FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES

Daytona Preseason Thunder, Page 2   

January 21, 2011

Daytona International Speedway  

David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion, took time during a rain delay Friday morning at the 2011 Daytona Preseason Thunder to discuss his upcoming season, how Roush Fenway Racing has progressed as an organization, the new surface at Daytona and what a victory in the Daytona 500 would mean to him.

  DAVID RAGAN, driver, No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion – YOU HAVE HAD A DAY ON THIS NEW SURFACE, WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT HOW IT FEELS OUT THERE?  “The first time we were on it was like driving on glass. It was smooth all the way around with maybe a little bump here and there, but nothing that would change the handling of the car at all. Coming back down here this weekend, the difference is that one little bump has maybe gotten a little bit worse, but nothing compared to how it was at last year’s Daytona 500 or even the race in July.  The track has a ton of grip. Goodyear obviously brings a safe tire down here and they don’t wear a whole lot. I think you will see a lot of strategy, two tire stops and fuel only stops. That will play differently this year than what we have been accustomed to in the past. I think the track is great and will only get better in time. Hopefully over the next few years it will age some and handling will come back into play and we will have to put tires on every pit stop.” 

WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT TO SEE IN A MONTH AT THE 500?  “In years past here at Daytona you would get everyone really tight together for a few laps and then once the tires started to wear out the cars would bounce around. Some guys were loose, some tight and they were all over the race track. You would have to start lifting and the pack would stretch out some, so there would be a car-length gap here and a few feet there. Now, all the cars are going to handle so good that everyone is going to be three-by-three on top of each other all day long. It will be a different Daytona 500 than you have seen in the past and the last 20 or 30 laps will be totally insane. I think every inch of the track will be used and there will be a lot of pushing and shoving. You can see some of the guys hooking up already with the two-car packs like they do at Talladega. That is still going to be a little different because Daytona is a different style race track. It is tighter and a little narrower. It will be a good Daytona 500 and something we haven’t seen in several years.” 

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE PROPOSED POSSIBLE POINTS CHANGE?  “I think that has been long overdue. I think the points system has been confusing not only for the fans but the drivers and the teams. I think that simplifying it is a good thing. I think you still need to reward the winner a few more points than the second and third place guy. If you get those points too close together, it takes a little of the fame of winning out and getting those extra bonus points. I am sure NASCAR will make the right decision. They are in the right ballpark with the figures. I think it is very understandable that 43 to 1 point meaning first to last makes sense. As long as we get bonus points for leading laps and winning the race, I think it will be a good move.” 

THIS IS A BIG YEAR FOR YOU, ONE THAT YOU HAVE SAID YOU NEED TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL. WHAT KIND OF EXPECTATIONS HAVE YOU PUT ON YOURSELF FOR 2011?  “We have a lot of expectations on ourselves for this year. The last couple years we have been real inconsistent with a few runs here and there but we could never get in a rhythm where we knocked off top-5 and top-10 finishes. That is what gets you in the Chase and gets the most points. We have got to run a lot of mistake free races. The biggest thing is that we have our race cars really fast at Roush Fenway racing. I think the engine department is really prepared more so today than they have been in a couple of years. Our race cars are very nice and lightweight and seem to be very fast. That gives us a lot of confidence going into the year and that is a good thing. We all put pressure on ourselves because this is an important year for us and for our team. We want to get Ford back into victory lane and get UPS into victory lane. I want to win a Cup race very badly. To win a few Nationwide races a couple of years ago and have some success there was good. I didn’t see the last couple of years coming and we have really been in a slump. The pressure we put on ourselves is a good thing and we have the resources to make it happen. It is a very important year and we are looking forward to Daytona but also Phoenix, Vegas, Bristol and those next few races that will set the tone for the year.” 

HOW HAS THE ORGINAZTION AT ROUSH FENWAY RACING CHANGED FROM THIS POINT LAST YEAR TO NOW?  “We are so much more prepared today than we were a year ago at this date. Last year we were switching the engines back and forth it seemed like every week and trying to figure out what kind of race cars we were going to build. We had the Richard Petty merger and we were building cars for them. We were working just to get ourselves out of a hole and now we understand what to do and how to do it. I think everyone back at Roush Fenway racing and Jack Roush and Robbie Reiser really have a good plan of attack. I think our race cars are as good today as they have been in a couple of years and that will show everyone that we are back to win some races and that we can all have a good season. Better than what we have had in years past.” 

TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CREW CHIEF DREW BLICKENSDERFER AND HOW YOUR RELATIONSHIP HAS EVOLVED FROM LAST YEAR TO NOW.  “I am really glad we made the change when we did last year. It gave us six or seven races to get used to each other. We expect to win and to run in the top-10 and be one of the best Ford teams out there. He has been able to gel with all our guys on the team and rally the troops the last few races. We had some good qualifying runs and good finishes last year that gave everyone some good momentum to get through the off season. I think that the morale of the No. 6 team is as good as it has been in a couple of years. We all expect to come out to Daytona and be a fast car, lead laps and be there at the end. Drew has done a nice job and it was good to run a few races last year and have the off season to build on that. We should be able to hit the ground running.” 

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO COME AWAY WITH THE CHECKERED FLAG HERE IN THE 500?  “That would be big. That would be a great start to the year. A checkered flag at Daytona is something else. You count on winning races and you want to win races. You never think about how you want to win at Atlanta versus Martinsville, you just want to win. To think about winning at Daytona is just something that you probably don’t get a good feeling for what it is like until you really do win it. The 500 is a special race. We have been in the top-5 and top-10 a couple times and that is a good feeling but to win the race would be a huge start for our season and something that we have just as good a shot to do as any other team out here.”

  Drew Blickensderfer, crew chief of the No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion, spoke Friday at the 2011 Daytona Preseason Thunder about his relationships with driver David Ragan, information sharing in the Roush Fenway Racing camp and more.

  DREW BLICKENSDERFER, crew chief, No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion – YOU HAD A FEW RACES LAST YEAR TO WORK WITH DAVID, HOW DID THAT HELP YOU GUYS GOING INTO THIS SEASON?  “I think it prepared us to see what we needed to focus on over the off season. It got us a head start on making the first part of this year more valuable. The first 10 or 15 races are extremely important and having that kind of jump start prepares us better for those first 10 or 15.” 

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO WORK OUT ALL THE LITTLE THINGS IN CREW CHIEF TO DRIVER COMMUNICATION, LEARNING TONE OF VOICE, ETC.?  “It takes some time. David isn’t as excitable as some drivers are, so I think tone of voice and knowing what you need loose versus tight versus other things takes some time. I think the six or seven races we did together last year prepared me to get a jump ahead on all of that. It takes more time with certain drivers to understand what they mean than others and I am glad we got a jump on that last year.” 

HOW WILL THE NEW NOSE AFFECT THINGS ON YOUR SIDE AS A CREW CHIEF?  “I think it is pretty early to tell because we get limited testing. Other than this deal this weekend we won’t get much short track testing and our testing is in a controlled lab environment. We know what we think we can expect when we get there but the last 25-percent or so, how the grill is going to get cluttered with debris or little things that don’t come up in a controlled environment we will just have to see when we get to the race track. The new nose is a little of a question mark but we are happy with it. We are happy the way it turned out but we need to get to the track at Phoenix and Vegas to put the stamp on what we have got for sure.” 

WITH THE REPAVE HERE AT DAYTONA, DO YOU BASICALLY JUST TOSS OUT ALL YOUR OLD NOTES ON THIS PLACE AND START FROM SCRATCH?  “Yeah, for the most part. You basically put away your Daytona notes and get out your Talladega notes. Talladega is so smooth that it compares more to this track now than the old Daytona. On the old Daytona you would come down here for qualifying and try to get as much speed as you could out of the car and then you go to race and you are worried about handling. Now you are worried about having the most speed for qualifying and the most speed for the race. That is more similar to Talladega now than anything. You can pretty much toss the old Daytona stuff to the side.” 

HOW MUCH COMMUNICATION DO YOU HAVE WITH THE OTHER CREW CHIEFS IN THE ROUSH FENWAY CAMP?  “There is a ton of collaboration. We all get along really well and have an open book and open door policy with each other. We are constantly having meetings and talking about things. I would say that probably 10 times a day another crew chief will go to another one and talk about things. We are constantly together and always talking about what we plan on doing and we kind of know what each other have as far as the game plan and what our thoughts are.”

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES

Daytona Preseason Thunder, Page 1   

January 21, 2011

Daytona International Speedway  

Donnie Wingo, crew chief of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion took time during Friday’s rain delay at the 2011 Daytona Preseason Thunder to discuss the upcoming season, his guidance of rookie driver Trevor Bayne and how the track at Daytona has evolved since the repaving project.

