Ford Trio Talk about Running Pocono

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion, met with media members prior to the opening practice at Pocono Raceway Friday afternoon. 

MATT KENSETH, No. 17 RFR Ford Fusion –  LAST TIME HERE THERE WERE A BUNCH OF SPEEDING PENALTIES ON PIT ROAD. DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE THAT AGAIN? “Well, as long as it isn’t me getting caught I hope we see a lot of them. It certainly helps with track position. I think it all depends on whether people speed on pit road or not.” 

LAST WEEK JIMMIE JOHNSON SAID THAT HIS ULTIMATE GOAL WAS TO WIN EIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT COMMENT? “Well, when you have five in a row you can make comments like that. If it was somebody making a comment like that that hasn’t won one or maybe won one eight or 10 years ago like myself, you would think that was kind of arrogant or something. Coming from Jimmie it really isn’t. It is realistic. They have proved that team and that combination of Chad and Jimmie and the guys at HMS have been the premier team and been the best over the last five to eight years or however you want to look at it. I don’t think that is unrealistic. I hope I can make it unrealistic and we can win some of them but coming from them it is not bad.” 

HOW HAS THE EMPHASIS TEAMS HAVE PUT ON ROAD COURSES CHANGED IN RECENT YEARS? “Well, I think people have always worked on it a lot it is just different because you can’t really test at tracks that we race at. There are only two road courses but it is easier to go to a road course and pack up and test than maybe some of the oval tracks. There are not many oval tracks that are similar to other oval tracks we race at. I think people have always worked on it. I am not sure they work on it harder than what they used to, I just think you try to do well everywhere.”

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING SECTION OR TURN AT WATKINS GLEN? “I can’t think of one that isn’t a challenge for me. I think it is all tough. I think probably for me the most important part to your lap time is getting through the esses the fastest. The more throttle you can use going up the hill and through the esses the less you have to lift it seems like that really adds a lot or takes a lot away from your lap time because that back stretch is long. They are all important and unique at Watkins Glen. When it comes to racing, I think whatever they call it now, the last turn, is very important to get off that and into turn one so you don’t get passed there. The esses are always important leading up to the bus stop because that is another passing zone. The more cushion you can get through the esses and the top of the hill the less likely you are to get passed.”

THERE HAVE BEEN SIX DIFFERENT WINNERS HERE IN THE LAST SIX RACES. WHY IS THAT? “I think it is always pretty competitive and every year the rules get tighter and cars get closer to being the same speed. The closer we are to the same speed the more opportunities it gives people to win.”

ANYTHING JOEY (LOGANO) DID HERE LAST TIME THAT YOU CAN TRY TO SIMULATE? “Yeah, you want to sit on the pole and be as fast as you can every week and try to win for sure. They had a real fast car and did everything right and made the move there at the end for the win. That was really a good weekend for him for sure.”

HOW DID THE RACE BEING SHORTER AFFECT YOU LAST TIME? “I don’t really think it changed it to be honest with you. I think that you always are racing hard and for track position and trying to get your car as fast as you can and be up front at the end, whether that is 400, 500 or 600 miles. You always aim to be up there at the end."

AFTER WHAT HAPPENED WITH ELLIOTT (SADLER) AND THEN THE SPEECH YOU GOT ABOUT RESTARTS, DO YOU FEEL EVERYONE IS COMFORTABLE ABOUT THAT NOW OR IS THERE A GRAY AREA THERE? “Yeah, I wasn’t a part of that race but watching it I was confused on the initial start. The last one with Elliott, I wasn’t that confused on. In my opinion it was fairly cut and dry although there are certain drivers that try to get you to get a penalty. You can watch it and there are a couple of the same guys that will maybe try to do that or sucker you into a penalty. The rule is he has to be there first and you have to try to slow down at least to make a good effort at not beating the leader there and trying to make it look good. I don’t know. I think we are pretty clear on it. The initial start I didn’t understand because that was by six or seven car lengths and the leader wasn’t ready to go yet when you watch the in-car camera. There rest of it I think everyone is pretty clear on.”

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE OLYMPIC SPORT TO WATCH? “I have been watching a little bit. My wife has been watching a lot. I don’t know. I am not really into the swimming and some of the gymnastics and all that stuff. Probably the running and the beach volleyball is pretty fun to watch. I got to meet Kerri Walsh a few years ago at the Super Bowl so we were watching her play the other night. Some of that stuff is fun to watch. It is all fun and interesting I guess.”

