TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND.
“Yeah, I like Martinsville. This is a fun track to us. One we look forward to coming to each year. Just excited about it. We didn’t have a very good practice this morning but we’ll sit back and its Darian Grubb’s (crew chief) strength to sit in there after practice is over and try to dissect over all the information and coming up with a game plan so hopefully we’ll get a little better practice in tomorrow and not get totally rained out.”
ONE OF THE GUYS WHO HAS MADE THE BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT THIS YEAR IS JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, AS SOMEBODY WHO IS RACING WITH HIM WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN HIM PICK UP RELATIVE TO THE OTHER DRIVERS AND WHAT ARE HIS STRENGTHS?
“His strengths are he just has a ton of talent. What he’s done different I don’t know. I mean right before the Chase started they started hitting and really found something that seems to be working everywhere for them. His talent showed the first day he showed up here in a Cup car so that side of it hasn’t changed. He’s been there all along.”
HOW BIG WAS THE SPRING MARTINSVILLE FOR YOU AND HOW HAS YOUR SEASON PROGRESSED FOR BOTH YOU AND NEWMAN BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN PRETTY AWESOME SINCE?
“Well you kind of answered your own question. But yeah it was a good feeling to get our first top-five here. It’s been an awesome year. Obviously to come here that early in the year and get our first top-five was a big momentum boost for the whole organization. The same day that we got our first top-five here I think Ryan ended up eighth but he charged from the back to do it twice I think. Even though he didn’t get the lime light at the end of it he probably had more of an impressive day with his run then we had with ours. I think we both left here with the feeling that we had two great race teams that were able to be competitive and be able to fight back and have good runs.”
COULD YOU TALK ABOUT THE ATMOSPHERE IN THIS GARAGE GIVING PEOPLE ADVICE AS TO OPPOSED TO OPEN-WHEEL RACING, IS IT A BIG ADJUSTMENT FOR SOMEONE FROM A DIFFERENT CIRCUIT TO BE OPEN ABOUT GIVING TIPS?
“Yeah, I think a lot of the other forms of racing I’ve been a part of you didn’t see that a lot but here you see that more and more. I think it’s because the guys respect each other more here but at the same time if the guys that you’re racing with are out there making mistakes they’re putting you at just as much risk especially in a 500-lap race. At some point you are going to be around them and if they’re doing things wrong that puts you in a bad spot. You help them out and the thing is it’s kind of a cycle. I mean there was somebody that helped us out when we first came in and I think ads our careers progress and mature we all do the same thing for the new guys coming in as it is their turn. It just seems like it’s a cycle that the veteran drivers help the rookies.”
WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE?
“Well when they’re beating you, you stop. That’s a pretty easy line to draw. You go back to them and say hey, now what do I need to do. You don’t tell them how to do everything, but you explain to them the etiquette involved, you explain to them the little things that help as the day goes on. It’s not always things that’s going to help them beat you but its stuff that’s going to help them have a more enjoyable day and keep them from having as many problems on the race track.”
COULD YOU COMMENT ON SOUTH BOSTON SPEEDWAY?
“I ran a midget race there but I don’t really remember much about it. I’ve only been there I think twice total and the one night we got rained out so I didn’t even get a chance to run. It seemed like a fun track. I didn’t run there in anything heavy just ran the midget division that night and we had fun. It was a fun track to run with those cars but I haven’t really been there with any other type of race car.”
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