Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Monday, August 31, 2020
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begin this weekend at Darlington Raceway and all four Stewart-Haas drivers will be in the field of 16. SHR is the only organization that has all four of its teams in the playoffs as regular-season champion Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola and Sunoco Rookie of the Year Cole Custer all qualified. Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition for SHR, participated in a Ford Zoom call this afternoon to talk about the team’s success and the goals that lie ahead.
GREG ZIPADELLI, Vice President of Competition, Stewart-Haas Racing – ALL FOUR TEAMS MADE THE PLAYOFFS, WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY THE GOAL AT THE START OF THE YEAR. HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW THAT THE PLAYOFFS ARE HERE? “I think it’s been a strong year. Obviously, we’d like to have more wins, but as an organization, I think consistency and the speed that we’ve had every week for all of our teams has been very solid. I’m very proud of everybody, especially with the adverse conditions that everybody is dealing with. It’s obviously not the norm, so there had to be a lot of adjustments and people working different hours and just a lot of different things. Everybody has done a good job of adjusting and staying focused on what’s important. Now, it’s time to pick up the game for the last 10 and see how many cars we can get how far.”
IF YOU MADE A LIST OF KEYS TO PERFORM WELL BEFORE THE PANDEMIC AND NOW DURING IT WOULD ANY OF THOSE CHANGE? “The end result is the same – to finish as high as you can in each race. But I think the biggest adjustments and the difference was just the preparation at the shop and how much more you did here and when you unload you don’t have a chance to really add packer, tighten your car up until the first pit stop. I think from the engineers just spending that extra time digging through all the past races and things that they’ve done to the guys at the shop preparing the very best race cars that they can knowing that they’re not gonna get to practice and see what our speed is and work on our car. You’ve got to show up on kill from every aspect, from preparation and maintenance, and I think our guys have done a really good job at that.”
DO YOU FEEL ANY MORE OR LESS READY FOR THESE PLAYOFFS THAN A YEAR AGO FROM A CAR PREPPING STANDPOINT AND EVERYTHING? “Yeah, I think just because we’ve had all these races under this format I feel good about our performance when we unload like that. So, I feel like we’ve got as good a shot as anybody.”
HOW HAVE YOU SEEN COLE IMPROVE THROUGH HIS ROOKIE SEASON? “Cole and Mike, and the whole team, have really done a great job of improving. Each week they’ve taken what I would consider a very solid common sense approach, not a lot of changes, trying to keep things as normal as they can from car to car, from setup to setup, and Cole has done a good job that’s allowed him to just go out and figure out how to drive these cars. They have it the worst because they don’t have any practice and he hasn’t been to a lot of these racetracks with one of these cars, so they were obviously at a bigger disadvantage than most teams out there. I think Cole just being very patient, doing a lot of watching and a lot of listening. That’s kind of his style and he just tries to apply it all and when he does there is usually speed with it and I think you’ve seen the last five or six weeks – ever since that win and even before that they’ve consistently been in or around the top 10. As the day goes they get better and better and you couldn’t ask for much more than that.”
WHERE ARE YOU AT IN CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS WITH CLINT AND ARIC, AND DO YOU ANTICIPATE BOTH BEING BACK WITH SHR? “Where we are is we kind of keep our laundry in-house. We’re working on them. Yes, I do anticipate and excited to hopefully have the same lineup that we do this year back. I know one is very close to done, and working on the other one. So, I think our drivers really work well together this year and lean on each other. They’ve all helped Cole a bunch and I’m proud of everybody for that. I think they’ve showed up ready to race on Sundays and that’s all we can ask.”
WHERE DOES CHASE BRISCOE FIT INTO YOUR PLANS AND DO YOU EXPECT TO HAVE AN XFINITY TEAM NEXT YEAR? “Yeah, hopefully he’ll be right where he is and shortly thereafter move up to the Cup Series. We love Chase and appreciate him. He’s a good kid and a great talent, and just a ton of fun to be around as far as his capability and how calm and cool he is, and the things he can do with a race car.”
IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE ANTICIPATING CHASE IN CUP IN 2022? IS THAT CORRECT? “I would say he’s right at that point, whether it’s next year or the year after. I don’t think it would hurt him to run another year of XFINITY. I don’t know — kind of depending on how the schedules and what the races are if it helps him a bunch or not, but, right now, we’re trying to weigh out all those options.”
ARIC HAS RUN CONSISTENTLY NEAR THE FRONT ALL YEAR. DOES HE NEED TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE AND WIN DURING THE PLAYOFFS BECAUSE HE DOESN’T HAVE A LOT OF PLAYOFF POINTS. “Yeah, I think the first round is be smart, don’t put yourself in a bad situation. There will be enough people that have an issue, just don’t put yourself in that. To your point, if you make the first round and you get to the second round, as you make it, yes, the intensity obviously needs to pick up and wins or bonus points, all those things, certainly add up and allow you to keep moving on. He’s done a really good job, him and Mike, of growing together as a team and figuring out what he likes. Buga has done a great job at that, but it’s time to go. They’ve been picking up and building their confidence and I feel like they’re ready, they just have to go out and execute. When you go back through and you look at the top fives and top 10s he’s had all year, I don’t know if a single one of them was just a good, clean race. They’ve had issues. Pit crews, restarts, speeding on pit road – things of that nature that have made him go to the back and have to race to the front. If we can clean all of those things up and not make any mistakes, I think he’ll have a good opportunity.”
