NASCAR on ESPN analysts Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree, lap-by-lap announcer Marty Reid and ESPN vice president, motorsports, Rich Feinberg participated in a news conference today at Daytona International Speedway. Live coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series season-opening race at Daytona airs Saturday, Feb. 19, on ESPN2 beginning at noon ET with NASCAR Countdown.

Some highlight quotes from the news conference:   What can be done about the commercial load in ESPN’s NASCAR telecasts?   RICH FEINBERG — “The commercial ratio that we use is less than we are contractually allowed. We could actually be putting more commercials in our telecasts. With our agreement with NASCAR, we would be allowed to do so and obviously that would generate us more revenue. We choose not to do that in an effort to show as much green flag racing as we can. We’ve done studies between our commercial volume versus the other media partners of NASCAR and it is very, very similar. We’ve also actually done some internal studies to look at some of those websites that track commercials and have found a lot of inaccuracies in their system. The reality is that it’s a business. With the rights payments that we have to make to have our partnership with NASCAR, and with production costs, marketing and personnel, we’re a business as well, and we need to recoup those expenses and hopefully make ourselves profitable. So it’s a balance. I think there are ways to try and strike a better balance than we have now. Currently we are not allowed to do side-by-side per our rights agreement with NASCAR but I know that in our partnership we have discussions with them about that. The reality is we try to minimize the impact on the presentation of the show as much as possible. We’ve had a lot of success in the placement of our commercials and offering the end of a race without as many commercials as we can possibly do.”   Your reaction to the remarks by Tony Kornheiser on Tuesday’s PTI?   RICH FEINBERG — “I did not see the show, but it’s been relayed to me what he said. It’s sort of my take on it that that’s a show of opinion, and it’s primarily based on his and Michael’s (Wilbon) opinion, and they are entitled to their opinion. Hopefully they present it with responsibility and in a dignified way, which from my take, it’s an Emmy Award winning show they do for the most part. But they’re entitled to their opinion, you’re entitled to your opinion, I’m entitled to my opinion, and I disagree with what I was told he said. And I can tell you for sure that ESPN doesn’t agree with his opinion yesterday, but that’s the nature of commentary, and not all the time are we going to get a rosy picture when people are offering their opinions.”   Dale Jarrett, what does it mean to you when one of your colleagues makes a remark like that?   DALE JARRETT — “It wouldn’t matter who said it or what network it might have been on, but it pisses me off that somebody thinks that from being inside, and knowing how hard a lot of years that myself and a lot of others that I worked with and around, worked on our race cars to try and make them the best. All you have to do is look around throughout the history of the sport at crazy things that happened. You get in a wreck with somebody one week, and the next week you qualify side-by-side and you’re in a truck riding around the track together. Did NASCAR plan that? Why hell no. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in a very good race car down here. He’s always run well here given good equipment. He’s my pick to win this race. Was it because it’s the 10th anniversary of his father’s death? Well no, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. It aggravates you that that perception is out there. I can assure everyone that it can’t happen. To set something up, there’s too many people that would have to be involved. You couldn’t keep something like that quiet. It’s unfair to the competitors and to the people who work their tails off to put a quality product out there. We have a very good sport with a lot of integrity out there and to have it questioned is unfortunate.”   Andy Petree would you weigh in on that?   ANDY PETREE – “We’re hearing opinions of people who really have no idea. This is my 30th Daytona 500 that I’ve come down to. I have spent a career trying to get an advantage under the hood or anywhere I can with that car. And I’ve done it with numerous drivers, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Harry Gant, and I can tell you I’ve never, ever in my life seen anybody get the call to have something done to their car. These guys are too smart in the garage area. You’re working right next to every team in there. If I saw something on somebody else’s car that I thought wasn’t right, I’m going to be the first one to make sure somebody knows about it, and they’re going to do the same thing to me. That’s not possible in this garage area. The integrity of this sport, I can vouch for after 30 years of doing it.”   Dale Jarrett on getting back into a race car on Friday to run laps with fellow ESPN analyst Rusty Wallace …   DALE JARRETT – “I’ve talked to a lot of the drivers about the pavement and how the racing has changed, obviously watched how that has changed, and when ESPN called Rusty and myself about this opportunity, it was one I certainly jumped at to be able to go out there in more than just a pace car or something like that. To actually get in a race car and go at some good speeds and see just how different this place really is from what Rusty and I raced on. All the years that we were here, it was the same surface and it just kept getting more and more worn. It’ll give us an opportunity to better speak about the changes to the track and what has changed, more than just getting it from our friends in the garage area. Really looking forward to it and we certainly appreciate Daytona and NASCAR giving us this opportunity, and hopefully we’ll be able to convey to the millions who will be watching over the weekend just how much it has changed and how different things are going to be.”   Marty Reid on calling the first NASCAR Nationwide Series race on the new Daytona pavement …   MARTY REID — “You know there are still some questions. We’re waiting to see what happens, based on what we saw at the Shootout, how much of a change it’s going to affect for the Nationwide cars. I don’t think it’s going to be as drastic, from what everybody’s been telling us, but it’s still going to be fun to see how the new pavement handles and how the drivers adjust, and how much bump drafting we actually see. The cars don’t match up as well in Nationwide, so that’ll be a factor as well, so you won’t be able to run up on somebody and push them as much as we saw in the Shootout.”   Andy Petree on how crew chiefs have to deal with rule changes such as those announced following the Bud Shootout …   ANDY PETREE – ““You work all winter on the cars and try to get a package that you feel like you‘re gonna be competitive with and be able to win with. When they throw that at you, it’s aggravating for crew chiefs, but they have to react to it. Whoever reacts to it the best, the quickest, those are the guys that are going to have a leg up. So I always looked at it as an opportunity to maybe get a leg up on the competition, and that’s the great thing about this sport, it never stays the same, not even minute to minute, and that’s what’s always kept me interested as long as I’ve been in it.”   Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN’s latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.   About NASCAR on ESPN: ESPN produces comprehensive, multi-platform coverage featuring telecasts of the final 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including the 10-race “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Additionally, ESPN2 is the television home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series. ESPN’s NASCAR coverage extends to ESPN.com, SportsCenter, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio and ESPN International, among other ESPN platforms. ESPN aired 262 NASCAR Cup Races over a 20-year period starting in 1981 and returned to NASCAR coverage in 2007. The network’s award-winning, live flag-to-flag coverage on ESPN has been honored with 19 Sports Emmy Awards, as well as many industry honors. It is widely credited for helping to popularize the sport nationwide.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What is your mindset with the weather in the area today? “Looking forward to getting on track.  With the new rule changes, it’s going to be quite a bit different.  Every time we get on track really with these cars and NASCAR makes a change, it’s going to be a learning curve that we have to adapt to.   Looking forward to seeing how the cars react to the new changes.”

