TREVOR BAYNE – No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU VIEW THIS WEEK? “You’ve already seen a lot of ups-and-downs in just one week, but I’m really pumped about the Duels tomorrow. I think we’ve got fast race cars and we kind of know what happened in qualifying. We bottomed out a little bit and got on the splitter too hard and scrubbed some speed there in one and two. With the wind shifting directions we were carrying way more speed into one than we did all day in practice without being in that headwind, so obviously you’re gonna travel a little more and we just kind of missed that. I was frustrated because I thought we had an opportunity for the front row. There aren’t that many days you wake up that confident thinking, ‘Wow, we have fast race cars that we can put on the front row.’ I’m pumped about what I’ve seen from the Fords this week at the Clash, in qualifying and in practice, but I’m excited to get back on the race track tomorrow because I’ve been thinking about that fast race car for the last three days we’ve been off. I’m ready to get back in it and show people what it can do and go make some stuff happen in the Duels tomorrow.”
DO YOU FEEL GOING FROM THREE TO TWO CARS ALLOWS YOUR GROUP TO FOCUS MORE? “I always try to look at the bright side of it, so that would be one perspective is that we’ve got two cars now that we can focus in now more with our core group, but you hate losing the resources and the communication of a third team. Three teams you get to try more stuff at the race track, but I am really pumped because Ricky and I have worked so well together in the past and now I think it helps us focus in more as teammates. When you don’t have multiple things coming in, I think as two guys you can talk. You see it with Brad and Joey a lot. They work well together. They communicate. You know what each other likes in a race car and Ricky and I have that, so I look forward to working with him this season. I think it’s gonna be a great matchup of teammates and I think Brian Pattie and Matt Puccia have a good relationship working. Kevin Kidd, Tommy Wheeler, the guys in our organization that are leading the charge at the race shop, I’m pumped about what they’re doing with culture and communication and our meetings with what is actually getting in the race cars. We can talk about being faster all day, but if our race cars don’t change and the parts and pieces that go on them don’t get better, then we don’t go faster. That’s our objective is to communicate the best we can to get the best things on our race car and I think we’re doing that right now. Atlanta is where you kind of find out what you’re made of a little bit. Daytona, you see some single-car speed, but in the race you can see anyone win the race if they can stay in the draft. Atlanta is really where we find out what we’re made of.”
HOW SHOCKED WERE YOU WHEN CARL MADE HIS ANNOUNCEMENT? “I was pretty shocked. I just finished an interview when someone showed me a post on social media. I was like, ‘That can’t be right.’ Carl and I are pretty close friends. I consider him one of my best friends in the garage, but he’s a very private guy. He wouldn’t have told anybody, so I had no idea. But I do know Carl very well, so it didn’t surprise me that he would do that, but I was like, ‘Man, I didn’t see that coming.’ I called him instantly and he answered, which I was surprised. I figured he had 100 million phone calls going and he answered and he said, ‘What’s up, buddy.’ I said, ‘I don’t know, you tell me.’ So we started talking a little bit and basically everything that he told the media is what we talked about on the phone that day. I respect him a ton for making that decision because this sport can suck you in as you guys know in the media and as drivers and crew chiefs. This is what you think you are and this is what you think your value is and who you are and sometimes you don’t know how to separate the person from what our duties are and what our opportunity is, and I think Carl has always had a really good perspective with that. He stayed living at home in Missouri and kept kind of his core group around him that he always had growing up. He didn’t really change much, and I think what you see in Carl on TV is what you get in person. He’s just a genuine guy that loves being around his family and loves farming and he’s just everything you said is true. I really appreciate that he was able to make that decision and step away from it because a lot of guys look at the money and the fame and everything else and wouldn’t be able to make that decision, so I think it’s great.”
DO YOU SENSE THERE’S AN ULTERIOR MOTIVE WITH HIS DECISION? “No, there’s not.”
WHY DO YOU RACE? “There’s a few reasons for me. It started out because I love racing and I love driving race cars and go-karts as a little kid. But as I’ve gotten older my motives have changed a lot. I’ve kind of gone from my selfish ambition to doing this because the Lord has given me a great opportunity here and I want to make the most of it. This is where he put me and I want to be a good steward of that, I want to go out and race to win every single week because he has put me here to do that. I’m thankful that He’s always done that, but that’s why I’m here.”
YOU’VE WON THE 500 WITH A SINGLE-CAR TEAM. IS THAT HARDER THAN IF YOU HAVE TEAMMATES? “It’s always more of an opportunity to win at a superspeedway track because resources don’t necessarily create the result at the end of the day at Daytona. In qualifying and single-car speed, of course. The faster your car is, the better you’re gonna run. And even in the race you can make more moves when you have a fast race car, but you see guys like David Gilliland run up front and David Ragan win races, and you can do that in lesser equipment. You can go out and run well if you have help. I think what the real advantage and disadvantage is not exactly your cars and your team, but the rapport you have with the guys around you. If you have a reputation of being a wild guy and you’re a new guy and people don’t want to go with you and you pull out of line every time you get hung out and nobody goes with you, that has way more consequence than exactly what your equipment is. A slow car, if he has all the help in the world is gonna go fast, so you need the guys to respect you, to see that you’re fast, to want to work with you and to want to go with you when you pull out.”
IT TAKES SOME LUCK TOO, RIGHT? “It takes a lot of a lot of things to win at Daytona. The year that I won was different than it is now. It was two cars tandem-drafting and you didn’t necessarily need 10 guys to go with you. If you had the help of one person and could make good decisions, it was a little different. I haven’t had the same success completely in this style of drafting, but we did run third here last year in the summer race, but it just hasn’t worked out in the 500 since then.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ABOUT THAT DAY YOU WON THE 500? “It’s humbling for me more than anything. When I come back here to think, ‘Man, I cannot believe we won this thing.’ It’s incredible to think about and the more you race here, the harder you see it is to win one so it makes you appreciate it more and more every single time.”
