Category: NASCAR Cup Series

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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Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011   
Denny Darnell
Scott Sebastian
Dodge Motorsports PR
Daytona Int’l Speedway   
NASCAR Preseason Thunder
Kurt Busch Open Interview
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger) HOW’S THE 22 TEAM SHAPING UP?  HOW IS THE TEST SESSION SHAPING UP?  “It’s just good to be back behind the wheel.  I’ve got a great crew and a great team with a new look.  We’ve got a charged-up attitude this year, going out there and doing the best that we can and be the best that we can.  Steve Addington is leading a great group of guys.  We didn’t have hardly any turnover.  We actually added a new engineer position to our program.  We’re a stronger team with more people coming to the track each week.  And with the new look, Shell/Pennzoil, a great group of people.  A great sponsor that’s very excited about a motor racing program.  I actually have a trip set up to go to their Houston headquarters here shortly.  It’s just exciting to have a new look on the car and to have the new number, No. 22.  It will take a little while for all of our fans and everybody to get adjusted to.  And then, when everyone stops calling me Kevin (Harvick), we’ll be settled in.  It’s just fun.  It’s a great group of people.  Roger Penske himself put together this program last year and now it’s come to reality.  It’s just great to be at the track and underway.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THIS YEAR BEING THE 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF DALE EARNHARDT’S DEATH AT DAYTONA?  HOW HAVE THINGS DEVELOPED OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS?  “Just his name and the Earnhardt legacy and Daytona mixed into the same sentence is so powerful.  For him to go 20 years before he won his first race here in 1998, it was amazing to watch.  The outpouring of support from all the teams, of course the fans, the other drivers.  He’s always been the “Intimidator” and always been one that was an innovator out on the track with the draft.  When he passed away, we lost so much of our leadership in the garage area and how he communicated with NASCAR to develop rules or explain to them how the cars needed to be changed or adjusted.  The one thing that came from his passing was the safety innovations in our sport and that has continued on with his legacy.  We’ve kept so many drivers safe since that point.  It was a tough race.  That was my first ever Daytona 500.  To have that type of news, to have those type of feelings of ‘What am I getting into?’  We just lost the most iconic individual of our time other than Richard Petty and here I am starting my first race.  It’s been an amazing 10 years since it’s happen.”

HOW MUCH CAN YOU CARRY OVER DATA FROM THE OLD DAYTONA TRACK TO THE NEW SURFACE? 
“I’m more or a learn-as-you-go.  With the restrictor plate size that’s just been adjusted, we’re not seeing much tire wear.  You want to improve on your fuel mileage.  I think that you’re going to see a lot of fuel-only type pit stops.  You’re going to have to try and bank as many thoughts as you can in your mind with how you’re going to react and apply those.  Being in the Shootout Saturday night to start things off is going to be a wild start to things.  We’ll learn a lot these three days on how drafting is going to settle in. 

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN LEARN?  “I think that it’s a whole new game.  My mentality is like when they repaved Talladega, except for four lanes of traffic.  It’s just going to be that much more exciting.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE SPRINT CUP POINTS SYSTEM?  “I’d like to go back for myself and research and plug those numbers in from past years and see who comes out on top or to see how things change around to help fine-tune it a little bit more.  In the end, you still want it to be about consistency, but you have to be consistent for those 10 weeks.  When you sit there and change around points a hundred different ways, we still end up with the same champion nine times out of 10.”

WILL DAYTONA’S NEW SURFACE BE MORE LIKE TALLADEGA OR MORE LIKE DAYTONA?  WHAT KIND OF MIX WILL WE SEE?  “One thing that is of note for us that is significant is that we have three restrictor-plate cars built for the 22 Shell/Pennzoil team.  This is our “B” car.  This isn’t even our “A” car.  We wanted to do that in-case there is trouble in some of these drafting sessions down here.  There’s five drafting sessions and ample time for things to happen.  We still have to protect our best piece and that is the most important thing for Speed Weeks; making sure that we put the best possible product on the starting grid for the Daytona 500.  It’s going to be about survival and in a sense, it’s going to make it like Talladega versus old Daytona.”