Do you feel like you are getting your bad luck out of the way early this week? “Nothing has counted for anything yet, which is good that the mechanical issues that we’re having and obviously all that’s happening before it counts in the 500.  For me, it’s not discouraging one bit.  I think that we showed in the Shootout that we’re very capable of winning when it comes Daytona 500 time and the 150s tomorrow.  I look forward to it.  I love this type of racing.  I think that it’s exciting to watch and it’s definitely, from my standpoint, exciting to be a part of.”

What is your interpretation of the yellow line rule now? “There’s a lot of instances since 2001 where guys have been penalized by the yellow line.  There’s a lot of them that have not been penalized because NASCAR deemed that they were forced down.  Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. at Talladega — that looked just like mine and was identical if you look at it.  There was no penalty.  There’s been other instances where there’s been penalties.  For me, coming to the checkered, it’s hard for us drivers mentality is not to use every bit of race track that we have to get to the line first.  For me, I think that’s what makes it so exciting.  Some of the most exciting passes that we’ve had in NASCAR is guys nipping down to the grass just about to make a pass.  I think there’s something to be said about that.  Take me out of the equation, there’s some great finishes that we could have had.  Talladega was one of them – if we didn’t have the yellow line rule.  Who knows what would have happened.  It would have been a very, very exciting finish.   Really, the part about if you’re forcing a guy down then you may be black flagged — that’s probably the least used rule in NASCAR’s rule book.  The guy who forces somebody down and I’m not particularly talking about Ryan (Newman), he’s the one that’s causing these wrecks.  He’s the guy who’s forcing these wrecks to happen.  I wish that was used a little bit more, if I guy knows that you dart your car down there and force a car down there, if they’re going to keep the yellow line rule then he needs to know that he’s subject to a penalty.  Right now, I think everyone just assumes that there will be no penalty because it’s never been implemented before.”

Does that mean that you have to hold your line in that situation? “It forces you to if you want to keep your position and still go for a win that is.  I could have just pushed Ryan (Newman) to the win and finished second.  There would have been nothing wrong with that obviously.  They want us going for wins — I want to go for a win.  It’s exciting to me, especially in a Shootout-type race.  You do what you think you have to do to win the race.  That’s what I did.”

How big of a concern are drivers who did not experience the two-car draft if practice does not take place today? “I think with the new changes, it’s probably going to be a little bit more like Talladega and less like what it was during the Shootout.  So it will probably play into the guys who have less experience at it — play into their hand a little bit better.  They won’t need to learn the art of pushing for 15 straight laps or something like that.  I think the more that NASCAR changes and obviously helps get these cars back together in a big pack, it will be more like the superspeedway racing that everyone’s seen before.  Right now, we don’t know until we get on the race track whether it’s still going to be two-car tandems or not with switch-offs.  For me, I’m not worried about it too much.  These are really, really good drivers.  Even the guys that weren’t in the Shootout are good drivers and they’re able to learn just as quick as us.”

Will there be more three-car packs with the new rules? “You’ll never see that happen — you’ll never see three cars in a line continuing pushing each other.  For one, the guy in the middle would be scared out of his mind.  He can’t see in front of him and he’s getting pushed from behind.  That will never work, but I think for some reason it’s just the cars and the air just doesn’t react that way to them.  You will see probably the four-car tandem in the sense of you have two twos running very close to each other like we did at the end of Saturday night.   I think that was a big learning — something to watch from all the competitors at the end of that race watching two car links commit to not passing each other was much quicker.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) What are your thoughts on NASCAR going with a smaller restrictor plate? “The bias in me hates it because the smaller hurts the Toyotas even more.  Our horsepower range is a little bit lower.  It just makes the two-car tandem, in my opinion, more important with the smaller the plate that you go.  Being that the delta between being by yourself and being together will be even larger.  For me, the two-car tandems will be even more important.  The slower that the cars run by themselves, when you get them hooked up they are going to run close to the same speed or pretty close to the same speed.  It just makes that delta bigger and that’s when you’re going to have big, big runs and everything.  I thought that going bigger would be better simply because the faster we go, ultimately the handling will come into play eventually if we’re going a certain speed that the cars really can’t handle the corners being pushed.  I thought being bigger would be an advantage for getting the pack back together.  The pack would be able to catch the two- car tandems very, very quickly if the plate was bigger.  Obviously they felt that they didn’t want the cars running 206 (mph).   There’s a big safety concern when the cars are running 206.  Not necessarily for us, but the flag man especially.”

