NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES 2011 NASCAR MEDIA DAY DAYTONA INTERNATIOINAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT February 10, 2011  

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at NASCAR Daytona Media day and discussed contract negotiations, his teammate, aggressiveness on the track and much more.  Full transcript:  

DO YOU EXPECT TO REMAIN WITH CHIP THIS YEAR? “I hope so. I assume so. I don’t know. I haven’t really talked too much about it to be honest with you.”  

YOU GUYS HAVE OBVIOUSLY BEEN TOGETHER FOR A LONG TIME AND YOU’RE HAPPY WITH HIM. DO YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO LOOK FOR ANOTHER RACE TEAM?“I don’t know. We talked about it a little bit but we really haven’t sat down and get the deal done so we’ll have to wait and see.”  

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HOW YOU WANT TO APPROACH THIS YEAR WITH THE NEW POINTS SYSTEM?“No, I think a lot of the lowest finishes were wrecks where people wrecked them and we were just behind them and there was no room anywhere to go. So from that point of view there is nothing you can do. But yeah, consistency is a key. Wins are going to be a key. So I don’t know what we’ve got to do. I mean everybody is in the same ballpark. Everybody needs to finish well and everybody needs to get their job done and that’s it.”  

IS THIS THE YEAR THAT YOU EXPECT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO COME TOGETHER TO ADVANCE YOU TO THE NEXT LEVEL?“I think last year we had a lot of downs and things but I think it was good with the problems with Brian (Pattie, crew chief) and everything and all the arguing I think the difference was good because at the end of the season you can sit down and look at it and say look we’ve got to make sure we stick together, and make sure we pull together. Because if we don’t pull together the whole thing breaks apart so we know what it needs to get done.”  

ABOUT THE TENSION BETWEEN HIM AND HIS CREW CHIEF LAST YEAR.“It just sucks because by race five we had three DNF’s last year. When you have DNF’s in five races and you start trying so hard to get out of that hole you just keep making the hole bigger and it’s just impossible.”  

THERE WAS A LOT OF AGGRESSIVENESS AND CONTACT AT THE TRACK LAST YEAR…“I think it’s the same as always.”  

DO YOU EXPECT THAT TO CONTINUE THIS YEAR?“I don’t think it was different last year than any other year. I think it’s always been like that and always will be like that.”  

IT SEEMED LIKE FOR A WHILE THERE THEY DIDN’T WANT THAT AND LAST YEAR IT WAS OKAY.“I think publicly but when it happened and when he was out of line he was out of line. I don’t think that changed did it?”    

NASCAR LET YOU GET AWAY WITH MORE IT SEEMED LIKE.“They would tell you about it but at the end of the day there were no penalties were they? “I think It’s was better that is was more open. In my opinion I don’t think it changed that much but I think it was more open for the fans to know that it’s okay with having a personality. I think they were very keen to helping build up personalities and they felt like the sport needed that so I felt like it was good.”  

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE JAMIE’S (MCMURRAY) PERSONALITY?“He’s a nice guy. He’s a really nice guy. I would say maybe he’s a little quiet.”  

DO YOU GUYS HANG OUT ANYMORE NOW? “No, we get along really well. We really don’t hang out too much but we have a very good working relationship. That’s what I would call it. We just don’t have much in common to tell you the truth.”  

HE’S WON THE DAYTONA 500 AND BRICKYARD 400 BUT HE DOESN’T REALLY GO FOR THE SPOTLIGHT, WOULD THAT BE AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION?“You know, like for me I’m into the windsurfing, the golf, and flying the RC planes, he’s into go-karts. I know he’s building his own go-kart and has been working a lot on that.”  

HAVE YOU EVER RACED ANY OF THOSE?“Race him, no. I did 14 years of that. I did world championships and things, but no.”  

I KNOW YOU DID BUT I WAS JUST WONDERING IF YOU GUYS EVER HOOKED UP?“No, he lives in North Carolina and I live in Miami.”  

JAMIE WAS TALKING ABOUT THAT THEY DIDN’T FORCE TEAM SET-UPS ON HIM LAST YEAR, DO YOU SENSE ITS DIFFERENT AT EARNHARDT-GANASSI?“I remember in the beginning when they used to put a set-up to start with in my first year and they said Ralph its loose you should be loose. You’ve got to learn to drive the car and it got to a point half way through the season I said I’ve got to stop driving like that. So I didn’t find a way to be comfortable in the car, we didn’t stop performing. Every person looks for something different in the car. Every person drives very different. So I think it’s crazy to have the same set up for the whole team. But I don’t know.”  

DO YOU THINK THAT HELPED JAMIE LAST YEAR?“I think if you have a good crew chief and it’s not nothing too crazy or stupid, yeah as long as you perform you can do whatever you want I guess.”  

SOME GUYS SAY IT’S BETTER TO HAVE STANDARDIZATION.“Well if its standardization and it’s based on you, you would be happy to have it. But if it’s based on somebody else, it’s going to suck because you are never going to be comfortable with the car.”    

ON BEING HAPPY IN NASCAR.“Yeah, I’m really happy here and never will go back (to Formula 1) to tell you the truth. It’s very different. Someday I’ll go watch and take my kids to watch a Formula 1 race but that’s as far as it goes.”  

WHAT IS YOUR CONTRACT SITUATION, DO YOU HAVE A DECISION TO MAKE AT THE END OF THIS YEAR?“Hopefully before the end of the year (laughs). Yeah, it’s up this year and we’ll see. I’ll have to wait and see what happens.”  

ARE YOU OPEN TO TALKING WITH OTHER OWNERS? “Right now contractually I can’t talk to anybody.”  

HOW DO YOU MAKE A DECISION LIKE THAT?“We (Chip Ganassi) have a very good relationship and I think if everything comes together and we can come to an arrangement I would assume I would stay here.”  

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED DOING THE INDY 500? “I don’t think so. You know people ask me that and if you think about it I would have a chance of winning it because we are in the best cars, but I’ve got to beat the guys that do it every week. You know what I mean. Let’s say this year I go out here and win the 500 or Jamie (McMurray) wins again and like last year all the ECR cars won all four restrictor plate races, so the chances of winning them are pretty high. And if it was the other way around, I don’t think they would come because it’s very different. Yes, I’ve done open wheel but I haven’t been in an open wheel car for over five years. And I haven’t run Indy in an Open Wheel car for ten years now.”  

YOU ARE COMMITTED TO STAY HERE?“Oh yeah. I’m not going anywhere. I’m doing Cup for sure next year.”  