HOW IS YOUR HEALTH AND OUTLOOK? IS THAT ALL BEHIND YOU? “I feel that way and as long as the Lord says so, then it is. I feel like He’s sustained my body and given me the opportunity to race and I’m way more fit that I was when I was 19 or 20. I work hard now with my fitness by cycling and running and working out strength-wise. I get my heart rate way up and way down and get hot. I can do everything and I’m really thankful for that because it could not be that way, but my body has done great and I don’t take medication. I don’t do anything different. I’ve cleaned up my eating a ton. I work out hard and obviously I have AdvoCare around for supplements and it’s been great.”
LANDON CASSILL – No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion – THIS IS A CHANCE FOR YOU TO WIN ON SUNDAY. “Yeah, we always feel like we have a shot to win Daytona or Talladega. I think we’ve got a very competitive car. I think our Roush Yates engine is as strong or stronger than it was last year. I can feel it already, so I’m just really looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to Thursday night, but I’m really looking forward to Sunday because the weather has such an impact on this track now. It feels like every year we come back it’s slicker and handling is going to be more of an issue, and being my first race with the new colors for me and Love’s Travel Stops, it feels even more official for me than it’s ever felt.”
IS THERE A POSITION YOU WANT TO BE WITH 10 TO GO, WHERE YOU NEED TO BE TO WIN? “You probably need to be anywhere in those first three rows with 10 to go and maybe even the first two rows. I feel like you’d love to be leading the race. I don’t know if my chances are the best if I’m leading the race, but I think my chances might be the best if I’m in the second row and I can kind of come out of nowhere type situation, shoot up through the middle. Over the past few years I’ve had the chance to take the lead at these superspeedways on multiple occasions and in a lot of ways that’s kind of the way I’ve done it is by catching the leader off guard. Maybe they weren’t expecting me because it was my car as opposed to a Brad Keselowski behind them or somebody else. That’s how I took the lead in the past, so those are the kind of opportunities I’m gonna be looking for on Sunday.”
WHERE DID YOUR FASHION SENSE COME FROM? “I’ve always been into fashion since I was a kid. I like to wear nice things and NASCAR is an interesting sport because it’s not necessarily a fashion forward sport, but it has its own style for sure. Everyone has their own style no matter where you are, and I think my style is just a little bit different than NASCAR. I do follow fashion, actually, fairly close as well. I actually watch runway shoes and things like that and pay attention to Fashion Week. I think it’s my form of art that I’m interested in.”
DO YOU TAKE A LOT OF RIBBING IN THIS SPORT BECAUSE OF THAT? “Not necessarily. I think people tease me sometimes about what I wear, but I don’t think there’s a lot of people in the sport know what I really know about fashion or what I know about designers. I don’t think they really car, either, but it is kind of a fun thing to talk about.”
WHAT KIND OF FASHION DO YOU LIKE? “I don’t see myself as a creator, so if I were a fashion designer I think I would take a lot of inspiration from other people and from the past, and that’s probably where I would look is at other generations and different styles and then kind of tailor my current interests around that style. If I were on Project Runway, I would maybe dig from the nineties grunge style and create a look that’s based around that, but then also maybe inspired by some of my own interests like a motorsports theme or some sort of iconic historically motorsports moment and kind of maybe blend the two. But I don’t see myself as a creator per se that would invent some sort of new pant or dress or shirt.”
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE DESIGNER? “I love St. Laurent. I really like that brand. In terms of American designers, I like John Elliott right now. I think he’s a guy who has kind of bootstrapped his brand from nothing to a lot of energy in a very short amount of time. I think it’s pretty cool and he’s done it just by making basics and every day wear. He didn’t do it by creating anything controversial. He did it without making super-controversial statements, which is kind of hard to do – have an impact without just being blatantly controversial.”
KURT BUSCH – No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion – HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK IN A FORD? “This is like a Homecoming. It feels great to be back with Ford and Doug Yates, especially. I have always been driving by his shop in Mooresville just looking at the times we had together back early in my career, so it feels like a Homecoming. Everybody at Ford has been wonderful. Dave Pericak, that’s in charge of Ford Performance, he’s really switched on and he’s got his goals and agendas and it all matches up with Stewart-Haas really well. We want the manufacturer title, we want the team title, driver title, we want everything for the Blue Oval this year.”
HOW DOES THE CAR FEEL DIFFERENT TO YOU? “Just firing it up it seems like it’s got a deeper throat to its restrictor plate engine so far, and just the overall vibe and the energy from the Ford people has been great. I can’t wait to get to the downforce tracks and the short tracks and feel it all out here early in the season, and then do the west coast run. Once we get past that west coast run, it’s gonna be a good time to evaluate everything.”
HAS IT REJUVENATED THE MOOD AT THE SHOP? “Oh yeah, and it’s really unique too because we’re building our own chassis, the different components that have to be adapted to Doug Yates’ engines from where we were before. Everything is gone over with a fine-tooth comb to make sure we’re at this point and we’re gonna be competitive.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU’RE GETTING A BETTER ENGINE BEING WITH FORD NOW? “I like the Ford situation with how Doug Yates is in charge and he’s there to provide Ford engines to everybody equally. The Hendrick thing and where we were, they were great for us at SHR. I mean, they were the early years of building that foundation up at Stewart-Haas Racing and they did a good job. They won championships and won races, but now we’ve switched to Ford and this is a better template to have in place.”
