NASCAR CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
August 27, 2020
CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference and discussed team leadership, strategy, making it into the Playoffs, Jimmie Johnson’s career success, and more. Full Transcript:
DO YOU FEEL THE PRESSURE? YOU EXECUTE THINGS AND ARE VERY CONTROLLED ON THE RADIO. INTERNALLY, WITHIN YOUR TEAM, DO YOU FEEL THE PRESSURE?
“I feel substantially less pressure right now than I’ve felt trying to recover from a lot of the challenges that came our way earlier in the year. Again, like I said, from the DQ at Charlotte and making sure we stayed on the rails after that; and continue to prepare good and fast race cars after Jimmie missing a race. That race was kind of a double whammy for us because we lost our driver for the race and then we get wrecked on lap 12 or whatever it was, on pit road. That was a big kick in the gut. And we came back and we responded. Went to Kentucky, went to Texas, with fast race cars. Horrible results. Get crashed or had issues on track. So, I felt more pressure then, to make sure that our team continued to have the positive mindset to continue pushing to put fast race cars on track and move forward, and just make sure everybody was in a good peace of mind.
“There were times that I feel right now. It’s a speedway race. There are so many unknowns. All we can do is control what we’re able to. Work with our teammates and have a good plan for the race. The chips are going to fall where they may. And again, I’m proud of the resilience that we’ve showed throughout the year to keep ourselves on the rails. And yeah, we’re in a tough spot, but we’re going to go race them hard on Saturday night.”
IF YOU MAKE IT INTO THE PLAYOFFS, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NO. 48 TEAM HAS FOR A RUN AT IT?
“There are a lot of tracks that typically, when you go into the Playoffs, and I understand there’s a few different tracks this year than there typically are. There’s a lot of really good tracks for Jimmie and the No. 48 over time and history that we can identify. We’ve had great runs at Darlington earlier in the season. We got wrecked on the lead but then we came back and after starting last in the second race, ended up with a nice Top 10 result. So, I have a lot of positive anticipation going to Darlington and the short tracks. We, Hendrick Motorsports, and the No. 48 team, have improved a lot this year over where we’ve been the last few years. So, a lot of positivity going there. And then you have Vegas, Texas, Kansas; all places that have been strong for us, and a few others in the mix; the Roval, of course, which we have good success with Hendrick Motorsports and a near miss for a win a couple of years ago with Jimmie. So, I have a lot of anticipation going into the Playoffs that we can make a strong run at it, assuming that we get in. And, our team has been built and kind of designed to identifying these tracks and making sure that when we go into the Playoffs we’re as strong as we can be.”
HOW MUCH TO YOU ANTICIPATING TELLING JIMMIE IN THAT FINAL STAGE, HEY YOU HAVE TO FINISH THIS MANY SPOTS AHEAD OF SO-AND-SO? OR, AT A PLACE LIKE DAYTONA IT’S NOT WORTH MENTIONING CONSIDERING WHAT CAN HAPPEN IN ONE LAP?
“That’s a good question. And right now, my goal is to win both stages and win the race. That takes care of everything. Beyond that, man if it really has to come down to it, I may tell him. But I promise you, we all know Jimmie Johnson and he’s going to be scratching and clawing for every spot no matter what. And, if we’re second or if we’re 12th or 22nd, it doesn’t matter what it is. He’s going to be trying to pass the guy ahead of him. So yeah, I can’t say that we won’t have our eye on it. But to be honest, it’s not going to be a huge point for us. We’ve got to maximize everything that we can. And if he can get his bumper ahead, nose ahead, or set-up a pass on the guy in front of him, that’s our goal. That’s what we’re going to do.”
WHAT WOULD BE THE CHALLENGES FOR YOU IF YOUR PATH BECOMES DIVERGENT FROM THE MANUFACTURER’S PATH? WE’VE SEEN THE MANUFACTURERS ALL WORK TOGETHER. IF THE CHEVYS ARE GOING TO WANT TO PIT AT A PARTICULAR TIME THAT MIGHT IMPACT STAGE POINTS, HOW DO YOU WORK THROUGH THAT? OR DO YOU JUST KIND OF HAVE TO FALL IN LINE WITH THE MANUFACTURER BECAUSE OF THE NUMBER OF CARS AND THAT’S THE BEST THING?