AT THE END OF 2009 YOU SAID THE MAIN THING WAS YOU DIDN’T WANT TO SLIP.“You look at our numbers last year, all our averages are all really good. And I think there are a lot of averages way above people that made the chance but when you have like seven or eight DNF’s like we had last year, how many points do you give away there?”  

WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET GOING INTO THIS YEAR?“We’ve got to run when we can run good, and when we can’t make sure we bring the car home. I think everybody’s mind is we’ve got to finish the race and score the points.”  

ITS EASY TO SAY FINISH THE RACE. “There’s a lot of situations that you can’t control. When everybody wrecks in front of you and you’re behind, 90 percent of the time you are going to hit something. I tried in Texas when they all wrecked I decided the only place I wasn’t going to hit something and went through the grass and the freaking thing spun around and I t-boned the freaking wall. That sucked!”  

IS IT FRUSTRATING TO SEE YOUR TEAMMATE WIN THREE RACES LIKE THAT?“Daytona with the restrictor plate is a lot of luck, I think in Charlotte he had everybody covered and in Indy I had everybody covered. You know history would have been very different. It is what it is. I think Indy we handed it to him to tell you the truth. But its great overall for the team, four wins. I got a win that I think was very important for us. It’s funny I still think about why we run so good in Watkins Glen and why we suck so much at the other place. So we’ll see.”  

DO YOU HAVE A DATE WHERE YOU WANT TO HAVE YOUR CONTRACT DONE SO IT STOPS BECOMING A DISTRACTION?“It’s not really a distraction right now. If I could talk to people right now and hear people’s offers and things and see what available and people would be coming to me, I would say that’s a distraction but I can’t. The other thing I’m not in Charlotte. And not being in Charlotte I’m not with teams around and people. I’m in Miami. I wake up every morning at 6:30 and take my kids to school. I don’t know, it’s pretty chill right now.”  

YOU HAVE A SITUATION WHERE YOU MENTIONED THE ECR ENGINES, YOU GUYS KNOW YOU HAVE SPEED AND POWER, YOU’RE AVERAGE QUALIFYING EFFORT IS WAY BETTERTHAN YOUR AVERAGE FINISHES, BESIDES THE ACCIDENTS AND THE DNF’S, IS THERE STRATEGY THAT YOU’RE LOOKING AT TO GET BETTER?“I think the bigger thing is we’ve really got to pull together and make sure we are always on the same page. Make sure we never stay behind on changes. I think having the new fueling system is going to be a key factor for us. With the fueling, the fuel is going to take longer than changing the tires. I think everybody will have about the same time pit stops. Like before it was more mandated by the people doing the tire change. If you look at our averages, our pit crew average last year wasn’t great. It’s funny, I was looking at Dover and I qualified I think third or fourth, and I ran third or fourth all day until we came into the pits and I came out seventh. Then I ran seventh for a while, came in and came out 10th. So I ran 10th for a while, came in 10th and I came out 14th and I finished 14th. We had the pace to run where we were, we didn’t have the pace to improve. I think now with the new pit rules, I think the pit pick is going to be more important. I think coming into the box hard is going to be more important. The little details will make a big difference.”  

IS THE CONTRACT SITUATION CAUSING ANY ADDITIONAL PRESSURE?“No, I think the better you solve it the better. But right now I’m not even thinking about it. Right now I’m thinking about the Shootout and the 500 and what’s coming up. We’ve had talks with Chip (Ganassi) about we want to try to get it out of the way as soon as we can. Like I said when it comes it comes.”  

A LOT OF GUYS ARE FREE AGENTS THIS YEAR, IS THIS A TOUGHER YEAR TO BE A FREE AGENT?“Who, I don’t even know who is a free agent. Those guys, the chance of them going somewhere else are slim to none.”  

IS IT A TOUGHER YEAR THOUGH, BECAUSE OF THE SPONSORSHIP SITUATION?“I don’t know. We’ll see.”  

CAN YOU ASSES DANICA’S (PATRICK) FIRST SEASON HERE BECAUSE I KNOW YOU KEPT IN TOUCH WITH HER THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, HOW DO YOU LOOK AT HOW SHE PROGRESSED?“I think when she was in the Nationwide car and stayed there for a while she could perform pretty good. I think jumping from one car to the other hurt her a lot. I think it will be good to see how she runs in the first few weeks.”  

ON BRIAN VICKERS RETURN TO THE SERIES, AND QUESTIONS OF RACING AGAINST HIM AFTER BEING OUT FOR A WHILE.“I think he’s an experienced guy, he’s been here for a long time and he understands the cars and everything. It’s not like he’s been out for four years. There’s been guys that have been out for a lot more and then you think about it. But, he’s been out for eight months?”  

BEFORE THE SEASON JAMIE WAS TELLING ME ABOUT THE DINNER THAT CHIP HAD FOR ALL YOU GUYS, WHAT WAS IT LIKE?“I just went to dinner with Chip and all the guys. I think from outside it might look like oh my God, they won so many freaking races, but from my point of view it’s a team dinner. All the guys from the team. Not only drivers, but engineers and things like that, team managers were there. It was fun!”  

DID YOU GUYS CELEBRATE THE EXTRAORDINARY YEAR, THE TEAM AS A WHOLE?“We had a great dinner and we had a good laugh and that was it. It was just a nice dinner.”  

WHAT STORIES DID YOU CONTRIBUTE?“I tell you it was funny because it was like three different groups of conversations. The table was like separated in three different groups. I was talking to Dixon, Chip and somebody else I don’t remember.”   DARIO?“No, I was on the other side.”  

NO FUNNY STORY YOU HAD TO OFFER?“No. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to dinner and think about oh that was a funny story we gave at dinner. We just went for dinner and to have a good time!”  

AS FAR AS THE CONTRACT GOES YOU ARE SO OF ASSOCIATED WITH CHIP IN ALL THE SERIES THAT YOU RUN, ARE YOU OPEN TO ENTERTAINING OFFERS FROM OTHER PEOPLE?“If Chip comes with what I want and he’s happy with what I’ve done, then no. It’s having to wait and see, I guess. I think we’ll probably get it done pretty soon, we’ll see.”  

YOUR 6:00 A.M. WAKE-UP CALLS FOR YOUR KIDS, DO YOU FEEL LIKE A SOCCER DAD?“On Tuesday’s and Thursday’s my little girl has dancing class and Sebastian has soccer so they do that like every Tuesday and Thursday. During the season on Tuesday’s I go with them. The Thursday’s I’m always flying.”   DO YOU DRIVE A MINIVAN?“No, we have a big Escalade that we drive.”

DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE MORE WOMEN RACING SOON?“To be honest with you I don’t know. I really don’t care if it’s a guy or a girl.”

