MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
PRE-SEASON MEDIA AVAILABILITY
CHARLOTTE MEDIA TOUR
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JANUARY 24, 2017
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 COTTONELLE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Charlotte Media tour and discussed moving to a new team, his expectations for 2017, and what he learned from 2016 on the racetrack. Full transcript:
CAN YOU CLARIFY WHAT YOUR SITUATION IS WITH JTG AND ROUSH, AND ARE YOU STILL UNDER CONTRACT WITH ROUSH TO GO BACK THERE NEXT YEAR:
“We’re still under contract with Roush but for this year coming over to JTG we’re full-tilt ahead. We’re working on this season getting integrated with everybody over there. It has been a transition coming over to a new team for the second year in a row trying to get to know everybody. We have a new crew chief, a new manufacturer with Chevrolet, and I’m just really focused on getting through this year. We haven’t looked anywhere past that. 2017 is looking to be a great year, though. Looking at the momentum that AJ (Allmendinger) and the 47 team had in the second half of last year is very promising and makes us optimistic to get rolling to Daytona and especially past that once we get to Atlanta and that West Coast swing.”
WITH DALE (EARNHARDT) JR.’S CONCUSSION LAST YEAR, HOW DO YOU VIEW THAT KIND OF INJURY AND DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT NOW IN TERMS OF YOUR EQUIPMENT OR WHATEVER TO PREVENT THAT:
“It definitely makes us pay attention. We’ve been using the best safety equipment available to us for many years. The cars continue to evolve and there have been some safety updates for the chassis for this season that will slowly become part of every racetrack that we go to. I think right now it’s superspeedway only. It’s always evolving safety-wise. We have all kinds of baselines and protocols that we go through to make sure we know where we’re at and make sure that after any incident we are able to go through any test to make sure we’re able to race.”
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW AJ ALLMENDINGER GOING INTO THIS SEASON. AND WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES YOU LOOK FOR IN A TEAMMATE:
“I knew AJ a little bit more than a lot of the other drivers, and as we went through the off-season – what little bit off-season there is – we had a couple of events. He’s very outgoing, which I could take a few hints from there. He’s very wide open; has a lot of energy. We all know that AJ is probably the best road racer in the garage. That second half of last season that whole JTG group did well at all the racetracks they went to. He’s very good at Martinsville, very good at Richmond and a lot of these other racetracks that I haven’t been very good at. He’s also been very good at Bristol, which I feel was probably our best track last year. There are a lot of good things that I think are going to work to help us work together. It’s always nice to have a teammate and have another team to bounce ideas off of. For our team going from one team to two, I think it’s going to be beneficial. The alliance with RCR is already like having a bunch of teammates. It’s just a little bit different when it’s all under the same roof 24-7 and everything is openly talked about all the time.”
YOU COME TO THIS TEAM AS SOMEBODY WHO WON AND MADE THE PLAYOFFS LAST YEAR. DO YOU START GETTING SOME OF THESE NEW CREW MEMBERS THAT ARE ASSEMBLING YOUR RACE CAR NOW LOOKING AT YOU AS THE VETERAN
“I’m very new to this one solid season in. The people we have hired on at JTG we are just going over the basics of getting seats mounted, everything set inside the car to where we’re comfortable and are able to go to the racetrack as safe as possible. A handful of them I know from Roush and a lot of new guys coming over from other race teams that I’m just getting to know. I’ve really liked everybody that has come onboard. They are all working together really well. I feel like we have a really good group behind us and I think it will turn out to be a great season.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST THING YOU BELIEVE ABOUT YOURSELF THAT YOU LEARNED LAST YEAR THAT WILL BE A BENEFIT THIS YEAR:
“Before the change in the format, I thought I did a pretty good job of learning when to be patient and when not to be. When it was important and when it wasn’t. Now I don’t think we get to exercise patience ever. There are still a lot of similarities and with the format it’s not going to change a whole lot from our perspective. We’re always out there going hard. There were just times in the race where you didn’t feel like you had to be in a certain position by the end of a segment. Now I feel like we’ll have to be more aggressive. What I learned has been changed with the format we have, but it addressed a few key issues.”
HAS JIMMIE JOHNSON OFFERED ANY GUIDANCE ALONG THE WAY. WHAT IS THE RAPPORT YOU HAVE HAD:
“I don’t know him really well. For the last two years I’ve gotten to go to Vegas as all the Chase drivers have gone out there. Two years ago it was for me being the Xfinity champion. Not just Jimmie but the entire group of guys we were out there with were extremely friendly and offered up a lot of advice of what I’m getting myself into and how this is a different lifestyle from Saturdaynight short track racing. There’s a lot more effort that goes into it, a lot more preparation a lot more days like this when you have to speak. All those drivers who have been doing it a long time, offer up advice.”
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