CHEVY MENCS AT DAYTONA 500 MEDIA DAY

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Daytona 500 Media Day to discuss returning as the defending winner of the 500, the opportunity to repeat as winner and many other topics. Full Transcript:

What has this been like coming back to this place knowing that you're the reigning champion?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, man, it's been really nice to come back to Daytona. I've met a lot of people here and created a lot of family and friends over time. I always feel comfortable coming here. It definitely struck some memories coming back, so when you come through the tunnel, knowing what happened last year is possible again in 2019, you just enjoy that moment.

We've had a good week so far and things have kind of gone as planned, and just trying to build off of what we've created so far.

How did it change your life, or did it?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, man, just ‑‑ it's a race that sticks with you forever. We got to do a lot of great things, created a lot of memories. Yesterday was a lot of fun going to Disney World, taking another kid with me that had never been. That was kind of a part of our Daytona 500. It's been a blast, really.

Did anyone give you any more change, lucky pennies?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, no, no, no more pennies. Hopefully the magic from magic kingdom rubbed off, though, so hopefully it stays with us until Sunday.

Only three people have ever repeated. How daunting or what kind of rarefied air is that?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, that's pretty impressive only three guys have been able do it back‑to‑back, and I'd love to be a fourth. That would be very cool. It seems like a hard thing to do. This place is not easy to win at. That's why it's so special, and so many people haven't won here. It's just a ‑‑ this place, everything has got to line up. Everything has got to line up just perfectly for you to go to Victory Lane, and that's what it's all about.

Of all the perks, obviously the trophy and the money, but what kind of fun stuff stood out to you last year?

AUSTIN DILLON: I think one of my best favorite things I got to do was I had a media interview with Shaq on a podcast, and that was just cool. I thought Shaq was impressive, and his interview was cool with me, and we interacted well, and obviously traveled a lot of places. New York was fun, going on Live with Ryan & Kelly was nerve‑racking but I had a blast once I did it. So, a lot of cool things that go along with it. It's definitely a whirlwind.

The unpredictability of this race, is it hard to game plan?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, it's definitely very hard to make a game plan that's predictable. I think the only game plan you can make is anything can happen, and you have to be ready for that, and your team has to be ready for that. Just be prepared for everything that could happen and could go wrong and try and make things that go around ‑‑ last year with about 17 laps to go we were a lap down. If you can get a lap back in that period of time and put yourself in a winning position, that's pretty good.

Will we ever see this race ever not coming down to the final two laps?

AUSTIN DILLON: You mean like a leader pulling away from the pack?

Yeah.

AUSTIN DILLON: I don't think it'll ever be that unless some freak ‑‑ you mean like a restart with two to go? Oh, I don't know. I think it can go green until the end. It has before, but more than likely there's a caution at some point in time, but I think it'll be a good race either way. If it's not green or if it is green, it'll always be a great finish.

How does not having your car chief affect you the rest of the week?

AUSTIN DILLON: Not too bad because we've got to get through ‑‑ depending on damage, though. We've got to get through the Duels. I'm hoping for a clean Duel, but we've got so much depth in our team right now. We should be just fine.

(Indiscernible) with those guys and then does losing your car chief impact that more?

AUSTIN DILLON: So, Danny was a car chief himself coming up through, so he should be just fine. And then our leading mechanic under him was his car chief from last year on the Xfinity side, so he's got a guy that's been car chief ‑‑ Ebert, our main car chief, has done a lot of work there in that position for a long period of time, but we've got guys that can fill the gap and do just fine for this weekend. Now, you go to other places where you're making lots of adjustments in a small period of time and it probably hurts you worse, but not as bad here.

Could you talk about how you've been able to contribute to your grandfather celebrating a big anniversary with the team and you really carried right on with it in terms of ‑‑

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, it's pretty special. 50 years of anything is a long time, and to be a part of it when the 50th year is going on, I think that's special. Just trying to do my part and represent RCR well.

It took Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt so long to win the Daytona 500. You got that box checked off fairly early in your career. Therefore, do you come down here with less pressure on you?

AUSTIN DILLON: My pressure, I want to accomplish a lot of other things. It was so special winning the 500 and accomplishing it pretty early is great, but just want to continue to show the 3 fans out there that we're going out and trying to get to Victory Lane every weekend and the RCR fans, and this is another big year. It's the 50th year, and it's cool having something each year you come here to push you because I feel like memories are made here in Daytona. If you look throughout history, the people that have won, there's usually some hype going in behind them during that weekend of some reason.

Any time you have some kind of momentum coming into this place I think it's good, whether it's just a 50th anniversary or not.

When you think back, what was your lasting memory of last year's race, crossing the finish line, celebrating afterwards?

AUSTIN DILLON: The celebration afterwards was pretty awesome. I remember looking up and going ‑‑ coming to the checkered flag off of Turn 4 and everybody is behind you. That's a good feeling looking in the mirror where you know no one is going to get to you, and it's over.

Just talked with your brother about potential chaos on these restarts with this new package. They've always been ramped up the last couple of years because that was your key time the first three or four or five laps to gain track position. Do you think that goes up another whole level in what happens now?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I think this year restarts are probably going to be more fire than usual. It'll be more amped up. I feel like you'll see guys spread from top to bottom trying to make time, and you're hoping that your line moves forward. So, it'll be impressive, I think. Once you get to Atlanta it'll be a good show and then Vegas will really be wild on these restarts.

A lot of changes at NASCAR; looking down the road, how confident are you in this collaborative effort?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, I'm really confident in our leader in Jim France and what he's doing. He's really been involved and doing a lot with all of our owners and trying to make the best decision for our sport, and seeing some of the things that we're looking forward to in the future, I think we've got a bright future ahead of us.

What would you like to see happen, schedule changes? What are some of the things you'd like to see happen?

AUSTIN DILLON: Truthfully as a race car driver, I'm just happy to be in NASCAR driving. For me, I'm happy. I mean, I really don't care what they do as long as I get to keep driving, and I'll support our guys and our leaders to the end for that, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut and do what I'm supposed to do, and that's drive.

Do you think the season is too long and grueling?