What did finishing second in the points last year do for you? “I would say it’s the same, no different.  You have to have thick skin in this sport anyway, but then when you’re leading going into the last race and coming out second – you really are going to have to have thick skin.  For me, it is a learning experience.  You think of all the things you could have changed to improve not just that race, but many races before that.  It does, it makes you much tougher and it makes you more mentally prepared when you get around to that same situation again.  Hopefully I’m in that situation again.”

Why has everyone been surprised by the two-car tandems? “I think none of the teams in testing were willing to give up race cars or crash race cars to try it out.  When you come down here and you know that it’s going to be race situation, you’re willing to take some more chances.  Really for me, I don’t know how much the teams learned during the test because obviously we came down here and started racing a whole lot different than what we did when we were testing.  I think NASCAR did a good job in the sense that they didn’t do all these rule changes right before the Shootout.  They at least saw how the Shootout was going to play out first.  That gave them an indication of how the 500 was going to play out.  We might even see more changes after the 150s depending on how the cars react.  There’s a certain type of racing that we’re all trying to get to here and NASCAR is working hard to try to make that happen.  Really for us, we never really show our hand — none of these drivers do on how they’re going to race the race until they get in it so it’s hard for NASCAR to predict it.”

Are you worried about not getting any practice today? “If we raced today with no practice — I’m okay with it.  None of the rule changes that they implemented I think are going to impact the cars to where there’s going to be reliability issues or things like that.  It’s just basically going to change how the cars react around each other.  I think anyone would say to line them up and race them right now — we really don’t need that much practice.”

What are the visibility problems of the pushing car in the two-car draft? “The whole game changed, not just the way we drive, but the way our spotters spot.  They spot the car in front of us now instead of us.  He basically tells me, ‘Okay, the car you’re pushing — he’s clear by this much, now he’s not clear.’  He tells you what’s going on with that car.  You obviously can control your car by looking through your mirrors and things like that, but once you get in the middle and stuff, it kind of gets hairy because now he’s trying to spot your car and his car.  It definitely was a complete game-changer and for me, the visibility was very, very tough.  It’s no different than Talladega. The only difference is the track is much wider than Talladega so you can see your barriers quite a bit more between the inside line and the wall.  With Daytona being so narrow — honestly, it’s only got one set of dotted lines around the corner instead of multiple like other race tracks so when you’re in the middle of the corner and you’re not around any dotted lines, you don’t know where you’re at.  You don’t know if you’re close to the apron — you don’t know if you’re close to the wall.   It’s definitely like driving blind for sure, but we just rely on our feel to kind of fix that.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) Does the two-car draft and visibility issue make it easier to work with your teammates? “We even talked about it at the beginning of the race — the 4 (Kasey Kahne) and the 22 (Kurt Busch) didn’t have teammates in that race.  We thought about putting their radio channel on our radio so we could flip to them if we needed them at any point.  The problem is that everyone’s partner eventually wrecks out of the race so you’re looking for new partners midway through the race anyway.  That’s the way it kind of turned out.  It’s different.  It’s always good for us if the Toyotas can link up together.  That is the most efficient way for the two-car tandem to work is two Toyotas.  It’s different for sure.  For me, this is a whole new thing that I haven’t seen or anyone’s seen before.  Definitely having those guys, the chemistry is a little different because we tested a lot with each other — pushing and what not.  These cars are so stable now that you can use pretty much anybody that’s around.”

Are you finding that your car reacts differently than Joey Logano and Kyle Busch’s cars? “For sure — my car is definitely faster pushing than it was being pushed.  Half-a-second difference realistically so that’s why I never chose to get pushed in the Shootout.  I would always, if a guy came up behind me, I would get out of the way and get behind him because my car is just not efficient out front whatsoever.  Ultimately to win the race, you’re going to need to be that second or maybe looks like even third guy.  For me, I think some cars — guys taped up their car differently.  I think this is going to be a whole new game now because with the mandated opening, I think everyone’s car will be closer out front versus being the one that’s being pushed.  Some people were opening up their grill sizes larger to be able to push longer.  The problem with that is that when they got out front, they were really slow.  Now that everyone will have the same grill size, you’re going to see guys being able to go being the first car or the second car.”

Are your bumpers physically in contact the entire time you are in the two-car draft? “It stays solid.  It’s almost like a pressure-locked seal between the two cars.  There’s times that our cars come disconnected, but you don’t really see it on TV and you can’t really see it if you watched them.  As soon as that front car feels the release of that back car coming off, he’ll immediately hit the brakes and come back to you to start your momentum back up again.   We come disconnected quite a bit, but it just never shows on TV.  That’s when you see the other guys get a huge run and blowing right past you is because that one tandem has lost its seal.  I just don’t think anyone has figured out now what causes that seal to happen.  It’s literally like a magnet.  It gets close to each other and sucks right up.”

