Chevy Notes - 2004 Daytona 500 Media Day

      NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES 

DAYTONA 500 MEDIA DAY

DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

February 5, 2004

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF DRIVER Q&A SESSIONS WITH THE MEDIA

 

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 8 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO

(ON THE CHANGES IN NASCAR FOR '04) "They sure did change a lot but there isn't much you can do about it. That's something you learn as a driver early. When any official - no matter where he is on the ladder - makes a call, it stays. They don't go back on it. You can argue the point up until the decision is made. And then you go with it. That's what we're doing."

 

(ON THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "If I'm not in the top 10, my season is over early. You can kind of goof around a little bit for the last 10 races but I guess you don't have to take it too seriously. I don't know what it's going to be like. It's a wait and see for everybody. Regardless of whether or not you agree with it, you've got to agree that it's a pretty risky call they made. I wouldn't have made that change. But it's made and we're going to see how it's going to work for us. You can't sit there and just count wins. The champion is the guy with the best average finish. That's what it comes down to.

 

"I hope that 10-race package doesn't cater to one team or to one driver. Unfortunately the (last 10) tracks (on the schedule) aren't as diverse as you'd like them to be. You'd like to have a Watkins Glen in there and maybe a couple of short tracks. But it's not possible I guess."

 

(ON THE CHALLENGES OF THE DAYTONA 500) "Daytona is not a real challenging race track. The handling aspect comes into play here more than it does in Talladega, but hopefully not a whole lot. I've been in races here where we've been real tight and had to lift in the corners. And I've been in races where you never had to worry about that. It just depends on what the weather is like and what the track's conditions are like. When I was here for the test session, we did a little bit of drafting. I was extremely loose getting into the corner. Hopefully you don't have to deal with that too much. That's a pretty scary feeling going off into Turn 1 and the car feels like it's going to back into the wall. It's a little worse when you're on the inside of somebody, which is going to happen a lot in the race. It can be challenging at times. It's one of those deals that sneaks up on you when you really don't expect it."

 

(ON SPEEDWEEKS) "Speedweeks is a happening. I wish I were in the Truck Race. I'm pretty restricted on what extra-curricular activities I can be involved in such as Busch races and whatnot due to sponsor commitments and so forth. I'm pretty appreciative of Budweiser to allow me to do the three Busch races I did last year. We're going to stick to that theme. My loyalty lies with them.  Speedweeks is different than any other race we run. There are a lot of things going on. But it's good to be on the race track as much as you can."

 

(HAS YOUR PASSION FOR RACING GROWN?) "I don't feel like it's grown a whole lot. I've felt like it's been maxed out pretty much all the time. I get a little more comfortable with my position in the sport. Maybe that's what you see as far as my commitment increases a little bit. But that's just due to being a little more comfortable. It's pretty difficult to get involved in -- whether you're the son of a seven-time champion or whether you came into it on your own - it's a difficult sport to adjust to. That's just what's happened to me. I just get a little more used to it every year.

 

"As a driver, you're always learning and you're always thrust into certain situations. It's all about pacing yourself on and off the track. When I first came into the sport, I overdrove the car and I over-ran myself out of the car. It's all about pacing yourself and saving a little bit for the end. You can't really wear yourself out. You've got to really want it all the way to the end. But if you run too hard you lose interest or you lose focus and you've had enough before it's over. You've got to pace yourself so that the entire season is just as important from the start to the finish."

 

(ON NEXTEL AS THE NEW SPONSOR) "I'm getting used to it pretty quick. I really think NEXTEL has stepped up to the plate. I'm a loyal fan. That's probably going to be tough for them at the start. They're going to get a lot of critics and back-seat drivers telling them what they should be doing and what they shouldn't be doing. They're a pretty tough company. I've met a lot of the guys within the organization. They run their business how they run it - regardless of opinion - and I think that's how they'll manage this. I'm looking forward to it. I think they'll be pretty tough and they're going to be able to handle the job well."

 

(WHAT ABOUT THE CHANGES AT DEI?) "We'll, we're always making changes it seems. I was sad to see Ty Norris go, but things happen. I learned real early in my driving career that people are going to come and go. You've got to adjust to it and work with it and make it positive. Moving Richie Gilmore into the position (Director of Motorsports) is good. He's a racer. He's been around a long time. He's got a lot of experience. He's a straight shooter. You can get an honest answer from him. No matter what it is you need to be done, he's going to get it done when you ask him to do it. So I'm looking forward to that. But I hated to see Ty go. He did a great job for us. I had a great relationship with him."

 

(ARE YOU A FAN OF RESTRICTOR PLATE RACING?) "I guess I'm a fan. I'd like to try it without the plates just one time to see what that's like. We'd go real fast."

 

(WITH ALL THE POINTS CHANGES NASCAR IS MAKING, WHY NOT MAKE THE DAYTONA 500 THE LAST RACE OF THE SEASON?) "That's a good idea. I would not move the Daytona 500 from where it is now, but maybe we should start and finish here. Maybe we should have another 500-mile race here as the season-finale. It's probably an idea in somebody's head right now. Maybe it's just a matter of time. I think that's where we're headed. You see NASCAR making all these changes and I think they're trying to complete the total package. They understand we need a finale. We're probably going to get it soon."