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FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES    NASCAR Media Day, Page 5       

February 10, 2011   

Daytona International Speedway   

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – DO YOU THINK BACK TO WHEN YOU HAD SOME HARD TIMES IN RACING AND MAYBE DIDN’T THINK YOU WOULD MAKE IT?  “There were times when we first started Cup racing.  It was a difficult time at Roush, I think, when we first started five teams. Obviously, our cars weren’t as good as they needed to be.  We didn’t start out very good.  We missed a couple races.  I remember we missed the race at Las Vegas that first season, but we got our program turned around.  And then in 2004 we got our cars going really, really well. We won a couple downforce races in 2004 – Michigan and Homestead – and kind of got going, but that 2003 season was kind of touch-and-go.  It was pretty tough whether we were gonna be able to sustain and be competitive in that series or not.” 

DID YOU HAVE DOUBTS IF YOU COULD MAKE IT?  “I wouldn’t say real doubts because I felt like I had the ability and we had the stuff, we just needed to get it right.  I was nervous about whether or not we were gonna make it or not,  and then when we won those two races in ’04, I felt pretty good that we were on our way.  And then, of course,  in ’05 we won more races than anybody did in the Sprint Cup Series with six.  Then we kind of solidified ourselves as a team, but in ’03 it was tough.” 

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE NEW POINT SYSTEM?  “I think the new point system, overall, will be good for the fans and good for the sport.  It will be much more clearer and understanding.  The thing I think about when I think about the points is it will be more confusing for me the first little bit, even though it’s simplified, and I think for the media as well. When we talk about points, we’re so used to knowing what 150 points means or 125.  You just have that thing embedding in your brain, ‘Oh, I’m 60 points out of being in fifth.’  And you know what you need to do to make up those 60 points.  Now you’re gonna be, ‘Oh, we’re 19 points out.’  You don’t really have a clear picture.  You know that’s 19 spots – a fifth grader could figure that out – but what does it really mean, so it’s gonna take a little bit to get used to that. We’re used to saying 150 points separates the top six guys and now it’s gonna be there are only 30 points separating these guys. Technically, it’s the same amount of positions you need to make up, so I think it’s gonna take a little bit of time for everybody to get used to what the number means.  You’ve just got to get used to that, I think.” 

WILL THE HIT YOU TAKE FOR A DNF AND A BAD FINISH IN THIS SYSTEM CHANGE THE RACING AT ALL?  “I don’t think so.  I don’t think money, points – no matter what – impacts the racing.  We all race for one thing and that’s the best finish we can get on the race track.  We all try and win – everybody does, or you have different goals.  When you say your goal is to come out of here with a top-10 finish, it doesn’t mean when you get 10th you go, ‘OK, I’ve got 10th.’  You try and get fifth, you try and get second, you try and win, you’re trying the best you can.  Really, I think we try and overanalyze or overcomplicate.  People ask the age old question, ‘Are you points racing?’  Yes.  I points race from now on the rest of my career because winning gets me the most points.  It’s simplified.  The better finish you get, the more points you get.” 

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT JAMIE MCMURRAY THE REST OF THE WORLD DOESN’T?  “I don’t know that Jamie has anything mysterious about him. He’s a good guy.  He loves racing like all of us.  I can’t think of any one thing about him that stands out.” 

DID HE GET SCREWED AT ROUSH?  “No, I don’t think so. Look at David Ragan or any of the other guys.  We struggled the last couple of years.  I got seven top 10s in a row at the beginning of last year, but then after that we were horrible.  We were just terrible until we got the help from RPM.  That just flip-flopped our season.  As soon as we went to their front  suspension and their geometry and kind of a hybrid car, we went to Chicago and were doing really well. Carl got second and then a few weeks later we won.  We went to Indy and got third.  It was like that (snapping his fingers). It wasn’t that we did that on purpose, it’s just that our cars weren’t that good.”

GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED — JAMIE SAID HE THRIVED AT GANASSI LAST YEAR BECAUSE THEY TAILORED HIS CAR TO WHAT HE LIKED AND THAT WASN’T THE CASE AT ROUSH.  HE FELT FORCED TO RUN A CERTAIN SPECIFIED SETUP. “Yeah, you face that in a big company.  I can’t go in there and say, ‘You know what, let’s try this other front suspension this week.’ We’ve got our simulation models.  We spend a lot of time and we’re building a lot of cars for a lot of people.  We build cars for across the street (RPM).  We build the Wood Brothers cars.  We build all of our cars, so when you have a two-car team like Ganassi does, you’ve got a group of guys in the shop, you don’t have to go talk to the head of production to figure out when you can get a car fit in.  You just go over to the fab shop and say, ‘Cut this mount off and change it.’ It’s like going to the Ford assembly line and saying, ‘Hey, I want to take this car and change this.’  Well, they’ve got all the parts pre-made and it’s not that easy.  So, yeah, the bigger the organization, the bigger the factory, the less customization you can do.” 

DID HE HAVE A DIFFERENT STYLE THAN YOU, CARL AND MATT?  “I wouldn’t say that he really had a different style. I would just say that we were all terrible.  I mean, how many races did Carl win the last two years, except for the last two races of the season?  Zero. Carl didn’t win any races.  Matt didn’t win any races.  David didn’t win any races.  It’s the first time in my career in the Cup series I didn’t win a race, so Jamie wasn’t gonna win either.  In fact, he was the only one that did win – the restrictor plate race – so it wasn’t that he had terrible stuff.” 

WOULD YOU HAVE TRADED YOUR SEASON AND MAKING THE CHASE FOR HIS SEASON IN WINNING THOSE BIG RACES?  “No.  I guess he’s recognized right now for winning those races, but you look at, let’s face it, when all of our critics look at who the top guys are, what do you look at?  You look at the chase.  Who won the Brickyard the year before?  The year before that?  The year before that?” 

IS A CONTRACT YEAR MORE STRESSFUL THAN ANY OTHER?  “Yeah, it does make it stressful depending on the situation you’re in.  My particular situation, 3M is very, very happy.  We have a great relationship.  They’re happy with Roush.  They’re happy with our wins last year.  They’re happy with us making the chase every year because that’s where you get the media coverage, you go to New York City, you go to Las Vegas and the banquet.  You’re on the stage at the biggest event and you’re in all the news media print for being a top tier contender in the sport because you make the chase.  They’re happy with their program.  Financially, the company is doing very well.  They’ve been able to weather the storm similar to Ford, so I’m in a pretty good spot.  Now, if it wasn’t all rosy, green pastures, then I’d be concerned.” 