HOW DOES IT FEEL HAVING CLINT PART OF THE TEAM? “It’s been great and seamless right away. Bowyer feels a little nervous, but I think it’s because he’s apprehensive. He wants to get out there and just get going again in a competitive car and I think with his energy and his enthusiasm in the driver’s seat, it improves all of us and we’ve improved in the owner area as well with having Tony Stewart 100 percent on the ownership side and not splitting his duties driving and managing the ownership side.”
WHAT CAN NASCAR EXPECT FROM MONSTER? “Just the lifestyle, the brand, the image. It’s a lot of fun. No matter what they’re doing, they’re always trying to find something creative and to push the envelope to see what we can do that’s exciting, different and tasteful at the same time.”
IS THERE A FAVORITE FOR SUNDAY? “Nothing that stands out in my mind yet. We haven’t seen enough of the action on track. I think we’ll see more after the Duels on Thursday. I want to see a Blue Oval in victory lane. That’s what I want to see on Sunday.”
HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE DANICA AS A TEAMMATE? “I see her as a person that’s learning and growing into her stock car form. It’s very difficult to have grown up in the open-wheel world where there’s not a lot of contact and moments where you’re door-to-door, rubbing, tire smoke, bumper-to-bumper, bumping into each other. Those have been her weak areas. She can be running 12th and having a great race and it will be the final restart at the end and she doesn’t have that moment to push the other guy out of the way and she ends up 16th. That’s what I keep trying to coach her with and to more define your question, she’s just a student of the game and she’s trying to learn and we need to help her learn more things about how to capitalize on those clutch moments at the end of the race.”
YOU LOST A LOT OF TRACK TIME LAST WEEK WITH GETTING WRECKED. WHAT WAS THE WORST PART? “It would have been nice to have the pit crew jump over the wall and do a live pit stop, but they’ve been practicing all off-season. It would have been great to gain tire data from the track, but there’s all the new Ford simulation models that we have that taught us what we needed to know. I don’t think we lost a lot. There were only 17 cars that raced in the Clash this year versus years past when there were more cars out there, so it’s more about the Daytona 500 car and going through the practice sequences and what the Duels can bring to us.”
HOW IS TONY NOW THAT HE’S 100 PERCENT OWNER? “I only saw him once last weekend and it was a fist bump right before the Clash started. What that meant to me is he’s behind the scenes working on the political side of things, the sponsorship side of things, the motivational side of it. There’s a lot of newness at SHR with Ford switchover, so we’ve got to do our homework that much more diligently before we show up at the track and I know he’s helping with that.”
IS CLINT’S PERSONALITY A PERFECT FIT FOR YOUR TEAM? “Yeah, I think even a visit to Ford up in Dearborn, Michigan, we saw a more relaxed management style from Ford that blends really well with Stewart-Haas. We know we have to work hard and concentrate and focus when it’s time, and we know we can enjoy ourselves outside the car and have that great team comradery and Clint fits right into that.”
YOU’VE RUN WELL HERE, BUT STILL DON’T HAVE A POINTS WIN AT DAYTONA. “This track has been tough to me. It owns me. It doesn’t owe me anything, it’s just owned me over the years and you have to keep that optimism and show up each time with the enthusiasm to go after it as a fresh start and as a championship weekend all wrapped into one. This is one of those tough races to win. It’s the most prestigious stock car race there is. It’s not easy and I’ve got to do a better job at being better in the clutch moments at the end of the race to capitalize on my track position to hold off the guys from behind and to win it this time, instead of figuring out what I need to do better finishing second.”
IS THERE ONE THAT YOU THINK GOT AWAY IN THE PAST? “I feel like 2005 I had a chance to make a move on Jeff Gordon going down the back straightaway. I looked in the mirror and I saw Dale Jr. behind me and a load of Chevrolets. This was when I was driving with Ford and I guess I just should have jumped out of line and made the move to see what would have happened through turns three and four, to see if I could have won it that year. In 2011, I had everything going my way. I won the Clash. I won the qualifying Duel. I was in the same position on the last lap of the 500 and I didn’t pull it off in 2011. I’ve been close many a times. I definitely want to try to get this big trophy.”
WHAT’S THE ETIQUETTE WHEN AN ACCIDENT LIKE LAST WEEK HAPPENS? DO YOU GET AN APOLOGY TEXT? “I hate apology texts. I think they’re useless. ‘Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to bump into you.’ Jimmie gave me one, so I said, ‘Hey, come on over. I’m making a sandwich.’ So he came over to my motorhome and we chit-chatted a while about it and it blended into other conversations, so it wasn’t a ‘you did me wrong type moment,’ but I felt like the apology text thing is way overrated and we talked as two human beings, as two gentlemen about what had happened and we’ll move on.”
DOES YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MONSTER HELP? “I just feel like with my relationship with Monster as being a Monster Energy athlete that I can help bridge certain tendencies or the quality of life, so to speak, for Monster in NASCAR. I can help predict when they’re gonna run into some roadblocks here or there, or when I can help push it further along, whether it’s media markets in L.A., where they’re from, or doing different things with New York or Chicago. I was on the phone with Boston a lot this morning promoting the race. Yes, I feel like there’s a small thing, but I can’t do it alone. There are 40 drivers that are in this top series. Monster knew that when they jumped in as the entitlement sponsor that they’ll be on everybody’s car. They’ll be on everybody’s driver suit and that everybody can do a better job helping this sport continue to grow.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED THERE’S NOT MORE SIGNAGE OR OTHER THINGS THAT SHOW THEY’RE HERE? “I think what they feel is important isn’t what we’ve seen as the importance that Sprint had as their footprint in years past. There’s different ways to look at marketing, whether it’s the TV side, whether it’s signage at track, whether it’s social, whether it’s doing something exciting where now my car was the slow-mo camera of wrecking and going through the grass. I get a text from the CEO saying, ‘That was awesome.’ It’s like, ‘No, it wasn’t awesome.’ A slow-mo wreck is not awesome, but the Monster claw as on TV. It was introduced in a unique way with that slow-mo camera. You win some, you lose some. You just find ways to continue to grow as a sport. No bonus there. I want to get the trophies.”
