Scott Speed is going to be doing some unique double duty this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, racing twice on Saturday, in two completely different events. Saturday afternoon, Scott and could driver Kyle Busch, they be in the 02 Waste Management Lexus Riley in the Brumos Porsche 250. That’s the seventh race of the season for the Grand Am Rolex sports car series.
Scott and Kyle, they are going to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix in the 250, and after a short break, come back on track. Saturday night, Scott will be in his usual ride, No. 82 Red Bull Toyota for the Coke Zero 400, 17th race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
Q. Maybe to open up, talk about some of the challenges Saturday that’s going to be ahead as we are going to present you and Kyle Busch as you go back and forth between the two cars.
SCOTT SPEED: Well, yeah, for one, the car is a completely different. Not only is it racing different being on a road course but the cars themselves having so much more downforce are obviously completely different to drive. Luckily we got a test session in yesterday. We were able to do some laps which was for sure very beneficial for both of us rust to get into the groove of so the of driving a car that’s so much different and that actually has some grip.
And then, yeah, I mean, to have the two different races on the same day, I’m sure that’s going to be interesting. I’m sure Kyle will be more used to doing that kind of stuff than I am. But nonetheless, for both of us it’s going to be a big challenge to go from a car that’s got a lot of grip and turning right to Daytona where you’re just trying to keep it flat-out and drafting all day.
Q. The rookie class, obviously Joey Logano is kind of running away with things there. But you and Joey were involved in an incident in the first race at Daytona. How have you see him improve since then?
SCOTT SPEED: I think obviously a lot. Joey started off, you know, as you expect, struggling a bit at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, but you know, clearly they have had their stuff together for a while now. Probably since around Las Vegas they have been going really in the right direction. It’s good to see obviously being able to pull out a win.
Q. What about him is different now than maybe at Daytona?
SCOTT SPEED: More experience in the cars, I would say. You’ve got to realize as well, there’s a big difference in the rookie class as just general experience. Joey is 18, but he grew up racing these type of cars.
My advantage out of the whole deal was that I’ve already raced in Formula 1 and in a high-pinnacle series, so I’ve dealt with the pressures and media obligations and all that, and certainly he has picked that stuff up surprisingly well for his age. I’m sure he’ll be really successful at it.
Q. For a lot of the season, you’ve had to race your way in, for the first ten races. Is it frustrating for a team like yours prepared to run the whole race having to fight for position with teams not prepared to run a whole race?
SCOTT SPEED: I don’t know I think it’s just the economic time at the moment. It’s not that they don’t want to run the whole race, they physically can’t. They are in a difficult situation. I think the fact that the top 35 is locked in and if you’re not in that top 35, you have to qualify in, and I think that just shows the strength of the series.
In fact, you have more guys wanting to race than can physically do so. And then the way they have done it, it makes sense, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the program.
For us, it’s we the got a bit unlucky in the beginning of the year actually, and we got ourselves in the top 35 and then we are in really not the best position, because obviously, you know, it’s a bit of advantage to be able to not have to worry about it, but a position we are in and we are dealing with it the best we can and it just the way life goes. I don’t think there’s anything that’s wrong with it, it’s just I think if anything, it just shows the strength of the series.
Q. And second question, where did you and Kyle test, and did you get a feel for whether or not you guys both like the same thing in a sports car or not, or do you have different feels for it?
SCOTT SPEED: I think we both like the similar thing for sure. I think everyone has to really understand that something like this has got a lot of downforce, not only is it on a road course which Kyle, he’s obviously demonstrated he can drive those fine, but driving a car with downforce is something completely different than Kyle has ever done before. And I have to say, how fast he was able to progress and how much he picked up was truly impressive. He’s a man, there’s no question. One good thing was we were able to fit into the same seat, we are similar sizes and we like the same car setup. A lot of the big fundamental things we got out of the way and I think it will work out good with the two of us.
Q. Where was that?
SCOTT SPEED: We tested in Putnam Park.
Q. My understanding the Putnam Park test near Indianapolis came off really well for you guys with you coming out a little bit faster, but then again you’ve had that aerodynamic aspect in your life, inaudible, and trust going deeper into the turns before climbing on the brakes?
SCOTT SPEED: Look, from where we started when we got there to where we ended, it was a huge difference, and driving a road course, like I said it’s one thing. But driving a car that it has got downforce, you attack the corners differently, and it requires a totally different driving style which falls right into my lap; that’s how I’ve driven cars my whole life.
So certainly a lot easier for me to get used to this type of car. But Kyle is, how quickly he can adapt and how well he analyzes the data and learns by seeing what we are doing and how we are able to take the corners, I think by the end of Daytona he’s going to be just fine, no question.
Q. Part of this I would determine is being a fun factor race where you don’t have the types of pressures that you would engage in elsewhere, but I also suspect that the racer inside of you wants to do well. Would you address that, please?
SCOTT SPEED: Well, there’s no question, we didn’t go there to have fun. We have fun racing and we have fun racing the RC car. We go there to win for sure. I think that it’s going to be tough for us. I think we’ve got, you know, a lack of experience doing this stuff, but hopefully we’ll be competitive to where we can challenge for the win. I mean, at the end of the day, that’s what we are going there to do.
Q. Have you figured out which one will drive at which time?
SCOTT SPEED: Yeah, because we are going to fit into the same seat, we are not going to adjust anything. Kyle likes his lower belt strap really, really, really tight, so to get him into the car after a driver change, we figure would take a little bit of time.
So just purely from the amount of time and how quickly we can get in and out of the car, it was a bit quicker for us to have Kyle drive first, so that’s at the moment what our current strategy is, to have him qualify the car and run the first stint and have me run the latter part of the race.
Q. Seeing that you have to qualify in time for the 400, was there any concern on the part of the Red Bull team on your energy or focus, having to prepare for the Grand Am race, as well, and the 400?
SCOTT SPEED: Well, considering you can pretty much put a monkey in the car and qualify at Daytona, I would say they are not really worrying about me qualifying. The bigger concern is how much do we have to go into a qualifying setup, this being an impound race and everything, and it being super hot, how much is that going to affect us. A lot of guys are going to go in there with a really, really, with a car that doesn’t really qualify very well, but after ten laps it’s going to be able to run close to flat in the corners.
So it’s really a gamble for us. We are going to go in there with pretty much 85, 90 percent of the race in there and hopefully we are fast enough and can keep it. If we have and we have plenty of stuff in the bank, there’s no question we can show up there and grab the pole by tenths if we really went there with a qualifying set up. We are going to try to play it as close to the edge as we can to have as much of a race setup in the car but it does play into the fact that you have to qualify or not because you have to give up a bit of a race set up to make sure you get into the race.
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