FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES NASCAR Media Day, Page 10 February 10, 2011
Daytona International Speedway
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Taco Bell Ford Fusion — WHAT KIND OF IMPROVEMENTS CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU GUYS THIS YEAR? “I think you can expect big improvements. I think everybody at Front Row Motorsports has been working real hard over the winter. We have some new cars that we got from Richard Petty Motorsports last year with them downsizing to two cars. That has helped us a bunch. Ford has stepped up their engineering support with us and I feel like we have a better motor program. Those are three big things. I am back working with Peter Sospenzo and I think those are all key ingredients on getting our Taco Bell Ford Fusion faster.”
YOU GUYS DIDN’T TEST, SO WHERE ARE YOU GUYS AS FAR AS BEING PREPARED FOR THIS RACE AND SPEEDWEEKS IN GENERAL? “I think we are really prepared. With Ford support and leaning on some of the other Ford teams that did come out and test, that has helped to push us along and get us up to speed. Getting the cars from RPM happened a little bit late, so we were kind of behind. We figured that staying back and getting more prepared to come out there rather than to throw something together just to come test would be more beneficial to Front Row Motorsports.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE WITH THE NEW TRACK SURFACE THIS YEAR? HAVE YOU BEEN OUT THERE AT ALL? “No, I haven’t, but I have talked to a lot of people that have been out here and they are all saying that it is quite a bit like Talladega. It is smooth but has some bumps in three and four. I watched a little of the test on TV. I think we will be fine.”
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO GET ACCLIMATED WITH SINGLE CAR RUNS TO BE ABLE TO KNOW WHAT YOUR CAR CAN AND CAN’T DO WHEN YOU EVENTUALLY GET INTO A BIG PACK? “You won’t know that until you get into drafting practice but everybody I have talked to has said that the cars have a lot of grip. The more grip the track has then the more you will see big packs of cars racing together. That will be fine. We have a new nose this year, which will be different. If it was a mile-and-a-half track, I would say it would be more important to come down here and test. Being that it is Daytona and we have notes from Talladega, I think set-up wise it will be similar to that, way more than it used to be. We have those notes and a week and a half down here to figure it out.”
ARE YOU ANXIOUS TO GO OUT THERE AND FINALLY SEE WHAT IT IS LIKE? “Yeah, I am looking forward to my first laps out there, believe me.”
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS THIS YEAR? “Our goal as a team is to try and get both teams in the top-25 in points. I think that is a realistic goal with our funding and our position. I think we are very capable of doing that. Our pit crews have been working really hard. Our cars hold twice as much lead as they did last year and we are going to run the FR9 engines this year. Those came on really strong last year and in talking to Doug Yates, he feels really excited about what the engines will be able to do this year. Working with Peter Sospenzo, I really enjoyed working with him last year and felt like we really clicked. I just feel we should be able to build on what we have done a little bit last year and I feel like we are ahead starting off the season this year.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER, No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion — DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU GREW INTO A LEADERSHIP ROLE WITH THIS ORGANIZATION BASED ON THE WAY LAST YEAR ENDED? “Well, I kind of had to because everyone else left. Everybody else on the team, driver-wise, was going their separate way. It was a tough time for everybody. More than anything, I felt that I had to step up, not for the heads of the race team, not for the Robbie Loomis and guys like that, but for my crew guys. They were the ones busting their butts everyday and it was so difficult for them because they weren’t getting told any information and I was getting told very limited information. They are the ones that worked the hardest and make the least amount of money. They needed to know what they needed to do. The group of guys I had on the 43 specifically, I loved them to death and I wanted them to stay around. It was both things, trying to take care of them and keep them here so that we could start this year out strong. It was a tough time, but we got through it. In the end, I think it will only make us stronger. I was proud of my guys that whole time for how they kept fighting. I think potentially now, we have better race cars. Doug Yates, Ford, everybody that puts the engine behind us, they are going to have more horsepower and the potential is there. We just have to live up to it now.”
THIS RACE A YEAR AGO YOU WERE REALLY GOOD. YOU WERE UPSET THOUGH BECAUSE YOU HAD A GREAT CAR THAT DAY AND DIDN’T GET THE FINISH YOU EXPECTED. “The Sprint Cup Series is so tough now that you have to start off strong. I knew we had a great race car last year and we didn’t finish the deal. I felt like that was my fault. Whether it was the pothole or not, I was the one that was controlling the steering wheel. It was a tough deal. The first 10 races last year we had 25th or worse finishes and you can’t have that. I look at this year and you have to get through Daytona. Of course you want to win it, and I think that we have a great car to go here and win it, but you have to go out there and finish strong and get a good result. You go to Phoenix from there and you have to keep that momentum going. I am excited because it is my second year working with Mike Shiplett and it is the same core group of guys that we worked with last year. Like I said, the word I hear and use a lot is potential. We are going to be better, we just have to live up to where we belong. I think that is right there, contending for wins, getting wins and contending for the Chase.”
