Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Bojangles’ Southern 500 Advance – Darlington Raceway
Friday, September 2, 2016
Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion, and Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion, were guests today on a NASCAR teleconference talking about this weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway. A transcript of the Q&A sessions follows:
CHRIS BUESCHER – No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion – HOW MUCH PRESSURE ARE YOU FEELING THIS WEEKEND? “Definitely Darlington being one of the tougher race tracks we go to, that makes us a little bit anxious to get out there and get rolling this weekend. Nature has not helped us by any means. Without qualifying right now it’s gonna put us starting a lot further back than what we’ve been able to qualify the last several months, so that’s a little bit of a bummer there. But, on the other hand, Darlington is my favorite race track we go to. I absolutely love that race track. I had a lot of fun there on the XFINITY side and I’ve gotten my fair share of stripes already, so maybe I’m done with that and we can keep it clean this weekend. It’s an awesome race track, a throwback weekend for the Southern 500. It’s pretty special to be there and really awesome to see everybody jumping on board like they have been. I’m pretty excited to have our own throwback scheme with Love’s this time around.”
WHAT IS THE BALANCE LIKE BETWEEN BEING AGGRESSIVE AND PATIENT WITH YOUR CURRENT POINTS SITUATION, AND DURING THE RACE ARE YOU TELLING YOURSELF ABOUT THE BIGGER PICTURE? “We’ve had some talks with the team the last couple of weeks about how we were racing. Last year, racing for the XFINITY championship was a little bit more defensive. We were leading it for a long period of time and were just trying to maintain and make sure that we kept that gap so we could go into Homestead and have almost a worry-free weekend. This year it’s been a little bit different as we’ve tried to be aggressive to race towards that top 30 and get those points. We’ve been able to race a little bit more like you would every weekend without a point situation at hand. I’ve been able to take chances and be aggressive. Where we’re at now it changes that a little bit. We go on track. Bob is on the radio. Our spotter is on the radio to remind me that if we can take a position and we’re faster, we’re gonna go get it and we’re gonna be aggressive in that pass. But if it’s a matter of kind of winging it and hoping that you can get a position, and sticking your nose in somewhere where it shouldn’t be? We’re gonna think twice about that one. I’m not saying that we’re on defense right now. We are still aggressively racing for every point we can get, but we’re not gonna take any unnecessary risk right now. That’s gonna be the key is minimizing that. Being there at the end of the race is gonna be huge. This year it’s been a learning curve for me and, unfortunately, we have a lot of DNFs that I’ve never had in my career. It’s been tough on me trying to grasp the way our season has gone as far as that goes, but I’m pretty excited for Darlington. Like I said, it’s my favorite race track we go to. It’s definitely a place where we can go and gain points and capitalize on what we missed at Michigan last weekend.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE MAKING PROGRESS AS FAR AS YOUR LEARNING CURVE ON THE CUP LEVEL? “Absolutely. At the beginning of the season I knew there was gonna be a steep learning curve. I did not expect to come out of the XFINITY Series even being on top there and just jump into the Cup side and be running top-5 five weeks in. I knew that there was a lot to adapt to. A new team, a new crew chief, a new series, a new environment for me. There was a lot of chemistry to be built there. We just had to get used to everybody and get rolling in the right direction and I think we’ve definitely learned a ton over the past couple of weeks. We found a feel in the race car that I like and that also has speed in it. That’s helped and translated to many different race tracks, and we’ve just been able to dial in our adjustments better. Between runs in qualifying we’re able to pick up speed. In the race, we have our amount of adjustment down to a point where we don’t go too far or not enough. We’re getting much closer in all of those regards, and I’m starting to figure out the way the Cup cars drive and how different they are from the XFINITY side. We’re gaining on it. The best part is after we get out of Darlington we’re going to all these race tracks for the second time until we get to Homestead. We have notes on all these race tracks from this year, from the current package, the current tire and that’s really gonna help us showing up and being more prepared for the second round.”