 

(HOW MUCH WILL YOU MISS TY NORRIS SPOTTING FOR YOU ON SUNDAYS?) "I don't know if I'll miss Ty a lot on Sundays. He did a great job on spotting for me. That's kind of the basis on our relationship. That's how we got to be good friends. But we're being Stevie Reeves on board and I'm pretty excited about that. He did a good job spotting for me a couple of times last year. He's a driver. When it comes to spotting, if a guy has some experience behind the wheel it makes it all that much better. So I'm not really worried. Whatever Ty does or goes, he's going to be an asset for somebody. I'm going to miss him at the shop. But things change and people come and go. That's the nature of the sport."

 

(WERE YOU SURPRISED WHEN IT CAME DOWN LIKE IT DID?) "No, not really. Every year, you sit back and look at all the mistakes you made and you look at areas you need to improve and change. And you've got to change them. As ridiculous as it sounds, you've got to leave your feelings at the gate. We're in the business to win, not to make buddies with everybody. You want to race and you want to win. Every year you've got to make changes. We had to make some and unfortunately that was one of them."

 

(WHAT PUTS THE MOST PRESSURE ON YOU TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP?  IS IT YOURSELF OR THE EXPECTATIONS OF EVERYBODY ELSE?) "I don't feel a whole lot of responsibility to prove anything to anybody. I feel like I'm just enjoying driving race cars and enjoying what I'm doing. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to do it. I couldn't just be sitting around here and riding on my name without any talent whatsoever. So I feel pretty lucky to have the success that I've had and run like I do. I used to worry about those things. But I don't really worry about them anymore. I guess you just get a little older and a little bit smarter."

 

(ON HIS SUCCESS AT RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS BUT NOT AT WINNING THE DAYTONA 500) "I'm already into my fourth season and I haven't won it yet (laughs). I hope I'm not sitting here 20 years from now and still haven't won the race. But I'm not too worried about it. I feel if I'm due to win the Daytona 500, I'll win it. If I'm not, that's the way it goes."

 

(IS THE BUD SHOOTOUT A GOOD SHAKEOUT FOR THE WHOLE SPEEDWEEKS AND IS IT FUN?) "What's cool about the Shootout is that you get to start drafting immediately. Most of what we do all through the month of January is run by ourselves (testing). You're ready to race somebody. You get some racing in your system before we start qualifying runs and practicing for the Daytona 500. I think everybody looks forward to. It's a pretty good introduction into what to look forward to as far as the handling package."

 

(MORE ON RICHIE GILMORE) "I've known Richie Gilmore since I was a little kid. I have a great relationship with him. He cares. He cares about my dad. He cares about keeping the same motives that my dad had with the company. He's going to do a great job just because of what it's worth to him. I really couldn't be happier about him being in that position. It means a lot to me personally. He's a good man for the job."

 

(IS ALL OF THIS AS MUCH FUN AS YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP?  AND WHAT'S THE DOWNSIDE, IF ANY?) "I could never have anticipated what's happening now as far as where I am in the sport and all that I went through. Everything has drawbacks to it. But the positives certainly outweigh the negatives here. The schedule itself is probably the biggest downfall with all the travel we do. There are so many people that need your time and you have a certain obligation to it. Giving up your time is probably the toughest part."

 

(DO YOU FEEL A SENSE OF URGENCY ABOUT WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP?) "You know me. I'm all about making it fun and trying to enjoy it. So I don't get too impatient about winning championships. I want to and that's always in the back of your mind. I felt like we were on schedule last year to possibly win. But when you don't win, you're disappointed and all. To finish a solid third (place) is pretty good. If you had done something different, maybe you would have won it. I run it all back through my head and see what I might have done different. But I don't want to make myself miserable. I want to enjoy it. If I win championships, so be it."

 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: 

(ON THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "For the first 26 races, you're going to race basically like you did before. It's going to be important to be in that top 10. After race 26, it's totally different. That's exactly what they wanted to do. It's going to come down to being aggressive, being smart, and being lucky. That's going to make things exciting. I like the tracks in the last 10 races. They're good tracks for us. Our chances are good. We've got to make sure we're in that top 10. Then, I think we'd have a great shot at winning more championships.

 

"NASCAR has been looking at all the statistics and reasons for making changes. They were definitely more drastic than most of us thought would happen. We don't really know what we have until we go through it. I give them credit for being gutsy enough to make a big change like this and see how it turns out. We've got NEXTEL on board and it's a great time for us to make a drastic change. The only think I would change about it is that after race 26, I think there should be a bonus to whoever is leading at that point. Or, if they have a certain number of bonus points. You need to reward a guy for having 26 great races. He might be leading by 200 points going into it and end up losing it. That would be unfortunate."

 

(IS IT TOUGH NOT TO BE WINNING AS MUCH AS YOU HAVE IN THE PAST?) "Not really. I recognize that we had some very spectacular years and those weren't normal years when we were winning 10 or more races a year, year after year. I recognize how special that was then and how what I'm doing now is really more normal. My focus has turned so much more on winning the championship now. The way the point system has been in the past, winning a lot of races doesn't necessarily win you the championship.  This year, the focus is going to be more on winning - especially during the last 10 races. I think you're going to see us racing a little bit different. You'll see guys making bigger decisions and taking more chances. 

