NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA ROAD COURSE
O’REILLY AUTO PARTS 253 AT DAYTONA
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 17, 2021
RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 KROGER/COCA-COLA CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:
DO YOU FEEL THAT MAYBE YOUR LUCK HAS NOW CHANGED AFTER ONE WEEK?
“Well, I knew 2021 was going to be different when Kyle Busch won the Clash. So, 2020 is officially over and the bad luck is officially over. It was a good week for us. We qualified in on time and had no pressure going into the Duels, but we executed regardless, to make sure that we got as many points as we felt like we could get. And, we had a flawless car. The Cottonelle Chevrolet at Daytona was probably by far the best car I’ve ever driven. And I’m really proud of the hard work that went into it during the off-season. There was a lot of pressure on everybody going into that. But everyone executed the way they needed to, and we had a great day.”
WITH THE CHANGES TO THE BACKSTRETCH CHICANE AND THAT THEY MIGHT ADD SOME HUMPS BEHIND THE RUMBLE STRIPS, HOW DOES THAT IMPACT THE WAY YOU DRIVE THAT AREA?
“To be honest with you, if they’d left it alone it wouldn’t have bothered me either way because if we hit the dirt, it’s our own fault; I mean, sometimes. So, it’s going to be the same race track regardless; and now we just have a little bit more runoff and I guess they added some turtles, so that’s just another thing to worry about.”
GOING BACK TO DAYTONA, HOW BIG WAS THE PERFORMANCE ALL WEEK FOR YOU AND WHAT MIGHT THAT DO FOR SPONSORSHIP AND ATTRACTING INTEREST?
“When it comes to those things, (co-owners) Tad and Jodi Geschickter do a phenomenal job when it comes to our partners. We’ve got Natural Light and Hershey’s and Reece’s all sitting here. But obviously, I think it helps. But that’s something that Tad really excels at. My job is to go out and execute on Sundays and that’s what we did this weekend. Working with (crew chief) Trent (Owens) for a second year; you know last year was a very odd year. Most people, when they start with a crew chief, they have the opportunity to work through practices and qualifying and the whole thing. We didn’t have that opportunity every week when the practice dropped. So I really felt we started to excel the final 10 races and I think that’s carried over into Daytona and I’m looking forward to going to the road course and just keep executing and having solid days.”
WHEN IT COMES TO PARTNERS, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU’VE EVER BEEN INVOLVED IN AT THE CUP LEVEL? DO YOU TRY TO HELP TAD AND JODI OR DO YOU FOCUS STRICTLY ON THE RACE CAR?
“My focus is whatever they need done. If they ask me to do something, I’m going to do it. It’s the same thing I’ve told everybody. Whatever needs to be done, that’s my job. I’m going to make sure that whatever I need to do, I do it.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE BIG CHALLENGES OF THE ROAD COURSE AT DAYTONA? WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOU?
“Well, I haven’t done a whole lot of it in my career, and I’ve tended to be okay at it which, I’m pretty proud of. JTG was lucky enough to have a guy like AJ Allmendinger, who is a road course racer, just as much as I was a short track racer, right? Those are high expectations to live up to but every time I get in that race car when I go to a road course, I study. I was just watching the Clash before I got on here (teleconference) and I try to excel at it. The one thing I do have going for me is short tracks are pretty similar when it comes to road course racing with a lot of heavy braking, a lot of on-throttle, and then it just comes to communication and just keep making the car better.”
HOW DID YOU LOOK AT THE CLASH? NOT THAT YOU GOT SOME PRACTICE FOR THIS UPCOMING ROAD COURSE RACE, BUT TO START OUT THE SEASON WITH A ROAD COURSE RACE, HOW DID YOU LIKE THAT CONCEPT? HOW DO YOU SEE THIS RACE PLAYING OUT IN GENERAL?
“Well, I think us racers, we love tradition. And tradition was on the superspeedway. But at the same time, trying new things is always good. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. And it was exciting. Anybody who said coming to the finish line going into that last little chicane, if they weren’t jumping up and down because they were mad or happy or whatever it was, then I don’t know what they want. I think the final few laps of that race was exciting to watch. And I’m for whatever fans want because at the end of the day, our jobs as drivers is to execute and to put a show on for the fans. Whatever it takes to do that, to make sure we’re all showing up to the race track week-in and week-out, and people have something to watch.”
WAS IT ENTERTAINING TO RE-WATCH IT?
“Yeah, it’s certainly entertaining.”
TAD GESCHICKTER DOES A GREAT JOB OF MARKETING AND ALWAYS HAS. HIS PROCTER AND GAMBLE BACKGROUND MAKE HIM WELL-SUITED FOR THAT. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM HIM FROM THE STANDPOINT OF HOW TO MARKET YOURSELF BETTER BEHIND THE WHEEL AND WHEN YOU’RE OUT, AWAY FROM THE RACE TRACK?
