Chevy Notes - Daytona Test Jan 13
CHEVROLET NOTES & QUOTES
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
PRE-SEASON THUNDER TEST SESSION II
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
January 13, 2004
BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO VISITED WITH DRIVERS BEFORE THE FIRST TEST SEGMENT.
(IS THIS TEST SESSION INTERESTING FROM YOUR VIEWPOINT AS A DRIVER?) "Well, you have to make it interesting I guess. It is the start of a new year for us and it is a little monotonous to go out there and run for two laps or three laps and maybe not pick up any speed or maybe pick up speed. So as far as the driver is concerned, it's not that exciting. But it does give our team an opportunity to come down here and learn a few things and get our program started for the new season. That's part of it too - not just the speed of today, but to get everybody together in the group to mesh and to communicate real good. It's not a race time, but it's a time for us to do that."
(ARE THERE ANY BIG CHANGES WITHIN YOUR TEAM?) "No, not really. We just added a few people. We have a couple of new road guys. We had a great off-season as far as personnel. Our key people are still there. We just moved a few people around for reasons of their own and to accommodate everybody."
(HOW DID YOU FIND OUT THAT JOE GIBBS WAS RETURNING TO COACH THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS?) "Joe called me Monday night actually and was talking to me. I think if I would have said, 'What do you want?' he would have told me. But it was around 10:00 at night when he called and I was in bed. So he said, 'I'll just talk to you tomorrow'. So first thing when I got there Tuesday morning - I got there early - he grabbed me and told me what the deal was. Obviously I was surprised, but after talking to him for 15 minutes and looking at it I could see where the timing was right for him to do that. I'm excited because I think it's a great opportunity for him and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing."
(AREN'T YOU A DALLAS COWBOYS FAN?) "I kind of go different ways depending on which way the wind is blowing. The other night with the Cowboys and the Panthers, I wasn't really pulling for either one of them really. If one of them won, I'd pull for them to go further, obviously. At the same time, I've been gone from Texas for so long I'm a fan of football and of the Cowboys, but I'm also a fan of the Panthers. I'll be a fan of Washington because of Joe Gibbs. It's no different than a lot of football fans are race fans because of Joe Gibbs. That'll be the same thing for me."
(ON THE POINTS SYSTEM REVISION) "I heard about that the other night. Actually Michael called me and said I needed to read the internet because this is what's probably going to happen. I was looking at it and my wife looked at it and I thought oh well, it is what it is."
(WILL YOU CHANGE YOUR DRIVING TO WORK WITH THE NEW SYSTEM?) "I think it's more or less 26 races, not 36 races. I still thing you're going to have to be consistent to be in the top 10 in points at the end. I don't think you'll change your strategy that way you'll just have a short season. Obviously you won't be able to rebound in the final third of the season like you used to if you did. But I still think you have to be consistent, obviously. You might be able to win five races but you still don't want to have five DNF's. That still plays in hand. I think we'll learn and strategize as we go. That's the way I think it is but it might change. Consistency is still going to play a part of it. For the final 10 races, you've still got to go out there and be consistent. You want to go out there and do the best you can. It's just going to be starting over. You'll have a 10-ace series instead of a 26-ace series. You might not win a race in the last 10 races but you might win the championship."
(WILL THIS PROMOTE HARDER DRIVING?) "I think you race hard anyway. You can race harder, but you're going to race hard no matter what. I think you'll just be conscious of the fact that you have 26 races to be in the top 10 and then you have 10 races to be first. You'll race as hard as you can. But you still don't want to make mistakes. You don't want to go out there and take a chance. What happens if during the last 10 races if the guy (winner) doesn't win a race but the points could still be wrapped up one race before the year is over. It could still happen because there's only 180 points. It could happen in nine races if somebody builds up a lead just like somebody loses a lead that way. So it'll be interesting to see. I still think you have to be consistent. The champion might not necessarily win a race during the last 10 races.
"I'm not really for it to be honest with you. But it is what it is and we can talk about it from now until November. But until November gets here, you don't know. It might be the best thing in the world. It might be the best thing for ratings. It might be the best, but right now we don't know. Our goal right now is to just go out there and be in the top 10 after 26 races and be first after 10. What would even be better would be to win the last 10 races and have it wrapped up with three races to go. That would be our goal whether it was 36 races of 10 races or 20 races. That's out goal is to go out there and do that. If we can accomplish that, that's great. It's all speculation. People have their own opinions. Right now, I'm saying what I'm saying but tomorrow everybody might think differently. The main thing is not to worry about it now because it's nothing to worry about. It's just time to go on."