WHEN IS 3M UP?  “3M is through this year,  so we’re working on an extension that I’ll tell you I would say is looking very well.” 

WILL IT BE CONCURRENT WITH YOUR DEAL?  “Our deal will be concurrent with Roush and 3M, yes.” 

DO YOU SEE CARL GOING ANYWHERE? “You look at ’08 and everybody was looking at musical chairs. Everyone was looking at going.  I was looking at maybe doing something different.  I was looking at this or that or whatever else, and Tony moved and guys were moving all over.  I don’t see guys jumping all over the place now.  We didn’t see a lot of big moves.  A lot of teams are ending up with four teams.  Childress has four teams, Hendrick has four teams, Gibbs will probably have four teams sooner or later.  We have four teams, so in order for you to go somewhere, somebody has to get kicked out, so it’s not as easy as, ‘Hey, maybe I’ll go see what Hendrick has going,’ because they don’t have a spot.  It’s a little more difficult.  The field is getting narrower with options.” 

PLUS SPONSORS ARE SHRINKING.  “Right, so it’s not so easy just to say, ‘Hey, I’m going over here, over there or over there.’  That’s why I’m happy the position I’m in.  3M is relatively happy with their program. Their company is doing well, which makes a difference.  Everybody is cutting back, but I don’t think the program is getting cut.  Maybe it’s got to get cut back some, but I think I’m in a fairly good position.” 

GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED — ARE GUYS LIKE YOU AND MONTOYA AND CARL GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE LESS MONEY VERSUS THREE YEARS AGO?  “Yes, a significant amount.  I think it’ll be a big adjustment for a lot of people.  I think it’s gonna be a significant amount just because I think sponsor programs are going down.  A lot of us had some pretty rich deals in the heyday.  It’s gonna get reset, there’s no doubt.”

SO YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT  A PAY CUT?  “I would think so just knowing the sponsor dollars are going down.  The sponsor dollars go down, let’s say, 40 percent or 35 percent.  That’s a significant number, so that’s got to come from somewhere.  It’s gonna be cut back at the team for engineering, personnel, driver salaries, all the way down.  We’re gonna have to economize what we’re doing to continue on.” 

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN FOR NASCAR TO REGATHER MOMENTUM?  “I look at it this way, it’s not necessarily for NASCAR to regain the momentum.  NASCAR has a good product.  Here’s the thing, I’m not a financial analyst, but I know when everybody else was falling off the face of the earth and business was down 40-50 percent, all this doomsday talk is another six months ahead, we were only down 10-11 percent as a sport.  We sustained way better than a lot of people did.  A lot of industries fell apart around us.  The car companies went bankrupt and we dropped only 10-11 percent, so we’re still catching up with what the ground around us, so to speak.  I think when the price gets discounted down a little bit, then all of the pricing comes down.  There are sponsors out there.  Our sponsor is excited with NASCAR, excited with the program, but we just can’t charge them what we were able to charge three or four years ago because the guys dropped the price. If the guy mowing your lawn sees four guys drop their price from $100 to $50, then you can’t charge $100 anymore because nobody is gonna pay you. You’ve got to get competitive and that’s happened everywhere.” 

WHAT’S THE TIMEFRAME FOR YOUR CONTRACT?  “I honestly feel like our contract will be done in the first quarter of this year.  I suspect it’ll be done maybe as soon as the break – four races in or something like that.  I think we’re close.  I feel like we’re close, and I think it’s gonna surprise a lot of people.” 

IS IT A DISTRACTION AT ALL FOR YOU? “No, not for me.” 

WHAT IS GOING TO SURPRISE PEOPLE?  “I think when we get this deal done, I think it will set a pretty decent mark in our sport for what’s going on.” 

HOW LONG OF A TERM DO YOU WANT?  “Most deals in NASCAR are two-three years, so I think we’ll be somewhere in there.” 

WHAT IS GOING TO BE SURPRISING ABOUT THIS DEAL?  “I think the term of our deal.”  HOW SO?  “If it all works out right, I think it’ll be a pretty good term of a contract considering the climate right now. I’m talking about the term, the length.” 

SO INSTEAD OF 2-3, IT COULD BE 5-6 YEARS?  “I think if you’re talking four years, that’s a long time for a company to sign up right now, and a driver and a team. We’re sitting here talking about economics.  I just don’t know how our deal is gonna flush out.  We’ll see when we get to the altar, but I think it’s gonna be a good deal.” 

SO YOU WON’T BE AROUND LONG ENOUGH FOR OTHER TEAMS TO GET IN A BIDDING WAR?  “Yeah, and to be perfectly honest with you, the sport goes in cycles.  Our cars are good right now.  We won a couple races last year.  I don’t have a high interest level in leaving Roush Fenway and going somewhere else right now.  I really, really don’t.  The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  And the other thing we’re talking about is where are you gonna go?  You gonna go start a brand new team at Gibbs.  Where else would you go?  Hendrick, Gibbs, Childress, who are the other players that have spots?  None of them have spots is what I’m saying.” 

GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED — HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU THAT YOUR ORGANIZATION CAN START 2011 THE WAY YOU FINISHED 2010?  “I’m real confident.  For some reason, we do very well at the beginning of the year.  Last year, we had six or seven top 10s in a row and our cars were terrible.  To be perfectly honest with you.  Our simulation wasn’t good, Jack has talked about that.  In the middle of the year we finally flipped over a new leaf and from Chicago on it was a different season.  If you look at our season pre-Chicago and post-Chicago, it’s remarkable.  That’s the way we finished the season.  We went home, did some homework, made our cars better and lighter and we’re coming back to the game.  I think we’re gonna be pretty damn good, considering we’re  pretty good the first half of the year anyway.  I think it’s gonna be good.  I don’t see why our team won’t win four races this season – the 16 team. We won two last year, had Texas won and the shifter broke, and we were right there on a handful of other, so it wouldn’t be out of the question for us to win two to four races, I don’t think.” 

DO YOU FEEL YOU’RE PUTTING PRESSURE ON HENDRICK AND THIS WILL BE A MORE COMPETITIVE YEAR OVERALL?  “Yeah, and basically what we’re doing is we’re putting pressure on Hendrick because they’ve been the leader. What Childress did last year and us coming up with four wins, I’m thinking we’re gonna start even better this season, and Gibbs is always right there.  Yeah, it’s four tough teams and there are other two-car teams – Stewart Haas – that we’re not talking about.  Ryan and Tony, just because they’re not a four-car team, we kind of left them out of the mix.  They’re right there.” 

