Friday at Pocono Raceway saw the announcement from Doc Mattioli that he was resigning from all positions he holds at the Pocono Raceway effective immediately. His grandson Brandon Igdalsky and the rest of Mattioli’s family will take over in various positions of senior management.
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[/media-credit]Mattioli was very emotional when he was speaking saying, “They cant do a damn thing until Rose and I die and my 3 children die.” That was in reference to the family selling the track to the folks looking to take some races away from the track. There was a lot of reminiscing done by both Mattioli and the media. It was a special moment in the media center. It was also a bit sad.
Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. came in the media center and did a joint press conference as did Jack Roush and Carl Edwards. Edwards and Roush’s conference was self explanatory as they came to terms on a contract extension. There was plenty of good feelings from those two as they actually looked at each other and said, “thank you.” Edwards said, “there was a lot of respect during the process. I’m glad its behind us and I’m glad to be going for the championship.
It was a drawn out process. “I wish I would have never confirmed my term was up. We could have gotten it done a lot quieter. ” Edwards went on to say that it was never about money which led to more questions.
For Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson the press conference started discussing Johnson running in Watkins Glen one of JR Motorsports entries. Earnhardt said, “We really didn’t have anything; a driver and a sponsor for the car, and Tony (Eury) Jr. texted me and said that Chad (Knaus) or Jimmie had mentioned to him at one time if there was ever an opportunity or maybe if they were interested in racing at The Glen or driving at The Glen.”
Johnson, whose sense of humor was quite evident discussed the difficult interviewing process for the job. “I’m excited about the opportunity,” Johnson said. “The interview to drive for him was rather tough. He wanted to see my resume. I think Mike wanted to see my resume in great detail and make sure I was qualified with good references. Once we cleared that hurdle, it was on.”
Earnhardt discussed his “chase strategy” and how different choices are made for points. “Yeah, I think the main difference would be you see people making different choices and different strategies at Indy,” he said. “We feel like we weren’t in a position to really take a gamble of trying to make it on fuel. So we played a safer strategy. If we were more in Jimmie’s position, we might have taken the gamble and tried to do what some of those guys did to stretch it. That’s mainly the difference, really. Otherwise you’re all out there running as hard as you can run.”
Earnhardt was asked on Danica Patrick’s status he simply retorted, “I have nothing new to report on that. I guess I’m really not in the middle of it, but I guess they’re still moving forward. I don’t know nothing that I didn’t know last week.”
Of course the rumors are that Patrick will be dabbling in cup with Tony Stewart’s team. To that he said with an audible laugh, “I know, I’ve heard all kinds of stuff.” When asked is he could say anything he simply said, Nope, nope, Can’t say anything.”
David Regan feels pretty strongly that you need to be in the top 12 in points to make the chase, regardless of the wins that drivers have. Regan also said that he was glad that the Edwards ordeal was over they “could put it to rest and move on” and find sponsors for all the teams. Regan also said that Menard winning hurt them even though they’re good friends. He was looking for a top 5 in points to win at Indy. He also discussed his visit to see wounded veterans and that most of the service were familiar with NASCAR and most were Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans.
Regan also mentioned that his visit to Walter Reed hospital and how most members
Kurt Busch mentioned that his and Gordon’s birthdays being shared was funny because Gordon was 7 years older than he was and he was 7 years older than younger brother Kyle.
