Tony Stewart Press Conf. Transcript
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
NASCAR BANKING 500
LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 15, 2009
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and discussed the Hall of Fame inductees, the reality of his first year as an owner verses his expectations, the difference between crew chief Darian Grubb and former crew chief Greg Zippadeli and more. Full transcript.
YOU GOT YOUR FIRST WIN AS A DRIVER/ OWNER BACK IN THE ALL-STAR RACE SO YOU’VE GOT TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT COMING BACK HERE TO LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY. “Yeah it’s exciting to come back obviously. It’s a special place to the organization obviously getting our first win here. We are excited about it. The weather today is not what we’re wanting but hopefully we can figure out whether we are staying or going and at least come back tomorrow and get busy.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON THE HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES YESTERDAY? “There are so many good candidates I think the first class should have been more than five then five each year after that. It’s hard. How do you pick just five for the first year like that? Obviously the five that got inducted were well-deserving but there were a lot of other drivers and members that didn’t make the first cut that still I think will make it.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT THROUGH THE FIRST FOUR RACES THE TOP-THREE GUYS ALL HAVE FINISHING AVERAGES OF 3.5 OR BETTER AND DO YOU THINK THEY CAN SUSTAIN ANYTHING NEAR THAT OVER 10 RACES? “I would about guarantee one of the three will. It’s hard to think that after four races when you’ve already got three of those guys that have made it that far somebody of those three won’t go ahead and finish it that way. That’s what makes this Chase cool. To have a Chase that’s that tight and that competitive nobody is going to back in to this championship. If you win it you’ve got something to be proud of this year.”
LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW IT DOESN’T LOOK GOOD FOR TONIGHT; DO YOU CARE WHETHER YOU GET OUT THERE TONIGHT? “No, not really. I’ll be honest I won’t qualify fourth or better so it’s probably better off if we do get rained out for qualifying. I would like to get in the Nationwide car obviously since I haven’t driven for the No. 5 car team over on that side. I’m more excited about getting in the car tomorrow and getting race practice than I am qualifying.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR FIRST YEAR AS AN OWNER AND HOW THE REALITY COMPARES TO THE EXPECTATIONS YOU HAD COMING IN? “At this point it’s easy to say we’ve exceeded our expectations for what we thought and what everybody else thought we could do. We’re happy about it. I don’t know that I would change a thing so far to this point. It’s been a pretty smooth ride for the first 32 races of the year. I’m like a proud father of our organization. I’m proud of the people that we have. I’m proud of the effort they put forth. Extremely proud of the results that come with that but it’s not because of me it’s because of the people we have.”
THERE WERE SOME PEOPLE WHO QUESTION HOW SUCCESSFUL YOU WOULD BE THIS FIRST YEAR; DID THAT IN ANY WAY FUEL YOU TO PROVE PEOPLE WRONG? “No, not at all. Contrary to everybody’s popular belief we don’t really care about that much what everybody says in the media center. It doesn’t motivate our life. It doesn’t change the direction of our life. We do it because we want to do it not because people say we can or can’t do it. We just go do what we think is right.”
WHAT’S BEEN THE MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE TO YOU THIS YEAR IN YOUR MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY PART? “Obviously with the success we’ve had this year, I think it’s seeing the people that were at Haas before I got there and seeing how happy they are to finally have results. Without being there the last six years and seeing what they had to go through, to be a part of seeing these guys have success for the first time, the most pleasant part of it coming in there and seeing these guys smiling every day and happy that they’re finally seeing results out of that organization. I think that’s the most gratifying part.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON IS ON HIS THIRD REAR TIRE CHANGER OVER THE LAST NINE RACES, AS A DRIVER/OWNER DOES THAT MAKE YOU NERVOUS HAVING A PERSONNEL CHANGE AT THAT SPOT? “Not if they get the job done when it comes time to do their job on the pit stops. You can close your eyes as long as when that jack drops you go and it’s the time that you want it really doesn’t matter.”