HENDRICK STILL SEEMS TO HOIST THE TROPHY AT THE END OF THE YEAR.  “Last year it didn’t look easy for them.  It was a little touch-and-go there, and as we continue to close in on that, I really think that it’s gonna get tougher.” 

DID THEY SHOW SIGNS OF VULNERABILITY?  “They showed signs, but they were able to pull it together, that’s obvious, but in my opinion they showed signs.  They can’t get their car to go very good.  They didn’t qualify well. Look at all those races, they were qualifying not where they normally qualify.  It wasn’t all rosy.  They were able to work through them because that’s a four-time, five-time championship-caliber team, but there were signs of the wheels coming off that thing.” 

PERSONNEL ISSUES AT TEXAS WITH THE PIT CREW?  “Yeah, I don’t quite understand that whole thing there.” 

WHEN YOU HEAR HENDRICK RENTS CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOR PIT CREW PRACTICE, WHAT DOES THAT SAY TO YOU?  “I don’t know if we have plans to do that, but that’s why they’ve won five championships in a row.” 

IT SEEMS THEY TOOK EXTREME MEASURES AT THE END BY SWAPPING TEAMS.  “That’s what you have to do to win championships.  I think that’s being proactive, too.  That’s being a team that’s saying, ‘We’re gonna continue to be the leader of this sport and if we are, we have to continue to make changes or do whatever we have to do to stay ahead of our competition.’” 

DO YOU HAVE TO RESPOND IN KIND?  “I don’t run that part of the company.  I don’t think that Jimmy and Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Mark are making those decisions.  I think it would be the management saying, ‘Wow, those guys are over at Charlotte Motor Speedway doing this fire drill.  Maybe we should think about it.’  It’s not my position to go in there and sit down and say, ‘Hey, did you guys know Hendrick is doing this?’  I don’t feel like it’s my position.  I feel like that’s Robbie Reiser’s job or whoever the head pit crew guy is or Jack or Steve Newmark.” 

YOU CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL.  “Yeah, I’m gonna focus on my car, (Greg) Erwin, my team – all the things I can. I can’t run that company.”  

GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED — WHAT’S IT LIKE TO COME HERE NOW AND DRIVE ON THIS TRACK VERSUS A YEAR AGO?  “It’s awesome.  I want to shake the guys’ hands that put the paving down and did the grating because you think what we do out on the race track, I’m a novice equipment operator.  I have fun doing it and digging dirt, but you think what we do is hard, you look at what those guys have done – how big of an area they paved and grating it and getting it all perfect and right with no seams.  It’s an amazing thing they’ve done here, Talladega, Charlotte. It’s pretty amazing.  I have a lot of respect for the people that put the surface out there, on top of it being pretty neat.  It’s gonna be fun to race on.  The great thing that I’m kind of excited about is that nobody has an idea of what it’s gonna be like – none of us.  I don’t have a clue.  I’ve never drafted on it.  I have no idea what to expect.” 

SIMILAR TO TALLADEGA?  “A little bit, but Talladega wasn’t real wavy.  It didn’t have big bumps.  It was rough because the pavement had separated, but Talladega was always a little bit different and always in its own category.  Here, you had to come out of the gas.  The car would slide.  All kinds of stuff is happening and now it doesn’t.  Now how is that gonna make it different.” 

WHERE WAS IT THE HAIRIEST BEFORE?  “Probably off two.  The car wanted to get sideways all the time off of turn two.  The track surface got so bad that on a single car run it would almost get sideways in the middle of the corner.  The bump in two and the track just didn’t have the grip.”

WAS IT WHERE THE POTHOLE WAS?  “What happened was it had waves in it and the car would hit the ground.  The car would sit there and pound the race track until it knocked it loose.  It like if you go to break up a piece of concrete, we’re each gonna take a swing with a sledgehammer.  What do you think with a car when the splitter hits the ground – 43 of them every lap just pounding that thing and it finally came apart.  It finally said, ‘I give up.’  It was a matter of time and now that’s gone.” 

DO YOU FEEL A BUMP IN THREE?  “There are some small bumps around the race track.  They’re like seams or small bumps, but a bump is different than a wave.  I’ve only gone over it by myself, so when you’re in a pack it may bump the car up a little bit. I don’t claim to know a lot about surfaces and how they hold up, but I do think that a bump will continue to get bigger and bigger over time – kind of like a washboard, when you go up it the moment it starts to bounce it digs and makes the hump higher as it goes.  I think a bump is the same way.” 

ON THE OLD SURFACE.  “Everybody should have went around that thing in the pace car before they paved it.  You’d take people for a ride and you’re like ‘What is going on.’”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at NASCAR Daytona Media day and discussed the new track surface, pit crew changes and much more.  Full transcript:  

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]HAVE YOU LEARNED ENOUGH FROM YOUR TESTING TO FEEL LIKE YOU WILL BE A GOOD CONTENDOR IN THE BUD SHOOTOUT AND HOW IMPORTANT WILL IT BE WITH THIS NEW PAVEMENT?“I guess in the Goodyear tire test there were large enough packs to really get a good feel of how things are going to work and what your car was going to do. The testing that I was part off, the NASCAR test, we only had two-car packs. We would pair up in twos so we could push draft each other around the track. If there was an odd number of cars that poor guy whoever he was wouldn’t be able to draft because we would pair up and leave. So for me the Shootout is my first experience with a big pack on the track so it will be a big learning curve for myself, a great experience, very helpful and needed on-track time to figure out what’s going on out there.”  

ON THE CHANGES WITH HIS TEAM. “As far as inside the shop and the guys working on the cars, yes. Our over-the-wall crew is going to be much different. We’re still trying to sort everything out on that side. We’re in a very fortunate situation where we are making big changes. A very young crop of guys coming along and a situation where guys are earning their way on to the team and competing for. We’ve had a series of competitions and tests to see who is the fastest. That’s one aspect. Who can withstand the pressure. We had all four cars at Charlotte doing live pit stops to see. We put a lot of pressure on them to see if somebody was better. So we’re still in the process, Chad may have made some decisions. I was there at that test with those guys last week and I haven’t heard the final roster. From that what I saw a very, very strong first and second string of guys. That’s our plan, to make sure we have depth and if someone is hurt or having a bad day we can make changes and not lose anything on pit road.”  