Do you think NASCAR should have a large test session for the new changes? “I say as we go we’ll figure it out.  What NASCAR’s trying to get is to get these big packs back together and not these two- car tandems.  They’re going to achieve it before Sunday.  I firmly believe that they’re going to get it before Sunday.   Eventually we’re going to get it all figured out and we’re going to run a safe speed that they feel comfortable with.  It’s just so tough.  If we go and test somewhere, we’re not going to race the same.  We’re not going to drive the same as we will in race conditions — no one ever does.”

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS team continue to prepare for tomorrow’s running of the twin 150-mile qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway. Truex, along with his car owner Michael Waltrip and teammate David Reutimann, run in the second race to determine starting positions in Sunday’s Daytona 500. For the second consecutive year, Truex teams up with Waltrip under the NAPA AUTO PARTS banner for the sport’s biggest race. Sunday’s race marks the 10th anniversary of Waltrip’s first of two Daytona 500 victories with NAPA.

QUOTES

Truex on Qualifying 33rd: “We pretty much knew what to expect in qualifying last week  because of what we saw in our testing and practice sessions. Daytona is one of those tracks where you don’t pick up a half second from practice. We knew what we had going down there and in the end, all of the Toyotas pretty much qualified together. Our cars seem to draft well so I believe they will race really well. It’s just a starting spot for tomorrow’s race and it doesn’t really mean a lot unless you qualify for the front row.

“This will be a great race for us to learn about what works for the Daytona 500. I am driving a different car from what I drafted with at the test so Thursday will be important for the NAPA team. This car seems to be faster and it picked up from what we practiced on Saturday. All the work the NAPA guys did on the new car worked. Plus, Michael’s car in the Budweiser Shootout was really fast. That lap of 206.7 mph was the fastest of the race and you have to admit that is pretty amazing. The speed is there, it is a matter of putting ourselves in the right position and finding some guys that will work with us to get us up front.”

On NASCAR’s Changes To Nose Opening and Cooling System: “I think after what we saw in the Bud Shootout, NASCAR is trying to keep it to where you can only push for a lap or so. On Sunday, the guys won’t push for lengthy periods of time because their engines will get too hot. A lot is going to be learned during practices and the qualifying race.”

On Two-Car Packs: “It’s really hard to see if you are doing the pushing. You are really going off what the guy in front of you is doing. Basically what you are trying to do is stay on his bumper and stay lined up straight. If you get off center, it’s going to cause problems. It’s difficult to do when there are more than two cars on the track because you just can’t see what’s happening in front of you with the other cars. Fortunately we have some time to work through all of this. I’ll be working closely with my new spotter Keith Barnwell to get ready for the race.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Martin Truex Jr. will be competing in his 190th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race when the Daytona 500, gets underway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Feb. 20. In 12 races at DIS, his best start is first (Feb. 15, 2009). His best finish of sixth came last year driving for NAPA.

• NAPA Racing will once again host the Honorary Pit Crew Member program at the Daytona 500. Marc Goodrich of Midway, Ga. and Kevin Edmunds of Tampa, Fla., will be honored in NAPA pre-race festivities and have their names decaled on the No. 56 and No. 15 NAPA Toyotas.

• On Feb. 12, NAPA launched its 2011 NAPA Racing television campaign.

• Check out NAPA Reserve Online. Visit napaonline.com to make shopping for an auto part easier. Order online and pick up at your favorite NAPA AUTO PARTS store.

• The Martin Truex Jr. Foundation has raised over $500,000 for community outreach programs benefiting children.

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES      

February 16, 2011   

Daytona International Speedway   

Ford Racing enters this weekend’s Daytona 500 with 599 all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories by 74 different drivers.  What would it mean to be the one who wins No. 600?  Ford Racing asked some of its drivers for their thoughts.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion — “That would be huge.  Every win is important, but the 600th win is no more important than the last one or the next one after that.  They’re all important and I just love being in victory lane with a Ford.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion — “It would be pretty awesome. On top of that it would be the Daytona 500 and that would be a great place to have your 600th win.  As you saw last weekend, I think it’s anybody’s game.  We’ll just have to wait and see.  I think we’ve got as good a chance as anybody – any manufacturer, any car.  All of the Ford cars stand a good chance.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion — “It would be a big deal just to win anything right now.  I’d like to just contribute to any win total for Ford, but to be the 600th, especially here at Daytona, that would obviously be a huge deal.  We’ll take it as it comes.  I think we’re gonna have a lot of good shots this year to get some wins and add to that total and, hopefully, it starts here at Daytona.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion — “That would be awesome. Winning the Daytona 500 and number 600 would be very, very special. If you could win the worst race of the year and be number 600, that would be great.  That would make up for a lot of the other races that we missed out on, so 600 for Ford is gonna be something to remember because it goes all the way back to Henry Ford, who won his first race.  A lot of great race car drivers have won under the Ford banner and it would be awesome to throw our name in the hat.”

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion — “I’d like to be 600. I’ll take one win however I can get it, but Ford has been great to me and it’s just great to be back in the Ford Racing family.  This year is fairly iconic for the company in racing and 600 wins is a pretty cool stat if you can say you did it, so I’ll be trying hard.  The trouble is you’ve got Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle and AJ and everyone else trying to do the same thing.”

TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion — “How special would that be – to get to be the driver who has such a monumental win for Ford.  It would be huge for me.  That’s a goal for me in the Cup Series is to be a winner.  We’ve had some top 10s and some good runs and led laps, but I haven’t won, so that’s the number one goal on my list and to do that at the same time as getting Ford’s 600th win would be pretty cool.  That would be really special.  Daytona and Talladega, there are a handful of tracks where I really feel like Front Row Motorsports can get it done, so you never know.  If you’re in the right place at the right time with a few laps to go, you’ve got a shot at it.  That would be pretty special.”