  DONNIE WINGO, crew chief, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – EDDIE WOOD DESCRIBED TREVOR AS HAVING AN “IT” QUALITY. DO YOU SEE THAT AS WELL?  “Yeah, for sure. From the time he got in the car at Texas last year to the end of the race, he is just one of those guys that just has this knack. The part I liked about Texas was he did a real good job of racing for us. A kid like that, he has the speed, a lot of times it takes some of those guys to get the racing part down but I think he already has that down. Just from the way he raced at Texas, racing around the other cars and the way he was able to pass cars and not just sit and ride behind cars was a good thing. He searched until he found a way to get around cars. I think that is something that you can’t teach these young kids; they just have to learn it on their own.”

YOU HAVE WORKED WITH TREVOR SINCE THE TEXAS RACE. HOW HAS THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOU TWO EVOLVED AND HOW DO YOU THINK IT WILL EVOLVE?   “I think it is like anything else. Guys that work together for a long time build a relationship and it makes things a lot easier, especially when it comes to race time and making adjustments. A lot of times you can tell from a driver’s voice how bad or good something is. That is something that will take time for us, but as the races go on this year I think we will build that. His feedback is good. His feedback from the race at Texas was good and it has been good at the test here. If he keeps giving us good feedback then we will be able to make the car better which is what you have to do to win races.” 

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT DEALING WITH A ROOKIE DRIVER AS OPPOSED TO A VETERAN GUY?  “There are some things that I think I can contribute to him at some places we go that will open his eyes to certain things about the track, its characteristics, how it will go during the race. That way he can focus on how we need to adjust the car the right way for him. I have worked with a lot of young kids over the years. It is a relationship you have to build as time goes on. Trevor is a real good kid. He is very respectful and he wants to do well and has a tremendous amount of desire and talent.” 

FROM A CREW CHIEF PERSPECTIVE, HOW HAS THIS TRACK CHANGED SINCE THE REPAVE AND EVEN THE TIRE TEST IN DECEMBER AND WHAT DOES THAT DO TO YOU FOR THE 500 NEXT MONTH?  “It is kind of hard to tell right now because we have really only done single car runs. As we get into speed weeks I think we will be able to tell more. I don’t think it will be anything near what it was down here before where handling was a big issue. The track is going to have so much grip that you will have trouble trying to get the car to run free through the corner. I don’t think it is going to be a deal to where you get a big push or get real free or something like that. I think the track has so much grip that the first race will be a lot like Talladega, just raw speed.”

TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Daytona Test Notes & Quotes — Brian Vickers Daytona International Speedway — January 20, 2011

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing How excited are you to get behind the wheel of a race car? “Yeah. I don’t know how else to put it. Everyone keeps asking me how does it feel to be back? I guess, it feels damn good. You look for all of these words and ways to describe your emotions and your feelings and sometimes there’s just nothing to say. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be back up here talking to you guys about being in the car again and here I sit. I’m really happy about it. It’s been a long year. Last year was a very long year. I’m very excited for 2011. I’m probably at the best place I’ve ever been personally, professionally, emotionally and I’m ready to go kick butt.”