IS THERE ONE THAT YOU WOULD MOST LIKELY PARTICIPATE IN? “Probably none of them because I am not talented enough to keep up in any of them probably. If I was an Olympic athlete I would still like to do this, but I would be doing something else. I think the best I can do is watch.”

WHAT ABOUT HAVING RACING IN IT ONE DAY? “How could we do that? We are supposed to be in Pocono?”

YOU AND DALE JR. HAVE BEEN CONNECTED SINCE YOUR ROOKIE YEAR. HE JUST PASSED YOU IN THE POINTS. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF HIS SEASON? “I think it is good. It is funny because all the race fans are really passionate but I always get a kick out of his fans and how passionate they are about it. He has had a great year. It has been a lot of fun. Earlier in the year we ran together a lot and finished good together a lot and been by each other on the track. It has been fun when we have both been in the top-five to park out there and talk a little bit. I really like racing with him, I always have. We had a great time in the Nationwide series together. He won those two championships and then we went up and started racing Cup together. We have gone through a lot of years where maybe he was running good and I am not or vice versa and you might not even see each other all day. It is really fun when we get to race against each other out on the race track. I look forward to that and enjoy it.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE GOING THROUGH THE HAT DANCE IN VICTORY LANE? “You need to ask somebody that is winning more. We haven’t been winning much lately. You should ask someone that gets to do it all the time like Jimmie. There is nothing that is not fun about victory lane. When you go through a losing streak or maybe the older you get or longer you have been around I think you enjoy all of it more than maybe you would earlier on.”

WITH SIX RACES LEFT, HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE POINT STANDINGS WEEKLY? “I don’t really look at it very close. I think you try to pace, depending on where you are at, pay attention to where you are in front of 11^th. They re-rank them for wins when you get to the Chase so for us where we are and after a bad week last week you glance at it and see your cushion for being in the top-10. You race as hard as you can every week and finish as high as you can and don’t worry about the points.”

Greg Biffle stands third in the latest Sprint Cup point standings behind teammate Matt Kenseth and 22 points out of first place. The most recent Ford driver to sport a victory at Pocono met with media members after the first practice session at the “Tricky Triangle” Friday afternoon.

GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – HOW WAS PRACTICE? “Practice was really good. A lot better than we were here last time. I think we learned a lot at Indy and Michigan at that one day test, we learned there too. The guys have been working really hard on the rear suspension and have come back the way the 17 was at the first Pocono and trying to perfect that a little bit.”

DID YOU CHANGE THE APPROACH HERE BASED ON WHAT YOU LEARNED HERE IN JUNE? “I think so. We learned a little bit over in Indy and a lot at Michigan trying different things. I think that has picked us up a little speed. We have the car turning a little better.”

IT SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF THE SAME CARS UP THERE AT THE TOP IN PRACTICE. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU ARE WORKING TOWARDS AND SHOOTING FOR A POLE? “Yeah, we definitely are. The weather looks a little iffy tomorrow but this next session we are going to work on longer runs and then at the end of it work on qualifying.”

AFTER THE MICHIGAN TIRE TEST WE HEARD EVERYONE SAY IT WAS GOOD, BUT THAT IS WHAT WE HEARD AFTER THE LAST TEST. WHAT ABOUT THIS TIME AROUND GIVES YOU MORE CONFIDENCE? “What gives us a little more confidence is speeds are a tiny bit slower and what that does is it gives the tire a little bit of relief. A little slower speed won’t be as hard on the tire. Goodyear took a little rubber off the tire so it sheds a little heat and the right side tire was the only issue after we brought the other left. We are really going back with the same left, a little thinner right side and speeds are down a little. I think it will be fine, I really do.”

ONLY FIVE RACES LEFT TO THE CHASE. DO YOU THINK THIS SHORTER RACE WILL HELP ANYBODY? “I don’t think so. I think it is just a more fun race overall. The 500 miles here gets kind of drawn out. I think the 400 mile race is much better for this track.”

EVERYONE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE YAW IN JIMMIES CAR LAST WEEK. “Yeah, we are working hard on trying to figure out what they are doing and we have a little of it, maybe not what they had, but our own version of our rear suspension working hard at it. We learned a little bit at Indy and learned some more at Michigan. You look at the speeds now and we have three Roush cars right near the top. I think we are gaining on what they have or what we are doing is getting is closer.”

MAN VERSUS MACHINE, WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT WHEN YOU SEE HOW MUCH A DIFFERENCE STUFF LIKE THAT MAKES? “It is really both. If the driver can’t give the feedback of what the car is doing then they don’t know what to do to the machine part with all the computers and everything else. You need equal amounts of both. You could say that the car is 90-percent of it and the driver is 90-percent of it but without either you don’t have anything.”