DAVID GILLILAND – No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion — “We’ve been close here before and that would be awesome and something no one could ever take from you.  That would be cool and we’re gonna try and do it for sure.  I think we’ve got a car that’s capable of doing it, but you have to position yourself to be at the right place at the end and now I think it’s even more so because I think there are gonna be even more cars fighting for the lead at the end than the two that we always see.”

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion — “First, that means we would be winning the race, which is great.  And then to get Ford’s 600th win, I would kind of feel bad coming in after all these guys have been working on it for 599, and I come in and it’s like ‘Here’s 600.’  But that would be incredible and to do it with the Wood Brothers and how everything has happened, that would be insane.  I don’t even know how to fathom that.”

Veteran crew chief Frank Stoddard came to Speedweeks as a car owner for the first time and with former series champion Terry Labonte behind the wheel, it appears his team will be racing in Sunday’s Daytona 500.  Stoddard took a few minutes to chat with Ford Racing about why he’s starting his own team and his hopes for the future.

FRANK STODDARD, Owner, Fast Lane Racing – No. 32 U.S. Chrome Ford Fusion – WHAT WENT IN TO GETTING THIS EFFORT AS A CAR OWNER READY FOR DAYTONA?  “A lot, obviously.  The thought process has been going on since the season ended last year.  I wasn’t really sure what was going on with the 26 program.  Bill and the partners that were involved in that deal worked awful hard last year, but they just weren’t able to secure all the funding that they needed going into this year.  If they weren’t gonna be able to fund something, I felt like I was just gonna have to go and do something on my own.  That’s what I did.  I went and bought some cars in early January and rented a shop and brought a lot of guys that were with the 26 program last year.  They came on with me and we just ramped this thing up in a hurry.  We’re fortunate that Terry was interested in driving and we were able to secure him. Hopefully, we get some more funding.  He wants to run some more races for us, but we don’t have the proper funding yet.  Mike Skinner is gonna run for us in Phoenix and Vegas and most of the rest of the year.” 

WHAT IS YOUR PLAN AS FAR AS YOUR SCHEDULE THIS YEAR?  “Mike Skinner will be in the car.  If I get somebody that comes and says, ‘Hey, we’d like to have Terry Labonte driving the car,’ and that’s the funding that comes, well then Terry can run 10-15 races.  He doesn’t want to run the  full schedule, but we could run Mike 10-15 more, so it just depends on sponsorship, but we’re gonna go to all the races. Hopefully, Boris will run the road courses.  I’ve told him that our ride is there for him if it’s his best option.  If it’s not his best option because they want him to drive the 48 or the 24 or the 99 or the 17, I’m not holding him back from that.” 

IS THIS JUST A CASE OF RACING BEING IN YOUR BLOOD AND TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AN OPPORTUNITY? “The opportunity was there.  I think there are sponsors sitting on the sideline thinking they have to spend $20 million to get into this business.  If I had $3 or $4 million to get myself started right now, we might not be able to run all 36 races, but we would run a pretty good portion of all those races with some proper funding.  It would get us a head start.  We’re not gonna go out there and beat Jack Roush or Rick Hendrick, but we can certainly run 25th.  There are a lot of teams that have got $20 million in funding and are gonna run 25th this year.  There are 43 cars so somebody has to run 25th.  My deal is I don’t want $20 million and try to tell you that I’m gonna go run fifth with it because it’s not possible.  Twenty million doesn’t get it anymore with the multi-car teams that Jack, Rick and Gibbs have because those guys really have $200 million that they’re pulling from, not $20 million.  What’s realistic is that if we get some funding, we can run 25th.  We can go to the road courses and have a chance to win. We can come here to Daytona and Talladega and have a chance to run in the top 10.  We can go to the short tracks and run 15th competitively. I think the big thing for the sponsors is to get the same bang for the buck that you got in 1996.  You get an owner or crew chief like myself and a driver like Mike Skinner that if you want us to come over for an hour and do hospitality, we’re there for an hour.  We don’t care.  You take care of all your sponsors as much as you can.

FRANK STODDARD CONTINUED – “The big teams do a great job of that as well, but they’re spread thin.  A lot of multi-car teams now have so many sponsors to take care of that if a driver does 20 appearances for his main sponsor, 20 for his second sponsor and 20 for his third, that’s 60 appearances and they don’t have the time to do that.  So if you go back to where it was in 1996, it was one sponsor on one car. They might have been paying $6-8 million, but they had 20 appearances their driver could make.  Now, it’s harder to try and get that because you have to split the cars up so much to be competitive with the multi-car teams.  I think there is something there.  Who knows whether we get that or not, and if we don’t get it, we’re gonna do the best we can and move on.” 