At any point did you not think you were ever going to get back into a race car? “It’s a fair question. It would be silly if I came here and didn’t think I would get it. Yeah, there was a lot of emotional states that I went through. Pretty much the full range of everything you can imagine. When everything first happened — and we’ve talked about this some over the past eight months — when everything first took place I kind of attacked the situation head on which is my personality. When things are at their worst, right in the midst of the battle is typically where – – and I guess you learn a lot about yourself going through these situations. Things that I’ve always felt, but I think when you really put it on the line and when something really bad happens you really learn a lot about yourself. Right in the middle of the battle — if you want to call it that — laying in the hospital bed when I told the doctor that I needed to be at practice — this was Wednesday and I told him, I said, ‘Well, whatever we do I just need to be at practice by Friday at 10.’ And he kind of tried not to laugh and was like, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but it’s going to be a long time before you’re ever in a car, if ever.’ That’s when I was probably my strongest at that moment. Trying to figure out and evaluate saying, ‘Okay, you didn’t say that I couldn’t race.’ Kind of like, so you’re telling me there’s a chance. Like in the movie Dumb and Dumber. One in a million, right. That was kind of my attitude to begin with and my emotional state I guess you could say. And just focused on how can I get back in a race car. First, focus on my staying alive and then obviously next was getting back in a race car. And it really makes you learn a lot about what you really love. The first thing I asked him was when am I going to be back in a race car, not how long do I have to live. Which, don’t get me wrong it wasn’t like it was that bad, but my lungs were shutting down — that should’ve been my first question, not I need to be in the car Friday at 10. At first, through the hospital coming back and trying to evaluate the situation of what’s next and what can I do, how can I possibly beat this. And then as some time went on — a couple weeks went by — I went to the race track and my first time back at the track, maybe second time back at the track was probably my lowest. My first time back I think I was still dealing with a lot of things and everyone was so supportive — the fans, the media, the team, everybody top to bottom in NASCAR. So, it was kind of out of site, out of mind. Then the next time back just sitting there on the box trying to be supportive for the team, but it was just tearing me apart inside. I was just a wreck — a complete wreck. My stress was out of the roof, my medicines weren’t working, they were all over the place. That was probably when it hit me. That’s what I have kind of always known about myself, but I learned a lot was usually in the middle of the battles when I’m the strongest and then when everything quiets down is when it hits me. It’s the same thing when I’ve lost friends and family or any kind of tragedy that I’ve gone through. There was a point in time there where I didn’t know if I was ever coming back. Not just because of the doctors, but I questioned if I wanted to come back. Maybe it was time to just start a new chapter of my life. Is it worth going back and trying again? What would happen to me emotionally? Trust me, once the doctors said, ‘Okay, we feel pretty good about this and we’re good with you going back racing if you want.’ It’s tough talking to a doctor about risk levels and going back racing and all of this stuff because most doctors would tell you that they’d rather you did not race cars to begin with. They’re like, ‘Okay, let’s really think about this. You skydive and you race cars at 200 miles an hour and you’re asking me about this. Let’s address the first problem.’ That’s kind of their mentality. Once they told me I could go back racing — it was funny, for the longest time I just kind of went down this path and I assumed it was a clear cut decision for me when I had approval, but as some time went on I started thinking to myself, ‘Maybe it is time to start a new chapter.’ You go through a lot of emotional states, I guess, to answer your question. I went through everything you could imagine, but in the end through a lot of traveling, chasing some dreams outside of racing that I always wanted to do and some soul searching and spending time with friends and family I realized that I couldn’t not give it another shot. I felt like I had unfinished business. There was something that I left on the table that I always wanted to do which was win a championship. At first that was kind of my drive to come back and in a lot of ways it still is, but in the end what brought me back was just my love for racing. Just being in a car going 200 miles an hour — whether I win or lose — I’m happy to be back.”

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing (cont) How do you keep yourself from trying too hard and trying to prove immediately that you’re back? “Yeah, I think you can definitely get caught up in a lot of things with the comeback story and wanting to come out of the gate swinging. Obviously, let’s face it, my goal is to win the Daytona 500. That’s not going to change. But, I would say day to day my focus has been probably more so than ever in my life — I’ve always been a planner and very detail oriented — most would say O.C.D. kind of guy. Everything was always planned out. I was always planning things so far in advance that sometimes you lose the moment. More than anything, just in life personally and professionally, I feel like I truly appreciate living in the moment more than I ever have. I always tried to do that, but probably more so now than ever. And I think the key to being successful for me moving forward is to just do that. Just to appreciate being at a test in Daytona, enjoying drafting with my friends and having fun knowing that something could happen and I may not be in that car tomorrow. I think if I just do that every single day, I go on the race track and I have fun and I go out there with one intention and that is to win and nothing else matters as far as from a competition standpoint. Just treat every day as if it is the last. I think that will solve the problem that you’re referring to, which is getting caught up in everything else.”

Are you under any restrictions from the doctors? “No, I am under no restrictions. Now the doctors would say they don’t find it wise to jump out of airplanes or race cars at 200, but that was their choice — they became doctors for that reason, not race car drivers. I’m under no medical restriction whatsoever, I can do whatever I choose.”

Have you been working out in your time away? “I feel great, I feel amazing. I’ve been able to, like I said earlier, in a lot of ways, I’m in a great place right now from a lot of different angles. One of them is physical — I’ve been training a lot lately. I’ve pretty much been on a bike or swimming laps or swimming in the ocean. Just this past weekend I was swimming a couple miles a day, spear fishing 18 or 20 feet down. I caught a lobster actually that I couldn’t even fit two hands around — I was pretty excited about that. Tasted good too. I’m in great shape, probably the best shape I’ve ever been in and my goal is to continue down that path and just continue to keep going.”

How is having Kasey Kahne as a teammate changing the Red Bull Racing Team? “As far as Kasey’s (Kahne) concerned, I’ve enjoyed working with Kasey. Kasey and I came in this sport about the same time and we’ve always had a mutual respect, over 10 years you’re always going to have your run-ins here and there, but we sort it out quick and painless. I’ve always had a good working relationship, even as competitors, so I can’t imagine that our partnership, even as teammates is not going to go well. If you can get along as enemies, you ought to be able to get along as brothers, right? The drafting went really well. Kasey’s a talented driver and we worked on some stuff and the drafting today went really well and hopefully that will show in the Daytona 500 when it really matters.”