IS THERE ANY CONCERN THAT SHR HAS SOME SPONSORSHIP OPENINGS TO FILL ON SOME CARS? “I don’t think so. We’ve seen Roush drop one of its cars. We’ve seen Richard Petty Motorsports drop one of its cars. MWR went through its saga. For us at Stewart-Haas Racing there’s a value within each of the car numbers identity, which is the purse guaranteed money. Ford Motor Company has invested a ton into our program and we need to win for them. We need to help them get this manufacturer’s title. The different sponsors that can accumulate for all four cars are adding up, and it’s not of a concern. We know what our job is and our job is to go out and run well so that we take care of the sponsorship that we currently have.”
ANY EXTRA MOTIVATION TO BE THE FIRST MONSTER SERIES CHAMPION? “Yeah, a little bit. I’ve been a Monster athlete the last five or six years and the way that relationship has grown you feel that comradery and you feel that family atmosphere, and now here they are they’re the entitlement sponsor of our series. It would be great to win the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup.”
DID THE CUBS WINNING THE WORLD SERIES GIVE YOU HOPE YOU COULD WIN THE 500? “You always find motivation in all directions when you come to Daytona and the Cubs winning definitely helps with feeling that anything can be accomplished as long as you position yourself for it. It’s done with a great car, a great engine, a great team. Those Cubs had all those pitchers and hitters and defensive plays. They had all the ingredients to win it all and they executed well and so that’s what I feel like we have at Stewart-Haas Racing.”
WHY DO YOU RACE? “I race to win. I race for trophies, the prestige, the history, the value of what it is to be a NASCAR driver and to race for a competitive team like Stewart-Haas Racing, we’re all about winning. Whether it’s Monster as the sponsor, Haas Automation, they’re motivation, even our new manufacturer with Ford, we all want to win. We have that competitive desire to compete and we want to beat the other guys. That’s why I race.”
CLINT BOWYER – No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion – HOW ARE THINGS GOING SO FAR? “So far it’s really good. The car is fast. Everything is going as planned. Obviously, everybody comes down to sit on the pole and to be the fastest team here, but I’m super-happy and excited for where we’re at being the fourth-fastest team down here already with a new team and everything that’s new – manufacturer, engines – everything that has been new with Stewart-Haas to come down and have this kind of speed right off the bat.”
DO YOU FEEL IT’S A GOOD TIME TO JOIN SHR? “It has certainly proven to be so far. The first thing when you have that speed right off the bat, right off the truck like that, that goes through your mind as a racer in this sport in particular is, ‘Gosh, I hope I’m feeling this in Atlanta next week,’ because I realize that that’s what makes up the better part of our lives and what pays the bills. I’ve got to have that speed that we had right off the truck here in Atlanta and as we go through that west coast swing. I hate the west coast swing because they’re always together and it’s really taxing and hard on everybody, but when you get back from that the positive is you’ve got a good group of tracks that make up our sport and you can really get a good gauge and realize where you’re at and what you need to work on, or maybe how far ahead you are of everybody. Who knows?”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE A CAGED ANIMAL AFTER LAST YEAR? “Yeah. I’ve been waiting a long time on this opportunity. I signed this opportunity about a year-and-a-half ago. That’s a long time ago. The biggest thing is I’m really excited to get the year started off with a group that I feel like wants nothing more and works for nothing more than race wins and the championship. That’s all they talk about. That’s all they do is win and be successful, and if they don’t they go back to work and do what it takes to go back and win. Obviously, everybody’s goals are to go out and win, but there are only a select few organizations that truly are set up to know, no matter what the cost or expense or amount of dedication, that’s what they’re there to do and the word no is non-existent. It’s, ‘what do we have to do to win?’”
YOU SEEM TO FIT IN PERFECTLY. “I think the fit factor couldn’t be better for myself. Tony, first and foremost, just a friend – meant a lot to me in my upbringing and everything, how I was raised and grew up of him going in and out of these local weekly racing short tracks across the country is how I even had a short track to race at and to begin with. The better part of my career was alongside Kevin Harvick, so I’m very aware and fond of his style, whether it be driving style or personality or anything else. We’re friends. That helps, and then Kurt Busch is another champion. Two champions to bounce things off of and to go to work with and to push you to be better is everything, and then Danica, she finished fourth the other night. She’s plenty capable of getting the job done and brings a lot to the table for our company and for me as a teammate, so I am excited. There’s no sugar-coating, there’s no way around it as far as how I couldn’t be excited in this opportunity would be crazy.”
WHY DO YOU RACE? “To win. It’s nothing more. Everybody always keeps bringing up people retiring and our generation of drivers are kind of starting to go away, the Gordons and everybody that’s starting to retire – Junior and all of the discussions and conversations you guys have had around his career and when his day is over – I’m not focused on anything but to go back and get competitive consistently week-in and week-out like I did for the better part of my career. The last year-and-a-half has been miserable. That isn’t how I want my kid to remember me. He’s two-and-a-half years old now and I want to be able for him to see me in Victory Lane and for him to be in Victory Lane and when it’s all said and done you look over when you’re 50-some years old that there’s a picture of your whole family in Victory Lane. That’s what I race for.”