DO YOU CONSIDER THAT THE LARGEST VARIABLE FOR YOU ENTERING THIS SEASON SINCE WE DON’T REALLY HAVE MUCH TESTING AND THERE’S NOT BEEN A WHOLE LOT OF TIME THAT’S TRANSPIRED SINCE YOU LAST WON?“I’m sure what the largest variable will be. I feel that is certainly one of them and there is probably two or three there. I would say that is one. Two, we didn’t end the season at the pace that we wanted and we worked very hard all off-season to try to find more speed. And we have a lot of good stuff that has come out. About a real test session on a real track we don’t know if we have been working in the right areas so until we get through four or five races I think that’s a variable to consider. I think it’s going to be good but again it’s something different. The fact that drivers have changed teams, there’s got to be some learning there and we’ll have to see if that’s a big player or not. I certainly don’t think it will be since it’s all the same people internally just moving in different positions but you can’t argue the fact that it’s different.”  

HAVING A LITTLE BIT TIME TO REFLECT ON NUMBER FIVE, IS IT ANY MORE SATISFACTORY BECAUSE YOU DID HAVE TO COME FROM BEHIND? HOW DO YOU LOOK ON THAT CHAMPIONSHIP?I guess as the season wore down I recognized that I was very fortunate to be in the tightest points battle that has ever taken place. Certainly very excited that I came out on top and was able to win it coming from behind. The impact that it’s had with people making comments to me, it’s been big. I know it was big and I know we were in a position we didn’t want to be in. We didn’t have the pace that we needed at a couple of tracks and got behind and then went into Homestead, actually Phoenix helped us with strategy and then went to Homestead and were able to close the deal. I do have a great sense of pride for the fact that we came from behind and no one has ever done that before. I’ve been asked the question a few times about does it make it more special. In my opinion the more dominant points battles we’ve had or championship wins we’ve had, we have done a better job as a team so there is almost more pride in the fact that we were buttoned up, in control, we could win a lot of races. I feel that last year it was more of a relief and kind of a confidence builder with who we are as a team but even when things are stacked against us we can stick together as a group and still win. I feel like some of our best work was done the year racing Jeff (Gordon).”  

DO THE PIT CREW CHANGES CONCERN YOU GIVEN WHAT HAPPENED AT TEXAS AT THE END OF THE YEAR OR WAS THIS SOMETHING YOU THINK NEEDED TO HAPPEN?At the end of the year we were in a position we didn’t want to be in. It certainly wasn’t typical for the No. 48 team or Hendrick teams to swap crews around. We knew before that that we needed to make some changes during the off-season and truthfully every off-season we go through and try to make sure we have the best people on the roster. This year was different, we changed more positions. Now we’re down to six guys over the wall with the rule on the catch can side of things, so I would say five of the six guys over the wall this coming year are new to us. They have the potential to have that on pit road. So it is a variable. We may have some bumps in the road early but I think you will see, it will be a much different look with our guys. You’re gonna see some real athletes. These guys are the real deal – young, athletic, all have sports backgrounds and we feel that will help from a physical standpoint – quickness, hand-eye coordination standpoint and also from a pressure standpoint where they played important games in the past and they know how deal with those pressures.”  

HOW QUICKLY AFTER HOMESTEAD DID YOU GUYS DECIDE TO DO THAT?“This process has been in place of finding the proper guys. I would say that the reality of it came much more apparent to us, Homestead, Phoenix, that we may need to go to that well. In our plan we didn’t think we would change out so many guys but with the position we were in at the end of the year we were like we need to kick this thing into gear and yes we may take some bumps early in the season but we’ll just have to take that and get these guys in and get going.”  

BRIAN VICKERS SAID THAT IF HE WAS RACING AGAINST SOMEBODY THAT HAD BEEN OUT AS LONG AS HE HAS THAT HE MIGHT HAVE SOME RESERVATIONS ABOUT THAT DRIVER COMING BACK, WHAT DOES BRIAN NEED TO DO TO SHOW, PROVE AND REGAIN THAT TRUST OR JUST TO MAKE EVERYBODY FEEL COMFORTABLE ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUR AT A TRACK WHERE YOU ARE RUNNING SO CLOSE? “I think that it’s really about being around other cars and in the test session Brian and I had linked up in some of the Nationwide drafting and first roll out and working with him and I know well, and knowing in the past that’s he’s very good to draft and be around. About a lap I was paying attention and quickly forgot the situation he was in and off we went. He’s gotta go through that process with all the drivers and I don’t think it’s going to take long with all the practice time we have down here. I don’t know if he’s in the shootout or not but the Duels, all the practice sessions leading up to the 500. By the time he gets to the 500 he should have everybody forgetting who is driving it. At the end of the day you kind of forget at times who is in the car. You just see the colors, I look for the No. 17 and the No. 22, there are certain guys that I just look for that I work well with in the draft. I think by the time the 500 comes around Brian will be back.”  

WITH YOUR STYLE OF NEVER SEEMING TO MIND OF SLIDING THE CAR AROUND IF YOU HAVE TO, LOOSE, ROUGH PAVEMENT, NEARER THE OFF-ROAD THE BETTER ALMOST, HOW DOES THIS REPAVING JOB AFFECT YOU AND YOUR STYLE? IS IT A PLUS FOR YOU OR A MINUS?“Our track record doesn’t show that the old surface was really a plus. Maybe this is a plus. You know our finishes here especially in the 500 we’ve been caught up in a lot of late-race stuff and we haven’t been the dominant car by any means, but we’ve had top-fives, top-tens in our hands and had some situations that plagued us. The July race has been much better to us where it is more slick so maybe there is an argument with that. I feel though as race teams with the new surface we only have a few areas to adjust the car and with the track being so forgiving everybody is going to be set on kill and handling is not going to be an option or an obstacle like we all like Talladega. From our standpoint we have less to separate ourselves with on the track during the race but I think it will be in perspective and for the Daytona 500 we’re going to have the best circumstances and the best race we’ve seen. The only thing that can screw that up is all getting too out of control early and cause a big pile up and there’s 15 cars left on the track. That’s the one thing that can screw this all up but I think for the Daytona 500 we have the best circumstances building.”

PHOENIX IS ONE OF YOUR BEST TRACKS AND THEY ANNOUNCED THEY ARE GOING TO REPAVE IT AND ADD BANKING AND BASICALLY CHANGING THE EXISTING PHOENIX AS WE KNOW IT, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THEM CHANGING IT?“Yeah I hate to see it change. I understand their situation and they need to get some new asphalt down. They came through the garage area and tried to get input from drivers and tried to figure out how to make the track better for racing, side-by-side racing and safer. So I think pit road will be looked at, they will allow a little bit more space on pit road. So in the end its kind of one of the necessary evils, no one wanted to see this track (Daytona International Speedway) repaved but it needed to happen. Phoenix is kind of in that same boat. To change the transitions around a little bit to create a second groove with the new asphalt right out of the gate.”  

