Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Charlotte Media Tour
Tuesday, January 26, 2018
MATT DIBENEDETTO – No. 32 Ford Fusion – HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT TEAMS POSSIBLY LOOKING AT OTHER TEAMS’ EFI DATA? “That’s the first that I’ve heard of that. I’d be curious to find out because that could be a lot of interesting information being passed around or looked at.”
IF THAT TURNED OUT TO BE THE CASE WOULD THAT HELP A TEAM LIKE YOURS? “There’s ways that it would help. It wouldn’t do much to make up for the obviously large lack of budget and aerodynamics and things like that, but any resource that you can have at this level, no matter what it is or how small, you have to be so perfect at everything at the Cup level that anything that we can get our hands on is gonna benefit us for sure. We would definitely be on it, for sure, if we could get any sort of access to data.”
DO YOU HAVE MORE MOMENTUM COMING INTO THIS YEAR? “Yeah. Last year was cool. We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for the year because it all came together. We didn’t start working until January, but starting off with a top 10 in the Daytona 500 and then getting another top 10 and finishing eighth in the Brickyard 400 and running well at a lot of race tracks, and some unconventional race tracks, like we ran well at places like Michigan and Charlotte and some odd ones that we didn’t think we would excel at like we did, so going into this year I feel like we do have some good momentum and the same group of people working together, the same crew chief. So we need all those people and they all make a whole lot out of very little. It’s great. We’re a family team and we really have to stretch everything we have and we outperform people that are on monumentally higher budgets than we are and that makes us proud that we’re able to do that because we have good people.”
DOES IT HELP BEING A FAMILY TEAM WHERE EVERYONE IS CONCENTRATED ON ONE EFFORT? “The good things are it is cool being a single-car team. They’re solely focused – and it’s not that you’re selfish – but everyone has their focus solely on your car, your deal and how to improve the team and having such a small organization. If we need to implement a change or we find something that can make our race cars better, it’s not like we have to go through a whole implement of four cars or a whole laundry list of people and get it all approves. It’s like, ‘Hey, this would be better. Should we do it?’ ‘Sure,’ and boom, it’s implemented. So those are some of the good things about a smaller team is communication doesn’t really get lost. It’s pretty easy when you only have 16 people in your whole organization.”
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR 2018 AFTER BEING A SURPRISE TEAM IN 2017? “It’s hard. I never know exactly where to set our goals other than just vaguely saying we want to overachieve and on a weekly basis outperform teams and people that we know are on a lot higher budgets than us. So we just kind of stack ourselves up like that. When we were racing last year we raced with the Front Row cars, the 95 car, if we could pass some RCR cars, whatever, those are all good days for us. In general, with no attrition, if we could run top 25s are solid, good days for us and points-wise, if we could finish in the top 30 that’s great. All that if all overachieving. Everyone saw how much we were able to take a team and improve it over one season, just by putting some good people in place even with a small budget and showing what we could do.”
ARCHIE FLIES UNDER THE RADAR AS FAR AS HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH THE TEAM. HOW INSTRUMENTAL IS HIS INVOLVEMENT? “Archie is a really smart guy. He’s a businessman, so he does know how to make the most out of what we’ve got and operates smart. Everything is organized. We have a budget. We know exactly what we’re working with and everything is laid out for the whole year. His son, Mason, is our general manager and he’s a workaholic, so everyone has to really multi-task. Everyone carries a lot of hats at our team.”
SOCIAL MEDIA IS BIG. DO YOU HAVE A STRATEGY WITH THAT? “I honestly don’t have any particular strategy, I just like to be myself and I like everything to be organic. We don’t sit and strategize anything, I just like to be active and share my life, share our experience, share our team and share everything with the fans because that’s what they want to see. I want to let them live through what I’m doing and see how much work it is and how hard we work to be trying to do this. I do have an ultimate goal of I want to fill those shoes and I want to be in position to win races in the near future and with a lot of some of these guys leaving this sport, I know with my personality and how I can engage with fans that I can make a big impact on the sport if I continue to climb the ladder.”
THE SEASON IS LONG. IS THERE A TIME WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT AND REALIZE YOU MIGHT ONLY BE HALFWAY THROUGH? “You’ll probably be surprised, but sometimes it blows by just because you’re so busy all the time and it’s a non-stop grind, so it actually kind of flies by and I’m like, ‘Holy cow, we’re already three-quarters of the way through the season. It felt like I just got with the team and we just started.’ Even though it is a really long, grueling schedule, it goes by so fast just because you’re so busy.”
ANY CHANGE YOU WOULD MAKE TO THE SCHEDULE? “Maybe like a couple more breaks integrated in would be OK if I was picking or choosing, or honestly, I’m OK with the schedule but some of those two-day shows help us a lot because it gives us a little more prep time. We don’t have all of the same resources and a lot of employees like the other teams do, so when we have those two-day shows it gives us an extra day at the shop and those are really beneficial to us. So maybe I would implement more of those.”