YOU SHOWED FLASHES LAST YEAR, IS THERE ANY DOUBT WITH YOU THAT YOU CAN GET TO VICTORY LANE THIS YEAR? “There is no doubt, we just have to learn how to do it. We have to learn how to seal the deal. The only way you learn that is to run up front more consistently. You saw that at the end of last year, that we could do that, we just never finished the deal. It was our own fault at times and at other times, like at Dover, we had a 10-cent washer get in the tire and make it flat and went two laps down. Things like that are things that we just have to learn how to work with and deal with better. I am the first guy that needs to step up and do that. We are going to have the stuff to go out and win, no doubt in my mind. Mike Shiplett as a crew chief is one of the best out there. We have a great relationship. The tools are there, we can go out there and win, we just have to learn to do it and do it consistently.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST KEY TO GETTING CONSISTENCY? “I think the biggest thing for us last year was that most of the races, even the ones we finished well, there was a time in that race where we had a dip. For whatever reason, we would lose the handling. I just felt like the car was on a knife’s edge the whole time to making it good or making it bad. These cars are difficult; don’t get me wrong, everybody is on a knife’s edge. We have to round that a little bit more, get a consistent car and make an adjustment and know it isn’t going to turn the car to crap. That is what happened last year at times where we would be running fifth and then make an adjustment and be running 25th. Then you are back in the pack, struggling with air, and trying to get back to the front. There were times we got back and times that we didn’t. If we can make the car consistent, we are going to have a good package, and that is what we need.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER LAST YEAR’S RUN HERE? “It gives me a lot of confidence, but the race track is so different now. The way this race is going to be ran is a lot different now. Last year doesn’t really mean anything; it is going to be that different out there. At the same time, we have faster race cars and faster motors now. We had a car to beat last year, and I know we will have one of the cars here to beat this year. It is all about who you hook up with at the end of this race. Which two cars are going to get locked together bumper-to-bumper and can push each other and break away. More than anything, it is about making friends. I was trying to do that at the test, talking to Jeff (Gordon) and Kyle (Busch) and trying to sweet talk them. That is what it is going to be about, finding the right guy at the right time and staying out of the mess to do that.”
HOW DO PREPARE FOR THIS RACE? “You go step by step. With the way the rules package is, there is not a lot you can do to the car. We had three days here to test, and there is not a lot we are going to do to the car. Mike is going to get it on the race track and go through the inspection and there are some small little things we are going to try. Doug Yates and the engine shop brought a lot of stuff to the track for the test that we tried and I think we have a pretty good idea what the best engine package is. There is not much we can do from that aspect. It is more going step-by-step, getting through qualifying. If we have a chance at the pole, then great, if not then it doesn’t really mean anything. Going in Wednesday and getting in a big group of cars, which is something I haven’t done on this race track yet, because I was only here at the second test when we basically only had two-car drafting. That will be my first real attack mode chance where I can learn how to draft in a big pack on this track. Then we will go through the duals and I want to go out and win the thing. I want to be in victory lane for Best Buy and Ford and everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports. If not, I want to get out of there unscathed and keep building the week up. It is such a long time here that you can’t just come in here full bore. You have to keep ramping up and ramping up, learning each thing that happens. You have to get into Sunday and try to make the right decisions then.”
ARE YOU THE GLUE HOLDING THIS TEAM TOGETHER? “No. If I am the so-called leader then great, I am plenty happy to be the leader. I have the ability to lead this team and I feel like at the end of last year I led this team and helped keep it together, but there are a lot of great people on this race team to help keep that glue together. You have Robbie Loomis, our new CEO Lisa Brown who has been amazing. She has come in and helped steer the team in a new direction. There are a lot of people on down than can help keep this team together. Not one guy can keep a team together, that is not what it is all about. We have a great leader in The King. It is everybody working well together. That is what happened at the end of last year. Everybody wanted to be here. All the crew guys wanted to keep working hard and win races. That is what it takes. I feel like we have a great group of guys on both race teams. Guys back at the shop. For me, it is a whole total package.”
DOES THIS GROUP HAVE STABILITY NOW? “Well, it is the start of it definitely. It is not like the Medallion Group came along and all those guys came in and we thought we were saved and everything is great now. It is a stepping stone. You have to keep building. Going to the shop now, it is a small group of guys, it seemed like we had so many people from so many different race teams, whether it was just Ford in general or Roush Fenway or Yates, it seemed like you saw a new guy all the time before. Now you look at it and it is a small core group of guys that are working on two cars. Everybody seems to just be a lot calmer, and the shop has a different attitude around it. I feel good about it going into this year. We aren’t out of the woods. Everything isn’t rainbows and blue skies. You see the light at the end of the tunnel and I joke that the light used to be a train coming to hit us. Now it is a real light at the end of the tunnel and everyone seems to be happy about it. We have been through so much. Now it is time to get on the race track and see where we belong at the beginning of this year and going forward. We have new cars in the shop and a lot more tools than we had at the end of last year. The way I look at it, at the end of last year we came to the track with an attitude that we wanted to win, but even more we wanted to just survive. Now we just want to win.”
TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion — EXPECTATIONS GOING INTO THIS YEAR? “We definitely have higher expectations. Last year we had some struggles and I think we were definitely spread kind of thin trying to run three cars and the second and third team really kind of came together late last year. I’m thankful for Bob and everybody at Front Row. They made some big steps during the off season. We bought a bunch of cars from the RPM guys and we’re going to be running Ford’s new FR9 engine this year, which we didn’t run last year. I think that’s gonna be a big boost in our program. Consolidating down from three to two teams, I think that’s gonna help us consolidate our efforts on those two cars. We hired a competition director, a role that we didn’t have in place before. We hired Derrick Finley and I’m excited to have him. He’s gonna help strengthen that link between Front Row Motorsports and Ford and be able to use the resources Ford offers us that much better – the engineering, the technology, the wind tunnel time, seven-post time. We just didn’t have the time or personnel to do that last year, so just a lot of little steps we’re making. We’re also looking to take that next step up the ladder in the field as well to improve our performance.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS RACE CONSIDERING YOU DIDN’T TEST IN JANUARY? “I still feel very confident about it. We do all the things at the shop we can do just to get pure speed in the race car and spend time on the chassis dyno and pull-down rig. We have a very good idea of what we need to do to get the speed. Even though we didn’t come here and test, we all have friends in the garage. We’ve been to Talladega the last couple season, which is a very similar situation here with new pavement. The track is very smooth. The same things you did at Talladega to try and find speed, we’re gonna do those here, so having that experience at Talladega won’t make this that big of a disadvantage not coming down here to test.”
THE TRACK WAS SO BUMPY AND SLICK BEFORE, SO DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TO EXPECT? “It’s gonna be easy to drive. It’s gonna literally be like driving down the interstate at 70 miles an hour is what it’s gonna feel like, except when you get in the pack. It’s gonna be that much more mentally challenging. Before, you were really up on the wheel and your handling was very important and sliding around and bouncing around. Now, it’s gonna be more of a chess game. The handling is gonna be a non-issue. The track is very smooth. There aren’t many bumps to deal with, but it’s just gonna be a chess game of positioning yourself right and because the track is smooth, it’s gonna be like Talladega where we’re all gonna be up on top of each other – three-wide and probably four-wide – and we’re not gonna be able to get away from each other like we did at Daytona in the past.”
WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF YOUR NEW CREW CHIEF? “I’ve really enjoyed my time with Bill Henderson so far. I like that he’s straight to the point. He’s gonna do everything he can to prepare us to run well at the shop. Good enough isn’t good enough. He’s gonna try to do it the best he can, so I’m just excited to work with Bill and see how we get going here. He’s excited to be with me and with Front Row Motorsports, so I’m just excited to get this season going with him.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion — WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS GOING INTO 2011? “It feels good. Every year everyone is optimistic. Nobody comes to Daytona thinking, ‘Oh, we don’t have fast cars. Our pit crew is slow. It’s gonna be a long year.’ Everybody is optimistic, but I really feel like the Roush Fenway team is better than we’ve been in two years. We’ve got better race cars, better engines, better bodies, better pit crews – everything is better. Now it’s just a point where we’ve all got to go and do our jobs. We’re focused on doing that. I feel like I’m a better driver than I was a year ago, I’ve just got to go out there and not make mistakes, so I’m ready. I wish the Daytona 500 was tomorrow. I wish we could line up, unload the cars and say, ‘Look boys, the first lap you’re gonna make is the first lap of the race.’ Let’s go racing. I’m ready for it.”
WHAT DID CARL’S TWO WINS LATE LAST YEAR DO FOR THE ORGANIZATION? DID IT PROVE YOU GUYS WERE GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? “Absolutely. We had top-10 cars the last five races of the year. We could have and did finish in the top five or top 10, so we had some good runs and that gives everybody motivation in our chassis shop and body shop. For two years we’d been digging ourselves out of a hole, so it’s mentally and physically tough working on Saturdays and 60-hour weeks. Those guys are putting in that effort, so it’s good to see some trophies come back home, see some top 10s and see some good runs. I think that was just kind of a breath of fresh air that allowed everybody to keep working hard through the off-season.”
DREW HAS REMAINED WITH YOU AFTER IT WAS ORIGINALLY A TRIAL BASIS. HOW WAS THAT DECISION MADE DURING THE OFF-SEASON? “It went so well that we just kind of picked up and I think our third race out we finished eighth or 10th. Drew just kind of stepped right in and went to work. I think he had been a part of those positions earlier, going into Matt’s deal and going into Carl’s Nationwide program and just stepping in and going. It’s been really good. When we got to those last couple of races and some of the questions were starting to arise on what the crew chief was going to look like I told Jack, ‘Look, I want Drew. This is what I want.’ Obviously, he said we have to talk to Carl first, so I called Carl and he was actually the one who was very cool about it. Carl is a great teammate and a great friend and it worked out the best for everyone. Mike Beam has his Nationwide deal running good, so it’s worked out well and I can’t wait for us to get on the race track again.”
WHY DID YOU GUYS SEEM TO CLICK SO WELL? “I think it’s kind of 50/50. We’re at a similar age. We want to be at the Cup level. We want to win races. We both have had some success and we’ve both had some things happen that we’ve learned from, going back and forth from the Nationwide car to the Cup car. And then another part of the 6 car running better is just Roush in general being better. I think that we were gonna run better at the end of the year no matter who our crew chief was, but Drew brought some extra fire to the team that elevated us a little bit more. He works great with all the pit crew members. He understands what’s going on over the wall and I can’t say enough good things about him. We just have to work together.”