Did you have any major surgeries, when did you come off the medication and are you on any medication? “I think the last time we were together we talked about the heart surgery, that was the last surgery I had and it went really well. Anytime you’re having heart surgery, it’s not a small thing, but the technology and how the procedures go today is just unbelievable. I was on a bicycle climbing a mountain at 10,000 feet with some friends out west two weeks, right at or a little over two weeks after that surgery. It’s phenomenal. Probably the biggest thing they were worried about was with where the incision point was than the actual heart surgery itself. I don’t remember the exact date when I got off the Coumadin, it was right at the end of the year, right at Homestead or Phoenix, something like that. I don’t remember the exact date, but basically six months from when I went on. Plavix was right after that so all about the same time. It was good. Theoretically I could have been here for the Daytona tire test, but the way Red Bull and all the marketing stuff worked out, they kept moving the tire test on us and we had a photo shoot, our team photo shoot the same day as the tire test so that was actually why I wasn’t here, not because of medical reasons. I’m not on any blood thinners moving forward or anything.”

What was it like to get back in the race car for the first time? “It was by far the longest time I’ve been out of the car. Actually it was eight months to the day that I was out of the race car, almost to the day, I think it was one day give or take. Deep down my gut told me that I was going to get back in not even noticing that I had been gone. You spend eight months and everyday someone asks you, ‘So what do you think it will be like when you go back, are you going to remember?’ You start kind of asking yourself these questions. Someone asks you a question enough, you start asking it to yourself even if you in your gut don’t believe it. When I got back in the car in Orlando, it felt so good. Even before I pulled in the race track, just to sit in the car. All the belts still fit exactly the same, helmet – it was weird. I don’t know really what I expected getting back in the car and I remember how to hook everything up in the same order and it all still fit. I pulled out on the race track and to be honest with you, probably the hardest part was being at a track I had never been to before. I’d never even seen Disney, I didn’t even know what shape it was. It’s not a normal shape by the way, it’s kind of weird. It’s a weird little race track, but it was fun. It took me a couple laps to get used to the track and then was right back on times and quick time by like the second or third run out. It felt fantastic. Like an old shoe, fit right back on.”

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing (cont) Why wasn’t there a big draft pack today in testing? “I don’t know. We went out and drafted some and we were hoping that more guys would go. I don’t know. It’s just sometimes people are into it and sometimes they’re not. I think most of the drivers find it obviously significantly more entertaining for us to be in the draft than single file, but it’s really up to the crew chiefs. If they have stuff that they want to work on then there’s very little you can work on in drafting sessions. Like speed wise on the car, you have to be single file. It looked like a lot of guys were just working on a lot of stuff today so maybe they’re going to be focused on drafting tomorrow. I’m sure before we leave you’ll see a pretty big pack. I can’t imagine you wouldn’t because I know pretty much everybody wants to see how the cars react in that situation, the track and all that stuff.”

Did any of the things you wanted to do while away from racing stand out the most to you? “That’s a tough question. A lot of things stood out. Of all the things, at first I wanted to pick a trip, like I had an amazing time in Rome and met some great friends. I’d been to Europe a lot and even to Italy actually, but I hadn’t been to Rome, it was my first trip to Rome. I fell in love with the city. It became my favorite city in Europe, hands down. I had a lot of fun there. Upon further evaluation, probably being at home was the best. I’ve never — it’s been a long time, if ever, that I’ve been able to sit at home and do nothing for an extended period of time. Through the off-season I try to jam all this traveling in that I want to do and I still barely have time with testing and media and other stuff. I’m always jumping and bouncing around. Bouncing back and forth out of Florida, going to the shop, seeing family, going traveling, spend some time in New York. I’m kind of always over the place. It doesn’t bother me that much, but I enjoy it actually. I enjoy being on the move, I enjoy traveling. There’s a couple times over the summer that I was just at home and had nothing to do, not a single thing on the agenda — not a phone interview, not a race, not a test

Wood Brothers Racing announced late Thursday afternoon that 19-year old rookie driver Trevor Bayne will pilot the iconic No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion during the 2011 season.   Eddie Wood, co-owner of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion and Bayne took time between testing runs at the 2011 Daytona Preseason Thunder Thursday session to talk about the announcement.
 
EDDIE WOOD, co-owner, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – HOW DID IT COME TO BE THAT TREVOR BAYNE WOULD DRIVE THE NO. 21 FOR YOU THIS YEAR?  “I guess it started at Texas. We raced him there and he had a really good run. It just kind of fell together from there. I am not really sure how it all started or how it all came about, it just started to gain momentum. We are really pleased with Trevor though and look forward to having him with us.” 

