COLE CUSTER, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang – HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO RACE ON THE DIRT AT BRISTOL? “I’m excited, but probably scared at the same time. Everybody knows it’s gonna be one of those races where nobody knows what to expect. There’s gonna be a lot of adapting when we show up and trying to figure it out because it’s gonna be brand new for a lot of people – for everybody because we’ve never run Cup cars on dirt. It’s gonna be a lot to take in, but we’re trying get on a dirt track before and trying to get a feel for it because every track and every race matters. It’s a matter of trying to collect as many points as you can so you can have a good shot at the playoffs.”
PITBULL IS GOING TO BE THE GRAND MARSHAL FOR THE 500. HOW COOL IS THAT AND HOW DOES THAT HELP NASCAR BE MORE INCLUSIVE TO ALL? “I think it’s awesome. Obviously, having a couple new teams and a couple new owners in this sport – Michael Jordan, Pitbull, Justin Marks – it’s awesome to see these new people coming in and having excitement towards it. I think it’s one of the best things that has happened to this sport in a long time. The more inclusive we can be to everybody and get everybody involved, the better. I think that’s kind of the direction that we want to move in.”
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT WHEN YOU GET TO SONOMA THIS YEAR? “Luckily, I’ve raced there a few times in the K&N Series, so I do know the track for the most part. It’s just gonna be figuring it out in a Cup car. We didn’t go there last year, so there are gonna be a few things we’re gonna have to figure out. It’s a hard track. It’s really technical. The carousel they started running two years ago is pretty hard, so it’s definitely one you’ve got to be good at hitting your marks really good and having tire fall off right. It’s one that I’m looking forward to going back to my home state because we haven’t been able to go back in a little while.”
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM CHASE BRISCOE THIS YEAR AND WHAT DOES HE BRING TO THE TEAM? “I’m really excited about it. I think Chase has a ton of talent. Coming from the dirt side he really knows how to get after it in a car and he has a different driving style that I think he can bring to our team. I’m a good friend with him, so I feel like we can bounce ideas off each other really good and it’s gonna help our team in general is to have somebody – I think Chase is gonna be a great addition and bringing a lot of talent to the table. I’m looking forward to it. It’s gonna be a little bit hard having no practice for him, but I think he’ll definitely catch on as the year goes and I’m sure he’s gonna definitely get it by the end.”
WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE IF THE BIG ONE OCCURS AT DAYTONA? DO YOU WANT TO BE IN FRONT OF IT OR BEHIND IT LOCKING THE BRAKES UP TRYING TO MISS IT? “You want to be in front of it, but being in front of it is not easy and it doesn’t guarantee you, I guess. It can happen at any moment is the problem, so you really just have to go and race. We talk about trying to game it and trying to stay in front of it or behind it and everything, but for the most part you’ve just got to go race, hope for the best. If things are getting crazy and you’re in a bad spot, maybe you back out, but for the most part you go and race.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS YEAR? “I’m hungry to get going. I think we’re excited to try and go out there and run in the top 10. I think that’s the biggest thing. Last year, we could hit it right from time to time and run in the top 10 and compete for a win, but we just need to do it more consistently and I think this year we have a lot more notes to look at. I have a lot better idea and more confidence in the cars, so I’m looking forward to trying to put ourselves in that category and try and be up front more.”
ARE THE PLAYOFFS A GOOD WAY TO DETERMINE THE CHAMPION? “It’s how we play the game. I don’t know how else to say it. I think it makes a lot of excitement. I think it’s a lot like other sports where we have a playoffs and I think it’s always been good. In all sports you have times where the best team doesn’t win the whole thing, doesn’t win the championship. That happens in our sport, too. It’s just part of it. Our sport is a little bit unique because we do race at different tracks and things can happen. Some teams are better at certain tracks than others, but at the same time it’s the game you play. We have a playoff system and I think it’s been great for the sport in having a lot of excitement and you just have to make it happen those last 10 races.”