WAS IT A SCRAMBLE TO GET DOWN HERE?  “I think we got our speedway car on January 15th and we still had to put the thing together and paint it and all that stuff.  We didn’t have a lot of time to go to the wind tunnel and obviously didn’t get down here  to test when everybody else did, so we’re a little bit behind in qualifying trim.  I think we’ll be fine in race trim and I think we’ll be more than competitive.  Certainly having Terry in the car is great. We’ve got the Air National Guard on the car and U.S. Chrome.  Bob Reath has been a long-time supporter of mine the last 25 years and having him and his company on board has been a huge thing.  We’ve also got some associates in the Air Guard are coming on, so to be able to tell the sponsor we’re going to be in the race is great.  Terry has run in the top five down here multiple times and has won a couple championships, so he’s the kind of guy you want in your car regardless of the situation.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES 2011 DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT February 16, 2011  

JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, met with media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed the two-car draft, changes in the sport over the past 10 years, the yellow line rule and much more. Full transcript  

YOU RACED IN THE SHOOTOUT, TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW EXCITED YOU ARE FOR THE DUELS AND THE DAYTONA 500 COMING UP AND YOU WEEK SO FAR HERE AT DAYTONA.“Well its gone well. We qualified well, we raced well Saturday night. Unfortunately we didn’t get the finish we were looking for. It’s been a good week. It’s been real productive. We feel like we’ve learned every time we’ve been on the race track and obviously with some of the changes coming up there is a lot to learn again. We need to continue to work hard to get as much information as we can. At the end of the day everything you are doing is in an effort to win the Daytona 500 and there’s an opportunity here that isn’t presented anywhere else. We run two races before we ever get to the 500, plus we have more practice time than we have everywhere else. There’s more opportunity to learn and our intention to take full advantage of those opportunities.”  

BECAUSE OF THE TWO-CAR DRAFT AND THE RULE CHANGES THIS YEAR, DO YOU THINK MAYBE THERE IS MORE VALUE PLACED ON TOMORROW’S RACE?“Every year we come down here there is something different. Between not testing, for several years now we’ve come down here not tested so that made the 150’s real important. A few years ago we came down here with the Car of Tomorrow that made the 150’s extremely important. I think the 150’s are always exceptionally important. I will say that I think we are in a steep learning curve with the two-car draft, trying to make that thing work. We’ve seen certainly glimpses of it at Talladega, but never before has the entire garage put the effort into it that they’ve put into this. So we’re trying to learn it at a really quick rate. Like I said a little bit ago the 150 is a great opportunity to learn. Sitting here today I would say yeah there is more to learn today than it ever has been but I would have said that last year too.”  

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE SPECIFIC CHALLENGES OF THESE TWO-CAR DRAFTS IN TERMS OF NOT BEING ABLE TO HOOK UP WITH THE PERSON YOU MIGHT WANT TO HOOK UP WITH, THE LACK OF VISIBILITY, NOT BEING ABLE TO RUN THREE CARS IN A ROW?“It sounds like you know all the challenges. What are you asking me for? (laughter) When it’s just two of you and you’re leading the pack or you’re not running a pack down at a great deal of speed, there’s not a whole lot going into it. It requires a lot of trust by the guy that’s doing the pushing, because the guy that’s being pushed is leading you into whatever it’s leading you into and literally you cannot see at all. So that makes it very difficult. We have to communicate really well. Of course that’s hard to do. You can’t see through the windshield, so you can’t see the hand signals so there’s a certain amount of trust involved. When it really gets busy is when you start to catch people and the reason that gets busy is because again as the guy being pushed you are making the determination of where you are going to go and the guy that’s doing the pushing just has to go with you. If anything at all happens in front of you, it’s a little easier to slow yourself down than it is another guy with 3500 pounds pushing you. So there’s a lot of things going on there and it gets really difficult in those situations. When it comes times to put the checkered down, the pushing gets more intense, the blocking gets more intense, all those thing intensify and the guy that’s pushing you cannot see it. So there’s pretty high pressure felt to be quite honest. I know it may not look on television as pressure as a 30-car pack, but when you’re being pushed and the guy behind you can’t see you and you’re catching these people at an accelerated rate, things happen and things happen quickly. So there’s a lot going on. Saturday night was a lot of fun, but it was also real tense at times.”  

ITS BEEN NO SECRET THAT THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS HAVE BEEN VERY DIFFICULT ECONOMICALLY FOR THIS SPORT, CHALLENGES WITH RATINGS, SPONSORS, ETC, DO YOU THINK THIS YEAR IS THE YEAR THE SPORT IS POISED TO REBOUND AND WHY?“Well I think we rebound last year and when you talk about rebounding when you watch basketball the guy rebounds but he doesn’t score on the rebound, you score on the next play. I think that’s kind of what’s happened with us. I think that the racing action last year was real intense. We had great racing. I think it’s fair to say that we had as good of racing last year as we could honestly ask for. That’s what I believe. You guys can disagree and we all have different opinion but at the end of the day the quality of racing last year was really good. The people that we alienated for whatever reason, we can debate that for days, but for whatever reason the people we alienated don’t come back over night and it takes time. I think last year was the step that will make this year better. Hopefully this year is the step that will make next year better. I do believe when I look at what’s going on with the sport, when I look at the number of teams that can be competitive, I do think that we are poised for a very exciting year. I’ve been surprised before as we all have, but I really do feel like we’re in a good position. We’re still in tough economic times, things really aren’t that different from the day as they were six months ago. They are a little different and maybe a little better but they’re not way better. There is still a lot of challenges ahead of us. This sport kind of is behind the flow of economic times and we always get hit later and we always recover later so I think we still have a good year to 18 months of tough economic times in the sport but as far as fan participation, I believe we will see more excited fans this year. Whether people can afford to sit in the grandstands or not, I don’t know. At the end of the day people have to have jobs and have to have well-paying jobs. I think this sport is in good position.”  

