Ford Performance NSCS Notes & Quotes:
2015 Daytona 500 Media Day
Thursday, February 12, 2015
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – “Just to be racing in Sprint Cup means a lot to me and my family and to be able to get to know the Wood Brothers and everyone is really special to me. We are really fortunate to be where we are at and really excited to be down here and attempting to make the 500. We are looking forward to practice here in a couple days and see where we qualify and go to racing.”
HAVE YOU DONE ANY RESEARCH ON THE 21 AND THE GREAT DRIVERS THAT HAVE BEEN IN THAT CAR? “Yeah, how can you not? Being around 65 years is unbelievable. I have been up to their museum in Stewart, Virginia, a couple of times and being able to sit down and talk to Leonard and Glen and the history of that thing and to hear all the stories of the ups and downs is really neat to hear. I am a big history guy. It is cool to hear their side of some stories and some of that stuff you can apply today. It has been really neat to get to know them. I am still learning stuff today.”
YOUR EXPECATIONS FOR THIS YEAR? “We have to take it one step at a time. We are going to be running half the races. We have 18 and with our new partnership with Penske we will have a chance to run really well. I think we know that it is pretty much a third Penske car and will have Brad and Joey to lean on a little bit and I think all around that will be helpful. First we want to gain respect and then we can be aggressive.”
WHAT DOES ADDING THOSE EXTRA RACES MEAN TO THIS SEASON FOR YOU? “It may not sound like a lot to add six extra races but it is huge. Those laps and miles and going on tracks that you have never been on before is giant. Just to gain that experience and seat time really helps better prepare you for maybe a full deal the next season. Those extra races that we found are really big and we are thankful for everyone that jumped on board.”
YOU HAVE DRIVEN A LOT FOR PENSKE ALREADY. HOW DOES HAVING THAT KNOWLEDGE HELP YOU IN THIS SITUATION? “It really helps a lot. Penske having a great relationship now with the Wood Brothers and Jeremy Bullins coming over to be my crew chief and my car chief from the 22 car came over and there are a lot of guys that have been around Penske awhile helping on this 21 car. It is so much easier how you already know them and you kind of already become acquainted to them and I have gotten to know all the other guys at the Wood Brothers shop and that eases the transition a lot. Penske and the Wood Brothers have meshed well together and get along well and are communicating well and that speaks a lot for how quickly we have been able to start this partnership.”
YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS CAR A FEW YEARS AGO WITH TREVOR. IS THAT IN THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD AT ALL? “Yeah. I think we have as good a shot as anybody to win it. We have great race cars and they are really fast. Trust me, the Wood Brothers haven’t let me forget that. They always bring it up and say that Trevor’s second start for them was the 500. We are going to try our best and have the people to do it. Hopefully it falls our way.”
YOU HAVE TO WORK YOUR WAY IN FIRST THOUGH. “That is right. We are not in. We have to hopefully qualify well and have a good Duel and have a good starting spot. We first have to focus on making the race and then we can focus our mind on our game plan of attacking the 500.”
HAVE YOU HEARD THE HUB-BUB OF PEOPLE WONDERING WHAT SERIES YOU WILL DECLARE POINTS IN? “Yeah. I have been asked that question a lot. It has been asked a lot more than I thought it was going to. It kind of surprised me. We are still trying to figure that out. We are on the fence on either one. We are trying to weigh the odds for each one and what will be better. We have to have it figured out pretty soon. Within the next few days here.”
YOU SEEM TO HAVE A VERY STEADY PERSONALITY AND YOU ARE HUMBLE. SO IS CHASE ELLIOTT. WHERE DID YOU GUYS PICK THAT UP? “My dad has always taught me to not forget where I come from and that is something I like to take to heart and always try to stay humble. Chase is just like Bill. He is very humble and I grew up racing with Chase and it has been kind of neat to see us both step up the ranks. It is cool to see. You just have to be as humble as you can and not forget your roots and always be thankful for the opportunity.”
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO THE NEXT CROP OF YOUNG GUNS COMING UP? “There are a lot of younger guys yet coming up and I have seen most of them race already and they are doing really well. The best advice I can give them is to keep learning and stay hungry. It is easy to get complacent and hold steady. That is something I have tried to do, stay hungry and keep learning. That is one of the biggest things as a driver you can do.”