TALK ABOUT THE DYNAMIC THAT YOU’VE HAD WITH DARIAN THIS YEAR AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIM AND GREG ZIPPADELLI. “I’ve always been fortunate to have good crews and good crew chiefs to work for. Darian is more of an engineer type, Zippy (Greg Zippadeli) was more of a practical racer knowledge type. I don’t think there’s any negatives to either one of them. They both have their strengths. I don’t think there’s weaknesses, either one of them. Zippy and I were both very similar personality wise and Darian and I are quite a bit different personality wise but he still has a good sense of humor and that’s why it works well for us. Darian just doesn’t get wound up over anything even when we have something dramatic happen he just doesn’t get wound up and that’s the only real difference I see.”
Juan Pablo Montoya Press Conf. Transcript
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
NASCAR BANKING 500
LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 15, 2009
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 LYSOL IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and discussed how he has done in the Chase so far; team strategy before and during the Chase; his relationship with his crew chief and other topics. Full transcript:
TALK ABOUT HOW THE CHASE HAS GONE FOR YOU SO FAR: “Well, I can’t complain. The first four races have been pretty good. Shame we still haven’t won a race, we have been running pretty good. Same story as always. What is going to happen here (Lowe’s Motor Speedway), I have no idea. We think we brought our best car, we hope it is good enough and we get a good setup and see what happens. I think overall it is nice to see how good everybody on the team is working and how hard they are working and how everything is coming out. From that point of view, I can’t really complain too much.”
NOW THAT INCIDENT WITH DENNY HAMLIN HAS MOVED ON, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN DOING THERE? “I think he just went to block and when we went to block, he was too late. It was just a simple mistake. I was being pushed by the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) so I couldn’t move. It is either him or me, I had no choice.”
WAS HE TRYING TO GET THE POINTS FOR LEADING A LAP? “I know he had led a lap before that so I don’t know what he was trying to do. So I don’t know.”
DID YOU HEAR WHAT HE SAID? “I heard he said he just made a mistake. From my point of view, honestly, he restarted and came down and didn’t know I was there. That was it.”
HOW MUCH OF THE IMPROVEMENT THIS SEASON HAS BEEN YOU AND HOW MUCH IS THE TEAM? “I still feel like I don’t them (the cars) completely. I still feel there is a lot I need to improve. We are getting better. We understand the car better. I think during the race, I still feel like I need to do a better job in the race understanding what the car needs to be done to make it better. I think the whole team…our motors are really good. Our chassis are really good. We seem to be good every week. The team is doing a very good job at home bringing a great car and a great setup. And, it can change this week, but so far every week of the Chase especially, we come off the truck and we are just fast and it great when you see that.”
DO YOU THINK YOU CAN WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP WITHOUT WINNING A RACE AND IF YOU DID WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP WITHOUT WINNING A RACE, WOULD YOU TAKE ANY LESS PRIDE IN THAT? “Oh no! It is points, isn’t it? At the end of the day? It is not like I am not trying to win a race or the championship, I am trying to win both. There are still six races this year. We have had four top-fives in the last four races, that is very good and we have had pretty good cars. I felt like in New Hampshire we had the fastest car, the other races, we had good cars, but people had us covered. It is ok. It is what it is. Thinking about ‘oh my gosh, if I win this without winning a race, what am I going to say.’ If I win the championship, I still won the championship. We are still a long way away. In my opinion, mentally, I don’t even think about it right now. I just go every week and run as hard as I can and see what it brings us.”
DO YOU THINK IT IS POSSIBLE OF YOUR EARLIER STRATEGY TO GET IN THE CHASE; YOU DIDN’T REALLY KNOW HOW STRONG YOU HAD GOTTEN? “To be honest with you, you look before the Chase; we were running second at Bristol when I had a flat tire. We finished third in Atlanta. There are races that, apart from Richmond, we were out there. We were a top-five car and we finished sixth or seventh. We did a lot of that. We improved a little bit. Where that came from, I don’t know. I think I went a little more aggressive with my driving and understanding a little bit more the car and it is paying off. My relationship with Brian (Pattie, crew chief) is really good and it helps. We have got to a point now; it always takes time when you have a new crew chief. Right now it is starting to click so it is good.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FELIX SABATES: “With Felix, we have a very good relationship, us both being Latinos. I asked him for help last night with the Jail and Bail cause and it is a great cause and being able to help a cause here in NASCAR, it is big. Everybody really supports everything you do to help people and the support they give what you believe in and support is great. Felix is Felix, I guess. (LAUGHS).