AUSTIN DILLON: It's a grueling season for sure, but you look at baseball, I'd hate to be a baseball player. They play so many games throughout a season. I'm not complaining. If it does shorten it, that would be great for us, would give us a little more time off. But I'm happy either way. It means a lot when you go out and you have to grind it out to the very end and have a good championship run because the strong survive in that series. Shorten it up, there's some positives to that, too, for all of us, but it's been this way for a while now.

Do you hear drivers complain at all about it being too long?

AUSTIN DILLON: I mean, I watch social media and I see other media outlets putting out what the drivers say, so I see what drivers put out there. Not that ‑‑ I just don't care. I mean, I like being able to drive race cars. That's my biggest deal.

40 years ago, Bobby Allison (indiscernible). When did you first see a clip of that?

AUSTIN DILLON: Man, when did I first see a clip of that? I've probably been seeing that clip for a long time since I've been watching a lot of Daytona 500s. I don't know what my first clip would be, but I guess understanding it, understanding it and how important it was to our sport, I was probably 12, 13 when I really kind of got it, 14.

Is it that weird that a fight (indiscernible)?

AUSTIN DILLON: I think it's ‑‑ there's a lot of things throughout history and sports that don't pertain necessarily to the sport that were important to the sport. You know, it's huge because it's entertainment, and that's what we're trying to do is entertain fans, and the moment we get away from that, we lose our fans. We need to stay entertaining and that's a part of it.

Do you think we'll ever see that again?

AUSTIN DILLON: I'll tell you this year the way the package is there's going to be a lot of aggressive racing, and I'm sure you'll see some pushing and shoving, and if somebody can get a fist thrown, it'll probably happen, but you never know.

Have you ever spoken to any of the three about that?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I got to have a really cool plane ride with Bobby, and it was cool hearing him tell different stories. Any time you're around those legends, it just feels good to hear them talk and talk about the sport.

What was his take on it? Dale started it?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I think that's their take.

His classic line was, "Then his fist began to hit my face, and that's the end of the story," or whatever.

AUSTIN DILLON: It's pretty funny.

Could you talk about the benefits or how hard it is when you win the Daytona 500 in terms of chasing a championship? How much does your approach change or not when you win so early and you know you're going to be in the playoffs?

AUSTIN DILLON: It was definitely hard being a first‑time winner last year and juggling everything that comes along with it, but I would never throw that away. It's a championship in itself winning here, so it feels pretty dang good. But you've got to refocus at some point, and I think our team put together a really good championship effort in the final 10 races. We were in a position to make the next round, and I messed up at the Roval pretty much, and that took us out of the next round. We hunkered down and performed well until the end of the season.

It definitely took us a while to get our bearing straight with the Camaro ZL1, but after we did, I thought we did a good job finishing off the season. Middle of the season was a bit of a struggle, and I'm not going to attribute it to everything that went on with the 500, but we definitely weren't where we needed to be after this race.

Will there be anything you'll miss about restrictor plate racing?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, man, I don't ‑‑ you know, it's given me good times and bad times. You never know. I enjoy it. You've got to enjoy it because if you don't, you begin to get bad at it because you look so negative toward it.

I don't think I'll miss it. I just hope what the next part that we do is fun and we can make moves and pass.

Did you sunburned yesterday?

AUSTIN DILLON: I got sunburned a little bit yesterday and then really bad the day before.

How was it hanging out with Jordan yesterday?

AUSTIN DILLON: Oh, man, it was so special taking his family around Disney World. They had never been to Disney World. That was their first time there, and just to see the smiles on their faces going down different rides, and I asked him who his favorite character was, and it was Mickey, so he got to meet Mickey, and just really special. Makes you think about how special life is and how thankful I am to be able to do what I do.

He was genuinely surprised to see you. I don't think he was expecting you. That had to be ‑‑ to be in that position, to be that kind of role model to others, to genuinely surprise a kid like that must have been a nice warm and fuzzy?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yes, it was. He's been ‑‑ something special about that kid since I moment I met him, and that's why I kind of gravitated toward him, because he was so nice and just cared about what I said and felt and took it to heart. Any time that you make a connection with someone like that, you feel that you're doing the right thing, and it feels good.

You mentioned last year you did have struggles in the summer. Do you think that was just getting used to the Camaro?

AUSTIN DILLON: Well, we just ‑‑ I don't think we were ‑‑ we thought that what we had done in the off‑season with gaining the Camaro was going to be enough, and it wasn't, so we had to decide to work harder to get to where we needed to be, so we were behind. I feel like building a new car, we weren't as prepared as we needed to be when we got to the summer ‑‑ not to the summer but even before that. We started off pretty good at Fontana, we had a good run, but after that's when I felt like our performances dropped off for a while, and we definitely needed to turn it around, and we did when it came down to it with the last probably 12, 13, 14 races of the year, we were right where we wanted to be.

When you won this race, did it change your mindset for how you viewed the rest of the season?

AUSTIN DILLON: On the ride home, you're definitely ‑‑ every time you have a bad race, you're justifying it, well, we won the 500, you know. So that is nice to have in your back pocket, but I think I'll just respond differently now if I won it again, trying to stay on it each and every week, but you've still got to have the car capable of doing it and the speed out there each week to finish where you would like to finish, and that's first.

Stay more even keeled kind of?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, it's hard to stay even keel when you win this one. But we would definitely try to be ready each and every week.

Despite winning the 500, was one of the reasons you wanted Tyler Reddick and Casey Mears is just the power in numbers that you need for Daytona in the pack, with the Fords pulling everybody together and the Toyotas all working together? Did you guys feel like you needed more bullets in the chamber?

AUSTIN DILLON: No, I think it was just we had ‑‑ Reddick, they found a partner to run this race. Tyler is a very capable driver, he's won here twice in the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, and to get him in the field, this is a big race for any team, and to have three cars, it's really nice. I think it was a great call.

The Mears thing, RCR didn't really have anything to do with that, that was Germain.

Do you think that benefits you, having that many Chevys?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I think so, but you saw how the drafting was in the Clash. It'll be a little bit different when we get 40 cars out there and people splitting and doing things. Any time you have a guy that might could ‑‑ Bubba helped me win the race last year, so I guess yes. When you have a guy that's behind you that's going to stay with you at the end of the race or in front of you that you can help to win the race, two is better than one, so yeah, I guess it would be a positive for sure.

