Ford Performance NSCS Notes & Quotes:
2015 Charlotte Media Tour
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
The Roush Fenway Racing contingent kicked off Ford Wednesday at the 2015 Charlotte Media Tour with drivers from the NASCAR XFINITY and Sprint Cup series’ on hand, as well as organizational leaders Steve Newmark and Jack Roush. Below is a transcript of the formal portion of Wednesday’s program.
STEVE NEWMARK, President, Roush Fenway Racing – “I want to thank each and every one of you for being here on the early Wednesday session. I know it has been a long week. We really appreciate you being here, particularly we believe there is not another media core in sports that endures the demands you guys do, beginning with this week long commitment to the rigors of a 38 race season. From our perspective, we are chomping at the bit to get out on the track. People in our organization are going stir crazy. Even though it is a long season I think we would rather be racing all season. We appreciate the fact that you guys enable us and facilitate our ability to do that by covering us. Before I turn things over and let you get to the main attraction and talk to our drivers and Jack, I wanted to talk a few minutes about where we are, how we are positioned for 2015 and how we ended last year. There is a statement many of you guys may have heard. It is truism that says people and organizations like the idea of change but not change itself. For us, that is particularly relevant. Although we put two cars in the Chase and had three in the top-10 in the XFINITY Series we didn’t perform to our expectations. If you had walked through the halls of Roush Fenway during the latter part of last season, there would have been a high level of dissatisfaction. We set goals for ourselves and didn’t meet them. We spent a lot of time in the off-season doing some soul searching to figure out what we need to do to get back on top. I think we realize that sports are cyclical and teams go up and down but you don’t get back to the top just by waiting for inertia to take you there. We were looking at the changes we needed to make and are pretty fortunate that we have a good guide post in Jack Roush, doing this for over 25 years at the top level. He has been at the pinnacle for most of it but there have been times when competitors have caught up or passed him and he has recognized that what he has to do it revitalize, rejuvenate and reinvigorate the organization. He really imparted to Robbie Reiser, myself and the rest of the management team that we have to embrace change and figure out what we needed to do to get our team back on top. That is what we did beginning the middle of last year. We made a lot of changes, some of them hard decisions. I will mention a few of them. You will hear a lot about it from these guys. Some of the things, fortunately we have a great partner in Ford that stood behind us and worked tirelessly as we tried to replace our simulation program. Obviously added Elliott Sadler and Bubba Wallace who we think will be great additions to the team and have already shown how they fit in with our organization. Just as important for us when you look at how the sport has evolved – we all recognize the reliance on engineering and technology at this point – we decided we needed to attract some high caliber folks to help our team round itself out. With the additional of Mark McCardell, Kevin Kidd, Phil Gould and a lot of others, we feel like that is a real position of strength for us going forward and it needs to be. One of the great things from our perspective is we were able to do that while still retaining the anchors of our organization that have given us so much success in the past. Guys like Robbie Reiser, Bob Osborne and Jimmy Fennig are all still around. If you go through the halls of Roush now I think it is more energetic than I have ever seen it. There is a lot of excitement about the direction we are heading. We understand that hope springs eternal for all teams at this point and that we are going to be judged ultimately by the performance on the track but are extremely confident we have made significant improvements with the help of Ford to get us where we need to go. One last thing, I think one of our objectives up here is to provide some entertainment for the media and I think I recall over the years you guys track word counts with teams. The one thing I will tell you and predict is that we will use the word excitement. You will hear that word from Jack, the drivers and everyone because there is an authentic excitement about the direction we are headed. This is a very different feeling I think from what we have had going into years past. We have a young group of drivers here with some veterans that compliment them really well. Hopefully we can entertain you on that. Thank you very much for everything you guys do for our sport and the fans.”