WHAT IS THE KEY FOR YOU THIS YEAR? “We’ve got to get back to being consistent. We’ve got to be strong several weeks in a row. So many times the last couple of years we’d have a little momentum on our side and then we’d fall off for a couple of weeks. We’ve worked really hard on our short track program. I’ve turned the corner on our road course program. Our downforce and superspeedway programs are really strong, so we’ve got to win a race this year. We’ve just got to be in contention. If you’re in contention to win some races, you’re gonna win a couple. We’re at that point now and a good year for us would be top 15 in points – be in contention. If you’re in contention to win some races, you never know what’s gonna happen in the points. That’s kind of what we’re looking at.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion — IS THERE ONE THING THAT MAKES YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THIS YEAR? “I don’t think there’s one thing. That’s what makes me optimistic is it’s not like we had one trick or one thing we did at the end of the year that was better. It’s a number of things – it’s the engine and the pit crew and the cars and the attitude around the shop. The management – Robbie Reiser – all of those things, I feel, have made us faster, so those are the things I’m excited about. I hope it works out.”
IS MOMENTUM HARDER TO RETRIEVE THAN ACHIEVE? “I don’t know. This sport is so strange. Going into the final two races of the season, I didn’t expect to win them. I hoped to win them, but to finish the season like we did – so strong. I mean, sitting on poles and winning races, winning in the Nationwide Series, it’s like all of a sudden everything went well. It could go the other way, but I’m hoping it doesn’t.”
WHERE ARE YOU IN TERMS OF YOUR CONTRACT SITUATION WITH ROUSH FENWAY? “The thing I’m going to do is to do whatever is best for me to go win the most championships I can win. That’s what I want to do and I would like to get it done as quickly and privately as we can so that we can go focus on racing because that’s the best thing. There’s no benefit to having a long, drawn out, messy process. We just need to march through it and figure out what we’re gonna do.”
IS IT MORE MESSY FOR YOU SINCE YOU HANDLE THESE THINGS BY YOURSELF? “I’m fortunate to be able to do all this stuff myself. I’ve worked with people that are easy to work with and my commitment to myself and my team is to just focus on the racing and whatever steps we have to do for contracts and stuff, I’ll do that away from the race track – literally and figuratively – I’ll make sure that I just focus on making my car as fast as it can be.”
ARE YOU FREE TO TALK TO OTHER TEAMS AT THIS POINT? “I’m free to do whatever I’d like to do. I’d rather not talk about the specifics of my contract.”
DOES GOING TO A DIFFERENT TEAM APPEAL TO YOU? “I have had a great relationship with Jack Roush and I just want to do whatever is most likely to let me go win championships. That’s what I’d like to do and the dream would be to do that at Roush in the 99 car with Aflac on board. That would be the dream, but we just have to sit down and go through everything and see where everybody is at.”
THREE YEARS AGO YOUR DEAL SET THE NEW STANDARD. DO YOU EXPECT IT TO BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME WITH THE ECONOMY THE WAY IT IS? “I don’t know. I haven’t looked at it and really analyzed it and had the in-depth conversations that I would have to have to understand exactly where everything is, but times are changing and things are changing in the world – especially our United States business world. I’m assuming that the next deal that I make will be different in a number of ways. Some of them may be really good. I have some ideas and some people around me have some ideas that could make this next sponsorship negotiation a lot of fun for me and the sponsors. We have just a lot of different ideas. We’ll have to hash them out and talk about them, but, like I said from the beginning, I have a whole year left to race here. I’m not in any rush, and I definitely don’t want to use you guys and have this out in the media. I feel like the right thing to do is to make your business deal in a normal manner and not through the media. That’s my opinion.”
ARE THE FIRST TWO OR THREE MONTHS CRITICAL ON DETERMING WHAT YOU DO? “I think it is, but I’m a little wiser than that now. I understand that this sport goes in waves. Let me give you an example, Robbie Reiser running our shop. That is a huge positive thing for Roush Fenway. I think that’s gonna be good for myself or Ricky Stenhouse or Trevor Bayne, all the guys coming up. Those are the kind of things that I’m really focused on. What are we doing to be the best team that we can be for the long term? I think Steve Newmark being on board is huge, but we haven’t really sat down and talked about it and I haven’t gone out and looked at the greater market to see what it looks like. I guess I ought to get on that pretty quick (laughing), but I really and truly am just focused on winning here. The funny thing about racing is when you win a bunch and everything is going really well, it all kind of works out. So I’m really trying to focus on that.”
DOES A DEAL NEED TO BE MADE IN A PARTNERSHIP WITH A SPONSOR? “I don’t know. All I can really officially say is I have a great relationship with everybody at Roush and my first goal would be to race that 99 car with Jack and for Aflac. That would be the dream deal, but I’ll just have to go and look, just like I did the last time, I have to look at everything and say, ‘What’s the best thing for performance?’ That’s what this boils down to because you want to perform well.”
HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU THAT YOU CAN START 2011 LIKE YOU ENDED 2010? “I’m confident, I’m real optimistic, but I’m also realistic. In 2005 we finished the season very strongly and had a poor 2006. In 2008 we did the same thing with 2009, so I don’t want to get too far out there, but if you look at the way things have gone for us, we won three races in the chase. Greg won Kansas and we won Phoenix and Homestead. I feel like we can win at Daytona. We’ve got a team that works well together. I feel like we can win at Phoenix. I feel like we can win at Vegas. If I start going down the list of tracks, I’m very excited about it, but I don’t want to get over-confident or jinx myself of get lazy. I want to stay hungry and go out here and try to win.”
HAVE YOU LEARNED ANYTHING FROM THOSE PREVIOUS UPS AND DOWNS? “I learned a lot of things, but I didn’t really do anything differently. It’s just the way this sport works. I think our team learned that you can’t rest on anything. I wouldn’t say we were complacent or anything like that, but we might have been a little bit unrealistic about where we stood. I think that 70-race losing streak is recent enough and it’s painful enough that we haven’t lifted yet. We’re wide open. We’re going forward as if we hadn’t won those last two races, so I guess that’s the thing that we learned is to just keep digging.”
HOW HARD IS IT TO GO THROUGH A WINLESS STREAK LIKE THAT? “It’s mentally tough, it’s really tough. The thing that makes it easy is when you have team and someone like Bob Osborne and Jack Roush that, at least to me, they never wavered in their faith in me. They always said they believed in me and they knew I was doing everything for them, but it’s one of those things where everyone looks at themselves and says, ‘Hey, am I doing the best job I can do?’ It just felt so good to win at Phoenix, and then to go the next week and win at Homestead, I cannot explain how good that felt. It’s like, not only did we end our streak, but we made a statement that we’re back and we’re fast. That was good.”
WAS IT A COINCIDENCE YOU WON TWO STRAIGHT? “I don’t know. It’s kind of strange. I felt like we had been building up and getting faster, but the win at Phoenix – but let me put it to you this way. The win before Phoenix, it took 70 races to win again. To go win at Phoenix and then win seven days later win at Homestead, that’s awesome. That was a really good feeling. I didn’t want the season to end. I’m real excited about going racing.”
DOES THE NOSE CHANGE HAVE AN EFFECT ON THE GAINS YOU MADE LAST YEAR? “I don’t think the nose will do anything but give us more grip. That’s a good thing. Right now, we’re on top of our simulation stuff and our wind tunnel stuff well enough that any changes we’ll be in a good spot to make the most of it.”
FOX IS GOING TO PUT MORE EMPHASIS ON THE DAREDEVIL ASPECT OF DRIVING. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? “Racing is what it is. We go out and race and things happen. Whatever Fox has got to do is what they have to do. I don’t really have an opinion on it.”
HOW MUCH IS DANGER A PART OF THE FAN APPEAL? “One of the neat things about racing to me is that there is an element of risk and danger. That’s what made it exciting to go to the race track. As a fan when I used to go and watch, that’s what separated me from the guy driving. I don’t know if I was prepared to take that risk. There is a lot of excitement because of that, but I think the educated fan and the true race fan understands that’s part of it. That’s not why they’re watching it, but they understand that’s part of the sport and that’s what makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck when you see something really wild happen. I think as long as it’s done tastefully – showing that side of the sport and putting an emphasis on it is OK as long as it’s not exploited.”
WHEN DID YOU NOT KNOW YOU COULD BE THAT GUY? “When I was going to the races with my dad as a little kid. I was like, ‘That’s really, really neat, but that looks really, really scary too.’ So the first time I drove a race car it surprised me. The speed, the power and the noise – that first time I drove it took me a little while after that to think about it and go out there and really race. It was about a six-month gap between the first time I stepped in a race car to when I really started racing. During that time, I thought a lot about that feeling of, ‘Holy smokes. This is pretty serious.’ That’s fun. I think that’s part of what we’re all trying to do is master that – that little bit of anxiety or fear. That’s a neat part of the sport.”
WOULD YOU TRADE BEING IN THE CHASE FOR WINNING THE DAYTONA 500 AND BRICKYARD LIKE JAMIE DID LAST YEAR? “I see Jamie as a guy who is really confident in himself. He’s been through a lot and he’s shown everyone that he’s a true racer and a guy that can win. I think whatever he tells you is the truth. For me, personally, I want to win a championship more than anything. That is my mission. I know what it feels like to win races. I don’t know what it’s like to win the Daytona 500 or the Brickyard 400, but I want to go win championships. If I had to choose right now between the Daytona 500 or making the chase, it’s definitely making the chase. But if I knew I wasn’t gonna win the championship, then, hell yes, I’d take the Daytona 500. I’d take the Daytona 500 over second-place in the championship. I’ll do that. For sure. I’ve finished second. That’s wonderful. You get to go sit down and watch Jimmie Johnson talk some more (laughing). The 500 would be big.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion – CAN YOU TOUCH ON DAYTONA AND WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE WON THIS RACE? “Yeah, it is our biggest race of the year obviously, so when you can win that race it is one of the things you like to collect. You want to win every week, but if you can pick one, this would be one of them. It was great to win it.”