ARE YOU NERVOUS AT ALL WITH THIS CHANCE? “I’m not nervous. To be dead honest with you, my wife asked me that. ‘Are you nervous about this season?’ I’m not. I’m really, really excited. I’m excited to work with Kurt. I’m excited to work with Kevin. I’m excited to represent Stewart-Haas and work with Tony as an owner. Can there possibly be a better owner in today’s day and age than Tony Stewart right now? I don’t think so. Let’s look at all these owners. They’re 80 years old. He’s 40-some years old and the closest thing that we have as an owner to a driver, being in that seat, being connected to the reality of what you go through as a driver, so that’s a huge asset for Kevin and I and Kurt and Danica and all of us to be able to utilize and to hopefully utilize for many years to come.”
WERE THERE TIMES LAST YEAR WHERE YOU WERE IN THE RING WITH BOTH ARMS TIED BEHIND YOUR BACK? “I hate talking about last year, I really do. I’m so excited about this year and I’ve waited for this year a long time. I really do hope and have worked hard and have lined myself up with the right people to not only be talking about speed for the Daytona 500 in qualifying, but hopefully next week and the week after and the week after and guess what, the week after.”
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THE MOST FROM LAST YEAR THAT YOU CAN APPLY? “Not a lot, unfortunately.” ABOUT YOURSELF, MAYBE? “I think no matter what the cause was it wasn’t gonna get any better. You still had to go out there and give it your all and try to do the best you could. I was still racing somebody. That was the worst part about it is I still wanted to beat whoever we could beat and when I didn’t I left the track pissed off. When we did I left the track satisfied. Those were the things that were really hard to get used to, looking back at it all is we were in competition with Petty’s and Aric Almirola and Danica in Stewart-Haas equipment and things like that. I mean, when I could beat them it was a successful day and when you couldn’t maybe we left something on the table and you were frustrated.”
HOW MUCH DOES CASH UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU DO? “No, I don’t think he realizes that yet. Lorra has been working on him all winter long about it’s not 15 in red and black anymore, it’s 14 in red, white and blue. I think after qualifying I came around the corner and I had my firesuit on and he’s like, ‘Yay, red, white and blue 14.’ It clicks. So last year is behind us and I think he’s dead set on 14 and hopefully I can get him in Victory Lane. After everything that’s happened, and being out of the conversation for a while, there would be nothing neater than to have my family in Victory Lane.”
HOW DOES THE NUMBER 14 FEEL? TONY PICKED THAT BECAUSE OF HIS RESPECT FOR A.J. FOYT. “I respect that and love that. Who isn’t an A.J. Foyt fan and loved his attitude and everything he was about. Tony did that number good, too. Tony represented that number every bit as much as A.J. did and there is history behind those numbers. I was really proud of 15 – Bud Moore days and everybody that ran the 15 it meant a lot to me to have that number, and it’s gonna mean a lot to me and does mean a lot to me to drive the 14 as well for those reasons.”
THERE’S A LOT OF KINSHIP BETWEEN TONY AND A.J. “From what I saw at the After the Lap stuff, I think I’d fit in just fine with those two.”
HOW WILL YOU BE YOURSELF WITH THESE HIGH EXPECTATIONS? “There’s no possible way that I can have success without having fun. It’s not in my DNA. If I’m having fun, I’m having success and it’s just always been that way. I’ve been that way since I was a little kid. My mom has pictures of me after I won a motorcycle race when I was six years old and she’s got a picture of me after I lost and I was sitting over in the trailer pouting with my hand in my lap, and my brother was smiling with his trophy. I’ve always been that way. I guess it’s not something new to me. It’s something I grew in to. I’ve always been a terrible loser and a good winner, so obviously everybody is a little bit that way, but I do. People make that mistake about me is it’s not all fun and games. When you’re not running and successful and competing for wins week-in and week-out I’m not very happy.”
HOW WOULD YOU TELL YOUNGER DRIVERS TO BE THEMSELVES? “Just don’t get so caught up in this big corporate world that we live in. Hey, there’s a big difference, too. Ten years ago when I came into this sport, you didn’t have social media and you didn’t have all the crap that we have now that just scrutinizes every move you make. I hate that. I look at these kids and I realize that sucks for them because I used to go out with the guys that were my heroes and we’d go downtown and they showed me how to do it. Now, if I go down there we’re all not dedicated to what we’re doing or anything else. You see it in football and everything else, and some of it is true. There’s no getting around it. Some of it is dead-on and true, but some of it is a made-up, opinionated story that somebody may have caught a bad moment in your night. So I don’t like that about those kids. I hope they have good enough people around them. That’s the thing. I’ve always had an awesome fun time, but I’ve always had people around me that I trust and I care about and I know they have my interest first at any point in the juncture and that’s what’s helped me stay the course and stay the path. You’re pulled in so many different directions, whether it’s buying something or a story or doing something, you’ve got to have family or people around you that love you for you and don’t love you for the situation you’re in of being a professional race car driver making money. That’s been my key is I’ve never lost track of that. I’ve always had people around me that have been there from Day 1 and we still do it today.”
WITH CAMERA PHONES ARE GUYS MORE HESITANT TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES? JIMMIE JOHNSON OFF THE TRACK IS DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU SEE ON. “But you have to be that. We all represent huge companies that expect us to be professional every way, shape or form and all these guys are. These are good people. That’s what I love about racing. You didn’t pick up a $5 basketball and become the best basketball player ever. You don’t do that in our sport. You don’t just go buy a $5 car and become a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup driver. Your family dedicates their lives to it. Every penny that they make they put into it. You do it together. You keep pounding. You keep working. You persevere through all the things that you go through to finally make it to this, so there is a difference. I think these are genuinely blue-collar, working-class people that have given everything their whole family has to get to this point, so I don’t mean to pick on anybody else, but that’s what I stick up for in our sport. It is blue-collar and that’s how we’ve made it to this level because you do have to give it everything you possibly have to get here and not just be the best at dribbling or shooting hoops or hitting a ball.”
