NASCAR BGN: Elton Sawyer making a steady climb in season point standings

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

September 6, 2001

Elton Sawyer was 17th in driver points after the 11th race on the season in Richmond. Since that point, with the addition of Michael Kranefuss as the owner of the No. 98 team, Sawyer has steadily climbed his way into the fifth position in the Busch Series point standings. Sawyer, who logged just one top-five finish through the first 12 races, added his fourth top-five performance at Bristol last weekend in the season's 24th race of the season. The 19-year veteran of the NASCAR Busch Series is ranked second all-time in starts with 380, and is looking to at least match his best career finish in the points - fifth (1998, 1999) - by season's end. Sawyer spoke about the changes in his team since the addition of Michael Kranefuss and his concerns on the issue of safety.

ELTON SAWYER-98-Starter/Hot Tamales Ford Taurus - IF YOU BREAK DOWN THE FIRST 24 RACES OF THE SEASON INTO TWO SEGMENTS, YOU SCORED 1278 POINTS IN THE FIRST HALF COMPARED TO 1679 POINTS IN THE SECOND HALF. WHAT HAS CAUSED THE DRASTIC TURNAROUND? "Just to recap our season, we had a great pre-season test with our speedway program and went to Daytona with a really good car and a good-handling car, and we qualified 24th, but in all the practice sessions where we were drafting, we were in the top five, so we thought we had a good car and we did. Unfortunately, when the race came around, we broke a piece six laps into it and finished 42nd or 43rd. Actually, we finished last but got points for 42nd. Then, we went off to Rockingham where we had a really good racecar, a top-10 car, but we got into an accident with 10 laps to go and ended up 29th. Finally, we go to Vegas and we run all day and don't have any problems and we finished eighth. We went off to Atlanta and had a pretty decent car, and had a horrendous wreck down there and had a brand-new racecar totaled. That didn't do us any good as far as points. And then we went to Darlington and qualified 10th and finished ninth. It seemed early on that we couldn't put a stretch together of really good races. It wasn't that we didn't have good cars or the cars weren't performing well, we just couldn't seem to get them to the end with either all the fenders on them or avoiding some type of mechanical problem. As of late, probably the 1st of June, I think a lot of our turnaround has a lot to do with the effect that Michael Kranefuss and Marty Gaunt have had on our race team. Obviously, they bring a great deal of experience and a great deal of confidence to the table. We sit now in our Tuesday morning meetings and talk about what we did right and what we did wrong, and what we're going to do to be better. Now, all the focus is on racing, not on anything outside of racing or any other hidden agendas. I feel like that's probably been the biggest advancement that we've made in that stretch of races. We've had some very good luck, our engines, I can't say enough for Cosworth for what they have done to get their engine program up to speed. They basically came into a brand-new program this year; they've never built these types of engines for a full-time program. Last year they did some stuff with PPI but they only ran a limited schedule, so it took them the first eight to 10 races to get all the organizational parts of it to where we could get engines on time and get them in cars and get them prepared. Also, they were doing some research and development to get the power where it needed to be. They've done just a tremendous job, and I couldn't be more pleased with what they have done. The rest of our program has also stepped up. Our pit stops are better, the cars are driving better because I think we're more focused on what we need to do to get them driving better. All that stuff is just coming together and now our main focus is just trying to win a race. I feel like we have all the tools and that everything is lined up, we just need to go out on a given weekend and put it all together, and we should be a real contender to win."

HAS MICHAEL KRANEFUSS BROUGHT TECHNICAL EXPERTISE TO THE PROGRAM OR HAS HE HELPED BRIDGE THE COMMUNICATION GAP? "Both. I think Michael's experience with Ford Motor Co. for 25 years and the fact that he's owned his own race team has been a tremendous asset. And if you just put it in real simple terms - he's a racer. He understands what we need to do, what we need to have and he also understands how to deal with the people and personalities on a daily basis. Marty Gaunt, who is now the general manager, is somewhat of a link between Michael and the race team when Michael's not there. I think they both think very similar as far as how the race team should be run. The communication that maybe we were lacking in the past, there'll bridge that and now we can get that connected. When we sit down and we talk about our cars and we look at things that we've done in the past, it's real easy for us now, and it seemed difficult in the past, to sit and look at a particular race track and a setup and see why we did what we did and why the car performed the way it did, good or bad. Now we can cipher through that. Michael has been able to bridge the communication between Ricky (Viers), myself, the race team, the engineers and everyone who is involved. We're able to have those roundtable discussions and make our cars better and make our program better."