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THIS SEASON TO BE LIKE WITH THE VIRUS STILL OUT THERE? “I think we have a lot better idea of what we have going on. Our first race at Darlington we didn’t know. It was so much different than what we were used to, but now we have a good rhythm of how the schedule works and stuff like that, and we know what we kind of want to bring to the racetrack for the schedule that we have and everything like that. I think it’s gonna go a lot smoother this year and it’s just a matter of trying to look at all your notes and trying to make sure you’re as prepared and as thorough as you can going into the next one.”
HOW MUCH DID THE LACK OF PRACTICE SLOWED DOWN YOUR PROGRESSION? “It definitely hurt some to be a younger guy and not have the opportunity to really try things at the racetrack, whether it’s from a setup point or just to kind of get used to the track or whatever it is. It definitely hurts a little bit, but you just have to learn to rely on different things like the simulator and watching videos and trying to really get ready before the weekend. It slows things down a little bit. I don’t know if it’s a make or break kind of thing, but it’s gonna be harder for the rookie guys and the younger guys to probably get up to speed because you don’t have the practice.”
IN WATCHING FILM HAVE YOU LEARNED WHAT YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR AND THINGS TO PICK UP ON? “Yeah, and that’s nothing that’s new. I think we’ve all watched a ton of film even before when we had practice. We’d watch a ton before the race and be completely ready. Now, you just kind of had to change what you’re looking at and how much of it you’re looking at, so you don’t really have to look at old practice sessions and stuff like that. It actually simplifies things at times too because you don’t have to look at as much stuff and you don’t have as many things to mess up through the weekend (laughing). There’s gains and losses, I guess, but it’s definitely for the younger guys would probably be a little bit nice to have some practice.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TABLE AT SHR? DO YOU FEEL THERE’S MORE RESPECT GOING BOTH WAYS NOW? “Yeah, I think so for sure. Your rookie year you’re just making sure you’re not backing it into the fence and not tearing up race cars. So this year you’ve been to all the racetracks, you have an idea of everything, so now you can go up there and really get aggressive with it and have some more confidence. I think we’re just really hungry to go out there and run towards the front more and I think the more we can run towards the front and having those opportunities we’re gonna have more opportunities to win races. I’m ready to get the year going and get to Daytona.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS? “We’d like to win a race again and make the playoffs. It’s just a matter of last year I feel like we could run in the top 10 and compete for wins when we hit things right and I was driving the track right and everything was working. It’s just a matter of doing that more consistently this year and we’ve got to fight and claw to stay up there near the front and get stage points and make sure we’re there at the end of the race.”
WHAT DOES THE DAYTONA 500 MEAN TO YOU? “For me, I just run the smartest race I can possible. I think you have to be aggressive in speedway racing. I think you have to race the whole time, but there are at times where if you’re in a bad spot you might try and do the smarter route and hang back or something. It’s something where it’s the biggest and most prestigious race of the year and it’s the first one, so I think we’re all going on kill. I mean, everybody wants to put their name in that hat of being a Daytona 500 winner. I think it’s something everybody wants to go there and we’re gonna put it all on the line to try to win that race.”
HOW MUCH DOES CONFIDENCE HAVE TO DO WITH IT? “That’s one thing that comes with experience and watching video. Every single situation is different and you just have to know what the right move is and that comes with experience and watching film and studying, and also racing the whole race. I think if you’re kind of lagging back the whole race, you might not have the confidence of making those big moves at the end.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE BUSCH CLASH AND IS IT MORE VITAL THE FACT IT’S NOT ON THE OVAL? “For sure. It’s definitely a race, especially with the amount of road courses that we are running this year, it’s a pretty important race because it’s one of the few races where we get to kind of almost have a little bit of a practice session of races to come that aren’t, and this one is not points related, so you can go out there and try some things maybe and try to figure some things out for the other road courses. I think it’s put a lot more emphasis or more importance on that race for sure.”
IS THERE AN UNDERDOG YOU SEE FOR THE 500? “I’d have to think. The thing about it is this year there are a lot of open cars and a lot of guys who are gonna be fighting to make it into the race itself. Who knows? There could be some really good storylines of teams that had to fight their way into the 500 and you never know at Daytona. Somebody could be there up at the front at the end.”