 

"Of course the tires and the downforce on the cars is going to change as well. But it doesn't bother me. I've had enough success in this sport and I've enjoyed a lot of great things - championships and wins - that if I don't win 10 races, it doesn't bother me."

 

(WERE YOU A TRAILBLAZER FOR THE YOUNG GUYS COMING INTO THIS SPORT? WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO NOT BE THAT YOUNG GUY?) "There have always been young guys in the sport. But when Kenny Wallace and I came into the sport back in '93, it opened the doors for good rides and top sponsors and teams looking at young guys. Guys like Tony Stewart and Dale Jr. and Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson have been able to come in with really good rides. It proved that a young guy could come in and be successful right away if he has the right equipment."

 

(DO YOU THINK THE SOFTER TIRES WILL FAVOR DRIVERS WITH MORE FINESSE?) "I'm hoping they compliments drivers with finesse and that have more patience and I think they will. But at the same time, we have a lot more downforce than we did six or eight years ago when we had a tire like this. We've learned too much about aerodynamics and engineering to ever go back to that. But it's still going to be a different type of racing now. But I'm excited about it. It's definitely going to change how we pit the car, the strategy, and how we drive. Over a longer run, if there aren't cautions, I think it will benefit veteran drivers who are used to driving the car with a tire that goes away where you have to manage your speed and the tires. Basically, it's just been wide open from lap one to the last lap. Tires were a non-issue. They're definitely going to be an issue this year - even at Daytona."

 

(DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVISE FOR A ROOKIE LIKE BRIAN VICKERS?) "Yeah, I tell him to stay behind me (laughs). It's hard to tell young guys things. They're full of Adrenalin and youth and they want to learn what they can but they also kind of want to do it on their own. He's with a great organization. I'm very impressed with him and his personality and his talents on the track. I think he'll do well."

 

(WOULD YOU LIKE TO START AND FINISH THE SEASON AT DAYTONA?) "Whatever they want to do. I don't know if I want the championship to come down to a restrictor plate race but I love Daytona. It's our Super Bowl event. It would certainly add something to the entertainment value by having Daytona toward the end of the season. But it really needs to be at the beginning or the end in my opinion. "

 

(ARE YOU MORE LAID-BACK THESE DAYS?) "Yeah, I think I am. I'm very comfortable with who I am right now and what my role is and what I have to do on and off the track. I'm enjoying my thirties. I'm enjoying life and I take a lot of stuff with a grain of salt. I don't get too excited about some things and yet I'm more serious about other things. I look forward to getting it all going and getting on the track and letting the actions speak for themselves."

 

(WHAT IS IT ABOUT DAYTONA THAT'S SUCH A CHALLENGE?) "It's the drafting. There is definitely a skill and an experience level that's very important here at Daytona. You can't describe it. You can't explain it. It's the one place I do think the rookie has a disadvantage. Your experience in using your mirror and knowing how to block and using the air around you with other cars on how to make a pass or to keep somebody from passing are definitely factors. But the tires are going to change things a lot here. The tires are going away fast here. Handling is going to be really important. We're going to learn a lot Saturday night (Budweiser Shootout) on what we really have in store for us."

 

(DO YOU LIKE THE SHOOTOUT?) "Yeah, I like the whole aspect of it - working with your spotter, your crew chief, your team, and everything. It's a great race. It's also a tool for us for the rest of the week. There is a lot more pressure in the 125's (qualifying races) because your starting position in the Daytona 500 counts on it, and you don't want to tear anything up. In the Shootout, you can go for broke and it doesn't really matters other than the win. In the 125's there is a lot more at stake."

 

(DO THE FANS REALLY UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DAYTONA 500?) "Anybody who knows anything about sports knows the importance of it. Even people who don't know much about sports know the importance of it. It's a huge event. I just came from the Super Bowl and there is a lot we can take from that to make this even bigger and better. I see NASCAR and the Speedway stepping that up each year. I just love how big they do things. They make it a happening. A whole city just flips upside-down over this one event. The Daytona 500 can be very similar to that."

 

(ON ALL THE CHANGES FOR 2004) "It's a lot of change but you can't control them. I don't focus as much on the changes outside of the race car. My job is still the same and that's to win races. Other things like the points system and all that don't matter. I'm going to race however those points are. I see some exciting things happening that are good for the sport. That's the way I look at it. I'm not afraid of change."

 

(ARE YOU SUPERSTITOUS OR DO YOU LIKE A CERTAIN ROUTINE?)  "I'm definitely a routine guy. I've been doing it for so long. I like things to be organized before the race starts. I don't like chaos. I have things I like to do. I eat, I dress, I stretch - I like as few distractions as possible. But I wouldn't say I'm neurotic about things to where I would call them superstitious."

 

(WHY ARE THE NEW TIRES SUCH A HUGE CHANGE?) "Everybody wanted a change just because follow-the-leader racing wasn't as exciting. The veteran drivers who have been a part of side-by-side racing and tires that gave up were in favor of that and made suggestions to NASCAR. And this is what they've come up with. There will be some places we're happy with it and some places we're not happy."