RYAN BLANEY — No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – HAVE YOU SHARED STORIES WITH CHASE ELLIOTT REGARDING YOUR FLIGHT WITH THE THUNDERBIRDS? “We exchanged a little bit of stories. I vomited. I didn’t pass out, which was nice. It was awesome, a great experience. I was jealous that Chase got to go last year. They’re part of the flyover on Sunday. It was neat to see how all that works, how professional they are. It was awesome. I respect them a lot. Until you actually fly with them, you have no idea. That was a really cool experience.”
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500 HAVING THE WOOD BROTHERS ON YOUR SIDE? “It’s been a lot of fun to race for them the last two-and-a-half years. They’re a great group. Every time we come here, especially for the 500, it’s a really important race to try and win for them because of their history here. To get them back to victory lane after a handful of years would be awesome. We’re just going to try and do our best. We still haven’t drafted yet with our 500 car, I don’t think anyone has, so we’ll see how that goes and get ready for the Duels and 500 on Sunday.”
KEVIN HARVICK — No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE MOVE TO FORD AND HOW THAT IS GOING? ”I think from a performance side everybody has thought that it’s gone better than it could have. It can always go better than it does on any given day. I think for the most part everybody has done a very good job. It’s a lot of work to turn a company from one manufacturer to another in two-and-a-half months. Going to the race track in Phoenix and having the car on the track, there are definitely some differences with some things that we had to learn and are still learning. I think as you see those things start to have trends, those will develop the new notebook and the new trends as you go from race track to race track. We had a great day in the Clash and the cars were really fast. It was just another part of the process that actually worked out well for us racing in the day because we’re not going to have a practice session day in that type of atmosphere with that many cars. The Duels are at night and you’re not going to have what we had Sunday afternoon in order to learn where we need to be for the Daytona 500. We definitely were a little bit off on the handling, but got that straightened out for the second-half of the race and everything was good.”
WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE YOU NOTICED IN THE CAR? “I think just the balance of the car. It’s a little bit from what we had with the other car. From that standpoint, and you add the new rules package, it’s just a lot of things that you have to change as far as where your setups are and where the balance needs to be on the car.”
IS THERE A FAVORITE TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500? “I think if you’re going to look at the superspeedways you have to look at the Penske cars because they’ve won so many of the restrictor plate races. You see a common trend with the Hendrick cars qualifying well and not being able to handle like they need to when they get to Sunday. I would definitely point towards to the Fords and Penske.”
DID YOU EVER THINK THAT YOU WOULD HEAR JOEY LOGANO REFER TO YOU AS HIS FRIEND? “Well look, I always tell people that you’d rather have me on your side versus against you. I think as you look at Ford, it’s been pretty straight forward of what the expectations are, especially when it comes to superspeedways. We’ll try not to hinder each other. I think when you look at us and how this race has shaken out over the last few years with the Toyota’s just lining up, you’re going to have some help to compete with that. I think we have the fastest cars as the Fords are concerned. I think the three of us were able to make some pretty quick ground during the Clash. I’m excited about it. I love the speed of our car. We had to work on the handling a bit. I’m looking forward in working with all those guys.”
REGARDING THE NEW FORMAT, DID YOU SEE A NEED FOR A CHANGE? HOW WILL IT CHANGE THE STRATEGY?
“I think that’s the biggest thing; it’s going to change the strategy. I think there is going to be a lot of strategy involved. Late cautions in segments or the timing of the segments…if there is an early caution…do you stay out and gain the points and pit later? There’s going to be a lot of strategy that will mix the field up more than we’ve seen in the past. The great part of what we have is it’s a blend of what TV wanted. Obviously, they wanted to some breaks. I think as competitors you always wanted to try and gain an advantage and you have that opportunity to go out and grab those bonus points and gain as many as you can throughout the year. There’s really no time to relax and I think that’s going to create a bit more of a chaotic atmosphere for the fact that there is so much to get and if you don’t aggressively go out and try and get those things you’re going to get behind really fast.”
DOESN’T THAT SUIT YOUR DRIVING STYLE? “I think that fits our team well just to the fact that we’re an aggressive bunch of people. We want to go out and lead laps. We want to go out and try to position ourselves as far forward as we can because you just never know when it’s going to change and what’s going to happen. We’re definitely going to treat it aggressively and try and gain as many bonus points as you can.”
EVEN FOR THE DUELS? “We have two more (cars) sitting in the infield. There’s 20 points on the line and a trophy. You have what I feel like is a good, fast car. We want to go and win every trophy that we can. That’s why these guys spend the hours and hours in the shop trying to put together the fastest race cars that they can. You don’t’ want to go out and lollygag on Thursday, you’re not learning anything and it’s really defeating the purpose considering you can try and gain the maximum amount of points. And that’s what I mean by being aggressive. You have to go out and try to get everything you can every week.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU ANTICIPATE YOU’LL SEE MANUFACTURERS WORK TOGETHER? “Well look, there’s one thing that I learned a long time ago and that’s you have people that you want to help and people that are going to help you. Sometimes you wind up in situation that you’re helping someone who you really didn’t expect to be helping. But you have to do what’s best for your team first, what’s best for the manufacturer next and then do whatever you have to do at the end and hopefully nobody holds that against you. I’m not going to hold that against anybody else for going out to win a race because you can only help each other so much before it’s time to try and do what I have to do for my team and that’s to try and win the race. You want to try and take that and mix it all together but in the end, it’s your team first, my No. 4 team, and the ability to go out and do what’s best for them. It’s just like the other day in the Clash. The three of us were making ground fairly well and those guys had to get into a hole because we were the only three cars in the outside lane and I ended being the odd man out. That’s not their fault leaving me hanging. That’s just a matter of circumstances and understanding them and that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT…. GETTING HUNG OUT… WHEN YOU’RE IN THAT SITUATION? “Well, you know it’s a possibility. All the cars that were lined up on the outside lane wanted to be on the inside lane. Our cars were good enough to make up ground on the outside lane and made our own lane. We got those guys on the bottom broke up and there was a gap for two cars. At that point, I knew that I was going to be the odd man out. But you have to put yourself in position to be aggressive and that’s why we pitted, to be aggressive and win the race. You never know how it’s going to shake out. You just try to put yourself in position as far forward as possible and see how it shakes out from there.”
IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE SOMEBODY HAS WON BACK-TO-BACK DAYTONA 500s. DO YOU THINK THOSE TIMES ARE GONE? IT’S BEEN SINCE THE 90S WHEN STERLING MARLIN DID IT? “Yeah, and those guys were dominant back in the 90s during that particular time period with the Kodak entry. Our sport is like that every week. When you get to superspeedways like this there are so many things that can go wrong. There are more things that can go wrong than right. If you have a fast car or a slow car you can get caught up in a wreck, a miscue on pit road, hit a bird. You just never know what can go wrong or what could go wrong. Usually if it’s going to happen there’s usually some crazy event that happens during the Daytona 500, you just never know. It’s just really competitive.”
WITHOUT THE DRIVERS COUNCIL, DO YOU THINK THAT NASCAR WOULD HAVE THE TRAVELING SAFETY TEAM OR CONCUSSION PROTOCOL? “I think the Driver Council had an effect in that. I don’t think there was anybody at NASCAR that would have told you they needed a traveling safety team. But the Safety Council definitely pushed on that and voiced their concerns about that and NASCAR listened and went out and made it happen. When that conversation first came up there definitely wasn’t a need for it and all of a sudden, the more voices that come up (they) listened, which credit to NASCAR, they listened and it started to gain momentum and pushing forward.”
WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON IT? “The main thing is to see some familiar faces so that we don’t get into situations like we did with Kyle Larsen, who didn’t have a concussion and had to go all the way to Charlotte to be evaluated because somebody in the medical center was going to say that and it goes right into concussion protocol. I think having those familiar faces and knowing us is the most important part, no matter what the number is or how big it is, it’s really about the familiar faces who can relate to those professionals in that particular medical center.”
DID THE (MATT) DIBENEDETTO ISSUE PUSH IT ALONG? “I’d say that was probably the final straw. I don’t know that to be fact. Anytime there is controversy with someone’s health it’s not the 100 percent correct answer. When you have people that know you and are a part of what you do on a weekly basis it’s better to have them know who you are, know how you act, know the things that you say and be able to relate that to the local people.”
IS IT DIFFERENT TO BE WITH CLINT AGAIN? “Clint’s car and my car are built by the same people, same shop foreman. We have all the same stuff just like we did with Tony in the past couple years. The great thing about Clint is that there is no learning curve as far as getting to know someone or how they operate. I know Clint’s personality and how he acts. But I also know how serious he is as a competitor and what he brings to the table at Stewart-Haas. He’s going to be great fit. He’s going to go out and be competitive and win races. That’s what we need, competitive cars that are winning races.”
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN CLINT THIS JACKED UP? “He’s pretty excited, but I’ve seen him more excited. Back in his younger days he was like this 24/7. He’s been unfortunate being in the position that he’s been in but for us it’s fortunate that he’s been in those situations because he’s as hungry as he’s ever been and wants to prove what he can do in a car, which he will do. I think for us as a company it’s great to have that enthusiasm and excitement coming into that car. I think it’s going to be great for everything.”
IN DEALING WITH SPONSORS AND THE GOLFERS THAT YOU WORK WITH, HOW HAVE YOU TRANSLATED THAT WITH HELPING THEM GET SPONSORS? “I think that’s one of the best things that we did when we owned race teams and I think as you look at what NASCAR does and how they treat their sponsors and get sponsors and go after sponsors and maintain them, I think that’s what some other sports may be behind in. Giving that experience to other sports is something that we can definitely contribute to and make better. I think we’ve done a great job on the golf side of Jason’s (Day) sponsors in order that the sponsors are happy with the product that they are getting and just not the golf. Golf is a lot like here. If you have a bad couple of weeks, you miss a couple week, you still have the hospitality appearances, personal appearances. You have to make those personalities relevant to the sponsors and let them get embedded with what they are doing and how they are entertaining their customers so that it’s not always about the performance. There are going to be weeks where you miss the cut and you’re not going to go much wrong other than be off by a stroke or two. It could come in clumps you just never know when it’s coming.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion) — AUSTIN DILLION SAID THAT YOURSELF, JOEY LOGANO AND DENNY HAMLIN WERE THE BEST RESTRICTOR PLATE RACERS IN THE SPORT RIGHT NOW, WOULD YOU AGREE?
“We’ve had some success, but you can’t rest on your laurels. Plate racing, I feel like you have to be one move ahead all the time and you have to have one in the bank that nobody has seen yet. In that regard you don’t know who has one in the bank and you never know who learning and moving forward based on mistakes or lessons learned. It’s very much fluid, very much dynamic. I don’t take past success for granted and I don’t think it’s a guarantee for future success. I’m certainly proud and happy of the success that we’ve had on the plate tracks and feel like we’ll be in position to make that count again at this 500.