KEVIN IS PROBABLY THE FAVORITE. DOES THAT PUT MORE PRESSURE ON HIM? “It’s Kevin Harvick. I think anytime you put pressure on him he usually performs to the highest level, so I think that team has done an amazing job this year. I don’t anticipate them doing any less than going all the way to Phoenix and racing for a championship.”
HOW CLOSE DO YOU THINK YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO GET THE 14 AND 10 IN HARVICK’S UNIVERSE? “I think when you look outside of even our organization there’s only probably one other team on a weekly basis that’s in that and that’s Denny. Do I think that we’re better than we were? Do I think that our consistency is better? Now, granted we’ve got to be honest and say it’s a little bit different mindset. It’s a little different without having practice, but with that being said, I feel like all my guys have done a really good job of preparing and unloading good, fast race cars week in and week out, and that’s what got all four of them in the chase to start. Kevin is Kevin. He’s at the top of his game right now and the same thing for Rodney. He’s doing a phenomenal job with that group – him and Cheddar – working hard, preparing super, super good race cars, so they just need to continue doing that and I believe they’ll have a pretty good shot at it.”
TONY HAS PUBLICLY ADVOCATED FOR KYLE LARSON OF LATE. WOULD YOU MOVE YOUR LINEUP AROUND TO ACCOMMODATE HIM INTO THE FOLD? “I don’t think there’s an organization out there that wouldn’t. He’s a great, great talent and I don’t think he’s proved what he’s capable of doing. I think that kids got a lot of talent and has a lot of good things in his future as far as wins and racing for championships and things of that nature.”
DO YOU HAVE A TECHNICAL ALLIANCE WITH GO FAS? “We have a small one with them. We just try to help them a little bit. They buy some parts and some cars from us from the past.”
COULD THAT BE A HOME FOR CHASE BRISCOE NEXT YEAR? “I think there are opportunities for all of that. We haven’t really talked much about going down that road. I think we’re just kind of waiting to see how everything pans out and then we’ll make the decisions which we feel is best for our organization and our drivers.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY GUIDANCE FROM NASCAR IF ONE OF YOUR GUYS TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID IN THE PLAYOFFS? WILL THE POLICY STAY THE SAME OR WILL THERE BE ALLOWANCES? “I would anticipate fully that it remains the same. I have not heard anything different. We have not asked just because why would they change it? Granted, I realize the playoffs are extremely important, but I don’t think that they’re willing to jeopardize other people based on if somebody had it. That would be my guess.”
KEVIN AND DENNY SEEM TO HAVE AN EASIER PATH TO PHOENIX. HOW DOES IT CHANGE FOR EVERYONE ELSE WHEN IT LOOKS LIKE TWO SPOTS ARE UP FOR GRABS? “It means everybody else is racing for two spots and not four. I think those two guys are gonna go and run head-to-head and win races in the next 10 and move on. I wouldn’t expect anything to change amongst those two guys. The curious thing is which team driver will step up in the next 10 weeks and match what they’ve done?”
LONG TERM DO YOU LIKE ONE-DAY SHOWS? “I honestly would have said, if we had an opportunity to try this, ‘Heck, no.’ We’ve done our three-day races forever. That’s what works. That’s what our sport is about, but, honestly, I can’t see where the racing is any different. Honestly, it’s worked out really, really well. Granted, we as a company have run well in the XFINITY and the Cup with this format. If we weren’t, would I think differently? I don’t know, probably. That’s the human side of us, but, in all honestly, I think it’s been a really good change for the sport, especially in these times, and I would be fine with all or some of these in the future.”
DO YOU THINK IT’S A FAIR WAY TO DECIDE A CHAMPIONSHIP BY JUST UNLOADING THE CARS AND RACING? “It’s the same for everybody.”
ELIMINATE THAT THOUGH. LOOK AT A DRIVER LIKE COLE. “Well, I would say Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin have performed so long and been in the sport a while and have earned that spot. That’s why they are so good and Cole will be there some day. If he continues to progress at the rate that he has this year, and there will be some rookies that come in and will have a hard time and have to wait to go back to the second race because they’ve learned some and they go back and look at their notes. Honestly, it’s a different approach. I think what’s gonna help Cole the most is when you look at where he’s started in most of these races it’s been 25th to 30th, so they’re already better than they have been two-thirds of the year just based on their starting position. So, I think that’s gonna change. Everybody is right there able to get points, like you didn’t have a bad qualifying effort and starting 25th or 30th and you’re kind of giving up that first stage, so I think that’s gonna play a little bit part in how these first couple rounds go.”
WHY HAVE KEVIN AND RODNEY HIT IT SO WELL IN THIS FORMAT? “Kevin is always the guy that steps up to a challenge. He likes this, I think. That’s how I feel in conversations with him. Rodney does a really good job. He’s very, very detailed and unloads really good race cars. He’s unloading a car he feels very strongly about and he’s unloading a car like if he had two days or something of working on it and tuning on it at the racetrack, he’s confident enough in unloading feeling like he has that in these one-day shows – not needing the practice to get the car better, to get the splitter at the right height, and all the other little things and details that amount to speed.”