HOW HAS ROAD COURSE PREP CHANGED? “It has changed a lot. Before you used to get these road course specialists that would come in and run really well but now circle track guys have gotten so good and gotten our cars so good. We have learned a lot from those guys and the tests we do have really closed the gap.”

WHAT SECTION OF WATKINS GLEN IS THE MOST CHALLENGING? “I think through the esses. There is a lot of speed there and that is most important, going up the esses. It really sets up the whole back stretch and the bus stop and carousel turn and all that.”

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE OLYMPIC SPORT? “I love the Olympics, all the aspects of it. It is so fun to watch. From the swimming to the gymnastics, all of that. I haven’t seen much more than that right now but I really enjoy that and it is a lot of fun to watch.”

WHICH SPORT WOULD YOU LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN? “I don’t know. I don’t know what I would be good at. I will have to think about that one.”

DESCRIBE THE HAT DANCE IN VICTORY LANE. “Victory lane is a great place to be. Other than that, you just do what you have to do and the hat dance is part of it. To get your picture with all the NASCAR sponsors and all your sponsors and the contingency sponsors. You have to take a picture with many hats on, but at that point you really don’t care.”

DID YOU HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH ALLMENDINGER? DO YOU THINK HE WILL BE ABLE TO COME BACK? “I really don’t have any idea. We weren’t that close or whatever, we didn’t talk that much. I don’t know what the status is. I saw the B sample came back the same test and he is suspended. I imagine he could go through whatever NASCAR requires and come back I would imagine.”

PENSKE RELEASED HIM THIS WEEK. “Yeah, I would have suspected they would release him. He will have to go do his due diligence and come back. Maybe he can come back through the Nationwide series or with another Cup car. I would think it is doable. I don’t know but I think that NASCAR – if he did all the right things he would have a second chance at some point.”

THERE HAVE BEEN SIX DIFFERENCE WINNERS IN THE LAST SIX RACES. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT CHASE CHANCES COMING UP? “That just shows how competitive the sport is getting. Lack of caution flags, different winners, all those things make up why it is so competitive. I think you will see the same thing in the Chase. You are going to see a bunch of different winners and guys up front because it is just so tough.”

NOT TO PIT YOU AGAINST CARL BUT CARL KEEPS SAYING THAT LAST YEAR MADE NO DIFFERENCE AND HE DOESN’T HAVE A HANGOVER. YOU ARE ON THE INSIDE BUT A LITTLE ON THE OUTSIDE. DO YOU SEE ANY DIFFERENCE? “You know, it is weird. We have talked about that and people have asked what the difference is. You know what? We really don’t know. Look at our pickup from last year. It is because we worked hard over the winner, got new guys, Puccia has had a full off-season to work on things and get it going the way we needed to. We had some good tests. That is what made the difference for us. Them, I don’t know what has happened. We look at it and wonder why they aren’t running as good. I know they are looking at what our guys are doing to our cars right now and that is probably why they have more speed this week.”

WHAT IS IT ABOUT WHEN YOU COME CLOSE, TRYING TO COME BACK? HAVE YOU EVER FELT DEFLATION? “Oh yeah, last year it was so depressing last year. We were so close to winning so many times and we would get right there and something would happen. Then we would barely miss the Chase and it was tough to take. Not winning – to go a whole season without winning a race – it wears on you as a driver.”

IT ALMOST SEEMS LIKE IT IS BETTER TO FINISH THIRD OR FOURTH THAN SECOND. “Yeah, it hurts to miss it by a little bit. I did in 2005 and I just can’t believe what Carl went through last year with being tied in the points. That was just phenomenal.”

ANY CONCERN ON PIT ROAD SPEEDING PENALTIES HERE IN JUNE? “Not really. We know where the spots are that you can get trapped and we know it is those shorter sections that you have to watch it in because there is no forgiveness in those short little sections. If you are over by a hair of the measurement is a foot difference than how they calculated it you can get caught.

 

Carl Edwards finished third on the speed chart in the first practice session at Pocono Raceway Friday afternoon and met with members of the media prior to the second session to talk about his day and the aftermath of last weekend’s race at Indianapolis.

CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – I WOULD IMAGINE YOU HAVE YOUR EYES ON VICTORY LANE THIS WEEKEND. “Yeah, that is our mission this week, to go win this race. We had the best practice we have had in a long time here just a couple minutes ago. Chad and all the guys on our Fastenal team are doing a really good job. That is truly the best balance and fastest car we have had here in years. I think all our Fords are pretty fast and I think we gave one away last week, at least a good run. We had our trouble last weekend but at least we had a fast car and have built on that here for the first practice and I think we have as good of a race car as we have ever had at this race track. I am having fun and like you said, we are focused on getting that victory.”

WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET WITH SIX TO GO TO THE CHASE? ARE YOU IN A MUST WIN SITUATION? “We don’t ever panic. We don’t feel that. We know we have to go win races. That is really at the end of the day our job. We are supposed to win races. It is kind of fun in  a way to just have that one singular focus. I think that we are going to be pretty good. I think we can do it. I know we can. We just have to go do it. We have to go make the most of these fast race cars. We have to take chances and remember when we are out there racing that this is not racing for points, we are not racing for anything other than a victory. In a way, that is a simple way to go race and it is pretty fun. We are going to try to have fun with it, make the most of it and hopefully it works out.”

HAS THIS BEEN A HUMBLING EXPERIENCE FOR YOU? A WAKENING EXPERIENCE? A SOBERING EXPERIENCE? CAN YOU REALLY GO BACK TO JUST THE FUN OF RACING FOR A WIN AND DO BETTER? “Well, I fell like as a driver I am pretty good at managing all those pressures and not letting the idea of racing for points take away from how aggressive I am. I feel like I have managed that pretty well. Sometimes you get put in a position where it doesn’t matter if you go points racing and that is the position we are in. There is a whole dimension of the sport for us – getting the most points you can and all that stuff – it just doesn’t matter right now. We aren’t in that position very often and it is different. Like I said, all we can do is go make the most of it. I have been humbled before in this sport where we have expected to run very well in the points and had misfortune or poor performance and haven’t done very well. This is nothing new. I respect how tough this sport is. The position we are in now is not shocking to me. It is frustrating. It is too bad, but we have been here before. I feel like we are strong enough and fast enough and mentally tough enough to go do the best we can and not let this bring us down any farther and I think that is evident by how we qualified last week and are running right now. We haven’t missed a beat, other than the things that have happened like the problem last week and things like that. We haven’t gone out and made big mistakes, which is good.”

DO YOU THINK IF YOU AREN’T TRYING SO HARD IT MIGHT COME EASIER? “I don’t know. If you look at the things that really set us back this season none of them have come from trying too hard or big mistakes. It has been some pretty fluke stuff. A lot of it is pretty new to me. Last week our best guess is that we had a problem with the way the spark plug boot engaged the plug. That is like stuff that you can go running my dirt modified for years and didn’t have that problem. Things that are just fluke things that shouldn’t be happening are happening to us. You can’t control those things. You have to control things you can, give the best effort you can and fortunately right now our cars are fast. That is nice. The last couple weeks they have been really good.”

YOU ARE TAKING PART IN THE 2013 TEST AT MARTINSVILLE NEXT WEEK. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO GET OUT OF THAT? “Personally, I just hope to get some laps at Martinsville to figure out what I am missing there. Anytime I can get some laps at Martinsville I think is good. I have had very poor showings at that race track for a long time. To me, personally, I don’t know what the test plan is or what they are trying to do but I am going to try to get some good laps and hopefully someone like Denny or Jeff Gordon is there so I can have someone to compare myself with and go stand on the corner and watch what they are doing. That is my mission there, to be the best I can be at that race.”

“The guys are going to take care of the car, as soon as they said there was a Martinsville test available I said I was going. I don’t care if we are testing bicycles, if I can be at that track and soak up whatever it is that makes people fast there I need to be there. That is what I am going for.”

WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE WORKING WITH CHAD NORRIS AND HOW IS BOB OSBORNE DOING? “I think Bob is doing pretty well. I have talked to him, texting back and forth, and he doesn’t say much, he is just working. I heard he was complaining about some of the projects they had him working on at the shop so that makes me feel like he is doing okay. As far as Chad, I heard a good one the other day. They said that the Flintstones take Chad Norris vitamins. I thought that was a pretty good one. As far as I can tell that stuff is true. Chad is a real racer. He is really dedicated and he is a very different kind of guy as far as I can tell from Bob. I still don’t know him yet. I don’t know his middle name, I don’t know where his house is at. I don’t know anything about him. In a way that makes it a little simpler. We communicate just at the level of how the car is balanced and what our plans are. There is no other things to talk about because we don’t really know each other. That has been a lot different and I think it has been good. It is what we need right now. If it works that would be great. We are just going to keep digging.”

FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE SEASON YOU GUYS HAVEN’T MADE SPEED LIKE YOU NEED TO BUT THE LAST TWO WEEKS YOU HAVE. WHAT HAS CHANGED? “There are a number of reasons but basically we have been trending – our whole shop has figured some things out and working toward some things – you can see all the cars are running pretty well. I feel that Chad and the guys are doing things a little differently just the last two weeks. Anything can change and we haven’t run a lot but I think the things they are doing are making the cars show a little more speed. I think that what you just said was key. If we can be fast, the rest of the stuff just boils down to putting yourself in position to use that speed and have some luck. If we can do every week like we have this first week and a half we will be in victory lane. Hopefully it is soon enough. I can’t point to one thing we are doing. I know there are a couple little technical things we are doing that I can’t talk about specifically.”

WHAT IS BEHIND THE DECISION TO RUN THE NATIONWIDE RACE AT WATKINS GLEN? IS IT TO GET FAMILIAR FOR SUNDAY OR ARE YOU STIR CRAZY? “A little bit of both. I think that right now we are just trying anything. We are going to go out and throw it all up there and see what sticks. The opportunity was presented by Ford and Jack to run the Nationwide race at Watkins Glen and I thought about it a little bit and then I thought, ‘Of course I will run that race.’ It gives me a chance to have some fun and we can practice something we want to try on the Cup car. Maybe it will help me. I think it is about time to give that a shot and thought it was a really good opportunity. I think Subway is coming on board and it will be fun to run their paint scheme and Scott Graves is the crew chief and he was the engineer on the Nationwide car for all our wins last year with Mike Beam as the crew chief. This is a big deal for him. He was very, very excited when we told him and it would be nice to go do that and be a part of his first race. The whole thing worked out. I think it will be a lot of fun and hopefully at the end of the day we can get a win and help for Sunday.”

MIGHT THERE BE OTHERS? “I don’t know how many we will do. This one just came up. There is the other factor that Ricky and those guys wanted someone at the road course to bounce information off of. If it goes well and we have fun and it gets us in gear for Sunday’s race then there probably would be more. I don’t really know what is going to happen though after that race.”

HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THE SPEED IN YOUR CAR HAS TO DO WITH CHAD COMING FROM THE R&D DEPARTMENT WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO GET AHEAD OF THE CURVE? “That is probably a better question than I am able to answer. The technical stuff – there is probably a lot there and I think that Chad obviously being on the R&D side and the cutting edge of the little things we are doing he is able to look at the car differently. I think that is good.”

DO YOU THINK ALLMENDINGER WILL BE ABLE TO COME BACK? “I don’t know enough about the story. I just saw the headlines the other day so pardon my ignorance. They just released him and they don’t have an agreement anymore at all? Has NASCAR said how long until they would allow AJ to come back and race? I would have to say from my limited interaction with AJ that he seems like a very mentally tough guy that can deal with things pretty well. I have sat in a lot of meeting with him, been on the race track with him a lot and I think that as a racer he is a very fast racer. I don’t know him personally very well but it seems like if anybody could come back from it it seems like he could do it. He is a young guy with a lot of enthusiasm and huge talent. I wish him the best.”

WOULD YOU BE FINE RACING AGAINST HIM? “Of course. I would be fine racing against him.”

WE SEEM TO ALWAYS WORRY ABOUT BRAKES HERE. WHAT IS YOUR THINKING ABOUT TURN ONE AND BRAKES HERE? “I was really surprised at the 31’s brake problem last week. I didn’t know as a group in the garage that we were pushing it that hard. I know Drew and Jeff Burton are very astute and not going to be the guy to abuse the brakes. That surprised me when that happened. I think anytime when you are going this fast and the racing is as close as it is, there is so much energy in those race cars that to slow them down puts a lot of heat through the brake system. The other thing that the driver – I don’t think about it enough – but when you follow other people you don’t get that high pressure air in the brake duct and don’t cool the brake as well. The way you read your brake temperature is you feel that pedal and can tell when it starts getting hot. Sometimes the fluid will boil a little and it will get a little mushy. Sometimes you can feel the pedal bouncing because there is build up or cracks but it is really hard to diagnose your brakes just through the pedal. I have said for a long time there should be some sort of shocker in the seat and when you push the brakes it shocks you so you get a negative reinforcement to push the brake pedal. We haven’t figured that one out yet. I think that might be one of the projects Bob is working on. He would probably like to have some sort of shocker hooked to me.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE TURN HERE? “Can you have three least favorite turns at Pocono? Every one of them gives me problems. This is the best we have been for a long time. Generally I get into turn one and go in way to fast and the thing won’t turn and I step on the throttle and am really loose. By the time I build my courage up for the tunnel run I either under or over drive it. If you under drive the tunnel turn you hit that curb and waste your whole lap. I have a history of doing that and it has given me a ton of trouble. In turn three it is so flat and if you are loose you slide that thing all the way up to the fence and it is tough to be soft enough on the pedals and not shock the tires and all that. All three of them are very different. The first time I came here I noticed it was a very mentally taxing race track because you are attacking three totally different corners over and over. It is hard to keep them all three straight. I know that sounds silly but we are only race car drivers. Three corners is an awful lot. It is a pretty tough place.”

