WE’RE HONORING THE 75 GREATEST DRIVERS IN NASCAR HISTORY. HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING ON THAT LIST? DID YOU EXPECT THAT AND WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO IT?
“Yeah, I guess to answer ‘did I expect that’ – yeah, I did. So it wasn’t necessarily going to be a surprise, but I feel like it’s a cool honor and a humbling one in that to be a part of that group, just with my past successes and all the people that have brought me to this point of my career. It wouldn’t have been possible without the very beginning of time, racing in Las Vegas in legend cars and late models, all the way through the ranks to get to the top. And then all the great team members that I’ve worked with from HMS, JGR and now RCR. Obviously you take that as much as you can with the accolade and the things that you’ve done. To say that you’ve had a really good career is great. Obviously hopefully it’s not over.”
FROM THE DRIVING SIDE OF IT, WHAT MAKES PASSING DIFFICULT AT A PLACE LIKE THIS? WE ALWAYS TALK ABOUT THE ‘LADY IN BLACK’ AND BEING SUCKED IN, BUT WHAT IS IT LIKE TO TRY AND PASS HERE OR NAVIGATE A RACE?
“Yeah, I think the biggest thing that makes it tough is just the one groove, one lane race track here where it’s very narrow and there’s kind of one way in getting around turns one and two, for sure. You go in low; you wash up to the wall and you turn back down off of turn two. (Turns) Three and four are a little bit more racy because you can go low and you can go high. But as tires wear, everybody tends to migrate to the top and be on the top. It’s hard to find that clean air in order to get enough front downforce under your car to make it turn and not get tight behind that guy in front of you. So that’s the biggest deficit and that’s what makes it really, really tough here.
I remember 2008 when they first repaved this place. We were running around and I was leading, and I caught Juan Montoya as a lap car and I couldn’t pass him for 20 laps. Second-place caught me and actually got by me for the lead, and then got by Montoya and I was still stuck behind Montoya. So there is a trend here of how to make passes and stuff. Whoever that is with the slide job better go back and watch recent history because nobody lets you in. So if you try and throw it off into the corner underneath somebody and wash up in front of him, you’re going to crash because that guy is going to stuff it back on your outside. That doesn’t happen anymore these days.. anybody letting you in.”
YOU EXPRESSED SOME FRUSTRATION WITH ROSS CHASTAIN OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. DID YOU FEEL LIKE WHAT HAPPENEND LAST WEEKEND NEEDED TO HAPPEN, AND DO YOU THINK DRIVERS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DUKE IT OUT OR WAS IT GOOD THAT SECURITY STEPPED IN?
“OK – so yeah, I’ve had issues with a lot of guys and (Ross) Chastain has been the most frustrating one because he has it every single week. So when it happens with you, because it’s every single week and it’s so repetitive with one guy, then you get even more frustrated because it’s like the guy hasn’t even learned a single lesson or any bullet point of what the problem is. There’s a common denominator. And he’s got an aggressive style. We all want to say that he is and whatever.. well we’re all aggressive to a point because we’re all going to push hard and try to make runs; get spots, get good finishes, things of that nature.
Did that need to happen afterwards? Yeah, I don’t know if Noah (Gragson) was the right guy (laughs). I think Denny (Hamlin) has more reasons to do that. But Noah obviously wanted to show his frustration and I think Noah had a somewhat similar philosophy as I did, where it’s like the same guy all the time. I’m not going to take that crap and go up to him and confront him. I feel like security stepped in about 10 seconds too quick. You let one guy get a hell of a hit and then you block the other guy from getting a hit back. At least let the guy try and then maybe get one in. I would seriously urge NASCAR to go with some hockey rules, you know? Once you get to the ground, we’re going to break it up; or when one of you guys look gassed, we’re going to break it up. Let them get a good 30 seconds in.. it’s going to be way better for TV and ratings are going to go off the charts.”
EVERYTIME SOMEBODY WINS, WE HEAR ‘OH THEY’RE IN THE PLAYOFFS NOW AND THEY CAN JUST FOCUS ON GETTING READY FOR THE PLAYOFFS’. FOR YOU, PSYCHOLOGICALLY, HOW DOES A WIN EFFECT YOU? DO YOU BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF AND GO – OK, I’M IN THE PLAYOFFS NOW, I CAN FOCUS ON JUST RACING, OR HOW DOES THAT EFFECT YOU?
“Yeah, there’s a lot of things that change in that. So by being able to get a win, I would say – yes, it relaxes you to a point where you’re able to say OK I’m in the playoffs. You’re not stressed out about every single move all of the time, and what positions gained or loss are going to do for you. I would say for us, for me, right now – having the wins that we have, I’m still super, super frustrated in our last couple of weeks and now dropping to 12th in points I think it is. I’m still under the mindset and thought process to get as many points as we can. Get ourselves up the points ladder. We need to be able to contend for stage points. We have probably the least amount of stage points this year of anybody, so it’s very frustrating in that respect for us. We just have to get our act together and run up front. A lot of that is on me, too. Like me speeding on pit road, right? I’m winning that award this year, but I’m also number one rolling on pit road this year, too. So what’s the risk versus reward there? We’re always going to push and having that win allows you to push. It allowed us to push fuel at Talladega to grab another win. You’re going to put yourself in some tighter spots on restarts and things like that because you do have that win and you’re going to be a little bit more aggressive. As long as you don’t look like Ross Chastain, you’ll be fine.”