We've seen in years past at plate tracks the Fords and Toyotas work really well together, and the Chevy team’s kind of seem to be off on their own. You won last year like that, but can that really be the way going forward, or do Chevy teams need to ‑‑

AUSTIN DILLON: Chevy, if there is a plan, I haven't heard it yet, for Chevy. That's my answer.

Does there need to be?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, I mean, if we get our tails kicked in like we did at Talladega, it's going to look bad. But Daytona is a little bit different I feel like in the fact that handling is more in play, more often, where four cars getting in a line, the second and the third car in line probably aren't going to handle as good, unless you've done a really good job on your homework. It's hard to get everybody up there. What they did was so impressive. Their cars were unreal. They just led the whole race.

I don't see that happening again. Penske did a really good job the other day I felt like of leading that pack, so that's kind of scary. But with 40 cars out there, things change, and I do think it's a good idea for us to get together and make some sort of game plan.

We do a pretty good job of trying to pit together and stay on the same pit strategies, so that's something that will probably be talked about more and more as we get closer to the race, but yeah, we need to get together, I think, and work on that if that's how the race is going to go.

You talk about working well together; does that just mean within the RCR technical alliance cars or all the Chevy cars?

AUSTIN DILLON: We've got our partner. Hendrick, I think they've got a game plan. They've got their game plan together. They've got four cars that took the first four spots. I feel like they spent a lot of time in the wind tunnel this off‑season for this race specifically, seeing what Stewart‑Haas was able to do at Talladega, and they took over the first four spots.

Our job, we have two cars in the top 10. That was really great. We go race the Duels, see how it plays out, and link ourselves with them or together, we just put ourselves in the right position.

Sometimes being the odd man out is not a bad thing because you get to play off everybody else's strategy and stay with it. We'll just see how it plays out. I'm not sure ‑‑ we'll have a game plan as RCR and our alliance guys, but this race is just like the fighters say, when you get punched in the mouth, everything changes. It's just kind of ‑‑ you roll with the punches and see what falls your way. But we definitely need a game plan when it comes down to it at the end.

There are a lot more calls on the RCR campus now, whether it's Bubba, whether it's Germain with the two cars now, so there should be power in numbers?

AUSTIN DILLON: Yeah, we should have enough cars to ‑‑ even Brendan Gaughan, he ties in there, too. He races well here. If you look at the past races, that 62 has been in there the last couple years. We've got guys that know how to draft. Casey Mears is a good drafter. I've always liked working with him in the past.

We have a good group of cars that aren't afraid to put it where it needs to be, and if we come down to it and we've got the majority of the cars left, that's a great opportunity for us, and that goes the same for anybody that has their car still running at the end.

I mean, that's kind of what it comes down to. If you can be in a position to win on the white flag, you've got a great opportunity to win this race.

How do you go about the Duels, race or ‑‑

AUSTIN DILLON: I'm going to race it. I'm going to drive as hard as I can in that race because I want to see the ability of the car, and that's a mulligan. The only mulligan ‑‑ the last mulligan you have is the Duel going into the 500. You can always pull a backup car out for that. So, I'm going to get after it pretty good, try and get the best starting position I can, see what the car is capable of, and have fun while I'm out there. It's the last kind of fun race before the stress hits, before the 500.

In the past we looked at the racing around these tracks at Daytona and Talladega, and it really didn't matter where you qualified because you can always draft through the field and make your moves over the course of the race, people would lay in the back to avoid the big ones, things like that. With the high line single‑file racing being the majority of what we see and what has to happen for the cars to get around the track the right way, what mentality change has gone on over the past few years with that?

AUSTIN DILLON: I mean, I don't know if it's a mentality or just ‑‑ if you've got a good group of cars that can get to the top fast, it's hard to pass them. You have to have a committed group of cars on the bottom to make it happen.  The bottom is obviously the fastest way around the track if everybody's car can stay on the bottom. The way the handling of these cars are, it makes it difficult to stay on the bottom for some guys after a couple laps, so the top kind of allows your tires to, I think, stay a little bit cooler and the car drive a little easier because you've got room up there.

I hope that it gets hot and slick on Sunday. That makes for better racing, I think, here, and we'll see. The top is kind of the line that we click laps off in, I feel like. I don't know, people will ‑‑ 40 cars up there in a line is not going to happen. It might happen for a little while, but it just can't stay that way forever. Somebody is going to want to move. They're not going to ride in 40th.

How much does the aggression level ramp because you clicked off those laps on the high side, now you're getting down to the end of it, and you've got to make your move, you don't have the ability to pass like 2000?

AUSTIN DILLON: Patience is a virtue in that game, I guess. It's just waiting to make the right move and putting yourself in position throughout the race. You can't wait long is I think what you're trying to get out of me. People are going to have to find their track position throughout the race, and I agree with that. You can't wait until the end to try and drive up through the field. It's just not plausible. But there's also things that happen like big wrecks, like you saw in the Clash. There's so many ways to win this race. You just hope that you did the right one.

Can you give me a Daniel Hemric story?

AUSTIN DILLON: First time I met him, he was in an orange fire suit, had orange hair over his ears, no shirt on, with his suit hanging at his waist, walking down pit road, and I was like, man, who is this guy, and we were like 13, 14 years old, and I was like, whoever that is is cool. I'm like, I want to be friends with him. From that point on, we were pretty much buddies and raced together throughout Bandoleros, legends cars, stuff like that. There's a story. He used to be a shirtless, orange‑haired kid running around a track.

What race was that?

AUSTIN DILLON: It was a Bandolero race at Charlotte, the quarter‑mile inside the track.

Does he face anything unusual because he's 27 and just now making the move up, and most of you guys kind of made the move sooner?

AUSTIN DILLON: I don't think unusual. I mean, he's here, so he's done his job. He's young enough to do it for a long time, and hopefully he's successful at it. That's what we all do it for.