 

(DO YOU AGREE WITH DARRELL WALTRIP WHEN HE SAYS IT'S THE MACHINE THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE VS THE DRIVER?) "That's true. I do think the race car is much more significant and a bigger factor than what it used to be. There are still tracks where drivers can make a difference like the short tracks and road courses and the draft at Daytona and Talladega. But at the majority of the tracks that we go to, the race car is extremely important. Now this year with the tires being different, that'll help that a little and bring more back into the drivers' hands. 

 

MICHAEL WALTRIP, NO. 15 NAPA CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR RACE CAR WHEN YOU GET IT BACK FROM DAYTONA USA?) "Teresa (Earnhardt) has kept the other one pretty close to the vest. It hasn't gone anywhere. I kind of suspect it'll go into display at DEI. We have some great plate cars today that have replaced that car. They're newer generation plate cars. They're better and they're faster. I doubt that car will race again. It will probably just become a trophy or a piece of memorabilia."

 

(ON THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "I think at the end of the year the fans are going to like it. The media is going to love it because they're going to have more to talk about. When the fans and the media like it, eventually all the hard-headed drivers are going to like it and start praising it."

 

(WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE DAYTONA BE THE LAST RACE OF THE SEASON?) "I don't know. I like Miami. As a whole, a competitor doesn't really care how they set them up or how they arrange them or what the points are or what the tires are like. When we strap our helmets on, we're going to forget all that stuff and go out and try to beat each other and try to be the fastest guy. I'm looking forward to getting on the track and getting with it. I'm tired of talking about it."

 

(ON HAVING A LOT OF CONFIDENCE AT DAYTONA) "Yeah, I do. I'm going to go to Rockingham and Las Vegas with a lot of confidence as well. We finished up 2003 with finishes over the last 13 races that averaged 28th or so. But our car performed. We were top five at Phoenix. We won Talladega. We had a great car at Rockingham and broke. We had a great car at Homestead but blew a tire. So the performance is there. This is a performance-based business. That's all it is."

 

(WHAT DOES WINNING AT DAYTONA DO FOR YOUR CAREER?) "It's done a lot for my career because I hadn't won anywhere else. We all saw what it meant to Darrell Waltrip when he won it back in '89. And what it meant to Dale Earnhardt when he finally knocked it down in '98.  It's a huge event and I'm real thankful for the success I've had here."

 

(WILL DAYTONA ALWAYS BE DAYTONA NO MATTER HOW THINGS CHANGE?) "I'm not the person who would say it'll always be what it is or will it ever change. The Daytona 500 is what it is because of the tradition and history of this great event. People have been coming out in February since 1950 to watch this great race. It would be hard to ever change that."

 

(WHAT'S THE CHALLENGE AT DAYTONA?) "Oh, you've got to be perfect. You have to be as good as you can be every lap. You can't make any mistakes. Nothing can go wrong with the car. The pit crew has to do their job on pit road. The driver has got to be game-on from the time they say go. There's a lot of pressure you put on yourself to make sure you don't make any mistakes and you make all the right moves. One wrong drafting move late in the race can take you from the top two or three cars to 20th. You can't recover from that. You just have to be smart and not make any mistakes. The main thing it takes is a fast car. You can overcome a lot of shortcomings if your car is fast. But you can't overcome them all, so you can't make any mistakes."

 

(MORE THAN THE OTHER DRIVERS, DO YOU GO TO DAYTONA EXPECTING TO WIN?) "I like to be realistic and say there's probably a good chance we can win this race. It's hard to be over-confident when you were zero-to-462 at one point. So you try to keep your balance. You understand that things could go wrong and you might not win it. That was the case here in July. I felt like I was going to win that race but things happen that are out of our control. So you just balance it as best as you can."

 

(WHAT IMPACT DO YOU THINK NEXTEL CAN MAKE IN THIS SPORT?) "Look at the Super Bowl. Dale Jr. and I were in a commercial in the middle of the Super Bowl. That's something that a series sponsor hasn't been able to do in the past.  Obviously it's good for our sport and brings more attention to what we're doing. I think there were 180 million people watching the Super Bowl and there Dale Jr. and I were, goofing off in the middle of it. NEXTEL is going to be a great partner to NASCAR racing."

 

(OUT OF THE HANDFUL OF DRIVERS THAT COULD WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU PICK TO DO IT?)  "I would pick me. I'm going to run the season like I'm the favorite and like we're going to do the job. It made me mad with the way we performed at the end of 2003. Nobody out-performed us, physically, at the end of the season. We just had everything go wrong. We just have to start 2004 like we did in 2003 and make sure that doesn't happen."

 

(ON THE 125 QUALIFYING RACES) "It's different when there are half the amount of cars. When there is twice amount of cars, it means twice the action. The bigger the draft, the more responsive your cars are to the draft. It'll be the first true test of what it's going to be like as far as the draft goes. You use the 125's to make sure your car is handling right."

 

(DO YOU ENJOY DOING COMMERCIALS?) "I like that. I've been fortunate enough to do enough of them that the production company do things. I won't make a commercial now if I'm not comfortable with it or if I don't think it's funny or that it makes any sense. We've been working with people that let us have a little creative control over them."