WHAT DOES THE ALLIANCE WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS MEAN? WILL YOU WORK CLOSER WITH THEM? “No, there’s no alliance it’s just a partnership with them and the old 32 charter. Nothing that affects our team. We don’t get anymore resources, technology, nothing out of it. It’s a good partnership between them two and for the Wood Brothers to have a charter and everything secured up, but that’s about all I know. But as far as our team it won’t affect anything.”
ALIGNING WITH JOE FALK BRINGS UP THE POSSIBILITY OF POTENTIALLY HAVING A TEAMMATE THIS YEAR. “Yeah, for sure. Honestly, I’ll probably sound silly, but I haven’t been able to pay enough attention to it because I’ve been so focused on getting prepared for the season. On all of that charter stuff it’s crazy and interesting, but I’ll let Archie and Mason handle all that stuff. I think as far as the stuff we’ll have to work with our team and operations will be the exact same. I just want to make sure that’s totally clear. I don’t want people to think we’re getting Penske equipment or something. We’re not. We’re the same exact operation as we were last year.”
WOULD IT BE HELPFUL HAVING A SECOND CAR TO WORK WITH? “Not really. When you’re short-staffed or people are already multi-tasking so much that when you put all that effort into your car that is usually best to keep your focus on that, but whatever decisions they make I’ll support. If there are instances where that comes up, I’m sure they wouldn’t do it for no reason. It would make sense one way or another, but I know we’ll be focusing on trying to make the most we can out of that 32 car and make her go as quick as we can.”
MATT CRAFTON – No. 88 Ford F-150 – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE MOVE TO FORD? “We’re looking forward to working with Ford and they’re what I started with in NASCAR. In my old Southwest Tour days in 1997 I started racing a Ford out west and that’s all my dad has ever owned and raced, so it’s very exciting for him because he always said whenever I first started racing another manufacturer, ‘I don’t know if I can root for you because I’ve only driven a Ford and you’ve only driven a Ford,’ so I guess now I’ve got a new fan in my dad.”
HOW MUCH CHANGEOVER IS THERE WITH THIS SWITCH? “We have to cut everything off from the windshield bed forward and put all the Ford noses on it and the Ford back half, so there’s a lot going on and those guys are working a lot of hours right now to get this stuff done.”
I HEARD 16 TRUCKS. “More than that. Well, we have four teams going to Daytona, so two per team, and we’re doing the test tomorrow. So we have one done for that.”
WHAT IS BEN GOING TO DRIVE? “We talked about putting him in my truck and running some laps. We couldn’t find a booster seat so Ben could reach the pedals. I think they’re all gonna be there to help out.”
LIKE A REVOLVING DOOR IN ONE TRUCK TESTING? “Yeah, and all the crew chiefs are coming down and they’re all gonna work together and just come up with ideas. The biggest thing is we put a new nose on and just finished this weekend. We haven’t taken it to the wind tunnel yet. We have no idea what we’ve got, so it should be fun.”
FORD IS GIVING YOU WIND TUNNEL HELP AND TECHNOLOGY, CORRECT? “Yeah, we’re gonna get technology, wind tunnel and a lot of stuff that we’ve always had in the past. I’m looking forward to it, but right now it’s all happened so late that to build a truck, to get it to the wind tunnel, to do all that is pretty much next to impossible.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR OTHER PLANS THAT ARE GOING TO PRECEED SPEEDWEEKS? “My dirt modified. That’s my hobby. That’s what I do for fun on the side. I love it. We’re actually building cars in-house now. Elite Chassis moved into my shop. We’re building chassis and putting them all together in my shop, but I’m gonna race Volusia and probably 10 other different races throughout the year in the dirt car and get ready for Eldora again.”
YOU WEREN’T AT THE CHILI BOWL. “There just weren’t enough seats available at that time. I wanted to. It’s definitely on the bucket list. I had so much fun. I’m very, very critical of myself. I went there and I struggled the first practice. The second practice I thought I was like way better and Christopher Bell was so excited. That kid thought I was his kid out there and he came in and he was just ecstatic watching me. ‘Are you having fun?’ All he wanted to know all night was if I was having fun. He’s like, ‘I can’t read you, Matt, because you don’t change.’ I told him it’s because I’m starting to do better and want to do better. Then I think I was one spot from the transfer spot to make it to the main and we got checked up. Somebody got spinning and I got spun, which killed it and I had to go to the back. It was down to like nine laps to go and I was like 20th, and they were only transferring four, so I had a ways to go in that, but I really look forward to driving this Ford F-150 this year.”
YOU COULD SEE YOURSELF TRYING TO RUN THE CHILI BOWL AT SOME POINT? “Absolutely. When somebody has a ride open, I’ll definitely be there.”
YOU WOULD BE THE OLDEST ROOKIE OTHER THAN SHATZ. “Exactly, without a doubt, and I’ll have a blast doing it.”
HOW DO YOU LIKE HAVING A MARCH RACE IN VEGAS? “I like it. Vegas is always a great place to go, a great place to hang out. I’m from out west, so a lot of friends and family go out there and get to hang out. That place is getting a lot of age on that asphalt, so we’re getting to move around a lot more so that’s some of the reason why I like going to some of the mile-and-a-halves and getting to move around, instead of being on the bottom all day long.”