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES

DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS

DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY MEDIA DAY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 met with media and discussed the new rules package, Germain Racing’s shop move, goals for the season, and more. Selected Quotes:

ON THE NEW RULES PACKAGE:

“I think this package suits me extremely well. I’m an aggressive driver. And the just couple of tests we’ve done with this package, early-on in the runs, even though our car might not have had the best long-run speed, I’m able to do things that I couldn’t do last year with that package. I think there were two times where I was able to start behind guys like Brad (Keselowski) and Kyle (Busch) and my brother (Austin Dillon) and I went four-wide with Clint (Bowyer) and Kyle and Brad and passed all three of them, twice, at the test.  That’s something different that I wasn’t able to show last year. I think this package allows me to show some of my aggressiveness and I’m exited for these re-starts for our team.

“We’ve got a little bit of work to do from the speed standpoint as far as the runs go on, but I think with our growing relationship with RCR and now that our team has moved closer, we’re communicating very closely and there’s no reason that we shouldn’t be far off of where the RCR cars are. I think that mixing this opportunity with the way these restarts are looking like they’re going to be, fits my aggressive style. I’m super pumped to get this season started. I think this season is going to be a great one for us.”

IS THAT BECAUSE OF THE PACKAGE OR FOR OTHER REASONS?

“I think because of this package, I’m getting confident already. Just like I said at the test, I was able to take the best four-wide and took the lead at the test a couple of times. We were able to do things that we just didn’t have the muscle in our car to do, that I could kind of show-off a little bit; because sometimes when you don’t have that speed, like in last year’s package that we didn’t really have, you’re kind of playing defense that whole time. And that’s not the way you want to be as a driver. You want to be aggressive. You want to be on the offensive side. I think they way our team is growing, (crew chief) Matt (Borland) and I had a great off-season of growing our communication. I think that was definitely needed. I think everything is getting a little bit tighter with our team and with our relationship with RCR and moving shops. Everything is growing closer and more in the direction that we wanted. And this package seems to really fit me and my style of racing. So, I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great year. I think the first time I went four-wide and passed those guys, it lit something up in me that’s got me pumped-up for the season.”

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BEING ON THE RCR CAMPUS?

“I think the biggest benefit is that we are forced to communicate. Even when you go to lunch, you see the RCR employees. Every little thing that gets passed down from department to department, there’s 250 or so employees at RCR and we have about 50 or so at Germain, we intermingle now. And the communication has to be there no matter what. Access to things is quicker. It’s not an hour and 10 minute drive that you have to dedicate the whole day. It’s a 10-minute walk to get whatever you need done. I think that’s going to help everything. I think our employees are so strong. I’m so proud of everyone who put in the work. A lot of these people’s drive from home to the shop is a lot longer. But, when I’m at the shop, they’re all telling me this is going to work; this is going to work better. Yeah, the drive is frustrating, but we can already see improvement. We didn’t qualify great here for the 500, but this is a pretty old car. It doesn’t qualify good. It never has at any of these races, but boy, it races really well. If you look at our last three results, I think that’s the last three races we’ve run this car. We really haven’t done too much to it. We knew it wasn’t going to qualify well in single car qualifying, but I think when we turn off the lights Thursday night you’ll see our No. 13 car back up front like usual on the superspeedway.”

IF YOU’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK AND SOMEBODY CHECKS-UP, AND NOW YOU’VE GOT TO CHECK-UP, HOW DO YOU GET CAUGHT-UP?

“I think that’s what’s going to be tricky. With the lack of overall horsepower, which doesn’t mean that the racing is not going to be exciting by any means. You’ll see guys probably lose air off their cars, a little more aggressively. It’s a little bit more of a surprise. When you do that, if anybody has to really check, it really drops the momentum and the three or four guys up front are still wide-open in that draft. If somebody gets really loose, you’ll see sometimes where the whole field behind them will check-up and fall back. But there is an opportunity, if the lead guys get side-by-side, for that group to suck back up just like a superspeedway. I think you’ll see a little bit over the long run.

“I don’t think you’re going to see 20 laps into a run where half the field is lapped like you’ve seen in the past. I think you’re going to see most of the car on the same straightaway, but there’s going to be times where it’s a little bit hard, I’d say 20 laps into a run, handling is coming into play. I think that’s good for the drivers. That brings back some of the old technique and the drive to make sure the car is handling. You’re not just worried about holding it wide-open. We’re actually going to have some handling characteristics and the old-style of driving come into play. But, boy re these restarts going to be exciting and they’ll be a lot of fun. I think we’re going to get the best of both worlds. And when somebody does mess and have to lift, like I do, that guy behind you catches it right and he’s going to be able to make moves and make passes. I think perfection of a driver and making sure you don’t lose momentum is going to be really key this year.”

INAUDIBLE

“It’s going to be interesting to see, I think everybody learning this package and even though that was a test, there were quite a few four-wide opportunities. I went twice. A lot of three-wide. There is more grip in the car to be able to make these quicker and more aggressive decisions. We’re racers. We want as much track position as we can. It seems as if you can get into position before 15 or 20 laps, you can really kind of maintain position better, just like anything; track position has always been important. But, it’s like you get a bigger opportunity now. When you’re going so fast with so little downforce, it’s risk versus reward. The risk is a lot higher sometime. Now that we’ve dropped the speed a little bit, the risk isn’t as high, which makes us, the best drivers in the world, go for that reward a little bit more. So, we’ll find a way to get that risk-factor up higher and it turns into crazier restarts and crazier racing. I think that’s exactly what the fans want to see. I think we had a bunch of lead changes at the test and a lot of things going on that proved that the racing will be better. I know the racing is definitely going to be better for the first 10 to 15 laps it’s going to be so fun to watch every single weekend. As the run goes on, those true fans want to see the best car come to the front. They’re going to get to see that, too.”

FOR THE TEAMS THAT ARE JUST A STEP BELOW THE BIG MONEY TEAMS, IS THIS GOING TO EVEN THINGS OUT A LITTLE BIT? WITH SOME AGGRESSION AND WITH A GOOD RACE CAR, MAYBE THEY CAN DO SOMETHING MORE THAN THEY’VE DONE IN THE PAST?

