NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
CASEY MEARS, NO. 13 GEICO CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GOOD PEOPLE?
“I think that really people are everything in our sport. I mean obviously budge and having a strong organization that puts a good group of people together is very important, but at the same time as a small group we have kind of had the same group of guys for quite a while. I think we have a good group of people and it’s important to have people that work well together. In the past I have been with some teams where they kind of put an all-star line-up in for a team and it’s a lot of really good individual people that area really good at their job, but if they don’t work well together it’s not a good team. I think that over the course of time we have put together a good team, a good program, guys that know their place and enjoy what they do and aren’t trying to do the other guys job. Having a good team and a good moral and good people that work well together is important.”
HAVE YOU BEEN IN A FUEL MILEAGE RACE AND CAN YOU DESCRIBE IN THE COCKPIT WHAT YOU TRY TO DO TO SAVE AS MUCH GAS AS POSSIBLE?
“I think there are a lot of different strategies and I think it depends on manufacturer and things that they do. I mean honestly the simplest way to say it is just be off the gas as much as you possibly can. I think if you know and understand your manufacturer and your engine company and the way that they build it you have I guess percentages of throttle that work better for particular engines or builds. Especially at a place like a superspeedway you can run part throttle and still maintain in the draft and save. There are definitely strategies like that at every superspeedway race. At the end of a race if it’s a fuel mileage race you are trying to be out of the throttle as much as you possibly can, part throttle as much as you can versus wide open. Back to the throttle later, coasting more, trying to use less brake all that type of thing.”
HOW NERVE RACKING IS IT TRYING TO FIGURE THAT OUT AS YOU ARE GOING?
“It is it is nerve racking because in our sport it’s not an exact science. Obviously in testing you try to do some of these things so maybe you can get a little bit more data so you know what you are doing or you have a pretty good idea of how much you are saving. At the end of the day it’s a really good educated guess.”
IS THERE A WAY TO PRACTICE THAT?
“There is a way. Some testing where you have, well now we have a lot of the telemetry and data that we are able to download from the ECU (Engine Control Unit). That gives us a good idea of how much fuel you can save at a certain percentage of throttle and things like that. A lot of times throughout the weekend we will do some laps out of fuel saving mode just to kind of know and understand exactly what that is and factor that into the calculations when we are out there on Sunday.”
CAN TESTING TURN A TEAM’S PERFORMANCE AROUND? OR IT IS OVERRATED?
“I’ve been a part of it when it’s turned a program around. For sure testing is very valuable when you get it. I think for a smaller program every time we test we learn. Dover was a perfect example for us. A couple of years ago we were out to lunch at that place. We had a two-day test; we came back and could run inside the top-10. It was something we would have never figured out in a short practice.”
DO YOU ENJOY IT OR DO YOU FIND TESTING BORING?
“It can go either way. I always enjoy being in the car. I enjoy learning. When you have those tough tests where you just don’t feel like you learned anything it can be somewhat boring. It depends on how you apply it, but at the end of the day I like learning with the team.”
CAN A DRIVER INFLUENCE A TEST IN TERMS OF GETTING THE MOST OUT OF IT?
“Absolutely. If you show up to a test with a poor attitude and just don’t want to be there, it can kind of be infectious throughout the team and you may not get much out of it. If you go in there enthusiastic and willing to learn and eager to try to make something happen it can definitely help.”
WERE YOU GUYS A LATE ADDITION TO THE SPRINT UNLIMITED? WHEN DID YOU FIND OUT?
“Yeah, it was, I want to say probably roughly two weeks ago that I found out that we were going to be a part of the Unlimited. I mean obviously the new structure they wanted to have more cars in and then with some guys not being available or not showing up we were able to factor into the show. We will take it for sure. I guess in some ways you can say that we earned it because if we weren’t where we were in points we wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to get in. For us it’s a great opportunity to get a race under our belt, especially not having any testing. We had some changes within the organization they are going to be doing changes on the car throughout practice. I think having that practice leading up to the race and actually having a race under our belt and having our guys go over the wall before the (Daytona) 500 and do a pit stop is a good ice breaker for sure.”
FOR THE DUELS THERE IS NO EVENING PRACTICE. GETTING TO RUN THE UNLIMITED AND GETTING TO PRACTICE AT NIGHT IS THAT AN ADVANTAGE?
“You would like to think so for sure. Anytime you get to run on the track it gives you a little bit of a head start on something. There is something that you learn, knocking the cobwebs off. For sure at night there is always a little bit more grip. It’s usually a little bit easier to run wide open when the tires are at their minimum at the tail-end of a run. We will kind of know what to expect, but having a race under our belt we will definitely have some answers for sure.”
DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT THE SCHEDULE WAS GOING TO LAYOUT THAT WAY?
“I hadn’t really thought about that yet, but it seems it happens that way a lot. It seems like the way the schedules work out throughout the weekends there are several times we typically practice during a time you are not going to race. It’s definitely a topic of conversation before the weekend gets fired up.”
