Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Toyota Owners 400 – Richmond International Raceway
Friday, April 22, 2016
Brad Keselowski, debuts Thomas Built Buses as sponsor of the No. 2 Ford Fusion this weekend at Richmond International Raceway. Keselowski met with media after bringing a Thomas Built Bus to the track and talking with school kids about NASCAR, and spoke to reporters about the upcoming weekend and more.
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Thomas Built Buses Ford Fusion – WHAT DO YOU EXPECT COME SUNDAY? “It is hard to know what exactly to expect with the rain conditions, the track is constantly changing. Goodyear brought a new tire and we have the new rules package for 2016 where the car is behaving a little differently so I don’t know if anyone has a great idea of what to expect come Sunday.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE TONY STEWART BACK THIS WEEKEND? “Anytime you welcome back a three-time champion, regardless of what his name is, is a big deal for our sport. I am glad to have him back and I think it is a big deal for our fans as well.”
HOW WILL THINGS BE DIFFERENT RACING IN THE DAY INSTEAD OF NIGHT HERE THIS YEAR? “We have a lot of confidence with the 2 team that we are going to run really well. We had a really fast car here the last three or four races. Last spring when we ended up racing during the daytime because of weather, ironically, I thought we were really competitive but had an engine problem. I think our car will be really fast again under day conditions. We have a lot of confidence with past performance and I feel we can get our Ford Fusion up front and in victory lane. Practice has been good for us so far.”
WHY IS IT SUDDENLY THE DRIVER COUNCIL RESPONSIBILITY TO COMMENT ON THE TONY STEWART ISSUE? IS THIS A CASE OF THE COUNCIL EXPANDING ITS REACH? “I don’t think I have a good answer for that. I think there is some change within the sport, as always, and that is not always a bad thing, and not always a good thing. It is somewhere in between. I think we are all trying to find the future direction of the sport and there are going to be some steps we go forward and steps we go back. I think that is just part of it.”
WAS THIS A STEP FORWARD FOR THE DRIVERS COUNCIL? “I don’t know if anyone has really taken a step forward over the last 48-hours.”
IS IT SAFE TO SAY THAT THE LINE SEEMS TO BE HOW YOU SAY SOMETHING RATHER THAN WHAT YOU SAY? “Yeah, I don’t have an answer for that. I think if I was to answer for that I would be speaking for other people.”
YOU PERSONALLY, IS THAT YOUR TAKEAWAY? BIFFLE AND JUNIOR SPOKE ON THE ISSUE EARLIER AND THEY WEREN’T FINED AND THEN TONY WAS. “I would say that I don’t have an answer because I don’t know myself as well. It is murky waters for me.”
WAS THIS A UNANIMOUS DECISION AMONG ALL THE DRIVERS? WAS IT SOMETHING YOU ALL FELT STRONGLY ABOUT? “I think every driver feels that there is a line to be walked there. This sport can’t survive just on drivers. I am going to tell you that right now. We need race cars, race tracks, promoters and everybody has a role in making this sport happen. I think that is something we should always keep in mind. Whose share of that role is what or how important and how you scale that I think is up for debate. As it pertains to the particular example, I think it is important that as a driver we are allowed to have a voice to communicate but that doesn’t mean that we can say anything we want at any time.”
WHERE ARE YOU ON THE LUGNUT ISSUE? SHOULD NASCAR GO BACK TO REQUIRING FIVE? “It hasn’t been an issue that I have put a lot of thought into. I think the only real example we’ve had since the new rule was implemented being a difference maker or potential safety hazard was at Texas with Carl (Edwards). My line on it is that as a sport we have some major decisions to make as to how we want to be identified. How do we want to compete? What are those aspects? Whether that is NASCAR themselves, the drivers, RTA, the fans, we have to make a decision of what tools do we want to determine who is a winner and who is great. Who is not? The history of the sport has been a balanced approach. That is why we don’t have spec cars. The cars are all different. Even though they might not look it, they are all different. You can put an elite driver in a 40th place race car and he might run 35th. That is where the sport is right now. That has changed in the six or seven years I have been in Sprint Cup where the car and driver have always been significant but we have seen this emergence of the pit crew to be more and more important over the years. To no, we are seeing that become part of the race format, the race on pit road, more so than ever before. It kind of hearkens back to the older days of our sport where if you had a bad pit stop, more times than not if you had a fast car you could overcome it. Now the increased level of parody with the cars has put us to a spot to where it is much harder as a team or driver to have a car or a driver that has enough talent to overcome something that might happen on pit road. So this specific change has been a direction that has again increased the significance of pit road. As it is, my stance in the sport is that we have to be very careful to make a decision collectively of how we want to race, how we want to compete and how we want to determine who is great. Do we want to determine who is great off of pit road? Then we should just have a pit road competition every weekend if we come to that conclusion and every race would be a pit stop competition. I don’t think we want that. I don’t think we want pit road to mean nothing either. I have seen that side too. I have seen the Truck Series when they had pit road as lock-down and retain your position and halftime breaks. I think that took a little something away from the sport. As a whole, the percentages that dictate the outcome of greatness, of a winner, have shifted and continue to shift more and more toward the pit crew and in some ways I like that because I have a great pit crew. In other ways I am not sure I like it. I would like to see the team and the cars and the drivers not lose the ability to affect their days. In a nutshell, when I read between the lines of any driver on their comments of that I think that is really what they are trying to get at. Certainly there are some safety implications which I brought up with Carl and that thing but in the grand scheme of things those are not minor or major, maybe somewhere in between in my opinion. I think more or less we all wear the glasses as drivers, teams, owners, sanctioning body, of trying to determine the other pieces of the puzzle which is so critical to determining who we are as a sport.”
