Sprint Media Tour – Day Two – Furniture Row Racing and Hendrick Motorsports

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January 29, 2014

frf_media_tour_keppel — Photo Credit: Brad Keppel

The final two stops on day two of the tour featured Furniture Row Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. Furniture Row found its most success last season with Kurt Busch in the driver’s seat, but Busch has been replaced by Martin Truex, Jr., who piloted a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota in 2013.

Furniture Row is the only single car team to ever make the Chase and is the only Cup team headquartered west of the Mississippi River. Their alliance with Richard Childress Racing was hailed as vital to their performance.

“Our team is intact from last year,” said team manager Joe Garone. “We didn’t want the season to end.” Crew Chief Todd Berrier said, “Things have come together very well with Martin. I felt like we had strong opportunities to win races last year, so we strengthened the things we needed to work on.”

In an unusual turn of events, Truex was not at the press conference. After some jokes about where in the world he was, he appeared on the big screen during his vacation in the Caribbean. Questions were asked of Truex from a really long distance.

“I know all of you are tired of hearing everyone say they are excited for this year, so I’ll just say I’m fired up, Truex said. “I couldn’t be more pleased about how the way things have gone. Luckily, we will be in the Chase. I’ve been in the Chase and kicked out of the Chase before. I want to take this team to the next level. I wanted to get away from last year and what happened at the end of the season and this situation helps a lot.”

The final team on Day Two’s schedule was NASCAR’s most successful team of the last two decades, Hendrick Motorsports. The first question team owner Rick Hendrick was asked is what is most thrilling moment in the 30 years HMS has existed?

“I think it will have to be when Ricky (Hendrick’s son who was killed in a plane crash near Martinsville, Virginia) won his truck race. My second most thrilling moment was when Geoff Bodine won the first race for HMS at Martinsville. We were about to close the doors on the operation, and those that close rarely ever open up again.”

Asked about the changes to qualifying that NASCAR has proposed, the drivers (Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.), all seemed to be in agreement.

Johnson said if it was good for the sport and it would keep the grandstands full and television ratings high, he was all for it. Kahne felt it would give him a better shot of winning and starting near the front. Earnhardt said that he was “all for it,” and even though he does not like change, he has gotten used to it. Gordon said after watching Formula-1, he thinks it will create excitement for the race.

When Hendrick was asked why he wasn’t heavily invested in the Nationwide Series, he said, “I had a development program a few years ago and it almost broke me, but helping Dale, Jr. has helped. I’ll help him to do that.”

Other issues were discussed including the bet between Kyle Busch and Kahne on the Super Bowl. Kahne is an avid Seahawks fan and Busch is a Broncos fan. Who ever wins has to wear the other team’s jersey for a week. “I don’t want to wear an orange jersey under any circumstances,” Kahne said.

Pit Note #2: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Change Headlines Chevrolet Tuesday at NASCAR Sprint Media Tour

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January 29, 2014

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES BATTLE AT BRISTOL TICKET ALLOTMENT IS GONE

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January 29, 2014

Clay Campbell and Tom Hessert among drivers testing at Talladega

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January 28, 2014

As ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards teams continued to prepare for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, three teams headed to Talladega Superspeedway to test – Ken Schrader Racing, Mason Mitchell Motorsports and Cunningham Motorsports.

Cunningham Motorsports had both Tyler Reddick and Tom Hessert on track yesterday and Hessert felt that the test went well.

“It really started at the Daytona test so today’s test is really all about fine-tuning a couple things,” Hessert commented. “We’ve got both our crew chiefs down here – Paul Andrews and Chad Bryant – so those two are exchanging a lot of ideas back and forth, and that’s a good thing.

“We unloaded pretty good and have made incremental gains. My teammate Tyler Reddick and I are exchanging notes, so, all in all, it’s been a really productive day. I’m really looking forward to Daytona.”

Meanwhile, Clay Campbell was behind the wheel of the chevrolet for Ken Schrader Racing.

“I absolutely love this place,” Campbell said. “I love to go fast and there is no faster track in the world than Talladega. I ran here two years ago and someone asked if I got it out of my system. The answer is ‘no’ and I am ready to go it again. It is just fun.”

The 54-year-old president of Martinsville Speedway plans to run both Daytona and Talladega this year in the ARCA Racing Series for KSR.

“I think with Ken’s equipment we have a really good opportunity to run well here at Talladega,” Campbell said. “It makes me feel good for Ken to have confidence in me to put me behind the wheel of his car. We are looking forward to coming back in May.”

Kurt Busch leaning towards Indianapolis 500 in May

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January 28, 2014

kurtbusch_bradkeppel — Photo Credit: Brad Keppel

Last year, Kurt Busch made racing headlines when he tested an IndyCar for Andretti Autosport at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Busch, at the time, expressed desires about possibly running the Indianapolis 500.

Now that we’re in 2014, Busch is talking about those desires once again saying that it’s 70% that they’re going to do it.

“We just have to balance everything that comes to it – the sponsors, the team and my commitment’s there,” Busch said. “We don’t have to second guess that, but I need to train harder if I want to be ready for 1100 miles in one day.”

Busch said that there’s two possible deals in the works with two different teams and sponsors.

