TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Brian Vickers — Notes & Quotes
Michigan International Speedway – June 13, 2014
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
How does it feel to be back racing NSCS at Michigan?
“It’s good to be back at Michigan — wow, this media center is nice. I don’t think I’ve been to the new one. Obviously, it’s been a few years since I’ve raced here in a Cup car. This has always been one of my favorite race tracks. I’ve always loved coming here. I think it makes for great racing. There’s nothing like seeing cars two, three, four wide — places they shouldn’t be especially at 200 mph going into turn one. It’s been a good track for me historically. I hope that it continues to be so even with the new pavement. This year has been a good year for us. It’s been a solid year — pleased, but not satisfied is kind of how I would describe it. We’ve had some really good runs and we’ve had some really fast cars and we unfortunately haven’t been able to turn that into a win yet, but we’ve turned it into a lot of good runs. Until the last two weeks, fairly consistent too. Two weeks ago we unfortunately had an engine failure that really hurt us in the points and we had a good car at Dover as well. Last week we had a good car all weekend and avoiding a wreck I knocked the splitter up like an half an inch and it just was pretty tough in traffic after that. Really difficult to pass and we just lost our track position and just couldn’t recover from that. Other than that, I just couldn’t be more proud of this Aaron’s Dream Machine team. They really have done a great job — Billy (Scott, crew chief) and the guys on the team have given me great cars. Everyone at MWR and Toyota has given me great cars and it’s probably one of the most enjoyable work environments I’ve ever been in during my life. What Rob (Kaufmann, team co-owner) and Michael (Waltrip, team co-owner) have done at MWR to create a culture that’s hard working, but also enjoyable is pretty cool and I think that really carries into the 55 team. Billy is so calm and so stable and it’s just great to work around him and he’s such a hard worker and so bright. I couldn’t be happier really with the whole situation other than we don’t have a win. That’s kind of the only piece of the puzzle that we’re missing. Hopefully we can capture that victory this weekend and then roll that into the Chase.”
What improvements have you seen in recent weeks with your team?
“I think a lot of it is the organization as a whole is trying to continually create more depth. We had a bit of a setback losing a third team, but we’re kind of growing back in that direction — it’s great to see Brett Moffitt back on the track this weekend. He’s done a great job with the testing. As far as the 55 team particularly I think Aaron’s coming on board full time this year really shows a huge commitment from them as a partner and their confidence in the team. Bill (Scott, crew chief), obviously, he’s not new to the team, but he’s new in his role. That’s a big role change, it really is. There’s a lot of things that are the same, but there are a lot of things that are different when you have to call those final shots. The communication within the team is phenomenal and I think it’s only getting better and better every single week. How we work together, how we communicate, how we progress through the weekend, how we progress through the week and tests, etc. I’m really happy about that. I feel like we’re on an upward trajectory and that’s a good sign. Obviously we’d love to have two wins at this point, but the fact that we continually keep getting better I really like that. We’ve run pretty well so far this year and I feel like there’s still room to grow and there is still blue sky ahead.”
Are there particular tracks this summer that you have circled as tracks where there is more confidence?
“I think to an extent we have them all circled. Obviously, you feel that you’re better at some places than others not only as a driver, but as a team and the whole combination. For whatever reason, Michigan has always been a good track for me. I’ve always liked it here, but there’s also tracks that a lot of it depends on the team and kind of the emphasis within the organization on particular track sizes, historically short tracks have been hit or miss, but at MWR they’ve been one of my best. There’s no given in that category — the road racing is something I’m excited about. I think the time I spent overseas road racing really helped me a lot. I’m really looking forward to Sonoma — that is sort of one I have circled so to speak. Obviously, here, but here is a little bit old and new for me. I like Michigan, but I haven’t been in a Cup car on the new pavement so there’s a lot of unknowns still there. Pocono was another one that historically has been good for me and we were excited about and we still have another shot at that one. Obviously, Loudon — we had a really good car there last year and we won there last year so I think you have to circle that one. There’s tracks — there are certainly tracks that you look forward to and you think we have a good package for and I like to race there and the team has good cars there. We show up every weekend focused on that weekend. I really try to not only live my life that way, but race that way. If I’m going down the front stretch my focus is turn one — that’s it. I think that’s just kind of where I’m at right now and I like that.”