TALK ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT RESTRICTOR PLATE RACING AND RACING AT TALLADEGA: “For a fan, it doesn’t get much better than that. I get a kick out of it. I always get a kick out of it. If we are still in the hunt by the time Talladega comes, it is going to be a stressful race. It is like the same thing every week. You go there, especially there, are you going to save then engines. You come off the truck with whatever you think is fastest. And if it doesn’t do anything crazy, you park the car. You probably do 10 laps of practice; make sure all the temperatures look good. Qualify the car and race it and see what happens. It will interesting to see what kind of strategy you play during the race because there is always two ways of looking at it. Do you need points and you want to try and lead as many laps? Or do play conservative and play it at the end? It is always a challenge especially with the side-by-side restarts; it is going to be “whew”, pretty wild. I think it is going to be cool.”
ONE OF THE THINGS FELIX SAID DURING THE DISCUSSION IS THAT HE THINKS IF YOU WERE IN A HENDRICK CAR, HE THINKS YOU WOULD HAVE WON FIVE OR SIX RACES THIS YEAR, DO YOU AGREE WITH HIM? “Right now you look at it, it is two Hendrick cars, myself and then two more Hendrick cars, or one is Stewart, sorry, not a Hendrick car. (LAUGHS) Right now they are dominating the sport and to be in the mix of things with them, it is great. Being in a Hendrick car doesn’t mean you are going to win. You look at Junior (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.), he has won a lot of races before and he’s in a Hendrick car and he is struggling. I don’t know if it is the way he drives the car is very different or something. But I am sure with time; he will be fine once he settles. He spent a lot of time with the same guy and now it is different and it cost him a little bit of time. He will be fine.”
DO YOU EVER ALLOW YOURSELF TO THINK ABOUT IT THE WHAT IF YOU HAD ONE OF THOSE CARS? “Right now we have a Target car and a Chevy car and it is great. I can’t complain. I was happy last year when I was finishing 15th and right now we finished third and I am pissed off.”
YOU GET PISSED OFF ON THE RADIO DURING THE RACE: “I don’t anymore! (LAUGHS)
BRIAN STAYS VERY CALM: “Does he? On the radio he does.” (LAUGHS)
TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH BRIAN: “We have a very good relationship and it very open. We understand each other; we all have good days and bad days. He plays it really cool with me, but I know as soon as he comes off the button (on the radio) he is shouting at Billy (Curwood, team engineer) who is sitting there beside him. Billy gets all the shouting from Brian and Brian gets all of it from me. He tells me sometimes ‘you should shout and then press the button. I said ‘then, what is the point’. He doesn’t shout at me. Where was it? The car was horrible; I don’t know what we did in Kansas at that last run when we started going backwards before the last pit stop. I am going on and on about how great the car the was and he said ‘that is why you get paid the big bucks to drive it.’ I said ‘ok’. I just started laughing actually, when that came on the radio. It was kind of funny.”
LOOKING AT THE STANDINGS, DO YOU FEEL LIKE IT IS YOU AGAINST HENDRICK? “It can change really fast. After this week, it could be Hendrick against Hendrick. I don’t think about it. We run as good as we can. We are bringing the best cars every week and making sure we don’t leave anything on the table, whether it is qualifying or practice, you are still going to make mistakes. But hopefully you make the least mistakes. Something that has been very impressive this year is how the pit crew has really stepped up their game and everyone at the shop. The detailing on the car has gone a lot better. Everybody is motivated on the team. It is great to see.”