IS THE PRESSURE TO WIN – WHETHER THE INTERNAL OR SPONSOR PRESSURE – THESE DAYS CREATING MORE DRIVERS WILLING TO BE AGGRESSIVE MORESO THAN 15 YEARS AGO?
“Yeah, I think a little bit of this car and the parity of this car allows drivers to be more aggressive and push harder because they feel like they’re the difference and they need to makeup the difference if they’re not running upfront or contending every week. So they’re going to push harder.. run into more stuff and run into more guys because they’re trying to get a better finish or whatever out of themselves. You used to have cars that had a little bit of discrepancy between them when you go to the race track. The good guys that ran good would know that they were good and would race for wins, and the others that are 12th on back know they’re place and they’re going to run 12th on back. Well now those guys 12th on back think that if they do some things on restarts and whatnot to get themselves further upfront, that they’re going to finish further upfront. They’re not 100 percent wrong, but there is a place in there where you still have to find your home in the running order.”
HAVE YOU TRIED TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH ROSS (CHASTAIN), OR IS THAT KIND OF LIKE THE DENNY HAMLIN THING WHERE IT JUST FELL ON DEAF EARS AND IT WASN’T REALLY WORTH THE TIME OR ENERGY?
“Yeah, I talked to him I think it was either after the Darlington thing with (Kevin) Harvick here or his next one after that. He asked me a couple of questions and I talked to him about it.. just told him don’t be the headline every week and chill a little bit. Don’t push and force as hard each week. Like those two – whether Harvick won or Chastain – he would have looked a hell of a lot better finishing second to Harvick than he did with a crashed car here at Darlington. So yeah, no he hasn’t learned. He hasn’t listened to anybody and I’m sure there’s more than me that have tried to talk to him. I’m not sure what that is.. I don’t know that guy. Don’t need to know the guy.”
LOOK AHEAD TO THE COCA-COLA 600, WHAT KIND OF MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE ABOUT BRUTON SMITH, THE WAY HE RAN THINGS AND THE WAY EVOLVED THE SPORT OVER THE YEARS?
“Yeah, to me, Bruton (Smith) was just a class act. He obviously had a knack for fans and putting on a show. He hired one of the best of them, Humpy Wheeler, a long, long time go to run Charlotte Motor Speedway. He certainly has done a lot for our sport; with SMI and all the race tracks that they have. Seeing and having a vision of a lot of different things that have come through and he’s kind of led that onto Marcus (Smith), and I feel like Marcus has really done a great job of being a visionary, as well. Trying things and not being afraid to try some things. A couple of them probably not so good ideas.. Texas (Motor Speedway) repave.
With Bruton, give the guy and the family credit where credit is due. They’ve put a lot of time and effort, blood and sweat, into our sport and it’s very appreciated.”
WE’VE SEEN AT TIMES WHERE CREW MEMBERS GET INVOLVED IN FIGHTS. I THINK WITH YOU AND (JOEY) LOGANO YEARS AGO, YOU GOT TAKEN RIGHT DOWN BY CREW MEMBERS. SAME CONCEPT WHERE CREW MEMBERS SHOULD STAY OUT OF IT? THEY WANT TO PROTECT YOU GUYS, BUT DO THEY NEED TO STAY OUT OF IT AND LET YOU GUYS HANDLE IT?
“Yeah, like I said, to a point. Rodeos are eight seconds, right? A round in boxing is three minutes. There isn’t a damn one of us that’s going to make a round of three minutes, I’m going to tell you that (laughs). So if it’s 15-, 20-, 30-seconds, whatever.. come up with a number, start the clock, let’s go.”
AUSTIN (DILLON) HAD A CHANCE TO TEST TIRES UP AT NORTH WILKESBORO. GIVEN SOME OF HIS FEEDBACK, WHAT KIND OF RACE DO YOU EXPECT UP THERE AND HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO NORTH WILKESBORO AND THE ALL-STAR RACE THERE?
“Yeah, I think it’s going to be interesting, for sure. The tire falloff at that race track is by far the worst I think we’ll ever see. So 50 or 60 lap runs on tires that you have to go – I mean that’s a long time anyways, but it’s not quite 100 laps like late model races or modified races that are going to run there next week. Still, I think you’re going to have to figure out how hard to push. If you’re a guy upfront, do you push for a little while? If you’re a guy in the back, how much do you ride? Is the field going to catchup and are you going to go a lap down? Things of that nature.
I look at Josh Berry probably today as being one of the absolute best of that world, coming in through the late model stock ranks that he did. I remember a race he ran at Myrtle Beach – it might have been the last one at Myrtle Beach – where he fell all the way around to be about a lap down to the leader. He rode there in front of that guy for 40 laps, and then with 30 to go or something, he took off and drove all the way back around, passed that leader and won the race. I have no clue how to do that. I remember me racing at Berlin trying to ride around and save tires, and then the caution came out and there was a restart with 10 or 15 laps to go. I was like – alright, I’m going to get ‘em now and I had nothing to go with. So that’s the biggest thing that I see sometimes, is like how hard are you pushing. Really, you kind of don’t know until it’s time to go. But I think you’re going to see different strategies and if that race goes green the whole way, it’s going to be way more beneficial to the guys that are upfront and have the track position versus if a caution comes out. It’s going to be way more beneficial to those that rode and saved a little bit.”
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