IS IT CONCERNING THAT’S GOING TO BE KIND OF THE WILDCARD WITH THE SECOND TO THE LAST RACE IN THE CHASE BECAUSE YOU WILL GO THERE WITH NOT HAVING A LOT OF INFORMATION?“I guess I haven’t thought about that. It will make it difficult. I don’t know if we will come in a day early to test, sometimes we test on new surfaces. I haven’t thought that far ahead and it certainly could be a wildcard.”  

NOW THAT YOU HAVE FIVE CHAMPIONSHIPS AND SEVEN WITHIN REACH, WOULD ANYTHING LESS THAN SEVEN CHAMPIONSHIPS BE A DISAPPOINTMENT AT THIS POINT IN YOUR CAREER?“If it all ended today, there is no way I would be disappointed. It’s been one hell of a ride. I’m so proud of the growth I’ve had as a driver from motocross, off-road trucks, stock cars, there’s a lot of years where I was tearing stuff up and trying to find my way. When I went with Hendrick things smoothed out and it’s been one heck of a ride. So if it all ended today I would be very proud of what all has taken place.”  

WITH YOUR TRACK RECORD HERE AND ESPECIALLY IN THE 500 WITH THE NEW SURFACE HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT CHANGING YOUR APPROACH AT ALL?“I think it kind of boils down to the Talladega approach. Do you try to stay up at the top three or four rows and race or do you wait at the back until the end? It can be so easy to stay in a huge group, I think that’s where the big questions lie. You kind of want to go where there are less cars. So if there’s a big race up front you slide back, if everybody’s riding then you might want to work your way back up front.”  

IS BEING A MORNING PERSON ONE OF THE KEYS TO YOUR SUCCESS? “It doesn’t hurt being a morning person. I think it’s helpful. I thought I was a morning person until I became and father and now I find I’m officially a morning person. I’ve always been that way. My dad working construction was always up early and out the door and I would get up and have some breakfast with him and hang out before I would go to school. So it’s just kind of been my wiring since I was a kid.”  

RICHARD PETTY IS REMEMBERED AS MUCH FOR SEVEN DAYTONA 500 VICTORIES AS HIS SEVEN CHAMPIONSHIP, NOW YOU’VE GOT FIVE HOW MUCH WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD MULTUPLE DAYTONA 500 WINS TO YOUR LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS?I would say plate races in general, first step. Second step would be the 500. In ’05 and ’06, the last year of whatever that was when we won a couple of plate races, I knew what to do and had things sorted out and was very good at restrictor plate racing then, but now I feel like I’m a top-five guy where I need to learn something else to become a better plate driver. We’re limiting my ability to learn because we spend time trying to focus on what we need to do in October at Talladega and trying to understand how you ride, when you go and how you create those opportunities, so that limits my opportunities to learn and really race for things. So I understand those factors but at the end of the day in the 500 I think every team is willing to sacrifice points, not ride, do what you have to do to win this race. It’s just so important to win this race.”  

ON THE NEW POINTS SYSTEM.“From our meeting with NASCAR, we did some math and were able to put a points value on positions and what that value is from first and second on down and its very similar in the upper tier. Obviously the lower you get the more difficult it is. If you’ve had a bad day it’s going to hurt you a lot more than it did in the past. I understand the way it works. I understand why they are trying to do it. Time will tell if it was a good move or not. We’re in a weird position because at times we’ve criticized NASCAR for not doing enough or trying enough then they do something and we pick it apart and criticize if it’s going to work or not. I don’t really know, but the overall concept of running up front still is in play. It could be argued that riding around in 10th to 15th, they’ve taken that away. You need to be inside the top-10 to perform. We’ll just have to see how the points tally up for people.”  

WOULD YOU SAY THAT DRIVERS THIS YEAR ARE GUNNING FOR YOU MORE THAN IN THE PAST?  “Especially being in the morning group I haven’t heard all the stuff yet, so in a few more hours I’ll know what everybody has said. Without a doubt to help answer your question, everybody is tired of us winning. That’s just how it is. I had a lot of fun at the end of the year with Harvick being as vocal as he was. I also had some fun messing with Denny (Hamlin). There was a lot of good things taking place and I think you will see that again this year. I can say that we saw a very good points battle last year and that didn’t include the Roush guys and the way they ran at the end of the season, the Childress, Hendrick, Gibbs group separated itself, you’re gonna have Roush back now. So we’re going to have one more quality group of drivers in there mixing it up. I think it’s going to be a very good year. We can all sit here and get fired up and get quotes to start the season but I’d say come Vegas or maybe after Vegas, I think before five races in whatever that 1.5-mile track is, we can start passing out report cards to see who did what over the off-season.”  

HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK DANGER IS IMPORTANT TO APPEAL TO THE FANS? WITH THIS YEAR BEING THE 10TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF DALE EARNHARDT’S ACCIDENT, ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THAT BALANCE BETWEEN SAFETY VERSES THAT APPEAL?“Yeah I’m comfortable with that. You know you walk that fine line and I think the marketing angle is important to really have some fun with it and create the buzz. I feel that the way we work as a group on the competition side and understand the safety aspects of the car that the tracks and what has gone on and the fact that we have a voice and are able to express our dislikes for certain situations like Pocono and now they are actively working on stuff. I think it’s a good balance. We all know that’s there’s a lot of people that come to these races to watch a crash. We may not want to admit it but we know that those fans are out there.”  

IS THERE EVER TOO MUCH FOCUS PUT ON THE TALKING ABOUT SAFETY?“No. I think we’re all looking for the magic bullet to understand why there are not as many butts in the stands and as many people watching on TV. And I don’t think it’s just one given area. There are multiple things that all need attention. The changes that they are talking about making I think will help it directionally, push things in the right direction but it’s not the magic bullet.  We need a koozie full of bullets to fix the problems.”   About Chevrolet:Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011   

Dodge Motorsports PR Denny Darnell Scott Sebastian Daytona Int’l Speedway   

NASCAR Media Day Brad Keselowski Open Interview NASCAR Sprint Cup Series                       

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WOULD HAVE MORE OF AN ADVANTAGE IF THERE WERE MORE DODGE CARS ON THE TRACK?  “No, not really.  I think that it’s an over-reported story to be honest.  I think that the support that we get from Dodge is equivalent, if not better than what any other manufacturer gives.  Sure there are less numbers which decrease your odds in saying, ‘Dodge only won three races last year’.  If you look at the dollar cost value of that, they’ve spent less and put in a good effort to still win races.  I respect that.  I think that they’re doing the best job of all the manufacturers of leveraging where they are at in the sport and taking care of the amount of money that they spend.  I’m proud of Dodge for that reason.  I really like their cars.  I really like where we’re going with them.  I got a sneak peek at the 2013 Cup car and thought that it was really awesome.  Dodge is kind of steering the way on where the sport goes on projects like that.  They showed that already with the (NASCAR Nationwide Series) Challenger.  Dodge was a large part of the design process, through the Challenger of the new Nationwide car.  I think that we would all agree, the car turned out better than the COT versions before.  I think we’re going to see another evolution of that led by Dodge for the 2013 (Cup) model.  That’s the story that should be reported about Dodge, not that there’s only two teams.”