Ryan Newman Press Conf. Transcript
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
NASCAR BANKING 500
LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 15, 2009
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TRANSFORMERS: “REVENGE OF THE FALLEN” IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and discussed the No. 39 team performance in the Chase, safety at Talladega, racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, racing at Martinsville and other topics. Full transcript:
TALK ABOUT BEING HERE AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “I look forward to it. Based off of our performance here in the spring and the more experience we have had together as a team and as an organization, I think we can hopefully try to deliver. Haven’t had the greatest Chase. We have had some decent runs but between Jimmie (Johnson) and Mark (Martin) and a couple of other guys, they are kind of putting us to shame. I guess we haven’t shined like we wanted to shine to this point, but it hasn’t been for a lack of effort to try to try to luster.”
HAS THIS SEASON BEEN WHAT YOU WANTED IT TO BE AND HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU TO GET BACK TO VICTORY LANE? “I really didn’t have, per se, expectations. I had a lot of desire and I know we had the potential and the abilities, both personally and professionally with the team. I didn’t expect to finish first; I didn’t expect to finish in the top-10. I didn’t expect to finish 15th. I didn’t have expectations in respect to that. I just knew that if I put my best effort forward and worked to get the best I could with the team and the organization, then where we finish would necessarily be a surprise, but it all depends on what we are deserving of. I feel I feel that we have done a very good job as a team and as an organization to get to where we are. We haven’t achieved all of our goals. We haven’t won that race. So yes, there is a huge desire to win that first race. I’m as hungry as an Ethiopian; they still aren’t getting fed are they? (LAUGHTER ALL AROUND AT METAPHOR) The bottom line is, there is a ton of desire there and this is a great place for it. We finished second here in the spring with a little strategy. We were in position to win the All-Star Race and won the pole. As we always say, it would be a great place to get back in victory lane.”
WHAT IS IT YOU LIKE ABOUT MARTINSVILLE? “I don’t know? (LAUGHS) I like the short track racing. The more a driver has input, especially with some of the race tracks we go to, you don’t have to brake a lot, the more the driver has input, the more the driver has an effect. The short track racing I definitely enjoy because of that. You go to a place like Michigan or California, it takes less driver and more car than it does at a short track in my opinion. That is one of the things that I enjoy about Martinsville. We had a good run there in the spring. We struggled for the first two-thirds of the race and finally got the car better and got up in the top-10. I look forward to going back especially obviously with the Hendrick support and how well they have done there in the past four or five years. It is a fun race track as long as you stay out of trouble and keep your brakes cool.”
YOUR CAR WAS SO FAST OFF THE CORNERS IN THE ALL-STAR, WAS THAT SOME R & D STUFF OR WILL WE SEE THAT THIS WEEKEND AS WELL? “We had a great engine package. That was one thing. It was designed for that All-Star Race. I think a lot of guys did. I think we got our car back right, we know we had a component failure early in the race. Got it fixed, almost got two laps down. With a little bit of Jimmie’s help, got the lucky dog and got back on the lead lap all in one shot there. We were almost two laps down and got back on the lead lap and that kind of saved our day. Fought our way back up. We had a fast race car and yes, you are right, it was kind of biased coming off the corner. We had some awesome runs down the straightaways. It was a combination of car and engine. We just got in the wrong place at the wrong time or wrong place at the right time I guess you could say coming off turn four and got in the fence with the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon).
WHAT WILL CHANGE FOR YOU GUYS IF IT IS AS COOL SATURDAY NIGHT HERE AS IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE, WHAT WILL THAT FORCE YOUR TEAM TO DO OR CHANGES TO MAKE? “I don’t think a whole lot. It isn’t going to be cold enough, I think this is a track and the tire combination….the track has aged enough that the tires are getting back to being soft enough that you don’t have to worry about cold tires. At some race tracks, you do have to worry about that, per se more the flatter race tracks. Places like Loudon and Richmond. I think, not a whole lot. It is just going to be cooler in the race car. The cars are going to be faster. It is going to be closer to wide open, a lot faster lap times than we typically see here in the daytime. I think it will be great racing providing Mother Nature lets us start on time.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE HALL OF FAME SELECTIONS? “I thought it was pretty good. I didn’t see the whole list of nominees but I thought everybody that was elected was deserving of being elected. I think it is great what NASCAR is doing with the Hall of Fame to preserve and give honor to the people who have helped define the sport. It is a pretty cool deal.”