ARE YOU ONE OF THESE GUYS THAT PUTTING 5 LUG NUTS ON AS OPPOSED TO THREE, YOU CAN FEEL THE DIFFERENCE? “I am here to win the race. Those guys figure out what they need to do and we lose on pit road and I will be mad and if we win on pit road I will be happy with them. They know that. It is their job to figure it out.”
HOW DO YOU GET TO THE PLACE OF DECIDING WHAT THE SPORT WANT TO BE? “I think collaboration. I think if we can herd all the cats into the same room and get into an active dialogue, which I think we have made major steps on over the last year or so, certainly not all the steps we want to make but still major steps, and understand that there is going to be a lot of self-interest. Of course I have a great pit crew so I have self-interest and I am not afraid to admit that. I am sure there are a handful of other guys who say they have a great pit crew or new widget that makes their team great on pit road and you don’t want to lose that advantage. Sometimes you wear those glasses where our own interests supersede the interests of the sport. That is tough to get through but in time will work themselves out if everybody collaborates.”
IS THAT ULTIMATELY THE FANS DECISION? DON’T THEY ULTIMATELY DECIDE WHAT THE DIRECTION OF THE SPORT IS? “I would answer that with first off Ryan McGee pretty much answered that this week and gave the answer I want to give. I like quotes. I like to read about things. I always remember when I am asked that question, the Henry Ford answer when he was asked about painting his cars a different color than black. He basically said there were a lot of customers out there that thought there should be different color options on the Model T and he answered back that, ‘If I would have asked the people what they wanted they would have said faster horses.’ Our fans are our consumer and our customers and are very, very important to us and they always should be and will be. In a global sense we know what is best for the sport when we are honest and open with each other, more so than anyone else. Dale Jr. said this once to me being a Redskins fan and I am a Detroit Lions fan, I can general manage a football team from 1,000 miles away and make all kinds of decisions that I think are great but I don’t live it every day and at the end would probably just make it worse. That doesn’t mean I am not important as a fan to my football team but I don’t live it every day and know all the nuances and key players and stakeholders, etc. We can get there, we just need to focus on our own. Our fans are important but listening to every fan sentiment or answer is not the ticket.”
WHAT IS ROGER PENSKE LIKE TO WORK FOR? “Working with Roger Penske has been a thrill for me. I would say that Roger is one of those guys that has given me a tremendous opportunity in life. Perhaps even greater than that is the perspective that he has given me on so many different things. Business, life in general, approach. I value all of those things and feel very lucky to have the change to drive for him.”
WHAT SEPARATES HIM FROM OTHER PEOPLE? “Roger is 79 years old and my dad is 62, 63 years old. I bought my dad a cell phone. I am going to tell you this story so I can bring it back. I bought him a cell phone and to this day every time I am around him he hands it to me and asks how this works, or how that works. I laugh and show him and say, ‘remember this, this and this.’ Then the next time it is the same thing again. I am guessing there are a few people in this room that either are that person or the other one. What makes Roger different is that if I handed him my cell phone right now he could use it as well or better than I could. That shows his insatiable knowledge, but not just knowledge, the pursuit or growth. He is growing not just in the business sense – it is easy to see business growth with a new building or race team or whatever – but Roger’s ability to grow intellectually, personally and his desire to do so has not leveled off over time and I think that makes him an exceptional person by today’s standards.”
NEXT WEEK AT TALLADEGA, WE SAW WHAT THE GIBBS CARS DID AT DAYTONA WITH CONTROLLING THINGS, IS THAT AS LIKELY TO HAPPEN NEXT WEEK? “I think Daytona and Talladega have long been two different tracks. It is wider and a lot harder to block and control the pace at Talladega. That is not a bad thing. Of course the Gibbs cars still have a lot of speed and strength in numbers and that isn’t going to change but I still feel like we can win. I am going there to win.”