HOW AWARE ARE YOU OF WHERE GUYS LIKE DAVID RAGAN ARE DURING THE RACE AND HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU WITH QUALIFYING GETTING RAINED OUT? “I’m definitely disappointed we couldn’t qualify. On the flip side of that, what are you gonna do? We’re along for the ride when it comes to Mother Nature and that’s just a part of it. We’re gonna try to move past that. As far as being aware of where the guys are we’re racing in points, they’re starting right next to us now, or right behind us. We know exactly where we’re at compared to them at the moment. Practice is gonna be key. We’re gonna have to make sure we get a balance that’s gonna be good for the night. Unfortunately, the schedule that I’ve seen, that I understand to be our new schedule, we are doing a lot in the heat of day and the middle of the brightest part of the day. So there will be plenty of sun on the track and it will be tough to dial in and I’ll be leaning on Bob Osborne to go over his notes on how that track has changed from day to night and be ready for the evening start time of the Southern 500.”
WHEN YOU ARE INVOLVED IN AN INCIDENT LIKE THE ONE WITH DALE JR. AT MICHIGAN, WHERE ANOTHER COMPETITOR ENDS UP BEING OUT FOR A WHILE, HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT? “The way it all worked out, at the end of the day it was just a racing incident at Michigan. On the restart with the new package everybody was sliding around a lot. We were on the bottom and we were making progress and when we ended up three-wide we just lost air and lost sideforce and got into him (Dale Earnhardt Jr.). It’s just a racing deal at that point. Obviously, it transitioned over the next little bit into something more serious, and, yeah, I do hate it. You never want to be a part of anything like that, but that’s unfortunately the way it goes. There’s always gonna be accidents in our sport. We’re not gonna leave Darlington without somebody getting into somebody else and it’s just a part of it. It’s tough for me to know that I was involved in that incident, and like I said I do hate that that’s the case. You can only do so much with the package we were dealt and when we lost the amount of sideforce that we did, it made it tough. I think for Junior’s standpoint, taking a step back and making sure his health is his priority, I think everybody has a lot of respect for that and the fact that’s it’s hard to step out of a race car when you’re doing what you love and you’re competing or a championship opportunity. I know it’s not easy and I hate to be included in that conversation, but at the end of the day racing is gonna have contact. It was obviously nothing intentional, it’s just part of it. We wish him the best and hopefully he’ll be back racing soon.”
DOES ANY PART OF YOU WISH YOU HAD THE CHASE EXPERIENCE LAST YEAR IN XFINITY AND HOW DO YOU THINK GOING FORWARD THESE YOUNG GUYS WILL BENEFIT FROM HAVING THE CHASE AT OTHER LEVELS OF NASCAR? “I’m glad I haven’t participated in a Chase format up until now. I’ve been racing all my life and everything that we’ve always done, that first race the points that you gather at that first one of the season matter just as much as the last one, and it’s always been cumulative. That’s the normal style to me. The Chase is something different and definitely added some excitement to our sport. I’m pretty thrilled to be participating in it now, but I’m excited for it to be the first time. The way it helps is it gets rid of some of that racing at the end of the season that you go out there and be consistent. A lot of championships have been won on consistency and ours last year was part of that, and there’s no doubt it takes a certain amount of consistency now, but when they reset everything and they go into these short stints, I think it just makes the racing turn into giving all you can give each and every run. The problem with it is if you have a bad week and you end up in an accident, it really hurts your chances. Whereas, one accident in three races and you’re in a bad spot, whereas before it was one accident out of 36 and you can recover from that. I think it’s just gonna be about speed and those best finishes. Obviously that’s what it’s about, so I think it’s gonna be good for us going forward. We’ve got a lot to work on this year to be able to be getting those real good finishes once we get into the Chase, but I’m ready to learn from it and see how it goes this time around.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – HOW CHALLENGING IS IT GOING TO BE TO KEEP YOUR THROWBACK PAINT SCHEME CLEAN AT DARLINGTON THIS WEEKEND? “I don’t care what it looks like after the race as long as it’s in Victory Lane. Everything looks good in Victory Lane no matter what, but, obviously, Darlington is a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun to have these old school paint schemes on it and seeing how different it is. I wish we were down there today and the weather was good and we were able to see some of these beauties out there on the race track, but I guess we’ll have to wait for tomorrow. We definitely have a really cool car with Bobby Labonte’s old XFINITY Shell paint scheme on it, so that’s something really neat. I was able to unveil it with him on Race Hub a couple months ago. It’s neat to see all the hype and all the excitement around Darlington, which makes the Southern 500 already special, but when you have this kind of throwback weekend, what a great idea and it’s cool that the teams have embraced it so much.”
