ON RACING AT BRISTOL:
“We really had a blast here last year. I hadn’t come to race for a couple years here, and we came with the 5 car and had a blast in both races. I’m certainly looking forward to it. I hope that we get our car as dialed in as it was last year here.”
VETERAN PERSPECTIVE ON MEETING TOMORROW BETWEEN CARL AND BRAD, WHAT TYPE OF MESSAGE DO YOU THINK NASCAR WILL CONVEY TO THOSE TWO?
“‘You guys need to get along.’ That’s the message that they’ll convey to them, and it’s not something that they don’t already know. It’s a procedure that you go through; it’s standard procedure. Those guys already know pretty much what they need to do, and they will just sit down in the presence of NASCAR and be reminded of it.”
KNOWING WHAT HAPPENED AT ATLANTA, HOW CLOSELY DO YOU EXPECT NASCAR TO BE WATCHING EVERYONE ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON?
“The same as they watch every other week. No different. I think there’s a degree of over-sensationalizing what’s going on there. It was a really bad accident, something that wasn’t intended. Since then, it’s been over-sensationalized because the accident was worse than what was intended.”
I KNOW YOU WON FIVE RACES LAST YEAR, BUT LOOKING BACK AT THE 500 LAPS AT BRISTOL AND BATTLING KYLE BUSCH AT THE END, HOW PROUD ARE YOU OF THAT RACE?
“Well, I was proud of our team and our effort. We led the most laps and we did a great job. The double-file restart there was something that added drama to the race because it rearranged the finish, and that’s what the double-file restart is all about.”
YEARS AGO WHEN THERE WAS A BIG CRASH AND GUYS THAT WERE MANY LAPS DOWN FIXED THEIR CAR TO COME BACK OUT, THERE WAS AN OUTCRY FOR THEM TO JUST PARK IT BECAUSE COMING BACK OUT COULD LEAD TO MORE TROUBLE. SEEING WHAT CARL DID 150-LAPS DOWN, DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD LOOK AT THE RULE TO LET GUYS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO GAIN JUST PARK IT AND GO HOME?
“I don’t know. That’s a question for NASCAR, not a question that I would be qualified to give a good answer to. They would be much more qualified to field that question than I would.”
WHEN NASCAR SAID HAVE AT IT BOYS, WHAT DID THAT MEAN TO YOU AND DID YOU THINK IT WOULD END UP WITH WHAT WE SAW A COUPLE WEEKS AGO?
“That accident had a result that was unintended and big; you have to keep that in mind. When they said have at it boys, I thought they meant to take care of it when you step out of the car on pit road. That’s what I thought, but it is pretty open and that was their way of bringing in interest and drama and infusing excitement into the sport. For me, it didn’t mean anything changed because I was already having at it, and I’m still having at it in the way that I have at it. I need to restrain myself from trying to dream up things to do that were ugly, so for me it didn’t mean a lot of change. Since that accident turned out to be something of unintended consequences, it ended up being a bigger deal than it might have been.”
YOU WERE A TEAMMATE TO CARL EDWARDS, DO YOU THINK THE MEDIA MAY MISUNDERSTAND HIM AND LOOK AT HIM AS AN INTIMIDATING PRESENCE AND DEEM HIM AS GUILTY BEFORE EVER EVEN BEING GIVE A FAIR TRIAL?
“I don’t know. I really don’t want to talk about all that. I’m not Dr. Phil. I don’t know what you think about Carl. I think Carl is a standup guy and a really, really fine young man. I think that he sure didn’t mean for that to happen.”
WITH THE ALTERATION OF THE SAFER BARRIER, I KNOW A LOT OF GUYS WERE OUT WALKING THE TRACK TO SEE WHAT THE CHANGES LOOKED LIKE. DO YOU THINK IT IS GOING TO AFFECT ANYTHING ON THE TRACK?
“It will. It will affect where you pick up the throttle. I think you’re going to have to roll a few feet further around the corner before you pick up the throttle or get all of it. It will make a slight difference. We did have a little excess room. About half of what they took we really didn’t need and really didn’t use, so that’s a good thing. We really only gave up about a foot-and-a-half. It is a smaller change than a repave or a lot changes that we’ve experienced through the years. I really don’t expect it to be a major thing, although I do expect to see a few stripes on quarter panels from that standpoint. We will be a little bit more confined at our exit because we were exiting past the barrier before, and so we had some extra room. We’ll tighten it up a little bit, but I don’t think it will be anything major.”
GOING INTO THE TALLADEGA TEST, YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE PRETTY WILD AND CRAZY. IT APPEARED THAT THEY WORKED HARD FINDING THE PROPER PACKAGE. ARE YOU HAPPY WITH WHERE YOU ENDED UP AT THE END OF THE DAY?
“I was happier than how we started. I don’t know what the final outcome with what the size of the rear spoiler will be. Certainly as we cut down on the spoiler it got better, and the situations got better on the race track. I didn’t talk to nearly everybody, but the guys that I did talk to all liked the smaller spoilers and hopefully we’ll have something like that. As far as the drivability you couldn’t even tell the difference in the drivability when you took the spoiler down. There is so much incredible difference with the smooth, new asphalt. They learned something through the years about the asphalt mixture. It used to be in five years that the asphalt was old and worn out after a repave, and today five years afterwards it’s lighter in color, but it doesn’t feel older or worn out at all. Like at Charlotte, we kept saying that Charlotte would get back to the way it used to be. I don’t think Charlotte will ever get back exactly to where it used to be because I don’t think the asphalt itself will open up and be like rocks like sticking up. It is closed up a lot more; it is smoother and the surface is not open. It’s a different mixture that they’re using everywhere. Darlington has it as well.”
THREE YEARS AGO THEY INTRODUCED THE WING HERE AND NOW THEY’RE GOING TO GET RID OF IT AFTER THIS WEEKEND. WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON IT, WILL YOU MISS IT AT ALL OR DO YOU THINK THE SPOILER WILL BE PREFERABLE?
“The spoiler is preferable. Aesthetics-wise it looks like a racecar, it looks like a stock car, it looks like a NASCAR-car just the way that I remember them going all the way back to the ‘70s. That side of it is great. The racing will continue to get better and [the spoiler] is one small part of that. It will make cars more competitive—they’ll race better, pass better, and run in packs better. Also, kudos to Goodyear for continually making big strides in putting tires on the car that the cars really like.”
WE ALL KNOW HOW PHYSICALLY FIT YOU ARE, BUT ARE THERE TIMES AFTER 500 HUNDRED LAPS AROUND HERE THAT YOU JUST FEEL WHIPPED?
“I have in the past, but I didn’t last year. I think that the racetrack being not as rough helped that. It was so brutally rough on top of everything else that caused you to have to fight the race car a lot harder. With this surface and multiple grooves, it is still hard work—and it’s always going to be hard work—but it wasn’t as physically demanding on me.”
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