WHAT DOES YOUR RACE SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE RIGHT NOW? “I have 18 Cup races, about 15 XFINITY races and a handful of truck races for Brad (Keselowski). The Cup schedule is kind of already set but the XFINITY races are up in the air and the truck races are kind of set. I am looking to do Kentucky, Bristol and Dover for Brad in the truck. Those we know and the XFINITY is up in the air. It is tough to do with three drivers to set in stone. We have to see what Brad and Joey want to run and stuff like that. I am sure we will get a schedule in the next couple weeks.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST THING YOU’VE LEARNED SINCE GOING TO THE WOOD BROTHERS? DO YOU FEEL AT HOME WITH THEM? “Yeah I do. I think that is something that we have really related to really well, myself and the Wood Brothers. My whole family and the Wood Brothers have gotten along really well. It has been great to hear their stories and talk to Glen and Leonard and get to know them and hear what they have been through for 65 years of having that race team. It has been neat. It has taught me a lot of appreciation for the sport and how long they have stuck with it and they have taught me a lot in the little time I have known them. It has been great to get to know.”
IS IT IMPORTANT FOR THE POWERS THAT BE TO TRY TO GROW THE AUDIENCE? “Yeah, we always have to grow the audience. We have a great audience already but I think you can always make something bigger and more widely known. I have been fortunate enough to be part of some great things that NASCAR has done to try to get the younger audience into it and I think it has really been coming around. Some of the neat stuff they have been having us do for this upcoming season will help build and audience and I think that is beneficial.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THE DRIVERS CAN DO TO HELP DRAW AN AUDIENCE? “We do a bunch of stuff away from the track to try to promote not only racing but NASCAR in general. NASCAR has been doing great stuff to try to branch out to different areas of generations. Just as an example, we did something like a five episode deal for Nickelodeon and I have heard good things about that. There are some other things planned like that. Other than driving what drivers can do is always be thankful for the fans, which we are, and we wouldn’t be anything without the fans and we are always trying to thank them and support them as best we can.”
JUMPING AROUND BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT SERIES’, WHAT ARE THINGS YOU HOPE TO PICK UP, RUNNING AGAINST DIFFERENT GUYS, ETC.? “I’ve been lucky to get great experience running the truck series and XFINITY now for a couple year and have run with some great guys and it has been great to learn from them. Now being able to do this Cup program I will be able to run against guys I’ve never run against before like Jimmie and Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick. It is beneficial to race around great race car drivers and learn their techniques and what they do. I have had a little bit of that but this Cup racing will raise that awareness.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE COMING TO DAYTONA THIS TIME IN THIS SITUATION? “The last couple years I have just run the truck race here and now being able to come back here after watching it all my life with my dad running it and to be able to do it here with the Wood Brothers at the 500 will be really special to me and my family and the Wood Brothers too. We are all excited for practice, qualifying and the Duels. That is our first focus. We have to get in the race. We will set our mindset on that but it will be really special to finally get out here in the Cup Series after watching my dad do it so long.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU THE YEAR YOUR DAD NEARLY ONE THIS THING A COUPLE YEARS AGO IN THAT CRAZY RACE? “That is a funny story because I was here all of speedweeks and watching my dad and it was delayed so they ran it Monday right? I actually had to drive home because I had school and I was sitting at home so mad that if it would have gotten canceled that I wasn’t going to be there after being there for two weeks. I don’t want to say it was a good moment because that crash happened but that was kind of weird how it came about. It would have been pretty special. It was cool to kind of get that feeling of him almost doing it. Hopefully we will be able to actually make it happen.”
YOU WERE DRIVING HOME AT THAT POINT? “I was already home by the time that red flag was out.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU? “Excitement and I was angry too. I was so excited that he had a chance to do it and then I wasn’t going to be there for it so I was angry. It may have been worse if he did it and I wasn’t there for it. That would have stunk. That was definitely an interesting situation that I don’t think anyone has seen before and I don’t know if we will see that again.”
Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion, will be entering his first full-time season driving in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series after driving the past four years on a limited schedule with the Wood Brothers. Bayne, who won the 2011 Daytona 500 in storybook fashion, spoke about the season ahead at media day.
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – “It’s crazy to think my dream is finally coming true. This is the year where I get to do what I’ve always wanted to do and be a Sprint Cup driver full-time, so to think about that it’s a pretty wild feeling and to know I’m driving for Jack Roush in his 6 car and we have one sponsor on the car every single weekend, I couldn’t paint a much better picture.”
