NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
GEICO 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 17, 2020
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference and discussed his newborn son, Ace, the progress of the RCR teams, the upcoming Talladega race and new package, the All-Star race being moved to Bristol, and more. Full Transcript:
TALK US THROUGH WHAT THESE LAST FEW DAYS HAVE BEEN LIKE WITH ALL THE EXCITEMENT
‘Yeah, I’ll first start off by saying I’m tired. But, it’s been an amazing experience. And, mom has absolutely crushed it. Dad is doing everything he can. He’s hanging on by a thread. But today is awesome. I was late but was just playing with him. He is an amazing little guy and I’m just pumped to have him in this world and ready to show him everything about life. It’s pretty cool.”
CONGRATULATIONS. WANTED TO ASK YOU ABOUT HOW WELL THE ENTIRE TEAM IS DOING, BOTH YOU AND TYLER REDDICK. YOU’RE GETTING TOP-TENS, AND REALLY ACCELERATING EARLY IN THE SEASON, WHICH IS A HIGH FOR THE TEAM IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. WHAT IS IT LIKE? WHAT’S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TYLER? WHAT’S YOUR SENSE OF THE TEAM AS A WHOLE REALLY BEING ON IT THIS YEAR?
“It’s been an awesome year so far. I always want more. But, I mean, compared to years past, I’m very optimistic of where we are; especially last year to this year, a big jump. Those jumps are hard to come by. Tyler, coming in the off-season with an Xfinity championship, brought some momentum. I think it fired-up everybody. It fired-up myself to compete. He’s a good wheelman. It builds both teams to kind of compete within and that comes with these good finishes we’re having. The competition is great at RCR. And you’ve got to have that. I feel like that’s a big part of it. And, Chevrolet stepped-up their game in the off-season and really gave us something else to work with as far as the car goes. And, our whole entire shop is working really hard. Obviously, it’s been tough on everybody with the quarantine and whatnot, but I feel like we did a good job of keeping up with the work that we had ahead of us. It’s been a really good break for our team, if anything. And, the way we go to the race track now if a little bit different. Less people go to the track and I think that’s a good thing for our guys. The core group on each team is strong, and that’s nice to see.”
I’M NOT SURE WHEN ACE WAS BORN, BUT WAS THERE A POINT LATE SATURDAY NIGHT OR EARLY SUNDAY MORNING WHERE YOU THOUGHT YOU MIGHT MISS THE RACE?
“He was born at 6:30 in the morning. So, there was definitely a time period where you’re going to the hospital and mom is getting checked-in and you’re just hoping that everything is going to go smoothly. And, it did. The good Lord blessed us with an amazing pregnancy. Mom just walked in and crushed it. Ace came out with flying colors. Everything went well. But if any small thing goes wrong during that timeframe, I’m not racing. So, everything went good. The doctors were great. We used Wake Forest and they did such a great job with Ace and mom and that’s what allowed us to get to the race track and had just a really memorable day.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO TALLADEGA, HOW DO YOU THINK THE CHANGES IN HORSEPOWER AND NO AIR DUCTS WILL IMPACT THE RACE?
“I don’t really know how the air ducts will do. We’ve obviously raced in the past without aero ducts, so that’s one thing I just don’t really …. I’d have to really go back in time and look at what our cars did differently. But, there was probably somewhere you could match them up to. I don’t know what the closest year that we ran a package like this would be. But, we feel like the racing is going to be different from the way it was at Daytona. It always is different from Daytona to Talladega. So, I’d say the first stage of the race, will definitely be a learning curve for just about all of us. Set-up wise should not be a problem. I hope not. But, just the way we race and the runs you get, we’ll be learning that first stage. And, you want to be aggressive because every point matters throughout the year.
“So, just trying to play the chess match that’s ahead of us this weekend is going to be the key. Just knowing when to go. I’ve done a lot of different strategies when it comes to speedway racing, but my favorite is just going out there and racing and kind of throwing caution to the wind. I feel like that usually plays out better for us. I won the Daytona 500 being a little more cautious, but it’s just more fun that way when you go out there and race. So, we’ll see. We’ll make a decision quite early in the race to kind of figure out how everything is going. Hopefully all of our Chevys will run up-front together and work hard together to do what we need to do to bring home the win for Chevrolet.”
WHEN NASCAR RESUMED THE SEASON WITH ALL THE PRECAUTIONS THAT WERE TAKEN FROM A SAFETY AND TRAVEL STANDPOINT, IT WAS A SMALL GROUP OF GUYS WHO COULD JUST DRIVE TO DARLINGTON AND OF COURSE, CHARLOTTE AFTER THAT. BUT, WITH COVID-19 STILL VERY MUCH A THREAT, ARE THE PRECAUTIONS THAT YOU HAVE TO TAKE NOW AS YOU TRAVEL AND EXPAND YOUR FOOTPRINT BY GOING TO PLACES LIKE MIAMI AND TALLADEGA, WHAT PRECAUTIONS ARE YOU TAKING TO KEEP EVERYBODY SAFE?
