NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 2, 2021
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 JTG DAUGHERTY RACING CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Daytona 500 Media Availability Highlights:
LOOKING OVER THE LAST YEAR, YOU AND BRIAN PATTIE (CREW CHIEF) PRODUCED THE FASTEST CAR ON DRAFTING TRACKS. I’M CURIOUS WHAT THAT MEANS TO YOU. EVEN IN JOEY LOGANO’S COMMENTS LAST YEAR AFTER THE DUEL, HE SAID YOUR CAR WAS THE ONLY ONE CAPABLE OF MAKING A MOVE, MAKING A PASS WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF THE PACK. LOOKING AT WHAT YOU HAVE WITH JTG, WHAT IS LEFT, WHAT IS NEED THAT’S WITHIN YOUR CONTROL TO FINALLY WIN THIS THING?
“Yeah, I think for us, it’s paying attention to all the details on the driver side – going back and looking at how the Daytona 500 played out for us. Getting a penalty for passing below the yellow line put us in a bad spot. And then, we got wrecked coming to pit road being further back in the pack. So, little mistakes like that is what takes you out of contention for the biggest race of the year. I feel really good about our Kroger Camaro going down to Daytona again. The boys have been working really hard; massaging on it in the shop. And I’m excited for Pole night. I think, for us, it’s just doing all those little things right and making sure we do our job because being at JTG Daugherty Racing, you have me and (Ryan) Preece and that’s the only people we can count on. You can’t count on anybody else, so it’s nice to have a car capable of doing maybe things other people feel like they can’t do with their car. And that’s what you get when you pay attention to all those details that Brian (Pattie, crew chief) and our team does. So, I’m excited to get back down there and limit those mistakes. You don’t feel like it’s a big mistake, but one little thing can take you out of contention.”
SPECIFICALLY, WITH SPEED, OBVIOUSLY AT THE DRAFTING TRACKS, IT’S NOT EVERYTHING. SO, IS THERE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR THAT YOU SPECIFICALLY WANT YOUR CAR TO DO?
“Obviously, being fast is key, but specifically at Daytona, I feel like you have to have a car that turns off of Turn Four better than others. I feel like that’s a position in the race track, when I look back at my first few years in Cup, when I actually felt like I was kind of holding on and just trying to put myself in position to get a top-15, top-10 run instead of battling for the win – it’s about having a car that handles good off of Turn Four because there’s a lot of people that I feel like get tight off of Turn Four and have to lift the throttle and it’s tough to beat people back to the start-finish line when you don’t have a car capable of doing that. And then, having a car that, again, drives good so you can be a little bit more aggressive on strategy – take fuel only on that last stop to keep your track position, things like that.”
EARLIER, ONE OF THE DRIVERS SAID THAT THERE WAS NO PLACE TO HIDE ANYMORE AT DAYTONA – IT USED TO BE THAT YOU COULD HANG IN THE BACK OR GO SOMEWHERE ON THE TRACK DURING THE 500 AND IT WOULD KIND OF SIMPLIFY OR SAVE YOU FOR THE END OF THE RACE. IS THAT KIND OF THE FEELING YOU HAVE, AS WELL?
“Yeah, I think you can get far enough off the back of the pack, I guess, to give yourself some ability to slow down and miss a wreck early on in the race. I think points are valuable enough that everybody is trying to get stage points, as well. But obviously the main goal in sight is the Daytona 500 and being in Victory Lane. So, to me, definitely it used to be – if you’re in the top-10, you felt safe. Nowadays, that’s kind of where the wrecks start happening – that fifth to tenth range, versus I felt like back in the day, it was a 15 to 20th place where the chaos started. But all of us are trying so hard to try to keep our track position throughout the race that those mistakes and the aggressive driving is in the top-10 and mainly in the top-five, where you’re blocking lanes and trying to keep that track position. Definitely nothing up front feels comfortable or safe, but I do think it’s necessary to be up front so that you’re learning throughout the race. It’s so hard now, I feel like, to come from the back to the front on our superspeedway races, just how the package is and the aggressiveness of every single driver out there.”