“I think, in this case, it’s a lot more of an aligned strategy than what you may be describing. The best position we can put ourselves in to succeed is going to be work with our Hendrick Motorsports teammates and our Chevrolet teammates. There are two of the Chevrolets that points mean everything, which is the No. 24 (William Byron) and the No. 48. And then we’ve got a handful of other Chevrolets that winning means everything because they really aren’t within striking distance in the points.
“So, the best way that all of those cars, whether points-related or win-related, can put themselves in a spot to maximize their day is going to be to work with one another. And frankly, that’s why we’ve seen over the last handful of speedway races, the OEM strategy becomes so important is the best position that some of those other OEM’s are going to be in to win is to be to work with each other, right? And it’s the same thing in our case. So, we’ve already been kind of thinking about what our day is going to be like and how to approach it. And I’m sure we’ll have the communication amongst our group at Hendrick Motorsports and the other Chevrolets to make sure we’re optimizing everything that we can for points for the No. 48 and the No. 24. And we want to make sure a Chevrolet is up front at the end.”
AS YOU GO INTO THIS LAST REGULAR SEASON RACE AND KNOWING WHAT YOU HAVE TO GET DONE AND KNOWING WHAT KIND OF COMPETITOR JIMMIE IS, FROM A CREW CHIEF STANDPOINT IS IT ALMOST A NICE SECURITY BLANKET FEELING KNOWING THAT YOUR GUY IS A SEVEN-TIME CHAMP AND HE’S GOT THE PROVEN TRACK RECORD TO BE A GUY WHO IS CONTENDING UP FRONT? AND, IS IT KIND OF SCARY THAT YOUR TEAMMATE, WILLIAM BYRON, IS A YOUNG BUCK WHO IS A LITTLE BIT FEARLESS? IT’S AN INTERESTING BALANCE YOU GUYS ARE WALKING AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS.
“Yeah, it is. And I think Jimmie has good perspective, and we all kind of do. If things don’t work out for us, in no way does this define Jimmie’s career. His career is already defined, right? So, if everything doesn’t go like we want it to, his success has already been established. Now on the flip side, if things do go well and we have a shot to go make it deeper into the Playoffs and what that end results could be, it could be a defining moment. So, the upside is way higher than the downside. So, I think that provides some good perspective for Jimmie to not necessarily have to make a desperate move or put ourselves in a really compromising position early in the race; and just kind of use his veteran-champion experience to know how to make the moves at the right time. And, of course you’re always going to be subject to, or falling victim to a crash that’s not of doing. We know that of speedway racing. Plus, there’s still a lot as a competitor and as a driver that he can do and that we can do to put ourselves in the best spot. Again, we don’t feel, I don’t feel, and Jimmie does not feel, like everything about his career is just riding on this moment, right? His career is already established. It’s already defined. His success already speaks for itself. So, the downside is would it be disappointing? For sure. The upside, we could swing for the stars and that would be amazing, so we’ll see how it goes.”
WITH THE DQ AT CHARLOTTE AND JIMMIE MISSING THE RACE DUE TO THE COVID TEST, AND ALL THE ADVERSITY THROWN AT YOU, HOW MUCH HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF IN TERMS OF BEING A LEADER AND KEEPING EVERYBODY ON THE RAILS AND MAINTAINING THE FOCUS? THOSE TWO RACES WOULD BASICALLY BE AN END OF SEASON FOR A LOT OF TEAMS, BUT YOU’RE STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE.