“Yeah, I sure hope so. Like I was saying, the opportunity was there for me at the test to make moves that I wasn’t able to make in the past just because we didn’t have that raw speed and power to make that aggressive move. We just didn’t have the steam in the past. I think this package gives guys like myself and guys in the back the opportunity to make big differences on the restart. I don’t know how it’s going to look by the end of the year and how we all shake out, but I think the opportunity is better for us as a team at Germain Racing, even if we were racing that other package, we feel like we’ve taken a big step as a team that we’re going to have plenty of opportunity to be fast week-in and week-out.”

SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO BE BETTER THIS YEAR?

“I don’t know if we’re under any pressure to have to do a certain thing. We all want to win. I think we all have the mindset to win a race this year. And we all have the mindset to make the Playoffs. I think that’s a very possible thing for us this year. I think that’s where our goal is set. We don’t want to have the pressure of having to do anything, but we know that what we can accomplish. And I think winning a race is very possible. There are opportunities all throughout the year. Even in my rookie season we had opportunities. So, we know that’s very possible. I think for me, my main goal is to make the Playoffs this year. And I’m very determined to do that and to do whatever it takes to do so. I think we have the opportunity to really surprise a lot of people and look back at one of the teams that took one of the biggest steps. Hopefully today is the first day that marks the start of huge growth and opportunity for our team.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES

DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS

DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY MEDIA DAY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 AFTERSHOKZ CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Daytona 500 media day and discussed last year’s Daytona 500 finish, his expectations for this year, finding sponsorship and many other topics. Selected Quotes:

WAS LAST YEAR’S FINISH IN THE 500 ONE THAT GOT AWAY OR WAS IT JUST SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU EXPECTED THAT YOU WERE JUST HAPPY TO FINISH THERE AND HOW DO YOU FEEL COMING BACK NOW?

“Hopefully, just as lucky as I was Sunday night last year. No, I think we did more than enough last year. Coming into the season last year we were like there is no way in hell that we would finish second in my first Daytona 500 attempt. I thought I would go out there and cause ‘the big one’. You try your hardest not to, but it’s there. So, to be able to do that and to be able to come out almost on top pushing the No. 3 to Victory Lane was pretty cool, pretty special. A lot of people hyped this story up as coming back as ‘oh you are going to do it again’. It’s like, let’s pump the brakes, let’s get through the rest of the week and let’s make it to lap 199, let’s stop and have a break and do an interview on that last lap and see if we have a shot. If I make it to 199, hell yeah, I’m going to go for it.”

ON THE NEW RULES PACKAGE:

“We will find out. We did the test out in Vegas. It was different. It was honestly more than I expected in a more positive way. I was kind of making my educated guess off the All-Star package of last year and it really took the way the superior feel of the Cup level, so jumping in first lap hauling ass down into (Turn) 3 I was like ‘whoa, this has a lot of speed still and the same amount of speed through the center of the corner’. So, still have to man-handle it a little bit. In traffic you are still kind of fighting the dirty air stuff… we will get a test of it again at Atlanta coming up here in two weeks and then Vegas will be the eye-opener for all of us.”

HOW HAS RPM ELEVATED THEIR PROGRAM FROM LAST YEAR TO THIS YEAR?

“We will find out as well.  We haven’t even got a race under our belt yet, so we have had some personnel changes, people moved around and moved up and so excited about that. We have brought great partners on board with AfterShokz, they stepped up to the plate doing the Daytona 500. They are new to the sport and they get it. They dive in deep and hold nothing back. That is a company that I can stick behind. I appreciate them for doing that, but it’s going to take time. We have a new crew chief, new car chief, and trying to get some new partners on board throughout the season as well. We will continue to keep pressing forward. I looked back, I’ve got a whole list of races where I could do a a lot better and see what we can do.”

IN REGARDS TO SPONSORSHIP:

“It’s been 16 years of it.”

DO YOU HAVE A FEELING WHY IT’S SO HARD?

“I wish I could tell you the perfect answer for that. I’m as baffled as a lot of people are in this room, but you just have to go out and try harder.”

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO CARRY THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PROMOTING THE SPORT?

“Yeah, it’s a lot but it’s all part of it. You look at it in the end, who does it reach, who does it touch? Al Roker, we did a piece in Garden and Gun magazine I think that was throughout the off season or maybe late in the season last year and he said he picked up the magazine, never heard of me before and seen that and he was like I want to do an interview. He set all that up just by reading something. You’ve got to look at all the things you do it’s reaching out to somebody special, it’s a matter of if they act on it or not, so we will see.”

WHAT WAS THE BIG TAKEAWAY FROM LAST YEAR’S 500 OUTSIDE THE FINISH?

“Obviously, the media center was the highlight. Shed a little tear for TV ratings trying to get those up, that was all part of the plan. It worked out hell I got a lot of people on my side over that. Got to pump up the waterworks again this year. Other than that, it was just taking in the first race as a rookie and to be able to accomplish it the way we did was pretty cool.”

INAUDIBLE:

“We never skipped a beat. We took our lead engineer from last year and moved him up to crew chief. We didn’t miss out on anything there. I’m excited for Derek and our whole team line-up we are all pumped and excited to hear him call some races. Bringing him out of his element a little bit. Usually, lead engineers are kind of back in the background working away, so to be in the foreground working hard got a lot of exciting turning things for us… just if it all plays out for us in the right way.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED HOW MUCH YOUR TEAM STRUGGLED AT TIMES LAST YEAR?

“I was surprised how much I struggled and let myself struggle. Yeah, absolutely, it was my rookie year, you know, went through it all. I’m not using that as an excuse because I have enough experience to know that some of the mistakes, I made could have been fixable, could have been preventable I should say. But, it’s all part of it. You go through it all. You go through the emotions. I get in this mindset of when we are down, I can pick us back up. I’ve got it, let me do it and then you end up putting yourselves in rough spots.”

IN REGARDS TO OTHER DRIVERS TELLING ROOKIES HOW HARD THE CUP SERIES IS:

“I haven’t really talked to them about it. I have talked to (Kevin) Harvick a lot of years leading up to this. He has kind of been in my corner now with a year under my belt racing against him, not sure if he is still in my corner, may have pissed him off at one time, I’m not sure. But he has been a huge help. I know that is kind of his tendency for a lot of the younger guys coming through to just stay out of his way I think he says.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE KEYS ARE FOR NASCAR TO GET MORE FANS AND KEEP FANS?

