CHEVY NSCS AT DAYTONA MEDIA DAY: Michael Annett Press Conf. Transcript

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 12, 2015

MICHAEL ANNETT, NO. 46 PILOT FLYING J CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. Partial transcript:

YOU PROBABLY HAD FUN DOING THIS AS A KID, AND NOW YOU GET TO DO IT AS AN ADULT. IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE FUN ON THE JOB? “Definitely. You need to enjoy your work. There are a lot of people can be good at their job, but if they’re not enjoying it, then they’re looking for something else to do or can’t wait until 5 o’clock and be home. To be able to enjoy your work is the best thing in the world. To love your job is a huge blessing.”

IT’S NOT LONG AGO THAT YOU WERE A YOUNG GUY COMING UP, BUT NOW THERE ARE A LOT OF YOUNG GUYS COMING UP. DO YOU FEEL LIKE A VETERAN? “It’s weird being 28 years old… I still feel young but when you look at the ages of the guys coming in and you start to think you’re starting to be one of the older guys. I’d hope they feel like they can come to me for advice – maybe not always how to do things right but something I might have done wrong so I can tell them what I learned from it so they can maybe skip over that step of making mistakes. It’s an honor when a new guy comes into the sport and wants your advice.”

OUT OF THE 43 CARS IN THE 500, HOW MANY ARE CAPABLE OF WINNING? “That’s the cool thing about the Daytona 500. If 43 cars start, then 43 cars have a chance. We’ve seen that with a lot of superspeedway races all the way back to the Derrick Cope win. If your equipment holds up and if you get to the end, come that last lap everyone has a chance. That’s probably why some of the smaller teams circle those superspeedways because if you keep yourself in the top-30 of owners’ points there’s those four races where you have a really good chance of getting yourself in the Chase.”

IT’S INTERESTING BECAUSE THE WAY THAT IT ALL FALLS TOGETHER. IT’S THE BIGGEST RACE AND EVERYONE HAS A SHOT. CAN YOU PICTURE WHAT THAT WOULD BE LIKE? “There are different ways to look at it but you can’t not picturing yourself hoisting that trophy at Daytona and know you’re a Daytona 500 champion. It’s definitely special because there are a lot of big races you want to win. I’d love to win the Brickyard 400. I’ve always wanted a race at Texas or win the Southern 500. You want to win those races. But when you sit at home during the offseason, you can say that ‘I have a realistic shot of winning the Daytona 500.’ That’s something you can’t say that about the other races throughout the year. But you have a good shot at winning at Daytona if you can make it to that last lap.”

HOW DID THE TIMING COME TOGETHER FOR YOUR DEAL. HOW LAST-MINUTE WAS EVERYTHING? “We had a full team Monday morning (laughs) and the car got loaded last night. The biggest thing is that we wanted to get a crew chief first. Steve Addington and I and Harry Scott sat down. We didn’t want to build a team and then bring in the captain and say, ‘OK, here’s what you have to work with.’ We wanted to get Jay Guy hired, and he and Steve sat down and brought in people for interviews to build the team around Jay. That was a really important thing. A lot of guys would ask, ‘Well who’s your underneath guy? Who’s your crew chief?’ And I’d have to say I don’t know yet. We hadn’t hired him. But starting off with your captain and build the team he wants… I’d rather have some little issues early and be really good the rest of the year rather than saying that this person isn’t going to work out and have to replace him.”