OUT OF ALL THE NEW IN 2021 WHAT ARE YOU MOST INTERESTED TO SEE? “Honestly, I’m really excited about the Bristol Dirt Race. I’ve raced a little bit of dirt when I was younger. I wouldn’t say I’m a professional or anything, but it was something that was really fun and it was something I would love to get back to. I’m really excited to get back on the dirt and even the practice leading up to it of getting in different cars and trying to get laps, I think it’s really fun to get to kind of learn that different kind of racing.”
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO PREPARE? “Whether it’s a late model or modified or a street stock or something like that just to kind of get some laps on a dirt track. It’s something a lot of the pavement guys aren’t used to, so the more laps you can get the better.”
SO, WHAT WILL BE THE KEY TO RUNNING WELL ON THE DIRT? “I think it’s gonna be important to get through your heat race good and kind of start your race off good because if you start behind it can definitely kind of throw you for a loop and then you’re kind of fighting and maybe you do something that you don’t want to and you get yourself in a bad position. I think the heat race is important and then it’s gonna be a lot about attrition, especially for a lot of pavement guys. I think it’s just staying clean is gonna be one of the biggest things and not making mistakes and just being there at the end because there’s gonna be a lot of guys who do make mistakes and it’s gonna be a race of limited mistakes.”
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT OLD SCHOOL SCENARIO OF DIRT ALL OVER THE PLACE? “Yeah, that’s part of the fun (laughing). It’s gonna be cool. I don’t know if we’re gonna have to run tear offs or what I’m gonna have to get, but I’m looking forward to it.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL NASCAR IS REPRESENTED ON ‘THE CREW’? “It’s a comedy, so I think it’s meant to be funny, but I think it’s good. It brings more awareness to the sport. Having a show on Netflix I think it’s all a good thing, honestly. To have an actor like Kevin James involved with our sport and with a show with our sport, so I don’t think there’s any downside to it. Maybe there are some funny parts that people won’t find funny, but I think it’s all positive.”
WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST LESSON YOU LEARNED LAST YEAR THAT WAS THE RESULT OF A MISTAKE? “I don’t know if I can just say one, honestly. I don’t know if I just had that one mistake that I could really pinpoint, but I think the one thing I learned the most from was just the 550 package. It was so much different than what the XFINITY cars were and how you drove them was almost backwards from what you think, so it was a lot of learning. That was the biggest thing and just through the whole year getting better and better with it.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang – IT’S THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY SINCE DALE EARNHARDT’S TRAGEDY. SINCE THEN THERE HAS NOT BEEN ANOTHER DEATH IN A NASCAR NATIONAL SERIES RACE, BUT IN SPRINT CARS YOU MAY HAVE BEEN CLOSER TO SOME TRAGEDIES. DO YOU FEEL YOU LOOK AT SAFETY DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE OF THAT COMPARED TO SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE GROWN UP IN STOCK CARS? “Yeah, I mean I feel like, for me personally, every time I go to Daytona or Talladega there’s just a heightened sense of you know that something can happen. I don’t know if that’s because of Dale or whatever, but I just think whenever you go to those places you just know there’s gonna be big wrecks. You know you’re gonna be going very, very fast and just the potential of a wreck that can hurt you or worse is just heightened there compared to any other racetrack. I don’t feel like just because I didn’t grow up in stock car racing that I don’t feel that fear, but I’ll probably be the first one to admit that I am nervous. I am scared every time I go to Daytona or Talladega because you just know in the back of your mind what can happen there. You’re just going so fast and you’re just in so many situations that can get you in trouble, so you definitely know going to those places that that’s a possibility.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’VE SEEN IN STOCK CARS THAT YOU’VE IMPLETMENTED INTO A SPRINT CAR OR VICE VERSA FOR SAFETY? “First thing, I’m not the most mechanical guy in the world, so I probably don’t even notice that stuff as much as others. I think, for me, just sprint car racing there are certainly things tubing-wise and even head height, where your head kind of sits in the car. That’s something I’ve probably been more conscious of lately and then just the belts. I wasn’t very good about keeping up with belts and stuff like that. I’d run belts that were out of SFI all the time. It just wasn’t a priority because I thought as long as the belts didn’t have a tear or anything in them they were good. I’d keep running them, where now on the NASCAR stuff it’s obviously crucial that your stuff, all of the SFI stuff is in date and all those things. The belt manufacturer I run is different now in the dirt stuff, just trying to be the best I can be on that side. From a car standpoint, I just wouldn’t be the best guy to really say what we need to take from this side over to this sprint car or the midget side just because mechanically I don’t really know what I’m looking at. I’m just not that guy, so it would be hard for me to say one way or the other, but we could certainly get better safety-wise on the sprint car side and I feel like they’ve been slowly trying to make steps to make it better.”