 

(WHAT DO YOU SEE YOURSELF DOING WHEN YOU'RE NO LONGER DRIVING FULL TIME?) "I have 100 acres at home and I really like goofing off there. I really do. It means a lot to me. I think I'd want to do TV.  Darrell (Waltrip) has a pretty good deal. He owns a Truck team and runs three or four races. He does TV for half the year and today's his 57th birthday. I don't know anybody who is so fortunate to have all that. So that wouldn't be bad. I'd do what Darrell's doing right now.

 

"If I did anything right when I was a kid, it was that I paid attention. I saw what my brother did. I saw where he came up short. I saw where he excelled. I figured out how to do all that and the whole time I was watching him win race after race after race. I figured out that this job is all about how that car runs."

 

(WHAT DO YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR THE SEASON?) "I work out a lot. I'm a runner. I've run in three marathons over the past three or four years. I lift and do all that just to be ready to drive a car. I did marathons because I figured if I could do one in four hours and 10 minutes, it wouldn't matter how hot it was at Darlington in September or what it was like at Bristol on a Saturday night. If I'm tough enough to do that, I might not outrun them but I can sure outlast them."

 

TONY STEWART, NO. 20 HOME DEPOT CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(ON THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "There probably will be more guys in the battle for the championship by the time we get there instead of normally one or two.  It is what it is. It doesn't matter what we think. It might be the greatest thing in the world. Who knows?  We'll have to wait and see. At the end of this year we'll see how it really plays out for everybody. It's just hard to say."

 

(ON THE RULES CHANGES FOR '04) "I don't really worry about rule changes. What I have when I get in the car on Sundays is what I drive every week no matter what the rules are. If they say to take the roof off and take the windshields out, that's the car I have to drive. So it doesn't really matter to me what the rule changes are. It's still the same for everybody.

 

"None of us have ever been through this so we really don't know what the strategy will be. We don't know what to expect. You don't know what scenarios you're going to have to be in. But it's probably as simple as this: when you go out there and try to win races, and win every week, the points will take care of themselves."

 

(HOW WAS YOUR OFF-SEASON?) "What off-season? I didn't really have an off-season. I have four USAC teams in Indiana. I have a World of Outlaws team in Missouri. I stay pretty busy with those guys."

 

(ARE THERE A CERTAIN HANDFUL OF GUYS THIS SEASON THAT YOU SEE AS THE ONES TO BEAT?) "Every year it's getting harder and harder to do that because there are so many teams that pick their programs up. Ten or 15 years ago, there were maybe three or four guys who has a shot at the championship. Now, there are 15 or 16 teams that could win the championship if they have the right year. It's getting harder and harder to pick that select group and say they are the guys you have to race to win the championship. With multi-car teams now, every team has multiple guys capable of winning the championship. It just makes that group grow larger each year."

 

(WHEN YOU'VE WON A CHAMPIONSHIP, DOE THE URGE TO WIN AGAIN GET STRONGER?) "Oh, yeah. After your first championship, you definitely are looking forward to the opportunity of winning the second one. The first time, the nerves are involved. The second time, I think you learn from the mistakes you made during your championship run and you try to make the adjustments for the second. It definitely makes the second one a lot more fun."

 

(WHEN THE DRIVERS SWITCH RIDES, OR WHEN A NEW DRIVER COMES INTO THE SEASON, DO YOU EVER MISTAKE THE CAR NUMBER AND THE DRIVER?) "I've only had that happen twice to me. Normally, after the first third of the season, there are teams that are making change already. And the before the last third of the season start, teams are making changes again with drivers for the next season. So it seems there are constantly guys that are changing. But it seems like it comes in two different waves."

 

(ON THE SWITCH FROM PONTIAC TO CHEVROLET AFTER WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "We had some big gains in our engine program this year as far as horsepower. But we sacrificed reliability with it. Look at the races where we were leading and blew up or where we were running in the top three and blew up.  If we would have finished those races where we were, we would have been a lot higher in the points. It's just that every year technology changes and you have to push the envelope on your engine program and on your aero program. Going to Chevrolet was an advantage for us. It was a better-balanced car than what we had the year before. We didn't have problems there. We just didn't have the same amount of luck that we had the year before and we had a lot of bad luck."

 

(WILL NOT HAVING JOE GIBBS AROUND MAKE A DIFFERENCE?) "We're not going to get that pep talk every Sunday morning. We're going to miss him, that's for sure. Everybody at the shop is going to miss him. At the same time, to have a car owner who is 63 years old that's ready to get out there with all those big football players and work 16 hours a day working on his games is pretty exciting for him. He was like a six-year-old kid opening Christmas gifts on Christmas day when he was telling us about it. We're pretty excited for him. 

 

"With Jimmy Makar and JD (Gibbs), we have a good core of people that know what to do and that know how to run this deal. JD is not going to try to prove himself to everybody. He's just going to keep the team going like it is. That approach shows how good a leader he is really going to be."

 

(DO YOU LIKE THE FORMAT OF THE BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT AND IS IT A GOOD WAY TO GET THE SEASON STARTED?) "Yeah, I think it's a real good way for the drivers. I kind of feel like the drivers who are in the Shootout have a little bit of an advantage because we have one race under our belts before the 125's. Some of the guys who are struggling to make the field only have one chance with the 125's to race their way in. So that's a warm-up session to get the first race under your belt. 