(DO YOU THINK MORE PEOPLE WILL BE WILLING TO GAMBLE ON GAS MILEAGE DURING THE FIRST 26 RACES BECAUSE ALL THEY REALLY NEED TO DO IS GET INTO THE TOP 10?) "I still think 26 races is a long way to go. I'm not very good on history. But you could probably look back and see that the top 10 didn't really change a whole lot after 26 races. Maybe a few, but the top five probably didn't change. I would say that that would happen to a certain extent. But I still think you're going to be racing to win during the first 26 races and be in the top 10. It's no different than it was for 36 races. If I had to guess, probably only two or three guys changed positions in the top 10 after 26 races. It wasn't done by just one race or by gas mileage or whatever. You've still got to have a fast car and have a good team. You're not going to just get gas all the time and not tires and end up being in the top 10 in points by doing that. You won't get yourself in that position."
(ON THE NEW TIRES) "We haven't tested on the new tires as far as this year goes. From what I do understand, the tires are obviously going to be softer and they will give up more and you will want to have a little bit more tire management that you've had in the past. If that's the case, hopefully we'll get back to where gas mileage racing won't just be gas mileage racing. Hopefully what will take place is that if you run 45 - 50 laps, for instance, on a set of tires, you can come in and get four tires and be faster than the guy who gets no tires. If they have a 50 or 60-lap run, you'll be able to pass him instead of just following him as it has been in the past. Kansas is probably a good example where if a guy gets two tires or no tires is faster than the guy who gets four tires. And example opposite of that would be where you get four tires, you'll be able to go out there and pass the guy who gets two tires or no tires."
(WHAT SORT OF INFORMATION DID YOU GET FROM LAST WEEK'S SESSION THAT YOU CAN USE THIS WEEK AND HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT?) "Testing here is a little bit ho-hum in a low of ways just because it's not really is not quite what you find in other places as far as the driver is concerned. But you do get to check out what the other teams are doing and you get to size yourself up with the competition for this race (Daytona 500). You find your weaknesses in your organization. When you put people in places and it doesn't work out here, chances are that it won't work out other places. But you do get to see other teams and see what's new. It's just not the same as when we go to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. It's different because speeds there get more toward the whole program instead of just aero or body issues or engine like we have here."
(HOW WILL YOU PLAN YOUR TEST SESSIONS THIS YEAR TO CORRESPOND WITH THE NEW POINTS SYSTEM?) We have talked about that a little bit and that's something we are concerned with. With the new testing schedule, we've got to figure out how we don't use them all up prior to those (last) 10 races if need be. You could be in two different situations. Maybe you need to use them in order to get to the last 10 races. Or, if you're good enough throughout the season, maybe you don't need to until the last 10 to get better. The only thing with that is you don't want to burn yourself out toward the end of the season with 10 races plus three or four tests. Each team is going to look at it differently. (Jeff) Gordon might look at it differently than a new team that needs to test a few races early to get their communication going to start off the season. It'll balance itself out with the different teams."
(WHAT DOES YOUR TEAM NEED TO DO BETTER TO IMPROVE THIS SEASON?) "Last year we had good stretches and bad stretches. Our consistency was off some last year. The middle part of the year we struggled with things. By the last third of the season we were gaining on it. We just need to get our consistency back. You're still going to have that for the first 26 races."
(HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO DO WELL AT THE DAYTONA 500?) "It's real important. We want to start the year off right. We'd like to come down here and have a good week. It can go either way. I've seen guys win the race here and not win any more races all year. Or, you can come down here and finish dead last like Tony (Stewart) and I have, you can still come back and finish in the top 10 in points. It doesn't make you or break you, but it seems like it makes it easier. Joe Gibbs has won this before with Dale Jarrett. I've been fortunate enough to win some other big races but this is one I haven't won. It would be great to win this one."
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO was sixth fastest in the afternoon segment of today's test session. Q&A's with the media:
(ON THE TEST AND THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING WELL AT THE DAYTONA 500) "It's good to get back in the car. It's been a while. After a short off-season it's still exciting to get back down here (Daytona). This is my 12th time testing here. I have a lot of memories. It's an awesome place. Fortunately we have had two wins here. It was a good day for us. The car is driving great. The speed wasn't awesome when we unloaded but we just gained on it all day long. By the end of the day I felt like we were pretty close to where we need to be. We always want to be a little faster and we've got two more days to work on it. We're really looking forward to getting back down here for the (Daytona) 500 and getting the season started. The team showed that look in their eye all winter long. We didn't lose anybody. We just added in some areas where we felt we needed to make ourselves stronger. We're looking forward to putting that out on the race track."
(WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO BETTER THIS SEASON?) "Fuel mileage and our pit crew. We've got a lot of good guys on there but one was just sort of a fill in. We knew that was a position we needed to fill and we did. They've been awesome in their practices and I think we're going to be solid there. We're always trying to improve performance of the race cars and the horsepower and try not to take away from that fuel mileage that was so important last year. The tires are going to help with that but I think fuel mileage and track position are still doing to be very important. At the end of the year, Robbie (Loomis, crew chief and I sat down and analyzed pretty much every race. All in all I thought we did a great job. We just had a few things happen to us. A few of the small things were self-induced, but the majority of the things that kept us out of the championship were things we really couldn't control. We've had a lot of good luck as a team for many years. Last year just wasn't our year. I'm hoping that the chemistry and hard work will make it our year."
(ON DIVING IN THE BAHAMAS) "I went to the Bahamas over New Years and found this incredible dive site. They actually sink ships out there and create dives. They also do a shark dive. Jimmie Johnson and his girlfriend were with us. I took Jimmie on his first dive and he was surrounded by about 15 or 20 reef sharks. He doesn't scare easily but I think he was pretty nervous (laughs). It was quite an experience and a lot of fun. I enjoyed it."
(ON THE NEW TESTING POLICY AND STRATEGY) "We made a test schedule. When we first started hearing about a possible point system change, I thought it was just something being considered. Everybody thought it was crazy and that it would never happen. Now, we are re-evaluating our test schedule. Here (Daytona) and Vegas are for sure no matter what. But we've got some plans for the middle of the season on the off-weekends that we'll probably end up changing and making sure we have some saved for the later of the season. Those races have now turned into very important races. How you come out of those is going to determine the championship whether you're 10th in points or first in points. It's really anybody's game.
(IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR TRACK WHERE YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO TEST?) "New Hampshire - we're in good shape if we just get better fuel mileage. Dover - we need to make a few improvements but it is usually a good track for us. We haven't competed for the win there. Talladega - I feel like we had a chance at winning that race the last time we were there. Kansas - not bad. Charlotte - we were the best we've ever been the last time we were there. With my teammate wearing everybody out there, I think we're going to be fine there. We might test there though. Martinsville - I think we're okay. Atlanta - is hit or miss. Sometimes we go there and run like Jack The Bear and sometimes we go there and I can't hit it. Phoenix - we've tested there the last two years so why not test there again. Darlington - I don't believe in testing at Darlington. I think it's a waste. I don't think you can learn anything. I can't remember the last time we tested at Darlington. Homestead - we finished top five there but we weren't a top five car. It's definitely one we're going to consider. If you do a Homestead test, it might help you for Atlanta and Charlotte also. One of those three tracks is probably going to be on our hit list.
"Atlanta is a hit or miss track. One of the reasons I don't like to test at Atlanta is because the race is usually won in any number of those grooves. When you go there to test, it's right around the bottom. You can maybe work on your qualifying and I certainly need work on that at Atlanta."
(ON PERSONNEL CHEMISTRY AND CHANGES WITHIN THE TEAM) "I believe in chemistry. You either have it or you don't have it. A lot of people are quick to make decisions but do they make them for the right reasons? A lot of times when I've analyzed some problems we've run into as a team, I didn't really think it was any one person's fault. If so, we're going to make a change in that area. To me, when we make decisions for team managers or crew chiefs and key people, the first thing I look for is chemistry between me and that person and how we communicate. Once you get that part, the fundamentals of how the car works, and chassis adjustments and pit strategy go along with that. Pit strategy has changed a lot over the past couple of years. We've all had to adjust to it. I don't know if we've been on the cutting edge of that during the past year. But I think we've learned how to do it better."
(ON THE AERO RULES CHANGE) "Chicago, Kansas City, and fast smooth race tracks, they haven't gone far enough. It's still going to be tough to pass. Track position is still going to be important. On the flip side, at Darlington and Rockingham and tracks that are really worn out, it might be the opposite. We might not have as good racing because we don't have as much grip. I'm hoping it's just a step into it and hopefully they're open to what the drivers and teams and engineers have to say about it. And then we can grow from there and keep going in steps to maybe getting a little bit more downforce out of the car. It could be a balance issue too. It might not just be off the rear spoiler. We might need to also go to the front a little bit. And maybe the tires aren't soft enough. But then you get into construction and durability issues with Goodyear. You've got to make sure that that side is matching up with what else we have out there.
