives crash, I think we’ll be alright.”
Would you like to see more or less road courses on the schedule? “I’m fine with what they have. I enjoy road racing so if I’m always looking forward to going there, especially Watkins Glen — it’s one of my favorite tracks. I think that there’s definitely a place here for maybe two or three more. If you’re going to do two, why not make three or four. We build three or four race cars a year to go racing twice. I think it would be nice to use them up and get a little more experience and go to some new race tracks.”
What is the biggest difference at Michael Waltrip Racing? “It’s tough to point out one thing that we’ve done better this year — there’s so many things that we’ve done different as a team. Feel like just being together — this is my third year at Michael Waltrip Racing and we’ve come a long way. We’ve changed the way we do a lot of things. We’ve brought in a lot of new people over the past year and a half. There are just so many things that we’re doing better right now than we did in the past and that’s the reason you see we’re fifth in points and got two cars in the top-10 this year. This will be the first year, if we can finish the deal — that Michael Waltrip Racing has ever even had a car in the Chase. It’s really every single area of the race team has been better. Everybody’s smarter, our cars are just faster and they’re built better. They’re faster and easier to drive — durability is better. Every single part of what Michael Waltrip Racing does is better today than it was at this time last year. With the 2013 car, I expect a lot of it to stay the same. Toyota Racing has been a big reason for our turnaround — a big help in the turnaround of the race team and the performance of the race cars on the track. With them putting a lot of effort and a lot of energy into this new car, I expect that we will come out of the box running just as strong as we are right now.”