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO DALE JR. NOT RACING ANYMORE IN 2016? “Obviously, I was sad to hear it. Anytime one of your fellow competitors makes news like that it’s not what we all wanted to hear, but it’s also pretty admirable that he’s been doing the right things and taking his health as priority one. I think that’s a challenge to do because I can imagine as a race car driver all you want to do it get back in the race car. When you’re sitting out watching TV and watching your car go around the race track without you in it is not the best therapy probably, but I look up to him for what he’s doing. I know how hard that is to be out and wanting to be inside that race car, but your life and your health is not worth risking that for this sport. He’s got a long ways to live and I’d hate for him to make the wrong decision and, God forbid, something happened on the race track and that ruins the rest of his life. Life is more than racing and I think he understands that. It’s awesome that he sees that, but we want to see him back in the race car as soon as possible. Everybody wants to see that – his competitors and obviously the fans. It’s good to have him out there, but it’s also better to have him healthy. He’s doing the right things. As far as your head jarring around inside the car, that always happens. It’s the hit when you hit the wall is obviously what jars your brain around a little bit.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU’RE AFFECTED AT ALL WITH YOUR HEAD BEING MOVED AROUND DURING THE RACE – WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN AN ACCIDENT? “I don’t think so. I don’t have any data to back that up, but I don’t think so. Hitting the wall, obviously when you hit it at a certain speed something’s got to give. NASCAR has done an amazing job with our race cars and the race tracks to try and make things better. I was surprised earlier this year I felt like I knocked down the wall at Kentucky and I got out and I was fine. I was like, ‘Wow.’ I was surprised. I thought it was gonna hurt a lot and it didn’t, so the cars have come a long ways. Dale’s been racing a long time and when the cars weren’t as safe as they are today, I don’t know but maybe that may have had an effect on it, but everyone’s body reacts differently when it comes to injuries. I’m not educated enough to comment about it besides from my own experiences of being on the race track and feeling comfortable out there.”
WHAT’S YOUR SENSE OF THE REACTION IN THE GARAGE ABOUT JUNIOR AND THE FACT THIS STORY CONTINUES. IS THERE SOME THINKING THAT JUNIOR MIGHT NOT DRIVE AGAIN? “I don’t know. I’m not close enough to Dale to talk to him about it and if I did it wouldn’t be up to me to make the announcement to the news. Obviously, when you see a driver take this long to recover, people begin to speculate on, ‘What if it’s this? What if it’s that? Will he come back? Will he not come back?’ Who knows? Time will tell. I’m not gonna be the guy that’s gonna be able to answer that question for you. All I can say is he’s in our thoughts and our prayers and either way God’s got a plan for him and it will work out, but a lot of the time you don’t know God’s plan until it happens.”
DO YOU AND YOUR TEAM DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT TO GET READY FOR THE CHASE AND DOES THE ATMOSPHERE CHANGE AS YOU GO INTO THE POST-SEASON? “It’s the most thrilling part of the season. We have no breaks from here out to the end of the season. We’re at the most intense part of the season. This is where you can’t make mistakes. This is when you have to have fast race cars. You have to raise your game and you have to find that. Each individual finds an extra level in different ways, and I think understanding what works for you is most important and as a team leader you have to understand your team and what works for them. We’re gonna have a little team get-together in a couple weeks and kind of have a little charity event for the foundation as well. So we’re able to do some things as a family and that’s the way we lead our team is try to bring the whole family in and embrace what we’ve accomplished throughout the whole season and celebrate making the Chase. It’s a great accomplishment, but it’s not the goal. You have to be able to keep going forward. You can’t burn yourself into the ground. You can overwork yourself and run yourself right into the ground and be tired when you get to the race track. We make sure our batteries are charged and we’ve been doing that over the summer, and, like I said, find that next level and be able to attack. I feel like our team is in the right spot. I feel like our car is gonna be getting faster here shortly, so I’m excited to get back to the race track and see what we’ve got.”