YOUR THOUGHTS ON BRISTOL GOING TO DIRT.
“I don’t know what my expectations are. I went there and watched the sprint car races back in 2000-2001; I can’t remember which year I went. It was just cool to see Bristol have dirt on it. It was a sight to see. I’m excited to watch the other races there. My sprint car team will be there with Sheldon, Talladega week I believe that is. I think, for us in the stock cars, it’ll just be about for NASCAR managing the track – making sure we have a track that’s going to produce good racing. With dirt, it’s nice that you can go out and change it a lot quicker than an asphalt track. It should be fun.”
YOU’RE ENTERING YOUR SECOND YEAR WITH JTG DAUGHERTY RACING. HAVING GOING THROUGH LAST YEAR, HOW HAS THAT STRENGTHENED YOUR PERSONAL BOND WITH THE TEAM AND HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK THAT WILL BE AS YOU TRY TO GET THIS TEAM BETTER RESULTS IN 2021?
“Yeah, I think we’re all on the same page. The good news is, I feel like we kept everybody the same on the No. 47 team. We all believe in each other. I feel like this is a really good group of guys that are working on our race cars. We all believe that we under-performed, as far as the finishes go and the year-end points results. But there were a lot of highs, I feel like, with the speed of our cars when we showed up at the race track. On my side, I need to clean up my pit road mistakes because I feel like I can count on a full hand that I felt like I gave up some really good opportunities to run well inside the top-10 at some of these race tracks from having a pit road penalty. So, for us, I like that we have the same group. We have a little bit bigger notebook than we had last year with the Camaro and these chassis, so Brian knows what to look for and we need to change going into some of these tracks that we struggled with.
“But I think all-in-all, we have a lot of confidence that we can really improve; not just by a spot or two, we feel like we can improve by 10 spots and that final result. We’ve got some great opportunities ahead of us. Our speedway cars are really good and we take a lot of pride in those, and we’re doing that same prep and everybody is getting ready the same way for every race track that we go to. I feel like we’re pretty far ahead, as far as looking at races down the road, and I think that’s one thing COVID taught us. And with this schedule we have now, the guys are getting a little bit further ahead and making sure we look at everything as close as we can at the race track, knowing that we don’t have practice and making sure we have everything right – we let a couple things slip through the crack last year that they aren’t going to let happen again.”
GOING INTO DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING, YOU’RE THE DEFENDING POLESITTER. THERE HASN’T BEEN SINGLE-CAR QUALIFYING ON THESE SUPERSPEEDWAYS SINCE THE DAYTONA 500 LAST YEAR. GIVEN THAT, PLUS THE FACT IT’S GOING TO BE ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT THIS YEAR AND FOUR YEARS BEFORE THE DAYTONA 500, DO YOU EXPECT THE RESULTS OF QUALIFYING TO BE DIFFERENT OR DO YOU THINK THE SAME GUYS THAT WERE FAST LAST YEAR WILL BE THE SAME GUYS THAT ARE FAST THIS YEAR?
“I think you can look at the consistency of the Hendrick Motorsports’ teams, specifically the No. 48 and the No. 9 – they’re consistently in that top-five or six spots every year. I think Alex Bowman has been on the front row a lot in the past. So, I feel like that’s pretty consistent and will probably be consistent again. I think last year, not a lot of people expected us to jump up the board as much as we did. But I think we can be a player again when it comes down to qualifying. I think, for me, it’s going to be interesting to kind of see what qualifying is going to be like at night. Obviously, temperature is going to be a little cooler. I think the wind could die down some, so you might not have that big effect throughout qualifying – wind shifting and things like that. Looking back at our runs on S&T, there was definitely different winds for each car that went out, especially when I looked at the cars that went out later in qualifying. But I don’t think there will be any big shakeup. It’ll be kind of crazy having just one little quick practice and going right into it. I’m excited for pole night.”