PEOPLE HAVE SAID THAT TREVOR HAS ‘IT’, WHATEVER ‘IT’ IS. WHAT IS IT ABOUT TREVOR THAT MAKES HIM SUCH A SPECIAL DRIVER AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE?  “For one thing, he is very mature for his age. He is very aware of what it takes to be a race car driver in the Sprint Cup series. I think he understands that really well.  He is just really good with his feedback in the race car and all-around is really ready to go racing, in every single aspect.” 

DO YOU THINK YOU WILL HAVE TO GET USED TO DEALING WITH GUYS, MAYBE COMMUNICATION WISE, WITH A ROOKIE DRIVER AS OPPOSED TO VETERAN GUYS YOU ARE USED TO?  “Trevor has been racing since he was five-years old, so if you do the math he has 15-years of experience racing. Racing is racing. The communication that he and Donnie (Wingo) had at Texas and as well as the tire test here at Daytona in December has been great. They are communicating really well. They seem to really be good with where each other are at. That is where it starts, making sure that the crew chief and engineers and the people that are controlling what is in the car and why it is in there mesh with the driver. So far it really seems to be doing that. It is one of those things that you can’t really make happen. It just is or it is not. Fortunately for us it looks like it is and I think we will be fine.” 

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE SOME REALISTIC GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS YEAR WITH TREVOR BEHIND THE WHEEL? “We have a whole new program in place now that is different from the past. We are going to be tapping into Roush engineering and running Roush equipment this year. That is different than we have done in the past. In the past we have built our own race cars and did our own engineering. This should really make things easier and better because we have a larger group of people to pull from and I am really excited about that. That is going really well.” 

HOW ARE THINGS ON DAY ONE OF TESTING?  “It seems to be going really well. We are going through a lot of engine related test runs right now. I don’t think we have gotten into very many things with the race car itself yet. Those things will come later this afternoon and tomorrow.” 

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THIS TEST WITH A ROOKIE DRIVER AS OPPOSED TO THE VETERAN DRIVERS YOU HAVE HAD IN THE PAST?  “It is really no different. You come down here and you have a list of things that you are going to do and try. The crew chief and engineers come up with all that. Basically it doesn’t really change from one to the other because you are just making laps and making single car runs. Those things are really easy.”

TREVOR BAYNE, driver, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – YOU ARE OFFICIALLY WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS FOR 2011, 17 RACES ON YOUR SCHEDULE, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING INTO THIS YEAR?   “I am just glad to finally be able to show my excitement. I have had to keep it bottled up for a few weeks as we worked toward this. To finally get it done and announced is pretty incredible man. I couldn’t ask for a better team to be with to start out with. It is a lower pressure situation being a one car team. They can really focus on this car, which is great. I think Donnie Wingo is a great crew chief to work with a young driver and even though the Wood Brothers have never had a rookie driver before I think it is a great fit and I am really looking forward to it.” 

TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH DONNIE. WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP LIKE?  “It is awesome. I think he has good experience because he has kids my age. He keeps me in line because I think he looks at me like I am one of his kids sometimes. I love hanging out with Donnie, going to the shop and hanging out there. There is so much to learn from everyone in this organization. Even Leonard Wood, I love going and hanging out with him while he is building lawn mowers and RC cars and all kinds of stuff. The relationships here are almost overwhelming because it is so easy. Everybody is really personable here, especially Len and Eddie Wood. They are great owners and I couldn’t ask for a much better situation.” 

THERE IS A CONNECTION THIS YEAR BETWEEN WOOD BROTHERS AND ROUSH FENWAY THIS YEAR, HOW DOES THAT HELP YOU IN YOUR ROOKIE YEAR?  “I think it is great. I signed a deal with Roush last year to drive for them in the Nationwide series and I didn’t know what the Cup side held. Here I am with the Wood Brothers, and that is really cool. It is a great relationship and I think Ford has really helped that a lot to form that relationship between the organizations. To have other cars out there that we can rely on with the RPM cars and Roush cars is great. It is great to have all those people to bounce things off of.” 

WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF THIS NEW SMOOTH SURFACE WE ARE HEARING ABOUT OUT THERE?  “It has settled a little bit more now. I was actually shocked today to see the difference from the first test to this test. It has settled a little having other series cars on it making laps. I think we will see those characteristics start coming back out and we will get to what we have always loved and seen here at Daytona. It is a lot more racy than when we were here last time. I think you can get three or four-wide without worrying about it too much. I think it is going to be good racing.” 