YOUR TEAM SEEMS TO COME FORWARD DURING THE RACE. IS THAT A STRENGTH AND DOES IT GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE THIS WEEKEND? “It’s something Todd and I talk about all the time. We’d rather not have practice and just start the race. I think we do a very good job and when I say we I include Todd and engineers, our team putting the cars together. I feel like we do an amazing job on that before we get to the race track. Then a lot of times during practice we don’t have as much room to gain on our race car a lot of times. We don’t make our car much faster than when we unloaded or a lot of times we start the race not much different than where we unloaded and that’s only because we’ve done the prep work at the seven-post and ran over our notes and went through all the stages we typically do before get to the race track that we feel pretty good when we get there. That’s amazing. The main thing I would contribute that to is just communication, being able to talk about things that happen at the race track lots of times, and good notes, and it’s fun to kind of be able to unload fairly quick. Hopefully, that’s the same thing that happens here. Obviously, we won’t have as much practice, but we’ll still have a decent amount to see what we’ve got.”
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN WEATHER GIVES YOU SOME FREE TIME? “This is weird. I’m home right now. It doesn’t feel right. I’m actually doing the ‘Honey-Do’ List. I was hanging up pictures. I was changing light bulbs. It’s not raining here yet, so I might clean some cars. That’s kind of the day for today is kind of taking care of the things I don’t typically do. I think my wife likes it. I’ll get some stuff done in the house, but it’s definitely weird. I feel weird not being at the race track, so I’ll head down there later tonight and be ready for practice, but it’s definitely kind of odd. It’s nice that NASCAR made the call yesterday. For the drivers it’s not as big of a deal, but for the teams they have to stay in a hotel and all that, so it’s nice they made that call before everyone drove down there and had to spend the night and then have it rain all day. This is a lot better to be able to stay at home and spend some time with your family. Like I said a few minutes ago, we don’t have anymore breaks until the end of the year, so we definitely need to take advantage of what we have today because we’re most likely not gonna have another one of these until the end of the year.”
WHERE DO YOU FEEL TEAM PENSKE IS HEADING INTO THE CHASE? “I feel like we’re in a pretty similar spot. We may be down a couple wins from where we were last year, but I don’t feel like we’re far off. We do have decent speed. I feel like our speed has gotten better throughout the season, especially the last month. We’ve gotten faster compared to the field, so I think we’re basically in the same spot. The pit crew is in a good spot. The teams are good. As far as the 22 team, I think we’re where we need to be. The 2 car is obviously better than what they were last year at this point, so I look for them to be competing until the end with us. I think as far as a whole Team Penske is probably better than last year. If you look at the 22 team, we’re probably the same as we were last year, which is good. We won a lot of races and had a shot at the championship, so we hope to be in that spot again.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE LEGACY OF CALE YARBOROUGH? “Honestly, he’s left a heck of a legacy, especially at Darlington. It’s funny. I remember the first time I met him. I was down there in Darlington and it was a winner’s circle appearance my rookie season and he took me around in a ride-along car and I sat in the passenger seat and he came out with his old race suit on, open-face helmet, bubble goggles, and I got to sit in the passenger seat with Cale Yarborough driving around Darlington. I thought, ‘Man, this is the coolest thing.’ Obviously, I wasn’t watching racing when he was racing. I wasn’t alive, but re-watching races and reading a lot about the history of the sport and what he’s meant to NASCAR racing it’s neat that he’s still so involved and he still cares about the sport. I think that’s something very special to have about some of the legends in our sport. He definitely is, in my mind, a legend for sure and we need to see him at the track.’
