MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
BANK OF AMERICAN ROVAL 400
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROVAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and discussed the on-track incident in the first practice session, what portions of the Roval are the hardest, his thoughts on Daniel Hemric, and many other topics. Full transcript:
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU CLIPPED TIRES:
“I’m trying to hit every corner here before the race starts (laughs). I have two or three of them out of the way, but there is a couple left. We’ve learned a lot in a short period of time. I’ve gotten more comfortable out there. That is where that confidence grows. Then you step over the edge, and you touch the tire barrier. That’s what it came to. The guys are working hard to get the car back together right now. It’s funny because there are some corners where you can make speed and it is probably not going to correlate to the race, so I just have to be smarter than that when I get in the race and really take my time and be smart. It really is not about the race as much as survival based on what I’ve seen right now. There is going to be someone really fast, but if someone spins, there is nowhere to go. I’ve seen a couple of cars out there; the No. 17 was spun and my spotter couldn’t see him out there, so it was just lucky that I didn’t take him back out. There isn’t a whole lot of room out there to go anywhere if you have a problem. But, everybody is going to fight the same thing. Just trying to make it through this.
ARE YOU GOING TO RACE THIS CAR TOMORROW?
“Yes, it’s getting repaired right now. It’s mostly just fender damage, body, she is going to have a couple of patches, but she’ll be ready to race.”
ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THIS RACE AS A CUTOFF RACE?
“I think I’m looking forward to it. Nobody knows what’s going to happen when we get in this thing. I can’t be upset of the reason we are here and not at the regular oval that we are usually at this time of year, where I feel really confident in. I just feel like it’s another challenge along the way. It is an obstacle you have to get over and get through. Hopefully me and my guys can be smart and survive it and make it to the next round. That is the plan. Egg shells is one thing I haven’t… obviously I didn’t walk on egg shells the first practice, and I obviously blew through them. Maybe I’ll save some for the race.”
IN YOUR OPINION, WHERE ARE THE BEST PLACES TO PASS?
“I haven’t seen a great place to pass, truthfully. A place where I can go, yes, that’s the spot. There are places, but every place there is like a momentum problem. You can out-brake people, but coming out the other side you are always in this momentum section of the track. If I had a pinpoint accuracy place, I’d like to try and pass in turn one, but it is pretty tight off of there. But I have been getting pretty good runs to the start/finish line. My car seems pretty good there. You are going to have to set someone up off of eight, but getting into the chicane, there’s not going to be two cars going through there, ever. So, you better get them before you get to the other side of that. The front stretch, you might be okay off of turn four coming off the big track into (turn) 15. So, (turns) 15 and eight can be probably can be good place. I actually have a weird feeling that because (turn) six is so slow and you have to hug that inside wall that someone might squirt that corner and just say screw it I’m not going to try and set it up and get to the outside of you and you are done for (turns) seven and eight because you are on the outside and they can’t cut back left below you. I have this weird feeling that (turn) six where it’s blind that people might just try and roll speed there, stay in a push and get to the outside of you and it will mess you up for the next two corners.”
IS THERE ANYWHERE ELSE OTHER THAN THE CHICANE ON THE BACKSTRETCH THAT IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO PASS AT?
“It will be done Sunday. I don’t know. It will be tried.”
HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE DO YOU FEEL YOU MAKE AS A DRIVER AT THIS TRACK? HOW HARD OF A HIT WAS THAT ON THE TIRE BARRIER?
“It was actually for me as a driver I blew right through it. It was kind of light. I didn’t feel anything through the steering wheel. It was mostly all body. When I landed on the other side the fender was up in the air and I was like ‘dang it’. I knew I killed the left-front. If it was the simulator you just kind of go through it and you get to keep going, not here.