“The intrigue is there for me is for something to tackle on life, but on the business sense, it has to make sense,” Busch commented. “I’m starting to push the business sense aside and just go do it, have the fun and just being able to say I ran Indianapolis. It’s grabbing traction and I have the blessing of Gene Haas and Tony Stewart to go and do it.”

Busch stated that he is not ready to make a definite decision on it until he sees what the NASCAR schedule is with relation to practice and qualifying on Fridays.

“We need to keep the time out of the Cup car limited if we’re going to do this Indy thing,” he commented. “Then we need to determine where we’re going to test so we’re better prepared for that month of May at Indianapolis. Chevy – their backing is there. The teams with who we’re talking to is there. The intrigue is there and the candle is burning strong.”

Busch could partner with Andretti Autosport, which switched to Toyota power in 2014, as he tested Ryan Hunter Reay’s car last year. He could also partner with one of the Chevrolet teams to have the same manufacturer across the board with NASCAR and IndyCar, including Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing.

Kurt Busch anticipating success this season with Stewart-Haas Racing

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January 28, 2014

When Stewart-Haas Racing announced that they were expanding to four cars in 2014 with Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick, the media immediately predicted that things would go crazy. Though so far, those predictions are false as Busch says that they’re all getting along and can easily understanding each other.

“(Crew chief) Daniel (Knost) and I are new together so we have some of the same questions,” Busch continued. “And then he’s been there many, many years in his system and I’ve been in the garage area in my capacity in my system so we can compare the two very easily and help each other through it. We’ve got guys like Greg Zippidelli as the competition director and Matt Borland as the engineer specialist; you have all the top guys in the right spots.”

Busch feels that they will be able to work together as they’re all competitive.

“The competitiveness in each of us four helps elevate this building and the people in it to find that next competitive edge to get us to victory lane,” Busch said. “When you throw four of them together, that’s four strong ideas, motivation and impressions that all of us will use within each other.”

Busch is used to joining new teams and either having success, or not having success. From moving from Roush Fenway Racing to Penske Racing to Phoenix Racing and then to Furniture Row, Busch has experience in getting to know new places. He also did an experiment with his brother Kyle Busch in splitting the Nationwide Series schedule.

“You hear about it with all the problematic situations that could arise and we actually had a rough year – we only had one win all year; but we had a good bonding year that actually brought us closer,” he commented. “It brought us closer in trying to figure out what was wrong and making the car better. It was a great challenge as brothers and I see that happening as us four strong personalities come together.”

Busch says moving to Stewart-Haas Racing, he is excited about the opportunity laid before him by Gene Haas and Tony Stewart. Busch has watched the team grow and knows the passion that both Haas and Stewart have.

“When Tony came on-board in 2009, it was immediate injection of top people with mechanics and engineers that made the program successful, and then it produced a championship in two years,” he commented. “It is a program that has such a strong potential when you have Tony’s ability to find people, and then you have guys like Joe Custer and Gene Haas that are there with the financial side that want to see success. When you implement the money side of it and the people side together, that’s the formula for success.”

Other concerns have come about with how Busch will fare in a multi-car organization, due to his past. However, Busch says that’s behind him and he’s learned a lot. Busch spoke of the frustration that he had at the end of the 2010 and 2011 at Penske Racing due to finishing 11th in points. That led to the start of the frustration and his behavior.

“For me to take a step back and have fun and build up through the tougher ways that drivers used to break into the upper levels of racing with the underfunded teams and do it the hard way, it was fun to do that in a retro way as a old school guy,” Busch commented. “Now to be with Gene Haas in a top team, it’s given me a better appreciation for how teams develop, how they come together and what it takes to be successful at the top level.”

Busch added that he had to take that time for him as he couldn’t continue to fight a losing battle.

“I was all about producing results on the race track and putting on a good show and I think that’s now what the media is circling around to in wanting to see those door donuts, great side-by-side action and not necessarily the personal people magazine type stories that I was trying to fight,” he commented.

Busch said the experiences he had in the past were about learning from his mistakes and challenging himself to be a better person. Now it’s about capitalizing on that opportunity.

“It’s an amazing opportunity that Gene has given me and I’m not going to squander it away, but you can’t put too much pressure on winning right away,” Busch said. “From the first race to the 26th race, we have to develop this team into a championship caliber team.”

Busch said he is going to focus, at the start, on consistency as consistency allows him and the team to sleep easier at night.

“Like Jack Roush told me, ‘Focus on the things that you can control and let the other things lay as they will’,” Busch continued. “I’m ready for this opportunity with Gene and his commitment. The clarity wasn’t there back in August in going to four teams, but we’re seeing that now. We’re seeing that more so of his ambition in motorsports in looking at a Formula 1 application and his commitment to making a footprint in this motorsports world.”

Busch’s first official race with SHR and his new crew chief Knost will be the non-points Daytona special – the Sprint Unlimited.

“For a new team, we need this type of atmosphere to gauge driver/crew chief communication, to have the pit crew jump over the wall and do their duties in a pressure filled situation, so for a new team it’s vital to be in that race so I’m glad we’re in it,” he said. “You have to be engaged in all aspects of it and this is a good building process for the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevy. Secondly, you have to think on the fly and this’ll get Danica up and at it on top of things. Then myself to digest the Stewart-Haas chassis, the car, the Chevy motors run from Hendrick. There’s a lot we’ll be able to evaluate in that race.”