NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
WINDOWS 10 400
POCONO RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
JULY 31, 2015
MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/VISSER PRECISION CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed his win at the ‘Tricky Triangle’ in June, his thoughts on the recent developments at Michael Waltrip Racing and many other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK ABOUT THE WIN IN JUNE AND COMING BACK THIS WEEKEND:
“Yeah, definitely it feels a little different coming back this time for sure. It feels good. It was definitely a huge weekend for us, for all of us; for me, my team, for Barney (Visser, team owner) and just everybody that has put so much effort into Furniture Row Racing and the No. 78 car. Definitely feels good to be back. Hopefully, we can repeat on what we did last time. Obviously, it’s not going to be easy, but I feel like we are up for the challenge. A few differences in the racetrack with the Tunnel Turn being smooth again, I think that certainly makes it a little bit easier on everybody else. I kind of like the challenge of the bumps just because obviously we had them, seemed like, figured out pretty good. So far the car has felt good today. I feel like we will have a good run for qualifying and looking forward to a great weekend.”
IS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THE TEAM SINCE THAT WIN? IS IT SOMEWHAT MORE CIRCUMSTANCES OR DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM IS ANY DIFFERENT OR CAPABLE THAN IT WAS WHEN YOU WERE HERE PREVIOUSLY?
“Yeah, I mean we definitely ran into kind of a string of bad luck there with Sonoma and Daytona getting caught up in crashes. I felt like we had a really good car at New Hampshire, one of the better cars I’ve had in quite a few years, actually. And got caught a lap down by the caution and had to come from the back and finish 12th, I think, in 45 laps or so. Then last week at Indy I thought we had a pretty good car. We never had the speed that we needed to lead, but we did have a good top five. It’s been a little bit up and down here lately, but I feel like we still have speed in our racecars. We really haven’t been to any tracks where we feel like we have really performed well at. No 1.5-miles, place like Dover where we led the most laps, places that I tend to run really well at. I think we have some more good tracks coming up. I feel like we still have that momentum, we just kind of had some bad luck along the way. We are obviously looking for more speed just like everybody is. I think everybody is stepping up their program as the season goes on and we are trying to do the same thing. We brought a new car here. Trying to be better than last time and hopefully it will play out.”
THE LAST THREE WEEKS YOU HAVE RUN THREE DIFFERENT RULES PACKAGES. WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE ADAPTING TO THOSE CHANGES?
“It hasn’t been that big of a deal driver wise as far as adapting to the packages. I think it is all relative. It’s more about where you’re racecars are. When they take downforce off everyone the good cars still seem like they are the good cars. Certainly I think some guys have definitely put more effort into the other rules packages than we did. I heard stories of people going to the wind tunnel 10-15 times before racing either one of those packages. I think we went once or twice. So, that is one area where maybe we are at a little bit of a disadvantage just funding wise – the amount of money coming into our team. But, I think we have done a good job. We had a really good car at Kentucky in the low downforce and hit some debris on the racetrack and pretty much ruined our race. I felt like we were pretty good in the high downforce last week at Indy too. The guys have done a good job of adapting. As far as the driving goes it’s a little bit different, but it’s still all about getting the most you can out of your racecar and out of your team and all the things you do together. It really hasn’t been a huge change I don’t think for us.”
IS THIS THE SAME CAR AS A FEW WEEKS AGO? ARE YOU IN THE PROCESS YET OF SAVING OR PROTECTING YOUR BETTER CARS FOR THE CHASE?
“It’s not the same car and no, I think honestly at this point we are constantly working at getting better and constantly working on trying to find more speed. I don’t think we have anything set aside car wise that we feel like is better than what we can build going forward. That is the plan. The team is pushing hard, they are working hard and trying to do everything they can to keep getting better. Again, you’ve got to stay with the competition. Things change so fast around here that you’ve got to work hard. Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and the guys are doing a good job with that. Hopefully, we will able to get back to leading laps and putting ourselves in position to win some more races.”
SINCE YOU WON HERE IN JUNE HOW MUCH MORE PRESSURE DO YOU PUT ON YOURSELF AND YOUR RACE TEAM THIS WEEK?