CAN YOU TAKE US BACK TO YOUR MEETING WITH TONY WHEN YOU WERE TOLD ABOUT BEING PROMOTED? “First off, Tony, really the whole company, knew it had been done for two weeks that I was gonna be going to the Cup Series and everybody had kept it hidden from me. So, when I got told I was going to meet with Tony it was a last-ditch effort trying to get HighPoint.com to kind of figure out what they wanted to do. Tony was wanting my family there and my wife there and all these people and I didn’t really understand why he was something that would happen. And then to go through the whole day at Tony’s house, had dinner with him and then at the very end he told me I’m getting to go Cup racing. I think, for me, the fact that Tony put all the effort just to try to have my family there. He said, ‘You only get told you’re going Cup for the first time once and I wanted to make it special for you.’ For me, anytime you get told that it’s gonna be special, but for me to here it from my hero, the guy I grew up cheering for, the guy I grew up idolizing as a race car driver, that’s super special to be able to know that not only am I getting to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing, but specifically I’m getting to drive that 14 car, which is the one I specifically cheered for growing up. For me, it’s just super special. It still doesn’t seem possible that I’m getting to drive that car and getting to start off my career in that car in the Daytona 500. I’m just excited to get going. There’s a lot of nerves and a lot of pressure that comes with that car and specifically with that number. There’s a lot of history involved and really a legacy with that number. I would say it’s one of the more iconic numbers in the sport and I want to do those guys proud. I’m just looking forward to getting going and seeing where we stack up.”
HAVE YOU HAD THAT WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUES MOMENT YET WHERE IT BECOMES MORE AND MORE REAL? “Really, just this past weekend I was at COTA doing a Trans-Am test and Logano and Keselowski just rolled up in their rental car and started talking to me. I’ve obviously known those guys for a while, but I felt like I was finally kind of one of the guys, I guess because normally I wouldn’t be talking to them all the time and hanging out with them. I’m sure as the season gets going it’s gonna be more and more of really being around those guys and getting to experience more things with them. Truthfully, just even the welcome to the Cup Series it’s been very eye-opening how different it is just from the XFINITY side and the other stuff I thought was really detail-oriented in the past. It’s not even comparable to how, I mean, little details go into the Cup side. It’s been very eye-opening for me just transitioning to a new series – still in the same organization but a new team during COVID has been really hard just trying to learn everybody’s, even their face and their names because you can only see their eyes. Not getting to build that relationship I would normally be able to build by taking the guys out to lunch, hanging out at the shop all the time, all of those things are stuff I’m not really allowed to do now, so that part has been a little challenging, but I’d say it’s definitely gonna be a lot more eye-opening moments once I finally get on the racetrack with a lot of those guys.”
DOES ANYTHING CHANGE FOR YOU THIS ROOKIE SEASON WITH PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING BEING LIMITED? “No, I think last year just having where we even didn’t practice last year with help in that sense. Truthfully, I would like to have a little bit of practice just to learn what these cars drive like at some of these racetracks, but outside of that I honestly think it almost helps me in a sense because you see guys like a Kyle Busch or these guys who have a ton of experience. When they had that two hours of practice they can dial their car in exactly how they need it to be and they know from experience what they need their car to drive like for the race. I don’t have that experience. I don’t know what my car necessarily needs, but with no practice we just get in and go and everybody’s got to figure it and I feel like that part of it actually helps me a little bit just because everybody is on the same playing field. Nobody’s car is gonna drive necessarily good and you just have to figure it out. It certainly would be nice to have at least a couple laps before we start the race, but that’s part of it. Everybody is in the same playing field, so you’ve just got to figure it out.”