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

DALE EARNHARDT, JR. NO. 88 AMP ENERGY / NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET met with media and discussed the new track surface at Daytona, possible changes to point system, what his dad Dale Earnhardt Sr. meant to him, and more. Full Transcript:            

THE MODERATOR:  Pleased to be joined, finishing up here in the media center today is Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  He drives the No. 88 Amp National Guard Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.  Talk about the test so far.  I know you tire tested back here in December.  You’ve been on the track a little bit this morning.  Talk about the No. 88 car, how you’re doing.

            DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  It’s going good, I guess.  We just made about four or five runs, nothing real serious yet, I guess, just getting a little bit of data and making a couple little changes here and there.

            But the track is in pretty good shape, and looks like the 24 hour test and just a bit of time that it’s been since the tire test we had in December, the track is starting to change a little bit.  It was smooth as glass when we first tried it in December, and it’s starting to become a little more rigid in places and change color in places.

            You know, it’s not much else to report to be honest with you in the first half of this day, just went out and cleared    took the clearances and got the ground clearances and everything good.  They changed a couple things, see what it did, made some notes and sit down and eat some lunch.  That’s about it.

              Q.  Two years ago in the media center here I asked you when you roll into this place how much do you think of your dad, and do you think about him every day, and you answered me yes, I think about him every day.  Is that still the case right now, and what would your dad have thought of the new paved speedway?

            DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  I think he would think they did a good job.  He would think the obvious things, they did a good job, and it looks    it was probably time for it to happen.  I was surprised they didn’t pave the infield.  I didn’t know that until I talked to somebody that tested here for the 24 hours.  But I’m sure they threw away more asphalt than it would have took to put some asphalt down in there.

            You know, you think about your parents all the time.  I think about him and my mother all the time, especially getting back to racing.  I guess you think about them just as much in the off season, too.

            But I think    I don’t know, I think that he would appreciate what they did with the paving and the job they did.  Hopefully the track puts on a good race and it holds up well.  I mean, it’s going to get the bumps back and it’ll get    over the next several years it’ll age a little bit, especially being down here next to the beach and the sand.  It’ll get slick and become the old Daytona that a lot of people appreciated.  It’ll get some of the bumps back that make the racing dicey in spots around the corners.

              Q.  The Redskins have had a lot of coaches the last few years and a lot of changes and you probably get optimistic every time a new coach comes in.  Similarly you’ve had a few new crew chiefs here.  For your fans that are skeptics or doubting things, what have you seen so far that you could tell them, give them hope that it’s going to be different this time or that there’s something that’s changed or something along those lines?

            DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Yeah, I think that’s a good analogy to be honest.  Every year as a Redskins fan you sort of go through this.  I’ve got an app on my phone that pretty much pushes anything that if they’re mentioned on the internet I get the news.  You’re just waiting on one of those articles to tell you about some big free agency pickup or what their plans are in the draft.  You know, and you piece everything together before the season starts and start to form your idea whether you think they’re a better team or not.  And whether I    sometimes you think, yeah, this is a better team, sometimes you think this isn’t the right way to go, but you’re still a fan.  You still decide regardless of whether you like their quarterback or you think they’ve got a good receiving corps or not, you still as a fan decide to go into the season just as devoted and ready for success or the same failure.

            But with our team, it’s a new deal, and I was joking with somebody in the truck earlier, I was sitting in a seat up in the lounge, and they asked me if that was going to be my seat, and I told them I’m not exactly sure where my seat is yet, it’s sort of floating around.  That’s the way I feel about my team.  Everybody is still learning, the guys are still learning who does what, what their personalities are.

            It’s been fun getting to know Steve more.  He’s got a great personality, a lot of energy, and hopefully I can depend on that energy in certain times throughout certain races, when you need somebody to gear you up and let you see it    see things a little differently than you see at the time.  Maybe he can keep me on my toes, be a cheerleader or whatever you want to call it.             They seem focused and they seem ready to go.  I’m really sick of how we’ve ran over the last several years and ready to see something different, ready to get to the track and see different results.  We’ll just have to see how it goes.

            The toughest part about all that being a race fan or a Redskins fan is the waiting.  Fortunately for NASCAR you don’t have to wait very long.