IS IT WORTH RUNNING THE SPRINT UNLIMITED FOR YOU GUYS EVEN THOUGH IT WAS KIND OF LAST MINUTE?
“Fortunately the guy really to thank for us being in the Unlimited is Bob Germain. He basically went outside of our budget and said I’m going to do this anyway. This is the first year we have actually been in a position to even possibly take advantage of this. We probably would have been in the same position last year as the No. 47. We had three cars prepped and ready to go for the first time ever in the history of Germian Racing going into Daytona. So when we got the call it was a matter of acquiring a few more parts and pieces and getting a motor and getting our third car really up and running. Versus it being a second spare, it was perfect timing for our program really to take advantage of the situation.”
WHY WERE YOU PREPARED THIS YEAR?
“The biggest reason was is that every year we have either had a huge manufacturer change, a team alliance change or some big NASCAR change that we have had some undertaking where we are just under water this time of year. But this year, outside the gear and motor package, which is the biggest change that we are doing, I mean cutting a little bit off the spoiler and cutting some off the pan isn’t a whole lot of time at the shop. We were really able to be prepared we had a lot of cars ready to go. This year Bootie (Barker, crew chief) just decided that he wanted three superspeedway cars. Just for the fact that quite possibly through practice and through the 150’s you could be sitting wondering what you are going to do for the 500. We were prepared regardless and it was just good timing for us.”
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AS CAUTIOUS AS YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN IN PAST YEARS?
“We are not going to be cautious at all Saturday night. We are going to be going for the win for sure.”
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SEASON?
“Really the whole season, for us we are probably as prepared as we ever have been as an organization. Just getting back to the race track again. We haven’t tested, I haven’t been in a car since Homestead so just getting back in the car and racing and working with my team again.”
WHAT IS YOUR FIRST MEMORY OF WATCHING JEFF GORDON RACE?
“That is a good question. I honestly really can’t tell you to be honest. I mean gosh I was probably 13 just seeing him on TV. I can’t remember the first time. I know the most impressionable time I had about Jeff (Gordon) racing was the first time that I was in this series (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series). I qualified right near him and I was starting next to him in one of my first races ever. I couldn’t believe I was getting ready to start a race next to Jeff Gordon. Now it’s really crazy because he is one of my good friends. We just had dinner last night together. It’s crazy where life takes you.”
COMING FROM THE INDIANAPOLIS WORLD TO THE NASCAR WORLD HE IS BASICALLY THE POSTER CHILD FOR DOING THAT TRANSITION SUCCESSFULLY:
“He was an open wheel guy, but it was midgets and sprint cars which is a totally different world than the open wheel stuff. I think for sure he was definitely the first guy that really pioneered a legitimate path from that direction to stock cars for sure.”
DID THAT HAVE ANY KIND OF AFFECT ON YOU AND YOUR PATH?
“I think anytime you see anybody successful transition from one series to another. I mean Robby Gordon was another guy that obviously has a different reputation than Jeff (Gordon) at times, but he went from off road to IndyCar to all these things. Anytime you see someone transition like that and have some success it opens up your mind to ‘hey I can go do that too’. Jeff was definitely a pioneer when it came to that.”
IS THE JEFF GORDON YOU SEE AT DINNER THE SAME GUY YOU SEE ON TV?
“I think so. I can’t really speak for his early years just because I wasn’t here and I didn’t know him. I think he is a fairly transparent guy. He has always held his personal stuff to his vest, but I mean as far as the demeanor and the type of guy that you see at a conference he is the same now and I think he has been in the sport long enough that he is very comfortable with who he is and what he has done. He doesn’t have any reason to be anybody else.”
INAUDIBLE:
“Just still a tough competitor. I mean I think that he (Jeff Gordon) was helpful to me for sure. It was great to be able to rely on some of the things that he did and the stuff that he built over the years. At the same time never really cut you any slack at all. He is there to go racing I think that sometimes as a teammate some of the more difficult times because of just how competitive he is. At the same time also one of the most helpful throughout when I was there at Hendrick. Through being a good friend and a tough competitor and the way that he handled things I think he learned a lot of the business savvy through Rick (Hendrick) and I think he applied that to how he handled himself in motorsports. There were a lot of things to learn from Jeff, not just on the track, but also the way he handled himself off the track and how he approached the business of the sport.”
HAVING BEEN THERE AND NOW BEING WITH A SINGLE CAR TEAM HOW DOES A SINGLE CAR TEAM COMPETE AGAINST THE HENDRICKS OF THE WORLD?
“I mean it’s difficult. I think at the end of the day we are in the best position we probably ever have been as far as the resources and everything we have to draw from with being a part of RCR as an alliance. But there is definitely something to be said for having people in house. We are still somebody that is drawing from them more than we are helping. I think anytime that you have in house teammates where you are working collectively together you are in the shop a lot together the crew chiefs are communicating on a daily basis versus a meeting once a week. Those types of things I think are beneficial. You see first-hand where the other guys are going, maybe some things they are trying and I think that having an in house teammate would be pretty valuable for sure.”
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