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS GOING INTO THE YEAR? HOW HIGH DO YOU SET THE BAR FOR YOURSELF?  “I think I just go out there and race. That is what I did at Texas. We went out and had to make it on time there which is different for the first five races this year because we have points. We will be able to work on race setup those first five and try to knock out a top-15. If we can run top-15’s those first five races then that would set us up to be decent on the points. That is what we need to do to try accumulating more sponsorship to keep going. We are gunning for 17 races, but if we can get more sponsorship we can keep going. We want to do as well as we can in the first five to help us set up the rest of the season.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES DAYTONA PRESEASON THUNDER DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT January 20, 2011  

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed the new track surface, rumored changes to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points system, now sharing the shop with the No. 88 team and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and other topics.  Full transcript:  

THE MODERATOR:  We’ve got our five time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet.  Jimmie, obvious question is you’re five time champion, and what’s it going to take to win the sixth?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Well, it’s obviously a new year and new set of challenges.  It’s awfully early to even understand what the challenges are going to be.  We hope that we’re smarter through all the hard work that we’ve been going through in the off season, but we just won’t know until we get    actually really leave Daytona and get to Phoenix and on and on from there.

            We’re working hard on all fronts to be a better race team.  I think that last year we learned a lot more about ourselves and kind of validated our core beliefs and stuck to what the 48 team is known for and what we believe in and was still able to overcome a lot of adversity and win a championship.  I feel like we’ll be stronger and better, but we just don’t know until we get into the meat of the season and the first goal is obviously to make the Chase and from there figure out how to win again.

              Q.  The buzz at the beginning of this week was points, change in the points.  You’re the five time champion.  The last time we had the buzz about points there was a guy that won the race and it wasn’t that exciting of a season.  Do you think maybe this could be pointed at you somehow?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  No, I mean, I guess if we don’t have an idea what it’s really going to look like, there’s a lot of speculation at this point, but in theory if it is 43 points for the winner on down to 1 for the last place car, in concept, in theory, it’s still very similar to what we have now.  So I think the premise, the concept is still very similar.  Take a while to get used to it.             I think it’s more of an attempt to make our points system easier to understand.  I don’t think that it would be a huge change from the thought that I’ve put into it so far.  I don’t see it being a big thing.  I know people expect me to react and think, oh, they’ve got to leave it alone, don’t change it.  I don’t care what races are in the Chase, the format to win the championship; I could care less because I feel confident that my team will be able to win championships under any set of circumstances.  We’ll wait until the announcement when and if it comes and kind of take it from there.             I don’t believe it’s a huge strategy to engage the fans more from an attendance standpoint for a viewership standpoint.  I mean, you always hope for that.  I think in my opinion there are other areas to focus on for that.  This would give us something to talk about and hopefully simplify the system and make it easier to follow.

              Q.  Jimmie, Denny Hamlin talked about the track being so smooth that there was almost nothing that you can do to the cars to really make a difference and that they’re likely to be bigger packs, drafting packs and so on because it will bring everybody together.  If there’s not that much you can work on and not much you can change, what will you guys be doing here for three days?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I mean, we kind of speak to that point, we didn’t participate in the Goodyear tire test for that reason alone.  We felt like three days here would be enough time on track to sort out what we had.

            The rules are such where there are very few areas to work in.  We have a lot of freedom at the front of the car to work on it, but with the bumps gone there’s very little driver comfort issues or drivability issues and you’re basically trying to get the car as low as you can to the track and don’t let the splitter drag.  After a handful of runs of doing that, you’re kind of out of moves.  We can’t mess with the back of the car.  We don’t have body changes that we can make to the templates and the way they are with the cars.  So it really shortens up the list of things to try.

            Our teammates are doing great.  We were on the bottom of the board for a while so I’m not sure we’ve got everything sorted out on the 48 car just yet.  To have our teammates as fast as they are, we’ll just go home and get all the adjusting things around and get it right.  I think it kind of comes down to drive line, some different angles and drive shafts and rolling resistance and issues like that where the speed is, so we’ll just have to do a bit of work there.

              Q.  Denny Hamlin was in here and said he didn’t think about racing during the whole off season and he promised us that, and Carl Edwards and Martin Truex, Jr., talked about how crazy the racing is going to be here.  Can you sort of talk to both of those entities?  Did you think about racing during the off season, and how crazy will racing be here?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, it was in my mind at times.  There was no doubt that once things slowed down for me, which was around Christmastime, from I’d say Christmas to maybe January 3rd or 4th, I did a very good job of not being connected and got away and spent time with the family.