“I feel like you can make a big difference as a driver here obviously. But, just as much as the driver can make a difference if he gets to a certain point drivability wise the car still has to be able to react to the driving style that you need to have here. I feel like we have put a lot of time on the simulator and we have found places that you can make speed, but it needs to correlate pretty properly to what we have brought here set-up wise to be able to do that. I’m pretty tight everywhere right now. But, we also our plan going in we changed it pretty quick, we were going to make a qualifying run, but we stayed in race trim the whole time and we had too much nose weight in the car, so I was pretty tight the whole time. It will be interesting… we will go qualify with tape on the nose, should get some of that turn back, but yeah, the driver ability at a road course is pretty important I think. But, I think it’s important everywhere. I think driver ability is 60/70 percent of everything.”
INAUDIBLE:
“Same. I think that 60 percent travels to every track we go to because in the end he is the guy that is behind the sticks to make it happen.”
WOULD YOU SAY THAT BACKSTRETCH CHICANE IS THE TOUGHEST PART OF THE TRACK?
“Actually, that is probably one of the simpler parts of the track. It’s a place where you can really screw up. If you take it the proper way, because no one is going to pass you getting in there unless they just get this heck of a run off of (turn) eight, if you are smart about it, it’s not a hard corner. It’s just if you are trying to find lap time speed you are going to try and get a little too much and you do what I did. The trickiest part is probably six, seven and eight flowing that. You are downhill, you can’t see, you come up the hill, you want to carry more throttle it’s so easy to push your front tires, my car, too hard and I just… you can push all the way out to the outside wall on the main track to (turn) one. So, being patient is very hard through six, seven and eight. I would say that is probably the toughest and then some of the right handers that we are not used to turning. Good guys that are comfortable going right, you’ve got (AJ) Allmendinger and (Austin) Cindric and these guys that have 14 million more road course laps than I do, they are comfortable turning to the right and I’m still trying to find that edge where if we went to an oval track, I’m going to be way more comfortable turning left than they are most of the time.”
HAS JUSTIN (ALEXANDER, CREW CHIEF) TOLD YOU TO HIT THE PACE CAR YET?
“No, he has not luckily and hopefully I do get to the pace car because that means I’m in the front of the pack at some point.”
DID YOU EVER HAVE HOT WHEELS GROWING UP AS A KID?
“Yes, I had some Hot Wheels growing up. My favorite, I wouldn’t know it… there are not names for them are there? I could describe the one. I like the one with the purple hearse looking car with the front wheels, I always thought it was pretty cool.”
THIS IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NASCAR RACING PAPYRUS PC GAMES. DID YOU PLAY THAT AS A KID?
“I did not. I think I was still on the younger side of that game. Nintendo came out with some game boys at that period of time that were pretty popular. I don’t think I ever got to do that game.”
YOUR TEAMMATE DANIEL HEMRIC WAS FOURTH QUICKEST IN CUP PRACTICE. WHAT HAS IMPRESSED YOU WHEN IT COMES TO HIM?
“He’s a solid race car driver. I said it a long time ago, we grew up racing bandolero and legends cars and always felt like he has had great ability in a race car. I’ve kept a friendship with him since I was a kid. We used to have sleep overs at my house, hang out, he is a great guy. But he is fun to race around, he is good, he made a heck of a qualifying lap right there and we have been working together on the simulator some. I wish I was in the Xfinity race because you get more laps out there. I think it would be an advantage if you could get in a Xfinity car just to get more laps, but because we are full-time Cup it is a little tougher, but he is doing a good job.”
HOW IS THE TRANSITION FROM THE INFIELD PORTION OF THE ROAD COURSE UP ONTO THE BANKING? WILL YOU SEE IT MORE BENEFICIAL TO STAY DOWN TOWARDS THE APRON LOWER OR GO STRAIGHT UP TO THE WALL?
“I don’t really know. It’s kind of what your car will allow you to do. I think if you can be lower, lower is always better coming out of that section, but if you are in a push you can’t really get there, so you’ve got to momentum it somehow. It just depends on what your car will allow you to do I think is really key.”
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