TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Brian Vickers — Notes & Quotes
New Hampshire Motor Speedway – July 11, 2014
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Will this be a big weekend for the team if you can win with the new Chase format?
“Yeah, it could be. I hope it is. I’ve always enjoyed Loudon — racing here and it’s been a great track to me over the years. Obviously last year was a fantastic race for us and really proud of what this Aaron’s Dream Machine team did, putting the car in victory lane and giving me a car that was just absolutely incredible to drive and hopefully we can do it again this weekend.”
How much pressure do you feel this weekend?
“I don’t feel a lot of pressure necessarily because it’s here. I have a lot of excitement. I think we had a really good car here last year. We’ve proven to ourselves that we can win here and we had a great test here a few weeks ago, so I really look forward to it. But, there’s so many variables in our sport no matter how fast your car is, no matter how comfortable you are on the race track there’s a lot of things that are out of your control. You can’t count your chickens until they hatch and you just go out there and just do the best you can every lap.”
Does this situation create a different atmosphere amongst your team?
“I don’t know. I guess I will tell you in a couple days. I don’t think so. I don’t know. I don’t know that I feel any different this morning than I did at Daytona Thursday morning. I guess I haven’t walked in the truck yet. I’ll see the atmosphere in the truck here in a minute. But, certainly any time you have a good test somewhere you’re excited and we had a great test at Pocono too and had a fast car and it just wasn’t our day. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Is there a lot of pressure to win right now with eight races left before the Chase?
“Yeah. I think that there’s certainly pressure to win. I think the Chase is starting to form up especially in the win category and we were in the Chase for a long time via points and we just had a few bad weeks and now we’re not — or actually I don’t even know if we are right now. Just barely out. There’s still that possibility and that’s something we’re not going to lose sight of but a win would solve both problems and that’s what we’re focused on. Unfortunately, there’s like 42 other guys that are focused on it too so that’s what makes it challenging.”
Can you take us through the emotion of last year’s win at New Hampshire?
“It’s actually great to be sitting back here again in this room. It brings back good memories. I mean, to be able to get the win here last year at New Hampshire was huge for me in a lot of ways and this team obviously to be in victory lane. To be in victory lane with a new team and a new crew and to accomplish that for Aaron’s and Michael (Waltrip, co-owner) and Rob (Kauffman, co-owner) and everything they had done for me and Toyota. Obviously the elephant in the room is the fact that I had so many health issues and I was out of the car and was told I may never race again and to be able to get back into a car at all was a huge accomplishment for me personally. And, then to get back in victory lane was just kind of put it over the top. The only thing that would be better is to win the championship and that’s our goal.”
Does having the advantage of testing at New Hampshire give your team an edge?
“I guess yes and no. I have mixed feeling about testing in general. If we were the only person that got to test here then I’d feel really good about it, but seeing how everyone tested here really the only difference is that the teams just spent a whole lot of money. That’s pretty much the difference. I don’t know that the outcome is going to change. Like if we all come here and test then we’re all essentially probably making gains. Maybe one group makes a few more gains than the other group but I don’t know that the outcome changes a lot and I certainly don’t think that the fan experience changed a lot. It’s just the teams spend millions of dollars and will never see that money back.”
Do you think the Hendrick teams shared their information with Stewart-Haas?
“The bigger teams certainly have maybe a little bit more advantage. I mean, Hendrick, Haas, the eight car behemoth — that’s kind of one team. They share all of their information so maybe they have a slight advantage, but in essence when every team comes to test — my thoughts on testing in general is I just don’t know that it’s the best use of resources. But, you kind of have to go because everyone else is going right? But, as far as the end product on Sunday, I don’t know that if everyone is going to test that it’s kind of changing a lot. If you come test and no one else tests then you’re going to probably make gains on them. But, as far as the rule changes and how people have adapted to that obviously the Hendrick, (Stewart) Haas team has an advantage because they have a lot more cars than anyone else sharing information. That’d be about the only advantage.”
What do you think about the Race Team Alliance?
“I don’t know a lot about it yet to be honest with you. I think we’re all kind of waiting and seeing. I think there’s a lot of low hanging fruit for the teams to save money on and they should. They’ve talked about, from what I’ve heard, whether it’s hotel rooms or rental cars and stuff like that. I think that’s great. How it unfolds I guess is yet to be determined. As far as Rob (Kauffman, MWR co-owner) being the chairman, I hope that’s an advantage for us. I doubt it will be. I don’t think it has any barring whatsoever, but again I don’t really understand the dynamic of the RTA (Race Team Alliance) and I’m sure they all have say right? I don’t know that Rob being the tip of the spear has any barring for us other than I think it’s good for the group. Rob is a really smart guy and a hard worker and will bring a lot to the table.”
Do you still face your health issues daily with taking medications and are you concerned they can happen again?
“Certainly something that crosses my mind. I wouldn’t say that I linger on it or I let it kind of affect my daily life. You just kind of have to move on. I certainly am conscious of it and I make decisions based upon the fact that I could have another clot. Like, if I’m on a long flight I’ll get up and walk around. I’ll stretch and I’ll keep my legs moving. I won’t just sit there for long periods of time. But, when I’m in the race car all I’m thinking about is how can I get through this next turn as fast as possible and win the race. I don’t really give much thought at all. I think the reality is that we’re all — we kind of do a lot, as you grow up, especially when you’re young, you do a lot of dumb things. You seem to bounce off the walls and you seem to be pretty resilient and obviously we crash at 200 miles an hour so the human body is very resilient in some ways but it’s also very fragile in others. I could have another clot just as easy as someone else could have another medical problem. We’re all kind of fragile in our own ways and I think you just learn to live in the moment of every day and just appreciate all of it and focus on the task at hand, do your best, try to make good decisions with your health and just keep charging forward.”
Do you feel when you come here that anyone can win on any given Sunday?
“Yeah, I think as a competitor and as a driver when you show up to any race track every weekend you always show up like with a notion that you can win and if you don’t show up with that feeling then why even show up? Certainly some tracks, because of past history, you feel like you’re maybe better or worse at and some teams may feel like they’re better or worse at, but a lot of it changes over time. As teams deploy resources and engineering and effort towards a particular track or particular style of track — short track, big tracks, whatever they are — then that performance can kind of come and go over time respective to the other teams. When I was at Red Bull, the short tracks weren’t our thing. We were a brand new team coming out of the box and we had to devote resources to one thing. We couldn’t devote them to everything and we devoted them to mile and a half tracks to start with because it was mostly mile and a half tracks. So, we ran okay at short tracks but we never really — we weren’t consistently contending for a win week in and week out at short tracks. But, then when I got to MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and they had really good short track packages week in and week out we were always contending for a win at a short track. That was kind of our strong suit. So, that can kind of ebb and flow over time. Just because you were good or not good in the past doesn’t mean you’re not going to be good or not good in the future and it just depends on where you focus and how you allocate those resources.”