              Q.  To help with the football analogy, I’m from Green Bay and they sucked for 20 years and now they’re back in the playoffs, so hopefully they’ll progress on from there.  I want to ask you if you know what it is that you need yet, and do you need a crew chief to drive you?  Do you need improvement here or there?  Denny Hamlin was saying he didn’t think about NASCAR during the off season.  Did you think about it a lot during the off season, were you able to cut yourself from it, and do you know exactly what you need?

            DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  You know, I don’t know exactly what the perfect match is, but I’m game for trying anything out and moving around and shaking it up a little bit and changing the scope of the team however they want to change it.  I’m pretty much up for any of that.

            You know, I don’t know how much    I don’t really break it down that much, you know, whether I think about    I assume I think about racing in the off season because it’s what I do for a living, and everywhere you turn it’s what you’re looking at.

            Yeah, I don’t know.  I don’t know how you could call the last 20 years of being a Green Bay fan too rough.  You haven’t been a Redskins fan.  It’s quite difficult.  I’d give anything to have a quarterback like you’ve got.

              Q.  I was listening to a tape of an interview I did with your dad in January of 2001.  He said after he and Billy, Jr., were gone that he didn’t think that the sport would change, would just go on without him.  What dramatic changes have you seen since your dad passed?

            DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Well, I think the sport has gone on just fine, been very successful, more successful than I think any of us ever imagined.  There’s been a lot of good changes.  There were a lot of changes in the sport prior    during his reign as champion and through the years that he raced here.  There were a lot of changes related to him, unrelated to him.  And the same thing after his death.

            You know, I’m real proud to be a part of what the sport represents, and I’m proud to be associated and connected to everyone involved in the garage, in the media center.  This has been a hell of a trip, and hopefully it keeps going.  Hopefully we stay successful.

            The environment changes all the time financially, and we just weather the storm however we have to.  But I think we’re in good shape to be honest with you.  It’s been kind of tough the last couple years with the economy, but for the most part, this sport is pretty resourceful or whatever.  I feel pretty good, pretty comfortable where I’m at and how I’m involved in it.

              Q.  Earlier obviously you mentioned about thinking about your dad every day.  We’re all shaped by our parents.  What take away influences do you have growing up and what your dad meant to you and how he shaped who you are now?

            DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Well, you know, I don’t really    he was a lot of things to a lot of different people.  You know, I just wanted to be    he was intimidating, like they say.  He was like that as a father when he was at home.  You wanted to please him all the time, make him happy, and you wanted to    whatever you did, you wanted it to    you wanted it to somehow get a response from him.

            I think as I was growing up, you know, you tried to get away and do your own thing as have fun as a kid but at the same time you wanted to make your parents proud, and you sort of found your direction by listening to them inadvertently, whether you wanted to or not.  They sort of helped you find whatever it is you wanted to achieve in life.  My dad was there to guide me in a lot of good directions that helped me out a lot.  I think that I tried to    I tried to have some of the same good qualities that he had.  The qualities that I enjoyed about him, I tried to emulate those as best I could and keep those qualities, as well, because I felt like it made him a good person.

              Q.  Dale, last season Rick had sort of    he said that last year it wouldn’t fail, it couldn’t fail, and ultimately it didn’t work.  Does that in a way relieve the pressure or the expectations of this year?

            DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:  Yeah, I don’t know, I guess.  I’m sure a lot of people expect nothing more than we did last year.  And last year we were kind of out of the radar, which was kind of fun.  A lot less garbage to deal with when you’re not in the radar.

            But you know, I don’t know, I just feel like that    I don’t know what the reasons were for me and Lance and that group as a whole not working out.  I really enjoyed Lance, and I think we’re still great friends today, and I think he has a lot of talent.  But it just didn’t work for whatever reason.             I feel good about the position I’m in now, and I feel pretty confident about it, and I’m looking forward to going into the season and working hard for it.  We’ll just see how it goes.

            When you’re running good you can put up with about anything.  It’s not fun being on the radar when you’re running like crap.  But last year we sort of fell off the radar altogether.