I GATHER THEN SINCE YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT WORKING THE TWO-CAR DRAFT THAT THE CHANGES NASCAR MADE ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU GUYS RACE.“Well I didn’t say that. We don’t know.”  

TALK ABOUT HOW YOU THINK THOSE CHANGES TO THE CAR ARE GOING TO EFFECT HOW THINGS ARE, AND DO YOU THINK NASCAR DOESN’T WANT YOU TO RACE THIS WAY?“I haven’t had a discussion with NASCAR why they want to make the changes, what’s the reason, so I don’t want to speak for them. There’s no question if you lower the number of square inches you can run in the radiator the cars are going to run hotter. There’s no question if they limit the amount of the pressure relief valve that we run in the radiators the car is going to push water out quicker. So those two things you would think are going to make it to where you can’t push as long. You know Kevin Harvick pushed me for 25 laps the other night and did not have a problem with heating. We knew he could do that but I don’t think they knew he could do that. Now they know, so at the end of the day I believe what their intention is, number one – they want us to go fast but we don’t need to go 206. There comes a point where enough is enough, so pulling the restrictor plate down we’re still going to go exceptionally fast but we don’t need to go that fast. We know what happens when we go that fast and it’s not good. We’re still going to go plenty fast. The quality of races is not going to be impeded by the restrictor plate. And the other two things will obviously make it harder to push longer. That potentially will bunch the pack back up and make it a bigger pack for longer. There will still be an exceptional effort for the last two or three laps of the race for two cars to hook up and try to driver away. That effort is still going to be there. But there is nothing they can do to prevent that. There is nothing NASCAR can do to make it so you can’t push, unless they bring the no pushing zones back and we know what happened when they did that, you know what I mean. They are kind of in a rock and a hard place but at the end of the day they are going to do everything they can but to limit the number of laps we can push.”  

LISTENING TO THE RADIO SATURDAY NIGHT WHEN YOU WERE WORKING WITH KEVIN (HARVICK), YOU GUYS WERE ON THE SAME CHANNEL AND ONE SPOTTER WAS KIND OF CALLING EVERYTHING, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU GUYS DID THAT? I KNOW YOU CAN’T ALWAYS PICK YOUR PARTNERS IN THESE SITUATIONS BUT DOES THAT BECOME MORE CRITICAL IF YOU CAN FIND YOUR TEAMMATE SO YOU CAN GET ON THE SAME CHANNEL AND DO THAT TWO-CAR THING?“It sure appeared that the communication was real important. Having said that, later in the race I got with Clint (Bowyer) and we communicated in the same fashion and we didn’t work as well together. There’s still an anomaly that we don’t understand, why my car was pushed by Kevin better than Clint was able to push me and by the way better than Kevin was able to push Gordon. We still don’t completely understand that. So kind of back to the same thing, you certainly want to be with one of your teammates, but it may be one of your teammates isn’t who you want to be with and they don’t want to be with you. You’ve got to find the right car that works with your car. I heard some people made a comment that was dangerous you’ve got one spotter, but honestly if there’s two cars at one place then one spotter is okay. Really there is nothing wrong with that at all. They’re spotting for two cars but we both could hear him and he’d be spotting for both of us if something happened. From a safety standpoint there is no issue there. It’s probably more important that the cars work well together than it is than you are communicating. That’s what I see right now.”  

A LOT OF TALK ABOUT THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF (DALE) EARNHARDT’S DEATH, AND MAYBE SAFETY IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE IN THE TIME, WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE OTHER BIG CHANGES IN THAT DECADE, AND HOW MUCH OF THAT IS A TRIBUTE TO DALE’S DEATH?“I think the biggest impact to our sport has been the economic downturn of the country. Honestly, dismissing the safety and that thing, you know you asked me about other things, I think this sport, I believe more so than other sports, is impacted in a larger way by an economic downturn. It just is. Every one of our cars cannot exist without major corporate sponsorship. That is the driving factor for our income. If you own a football team the driving factor for your income is the TV deal and spectators in the seats. For us, it’s sponsorship. Our TV deal is much less and our impact by who is in the seats is much less. So our thing revolves around sponsorship and that has had a huge impact on the number of teams that are in the garage. The number of high quality teams that are in the garage. You know we have enough teams for sure right now, but there are a lot of teams that are in a lot more difficult situation than they were. In my eyes, the economic impact has had a huge, huge impact on this sport more so than anything else in my opinion.”  

YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT THE PLATE SYSTEM JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO, HAVE YOU HEARD THERE IS GOING TO BE A PLATE REDUCTION AND IN TERMS OF THE VISIBILITY, IS IT TIME TO LOOK AT MICHAEL WALTRIPS IDEA OF A CLEAR SPOILER AND WOULD THAT HELP?“Well that idea has been floated around as long as I’ve been in the sport. It’s not a new idea.

  We used to run 23, 24, 25 years ago I had a clear spoiler on my late model car. That’s not a new idea. I don’t know how much that would help. When you get behind a car and you try to look through the windshield with as big as the seats are today, the head surrounds, where the mirror location is, the diagonal bar, all those things I just don’t know how much that would help. It may help you see hand signals, but I think that would be it. This thing about not being able to see through cars precedes the Car of Tomorrow. I can remember being at Talladega many years ago saying I cannot see. The width with this car got worse. You can see less around the car, but as far as seeing through the car it’s really no worse. So the spoiler wouldn’t hurt, having a clear spoiler wouldn’t be a negative assuming it didn’t break and those kinds of things. I don’t think it would have as big of an impact; it’s not like you put a clear spoiler on there and all of a sudden you can see completely through the car. You might can see around the edges a little bit better and you might can see a little better but it’s not going to improve a great deal. There was a day when you could see through the car in front of you and through the car in front of him. I don’t care what spoiler is on the car anymore, you won’t be able to do that.”  