YOU WERE HEADED TOWARDS A TWO-CAR OPERATION BEFORE MICHAEL KRANEFUSS ACQUIRED YOUR TEAM. IS THE PLAN TO TRY TO FIELD A TWO-CAR TEAM IN THE FUTURE? "I think it's awfully important, but it takes a tremendous amount of money to do this. If you look at the very successful programs out there, they're multi-car concepts. Some of them are under the same roof; some of them are not under the same roof. In the past, we, and I say 'we' as the people at Akins Motorsports, haven't done a very good job of utilizing the multi-car concept. In the past I haven't been a very big fan of it, but I'm going to have to learn to take and be able to use that because I think there is a great benefit to doing it. The way Michael and Marty have laid out a plan for the future, we'll be able to utilize a multi-car concept and do it in a way that it's beneficial for the whole program. The things that we can do to make MK Racing stronger will be having multi-car programs. Whether it's two Winston Cup cars, two Busch cars or whatever. In the future, that's what we're going to do and that's what we need to do to be better."

I CAN'T IMAGINE THAT IF YOU FORM A TWO-CAR OPERATION THAT YOU WON'T BE THE VETERAN LEADER. "I'm OK with that; I don't have a problem with that. I feel like we can make that type of program work, but I think everyone has to buy into that, me included. I have to be perfectly honest, that's a role and a concept that's totally against everything that we really want to do - that's being successful as a one-car operation. I'm out there to win every single race, and it doesn't matter if I have one teammate or four teammates. You see the way Joe Gibbs' operation works, the way Robert Yates' works, those guys make it work. But I guarantee you that those four different drivers on a given Saturday or Sunday want to win and they don't care about their teammate. They're going to work as well together as possible, but they want to win. You see that with Kevin Harvick every week. You can't take that part of the driver away from it. I've told Brad (Akins) in the past and I told Marty and Michael, if I didn't want to be the best and want to have the best car and the best equipment, then you don't want me driving your car. But, on the other hand, I don't want a teammate that feels they're not going to be out there doing the same thing. I think it's important and it starts at the top with the ownership. If they have it structured right and have the right people in the right places, it can be very beneficial. Obviously Jack Roush has done a good job of teaming up Mark Martin and Jeff Burton, and then the 17 and the 97 are together. All of their programs interact and they make it work, and that's what we'll have to do."

NOW THAT YOU'VE FOUND SOME CONSISTENCY AND ARE POSTING TOP-FIVE FINISHES, IT SEEMS THE ONLY THING LACKING IS A WIN. "Well, that's true. We know that and I don't know if there's anything we need to do differently to win. Our guys are doing a great job preparing the cars, and Ricky is working with the guys and they're doing a great job on pit stops and Cosworth is doing an outstanding job with our engines. We're putting ourselves in position late in races to be in front. We led some of the St. Louis race, we led quite a bit of the IRP race, and at Michigan, we had a really good car there, I don't think we could have won because Ryan Newman was the class of the field, and last week at Bristol we had another good run. We fought a little chassis problem early, we were loose, made the correction early and gave up a lot of track position, but late in the race, I thought we were as quick or quicker than most. It's hard to win one of these things. We see Kevin running as well as he does and winning quite a few races, but other than him, it's really difficult to win these things. I don't think there's one particular thing we can do, and if there was, we would do it. I think if we continue to do the things that we've done the last month, putting ourselves in position, then we're eventually going to win a race. All indications are over the last forty to fifty years or NASCAR racing, if you take that approach, then the win will come."

YOU FINISHED NINTH AT DARLINGTON IN THE SPRING RACE AND SEEM TO GET BETTER EACH TIME YOU HEAD BACK THERE. IS THAT TRACK BETTER SUITED FOR VETERANS? "I'd have to agree with you, but I don't think that it's a given that just because you have experience that you're going to run well there. I think it's a package deal. You have to have good horsepower, a really good handling car, not only in a five-lap run, but it's got to run well for 40 to 50 laps. Getting all of those pieces together at one time is sometimes difficult. We had a really good run there in the spring, qualified 10th and ran ninth, but we felt that that was about all we had. Some of the things that we've learned over the last 15 races since that event, we're going to apply that. We'll come back this time with the same tire, so that helps us with our chassis setup. I think the big thing is that you have to enjoy going to Darlington to run well there. If you show up there and you don't like the place, then it's awfully hard to run well there. Fortunately for us, Ricky and the guys bring great cars and I enjoy going there and usually we're fairly competitive, so hopefully this weekend we'll be able to put all the pieces together and put ourselves in position and have a chance at winning the race."