“Just fulfilling out the requests. It’s one thing to just ‘yeah I’ll do this just because’ or it’s another thing to ‘yeah I’m going to do it to help grow our sport and be a part of it.’ So, you’ve got to be on the same message when you get a lot of these requests that are sometimes optional, sometimes mandatory, but I love interacting with fans. I love meeting new people and seeing the interest for our sport grow. It makes you feel good when you have kids running up to you wanting your autograph talking about, I want to be like you. Some drivers don’t see that. They tend to walk the other way, but for me, I embrace it all and it’s all part of it. You are on this pedestal sometimes not in the best ways. I don’t like being on the pedestal, but you’re an athlete it automatically calls for that so you’ve got to live up to the expectations.”

ON WORKING WITH PEOPLE IN THE DRAFT:

“You pick out who you can work with and who you can’t. My car is not very good behind X. My car is pretty good behind X, you know it’s like that or you just don’t like the guy and you are not going to work with them. I guess I had something written on my back bumper at all plate races last year that offended everybody. I would be riding by myself and everybody would just leave me hanging. I’m like okay whatever. So, it’s all a matter of if you can work with that guy. If your car can work with that guy. If not, sorry I’m going to try to find my own way because at the end of the day it’s all about yourself, looking out for yourself and it just so happened that the No. 43 and No. 3 were 1-2.”

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN FOR NASCAR TO RETURN TO THE NASHVILLE FAIRGROUNDS?

“It would be badass to go there. I don’t know if you ever had the chance to race there, but it’s an incredible facility, old school, wore out. I think all the drivers are on board with it and so let’s make it happen.”

WHAT COULD THEY DO DIFFERENTLY THAT ROCKINGHAM DID NOT DO?

“I think there is still maybe a little sliver of hope for that place. That place was badass as well. But it’s been… I was 14/15 when I ran at Nashville, but grew up racing Bandoleros against (Ryan) Blaney and a lot of us out here. So, I think just getting back to that old school feel. We got to a lot of these places… the old school feel we have now is probably Darlington, Martinsville maybe, Bristol, that feel like truly old school, but you go to Nashville and it’s like ‘man this is what it was like’. So, we will see.”

DID YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE IN CHASE ELLIOTT AFTER HE GOT HIS FIRST WIN LAST YEAR?

“We have to go through multiple people to contact him now. He has become super big-time. I have to get permission to go inside of my bus which is right next to his bus, so he owns like the whole area now. Man, I’m knocking on the door for our first win and things are going to really spice up. We might not be friends after that because I’m going to have a lot of rules in place as well. No, Chase knows how to get it done. He is an incredible talent. We have raced together ever since his ugliest legend car days. He had the worst looking car out there, but he was always a hot shoe. It’s cool to see your buddies be successful. It stings a little bit. Obviously, you wish it was you, but it adds more fuel to the fire to go out and get the job done as well. I didn’t see much of a chance besides his head getting bigger. That is alright, we always do.”

YOU’VE GOT A LOT OF THINGS THAT COULD BE TROUBLING TO A DRIVER, BUT YOU ALWAYS SEEM SO UPBEAT WHY IS THAT?

“Personality. A lot of people will portray it as me being cocky and arrogant. I’m just living life. I’m having fun. At the end of the day I get paid to drive race cars. At the end of the day I just get to drive, nothing else. Everything else comes with it. You’ve got to learn how to do all this other stuff. You’ve got to be prepared to drive when you get to the Cup level and so knowing, okay we’ve got a new crew chief, that is not going to change the way I drive. We have different partners, different sponsors on the car, not going to change the way I drive, not going to change the way I interact with the media. For me, I’m just going to be me and have fun. A lot of people get very buttoned up and oh it’s media day, hell I’m ready for this thing to be over with and go have some fun. Go out and have a drink or something. Share a Coke with everybody.”

DO YOU STUDY FILM OVER THE OFF SEASON?

“Well there was and then they changed the aero package so all the races last year don’t matter. No, you did. I would try to watch stuff, I couldn’t watch a full race. I would watch maybe an hour or so and I’m like alright you are kind of seeing the same stuff over. I would go back and watch every race mostly of our successful races, hell yeah, we won Martinsville I’m going to go back and watch that one. Go back and look at Bristol, Daytona, but honestly now the package has changed, the racing is going to change. It’s like a clean slate.” 

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Daytona 500 Media Day to discuss being the pole sitter for the Daytona 500, iRacing and many other topics. Full Transcript:

How does 'polesitter' feel, knowing that no matter what happens tomorrow night, as long as you don't wreck, you're on the pole?

WILLIAM BYRON: No, it's good. It's awesome to be on the pole. I'm looking forward to what it brings for us, what we can succeed with. I mean, just to be able to qualify on the pole like that is a goal of ours. It's awesome.

This is year two. Going into this as the polesitter, everything that went on last year, how does it compare to the first time?

WILLIAM BYRON: It's a lot different just because I don't have to go through everything for the first time. I know my way around the racetrack, kind of know my way around on and off the track.

It definitely takes a lot of the pressure off, a lot of the edge off last year. I can just go out there and focus on racing.

What is your approach to the Duels?

WILLIAM BYRON: That's a great question. I think we try to kind of see what happens. But I think with us starting up front, that's a great thing. Hopefully we can keep it up there for a while and see what happens. Just kind of play it by ear, see how the race unfolds, if it's calm or reckless like it was last year. We'll see what happens.

Now that you’ve been around the circuit once, what is different about Daytona and why is it difficult to win?

WILLIAM BYRON: It's just a tough track to get ahold of. There's a lot of hype around the event. I think a lot of people bring in new cars, new things to the table. It's the first race of the year where you really get a chance to think about how to manage all that.

I think it's just a very unpredictable race.

Which is tougher, the first race, 10th race?

WILLIAM BYRON: First race. First race is the biggest race for us, so that's different.

If you hadn't done iRacing, where would you be right now?

WILLIAM BYRON: I'd probably be sitting behind a desk at a school somewhere. Yeah, it's different. I mean, I'm very thankful to be able to race like I do. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's pretty awesome.