How do the new points format at road courses impact the strategy?
“It does, you still have to be in the top-30 in points. It’s not like anybody can just build a car and make the Chase. I think it does throw a dynamic into the Chase format where you’re going to have maybe one or two guys that you typically wouldn’t see in the Chase that are just really good at road courses, but not necessarily everywhere else. We’ll see. Only time will tell. You look at history and that would tell us that there’s not going to be 16 winners coming into the Chase after 26 races, but history changes right? There’s always a first time for everything. Our goal as a team is to stay as high in the points we can and get a win. That’s kind of our goal. We’d love to have multiple wins, but we’re focused on both. I don’t think we can just throw the points out the window. Even though everything that has been done to the points is to emphasize winning, the guy that would have won the championship last year never would have won a race. I don’t think you can throw the points out the window yet.”
How do you compare road racing to driving your street car in traffic?
“I actually don’t have a car right now — a bicycle. I just don’t find that I need one in Miami or New York. It’s just easier that way. If I need a car I just rent one. I also don’t particularly enjoy driving in traffic so my lovely wife does that and she seems to like driving. I let her handle that. I just try to avoid the topic at all costs. As far as road rage and driving in traffic — there is nothing more painful I think for most of us, but especially race car drivers that’s used to going as fast as he wants in the lane he wants and how he wants than sitting in a traffic jam and being cut off by people and having someone in the left lane riding at 45 mph in a 70 mph zone next to a tractor trailer. There is just nothing more frustrating than that. You obviously would like to inform them of their transgressions by using the chrome bumper, but that is not legal on the road so you restrain yourself from doing those things. In general, going back to the road racing, it’s wild. It’s interesting. The road racing I think is some of the best road racing in the world. There’s a lot of great road racing out there — Le Mans is going on this weekend and I had the opportunity to race there. That is an awesome event, but unquestionably I think our cars put on a better show on a road race. I would love to see our sport expand. Everybody talks about adding more road races and I’m all for it, but just don’t add another Watkins Glen. I love Watkins Glen, but let’s go somewhere else, let’s go international, let’s go to other continents — if we’re going to add road racing let’s go to new markets. I think NASCAR will put on the best road race that any road race track we’ve gone to has ever seen. I love those tracks and I always kind of enjoyed them. I think the time I spent in sports cars made me like them even more. As far as street driving, I’m not a fan of it, especially traffic and I try to avoid it all together.”
Do you always know if there is trash on the grill of the race car?
“It depends on the track. Sometimes at high speed race tracks if it’s a big piece of trash — the way the cars are today the temps are so tight and we push everything to the limit that even the smallest piece of trash that may or may not affect your handling can affect your temps. If it’s a big piece of trash that really blocks off the grill then you’re going to notice it in the balance of the car. It’s going to be like putting tape on for qualifying without taping the car up. It’s probably going to be loose and eventually as the temps climb — again, if you didn’t see them and if you didn’t have temp gauges then you would start to lose some power right until it blew up. It’s always been frustrating, it’s happened to everyone in this garage where you’ve had a really good car and you’ve been leading or been whatever and you get a piece of trash on the grill and you have to let someone by to get it off or you have to worst case come in the pits or worst case you blow up. It’s just part of it — it’s just part of the sport. Everybody has to deal with it. It’s just one of those things in our sport and I think something that a lot of other sports don’t have to deal with. There’s a lot of variables in our sport that are unknowns that no matter how talented you are or no matter how good of a car you have and no matter how great of a race your crew chief calls and how fast of a car he builds, there are factors that just happen. You run over debris and you cut a tire. You get trash on your grill, things happen. I don’t know if I’ve ever watched a football game where the quarterback was getting ready to throw the ball and it goes flat. I’ve just never seen that game. Things happen and teams get beat that you don’t think should get beat in other sports and it’s just because they didn’t play as well as they should have that day. It’s not because of some unknown variable that we have to deal with in NASCAR.”