            I don’t know, you know, I want to be in racing for a very long time, and I know that I can drive good enough to run well.  You know, I’ll stick around until I get it right.  It’s just eventually going to have to happen.

            THE MODERATOR:  Dale, thank you so much.  Good luck in your quest to win the 53rd running of the Daytona 500.

              FastScripts by ASAP Sports              

About Chevrolet  

Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates is centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of more than 4 million vehicles in 130 countries. In the U.S., 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 Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly” solutions, such as Chevrolet Cruze Eco with an EPA-estimated 42 miles per gallon highway, and the Chevrolet Volt offering 35 miles of electric driving and an additional 344 miles of extended gasoline range, according to EPA estimates. 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, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

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

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway during Preseason Thunder at Daytona and discussed the new surface on the track, respect among drivers with the changed surface, rumored changes to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points system and recent reported altercation at a dirt track in Australia.  Full transcript:  

THE MODERATOR:  We’re going to start off with Tony Stewart.  He drives the No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet for Stewart Haas Racing.  If I’m not mistaken, you were one of the first drivers that got to lay their eyes on this new track back in October.  Talk about the evolution since that time and now you’ve taken laps, et cetera.  Talk about how this racetrack is shaping up for you.

            TONY STEWART:  It’s actually impressive what they’ve been able to do with it.  The only spot that really has seemed to be really any significant bumps in it is just where they had a problem, I guess, when they were paving turns 3 and 4 and the paver slipped a little bit, and it lost some of the gauge of the asphalt thickness.  But it looks like they ground the front side and backside of it, and it’s really…it seems a lot smoother than when we were here with the pace car riding around.             It’s almost identical feeling to what we had at Talladega.  Obviously the transitions off of 2 and 4 are a little more abrupt than what we have at Talladega, but as far as the ride, you literally could hold a cup of coffee with the lid off full and not spill a drop riding around there.

              Q.  Australian newspapers reported that at the end of your trip down there that there was sort some of altercation or something.  Can you give us some facts or shed some light on what happened?             TONY STEWART:  There was an altercation at the racetrack.  It was a dispute between myself and one of the owners of the facility.  But as it also reported, we went down to the police station, we gave them a statement.  They told us after the statement that we were free to go back to the hotel room and free to get on the plane the next day.  But definitely wasn’t the way I wanted to end my trip.

            We had a fun trip over there.  Obviously there was a lot of flooding and raining while we were there, but at the same time we still…we had a good race trip over there and didn’t end that last night the way we wanted to by any means.  But it’s not uncommon to see drivers and track owners have disputes over what’s going on, but this one went a little bit further than a normal dispute.

              Q.  It appears if this is going to be like Talladega but it’s Daytona, it calls into question drivers’ respect for each other and trust for each other.  Can you talk a little bit about how that’s developed and what you’ll see on the racetrack in competition here?

            TONY STEWART:  The thing that we heard from the tire test is they did some…they did obviously draft testing because they need to run the speeds that we run here during the race pace.  But it sounds like the difference between what we see at Talladega with the bump drafting and what we might see here is that with the way    the only turn that I heard them really talk about was turn 2 and how the transition falls off a little harder and is that if guys were pushing through that area that it had a tendency to push the lead car out further on the exit than they wanted to be and toward the wall, and if that lead car goes in the wall, most likely the guy that’s pushing him is going to follow him right in it.

            It sounds like that might be the only difference.  You may not be able to push all the way around the track, but I’m sure in the next definitely 24 hours we’re for sure going to find that out.

              Q.  If NASCAR does change the point system on a 1 to 43 based on race to race to race, would you like that system?  Can you talk about how that might affect your efforts?

            TONY STEWART:  Honestly I’ve kind of been one of those guys it didn’t really bother me when they changed it the first time, and if they change it again, it really won’t matter to me.  As long as we all start the year and we understand what the point structure is and how you get the points, then you race accordingly.  But it’s still going to be on a situation where if you win races the points take care of itself, and as long as it’s not a deal where you ever get in a situation where running 30th pays more points than winning then it shouldn’t really change how you race, it’s just you know if it’s a 36 week deal that leads into a championship or a ten week deal, you know how to prepare for it.  So it’s just    and knowing what the system is so you know how to prepare for those events.