 

"When we come and test, we run by ourselves and don't even see anybody on the track hardly. Now, all of a sudden, we're going to be all in a big bunch."

 

(ON THE CHANGES TO THE SERIES THIS YEAR) "Things change every year. There are just more variables than normal this year. But change happens every day. It's really not that odd.

 

"It's different, but it's not totally different. The racing every week is going to be the same. But the variables are going to be different. The personnel in your program change. A lot of things change each year. There are just more this year."

 

(ON THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING THE DAYTONA 500) "It's our biggest race of the year. Everyone wants to win Daytona. It's our most important race of the year."

 

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500?) "Oh, this is the one that we're all shooting for. It's the one we put the most effort into. The Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 and the NEXTEL Cup championship - not in any particular order - are by far the biggest wins everybody wants."

 

(IS RICHMOND - THE 26TH RACE -- GOING TO BE DIFFERENT THAN IT WAS IN THE PAST?) "In the Chase for the Championship it will be. Other than that, you just have to go out and try to win. If you're not in the top 10 at that point, then it becomes an important race. But all in all, it's just another race."

 

(WHAT DO YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR THE SEASON?) "The most important thing is to just try to keep yourself mentally focused during the off-season and just try not to veer away from anything you were just doing. You've got to keep your mind on the right thing. That's hard at times, but you have to remember where you left off. If you've got momentum, like we had at the end of last year, you definitely try to hold on to what you had. You've just got to make sure you get all you can during the off-season. You keep your team in good spirits because they work pretty much every day of the week."

 

(WILL THINGS BE DIFFERENT FOR YOU WITH NEXTEL AS THE SERIES SPONSOR?) "The biggest thing for me is the fact that they can use me in their advertising. They can use our car. They can put it on a billboard. Just the marketing side of it is the biggest thing for us. It's not different for me as far as approaching things. It doesn't really change anything that you do."

 

(WITH VARIOUS TEAM CHANGES, DO YOU EVER GET THE CAR NUMBERS AND THE DRIVER CONFUSED?) "I am in tune with who is in what (car) and who has gone where. You just make yourself a mental note and make sure you know who has changed. And you give somebody a little extra room until you get used to racing with him. That's definitely important."

 

(COMING INTO THE SEASON, WHO ARE THE FAVORITES?) "It's so hard to tell. We've tried to prepare ourselves as best as we can to be one of the favorites. It's so hard to know who changed what or who has lost a member of the team that can disrupt the team - like a car chief or crew chief or whatever. Once we get five or six weeks into the season that will be an easier question. But obviously Jeff Gordon has to be in the group. Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, and the typical guys who ran good last year will run good again."

 

(ON DRIVERS WHO RUN A FULL CAMPAIGN IN BOTH BUSCH AND CUP) "When we did it, it was for different reasons. Now they're just doing it to do it. It's good for the track time and seat time and getting used to the race tracks. But when you have to go to Milwaukee to Pocono to Pikes Peak, it really starts wearing on you. Hopefully they've got their travel plans coordinated correctly."

 

(HOW HAVE YOU IMPROVED SINCE YOUR CUP SEASON?) "We're better than we were in 2001 for sure. We finished the year running good, which is something we didn't do in 2001. We were slowly falling off. This is the first year that we've come back with the same crew chief, the same pit crew, the same people, and all the small things that add up to the big thing - especially in communications. This is the first year we've come back with that whole structure in place. That, to me, is the most important thing. I think it'll show, but you never can tell."

 

(WILL THE NO. 29 TEAM BENEFIT BY YOUR TEAMMATES?) "I hope it'll be better than it was last year because we didn't benefit a whole lot from each other. That has to be stepped up. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon and those guys (Hendrick Motorsports) benefit a lot from each other. We've got to be able to have Robby (Gordon) and Johnny (Sauter) got to other race tracks and step up to the plate and deliver some good information. If we can all do that, it'll definitely help our program. I felt like we had a lot of really good tests last year and Robby helped us tremendously on the road course program and I think that showed. But we've got to draw something from the No. 30 car this year."

 

(ON THE FLOW OF INFORMATION BETWEEN THE RCR TEAMS) "There was just a lot of flow of people. That was the biggest problem. There were so many different people and drivers that nobody ever got settled. If we can get Johnny (Sauter) and Kevin (Hamlin, crew chief) settled down and on the same page, I think it'll really help. Those guys have been together that are on the No. 30 team. You've got to keep the same people in place and that's the biggest key."

 

RICKY CRAVEN, NO. 32 TIDE CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO: 

(ON THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "We're all going into the season knowing what the rules are so how can you complain about it? It's not like they're saying halfway through the year they're considering changing the format. We all know what the rules are. I think it's awesome, I really do. Having 10 teams with a change to win the title is going to produce some great finishes and very exciting finale to the season. Over the course of three or four years, people will accept it as the norm. Another aspect of it is that if you have a few mechanical problems or don't get off to a good start at the beginning of the year, you're not penalized. All you need to do is make the playoffs like you do any other sport."

