NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOLDS OF HONOR QUICKTRIP 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 16, 2021
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 PETTY’S GARAGE CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript:
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR START TO THE SEASON AND THE PERFORMANCE OF RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS FIVE RACES IN?
“I guess they’ve kind of been to every track now and it’s been a good start to the season for us. Obviously, we’ve had some ups and downs. But a Top 10 at Vegas was obviously great. A 20th at Phoenix which, I think we were probably a little bit better than that until the last 50 laps and unfortunately, that’s when they pay. But it’s been a good start. I think we’ve done a good job each week just getting better and better. I was really pleased with the improvement from Miami on to Vegas and the improvement we made there going from a 20th place car at Homestead to a Top 10 car at Vegas. We just need to keep that trend going and hopefully the next short track that we go to we can take what we learned at Phoenix and hopefully improve on it.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ALL THE NEW WINNERS WE’VE HAD THIS SEASON? DOES IT GIVE YOU HOPE THAT IF YOU HIT IT RIGHT, YOU GUYS COULD BE THE CINDERELLA STORY ONE WEEK?
“Yeah, I hope so. It’s cool to see the start to this season where we’ve had all these different winners. It’s definitely been unique. I think we’re capable of that. Obviously, with no practice it’s a little bit different. And, like you said, if we happen to hit on it that week, you can be the guy that does it. I hope we can do it one week and hit it really well. I thought Vegas was close for us if we could have gotten some track position. We started pretty far back and it just kind of took us all day to get up there. If we can start farther forward at some of these places, I think we’re going to have a shot to hopefully do it.”
NASCAR IS GOING TO BE USING DOGS TO SNIFF TEAMS FOR COVID-19 AS THEY GO THROUGH THE GARAGE. HAVE YOU HEARD THAT? DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS?
“They just told us like 20 minutes ago. I don’t have any concerns with it. From what it sounds like, they’ve learned quite a bit over the past year about detecting COVID and what the best ways are to do it. And they feel really confident in the dogs. I’m a dog lover, so I don’t have any problem with dogs doing it. If they think they can do a good job, it seems like from what they’ve learned and what they know about it, it’s just as good as a test. So, I feel good about it and it sounds like we’re going to use that instead of the temperature check. I think it’ll be fun.”
WHAT IS YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE CARS FROM WHAT YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO BE TO WHAT THEY ACTUALLY ARE THIS YEAR?
“Really, they’re what I thought they would be. I felt pretty confident going in, to be honest with you, about what the equipment is and what they have with the resources we have at RPM. And it’s been similar to what I thought. Really, the cars are really close. We have opportunities, like I was mentioning a second ago, to really hit it right and have an opportunity to run really well week in and week out. There are a lot of good things that the cars do that I’ve felt over the last few weeks. And there’s some stuff that I think we can work on to get better and improve. We’ve just got to race and learn more about those things. Without practice it’s tough to go in and say hey, this is what we’ve got to do better before the race. We just have to get out there and do it and do it and learn from it.”
WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT AND WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE KEY FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL RUN SUNDAY?
“Atlanta is kind of a unique place. But we’ve always run pretty decent there in the past. It’s just really worn out. You really have to have your car working good on the bottom to be able to really hook the yellow line and make it work down there. I think overall, Atlanta is abrasive, and it’s worn out. It gets a little slicker every year. You just have to really focus on making your car good on the long runs. It’s tough. It’s not easy to get your car driving good there. I feel like the balance is a little bit more finicky with this package now than what it was in the past with the lower downforce package. So, you really have to hit it right and make sure your car is working good. When you have to start getting up and running the top, I feel like that’s kind of a Band-Aid and it’s not really where you want your car to be running. So, if you can get it running good on the bottom and hooking the line well, you’re going to have a pretty good day.”
YOU HAVE HAD FIVE RACES WITH RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’VE FOUND YOUR RHYTHM THERE. HOW IS IT GOING AND HAVE YOU HAD ANY DIFFICULTIES?
“Overall, it’s gone pretty good. No real difficulties. It’s been a smooth transition for me. The biggest thing really is just working with (crew chief) Jerry (Baxter) and have him lean more about me and kind of what I want out of the race car and when I’m asking for adjustments, kind of what I want from those adjustments. So, that’s been the biggest thing. But it’s just a matter of getting to the race track every week and going out and doing it you know. Like I said, no practice, you don’t really have that time to learn; so, you have to go out and race each week. But the transition has been really smooth. I’ve been trying to put in the effort and doing what I can on my end to make our cars as good as they can be; and from my point, obviously driving the car and doing the best I can there as well. It’s been a smooth transition though.”
GIVEN YOUR BACKGROUND, HOW DOES ONE PREPARE FOR A STOCK CAR RACE ON A DIRT TRACK?