“Not any different than any other weekend I don’t think. Obviously, we have that bit of a safety net so to speak. I think we can tend to take chances a little bit more and this and that. But you know we are still here to win and get the best finish we can for everyone. You definitely feel a little more pressure just because we were so good here last time that you don’t want to screw it up. But at the same time, again, the track is a little bit different and everybody is getting better. I think the (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) cars have proven that in a couple of weeks’ time you can make some really big gains. I think those guys are really the cars to beat right now. We’ve got to continue to work hard and try to get our stuff better and try to again get up front and start leading laps again and put ourselves in position to win again.”
HOW TRICKY IS IT WITH THE PROPOSED CHANGES OR THE NOT PROPOSED CHANGES THAT NASCAR HAS GOING INTO THE CHASE?
“I don’t know that it’s so much notes and set-up’s and things. I think it’s more of we really geared up this season and put a lot of emphasis on building our cars and focusing on the rules package we thought we were going to have. A small team like ours can’t make those big changes and go after a new rules package quite as fast as say the bigger teams. I mentioned earlier about the wind tunnel time. I heard of people using, just for the high downforce and the low downforce package. We really put all our eggs in that basket of ‘hey these are the ’15 rules.’ We developed our whole car around it over the winter and going into the start of the season. We really hope that it continues down that path. At this point we are not really sure what is going to happen. It’s definitely a difficult time for the teams for sure. A lot of money being spent on wind tunnel time and aero stuff and just trying to figure those things out, but at the end of the day we don’t even know what we are going to have yet. So, it’s definitely difficult, especially for the smaller teams to be able to do that.”
WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSIONS THIS MORNING OF THE TRACKSIDE SUPERSTORE?
“I thought it was awesome. Just from my perspective I thought it seems a lot simpler. It seems more modern and just a nicer area to be in. There is shade, there is a little bit of air flow. It is not standing out in the sun sweating walking around to try to find your driver’s hauler or things like that. The biggest thing that stuck out for me, we have a souvenir hauler that we share with other drivers. I’m constantly getting messages on Twitter and on Facebook and my fans asking me at the racetrack ‘where do we get your hats? Where do we get your t-shirts?’ It’s like; well I don’t know where that trailer is at this weekend. It’s just a lot more simplified especially for us. I thought it was a really cool atmosphere out there. It should be fun for the fans. I think they are going to enjoy it.”
CAN YOU TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM POCONO TO HELP YOU PREPARE FOR WATKINS GLEN?
“It doesn’t help at all. When you throw right turns in there it mixes everything up. It’s definitely a lot different than here. But, I do love going to Watkins Glen, definitely looking forward to that race for sure. It’s a fun place to go, a fun area. I can’t say enough about the weather up here this weekend, so hopefully we will get some more of that next weekend at Watkins Glen.”
WOULD YOU MIND SEEING A ROAD COURSE IN THE CHASE? WHY HAS THE RACING BEEN SO EXCITING AT WATKINS GLEN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS? WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THAT TRACK THAN SONOMA?
“I really enjoy the road courses. I probably wouldn’t mind seeing one in the Chase. If I had to pick I would lean more towards Watkins Glen just because it seems like Sonoma is such a wild card race. It’s almost like a Talladega or Daytona of road courses just because of the layout and the double file restarts and how it all works out there. It’s really tight racing and you can pretty much plan on getting knocked off the track at least once throughout the race. It’s difficult, but I think it would be cool to have a road course in the Chase for sure. I really do enjoy Watkins Glen a lot.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED AT THE DEVELOPMENTS AT MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING?
“Yeah, a little bit. I don’t really know a whole lot about what’s going on, but hearing that Rob (Kauffman) is buying into another team is interesting for sure. I’m not sure what they’ve got going on, but it was definitely surprising. I’ve got a lot of friends over there. They have a lot of great people there and hopefully they will all land on their feet and figure out some way to keep going.”
IT’S KIND OF BIZARRE BECAUSE YOU CAME FROM GANASSI TO MWR AND IT’S KIND OF LIKE HE’S DOING THE OPPOSITE:
“You never know in this sport. Things change quickly, especially these days.”
HOW DO YOU THINK THAT DYNAMIC IS GOING TO WORK HAVING WORKED AT BOTH PLACES?
“It has been so long since I’ve been… I was at Ganassi for a year and it was so different then than it is now. Just based on who is there and what they are doing and stuff. It’s really hard to say.”
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