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 6 EcoBoost Ford Mustang – WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU TO BE DRIVING FOR JACK ROUSH AND CAMPAIGNING IN THE XFINITY SERIES FULL TIME? “It is a huge opportunity for me. First of all, thanks to Jack and Ford for giving me the opportunity to further my career. It is going to be a lot of fun this year racing with my teammates. We are going to go to Daytona and be successful, hopefully 1-2-3-4 and sweep the weekend. I am excited about the opportunity to keep going on. The first race I haven’t been to is Atlanta, so that will be a fun challenge for me. I am going to go out there and have some fun.” I UNDERSTAND YOU ARE A LITTLE UNDER THE WEATHER TODAY. “Yeah, I am not going to be shaking any hands. I am not trying to be rude, but if you want to get sick I will and you can join the club.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – YOU MUST BE ESPECIALLY EXCITED TO BE BRINGING BACK THE NO. 6 CAR AND DRIVING IN THE CUP SERIES FULL TIME – “I can’t thank Jack Roush and Ford enough for the past five years that they have supported and stood behind me to get to this point. It has been a little bit of a wait but it has been a great time driving the 21 car and getting that experience with Ford on board and now I get to drive for Jack, the man I signed up to drive for six years ago in the Cup Series with the 6 car. What an opportunity it is to bring that back, especially with a full time sponsor with AdvoCare. TO make that step and be full time at the Cup level, I can’t think of many sponsors that make that step. What a great year we have to look forward to. Elliott said I am not allowed to say excited but I am really pumped up about what we have going on here. I think Roush Fenway Racing is turning a corner and hopefully we turn it pretty fast here and can go contend for some wins here this year.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – TALK ABOUT YOUR PROSPECTS FOR THE UPCOMING 2015 SEASON. “I am just here so I won’t get fined.” (laughter) “Sorry, I just had to do that. We are ready to get going. It is great to have Fastenal move over to be our anchor sponsor in 2015. We have had the pleasure of working with them in the past on the Nationwide side and a few Cup races the last couple of years. With them and Zest and Fifth Third, I think we have a great partner lineup on the 17 car. We have some new changes on our team and a lot of the guys are working really hard in the shop. Nick Sandler has moved over from Carl’s engineer from last year and learned a lot from Jimmy Fennig. Mike (Kelly) is still a big part of our team and that was really important for me to have him stick around. It means a lot to me personally but also to the team. He sets a great example to our crew guys and we have some younger crew guys that really look up to him. I think everyone really appreciates his dedication. With Nick and Mike working together and with leadership from Jimmy I think we will have a great season. I am ready to get it going.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No 60 Roush Performance Ford Mustang – YOU HAVE A WIN UNDER YOUR BELT LAST SEASON AT MID-OHIO, THAT SEEMS LIKE A GOOD JUMPING OFF POINT FOR THIS SEASON. “Absolutely, getting that first one out of the way was huge for us. I am not going to say excited because I was told the same thing but it was really good for us. Now we are just looking forward to 2015 and adding on to that list. We need to get the second and third one and so on. I think with our XFINITY Series lineup we have here we should be competing for a championship this year. It should be a really solid year for us. Everyone in the shop has been working extremely hard and everyone is ready to get back to racing. The 175 laps in the sim last night isn’t enough practice through the off season. We are ready to get to Daytona.”
RYAN REED, No 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang – WHAT DID YOU GAIN LAST YEAR AND HOW WILL IT HELP YOU THIS SEASON? “I think having that rookie year out of the way and just learning everything I learned, going to all these tracks the second time will be huge. I think there are a lot of thing I had to learn that I didn’t think I had to learn that I have learned the hard way. That will be huge to have some of that out of the way and start 2015 strong. Also to have Lilly Diabetes and the American Diabetes Association back on board is huge. To have that commitment from our partners is amazing. I echo what these guys have said. Having such a strong lineup next year and such a great group of teammates to bounce ideas off of and share with will be huge. I am excited to have Elliott on board. There is so much experience there – I am not calling you old or anything man – there is just a lot of experience there and I am excited to learn from them in 2015.”
ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 1 One Main Financial Ford Mustang – YOU’VE SAID THIS IS ALMOST LIKE A HOME COMING FOR YOU THIS YEAR. “It is. It was so neat to walk into the shop the first time and see a lot of guys that I had worked with before. Not only from my days at Yates but also from the Ford family. To walk into the Ford Technical Center last night and have the meeting we had yesterday with everyone from Ford Performance and the blue oval, for them to welcome me back to the camp means a lot to me. They gave me my first opportunity in racing. Being able to be back with Doug Yates and that Yates horsepower, to really get back with family that are all going for that common goal and pulling that string in the right direction and doing it together has been special for me. I can’t thank Jack enough and everyone from Roush Fenway Racing for giving me this opportunity. We are working hard and going through some changes and the guys have really put their nose to the grindstone to make sure when we unload at Daytona we are as prepared as we can possibly be. We can’t thank our partners from Ford enough for helping us with that and I am looking forward to a good season. We have a lot of youth and enthusiasm on this stage and everyone is ready to get going. We are looking forward to it.”