              Q.  Can you tell us what you told the police in Australia?             TONY STEWART:  I can’t tell you that, but that’s why they take you there is to talk to you behind closed doors.  But the police department was very cordial over there.  They were very professional, and we did exactly what they asked us to do and went through that process, and they let us go.

              Q.  A lot of success here in July, not so much in February.  Is that just a coincidence?  Is there anything to that, and this will be your 13th try at it.  Do you believe in lucky numbers or anything like that?

            TONY STEWART:  I do believe in lucky numbers, and I’ve never believed that 13 was one of them.  We’re fighting an uphill battle on that.

            I wish I could say that there was a difference.  I mean, obviously we’ve won qualifying races here, we’ve won the Shootout here in February, so we have won February races, too, but just haven’t won them on the right day.  You know, it’s kind of new for everybody.

            I mean, this kind of re-racks the whole system, and I think it makes it to where anybody can win the Daytona 500 now because handling has always been a huge issue here, and 43 cars didn’t always handle here.  I think handling is going to be a lot easier to accomplish here with the new surface.  But it’s definitely going to be a lot more in the crew’s hands as far as getting us out in track position, getting cars that are just fast to begin with, but then it’s a chess match of being in the right place at the right time and trying to make sure that you’re positioning yourself to be where you want to be on those last couple laps.

              Q.  Given how much fun you’ve had in Australia in the past, do you think you’ll go back?

            TONY STEWART:  Love to.  Like I said, except for the last night we had an excellent trip again.  I mean, that’s the most time that I’ve ever been able to spend at one time, and even though the weather wasn’t very nice it was still a good vacation.  I woke up every day not to a ringing telephone, so it was nice to get away on a good vacation, and I still want to go back and still want to go back and race.  I’m glad this will be over with soon hopefully.

              Q.  Do you anticipate that the matter is settled, or is there any concern you might have to go back to answer any further questions?             TONY STEWART:  I’m not concerned about it.  If there is and we have to go back, we’ll deal with it.  But it’s nothing that we’re concerned with at this point.  I mean, like I said, when they were done with us, they said we were able to go back to the hotel and were able get on our flight and come back.  I made sure that they knew exactly where we were staying, when our flight was, what the flight number was and how to get a hold of us the whole time.  We’ll deal with it if anything else comes about.

              Q.  Heading into your third season as a team owner now, can you talk a little bit maybe about how much smarter you are about different things and how you’re going to be doing things differently based on what you’ve experienced and what you’ve learned?

            TONY STEWART:  Who said I was smart to begin with?  I don’t think anybody has ever accused me of being smart.  But obviously it’s like anything in general; you know, it’s a constant learning process and a constant growing process.  The hard thing is sitting down at the end of the year and evaluating things that you think you did right, trying to isolate the things that you think you needed to gain on.  But even just trying to get caught up on the things that you missed, at the same time those things that you did right probably aren’t right now, so you have to constantly grow.

            Race teams are in a constant state of change.  You’re never content and happy with where they’re at.  It’s just trying to figure out    everybody tries to figure out how they can get every department to be 1 percent better, and now it’s a situation where you wonder if that 1 percent is going to be good enough, so you try to figure out if you’ve learned more and gained more over the winter than the rest of the teams have.

              Q.  If I remember right in the past, you’ve sent stand-ins down here to run this January test in your cars.  How much do you think you can learn as a driver from this week here?             TONY STEWART:  Probably just the drafting practice side of it, especially with the fact of hearing that it may be a little tricky off of turn 2 with the pushing side of it.  So I think that we definitely want to have an understanding of before we come back here.  Obviously when we come back, we have one practice day before the Shootout, so you definitely want to have that information for that, and you’ll learn a ton more obviously in the Shootout than we will at the test here.

            But the sport is so competitive that it’s not just about seeing how fast your car is now, it’s trying to figure out the strategies and techniques we have to use as drivers with the bump drafting and playing the chess game to figure out where you’ve got to be at the right time.

              Q.  You seem remarkably calm and at peace, and you look good and fit, and yet you had an altercation.  What could have possibly led to such a dispute, and talk about your mood and how you’re feeling?