“Well, I think a lot of it comes to relationships. Tad is really good at building relationships and making people feel like family. I think that’s what they (plus wife, Jodi) are really good at, because they’re genuine people. At the end of the day, I’ve definitely learned quite a bit from him, but it takes a special person to be able to do what he does. It’s just like it takes a breed of racer to be able to get to this level and capitalize on everything. Not many people can do what Tad does. I definitely applaud him for what he does and hopefully we can keep on working toward our goal, Trent and I; I feel really good working with him and doing everything we’ve been doing. We’ve definitely been on the same page, so it’s exciting stuff. As long as we keep doing our job; we’ll hopefully be able to sell some sponsors and finish out the year.”
IT LOOKS LIKE YOU JUST MISSED THAT EARLY WRECK IN THE DAYTONA 500 BEFORE THE RAIN DELAY. WHAT DID YOU SEE THERE AND HOW IMPORTANT WAS THAT IN BEING THERE AT THE END AND RUNNING FOR POINTS?
“I saw the No. 48 (Alex Bowman) right in front of my face; you know a lot of those situations are just circumstantial and luck and I was lucky enough. The No. 99 (Daniel Suarez) was pushing from behind and I was lucky enough to get clear of the No. 1 (Kurt Busch), which gave me the opportunity to get down, and the No. 48 just didn’t come in and clip me in the right rear. So, we were lucky to be able to skirt through that wreck. It’s fate. Everything was meant to be that day to have a good run. There was the complete opposite last year. If there was something happening, I just happened to be in it. So, I’ll take the good days and just keep moving forward.”
(INAUDIBLE) – QUESTION REGARDING GETTING THROUGH THE LAST LAP OF THE DAYTONA 500
“Actually, I was a lot further behind. Four or five, maybe eight laps prior, we were coming up to lap a car and it put me in a bad spot and I actually lost some track position when that happened. I think if we didn’t, we would have been in contention to possibly win that race or be right there. But all I saw was the No. 18 (Kyle Busch), the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski), and the No. 22 (Joey Logano); everybody was kind of going everywhere and smoke. I just aimed for where I thought cars weren’t and just clipped the No. 18. So ultimately, when stuff like that happens and chaos happens, you tend to try and go wherever you think is the right place to go. Sometimes that’s right and sometimes it’s wrong. And when we shot if off the fence and wrecked the car, I just popped it in high gear and got to the line. That was the goal from there on out was to not drop minimum speed and continue on.”
THERE HAVE BEEN SOME BIG CRASHES AT THE END OF THESE RACES FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS. AS A DRIVER, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT JUST HOPING TO AVOID A BIG ACCIDENT?
“Well, that’s in our control, to be honest with you. We’re all driving. We’re all in control of our race cars. When somebody pushes a little hard too early or is trying to get a little more than they need to, that’s when the accidents occur. I remember early-on in that race, I saw guys start dancing around and they’re pushing hard and getting aggressive, and that’s when those accidents happen. I almost bailed out of the pack a lap prior because I thought people were getting a little too aggressive too early. But at the same time, I didn’t want to give up the track position. At the end of the day, we’re in control of our race cars. We’re paid to take these risks and to put ourselves in position to win these races. So, that’s the name of the game. It comes down to who is willing to risk it all, I guess.”
THE VIEWERSHIP FOR THE DAYTONA 500 WAS AT AN ALL-TIME LOW. SOME FANS HAVE SAID THEY’D LIKE TO SEE THE START TIMES MOVED UP TO AROUND NOON OR 1PM ET. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?
“I think those viewership numbers can be a little skewed, right? We had a five and a half-hour rain delay, along with many other factors. I had more people texting me than I’ve ever had that watched the race. So that seems interesting to me. But at the end of the day, my job is driving the race car and to entertain fans. So, I think that last lap was pretty entertaining for fans. I think Michael McDowell winning that race created a lot of hype, and a lot of people are pretty excited about that. Early-on, that race was pretty exciting too. I don’t really know what people would complain about in the end.”
TRACK POSITION IS PRETTY IMPORTANT ON ROAD COURSES AND YOU’LL HAVE THAT AT THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE RACE WITH A SIXTH STARTING SPOT. HOW BIG IS THAT FOR THE TEAM AND HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU THAT YOU CAN STAY UP THERE FOR THE WHOLE RACE?
“I think that’s definitely extremely important. It sets us up for a great Stage 1 at least. I think Stage points are so critical now that we’ll see what our strategy is. I plan on executing and having a great start at that race. The first lap or two are so extremely important because you can put so much time on everybody behind you. We’re just going to go into it and try to have ourselves a really good Stage 1; and see where we are at Stage 2 and try to set this up for the final Stage. Just trying to get as many points as we can. I already know that we left Daytona with more points this past weekend than we did after the first five or six races last year. So that’s put us in a really good spot.”
WITH MORE ROAD COURSE RACES ON THE SCHEDULE THIS SEASON, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO PREP FOR THAT?
“I’m lucky enough that we have a Go Kart track not too far from my house and I do own at Go Kart. So, just log laps. That’s all you can do. Like I said, I’ve never been somebody who has had the opportunity to do much road racing. I go to my local Go Kart track and log laps and I feel like you kind of learn the basics from there; and you show-up and race.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.