WHAT ABOUT 2015 IN GENERAL? “I feel really confident about this season, really, having the experience behind me with Bob Osborne and some of the other guys on our team. With the new guys coming into Roush trying to change that culture a little bit and really focusing on what we can do with these race cars to make them more competitive, I feel that we’re making big gains so I’m excited about that and I can’t wait to see what we can do once we get to places like Atlanta and Vegas and Phoenix and other race tracks that aren’t necessarily all about timing and not being in the big one like here at Daytona.”
A LOT OF YOUNG GUYS COMING INTO THE SPORT. “I’m going on 24 this week, so I’m getting older. I actually age, believe it or not, but it’s crazy to think, honestly, that I’ve been around NASCAR’s top three series for the last four or five years. To have driven for the Wood Brothers for that long, for over 50 races, to have gotten that experience at the Cup level, I think that’s really gonna help me going into this season. Even though it’s my first year at the Cup level full-time, I’ve gotten that kind of experience and I think that’s gonna help me a lot going into this.”
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THE YOUNG GUYS? “You’ve got to be humble and keep your eyes open when you’re here. I think when you come in you feel like you know it all, even though you want to act like you don’t feel that way, you still feel that way. I still have a lot to learn and I wish I would have been more of a sponge than I was when I first got into this sport, and I think there’s just so much to learn – especially young guys that are coming off of short tracks. When you get to these mile-and-a-halves and restrictor plate races, it’s way different than anything you’ve done growing up. So you’ve just got to absorb as much as you can and lean on your teammates and people around you who are a little smarter than you are at a young age.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR NEXT WEEKEND? “I think that we had as good of equipment at the Wood Brothers as anywhere, but I think Daytona is not necessarily about equipment, it’s about being at the right place at the right time, keeping yourself out of trouble and having enough friends that will push you to the win at the end and not root you out. This race is one of the hardest races to win and it’s also when you do win it’s not because it was, I guess it’s easy when you do win too because for me in 2011 it’s not like I was a better race car driver than anyone else out there. I was just in the right place at the right time and I was really blessed to have won that race, but also, like I said before, it can be very hard, so this is a very different race than any other race we go to.”
HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO PROGRESS ONCE WE GET INTO THE REAL SEASON? “I think it’s gonna take a little bit of time of working together and getting in a rhythm being there every weekend to figure out what I need in these race cars. They’re a new car. We haven’t gotten to test at all. It’s my first time working with Bob Osborne and Roush Fenway has a lot of changes going on, so I think our expectations have to stay realistic these first few weeks. I’m not saying we couldn’t go run top-10 at Atlanta, but I think if we expect to go there and just win just because it’s gonna be tough to do. We can do that and we should have that mindset, but it’s gonna be a work in progress, I think, until mid-summer.”
HOW IS YOUR HEALTH? “I’m doing great. I feel good and have been working out a lot and using my AdvoCare products to help me stay fit, so I’m good to go.”
A BIG YEAR FOR YOU, RIGHT? “It is. I think this is the year I’ve waited on since I was basically five or six years old, when I figured out this is what I wanted to do. To finally have this opportunity, I feel like I got to the Cup Series as fast as I wanted to, but to be able to run full-time it’s taken a little longer than I had hoped. These last two or three years have been challenging for me to be patient, but I just trusted Jack that he said he was gonna run me in Cup and here we are, but now it’s worth the wait to be in the 6 car with Bob Osborne as my crew chief, with AdvoCare on the car every race. It really is great.”
WAS THERE EVER A MOMENT OF DOUBT? “No, I don’t think I ever have. I believed that I was capable of it and I believed I was here for a reason and God was gonna provide that opportunity and here we are. I never had that doubt, but I just kind of wondered when.”
IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE YOUR 500 WIN. “It’s been since 2011. Four years. It’s hard to believe. I feel like it just happened. It’s crazy to think about, but I think now I have a better perspective than I did then on things and just more appreciation for this opportunity. If you win one race and then all of a sudden get the ride of your lifetime and get to run full-time and do all that, you probably don’t appreciate it as much. So this patience deal has taught me a lot and I feel ready to go and I’m as hungry as I can possibly be to go out here and succeed. I’ve spent a lot of time with my team this off-season and I think Roush Fenway is kind of in a reboot situation, where culture is changing, our cars are changing, our people have changed, and we still have a lot of the same great people that have always been there, so I feel like this is a great time for me to be a part of this and to be moving into the Cup Series. I have two solid teammates with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Greg Biffle to be able to lean on and I think it’s a perfect storm.”