WAS THERE A LOT OF TIME TO ENJOY IT AND WHEN DID YOU FIRST REALIZE THAT WINNING IT WAS A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE? “I don’t know if it is life changing. I mean I guess professionally it is somewhat. It is cool to have. To be in that group of drivers that has won one is cool. Really, this sport is more about what have you done for me lately. You have to go back and do it the next week and the week after that. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. We had that week after and that was a lot of fun, but then we were off to California.”
WHERE DID YOU WATCH THE SUPER BOWL AND HOW DID YOU CELEBRATE? “I watched it at home in my basement in my lucky chair. I sat in the same chair after they won the last three or four games or whatever. I had a few friends come over and put themselves through that. To watch a Packers game with me, I don’t know if it is fun or not, but I am sure it is entertaining because I yell a lot. I just watched at home. I had a good time. I really wish Katie and I could have gone to the game. I didn’t get to go last time because back then I just honestly couldn’t afford it. After I got doing better and making some money I told myself that if they ever get back, not matter what the circumstances I was going to go. I did want to go with Katie, but she couldn’t travel. Hopefully they make it back soon and we can go next time.”
YOU ARE A PRETTY CALM DRIVER, ARE YOU A CALM FAN? “No, you know it is really the only thing that I get in to besides racing. The only other sport I get in to really. I am a big Packers fan and I enjoy watching the NFL. I enjoy watching a lot of NFL games and playing fantasy football. I just really enjoy that. I am a pretty loud passionate fan.”
YOUR RESERVED PERSONA DOESN’T HOLD FOR A FOOTBALL GAME? “No. I am the guy that is standing up, cheering and yelling. I get into it.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THE TRACK HAS CHANGED COMPARED TO LAST YEAR? “It is night and day. I think you can do anything now. The new surface has so much grip that you will be able to change lanes at the drop of the hat and put the car wherever you wanted to put it. You couldn’t do that before because the pavement was so worn out and we had such big restrictor plates. We had a lot of speed when we got to the corner which made the cars a handful through the corner. I think it will be a totally different race and approach than ever before.”
HOW DOES IT CHANGE FROM A DRIVING ABILITY STANDPOINT? “You won’t have to wrestle the car through the corners like you used to have to do, but I think the racing is going to be very intense because everybody’s car does handle and you can put it wherever you want.”
IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE WATER AT ROUSH FENWAY WITH ALL THE BABIES COMING? “Well, I don’t think it is just Roush Fenway. I think ever since NASCAR stopped the off-season and in-season testing. I guess we have all been at home too much (laughter). It is fun, there is a baby boom in NASCAR and I think it is cool that there will be a bunch of kids about the same age that can grow up together and hopefully be friends. It used to be like that. Everything works in cycles. When I showed up in this circuit, there were still a lot of kids around, but they were older. A lot of them were around the teens. All those kids got older and some of the drivers retired and then there were no kids around for the last four or five years really. Now it seems like all the guys that have been married for awhile and are getting to the point where they want to have kids.”
HOW DO YOU THINK THE NEW PIT RULES WITH THE SIX MEN OVER WILL IMPACT STRATEGY IN RACES? “I think it depends on the track. You still need so much fuel to get to the end of the race. You are still going to have to pit. At a track like this it will be way more about fuel than tires. I don’t foresee any tire wear or problems here. I think you could run the whole race on a set of tires with this pavement. Tires will be more important than fuel, but fuel will be important. Our fuel mileage is going to be a little worse with the FR9 and it takes a little longer to fuel the cars.”
IT USED TO BE YOU COULD PICK UP SOME SPOTS ON PIT ROAD, WILL THAT STILL BE THE CASE DO YOU THINK? “I think that it is just going to be different. The fuel guy is going to be more important. How fast he can get to the car, get it plugged in quickly and not leaking. How fast he can switch from the first to second can without disrupting the rest of the stop. We used to fuel the car to stay out of the way of the tire changers because we could fuel the car much faster than they could change the tires. Right now, and this might change as we go along, you can change tires a couple seconds faster than you can put fuel in the car. I am sure everyone will work on getting fuel in the car as quick as they can and that will be the difference, more than the tire changers — at least for a little while.”
IS IT GOING TO BE TOUGHER TO MAKE THE CHASE NOW WITH THE NEW FORMAT? “I think it will be a little different. I think, I don’t know, but I think that with this points system, if you drop out of some races and get those one, two, four and six points from being in the back, that is going to be really hard to make up points. I think the win thing is a good idea. I think that 10 is enough for the Chase anyway, but to have 11 and 12, as long as you are in the top-20 in points it helps those guys that maybe had an engine break or had a wreck at Daytona or Talladega or whatever and lost so many points that they couldn’t overcome that, now they have a chance to get in by wins. I think that is a neat twist that they put in there that makes it interesting.”
MARK MARTIN SAID EARLIER THAT BEFORE, HE THOUGHT IT WAS THE CAR BEFORE IT WAS THE DRIVER OF THE NO. 48 THAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE SUCCESS. HE NOW SAYS HIS TUNE HAS CHANGED. DO YOU FEEL LIKE JIMMIE HAS EARNED HIS STRIPES? “Has he earned his stripes? He has won five championships in a row. It is a team effort. When Mark first showed up at Hendrick and won the most races in a season than he has ever won in his career. Obviously they have good equipment and Jimmie is a great driver. There are four really great drivers over there and he has won the last five of them. It is like anything else, it is a team effort. You have to have everyone doing their job at the highest level to win championships. Certainly it would be hard for anybody to say that Jimmie is not the best out there, if not the best ever. Nobody has won five in a row and I think only one other guy has won three in a row. It is really incredible this day in age with this competition level and this amount of rules. It is an incredible accomplishment.”