“I think we’ve done a good job. RCR is making our teams…..when they go to the track, they can only take two in a car at a time. And then drivers, as far as getting to the track, we’ve been pretty much with ourselves. Tyler and I flew together to the track to Atlanta. Everybody has been kind of keeping their distance and wearing masks and doing everything that they’ve asked us to do throughout the process, and it’s worked well. We take our temperatures and report back to RCR and NASCAR with those; and then just trying to stay away from big groups of people. The Zoom meetings, so just talking to my guys, so I think it’s really drawn my team a bit closer, I think, because you get to look at each other on the phone. And, I guess my mind doesn’t wander as much when I’m just talking to my guys at my house. It’s kind of nice to really have the time to sit down and talk about our cars and go through the whole thing and go through the race. It gives you more time to just kind of focus on what’s going on and what went on. So, I think it’s been really good for my team.”
WHEN YOU ARE FLYING, IS IT SMALLER GROUPS THAN IT WAS IN THE PAST?
“Yes. I think the teams are flying on a different path than what the drivers are and just trying to stay as separated as possible, of going at certain times to be able to check the car. The road crew and then the shop crew are going in and out at different times also, so they’re not really connecting, either.”
YOU MENTIONED POINTS, AND YOU’VE BEEN BOUNCING AROUND THE 13th, 16th, 17th SPOT IN THE POINTS. HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO IT AT THIS POINT AS TALLADEGA MARKS THE HALFWAY POINT OF THE REGULAR SEASON? HOW MUCH DOES THAT DICTATE WHAT YOUR TEAM MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT DO IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS?
“I don’t think we can change what we’ve been doing as far as strategy goes. I think we’ve been aggressive when it comes to strategy and that’s worked out for us. Some short-pittings that have gained us spots at the end of these races. I trust Justin (Alexander, crew chief) and I think obviously, to be where we want to be, we want to win races. And we feel like our cars are very close and capable of doing that right now. The more we run in the top 5 and top ten’s, that’s when you get those opportunities to win. We’ve had two cars that are capable of running speeds to win this past weekend at Homestead. I would have loved to see what our car did if we would have been able to not have the problem we had with the tire getting away. And then, Martinsville, another really fast race car that we had that flat tire pretty much before the race started.
“The opportunities are coming and we need to capitalize on them, and I think the only way to do that is if you see guys…..like, Brad Keselowski is a great example. I don’t feel like he’s had the fastest car in most of the races he’s won, but he’s hung around and his team has given him that opportunity to get clean air and win those races. So, the aggression has to come and then, it just makes it a lot easier when you get a win under your belt. And in years past, I feel like we could circle and kind of thing about the small amount of opportunities we had to win a race in our group. And this year, I feel like we’ve definitely got a bigger shot at winning with more opportunities available with the speed in our race cars.”
WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE BETTER AT IN SPEEDWAY RACING AT DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA IN THE LAST YEAR? WHERE TO YOU FEEL LIKE AS A DRIVER, YOU’VE GOTTEN BETTER OVER TIME?
“Maybe just the choices I make. I feel like the choices, the lines, drafting closer to people, making the right calls just from history and being in these races. I don’t know. I think it comes in spurts. You get in a rhythm with speedway racing sometimes and it really works out for you. And then you think you’ve got it figured out and then you have a streak of bad finishes and you’re like, what’s going on here? But the one thing that’s kind of resonated a long time with me is the moment you start hating speedway racing, it’s just not going to be good for you. So, you’ve got to learn to love it and enjoy the craziness of it all. And, I think that kind of breeds more good finishes for you. You start seeing kind of against it, and it’ll bite you.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ALL-STAR RACING MOVING FROM CHARLOTTE TO BRISTOL?
“It’s definitely a big change. I think it’s good for the All-Star to move around. I feel like Marcus (Smith) and all the people at NASCAR did a good job choosing Bristol because you’re going to get a lot of action there. It’s very easy to get to someone’s back bumper and move people. It’s a chaotic track. And, for the All-Star racing, I think it’s a beautiful setting for it. Some of the drivers aren’t going to like it because they know what’s coming. It’s going to be a bit of a mess at times, but then it’s going to hopefully just put on a great show for our fans. That’s what we’re here to do. And, I’m lobbying for the ‘Choose Rule’, and I think there’s a shot at it for the All-Star race. I’m hoping that goes into effect. I think that track is perfect for it.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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