DID YOU EVER DREAM YOU WOULD GET TO RUN A CUP CAR ON DIRT? “When the Eldora truck race started I felt like it was a possibility that the Cup Series would potentially get a race, but I think I’d be the first one to tell you that I didn’t think it would happen at Bristol. I figured we would just go to kind of a dirt track that we already had. For them to do it at Bristol, I can’t imagine how hard that is from a facility standpoint of bringing all that dirt in and all of these things for three weekends of racing, but I’m super excited. I think the Cup Series has needed the dirt race for a really long time. I feel like all the drivers growing up we all have a way to kind of tie back into our grassroots and dirt guys never really had that, so we have a short track, we have a road course, we have an intermediate, we have a superspeedway, but we never had a dirt track and at least as a fan I’ve always wanted to see the Cup Series drivers challenged in every single discipline and we finally have that now with the dirt race, so I can’t wait to be a part of it. I’m just excited as a fan to see it as well.”
HOW WILL IT BE DIFFERENT THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST FROM THE STANDPOINT OF YOU WERE A THREAT TO WIN EVERY WEEK LAST YEAR AND NOW YOU’LL LIKELY BE DOING A LOT OF LEARNING? “You just have to try to keep it in perspective. You know you’re gonna be humbled without a doubt. You know that there are gonna be a lot of times where you’re gonna leave for the racetrack and it’s gonna be a huge learning day and that’s something I’m personally really excited to see where I need to get better because racing against 25-30 guys that can win week in and week out, that have so much more experience than me, they’ve been in so many of these scenarios and situations that I’ve never been in and just trying to learn from them and see, ‘Okay, this is what I can do in this situation and this is what I can do in that situation,’ is gonna be huge and something I’m really excited for. I think personally you still have to go to the racetrack every week thinking you can win the race, so I’m still gonna have that mindset. Just because I’m a rookie and never really raced in the Cup Series or been against these guys I’m still going to the Daytona 500 thinking I have a shot to win it and I’m gonna go there trying to win it. I’m definitely gonna go there and try to win the race and I feel like as a rookie you can win the race. Look at Cole last year. He was able to win a race that people probably didn’t expect him to win, so you just have to go there and once the season starts I think we’ll really see where I stack up. You never know if you’re gonna be a 25th-place guy, a 15th-place guy, a fifth-place guy, but I’m just excited to see where I stack up and where I need to try and get better.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE SEVEN YEARS AGO WHEN YOU MOVED TO NORTH CAROLINA? “There was a lot of emotions that kind of hit when I saw that. It’s seven years ago, but, honestly, it feels like yesterday. I remember that day. I was so excited to kind of start a new journey, but also so nervous and really didn’t know what I was getting into. I was fresh out of high school. I remember my mom right before I left literally trying to teach me how to do the laundry because she had always done it for me while I was in high school. I was green to everything. I never had a credit card or a debit card. I literally went down with $150 in cash and just pretty much thrown into the world and try to figure it out. I’d been to North Carolina and literally I knew two people. I knew the lady I was gonna live with who was gonna be my agent and I knew Brian Keselowski from the Peak Stock Dream Car Challenge, and I was just down there and I started trying to walk into different shops and offer being able to volunteer my time. Every shop I went to I tried to make it obvious that I wanted to drive eventually. I didn’t necessarily have a timeline on when if I didn’t have anything I was gonna come back, but it had been two years that I was down there and didn’t have anything. Literally the day I was driving home I remember I was in Kentucky, called my mom. I was in tears and told her I was moving back home. I was over it. I had been down there for two years and didn’t have anything. I was gonna go run a midget that weekend and the following Monday I was gonna drive back down, get my stuff and go back home. Two hours later after I hung up the phone I got a call from an ARCA team asking me if I was interesting in coming and doing a test and that was the Cunningham Motorsports team. I went there that following Monday and started volunteering my time. I’d been sleeping on couches for almost two years to that point and just started hanging out around their shop trying to be the first one to be there and the last guy to leave. I think I volunteered for a full nine or 10 months until I even got in a race car and they somehow, I don’t know why, they decided they were gonna let