“It’s about more than me. You have to have the right car to do it and the cars right now are really lending themselves to drivers being able to make moves and establish position to dominate a race and I think we’ve capitalized well on that with Team Penske.”
HAVE YOU HAD TO CHANGE YOUR APPROACH TO RESTRICTOR PLATE RACING SINCE YOUR FIRST WIN BECAUSE OF ALL THE RULE CHANGES? “The rules are always changing, it is still NASCAR (laughs). As the rules change, the tactics change, the dynamics change and I’m good with that.
“The drivers’ tactics have changed dramatically since the first plate race that I drove in. Now I look back at a plate race from the 90s and it reminds me when I was a kid playing sports and there were coaches on the side saying, ‘do this, do that,’ because they see all these opportunities to make a move, make a play. I go back and watch a race from the 90s and I say, ‘that move’s open, that move’s open, that one’s open, why didn’t he do that?’ And as you fast forward in time you see the drivers doing that. I’m almost embarrassed to watch a plate race that I’m in from five or six years ago, because all that I see is the moves that we open. I think that speaks to just having the experience and to learning the tactics and those changing, evolving, being developed. Certainly, the sport has changed and the drivers continue to get better. But the basics continue to be the same, you’ve always had to have good car to win this race. You’re going to have to have good car to win it this year, but you’re going to have to have those tactics right.”
WHAT’S CHANGED AT TEAM PENSKE OR WITH YOU AND JOEY (LOGANO) TO WHERE YOU GUYS HAVE BECOME DOMINANT AT RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS? “I think we got really tired of people saying that restrictor plate tracks were about luck. And the culture really changed for us when as a company, we decided this isn’t luck anymore, this is a concerted effort to put on your best moves, your best face, your best cars and quit saying it’s luck. As soon as we stopped saying that at Team Penske we had a lot more success I think it’s a lot more about culture than anything else.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS SHOWED YOUR HAND IN THE CLASH AND DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING ELSE IN RESERVE FOR THE 500? “Like I said earlier, you always try to have a move in the bank, maybe two or three. I think about it as ‘island hopping’ because I love history and love studying military history and World War II and how they island hopped to Japan. That’s what the Toyota’s are forcing everyone to do. They have enough strength in numbers, enough quality cars that they can create strength by having multiple cars that feel like islands. So, the only way to beat them is to island hop. You have to take one island at a time, destroy it, move to the next one until you get to the main prize, which is first. And that takes a very specific set of tactics and we’re not the first ones to do it, tactics have existed for a while. You have to do everything just right. You have to have a good horse underneath you. You have to have good people working with you. Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano worked with us in the Clash to do it. I feel with the same set of circumstances we’ll be there again.”
HAVE YOU TALKED TO DALE JR. ABOUT HIS DECISION TO COME BACK AND IF HE FEELS ANY RESPONSIBILITY TO THE SPORT OR TEAM AS COMPARED TO HIS TEAM? “Dale Jr. returning, first of all, he’s got enough people in his ear that are more credible than me to listen to give him advice. I’d never presume or expect to be that guy to tell him he should or shouldn’t do anything. But beyond that, he needs to make that decision himself. He knows better than else how he feels, what he’s ready for, so at some point you have to trust him when he says he feels good…he feels good. I trust him.”
THE “ISLAND HOPPING”, IS IT A RISKIER THAN “SLING SHOTTING” OR SOME OF THE OTHERS MOVES YOU’LL SEE ON A SUPERSPEEDWAY? “Everything on a plate track is risky, right? That’s what is part of what makes it so much fun to watch and be a part of. Moves are going to work a low percentage of the time. That’s what makes it compelling. If every move worked it wouldn’t be fun to watch. I don’t know if I would label it as dangerous when somebody mis-times a block, that can happen no matter what your tactic is. I feel pretty good about it.”
WHERE DO YOU THINK THE NEXT STEPS SHOULD BE WITH SAFETY OR ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH WHERE THE SPORT IS AT? “I think the safety team that travels now, we’ve had some sort of safety team before, but this one is an enhancement to that. I feel great about that. It’s a great win for the Drivers Council and the sport as a whole. I would like to start by saying that I’m really proud of that, just not for the council, but for NASCAR being able to get it done and in a way, that makes sense for everybody. That’s a big feather in the hat for this series to show that we can things, projects done. There’s a lot of happiness for that. Beyond that, for the next level of our sport and safety, the next level in our sport in safety is the same that is in every level of sport; we need to find a definitive way to diagnose a mild concussion. Until we can define a mild concussion, we’re going to have one or two end results. We’re either going to have drivers sit out when they don’t really have a concussion or we’re going to have long-term effect of drivers who have multiple concussions and develop CTE, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s…. all the things that go with it. We need a definitive tool to diagnose a concussion a mild concussion. There are tools to diagnose a severe concussion, there are not tools to diagnose a mild concussion. And until that tool exists, all the sports are playing from behind. I think that needs to be really a key for the sports world.”
CAN YOU GIVE US A PREVIEW OF WHAT YOU EXPECT FROM CHASE BRISCOE AND AUSTIN CINDRIC? “First off, I think they are in great trucks. They have great equipment; to run up front, be contenders. My expectations is that they learn and grow throughout the year. Both of them have a great start, in Truck series, ARCA series, in a limited amount of starts for Austin and full season for Chase in the ARCA series. Both of them have base to work from. My expectation for them is to grow and learn. Not make the same mistakes twice and that they allow their team to achieve their potential. I’m not going to put an expectation on wins or things like that. I don’t think that helps them. But I do expect them to grow and learn and to really engage their team to find success. I would not be surprised if they won.”