            But we had a lot of changes going on with pit crew stuff, the changes with the crew chiefs and drivers moving around.  There’s been plenty going on.

            January has been extremely busy.  I’ve missed being in the car.  I think all drivers would say wanting to go to the track and drive the car and compete, you can do that year round.  It’s the other stuff that makes it a long year.

            I’m excited to be in the car here, although it’s not all that challenging, but I was here for the Rolex test and had a great time in that car and will be back next weekend for that race, and really excited for that race.  Enjoy running that event.             And then the 500 I believe is going to be everything everyone would hope for.  The track will have plenty of grip, multiple lanes.  In my opinion, yeah, I believe some guys will probably ride and try to play it smart.  But for the Daytona 500, at least in my mind, and I think most drivers look at it the same way; you’re willing to make a lot of risky moves and willing to wreck your car.  Points don’t seem to be a premium yet.  We’re going to see a very, very action packed Daytona 500.

              Q.  Just want to know how the first stages of your relationship with having Dale Jr. in your shop has worked?  Have you got him running ten miles a day with you, your karma rub off or anything?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Fortunately all the teammates, all the drivers and crew chiefs, over the years the way Rick has had a vision for Hendrick Motorsports and the way we all communicate.  I can’t say it’s been much different from that standpoint.  I mean, we still    when we weren’t in the same shot there’s just a lot of communication taking place.  In the shop I guess the biggest thing we’ve been working on is just the driver’s compartment trying to make sure with both cars being built in that same shop that we can use the same dash, seats, things like that, and with us, we both seem to like a similar seat angle and placement, which will then allow us to have the dashboards in the same spot, and it’s going to simplify the shop, and we’re just kind of working through the final stages of that now.

            With Jeff being shorter and the seat angle he had, our cars were pretty different, and right now we’re trying to make it kind of a common cockpit through the shop and working through that.

              Q.  You said that the 1 through 43 thing would maybe be a way to make the system simpler, but does the system need simplification?  Carl was in here earlier and said he doesn’t know how many points he has when he’s running 12th but aren’t you all cognizant of the fact that when you make a pass it’s going to be worth three points, four points or five points, depending on where you are?             JIMMIE JOHNSON:  Yeah, I can’t say I knew where that cutoff was in the past, especially from four to three.  I knew first to second and that kind of thing.  But in the car I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the points values, you just know that there’s more points in front of you type thing.  Maybe other guys think a lot more in depth about the exact numbers, but you just go forward and pass those guys and be ahead of them.

            I know that we were trying to    potentially    this is my opinion.  I haven’t had anyone at NASCAR tell me this, but it seems like we’re trying to make this just a little bit easier to understand.  At the same time we have a complicated system.  We don’t have two teams on the track.  There’s 43 obviously.

            So there’s a point there where now we’ve got to reeducate our fan base and any new fans coming in.  Are we going to confuse everyone even more and shoot ourselves in the foot a little bit?  I don’t know.  Time will tell.  But one thing that’s obvious to me is that NASCAR is continuing to try to make it better, and they’re looking anywhere and everywhere they can, and I think we have a very refined product in the garage area from a competition standpoint, and last year’s championship battle spoke to that.

            Some more tweaks here and there, I’m willing to try it, but I think there are some other issues that would help with attendance and viewership that kind of leave the garage area and what happens on the track.  You look at length of races, frequency of races.  In my opinion I think a lot of our fans are just overexposed from race lengths and then so many events.

              Q.  This 500 will mark the 10th year of Dale Earnhardt’s passing.  As a five time champion yourself, can you talk about that legacy, what he’s left, and what it means to you as a champion and him being a seven time champion?

            JIMMIE JOHNSON:  From my standpoint, I never was able to race against him.  My standpoint is watching him on television and being a fan of the sport.  My brother picked Senior as his driver when we were young as kids, and I certainly couldn’t align with my brother in his thoughts.  It was my job to beat him up and often as possible.  So I had my driver, my brother had Senior, and I remember a lot of times, my guy was getting waxed by Senior year after year.

            I didn’t know him as a competitor.  I met him a few times in passing.  That’s one thing that I really wish I could have experienced was the intimidation factor that he had on and off the track and being around him and watching him work through the garage area and to help advance the series and to work with NASCAR, his interaction with the fans, and you just hear some stories    I hear so many stories today about him but I never had a chance to see him firsthand.  I have a great deal of respect for who and what he was and what he did for our sport, and I regret that I didn’t have a chance to know him.             THE MODERATOR:  Jimmie, thank you so much, and good luck in your quest to win the 53rd running of the Daytona 500.              

FastScripts by ASAP Sports            

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