me race for them and we went and ran for the championship in 2016 and was able to win the championship. That following season got me a Ford deal, which got me to Brad Keselowski Racing, which then shuts down unexpectedly and kind of leaves me in the same situation where I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Then 2018 comes and I’m part-time now. I’m probably gonna lose my Ford development deal I feel like and I win the Roval, which that following Monday kind of spirals everything into 2019. Twenty Nineteen we race full-time and doesn’t necessarily go how I want it to. I get told in October I’m good to go for the year and then come November I don’t have a ride again and then literally three days away from not having anything for the 2020 season and that’s when the HighPoint.com stuff comes together. That was the beginning of January I want to say and now we’re sitting here two weeks away from the Daytona 500. So, there have been so many doors that were so close to closing. There were so many doors that probably shouldn’t have been opened that were somehow able to get opened. When that popped up today I just think of all the people that were willing to give me an opportunity when I didn’t have a resume. I certainly didn’t have any money to bring to the table. How many people have helped me along the way and it even was another full circle moment that the guy’s couch I slept on for a year-and-a-half, Ross Wece, he just started at SHR today as a video guy, so just crazy how all this stuff came back full circle. Now that I’m getting ready to drive the Daytona 500 for specifically the team I’ve always dreamed of racing for and even more specifically the car I cheered for growing up, so just a crazy ride for sure.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MIGHT BE LIKE TO START THE DAYTONA 500? “I think it’s gonna be different just because it’s not the full capacity, it’s not all of the pre-race stuff, all those things – not riding around in a truck. I don’t even know if we’re gonna do that, so all of that I think is gonna be a little bit different. It probably won’t hit me as hard, I think, because of that, but I remember the first time I got to run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I cried on the truck riding around there waving to people just because I was getting to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I’m a pretty emotional guy. I’ll probably tear up at the Daytona 500 as well just knowing that I’m about to run that race. It’s just gonna be special. It’s something that I never thought I would get to do one of them. Hopefully, I get to do many, many more, but just getting to savor that moment of racing in one of them is gonna be special, whether it’s full capacity or a third of the people there it’s still the Daytona 500 and it’s just crazy to think I’m gonna be able to run that race.”
DO YOU THINK YOU CREATED A MONSTER WITH CHASE ELLIOTT DOING HIS USAC MIDGET DEBUT? “I’m sure Hendrick is probably not too happy with me. I was blown away. Chase called me a couple weeks ago and told me he was gonna run for Chad at Ocala, but I was kind of hesitant to be honest with you. I didn’t ever think he’d run at a place that big, but I’m glad he’s doing it. I think it’s really cool to see the reigning Cup champion run grassroots stuff and to run USAC Midgets at Ocala is super cool, that a guy like him is wanting to go back and run it. Just getting to know Chase over the past couple years and even the past couple months even better and just seeing how big of a fan he really is, obviously driving them but even just watching him. It’s really neat to see, so I’m excited for him. I’m gonna definitely be tuned in on Flo to see how he does and I’m just excited he’s up for the challenge. He could have easily just ran Chili Bowl and call it good, but he legitimately wants to get better at it and he’s already really, really good. So, it’s gonna be fun to watch him and I’m excited for him and Chad to be able to see what they’re able to do.”
IF YOU COULD HAVE SOMEBODY FROM THE DIRT RACING WORLD TO RACE AGAINST AT BRISTOL WHO WOULD IT BE? “I would love to see Jack Hewitt at Bristol. I think that would be awesome to see Jack come out there. Obviously, with his age and everything now that’s not really possible, but I think there’s a lot of really good dirt guys that deserve a chance. Logan Seavey comes to mind. Tyler Courtney, there’s a lot of guys – even like a Donny Schatz and guys that are just phenomenal dirt racers that really deserve on a national scene, not a national scene but the NASCAR scene to be able to finally see what they can do. There are so many out there. You could sit here and name guys for literally an hour who deserve to be here, but it’s all about getting an opportunity and it would be cool to see a guy, another one like a Tanner Thorson get an opportunity on this stage and really show what they can do. It could really change their career and turn it around and get them more opportunities.”