“I don’t know that you really can too much. It’s still going to be a Cup car on dirt at Bristol, really, at the end of the day. Our cars aren’t dirt cars. They’re not really made to handle dirt. So, you just have to do the best you can. Looking at Eldora, and how those truck races work, it’s about being patient and kind of picking your time to go and the times to make the moves and just being easy with it and try to make the most of it. So, I don’t really have much dirt experience. I haven’t done much of it. I’m going to go run a Micro, hopefully tomorrow. It’s been a little rainy here in North Carolina, so hopefully that clears out and we can go get some laps; you know, just getting something on dirt to get a feel for it. I think really, the dirt guys are going to have a little bit of an advantage just knowing how the lines move around and kind of what lane to be in, but I think that’s all as far as driving it, that’s going to be totally different for everybody.”
WE’VE SEEN FIVE DIFFERENT WINNERS IN FIVE RACES SO FAR THIS SEASON. HAS THAT SURPRISED YOU AND DOES IT CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY IN TRYING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR?
“I don’t think it really surprises me too much. I think the guys that have won are all guys that are totally capable of winning on a certain weekend. With no practice, it’s less surprising because it’s a matter of really hitting your car right when you unload and hit the race track. When you have practice, you always kind of see the cream rise. It’s the same guys that know how to get their stuff really good; especially at the tracks that they’re good at. And without practice, you lose that. So, you’re just totally relying on hitting it right. It’s a little bit of the flip of the coin, right? You hope that it lands on the good side and it’s handling good for you. It doesn’t really surprise me, but it doesn’t really change my approach to the Playoffs either. Obviously, it’s going to be a little bit harder to point your way in, the more and more winners we get. But we’ve still got to do the best we can each week and just try to continue clicking points off and moving up and taking advantage of the places that we can go and have a shot to win and hopefully win one.”
WE COULD GET INTO A SCENARIO WHERE WE HAVE 17 OR 18 WINNERS. HAS THAT CROSSED YOUR MIND IN TRYING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS?
“I’ve thought about it, for sure. I think everybody has already after all the different winners we’ve had so far. That just makes it more important to make sure you’re getting as many points as you can each week and moving up. If we do get in that situation that you’ve got enough points over the next guy that’s got a win, to hopefully beat him into the Playoffs. So, it just makes points even more of a focus, I guess. It’s funny. This system is supposed to be winning and getting in but, we’re in a situation where we could realistically have more than 16 winners.”
ON RUNNING THE MICRO, WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THAT ON A LITTLE TRACK? BRISTOL MIGHT ACTUALLY BE MORE LIKE A MARTINSVILLE RACE AND YOU’RE NOT SLIDING THE CAR AROUND AS MUCH. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO GET OTHER THAN JUST GETTING THE FEEL OF DIRT UNDERNEATH YOU?
“That’s really it. Just the feeling of dirt and being on dirt and having the car and what it feels like. I haven’t been on dirt in I guess six years was the last time. Just being on a dirt track, not a lot is going to apply over to a totally different car and track and everything. The track is going to be more like a Martinsville or Richmond. It’s going to be really slick, and you’ve really got to manage your grip. For me, it’s just getting some kind of dirt feel and just anything that maybe I can take over with me just to get reacquainted a little bit.”
ON THE POSSIBILITY THAT MAKING THE PLAYOFFS COULD BECOME MORE FOCUSED ON POINTS RACING AND STAGE POINTS. A NOT-SO-GOOD RACE COULD RESULT IN STARTING FURTHER BACK IN THE FIELD FOR THE NEXT RACE. CAN IT BECOME LIKE A SNOWBALL ROLLING DOWN THE HILL AND GROWING LARGER AND LARGER?
‘It can pretty easily right now. If you have a bad race, especially going into a 1.5-mile race and you have to start pretty far back, it makes it pretty tough. It’s hard to get up there and get those positions and it’s definitely hard to earn Stage points when you start that far back, especially in the first Stage. It can snowball pretty quickly. Without qualifying, your week before kind of carries over. That’s not something that, as a driver, you want. If you have a bad week you don’t want to take it with you. You are kind of forced to right now. It’s easy to get in that hole and it’s hard to get out of it but, hopefully we can just stay out of that and avoid it and just stay up towards the front. I think for us, getting some Stage points is going to be pretty important. We haven’t done that yet. So, we need to hopefully figure out early in these races to get up and get some more points. That could be pretty beneficial to us.”
GIVEN WHAT YOU’VE SEEN OUT OF THE TEAM SO FAR, HAS ANYTHING CHANGED FROM YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR AGENDA WITH THIS TEAM COMPARED TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE COMING INTO THIS SEASON?”
“Not really. I think a Top 20 in points is our goal. Obviously making the Playoffs and getting a win, that’s like top pure echelon for us. But I don’t think my expectations are any different. I think it’s just having consistent improvement and just trying to get better and better each week; and doing what we can to make the car faster every time we hit the race track. But I feel confident in it. Some of the gains we’ve made already over the season have been really encouraging and have been really good. Hopefully we can just keep that trend going and keep getting our car better each week.”
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