 

(GOING INTO THE SEASON AS A ONE-CAR TEAM, DO YOU FEEL LIKE AN UNDERDOG?) "There clearly are favorites and underdogs. If we build a role of underdog, I'm okay with that. I don't think that it comes with any stigma of not being legitimate or capable of winning races. I think we've proven otherwise. But the fact is I'm 37 years old. I'd like for this race team and company to grow and mature to the point that it's a bigger corporation where I have a teammate and somebody that I can share time with and benefit from. Hopefully the teammate could benefit from racing with us. But that's down the road. That didn't happen last year. The expectations were pretty high. After winning Darlington there was a lot of interest in Cal Wells and the Tide team. As the season wore on, it just never materialized. So we're a single car team."

 

(ON THE SHOP FIRE) "We're working to get the trophies replaced and the helmets replaced and even some of the pictures. But it is such a slow process. What we've had the most success doing actually is contacting the race tracks and they've been awesome helping us to research and remake things if possible. We're actually well down the road in trying to recover all that. It is a much slower process than I'd ever imagined."

 

(WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE WHEN THE CAR COMES OFF THE GROUND OR STARTS TO FLIP OR CRASH AT A TRACK LIKE DAYTONA?) "If you do something long enough, you're going to experience everything. It just comes with the business. From my perspective, I just don't think a lot about it so it's hard to explain. But I think it's more of a reaction. If you find yourself in that situation, the impact is normally over before you can react or even understand it. The exception to that is when I wrecked in Talladega. I remember this clearly. I flipped over and I hit the wall. I think I went over the top of Mark Martin. I hit hard and I thought, wow, that hurt. But at least it's over. When I was in the air it seemed to last an eternity and go on forever. The other one was Texas. As bad as Texas was, it was probably the better of the two. If you hit hard enough you're knocked unconscious and don't remember anything. So it's not something you volunteer for. It's not something you want to revisit. But it's an element of the sport."

 

TERRY LABONTE, NO. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(WILL THE NEW TIRES FAVOR A VETERAN DRIVER?) "Nope, not at all. Well, you know what? When they went to hard tires they said this was going to favor veteran drivers, and now when they go to the soft tire they say the same thing. I don't think it makes any difference really. If the car works good, it works good. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

 

"I honestly don't think it gives the veteran drivers an edge. I hope it does, but I don't think it does. We have a good team. They've worked hard building cars for this year and we've got all the same people back. I think that's the biggest thing we've got going for us. We've got some areas to work on to be better at, but we feel good about our chances going into the season."

 

(HOW DO THE TIRES AFFECT THE AERO?) "With the harder tires, you depend more on aero than you ever have before. When you lose a little bit of aero, you lose some grip. Now the softer tires could possibly help that situation."

 

(ON THE UPCOMING SEASON) "Everybody is excited about the upcoming season. The teams have worked hard to get ready for the Daytona 500. It's the biggest race of our year. It's kind of strange that it's the first race, but it's also the first race. A lot of things are different. When you come to Daytona each year, people have new rides and new sponsors and new paint jobs and everybody is hoping to get off to a good start.

 

"We went through a stretch there when our team wasn't very good. But we worked hard and made changes and finally got it back going in the right direction. That's nice to see it going the way it's supposed to go."

 

(WITH THE NEW POINTS, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET OFF TO A GOOD START?) "I don't think it changes how you race. You don't approach the race any differently than you normally do. You always go out to do your best. One thing that we've done differently is that we haven't tested because we want to save our test days for later in the year. Hopefully we're going to make it to the top 10 and then we're going to use them for those last events. Or, if we need to test to try to get into the top 10, then we'll use them at that point in the year. We're trying to get started without using any test dates until later in the year when we need them."

 

(HOW HAS YOUR JOB AS A DRIVER CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?) "It's changed tremendously. When I first started racing, there weren't sponsors or hospitality things to do to on Sunday mornings. These things are all part of the sport and it's growth. More sponsors are involved and that's the biggest change. Our job on the race track hasn't changed much. It was nice to have a little bit of a break because the racing part is the easiest part of your job. The other stuff is the difficult stuff. I've been fortunate because I raced a big part of my career before all this started. I don't think you'll see people race as long as I've raced because the people are going to get burned out a lot earlier now because of all the commitments. We didn't have that for a long time."

 

JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01 US ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(ON THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "I don't think it really matters. The rules have changed a little bit but you still have to do the best you can at each race. If you're consistent, you're going to be up there in the front. The points pay for consistency. There are pros and cons to the whole thing, but we're just going to have to see how it plays out. Giving more points for winning races is good. That should have been done a long time ago. You've just got to make sure all the focus isn't just on the top 10 running for the championship and none on all the other guys running there. All these sponsors spend a lot of money. But it gets back to performance. If you perform, you're going to be getting exposure. I think it's going to put more emphasis on performance."

 

(DO YOU THINK DAYTONA SHOULD BE THE LAST RACE OF THE SEASON?) "I've been saying that for a long time. It would be a tough thing coming to a restrictor plate race for the last race - only because you could have a wreck on Lap 2 and take out half the field and then what kind of a race is it? There are pros and cons to everything."