YOU NEED TO GROW A MULLET LIKE RICKY. “I’m not gonna grow a mullet like Ricky. It’s not gonna happen.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? “I don’t know. I give him a hard time about it, but we’ll see. It’s alright.”
WOULD YOU CUT IT? “I would help him. If he needs some scissors or a mirror, I would hold it for him.”
ANY PRESSURE WITH CARL MOVING ON AND YOU MOVING IN THAT SPOT? “I don’t necessarily feel like I’m moving into Carl’s spot. I don’t think that anybody would ever come in and try to replace Carl. He’s such a great driver and had so much success at Roush Fenway Racing I kind of feel like it’s a new deal – a new number, new team. I didn’t really move into his team, either. A lot of those guys are on Ricky’s team and Greg’s team, and some of them are on mine, but it’s a hodge podge of different people. I think that’s part of the culture change you’re gonna see at Roush Fenway Racing with Mark McArdle, Kevin Kidd being there and Robbie Reiser still being there, I think we’ve got a more direct approach, a more productive approach versus reactive. We were always reacting off of our issues versus being productive to not have those issues in the future and I think you’re gonna see us really come to life halfway through this year. As we learn these new cars and we learn each other and I get in a rhythm of doing this every single weekend.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE 6 DO YOU THINK OF MARK MARTIN’S CAR? “I do a little bit, but David Ragan got to take those shoes, so when I think of the 6 I just think of Jack’s legacy – what Roush Fenway Racing has accomplished in their 27 or 28 years they’ve been doing this. I think it’s exciting to be a part of this organization and I was pumped up to sign with them in 2010 and get this opportunity, but I’m probably more now to see what’s happened at that race shop and at that team – to see the changes that are taking place. I think we’re in as good of a position now than we’ve ever been.”
DID YOU KNOW CARL WAS LEAVING BEFORE HE ANNOUNCED IT? “No, I think Carl is very private. He does a good job of not letting things get in the way and not talking about them with anybody, really. I think he keeps things close to home and sometimes that’s best. You guys found out as fast as I did. We could all have our hunches and all that, but that’s basically it.”
DO YOU GET JEALOUS OF CHASE ELLIOTT OR KYLE LARSON WITH THE WAY THEY GOT THAT FULL-TIME RIDE RIGHT AWAY? “It just happened perfect for them, it really did. There were times when, like I said, I had to work on my patience, but I’m excited for those guys because they’ve been successful and they’ve done a great job. But this sport is all about timing. Who is driving what car when and had Chase Elliott been in a Junior Motorsports car three or four years ago, it might have been a different story for him, but he caught that perfect timing of being in that 9 car when it was super-fast and he could go win races and, to be honest, I feel like anybody in the top-30 in Cup could get in the race-winning car and have an opportunity to win the race that weekend. So it’s all about timing and that’s why I say I’m so excited to be a part of Roush Fenway Racing right now because I feel like the timing is gonna be right and in the next year or so you’re gonna see us come to life and be able to contend for wins and championships and everything we’ve always wanted to accomplish. This is a huge opportunity for me and something that I’ve always wanted.”
IS THERE A SENSE OF COMFORT GETTING IN THE CAR KNOWING YOU’VE GOT THAT EXPERIENCE? “It’s gonna be new this year with a new format of cars and all that and no testing. That makes it very tough on a guy that’s gonna run full-time for the first year with a new team, but I’ve got the XFINITY Series experience, which I think is gonna relate a lot more to these Cup cars this season than the old Cup cars even. The experience I got with the Wood Brothers driving their car was something that I couldn’t thank them enough for because it’s gonna prepare me for this season.”
JAMIE MCMURRAY TALKED ABOUT HOW HE’LL ALWAYS BE INTRODUCED AS A DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION. THE SAME GOES FOR YOU. “That’s good to know. I was wondering if I could replace that one day with something, but maybe if you win a championship that would change it, but Jamie has won a lot of big races.”
DO YOU FIND YOUR TIME IS TAKEN UP MORE FOR THIS RACE THAN OTHERS BECAUSE YOU’VE WON? “It has. It’s fun to come here. It’s enjoyable because I know it’s gonna be a little bit of a buzz about it. Obviously, it’s been a few years ago and we’re still talking about it, so it was a big deal. I can’t say enough how much more it means to me now even than it did then just because I have seen how hard it is to win this race, and it makes you more appreciative of it.”