EARLY IN YOUR CAREER, DID YOU DREAD RUNNING AT DARLINGTON? "I think I said, 'I'd have a better shot of winning he Daytona 500 than a race at Darlington.' The first couple of times that I went there, I couldn't imagine getting very comfortable there and I still don't feel 100 percent comfortable there, and I think that's the nature of Darlington. But having said that, I still love going there. It's a very narrow race track, and obviously we're running a lot faster now than they were when they first built it back in 1950s. It's a unique place, it's a lot of give and take and you have to race the race track. You've heard all this stuff before, but until you run four or fives races there, it's hard to really figure out what you need to do at each given point on the race track. We've somewhat learned where the troublespots are and I think the biggest thing is that you have to go there with a give-and-take attitude. Sometimes early in the race, there are cars that are a lot quicker and you're better off to let them go and get yourself in a position where you can log some laps and get in there and work on your car and be better on the next run. The first time that you forget where you are, it will reach up and bite you."

YOU ARE PROACTIVE ON THE ISSUE OF SAFETY. WITH THE LESSER NUMBER OF DRIVERS IN THE BUSCH SERIES COMPARED TO WINSTON CUP OPTING NOT TO WEAR HEAD-AND-NECK DEVICES, DO YOU FEEL THAT POSES A PROBLEM? "It's definitely a problem. I think these guys need to open their eyes. I don't think it's NASCAR's responsibility to mandate that we wear the HANS or Hutchens Device. It's not NASCAR's responsibility. As a group, and that includes NASCAR, the teams, the team owner and the drivers, we have to be smarter. The data is laid out there for us. We need to be smart enough to take this and us it for our benefit. The HANS device may not be for everyone. It may be too cumbersome, for whatever reason, it may not work. That's fine, but you need to find some type of head-and-neck restraint to wear. If you look at the videos that NASCAR's had, and we've been able to see what happens with the sled testing, you need a head-and-neck restraint. All the research that's going into the new seats, the type of headrests and shoulder bracing and things that are out there, we need to be smarter and pay attention to that. There again, there's the ongoing conversation of who should mandate or who should be responsible, when personally, I think it's as much my responsibility as it is NASCAR's to have that stuff. So, as a group, I don't think they should mandate anything along that line. As a group we need to have that information and we need to make the decision as drivers, crew chiefs and owners about what we need to be to be safer."

FROM A BUSCH DRIVER'S PERSPECTIVE, WERE YOU SATISFIED WITH NASCAR'S HANDLING OF THE EARNHARDT INVESTIGATION? "I have no problem whatsoever. I thought NASCAR did a great job with their investigation. Obviously, I went in there like everyone else thinking that they were going to give us one answer as to what happened. After looking at all the data and all the research that went into the investigation, it was about impossible to give us one answer. There were a lot of things that lined up there in a given accident that you do not want to happen. Unfortunately, they all happened at about the wrong time. From my perspective, they did a great job on what they did. They laid out the data of what happened, but what I really got out of it was the fact that we have to really pay attention to the way our seatbelts are mounted, we need a head-and-neck restraint and we need to stiffen up our seats. The driver has to stay in the seat. If the driver gets out of the seat, for whatever reason, or the seat comes unattached from the car, we're in trouble. So, I think we need to pay a great deal of attention to the way the belts and the seat and all that stuff is mounted. Something that we're working with at MK Racing is some other way to escape the car in case of an accident. For example, the way Michael Waltrip wrecked at Michigan in Happy Hour when his left side was up against the wall and he had a right side window in there. Now that we're looking at all this netting on the right side headrest and restraint, it makes it really hard to get out of that right side. Plus, it's got a window there. It will come out, but we're going to look at some things the way Funny Cars have a flap that rolls up and the driver can actually come out the top. I talked with John Darby and we're going to go ahead on work with that. It's still on the ground level, and it's nothing concrete, but we are going to investigate it as a possible safety option. The driver wants to feel safe in the cockpit and that may add to his sense of security. In case of a bad accident where you have both sides messed up, it gives us another option to get out of the car."

Text provided by Greg Shea

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