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 Ortho Ford Fusion – WHAT DOES THIS UPCOMING SEASON MEAN TO YOU? “It means a lot to me, especially Elliott talking about the youth that we have here. So, thanks for that comment. I appreciate it. Oh, you weren’t talking about me? You know, as everyone knows and Steve mentioned earlier, last year was certainly a tough season for us. I will tell you that this off season and the no testing that has gone on, we have really kind of agonized over things but I really feel like it has been a turning point for Roush Fenway because it has given us the down time and opportunities to step back and look at potentially where we had made the wrong turn in the road at. We have some new people in and when you are racing every week and trying to do this and testing and over at Nashville and doing all these things, you are looking at the problem down low. It wasn’t until we got up higher and really looked at the landscape we decided we made some wrong decisions back possibly over a year ago on the direction with our cars. We really feel like we have found some things we have done wrong. We feel we have righted those things. Sometimes you have to pick a road and path and go down that and we did. I feel like we have a great thing going and a bunch of excitement. In the shop, it is amazing to see what is going on. From the shop being repainted and the floors redone and new people and people shifted around, everybody is giving 110% and I have always said that people – it is people that win races and championships. Dough Yates and that group have given us the engines and the drive train power train we need. I think the guys working in the shop right now, like Elliott said they are all pulling the string in the same direction and we feel we have it under control. I think we will show up at Daytona and be really prepared and at the first four or five downforce races of the season. I hope Roush Fenway is back in the game and competing in that top level again. We have a bunch of new guys on the team. I appreciate what Ford has done for us. They have really put their nose to the grind stone and provided everything, especially with the new alliance they have created. I am excited about it. I am ready to go.”
JACK ROUSH, owner, Roush Fenway Racing – WHAT STANDS OUT TO YOU IN THIS LANDMARK 28TH YEAR FOR YOU IN NASCAR? “Looking back, I took the view as we thought about things this winter and changes we would consider that the glass is definitely more than half full. We won two road races on the year, one Nationwide and one on the Cup side, we had a very good chance to win a speedway race if Greg had gone on and passed Denny Hamlin before the caution on the last lap and we won on a short track at Bristol. The hole in our performance was in the 1.5 mile race tracks which have typically been our strength. There are a lot of things involved. There is the aero map, the ride map, the analysis of the tire data that flows from NASCAR and we had to make sure we considered those things to not screw up the things that were adequate or strong as we went after the areas we showed some weakness. I characterize our changes as tweaks. We looked at a number of things on the 1.5 mile cars and Mark McCardell and Kevin Kidd have given us some new perspective on some things that have gone on in the industry beyond the vision of myself and Robbie Reiser. We made our tweaks and have a strong lineup of partners that has been showing on the screen behind me. I won’t start naming them because I will forget one. We are proud of our sponsors and partners because they are all leaders in their segments of our economy and we are really happy with our relationship with Ford. Jamie Allison was a man on an island as the racing director of Ford and he had six people with him that were managers with the support of Raj Nair and Mark Rushbrook from a technical side. He has 14 managers now to help him identify the things that the teams could do better and the things the other teams are doing that we might not be mindful of from an operational point of view. The support from Ford has been good, the partnership has been good. We need to maintain our position with our road racing prowess and superspeedway prowess and pick up on the 1.5 and two-mile tracks. I am anxious to do that. I have never been more excited about our lineup of drivers. Greg Biffle and Elliott Sadler being the senior group – not senior like myself but seniors in terms of drivers – and the rookies, we don’t have any rank rookies but Ryan Reed with his second year and Chris Buescher in his second year and as a ARCA champion as well and there is an expectation of what will happen with Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace. I couldn’t be happier with our XFINITY program and we just have to go to the race track with our Cup cars and see what we can do on these 1.5 mile race tracks.”
