Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Thursday, September 12, 2019
NASCAR PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY DRIVER QUOTES
RYAN NEWMAN, No. 6 Ford Mustang
QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “I think the answer to your question is that it is what it is. The balance is you are going to have guys, and I am not picking on anybody, but let’s just say the 48 who is not in the playoffs but he can help by being more aggressive to his teammates and things like that. That is no different than me. Ricky isn’t in the playoffs but he can race the snot out of those guys. Maybe he will and maybe he won’t, but I think there is more of that than there is just blocking. I look at it myself and I was shocked when I thought about it in Indy because it hadn’t even been on my radar but I am the only driver in the playoffs that doesn’t have a teammate in the playoffs. There is something to be said for that, but I don’t know that it matters.”
IS THERE ANY BENEFIT TO YOU HAVING BEEN ON THE BUBBLE AND THAT THE NEXT FEW RACES ARE JUST LIKE THE LAST FEW FOR YOU? “Yeah, I think racing in comfort is one thing but would Kyle Larson had spun out by himself off of turn 2 if he was in a playoff fighting position? I don’t know that. I don’t know that it necessarily changes the way people do things. I think it changes the way you view people doing things sometimes. I think that we have gained a lot of experience all throughout the year, not just the last three races, knowing that we were probably going to be in this position if we didn’t win. We were fortunate that we didn’t have an additional winner in the series to bump us out basically. But at the same time we fought hard for it and we pointed our way and earned our way in and now we have to prove to do something with it.”
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT RACING AT VEGAS THAN OTHER PLACES? “To me it is just a race track. I don’t come to Vegas because of the atmosphere. I come because of the race track. The track has a lot of character in 1 and 2 and is fairly smooth in 3 and 4 and it is going to be hotter than snot. I think it is just a race track and my goal is to go out there and beat everybody else at this race track. They don’t put slot machines inside the car and they don’t have dancing girls until after the checkered flag falls.”
ARE YOU GOING TO EXPERIENCE SOME OF THAT? “Hopefully just the checkered flag.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE BACK IN THE PLAYOFFS? “The ultimate goal for this year no matter what anybody else thought was to win a championship, so this is a big step for us to have an opportunity and for me personally to get back in the playoffs to have that opportunity because my ultimate personal goal is to be a champion. I feel satisfied because of that but I don’t feel overwhelmingly satisfied because we haven’t won or been a dominant car or led a bunch of laps. We have to do a better job and I accept that task and look forward to it.”
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO PERSONALLY TO GET TO THAT NEXT LEVEL? “Just be the best person that I can be both on and off the race track. That is all I can do. It is a matter of our team and organization and everybody doing as much as they can to help. That is what we have been doing but we have to do a better job and collectively work better together, all of us, at Roush Fenway.”
DO YOU FEEL YOUR EXPERIENCE SERVES YOU AN ADVANTAGE THE NEXT 10 RACES? “No because Jimmie Johnson was before the last race and he is no longer here. I don’t think that experience necessarily parlays into becoming a champion. It should help but it proved to not.”