WHAT ABOUT THE PLATE?“When I left here the other day there was discussion about a smaller plate and to be honest I just assumed that’s what they were doing. I’m sure that you will see a smaller plate. I’m confident that you will see a smaller plate.”  

WE’VE HEARD FOR 10 YEARS THAT THERE’S NO LONGER A VOICE IN THE GARAGE, IS THAT A ROLE THAT YOU WOULD EMBRACE AND YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN TAKE?“I’ve tried to impact the sport when I think I can and when I think it’s useful. It’s not my position nor is it my will to be the voice of the garage. I have no interest in that. I want to be my voice. When I have an opinion it may be different than 90 percent of my colleagues. I don’t care, I’m going to voice my opinion. It may be an opinion that 90 percent of the people agree with me. I’m going to voice my opinion on that one too. I have no desire to be the voice of the garage. I have a great desire to be heard for my opinion and then they can use that as they like. The reason that is, is because I care about this sport. I care about my well-being, I care about my colleagues’ well-being. I want to be heard about it but I have no interest in being the voice of the sport.”  

THERE WAS SOME TALK LAST SATURDAY NIGHT ABOUT THE YELLOW LINE RULE, WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING SPECIFICALLY OF THE YELLOW LINE RULE AND WHAT ABOUT THE SUGGESTION THEY JUST DO AWAY WITH THE YELLOW LINE RULE ON THE LAST LAP?“The only people that want to do away with the yellow line rule at any point of the race are people that never race without the yellow line rule. The reason that we have the yellow line rule is because we need a yellow line rule. I must confess, when the yellow line rule was first floated I thought that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard in my life. After doing it for a race, I thought that is the greatest thing we’ve ever done. I’d like to say we shouldn’t keep learning the same lesson over and over and over, I’d

like to say it I just have a hard time saying it. To learn a lesson and then to ignore it and go back and say we don’t need the yellow line rule is absurd. The yellow line rule is there for a reason. Without the yellow line rule, trust me its five-wide getting into turn three with people on the apron. It’s people on the apron through the tri-oval. Its people on the apron getting into turn one. There’s a reason that we have a yellow line rule. There’s no value, no logic other than pure bravado to try to take the yellow line rule out. That theory would be along the same lines if football players didn’t wear helmets it would be really cool because we could see them bleed. It would be that same logic.”  

WHAT ABOUT THE LAST LAP?“I stand by what I just said.”

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Montoya, McMurray, Bowyer, Truex & Stewart Resign through 2012   Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex and Tony Stewart continue their commitment to the Oakley’s Motor Sports Program through the 2012 season.  

Coming off a strong showing in 2010, this team of drivers’ heads into the Daytona 500 with confidence. “Oakley has been involved with NASCAR for many years,” says Todd Hayes, Director of Motor Sports. “It’s great to see the depth and talent that make up the Oakley team. If you look at the races and championships that have been won by these guys, it’s no wonder we are proud to be a leader in the sport.”  

Juan Pablo Montoya – The original Oakley Motorsports athlete. “I have had a great relationship with Oakley for a number of years and I couldn’t be happier to be back with them,” says Montoya. “I think they make the best sunglasses around, but that is not all. I am almost always wearing something made by my friends at Oakley and look forward to continuing our relationship.“ Montoya wears Oakley base layer, boots and gloves as well as his Signature Series Gascan glasses. He also has a Signature Series Fuel Cell in development.

Jamie McMurray- Winner of the 2010 Daytona 500, Jamie has been an Oakley driver since the beginning wearing Oakley racing products including base layer, boots and gloves.

Clint Bowyer- Clint is a young star within the NASCAR series and a force to be reckoned with. He has been part of the Oakley family since 2009 and the brand proud to say that he has signed on again for 2011 and 2012. “I was always a fan of the Oakley brand when I was a kid racing motocross,” says Bowyer. “Now, being part of their team is awesome. They make some of the best gear in the business and are always looking to new technologies to improve the products.” Clint wears Oakley racing products including base layer, suit, boots and gloves.

Martin Truex Jr.- Martin is one of the newest additions to Oakley’s line-up of drivers. The brand couldn’t ask for a more, well-rounded representative. Whether he is hunting, fishing or speeding over 200 mph around a racetrack, Oakley Motor Sports is proud to have him on the team. Martin also wears Oakley racing products including base layer, suit, boots and gloves.

Tony Stewart- The man, the myth, the legend; Tony, who finished seventh in the 2010 Sprint Cup Series standings, has been using Oakley racing products since the inception of the Monster Dog. Tony wears Oakley during NASCAR races as well as in all of his automotive endeavors from dirt to pavement. Tony has been an Oakley ambassador wearing base layer, boots and gloves since 2005.   Stacked with all of this talent the 2011 race season promises to be full of fireworks for the Oakley Motors Sports Program starting with the first race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series this weekend, the Daytona 500.  

Check in at www.oakley.com/sports/motor-sports for all the latest from the Oakley Motor Sports division and get real time updates from on the ground at the Daytona 500 by following @OakleyRacing1, The official Oakley Motorsports team news sourceon Twitter.