DO YOU WELCOME THE NEW POINTS SYSTEM? “Sure, why not. It will be alright. I hope it will be alright for us. I look forward to seeing how it goes.”
ARE YOU HOPING THERE ARE ANY IMPROVEMENTS TO YOUR ENGINE FOR THIS YEAR? “You always hope they improve it, whether they change the rules or the parts or not. I think they are. Doug Yates, in my opinion, is the best in the business and he is always trying to give us as much power as he can and still be reliable.”
NASCAR HAS TWEAKED WITH THE CHASE FORMAT AND THE POINTS OVER THE YEARS. IS THERE ANY PART OF YOU THAT WISHES THAT THERE WAS CONSISTENCY WITH THINGS? “To me it doesn’t matter that much as long as it is the same for everyone. I think you always have to look to make things better, I am all about that. I also think that at some point along the line you need consistency so everyone can understand things. When you watch football, you understand how the people make the playoffs, how the wild card works, what you have to do to get in the Super Bowl. I think this points system is probably a step toward that, but we have to get it to the point where all the fans understand what is going on eventually too and get some consistency and keep things the same. That is what I think, but I don’t know.”
HOW BUSY ARE THESE COUPLE OF WEEKENDS FOR YOU ON THE TRACK? “It really is not that bad. I was talking to Katie the other day about it and I remember when we used to come down here how incredibly busy it was for me. Now it is honestly not that busy. When we were running better and had won the championship and all that, we had about 20 Nationwide races, the I-ROC series was still in business, so you would get your Busch car ready to go, your I-ROC car ready to go and you would run that race and practice and the Cup race and practice. This week, I don’t think there will be as much practice because everybody’s car is going to handle. I think we will go out and draft once or twice and everybody will be okay. There are so many rules and so much grip; I don’t really know what you are going to work on that much. I could be wrong, and Jimmy could have a plan to run every lap of every practice. Not running Nationwide and I-ROC has made it not so busy.”
IN REGARD TO THE NEW POINT SYSTEM, IT WAS ALREADY TRUE THAT BAD THINGS HURT MORE THAN GOOD THINGS HELPED, BUT IT SEEMS MORE-SO NOW AND IN THE CHASE IT IS REALLY GOING TO BE A CRUSHER IF YOU HAVE A 38TH PLACE FINISH. WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT THAT OR DO YOU JUST GO FULL STEAM AHEAD? “It is the same for everybody. The higher you finish the more point you get. So obviously if you can win every race you are going to win the championship, as dumb as that sounds. I have not taken a calculator to it like it sounds like you have, but it does seem like if you have one or two real bad races, worse than 35th, then you are going to be in big trouble. In the Chase, it used to be that you could have a bad race, like the year we finished second to Jimmie, we finished second in points and he had a couple real bad weeks and was behind, but then he stared finishing top-five for a couple weeks and we were running 11th every week and you get so many more points to be in the top-five and you could gain points that way. I think it will be tougher to do that now. I remember when they first came with the Chase, everybody was saying with only 10 races you couldn’t have one problem and still win the championship, but we have proved that was not true. You can have a couple problems if you are a great team and still overcome it. It is what it is. It is the same for everybody. We just have to watch it, see how it plays out and go from there. The first year of the Chase, Kurt was going to wrap it up a week early, blew up in Atlanta and finished last and won the thing by just a couple points at Homestead with a wheel falling off and everything. He was going to wrap it up early easily in Atlanta, but he had a problem and it got everybody caught up. He was still able to win the championship though.”
DO YOU THINK WHAT WE SAY WITH THE PIT-CREW SWAP LAST YEAR WITH THE 48 AND 24 COULD EVER HAPPEN AT ROUSH OR IS THAT OFF THE TABLE? “I think it could happen. It would be dumb not to happen if you had a guy that was running for the championship and didn’t have the fastest, best over the wall crew, and one of your other three cars dropped out of the race, now it is one thing robbing them in the middle of the race, but if you own four teams and you have one drop out of the race and instead of six crew members you have 12 standing there and you know that those six are better than the other six, why wouldn’t you put them in?”
YOU DON’T THINK THAT AFFECTS THE CHEMESTRY OF THE TEAM? “It didn’t seem like it did. The team is bigger than one person. It is bigger than the driver or crew chief or six people over the wall. It is bigger than that. It takes everybody to make that thing work. You have to put your best foot forward and use your best stuff every week. If you are one of the guys getting pulled out, obviously nobody likes that, but at the end of the day it was smart. It probably helped them win a championship.”