When did you get into iRacing in the first place?

WILLIAM BYRON: I started iRacing when I was 13. I was doing it through 13 to 14, really then got started in real cars. Just kind of took off from there.

You started late by comparison. What was the spark that finally made you think you needed to get into this?

WILLIAM BYRON: Gosh, I think just watching on TV and just seeing all the kids my age racing cars, thinking, Man, if I could ever do that one day, maybe I'd have a shot at racing. Just like any other kid out there, they're probably sitting at home watching races saying, Man, this kid is on the pole, whatever, maybe I can do that one day.

That was me. I was dreaming of racing like that. I was fortunate to get those opportunities. Never looked back after that.

What would you tell that 15-year-old kid at Rockingham?

WILLIAM BYRON: Whew. Well, I'd say I've probably learned more about being a person than I have anything else. Maturing. My friends are going through things for the first time. I kind of have been through those things. I had to grow up fast.

I'd say just I had to grow up, try to have a little fun along the way with other things, too.

What do you remember from the first race?

WILLIAM BYRON: I was just super nervous, just trying to do the little things right. What I remember most about racing is how pure it was when I first started. I try to keep it that way.

Lucky to have a lot of people around me in the team with Chad and the whole team that keep racing as the central focus of the sport.

(No microphone.)

WILLIAM BYRON: You just got to remember why you love doing what you do, what makes you want to do it so bad, not letting all the other stuff clog why you do it. You just have to focus on why you're racing and what makes you love it so much.

Why are you racing?

WILLIAM BYRON: I love the sport. I mean, there's a part of me that is so competitive, I crave the ability to go out there and prove that we can do something that we didn't maybe think we could do. I just love the thrill of getting in the racecar every week.

Now that you have a year of Cup racing under your belt, how big a step was it to go from Xfinity to Cup?

WILLIAM BYRON: It's huge.  You take the five or ten people you race against in the Xfinity Series, you put 30 to 35 guys that are as good as that out on the track. A bad day is a lot worse.

I'd say it grinds on you mentally because you have to go through every week. It's really on you to manage your time, manage everything that comes along with the Cup Series. There's nobody else going to give you a pamphlet for how it's going to work. Everybody has their own way of doing it, which is so different than anywhere else.

How big a deal was it to get the first pole out of the way on the first day of the year?

WILLIAM BYRON: It's great. First accomplishment for us for the year. We got a lot of things we want to do this year. First one to check off the list is good.

It seems like y’all have found form quickly with Chad.

WILLIAM BYRON: We have. He's exciting to work with. He's super into anything racing related, whether its car related or driver related. He's helped me a lot with a lot of things I didn't really expect him to really care about that much.

He cares about me as a person. That builds a level of trust and respect between us. Still a lot. Still very fresh and very new of a relationship. We've worked a lot in the off-season to make sure it's the way it should be.

(Question about the transition to Cup.)

WILLIAM BYRON: I mean, I think I dealt with it pretty well. I think there was a lot of things that happened over the course of the year, but I didn't really let that kind of hinder my confidence in myself.

Whether that's going and racing other things, trying to just do something where you can win, like whether it's just racing in a go-kart at the track. You got to do something and win. If you don't keep winning, you forget what that's like. I try to do that stuff.

I heard you say how much you love and like. Is there a fine line between the determination and success?

WILLIAM BYRON: A fine line between loving it?

And liking it. You're maybe more determined for success.

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I mean, its kind of goes hand-in-hand. If you want to ultimately get the most satisfaction out of it, you want to succeed.

I don't know. That's a good question, whether I would just love to be a part of it or love to actually succeed. I think I'd more love to succeed or I wouldn't be a part of it.

Are you still in school?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, yeah. I'm a junior in college right now. I'm still enrolled, still doing my class work there.

How do you balance that with racing?

WILLIAM BYRON: It's tough. Liberty does a good job of kind of helping me with that. Honestly, I kind of do the work during the week, get it knocked out of the way before I get to the track. There’re a couple things here and there I have to do. For the most part they let me do it on my schedule every week by Monday or so.

It's busy, but it works out.

If you look at the whole season, how you would characterize your rookie year?

WILLIAM BYRON: I mean, honestly, I don't think about it that much right now. I kind of blocked out most of that last year other than the things I learned about myself mentally. But honestly there's not really a lot that's similar to last year with us, besides the number and the way the car looks.

Don't really think about it.

Q.       (No microphone.)

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, Parker and I were racing on iRacing Monday night, I guess. I got home from some media stuff. There's really not anything for me to prepare to race the Duels. I might as well run iRacing. We happened to be in the same race. We worked together like we got through the field, worked on a couple moves.

IRacing has to improve the drafting model a little bit. There's like one lane, which I guess is kind of what the Clash was. Everybody was on the bottom. We couldn't really make it work. We tried. It was fun. Might be too realistic.

Does that happen often, where you get on iRacing, finding you’re racing a Cup driver?

WILLIAM BYRON: Not very often. I mean, let's say there's 80 people that sign up for a race. It's based off ratings. Usually you're in the same bracket of rating. No, it doesn't happen much. It is cool when it does.

Were you going to win or Parker?

WILLIAM BYRON: Oh, man. So, I was running, like, fourth. I was making the outside lane work. I kept dropping down and kind of pinching people off. We came to pit road and I screwed all of that up. I couldn't change the fuel I wanted to put in the car. Everybody took two tires. I took four. I came out, like, 20th. He would have won actually after that. He finished fourth.

You said that’s something you can do to prepare. How much does it really help?

WILLIAM BYRON: I mean, it helps. Does Michael Jordan play basketball without practicing? I think it's the weirdest thing that our sport goes out there with no practice and goes and races. Especially as a rookie, you don't get a chance to really do much.

I try to use it as much as I can.

What carries over?

WILLIAM BYRON: Just racing. Just working traffic, some of the lines you run at different tracks. All of it really carries over, other than some of the things you can't really teach. Once you get out here, you kind of learn those things. There's a lot of things.

Given the fact that you ran a lap on Sunday, have three days before you race again, are you getting antsy at this point?

