Nextel Cup - Dodge Quotes from Siemens 300 Saturday at NHIS

Saturday, July 24, 2004
New Hampshire International Speedway.
Siemens 300 Advance.


 

 

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge)

NOTE: In four starts at New Hampshire International Speedway, Newman has
one victory, three poles (five attempts), three top fives and four top
10s. He won his first Cup race here as a rookie in 2002, and he holds
the track qualifying record of 133.357 mph. Although his victory at
Michigan in June has been Newman's only top-10 finish in the past seven
races, a second-half surge would be nothing new for the No. 12 ALLTEL
Dodge. Newman won six of 13 races last season in a stretch that began at
Chicago and ended at Kansas. Victories at Pocono, Michigan, Richmond and
Dover were sandwiched between the Chicago and Kansas wins.

 

"The way we've run at times this year, it doesn't surprise me (being
10th in standings). I know we're capable of a lot more. If we just keep
our noses pointed upward, not to be stuck up, but upwards toward the top
of the chart then I think we'll be all right and things will take care
of itself. This may be a good example of what we've got to do in the
last 10 races if we're in that position."

 

COMMENT ON FIRE PRECAUTIONS "I don't think NASCAR is taking the right
measures and precautions to make it safe for everybody in the racecars.
I think a lot of what everybody is saying is reactive instead of
proactive, talking about he (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) has burns on 20 percent
of his body. Well, that could be zero percent. It's the same whether
it's Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Ryan Newman or whoever. I think a lot of
measures can be taken to make sure drivers, make it mandatory they wear
the best fire retardant clothing and underwear, no matter if it's 95
degrees in Martinsville or 35 degrees in Atlanta. I wouldn't be against
it if it was mandatory to wear it (head sock), but it's not even
mandatory to wear gloves right now. I think we're a couple of steps away
from that situation."

 

ARE OPEN WHEEL RACERS MORE USED TO FIRE PROTECTIVE WARE?

"Ethanol in the open wheel cars is a much more volatile fuel, a fuel you
can't see burning in the daylight, so I always wore head socks, the best
of everything and multiple layers of it. As I've grown older I lost the
head sock from pure laziness in the stock cars. I don't know a single
driver who wears it, other than maybe Scott Pruett when he comes over
here. I wear the best underwear. It's not even Nomex. It's got a
percentage of Nomex, but it's called Carbonex Underex, socks and
everything. I feel like I do the best I possibly can with what I know is
available. I've had this for about a year now. This stuff you can take a
torch to it and hold your hand behind it for two minutes and after two
minutes it'll blow  through. Nomex, it's like this T-shirt, it'll blow
right through. The only difference is Nomex won't catch on fire. It just
kinda melts. It's almost like plastic. This stuff has pros and cons to
it, but the pros outweigh the cons. Start from the ground up. Something
is better than nothing so make it mandatory to wear something, even if
it's just a T-shirt. Some guys don't even wear that. A T-shirt can get
wet and not catch on fire itself. The Nomex is sort of 80s and 90s
technology. This stuff here from what I've seen is the best I've seen.
I've shown a couple of other drivers what it is and what it's capable
of. I've tried to do what I can, but I'm not going to tell everybody.
From a drivers' standpoint it's our responsibility, but if NASCAR is a
big family, it wouldn't be a bad thing to be told by our parents what to
do (regarding) a safety issue."

 

COMMENT ON FIRE EXTINGUISHERS "If you've got a car going 150 mph and
it's on fire and you pull a fire extinguisher pin and the mechanism they
use in the trunk goes off, the fuel is going to stay with you. It has
its pros and cons, but I haven't seen anything implemented to make it
safer. Smoke inhalation isn't bad. It's the halon that'll kill you. It
was very little smoke (at Michigan). It was mostly flame. It's the halon
that takes the oxygen out of the air and eliminates you from being able
to breathe. It feels like you've just been punched in the chest, and the
next thing you want to do is pass out. If you're on fire, that's the
worst thing that can happen. The sad part of what I'm saying, everything
that we're talking about is reactive instead of proactive. You guys
don't come and talk about this stuff until something happens."

 

WHY DON'T YOU RACE IN OTHER SERIES? "Part of my decision is the risk
involved, but no matter what, you can still take the same precautions as
a driver. Just so you guys know, you can wear a head sock and you can
also wear a skirt on the outside of it. Basically it attaches to your
helmet and it goes down. Most of the time if you take precautions for
yourself no matter what car you're in and if you understand the seat and
seatbelts and safety gear, it's not a bad deal to go race. The first
fire I was ever in was at Michigan."

 

DO YOU HAVE TO GUARD AGAINST GETTING CAUGHT BY THE GUYS BEHIND YOU IN
THE STANDINGS? "Yeah. My feeling is we haven't had the greatest year at
this point. We know we're capable of a lot more and we'll move forward.
Other teams that aren't in this position usually and are in the top 10
and they might be worried about staying in the top 10. It's just your
personal opinion. You bring the pressure on yourself no matter what
position you're in."

 

COMMENT ON GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED RULE "The fans drive this sport and we
need to put on a show for them until the end. I think it's a step in the
right direction, and that's about all we can ask for right now. It's a
step in the right direction, and that's better than no step at all. I
think it was after this race last year they came up with the Lucky Dog
rule, and it's taken us a year to figure that one out. We'll see what
it's going to be like."

 

COMMENT ON BAD LUCK AT CHICAGO "The whole deal at Chicago, I thought I
had a tire going down and didn't know and eventually found out it was. I
wish I had come in. We were in the process of coming in when it
happened, but you've just got to take that and go on. We have plenty of
potential with this team, and we'll just use the potential we have and
go forward. I thought I had a right rear tire going down and it ended up
being the left rear tire. It was just a goofy feeling, especially at a
track like that where you never get an opportunity to feel what's going
on."

 

COMMENT ON BRICKYARD 400 AND INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

"It is what it is. It's a great racing facility. Management there isn't
quite as nice as it probably was back in the 20s and 30s, but we
definitely enjoy going to that racetrack. To me it's probably the
biggest race of the year from a drivers' standpoint and the competition.
It's bigger than Daytona. Daytona is more dependent on the vehicle and
Indianapolis is more dependent on the driver."

 

COMMENT ON TEST AT NHIS "We didn't do any qualifying runs in the test.
We were only up here one day. I think we'll have a really good car in
race trim."

 

IS IT POSSIBLE TO MATCH LAST SEASON'S SECOND-HALF SUCCESS? "I think we
have the potential. We haven't had the overall performances we have in
the past. It seemed like last year whenever we finished it was a win or
a top five. This year we've had some finishes 10th, 11th, 12th, stuff
like that. I think the potential is definitely there, but I don't think
it's going to be quite as easy as it was last year. I don't believe in
them (streaks), but I believe there's a lot of truth to it. That might
be contradicting, but I think it's more of a mental thing than a
physical thing. Obviously you've got to have cars that are performing.
Good breeds good and bad breeds bad. When you're doing good you tend to
do better. That's the quote of the day right there. Like I said, we have
potential. Potential is the key word. If you don't have potential you
have nothing."