IF YOU GET BOXED INTO A SITUATION WITH THREE OR FOUR LAPS TO GO AND HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PUSH KURT TO A WIN, IS THAT OK WITH YOU?  “Yeah, it’s OK.  Some days you’re in the driver seat, some days you’re that pusher, that guy that’s helping.  It would be an honor if I could push a guy like Kurt to win the 500.  I wouldn’t be upset about it.  That still doesn’t mean that I don’t want to win.  If I have the opportunity to win, I’m going to take it.”

KURT’S CARS WE’RE, FOR THE MOST PART, VERY COMPETITIVE.  WHERE DID YOUR CARS STRUGGLE LAST YEAR?  “There were just a lot of different things going on.  A lot of differences in approach.  A lot of differences in the way that the cars were put together.  We’ve got to get that figured out.  Basically, Kurt’s team is a really good team that’s well established and done a lot of good things.  Obviously, he’s a good driver and deserves some of the credit as well, whether that’s from his feedback or just pure skill.  I always try to keep that in mind.  I thought that there were times where we were better than he was.  When we were better than he was, he was a 30th-place car and we were a 20th-place car.  When he was better than we were, he was a top-five car and we were a 20th-place car.  The highs and lows were pretty drastic on both sides, his especially.  You try and keep that in perspective and think about what we can do to be better.  I think that Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) and his approach to making the cars better will pay off and, in the end, help Kurt as long as Paul can do so.”

TALK ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE BUD SHOOTOUT ON SATURDAY?  HOW MUCH DOES THAT HURT? “It’s huge.  To me, it’s nothing short of a (expletive) disaster to not be in the race.  The way that practice is set up, nobody is going to practice all week.  They’re going to practice the single car runs.  They’re going to practice for the Shootout.  They’re going to do a couple of short runs, but there will be very little practice all the way up to the Twins, especially after the Twins.  I was very disappointed not being in it.  There’s nothing that I can do.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT THE CRITERIA FOR THE SHOOTOUT SHOULD BE?  “There’s just so many ways that you can pull on that.  I’ve kind of given up giving any thought on that.  It really doesn’t matter.”

IT JUST SEEMS LIKE IT’S NOT SPECIAL TO BE IN THE SHOOTOUT ANYMORE?  “Whether you agree or disagree with a person like me being in a race, I think that we can all agree there are better ways for coming up with the field.”

DO YOU HAVE YOUR DRAFTING PARTNER PICKED OUT ALREADY?  “You really can’t.  You work well with who you find.  You find a guy in the race that you have that right run, I’m gonna hit him, push him and he’s my guy.  If you’re not moving together, write that down.  I’m not working with that guy.  You try to put that together.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  I can’t answer why that is.  There are just certain cars that go and ones that don’t.  You just kind of pick through them all and find the one that work.  You wish they had a sign on the roof that says, ‘This car’s good, this one’s not’ but they don’t.”

DOES THAT CHANGE DURING A RACE?  “I don’t see how cars get better.  They get worse.”

DO YOU AGREE WITH NASCAR’S DECISION NOT ALLOWING DRIVER’S TO RUN FOR MORE THAN ONE CHAMPIONSHIP?  “I think that it’s the right decision for the sport.  At some point, we all have a role in looking out for the sport.  At what level is debatable.  That was the right role for the sport, in particular the series, to do what it needs.  It needs more young drivers.  Quite honestly, it’s to my benefit.  The way that I’m going to get better in this sport is for other young driver to come up and for me to be more of a senior person who has the experience.  You can look at it positively, or negatively.  In the long term, I think it’s good.”

HAVE YOU NOTICES A CORRELATION BETWEEN THE NOSES ON THE NATIONWIDE CAR AND CUP CAR?  “It’s hard until we get to all the tracks and get going.  The biggest things that you notice so far are that it doesn’t have the splitter braces.  After two years, the Cup car gets to remove its braces (laughs).  That’s good.  Looking at it, it just means that the cars are a little bit more durable which is good.  Guys just won’t lose their splitter and be done for a day which means you can run a little rougher and rub fenders and not worry about the thing breaking off.  I think that kept a lot of drivers from being as aggressive as they want to be.  Everybody seems to be about aggressive racing.  It was interesting toward the end of the year, although the media couldn’t see it, the sport changed a lot over the last 10 races, at least the cars did and the way that they performed.  We saw a lot of side-by-side racing and a lot of it had to do with the nose and what people were doing with it.  It’s almost a shame from that standpoint that we changed nose pieces because it took away some of the things that we were doing to it to make the racing more competitive and have more action.  We’ll see if that comes back or not.”

WHAT CHANGES WOULD YOU MAKE TO THE CAR PRIOR TO 2012?  “I think that the biggest thing is that we need to make the cars run better, I mean run side-by-side and do all those great things.  We need to reduce the effect of the splitter because it puts all the downforce so low and creates a lot of sensitivity to the car.  When the car bottoms out, let’s say you drive in a corner underneath somebody, you have to drive it in just that little bit deeper to clear a guy and drag the splitter and about wreck both of you. It’s annoying as hell and keeps you from being as brave as you’d like to be to make a pass, make a maneuver on someone.  Now there’s a high possibility that you’d knock both of you out.  You want to pass everyone every chance that you can.  There is some risk-reward for trying and not wrecking yourself in the process.”

WHERE’S THE BALANCE BETWEEN HOW THE CAR DRIVES AND DRIVER PERFORMACNE? “It should be about both.  Right now, it’s like a car that’s damn-well impossible to drive which means you have to be perfect – which is good in some sense – at the end of the day.  The only selling point at making a car to where it has to be perfect to where you have to be perfect – the selling point is for that – is that the best driver will make a difference.  It’s still not that way.  There are still enough differences in the car where the best teams are still faster like they were with the old car.  Now, it’s just impossible to run side-by-side.  We haven’t hit that balance like I think we could.  We’re working on it.  I think that the sport is working on it.  There is a balance there.  You don’t want the cars to drive easy.  I don’t think anybody is asking for that.  You should be able to get under a guy and put a little bit of extra “oomph” in it and make a move and not wreck you and him.”