“Yeah, we are still very much alive and I’m so proud of our team. And yeah, it does start with a leader and in a lot of the perspective I’m trying to show with our guys and the positivity that I’ve tried to have. I’ll be honest, it hasn’t always been, every step along the way, super-positive or super-easy. There have been a lot of challenges and I certainly have had my own sense of dejection at times, just with the results that haven’t been with they need to be or when we’ve had bad luck. But we have such a strong core group on the No. 48 team. We have a lot of great support from our teammates at Hendrick Motorsports. Just Jimmie and his perspective on his career and this being his final season where there’s been so many things that have come up, obviously totally unexpected; starting all the way back at the beginning of the year with what happened with the COVID shutdowns. So yeah, we’ve kind of leaned on each other, Jimmie and myself, and our whole team, to make sure we keep each other accountable and in-check to stay focused on the job at-hand because there’s no time during the season that just feeling sorry for ourselves because of the challenges and the bad luck is never an acceptable response right? So, if on Monday’s it’s sad because Sunday didn’t go the way that we wanted, but Tuesday morning we’ve been ready to charge and go and fight. And that’s what we’ve done. So, I’m really thankful to have the group that we have. I’m thankful to have the team and the company around us to maintain a positive outlook and just keep fighting. And that’s what we’re going to do this Saturday night.”
WHAT HAVE THE CONVERSATIONS BEEN LIKE WITH CHAD KNAUS THIS WEEK?
“Very close in our communication in what we’re doing with our cars and what we’re doing with our strategy. I’m so thankful, along the course of my career, working with the No. 48. Chad, I was his engineer for a while, and he was a great leader and great mentor. He was very supportive of my switch to the role of crew chief on this team. He still loves Jimmie to death and loves his team. Chad and I were talking the other day and we both want each other to be in the Playoffs, just not quite as much as we want ourselves to be in the Playoffs, right? So, it’s been great to have a relationship with that team. Those guys have done a good job digging out of the few holes that they’ve been in. And I know that they’re going to be strong and tough. And I hope to work with them, and we are going to work with them, all night Saturday night and put ourselves both in a good spot. And I would love to be side-by-side, door-to-door with them, with points in the bag, coming to the finish line for the final checkered flag with those guys. It would be a great position to be in.”
IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE GOING TO BE RACING FOR STAGE POINTS. YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE TRYING TO LAY BACK AND TRY TO MAKE IT TO THE FINISH, IS THAT FAIR TO SAY?
“Yeah, because the danger there is if you lay back and you don’t get the stage points and you get caught-up in a crash at the end, then you just gave up all your points for the day, right? And we know, the Penske guys, the No. 21, and the other cars that are kind of in contention, those guys are going to get their stage points so they’re going to make sure that they stay up front all day. So, we really have to match that or beat that and make sure that we capitalize on stage points when we can because nobody knows if and when the big wreck is going to happen. And if you lay back all day and then get caught up in a big wreck at the end, then you really have nothing to show, points-wise, for your day. We’ve got to maximize everything we can.”
YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE NO. 24. OBVIOUSLY IF THINGS STACK-UP WITH THE NO. 21 BEING ABLE TO MAINTAIN HIS POSITION AND YOU DON’T GAIN THE POINTS, IN THEORY, ON THE NO. 24; AT WHAT POINT DURING THE RACE DO YOU NOT WORK WITH THESE GUYS ANYMORE? HOW DO YOU SEE THAT UNFOLDING?
“With facts on the table, and I think you guys have seen this at previous speedway races, if we decide that we’re not going to work with the No. 24 or any other Chevrolets, who are we going to have to work with? The Fords? The Toyotas? Right. That doesn’t put us in a great position to succeed because they don’t want us to succeed. So, I think through it all, the message, at least within our camp right now, is the best position that we can be in to succeed is going to be to capitalize on help from our teammates. And that does include the No.24. Now, coming to a stage end or coming off of Turn 4, are we going to pull out of line with the No. 24 if we’re behind him? Absolutely. But leading up to that point, I don’t think it would be wise for us to think that we’re doing our own program because we’re not going to have their support if we really do need it. And I would assume that would kind of be the case for the other OEM’s and other teams as well. If you’re going to really take care of your core group, that’s what’s called for because otherwise, you’re going to ask on another group that you’re racing against to take care of you, and that’s certainly not going to happen.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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