            TONY STEWART:  Well, I’m definitely not proud of what happened, and if I had to do it all over again, I would have dealt with it much different.  But we had been over there for almost five weeks, and we had been dealing with the same problem with the racetrack, so it wasn’t something that was just one incident that led up to it.  It was a combination of the whole trip.  But there was such a dispute on how they were doing a couple different aspects of preparing the racetrack and what it was putting the drivers in the situations that we were put in.

            You know, I’ve always been one to speak up for what I think is right, especially when it comes to the safety side of it, and I didn’t think it was    the conditions were safe to run on, and they felt differently.

            I’m home, and I’m back doing things that are getting my mind off of it, obviously.  Like I said, this isn’t something that I’ve blown off.  I mean, I’ve lost a lot of sleep over it because I’m very embarrassed that I made it through a whole trip and the night before I come home I get in an altercation with somebody, and that really hasn’t happened for a while.  I’m not at all the least bit proud of it.  I’m ashamed about it, but at the same time it’s been nice to get back with the team and it’s nice to come down here and worry about driving the race car again.  And it’s not that it’s making me forget about it, but it’s at least getting my mind off of it enough to relax.

            And I had a good vacation.  That’s the thing.  It’s a very relaxing vacation.  I felt like I alleviated a lot of stress over there, and like I said, we just had one bad night out of a 30 day trip.  I think for the most part the trip was a success.

              Q.  Quite simply, does the point system need to be changed?             TONY STEWART:  I didn’t think it needed change the first time.  I think the fans kind of helped dictate what they want.  I think we’re kind of in a unique sport where we don’t have a set scoring system, and the fans can kind of help    I think if the fans are aware of the options, I think the fans will tell us what they want.  And I think as long as we all know what it is at the beginning; I don’t think the competitors really care.  We just want to know what it is before we start the season so we know what we have to do, if the first race is going to mean as much as the last race.

            I really don’t think it matters.  I really don’t have a feeling one way or the other whether it needs to be changed.  As long as it’s the same for everybody, it’s fair.

              Q.  You mentioned it was an issue of safety on the track.  Did you refuse to get on because of the safety issue?  I mean, what was the concern as far as the safety issue?

            TONY STEWART:  If it would have been just hot laps then we would have had that option.  With the heat race, you get points for your heat race, so if we didn’t go out then we were really digging ourself a hole for the whole night.  But the hard thing is it’s not like looking at a pavement track and knowing if it’s dry or if it’s wet.  When you’re dealing with dirt tracks and how much moisture is in a racetrack    you know, there were cars on it previously before we were on it, but we were in a hot lap group that was four sets before our heat race went out, so it was hard for us to know exactly what the conditions were until we got out there.  But it was pretty obvious we thought before we even went out there that it wasn’t going to be good.

            It was disappointing because it was the best weather conditions they had had leading up to that race, and they found a way to kind of get themselves backed in a corner again.

            THE MODERATOR:  Thank you so much.  We appreciate it.  Good luck with this test and all the best for speed weeks and the 53rd running of the Daytona 500.

              FastScripts by ASAP Sports  

About Chevrolet F

ounded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates is centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of more than 4 million vehicles in 130 countries. In the U.S., 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 Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly” solutions, such as Chevrolet Cruze Eco with an EPA-estimated 42 miles per gallon highway, and the Chevrolet Volt offering 35 miles of electric driving and an additional 344 miles of extended gasoline range, according to EPA estimates. 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, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES                    

Daytona Preseason Thunder, Page 3    

January 20, 2011            

Daytona International Speedway

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion, took time during a break in testing at Daytona International Speedway to discuss how the test was going, what the team hopes to accomplish this weekend and his thoughts on the upcoming year.

WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THIS NEW SURFACE?  “It is definitely smoother. It is funny, testing the Grand-Am car, it feels the same. It has little choppy bumps in it. It is not glass smooth like Talladega feels like, but it definitely has a ton of grip. I think the previous tests showed, just looking at what people were saying that we are going to run three or four wide. Three-wide might be okay, but this place isn’t wide enough for four-wide like at Talladega. The crazy thing I am struggling with is that the wall doesn’t feel straight when it comes through the corners. It almost kind of has little points where it jots back at you. If you are up against the wall, you almost have to watch where the wall moves. That is something, for me, I have noticed. Other than that, it is the same old Daytona.” 