WILLIAM BYRON: I'm ready to get in a car. I'm tired of talking about it. I just want to go race. Can't wait to get into the car.

This is the 40th anniversary of the Daytona 500 that they say made the sport, Richard Petty winning. What does that sense of history mean to some of the younger drivers?

WILLIAM BYRON: I mean, I'm so young, I wasn't around for a lot of that. I guess, like, growing up watching honestly Jimmie and Chad win races at the 500, then watching Kevin Harvick win 2007. Those are the races that stick in my mind.

I'm trying to make memories of myself. It's cool to see some of that stuff come around furl circle.

(Question about Chad.)

WILLIAM BYRON: Probably. We're not in the same age bracket. There's so much knowledge there. He's a young-at-heart kind of guy.

When is the first time you met him?

WILLIAM BYRON: I met him probably three years ago when I started racing for Junior Motorsports.

Was that pretty cool? You grew up watching him and Jimmie.

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, it was cool. It was fun. I mean, just to watch him dominate races, now be a part of what we have going on. It's pretty cool.

Did it ever enter your mind he might someday be your crew chief?

WILLIAM BYRON: No, definitely not. Definitely not. That's a crazy thought to think a couple years ago, that I could have him as a crew chief. But a huge honor and something that I'm looking forward to.

Are you ready to break the pole winner’s drought here at Daytona? Not since 2000 that the pole winner won the race.

WILLIAM BYRON: That would be awesome. Hopefully if it's in the plan, I guess meant to be, it will be. We'll see what happens.

You said other than the number on the car, pretty much everything is different. Talk about your mentality, the team.

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, we've taken a no-holds-barred approach this year of trying to go out there and take names and win races. I think that mentality will continue for us. We're looking forward to that.

(No microphone.)

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I mean, we want to win races. There's a lot of things that we aspire to do this year. I think just one of those things is kind of bringing the 24 car back to the legacy that it has. We've got a lot of potential to do that. We just got to go out there and capitalize on that.

It's going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication and a lot of smart decisions. That's what I'm looking forward to the most.

(No microphone.)

WILLIAM BYRON: I do. I do. I think it helps. It's just kind of one other thing that I have to worry about. I think sometimes it can be a hindrance, but a lot of times it's a great thing. It's something that really helps me become well-rounded.

When during the process of your career arc as a whole did you think you could do this professionally?

WILLIAM BYRON: Gosh, I guess I was 17 years old that I really thought I could do it professionally when I first won a championship in the K&N Series. That was a building block towards the future. Probably the first time I felt that way.

At the K&N race the other night, they said that's the largest track they're going to run at. Do you have any suggestions to that series of something they should add to it to make a better transition?

WILLIAM BYRON: I think they need to keep running the bigger tracks, Bristol, some of those places, where you learn the most. They need to try to run those tracks, for sure.

IMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Daytona 500 Media Day and discussed running the Boston Marathon, his Clash victory and many other topics. Full Transcript:

If you were going to pick somebody that could maybe take that title away from you, which guy would you pick amongst the younger set that might be able to do it?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think there's a lot of personality in our sport. You think of the iconic 43 with Bubba Wallace in it. You lean towards Ryan Blaney. I mean, Kyle certainly is known, Kyle Busch that is, is certainly known. I'm not sure he's the most loved at all times, but certainly well-known, not afraid to get after it.

We have great diversity and I think a real strong young group of guys coming along.

Where does Bubba rate in terms of personality, the character, people can embrace?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I enjoy being around him. He has great energy, very quick-witted, fun. I've always enjoyed being around him. He's done a great job in the car, as well.

(Question about today's meeting with Paul.)

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I don't know if there's really anything different. It's great to have that conversation, talk to him. He knew then and he knew again after today, our phone call, that it wasn't intentional.

Looking back, I could have given him a few more inches. That way when he came down, there was a bit more margin for error between us. So, there's always lessons to learn, going back and looking at the tape, talking to someone about those things.

I think where he and I stand, sure, he wasn't happy after the race, but he knew it wasn't intentional. It was more of a racing thing than anything.

Lessons to be learned. You’re going for a win. I’m going for a win against you, I’m not going to make it easy on you. I don’t know if you say lessons learned. Shouldn’t you be doing the same thing regardless of who it is?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: That was my stance in the media center after. I don't want to turn a blind eye to what has happened. I think there's always lessons to learn in anything.

It really was a racing incident. I guess if there was two or three more inches in there when he made his move to kind of try to block, there would have been a couple more inches in between us. That's the thing I'll look back on.

At 200 miles an hour in the draft racing for a win, I saw the rain, I knew the rain was coming, I knew we were on the white flag lap, I'm paid to be out there and be aggressive. If we just bump and nobody gets turned around, it's the most exciting finish we had in the Clash in however long. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way, a lot of cars were torn up.

Given what's not at stake tomorrow, do you make that move?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I feel like you have to race. That's all I was doing. I know where my intent was. I know what I was trying to do in the car. Again, I try to be open-minded and aware of things that happen and try to learn from them, good and bad.

I set up a great pass. I saw the rain coming. I don't think anybody else saw it coming. I knew it was there, it was going to rain. Maybe a couple more inches would have been good to leave between our two cars. But you're racing.

Tomorrow instincts would probably take over for any driver in that situation, you would try to win?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah.

Risking the Daytona 500 car.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I didn't finish the Clash the last six years in a row. I didn't finish the Duel last year. It happens. It is plate racing.

The thing that everybody needs to get ready for, we're only used to this four times a year, but this is going to be every week with the rules package. It's about the draft. You have the draft. But once you break the bumper plane, the side drafting is the only opportunity to propel yourself beside one. The type of racing we see on plate tracks is going to be on every mile-and-a-half track.

Can't tell if your looking forward to that.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I guess the statement is more for everybody else. There's been such a reaction to me racing hard in the Clash. It happens at every plate track. It has since there's been plates on cars. We're going to have a lot more of it this year with this new rules package.

(No microphone.)

JIMMIE JOHNSON: It depends. If you watched that race objectively, I think you say it's a racing incident. Could I have left a couple inches? Sure. Could Paul have not come down? Sure. We're racing, what is to be expected of us. We're racing. That's what we're out there to do.</