HOW MUCH OF A LEARNING CURVE ARE YOU EXPECTING? “Yeah, I think for sure there’s gonna be quite a bit of a learning curve – just the length of the races. There are a couple of other variables – pit road is gonna be way busier than anything I’ve ever experienced, green flag pit stops, something I don’t really have a ton of time doing, where in the Cup Series you’re gonna be doing a ton of those every race. I think those are probably the variables I’m the most concerned about trying to learn. I think the length of the races will be something that is gonna be noticeable, but it’s not gonna be crazy. I think keeping your car taking care of with the steel body, you can’t touch the wall at all or really your day is done, where in the XFINITY car you could beat off of it a couple times and it would still be okay. All of those things are gonna be different, and then just how the cars drive. I’d love to have just a couple laps of practice, just to kind of feel it out before we go green, but it’s the same for everybody. It was the same for Bell and Custer and Reddick last year and they were able to figure it out and run up front, so I feel like I’m capable of doing it. I’m just really excited to see where I stack up against these guys and figure out where they’re beating me or where I’m comparable to them at and with the SMT and all the things we have now, it’s gonna be easier even in the race to try to learn and figure out what some of them guys are better than you are.”
WHERE DO YOU SIT ON ANY DIRT PLANS WITH YOUR OWN TEAM? “I would love to go do more dirt stuff and I think it’s risk vs. reward for me especially. My whole life, really these last seven years this is all I’ve tried to do is get to the Cup Series and now that I’m finally here I don’t want to necessarily risk going and getting hurt and throwing away this opportunity that’s an opportunity of a lifetime. I’m probably gonna hold off on the dirt stuff during the season. Once Chili Bowl and the end of the season comes around I’ll definitely start running some more stuff, but during the season I’m just gonna focus on the Cup Series and I’m really trying to do the best I can do. I do think that going and running other things certainly helps, but there’s also that risk of getting hurt and just that extra risk that I probably don’t need to be taking right now. I don’t know. I might try to run the Indianapolis race depending on how the season is going and how we’re looking points-wise. It’s something I would definitely like to do more of, just growing up and doing that it’s obviously one of my passions. Even as a team owner it’s something I really enjoy doing, it just financially has to make sense. I would love to be able to give back and go find young kids that don’t have the means to go race in top tier stuff and go give it to them, so maybe down the road that will be something that is a possibility, but as far as me racing this year I’m not gonna do too much. I still have my mini sprint that I’m gonna have Dillon Welch drive out at Millbridge pretty much all season long. I might hop in it a time before the Bristol Dirt Race to have the test day and just trying to get back in the dirt routine, but, other than that, I won’t do any dirt racing.”
WHAT DOES DALE EARNHARDT’S LEGACY MEAN TO YOU, AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW MUCH SAFER IT IS TO RACE IN NASCAR? “For me, I remember the day that that happened in 2001 with Dale. I was only six or seven years old at the time, so, truthfully, I didn’t completely fathom what had happened because it just didn’t really make a ton of sense to me. I knew what had happened, but I was so young and kind of green to everything that I had never experienced a family death or anything in my entire life, so I didn’t necessarily correlate everything, I guess. I think his legacy still today lives on. He’s literally one of the best of all time and I think there’s a lot you can take away from how Dale raced and truthfully even in my rookie season I feel like you have to be like Dale in a sense coming in as a rookie, at least for me when I’m racing against people I’ve never raced before, if I see I can take advantage of them in certain areas or they’re hesitant in other areas, if they do it that first time you know that you’re gonna be able to get away with it the next 100 times. As a rookie coming into a new series against a lot of guys I haven’t raced against or they haven’t raced against me, you have to be like Dale in the sense of sticking up for yourself and showing them you’re not gonna be pushed around because if they can push you around once, they’re gonna think they can do it over and over and over again. So, I think his legacy in just how you race still is relevant today and then on the safety side obviously it’s gotten a ton safer. NASCAR has done such an amazing job of really digging into that and trying to make not only the race cars but even the racetracks a lot safer for us. There are still areas we could be a lot better and it unfortunately takes a situation for us to learn sometimes about that. I definitely feel safe every time I get in the race car, but it doesn’t matter if you’re at Daytona, Talladega or even the Bristol Dirt Race it can happen anywhere and you have to be ready and know that. I think you as a race car driver, at least for me, you have to respect what you’re driving and know that it can bite you at any time. Just because we’re only going 100 miles an hour or 205 miles an hour anything can happen and you’ve just got to be ready for that. I think you just have to respect the vehicle, whether it’s a Cup car or sprint car or a midget, motorsports are dangerous. I think that’s kind of the draw that people still watch motorsports because it is dangerous. That’s the unfortunate part of it, but that’s why we all do it is that thrill and that’s why I think as a fan a lot of people are so attracted to motorsports.”