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE KEY THINGS YOU GUYS ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT ON THIS FIRST DAY OF TESTING?  “We are just messing with stuff in the race car to help with speed. We can do stuff in single car runs to look at what helps straightaway speed, cornering speed and stuff for the race. Stuff that maybe you don’t have notes on and can go to if you need more speed or handling. Handling won’t really be key anymore, it will be key to be fast in the corners. We are messing with stuff like that.” 

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW NOSE AND HOW DO YOU THINK IT WILL AFFECT RACING?  “It is hard to tell right now. I know that they at least look a lot better which is a good thing. The way the nose is going to race I am not really sure. It is tough right now after this morning session because we are out there by ourselves. It seems like maybe it isn’t as abrupt when it does hit the ground. The old splitters, there was so much of it there; because it was big it was tough to tell if it was hitting the ground and if you hit it hard it really smashed the nose. Those are my initial looks at it, but we won’t really know how it changes racing until we get into big packs here at Daytona and then in aero traffic at other race tracks.” 

YOU ARE ON RECORD THAT THE SECOND HALF OF LAST YEAR WAS BETTER ON THE TRACK BUT OFF THE TRACK STUFF BECAME A BIT DIFFICULT. NOW THAT ALL OF THAT IS SETTLED, WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS YEAR AND HOW WILL YOUR NEW TEAMMATE MARCOS AMBROSE IMPACT YOU?  “Well, it isn’t so much Marcos as it is going down to two cars. I think that will be really good for the team. This team has had a lot of good resources, but it was just spread too thin. Obviously we went through a rough time at the end of last year that we fought through and hopefully we are better because of that. We are more funded now and more money helps. We have some new race cars to start the year, which we didn’t have last year, and I am really excited about that. I think that overall last year we had a good race team. We weren’t great, we weren’t really good. We were good. I felt like we were a top-15 team last year. We need to work on consistency throughout the race. Ever race, for basically the last six months, I felt like we were a top-10 team at some point during the race but we would lose that at certain areas and couldn’t get it back. Homestead is a great example. We were running fourth and then in one run we fell back to 25th and fought all day to get it back. Only because of a fortunate yellow were we able to get a chance to get that back and we were able to finish fifth. It is not even mistakes.”

HOW DO YOU TAKE THAT NEXT STEP?  “We have to figure out why our car is on that edge that when it goes bad, it goes really bad. If we can get better with that, I think we will be okay because we have the speed. For me it is a critical year. We have to win. We have to be more consistent and win some races and get that off our back. It felt like each year as a driver I have progressed. The first couple of years I was just trying to survive. In 2009 it was just trying to get through the year as a fourth non-funded car. Last year I thought we worked together and gave ourselves opportunities to win, but didn’t take advantage of it at times. We have to give ourselves more of those opportunities and we need to come through and win. We need a lot more top-10’s and some top-fives. I think we have to have a 12-13 place average in both qualifying and races. If you do that, you are going to have a good shot at being in the Chase.

FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES                    

Daytona Preseason Thunder, Page 1                                                                                 

January 20, 2011                                                             

Daytona International Speedway

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion, enters the 2011 season with a hot hand, winning the final two races of 2010. Edwards took time during day one of the 2011 Daytona Preseason Thunder to talk with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway.

IS THERE A CHANCE WE COULD SEE THREE, FOUR OR EVEN FIVE WIDE RACING HERE AT DAYTONA WITH THIS NEW SURFACE?  “I think that Martin (Truex Jr.) said it best. It is just going to be wild. The track is so smooth and has so much grip that there is no telling what people will try. The last lap is going to be insane.” 

WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE POINTS SYSTEM?  “I am not sure what the final decision is yet, but if it makes it similar, for instance if I am running 12th or something I don’t even know how many points that is worth and I have been doing this long enough that I should know. So if it makes it simpler for the competitors and the fans to follow along and understand, then I think it is a good move. We all race so hard for the wins that whatever points system it is, we are going to race hard.” 