"If the tire doesn't wear out, the tire doesn't wear out. It doesn't matter if you don't have as much downforce. What's happening is that you've got a lot of these young engineers coming in and they only know one way. Basically these are 500-mile sprint races. You run as hard as you can every single lap. The car doesn't give up. Really, the only reason cars give up now is because the air pressure builds up in the tire - not because the tire wears out (other than maybe at Darlington).
"The way I was brought into this sport back in '93 was that you basically dropped the green (flag) and you did everything you could possibly do not to wreck for about the first 15 or 20 laps as the fuel burned off and the weight changed and all of a sudden your car came to life. You worked so hard for the last half of a run and that's really where you made up your time. Nowadays, it's almost better to be good in the first half of the run and don't worry about the last half. If you get track position, guys usually can't get by you anyway. So it's just a totally different philosophy. I'd like to get back to that. But at the same time, I've been working hard for the last couple of years to get used to the way we're doing it now. As soon as I get that part figured out, we're going to have to start doing it again. But at least I've had that experience of doing it that way. And it is just working yourself out of it. Sometimes it just takes time. I'd like to get back to that. I think that having the cars a little bit more difficult to drive and having a natural mechanical set-up in the car means more. It would be great. I'd like that. But at the same time, we've learned so much more through shocks and springs and sway bars since1993, it might never be like that no matter what they do to downforce and the tires."
(ON A CARBON FIBER SEAT) "Hendrick Motorsports has been working on a carbon seat for about a year. Basically, Gary DeHart is heading up the program. They've got a beautiful seat. They've got a headrest as well. But I'm pretty particular on how I use my headrest. It's a little bit different than some of the other drivers. I have a full carbon seat but I have the Aluminum headrest. But it's really beefed up - a really strong Aluminum headrest. It's not as good as the carbon, but it's the next best thing. I hope to have the carbon one down the road. The difference with the carbon seat is that it's somewhat shaped like a LaJoie seat where most of the support is in the shoulders with very little rib support. I've driven a butler seat for so long that I've always had rib support and I don't know how to do it any other way. It's just more of a feel in the car that I like. We added a little to this seat, but I think I need a little bit more. But I really like it a lot. I'm definitely going to run it here at Daytona. I'm going to test it in Las Vegas two weeks from now. If I like it there I'm going to start running it as many places as possible."
(ON HMS ROOKIE, BRIAN VICKERS) "I've definitely gotten to know Brian. I'm really impressed with his ability on the race track and he's a very sharp kid off the track. He uses his head. I've always said that what makes a great driver is a smart driver. If you get to this point, you usually have a lot of talent. You start separating yourself when you can analyze things in a split second. That's what I see in him. We're really excited to have him on board. I think it's important - especially for guys like me. I hate to consider myself a veteran, but I've been in the sport a long time and I'm the guy who's been at Hendrick Motorsports the longest. I like young guys coming up. I can learn from them and hopefully they can learn from me. It makes all of us better. We've had Jimmie Johnson for the last couple of years and now we have Brian Vickers. We've got a lot of great things happening and I think he's got a bright future. Everyone on the No. 25 car is really excited to have him."
(ON THE ROOKIE LINEUP FOR '04) "It just really depends on the team and equipment that's behind them. They're all very talented drivers. Scott Riggs is a guy that's got a lot of experience. He's got a chance at it. Sauter did a great job toward the end of last year as well. It's hard to say how Brendan (Gaughan) will do. He's only driven the Trucks ad they are a lot different than Busch and Cup cars. But he's surprised a lot of people with how well he's done."
(WILL YOU LOOK AT EVERYTHING DIFFERENTLY WHEN THE POINTS SYSTEM IS REVISED?) "The competition is still the competition. We're racing against the best guys and the best teams. You still have to do your job extremely well and better than everybody else to win it. I don't think it should take away from the championship. But how you go about it will definitely change. What I do at a road course is maybe going to mean something toward getting in the top 10 in points but it's not going to mean anything toward getting the championship in those last 10 races. That's the only problem that I have with it. There are certain race tracks that might lock you in the top 10 but that takes away from what you did to win the championship if you win it or if you don't win it. I definitely think you're gong to test different and race different. You're probably going to make sure you're in the top 10. But in those last 10 races, you're going to see a lot of risk-taking going on to win that deal."