AFTER THE MICHIGAN TIRE TEST WE HEARD EVERYONE SAY IT WAS GOOD, BUT THAT IS WHAT WE HEARD AFTER THE LAST TEST. WHAT ABOUT THIS TIME AROUND GIVES YOU MORE CONFIDENCE? “I don’t even know what tire we are coming back with. We went there and we tested and I think we were one of the guinea pigs, our team. They just had us go run and Goodyear kept coming over to me and asking if it was okay. They were, they drove better than the tires before. I don’t know exactly what they are going to do with that information and I haven’t heard what tire we are going to come back with. I know they don’t want to go through the same thing they went through. Even if we had the same problem, I know they have tires they can put on the cars. They won’t drive very well, but they will make it through the race and give a good race. It seemed fine though.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING AN ATHLETE DEPENDING ON MACHINE AND NOT JUST YOURSELF? “That is a good question. I tell you one thing I notice from the Olympics, the press are hard on those guys. The Olympians, maybe they aren’t as salty as us. You guys get away with a lot rougher questions with those guys than you do with us. Anyway, I could go on a rant about that but my thinking on that has changed a little bit. When I started  racing I thought it was great because I am a total control freak and to me it was great because I controlled what happened, I picked the setup and built the car and did all these things and it was an individual sport. I think a lot of racers are like that and want to do everything yourself. Then I started thinking about all the mechanical things that can happen. That is how we really look at the sport as a whole is that there is the driver and the car. I’ve realized that those mechanical things are built by other people. It is really just more people involved. Still there are some mechanical problems like what we had last week but most of that has a human action involved in it. There are days when I really wish we could just park the cars and get out and have a foot race or some other physical competition because I fell like my car is holding me up. There are other days that my car has made me look like a great race car driver. It is all about people.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE “I think in general most of Jimmie Johnson’s success comes from his car and has nothing to do with Jimmie (laughter). In this sport you can be as physically and mentally prepared as you can be – you can be the best race car driver you can be but if you car isn’t good or someone at the shop isn’t paying attention when they put something together that can be bad. That is part of what makes the sport so neat. When you stand there in victory lane and see your engine guy, crew chief and engineer and everyone has worked together and built something better than all the other teams out there and then you drove it really well and all those things come together it is a really neat feeling. It truly is a different type of sport. We talked about that while watching the Olympics. Why can’t we have auto racing in the Olympics – because if you won you would have to give a gold medal to so many different guys – there are so many parts to a race team that it isn’t an individual sport. I appreciate that on a lot of days. It is a lot of fun.”

IF YOU WERE IN THE OLYMPICS, WHAT SPORT WOULD IT BE? “I can tell you a lot of sports that it wouldn’t be. I have been watching the Olympics and though – ‘I could do that.’ For like one second I think that. I don’t know what I would do in the Olympics. I need a race car out there to jump off of to do any gymnastics. I have been watching and it has been really neat to watch. My trainer, Dean Golich from Carmichael Training Systems is at the Olympics with some athletes he trains and to have everything culminate from four years of work to one floor exercise or one time trail on a bike or a 100M race in a pool, I can’t imagine the amount of pressure that would be on. We get to do this 38 times a year and it is still a lot of pressure. That would be very difficult. I have a lot of respect for those athletes. It is amazing.”

COULD RACING BE IN THE OLYMPICS SOME DAY? “The closest thing I have done is the Race of Champions. That is a pretty neat format. I don’t know how you would do racing. I don’t know. That would be interesting but there is probably a way to do it. I don’t know if the world is ready for a bunch of race car drivers in the Olympics. I don’t know if Bob Costas could explain some of the things we would do or say.”

 

 

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