ON HALLOWEEN AT TALLADEGA, ARE YOU GOING TO BE IN COSTUME AND TRICK OR TREAT IN THE COACH LOT? “I think anyone who Trick or Treats is going to Trick or Treat in the infield, not the coach lot. (LAUGHS) I guess I will have to go as myself. I don’t do that stuff. Seriously. Look at me I eat enough candy.”
HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT LAST YEAR TO STAY FOCUSED ON THE JOB YOU ARE FINISHING UP AND NOT THINK FORWARD? “We were still trying to win races, but we weren’t in the Chase. It was a little difficult in respect to that. I didn’t change any of my desire but I think within the Penske organization, they changed some of their desire. I didn’t get some of the new engine stuff. I didn’t get the new chassis stuff. I was the Black Sheep from Michigan on, which was understandable. I not holding any grudges against it. I was looking forward to getting the year over obviously because we didn’t achieve the goals we wanted to achieve. The only thing left to win was poles and races and we were struggling at doing that obviously. It was good season to end. Probably the happiest I’ve been at the end of the season and rightfully so. The most excited I have been to start a season this year in quite a while.
“I still did my team meetings. I was still welcome at the shop. It was a little different for me than it is now for him (Pat Tryson). I don’t know if that was more his decision or the team’s decision. I’m not in that loop and I don’t want to be. I felt like I was treated with a lot of respect last year, it was a different situation.”
WHAT IS YOUR ANALYSIS OF WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING WITH THE CARS AT TALLADEGA AND DAYTONA AS A DRIVER AND AN ENGINEER? DID YOU GET IN ANY TROUBLE FOR BEING OUTSPOKEN? “I didn’t get in any trouble. I would tell you if I did because I don’t mind being in trouble once and a while as long as it is for the right reason and that is talking about safety. The one thing that they, meaning NASCAR has done, has reduce the size of the restrictor plate which is important because the speed, not necessarily closing or drafting or anything like that, but just pure speed, the fast we go, the more likely we are to get airborne. You take horsepower away, you are taking speed away and therefore, I think it is going to be safer from that respect. I know the track has done things on their part with the fencing and the cables and the addition cables and additional fencing which is important for the fans. My ultimate answer still is whatever we can do to help keep the race cars on the ground aerodynamically. I don’t know what has been done, I have my own ideas. My question is has the car been in the wind tunnel backwards to see how much lift it creates? Have we, as in teams or NASCAR, collectively done those things? When Carl’s (Edwards) car was airborne, it airborne all by itself. He got turned around, but he was backing up the race track and it got airborne. I know that because when I hit him, he hit me right in the windshield with his left rear tire. His left rear tire was 36 inches off the ground. That started the big mess. But the small mess that started the big mess was his car getting off the ground. Whatever we can do as teams, collectively with NASCAR, to try and keep the cars on the ground is the ultimate, in my opinion, safety situation in respect to the type of accident we saw there. I mean obviously there are huge impacts. There are grass issues and there are other things that we have to worry about when we have crashes but cars getting airborne are some of the worst we’ve ever seen.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MISSING FROM THE NO. 39 TEAM RUNNING AS GOOD AS THE NO. 14 TEAM? “I think part of us is just us communication wise and team wise being perfect because that is what it takes. We’re competing against Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus and Jeff Gordon and Steve Letarte who have been together for so long. And obviously Darian (Grubb) and Tony (Stewart) are new together but I think their group gelled a little quicker than our group and that happens in racing. I think that we’ve struggled a little big making the car better from the start of the race to the end of the race. Our practice sessions typically go very well. Our average speeds are pretty much in the top-10 every week. If we start the race as a fifth place car, we’ll end the race as a seventh to 10th place car. I think that we need to be better collectively at that. I don’t know what the ultimate answer is in respect to that. Just looking at the trends and where we have been strong and where we have been weak, we’re stronger at the start and weaker at the end. That’s a big part of it in my opinion.”
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