I ASSUME YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO RACE FOR POINTS IN THE CUP SERIES. ARE YOU STILL PLANNING ON RUNNING THE NATIONWIDE RACES AND WOULD YOU HAVE LIKED TO SEE A GRANDFATHER CLAUSE THAT WOULD ALLOW YOU TO COMPETE FOR BOTH TITLES?  “Yeah, that would have been nice for myself and Brad (Keselowski) and whoever else. We are going to run for the Cup championship. I am going to start with the No. 60 team, running every race. We are going to start that way, see how it goes, and we still have the owners championship to go for and all those wins to race for. That is fun. That is what makes the Nationwide series fun. I would really love to have a championship battle with Brad. Especially with him because of how well he ran last year. It would be nice to be able to race him for it. My plan is to run every race, but if we get eight or 10 races in and it isn’t looking good, then I don’t know what we would do. Whatever looks best for our Cup program at that point.” 

YOU GUYS WERE LAUGHING TALKING ABOUT HOW CRAZY IT IS GOING TO BE HERE AT DAYTONA. CAN YOU PUT THAT INTO PERSPECTIVE?  “I think a lot of guys will be thinking about those 43rd, 42nd, 41st positions. You know, one, two, three points for the first half of the race. I think you will see a race like I have never been a part of here at Daytona. It is a different race track now. It is going to be wild.” 

HOW DO YOU DEVELOP TRUST AND RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER THAT HAS TO BE HAD OUT THERE?  “It is just such a dynamic race and if you are in the middle of the pack, everybody is trying to get a little advantage. Sometimes guys are trying to pull out to cool their engines off or whatever. There are times where you get put into a position and you realize, ‘Man if this guy behind me doesn’t lift a little bit or give me some space then it is over.’ It is pretty amazing how good everyone works together. There have been a few times where I could not thank the guy next to me enough for realizing what is going on, moving over or giving me a break. I have only been doing this for five or six years now, but it seems like everyone is getting better and better at giving and taking at these races. That can all change in an instant. A guy could leave you out or move you, but for the most part that doesn’t happen until the very end.”

AT THE END OF LAST SEASON YOU TALKED A LOT ABOUT MOMENTUM AND CARRYING THAT OVER TO THIS YEAR. CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW THAT MIGHT WORK AND TURN INTO SOMETHING TANGIBLE AS OPPOSED TO JUST A FEELING?  “First of all, I had to come up here and tell Martin that I really appreciated him getting that flat tire because I think I would have finished second at Homestead. The way we finished the 2010 season is the way we would like to run all the time. I feel the way our team is structured right now that we are set to have one of our best seasons. That goes for all of the Roush teams, including ours. I used to not believe in momentum, but now I am starting to understand how it works and I am hoping to capitalize on it this season.” 

HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY DIFFERENCE WITH THE NEW SPLITTER?  “I haven’t done enough testing with it yet. I think it looks great though and it looks a lot more like the cars we drive on the street, which is good.” 

BRISTOL WILL BE THE FIRST REAL SHORT TRACK RACE THIS SEASON. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THAT AND WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK THERE?  “It is always strange going from running the super speedways to the first short track race of the season. Things happen a lot quicker. It is a lot different style racing. Bristol is just fun in general. It is one of the most exciting race tracks we go to. The fans love it. The drivers love it. It is really neat to be in a good race at Bristol because there is a lot going on. It is really fun as a driver.” 

LOOKING AT THE TRACK OUT THERE TODAY IT IS SO SMOOTH. DO YOU GUYS MISS THE BUMPS AND THE INTEGRITY OF THAT OLD TRACK?  “I thought the neatest part was that they sent us a piece of the old race track. That was pretty cool to get that in the mail. To think about everything that had happened on that old pavement and to have a piece of that at home is really special. It is definitely a new day and the paving job is as beautiful and perfect as it can be. I know we have answered a number of questions about the racing, but I think we all agree that it is going to be one of the most spectacular Daytona 500’s that any of us have been a part of.”