IT’S BEEN NO SECRET THAT YOU’RE STRONG ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS. WHAT IS THE SECRET TO SUCCESS?
“I don’t know if it’s a secret. Obviously, you’ve got to have a little luck and stay out of the wrecks, have a good chemistry going on with your spotter and crew chief throughout the race. You’ve got to have a car that handles. Speed is important and my team is building me some fast race cars for those superspeedways, but it’s got to handle good. When you have both of those combinations, you feel like you’re able to make some moves that maybe other people can’t throughout the race and put yourself in better positions. I’m always trying to learn what side drafts work best with the configurations and rules packages. I think everybody is petty advanced on what those drafting scenarios are compared to when I came in the sport back in 2009, 2010. I feel like everybody has learned so much more that it makes us all really tough and aggressive out on the race track. It makes it fun.”
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500?
“it would be awesome for me and everybody on our race team, it would be our biggest accomplishment. That’s our goal going down there. We’re preparing to leave our car in the Daytona Hall of Fame down there and that’s what we want to do. It would be huge for us and would really be a game-changer for everybody in our race team and organization. From starting small to growing big, it would be huge.”
ARE THE PLAYOFFS A GOOD MEASURE FOR DETERMINING A CHAMPIONSHIP IN NASCAR COMPARED TO OTHER MOTORSPORT THAT USE A SEASON-LONG FORMAT?
“I think you can argue it all different ways. Back in the day it was every single race throughout the season added up for points. But if you look at the Chiefs very well could have lost to the Browns and had the best regular season and they’re done in one game. So, I think our sport has evolved and I think it’s made it really interesting every round of the Playoffs. And you’ve got to perform. Obviously, the No. 4 and the No. 11 were by far the best last year over the course of the whole season. And yet neither one of them won the championship. But I think it’s those game 7 moments that NASCAR wanted to create to win the championship. And I think it’s brought a lot of excitement. But those three races per round are intense. I think it’s a good way to make sure that everybody keeps performing all the way until the last race is over. So, I think it’s good. I think NASCAR has done a good job with it. I think the teams and drivers have kind of accepted this format and know that you have to be good all the way to the last race.”
WHAT FACTOR IS GOING TO BE DECISIVE FOR YOU IN TERMS OF FIGHTING FOR THE DAYTONA 500 TITLE THIS YEAR?
“I think it’s just putting myself in better situations throughout the race is what is going to help factor us in to battle for that checkered flag. For me, it’s watching some film. Looking at the last couple of years of how the race was played out. For me, I know one big area where it went wrong last year with us having one of the fastest cars. You’ve got to do everything right. And we plan on having one of the fastest cars when we show up there next week. For me, it’s going to be limiting those mistakes and putting ourselves in a good position.”
GOING BACK TO QUALIFYING. DO ADJUSTMENTS CHANGE AS YOU HEAD INTO THE FIRST DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING AT NIGHT? COULD IT BE LIKE AN EARLY PREP SESSION ON FIGURING OUT HOW THE CAR WILL ROTATE FOR THE LATER STAGES OF THE DAYTONA 500?
‘Yeah, it’s hard to take anything from your qualifying set-up over to the 500. Last year we had our car on kill and ready to go for qualifying. You only have so many adjustments that you can do before you go into the Duel race. So you’re kind of stuck with what you’ve got from qualifying and you’ve got to race it in the Duel. So normally in the Duel, it doesn’t handle as well. And then you start taking some of those adjustments out to get it ready for the Daytona 500. So, I think for us, you use the Duel more as far as drive-ability what your car does, good or bad. And then you try to adjust on that before Sunday comes around. So, I don’t think it really changes anything for us qualifying at night; other than I think the track could be a little bit faster so the cars might have to be a little bit higher off the ground and make sure you don’t over-travel your car and scrape the race track too much.”
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