EVERYBODY IS OPTIMISTIC THIS TIME OF THE YEAR. WHAT DO YOU FEEL MIGHT BE DIFFERENT ABOUT YOUR TEAM THIS YEAR THAN OTHER YEARS? “Well, Jimmy Fennig has been here and we finished strong at the end of last year. I felt more confident at the end of last year than the 10 weeks before that. It seems like we are going in the right direction. We have had some change over the wall that hopefully will pick our over the wall guys up a little bit. We have had several changes and have to see how it goes. This year, I feel like maybe Jimmy will feel like it is more his own team. Chip has stepped up to engineering, and now Jimmy has built the team that is there now. It is different than it was a few years ago. I think he probably feels a little more comfortable with his own group and that will help.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS YEAR? “I’m one of 43 drivers who think they’re gonna in the Daytona 500 and think they’re gonna win the championship. What makes us different? I think, for me, 2011 was all about change. I wanted a fresh start. I wanted to work with a new group of people and shake things up and try to get the most out of myself and we’ve done that. I’m looking forward to driving for Richard Petty Motorsports. We’ve got great sponsorships with Stanley and DeWalt to partner up with in 2011, so we’re fully funded. We’ve got a great technical partnership with Roush Yates and the engine program over there, so we’ve got a lot of really good stuff going on. Todd Parrott, he’s a championship crew chief and he’s won the Daytona 500, so I feel really good about the situation just hope I can make the most of it.”
WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO YOUR SUCCESS? “I’ve got a lot of determination and I’m very stubborn as well and I think that’s helped me persevere through the tough times. Not every day is a good day. I did a lot more winning before I came to NASCAR than since I’ve been here because the competition is so fierce and it’s an incredible form of racing. It’s something I’ll take with me forever. It’s a dream job and a dream chance to be here and compete and I think just my passion for racing and my dedication to my chosen sport and field has held me in good stead, and I’ve had a lot of luck. It takes a lot of luck to get to where I am.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITE SAYINGS? “I’m a man of action. I love to do things. I’m not a guy who sits around on a computer. I’m not a guy who sits around the house. I’ve got to be doing something and, for me, racing is all about that. We’re living life in the fast lane and we’re mixing it up and it’s passion and aggression and commitment and somewhat skill to get around these tracks, and it’s just great to be part of this sport.”
HOW HAVE YOU ADJUSTED TO THIS TEAM? “A lot better than other teams because I’ve obviously I’m racing against other people, but we’ve got some communication issues. I like to talk Australian and my crew chief talks North Carolinian (laughing). It’s a little bit different, so we’ve got some issues there to deal with, but I’m getting along well with my guys. It’s taking its time to get to learn each other and it’s a work in progress, but Richard Petty Motorsports went through a lot of change at the end of last year. I feel like our team is a great small team that is really gonna bounce back well. I’m excited for it. I feel a lot of responsibility to deliver for the sponsors, for my team, for members who stayed committed to the program and to the King. I’m driving for the King and that comes with a unique responsibility as well.”
DO YOU HAVE A PLAN FOR THIS YEAR AS FAR AS A COURSE OF ACTION? “Not really. At this point you get paid to race cars. You’re meant to know what to do. They’re not gonna tell me what to do. I know what I need to do out there. I can tell you straight up we’re gonna try to win the Daytona 500 and we’re gonna get a good points base to get through the fifth race and build up a championship run if we can. We’ve got to be consistent. We’re gonna take our chances when they come, but not be crazy out there. For me, it’s a solid start. Obviously, the Daytona 500 is a unique deal where we’re not considering the Daytona 500 a championship race just because you want to win it so bad. We’ll see how it all goes and just get through the first part of the season smart and then get to know each other and build up a base.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS WEEK IN GENERAL? “It’s good that I’m here talking about it. That’s a good thing. I’m here to be part of the sport and to see NASCAR reinvigorate itself into a new year. It’s always refreshing and nice to be a part of it. It’s exciting. There’s such media attention. I heard today that there are more sponsors today back in the sport than last year and there’s more commitment. That’s always a good thing. We’re here to talk about the good things in NASCAR and a new season is upon us. Hopefully, we can stop Jimmie Johnson.”
WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT SR. WHEN HE WAS RACING? “I remember the day here that ended his life and I knew the man he was – an incredible person and he’ll be a legend that stays in the sport for generations to come. I was lucky enough to see him race live. I was lucky enough to be a part of it and see what he was all about. I never got a chance to race against him, which is a shame, but it was just great to have witnessed it and Richard Petty is the same. He’s a living legend. I get a chance to rub shoulders with him and to learn about the past and that’s pretty cool.”
WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU WEREN’T RACING? “I’d be a builder of some kind. I left school and kind of stumbled into a job as a builder’s assistant. I enjoy the outside. I enjoy building things and it’s good job satisfaction and good physical work.”
WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING HERE? “My first race here with this team, it’s gonna be tough but we’ve got as good a chance as any of the other 42 drivers out there. It’s a race where you only get one shot at it each year. This is my third chance and my best chance yet, so I feel my odds are better than last year and the year before that.”
ANY FUNNY STORIES WITH YOUR ACCENT AND COMMUNICATING WITH TODD? “He can’t understand a word I say. He might be miming or lip-reading, I guess. I’m not sure what he’s doing, but I’ve got to learn to slow my speech down. I’ve got to learn to be clearer on the radio and on the telephone too. I talk a little fast and my accent can throw guys off a little bit.”