WHAT WILL BE THE KEY AREAS YOU’LL HAVE TO WORK WITH YOUR TEAMMATES ON WITHOUT PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING? “I think just trying to figure out what the track is gonna change like. Guys like Kevin and Aric and even Cole they kind of know how these tracks transition through a 400 or 500-mile race and that’s something that I don’t necessarily know, so just trying to go with them and try to really figure out, ‘Okay, this is what your car needs to do at the beginning of a race or beginning of a run versus the end of it.’ And just trying to figure out how the track changes. I just talk to those guys as much as I can and try to be as well prepared as I can and even like I was saying earlier with green flag pit stops, just knowing what their mark is, maybe there’s a sign on the wall or whatever that they use – just things like that. I’ll certainly be talking to them guys about trying to be as well prepared as I can be because I obviously have three really good teammates that have done it and understand what they’re doing, so just trying to use those guys to my advantage.”
HOW INSTRUMENTAL HAVE GUYS LIKE STEWART, HARVICK AND ALMIROLA BEEN IN GETTING YOU READY? “They’ve been huge, just all three of those guys have such large amount of experience. They all three come from different racing backgrounds. All three have different driving styles, so really just trying to pick their brains about what to do in certain situations. I’m sure once we get to Daytona all four of us SHR guys will sit down and kind of come up with a plan about this is how we’re gonna race today or this is our approach on the weekend. I’m sure it’ll get broader and broader as we get closer to Daytona, but as of right now they’ve been great about just trying to prepare me the best they can because the better I run, the better the whole company is gonna run. Everybody has an invested interest in each other and they’ve done a really good job of making me feel welcome and as one of the guys.”
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT SONOMA LATER THIS YEAR? “I’m just hoping I know what way to turn on the racetrack. That’s the only track I’ve never been to before. Luckily, we have the simulator and iRacing and all these things where I can be the best prepared I can be, but there’s still nothing like getting out there for real and just trying to see the racetrack. I don’t know what the tires are gonna feel like or how much they fall off or how much to save, what curbs you can hit, what curbs you can’t hit. There are so many variables that until I get there it’s gonna be hard to say, but I’m excited. In the past sprint car guys have had a lot of success at Sonoma. Tony was always really good there. Larson is good there. Everybody I’ve talked to says it’s extremely slick and wore out and I love slick and wore out racetracks. Sonoma is one I’ve been really wanting to get to for a long time, so I’m excited to finally go there this year.”
WHAT IS YOUR GOAL FOR THE DAYTONA 500? “I’m going there to win, for sure. I think for me I would love to just finish all 500 miles and in order to win the race you have to do that. I just want to try to get as much experience as I can. If you go out there and wreck 100 miles into the race, that’s 400 miles I didn’t get of driving this new Cup car and getting to be around these guys and earning their trust and just learning how they race. I want to finish first off, and I just feel like if you finish you have a really good shot at winning the race. It seems these past couple of years there’s only 10 to 15 cars even out there at the end of this deal just because so many guys get torn up and wrecked. Finish is the first part, all 500 miles, but truthfully I’m going there to win that race. That’s what Stewart-Haas hired me to do and just because I’m a rookie doesn’t mean I’m not capable of winning the race. I’m gonna go there and try to win. I’m gonna put my best effort forward and trying to win the race you’ve got to finish the race, so that’s the first goal and then hopefully be there at the end and in position to try to make a move to win the Daytona 500.”