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY FROM THE SOUTHWEST TOUR DAYS IN A FORD? “Winning the Southwest Tour championship and just me and my dad working together. We used to literally build our own chassis and every component on that race car we did, so it was very sweet and now to see that we’re back with Ford it’s an awesome deal for me and my dad as well.”
DID YOU ANTICIPATE A SITUATION LIKE THIS AS FAR AS COMING BACK TO FORD ONE DAY? “I had no idea, to be honest. It was definitely something that caught me off guard when they told me what we were doing. I was like, ‘Wow, OK.’ I’m very excited about it without a doubt just for the fact of that’s what I started in. That’s what I started my NASCAR career in and that’s what my dad has done and raced all his life.”
WHEN DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THIS SWITCH? “Last week.”
WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT IS FORD GIVING? “Ford is gonna give us a lot of support – the wind tunnel, engineering support. We’re gonna get everything we’ve had in the past, and just being the only Ford team out there and for the most part are gonna be backed by them just like some of the other teams are.”
COULD WE SEE YOU AT VEGAS ON THE DIRT TRACK? “You never know. It would be a lot of fun to do it.”
BEING THE ELDER STATESMEN YOU ARE IN THE SPORT. WHAT ARE THE FIVE RACES ON YOUR BUCKET LIST YOU WOULD LIKE TO RACE OR ATTEND? “I’d rather race them than attend them. Do the Chili Bowl. That would definitely be one of them now that I drove one. I’d like to run a modified at Eldora. I’d like to have the big race out there. Do some off-road races. I’d like to do the Baja 1000 or Baja 500. I’m a big fan of that stuff, and I had knocked one off my list a few years back when I got to race the Daytona 500.”
ANY LATE MODEL RACES? “I’m gonna probably go to Canada again this year. The Outlaw Late Model was up in Michigan at Kalamazoo. I don’t have anything on the schedule for there, but I do run the super late model in Canada. I was just talking this week and it looks like I may get up there again to do maybe the 250 or the 150 at some point.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ENGINE SITUATION? “We’re very excited to work with Ford and drive that F-150.”
DO YOU FEEL THIS PUTS YOU IN AS GOOD A POSITION BEING THE LONE FORD TEAM? “I’m in a very, very good position to be able to win more championships without a doubt. We won two in the past and there’s no reason why I can’t stop at three, four, or five more. We have to be able to keep all the right people at ThorSport and I know we’ve got the right sponsor and all the right people right now to make it happen. I feel we can this year.”
HOW LONG DO YOU SEE YOURSELF GOING WITH THORSPORT? “I know there was a guy who was a little bit older gentleman who was inducted in the Hall of Fame. His name is Ron Hornaday and he kicked our ass weekly and he was 50 years old, so I don’t see myself quitting until then at least.”
WHAT DID SEEING HORNADAY GET INDUCTED MEAN TO YOU? “It meant a lot. Ron is a great guy. He truly, truly is the best Truck Series driver I’ve ever raced against. The guy eats nails, so it was very, very cool to be able to race with him. He raced out west with my dad and I never got to race with him out west in the late models, but I’m very, very excited for him.”
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE TRUCK SERIES? “I think what we need to do is go to some different places and not just have us racing all the same race tracks. It’s great to race with the Cup Series, but, at the same time, we need to go to different places. We need more road courses. If you look in the Cup Series, what races did they sell out? The road courses. Our biggest turnout of the year was a road course. We need another road course, I feel. Maybe another dirt track. Take us to some short tracks and not just all the mile-and-a-halves. There are so many great short tracks that we used to race at. I know NASCAR is in a tough box with those people not having enough capacity in the stands to be able to – you have all the sanctioning fees and the tracks to be able to sell enough seats to be able to pay for those races and a lot of mile-and-a-halves do, so I would definitely like to see us go back to quite a few of these. ORP or IRP or whatever it is now, that’s by far one of my favorite short tracks I’ve ever raced on and Irwindale is still open. That is my favorite race track I’ve ever raced on – short track. Just really, really cool short tracks. Milwaukee, Memphis, there are so many race tracks we could have a good time at and put on one heck of a show, and I guarantee you so many people would come because it’s a new venue. They don’t need to just keep going to the same track and people just get burned out. If you eat the same box of cereal every day you kind of get burned out on it. You throw a different box in there and everybody wants to try it.”
WOULD YOU AGREE IT’S REDUNDANT NOW WITH TRUCK, XFINITY AND CUP RUNNING THE SAME TRACK EVERY WEEK? DOES IT WORK TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE TRUCK SERIES? “It might hurt them a little bit, but if you want to see the best race of the weekend you better go and watch the trucks. I think any true race fan is gonna say that. We always put on the best show, but I would say there’s one car series I think there should be one Truck Series as well.”
DO YOU THINK HAVING THE ENGINE SITUATION WILL ALLOW MORE TEAMS TO RUN TOWARD THE FRONT? “I just look forward to driving my Ford F-150 at Daytona.”