 

(WITH RICHMOND BEING THE 26TH RACE, WILL THE FOCUS ON THAT RACE CHANGE?) "I didn't even know it was Richmond.  You have to perform. The biggest part of this whole deal is using your tests the best. Do you use them all up before you get to that point? Do you save some? There's a lot of strategy on how you burn your tests up."

 

(ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DAYTONA 500) "This is our Super Bowl. Being from right down the road (Lakeland), I call this the hometown track. It's close to Lakeland. I've had some success here in the Busch Series. I also had a pole here for the July race. But I've never been on the front row for the 500. It would be nice to qualify up there but it's going to be tough. The competition is tough. But the US Army Chevy team has worked hard and I think you're going to see results.

 

"I remember coming over here as a kid with my family and going up in the stands and watching the races. Daytona is neat. It's neat to be the one putting on the show now. It's a tough race track. With restrictor plate racing, the rules change every year. They're trying to improve the quality of racing and it's tough. A lot of this is out of your control. Somebody makes a mistake and all of a sudden you're caught up in it. But being close to Lakeland it good. It's a tough place to have success. It's more about equipment. You've got to have the car to get to the front."

 

(HOW DO YOU STAY CALM WHEN ACCIDENTS HAPPEN ALL AROUND YOU?) "You're doing everything you can do. A lot of that is out of your hands. You drive as best as you can and if luck is on your side you'll make it through and you'll go on to have a good finish."

 

(AS A DRIVER AND ALSO A TEAM OWNER, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE HIGH COST OF NASCAR RACING) "The costs keep going up every year. When you're in this to be competitive and win races, you have to have the funds to let you do the things you need to do.  The bottom line is that you need to make sure you have the resources and the people and the funding and whatever you need to get the job done.  The team members know and the owners know what they have to have to accomplish their goals. You just have to try and do the best you can with what you have."

 

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO:

(WHAT WILL YOU MISS MOST ABOUT NOT HAVING JOE GIBBS AROUND?) 

We'll probably lose some football stories, but we'll gain some in the next five years, too. I can't think of anything. Joe's always been there for me since I started racing for him. It's always exciting to have him there.

 

(ON JGR WINNING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 2000 - LABONTE - AND 2002 - STEWART) 

"I think we have some great race teams. Both Tony and I are in great positions to be driving with Joe. We have great people working at Joe Gibbs Racing."

 

(ON THE 2004 SEASON)

 

"We've got as good a shot as anybody. If we do our things right and adapt to the circumstances set in front of us and whatever the conditions might be of that day. We've got to gain as many points as we can in the first 26 races and then as many points as you can for 10 races. 

 

(DO YOU REMEMBER COMING INTO A SEASON WITH THIS MUCH TO TALK ABOUT OTHER THAN JUST DRIVING?) 

 

"It is a big deal. You could say it's good or you could say it's bad. It's different. You have to adapt to whatever's in front of you and go with it. There is a lot of change. Whether it's going to be good or going to be bad, we don't know. It could be a deal where we come down here next year and say, 'We didn't change a thing this year and it's O.K., too.'

 

(IT SEEMS LIKE THERE ARE ABOUT 25 GUYS THAT CAN WIN EACH WEEK. DOES THAT MAKE GETTING INTO THE TOP 10 EVEN MORE CHALLENGING?) 

"I think what's different now is that we used to race 36 races and the top 10 was important, but you knew there wasn't going to be a sequence like this. Now it's important to be in the top 10 after 26 races. Before you wanted to be in the top 10 after 36 races. It kind of bumps your year up. You can't wait around until the end. You've got to be good up until race 26."

 

(DOES THE STRATEGY CHANGE WHEN YOU HIT RACE3S 24, 25, AND 26?) 

"You know, I don't know. It could very well. You have to play that as it comes. If you're 12th in points and you just won three races in a row before that and you've got momentum on your side, then do you change anything you've been doing? Or, if you're ninth in points and coming off of three DNF's, do you change something? I think it depends on the team and the track and what you've been doing the previous races."

 

(DO YOU LIKE THE POINTS SYSTEM?) 

"It is what it is. At the end of the year, everybody could be talking about something else. This could be great and it might not be. At the same time, it's just the way it is."

 

(WERE THE DRIVERS CONSULTED?) "I wasn't asked, I asked questions, but I wasn't asked. But, it doesn't matter. It's not in my job duty to do that. It's the way it is and in November, people might be saying, 'This is the greatest thing that ever happened.'"

 

(DOES IT FEEL LIKE A WHOLE NEW NASCAR?) "Nope, I still came through the same door. It's all the same, maybe just a little different color. No, not really. It's still the same NASCAR series that we raced in last year. It's just a lot of changes on the outside. It'd be like if somebody went and got some new clothes, they're still the same on the inside."

 

(HAVE YOU CAUGHT YOURSELF SAYING WINSTON?) "I did it once today. I got fined five bucks." 

 

(ON A TWO-CAR TEAM, WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE ON WHAT INFORMATION YOU SHARE?) "We share everything. We don't draw a line. And, it really doesn't matter, because what may work for me, may not work for them. As far as drivers go, I may go down and see Tony if I'm not hitting my marks some day. And, he comes and sees me. We help each other that way."