Subway Fresh 500 - Rookie Thursday Quotes

J.J YELEY, No. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET: “It’s hot here [laughs]. I am from the Phoenix area. It’s good to come home. It’s probably one of the races I look forward most to and dread at the same time. I don’t get to come to Phoenix but twice a year and there’s a lot of family and friends that want to come by and say hello. The schedule is always very hectic and tight, just racing between the Cup series and Busch Series and trying to find free time to spend with family and friends is difficult. At the same time you’d like to unwind with your own time and unfortunately none of that exists when you’re here at home.” WHAT IS ONE FUN THING THAT YOU’VE DONE SINCE YOU ARRIVED HERE? “The most fun I’ve had so far since I’ve been here is gone through both practices [smiles]. No matter what I do racing is the thing that I look forward to most. I spent some time with my family yesterday. Me and Kristin and Faith just walked around the mall. I enjoy that time because I don’t get to do it very often. Today has been pretty good to us so far and we’re just looking for a good run.” YOU’VE HAD SOME GREAT RUNS IN THE NEXTEL CUP AND BUSCH SERIES. WHAT CAN YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT TO? “Just confidence. I have a better feel for the racecar. I know when I go out on the racetrack I know what I’m looking for in the racecar. It’s hard to describe but it’s something that clicks all of a sudden. All the cars are so close that it doesn’t matter, especially in the Cup series, it’s all about chemistry: trying to know Steve Addington the crew chief and him knowing what I’m looking for in the racecar. He’s given me that so far. We’ve had a little bit of bad luck. We’ve been caught up in some things not of our own doing that have hurt our finishes but we’ve consistently been in the top-10, top-15 every week. We just need to make sure that we finish there versus running there.” WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE REASON FOR YOUR SUCCESS SO FAR THIS SEASON? “I know a lot of people picked Denny or Truex to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Clint has been very consistent and he is still leading the points, I believe. We’re all in good equipment and like I said before that makes such a huge difference. When you’re with a multi-car team, you’re going out there with all the right resources so it makes it easier on the driver because you’re not trying to make up for lack of equipment. We’ve got the best of stuff. Good communication between crew chiefs, even between the drivers. Me and Denny talk, me and Tony talk. We circulate what we’re feeling in the racecar to try to help each other out. I think that’s something that something that some of the other teams have had that have made them more successful than the other multi car teams is that you have to have communication and think that’s something that’s getting better with us.” HOW CLOSE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO A WIN? “In the Busch Series, I think I definitely should have already won one. We let some slip away and I think we’re on the edge of getting one. On the Cup side, I’m not even focusing on trying to win races right now. We have to run consistently top-10s, top-fives. You run top-five every week, you’re going to win races. Tony goes out there and, I won’t say he makes Denny and I look bad, but he’s led a lot of laps and he’s won races. But him and Zippy have been together for eight years. They don’t even have to talk over the radio. They use telepathy or something. They already know exactly what they want to do with the racecar. With laps, we’re going to get that and we’re going to be fast.” WHAT KIND OF LEADER IS TONY? “Tony is 35 now and he’s still growing up. Of the three of us, I guess I would be the statesman because I’m married, I have a child and both of those guys are bachelors and they ham it up and have a lot of fun. Tony is a two-time champion. He’s definitely a guy that I know that I can go to for advice and whatever he tells you, you can believe. He’s a good friend and he’s going to do whatever he can to help me or Denny out because he wants to see us succeed.” ARE YOU GUYS CLOSE TO GETTING JOE GIBBS RACING TO BEING ONE OF THE ELITE TEAMS? “Well, they won the championship last year. I think that should help them out [laughs]. I hope so. I think that’s something that’s different this year than any other year at Joe Gibbs Racing. When we go to the racetrack all three cars are very similar in setup. Bobby needed such a different setup for his driving style from what Tony had. Even though they were still one team, they almost ran as two separate entities. We don’t have that anymore. And I think because of that, we’re going to make each other better and better every week. We’re going to work on finding things now versus just guessing at stuff.” DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE AT THIS TRACK? YOU HAVE A LOT OF LAPS HERE AT PHOENIX. “I have the most confidence coming here to Phoenix. I’ve got more races run here. I’ve won here in different divisions. I’m still behind on laps compared to everyone here. I was a kid playing around the infield watching guys like Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace, guys that have been here for so long. Kenny Schrader has a zillion laps here so I still have a long way to go. I have the most confidence coming here and this is a racetrack that I would really love to win at. It would be similar to Tony winning there at the Brickyard just because this is your hometown and you want to do it front of your fans.” AT THE CUP LEVEL, DOES IT BOIL DOWN TO EQUIPMENT? EVERY DRIVER HERE IS VERY GIFTED. “It does, it really does. You can take a great racecar driver and maybe put him in a different ride and he is going to shine more so than if there is not the chemistry there and I think that has been proven with different drivers and different rides. We’re just trying to work as a real tight-knit group here to where we don’t have any problems. We can get the communication to where we can all be fast.”

Earlier this week, Steve Lane was named crew chief for Raybestos Rookie David Stremme. Lane and Stremme discussed the personnel change Thursday aft Phoenix.

STEVE LANE, CREW CHIEF, No. 40 COORS LIGHT DODGE: “It’s a golden opportunity for me. I’ve got to thank Chip and Felix both for letting me do it.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ENTERING THIS WEEKEND? “Today, qualifying. Just get a good qualifying spot and go from there.” DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE BEHIND? “If I said no I’d be lying to you, especially being thrown in here. I had a couple of days to work on the car and a Saturday night show, it kind of pushes everything back but yes, yes definitely.” HOW DELICATE IS THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE DRIVER AND CREW CHIEF? “I think it’s definitely delicate. One guy is not going to make or break a race team nowadays. We’ve got a lot of really, really good people and I think it’s just a matter of putting all the parts and people in place and I supposed that’s my job from here on out. It’s going to take a little time to get where we need to go.” AT THE BIGGER NEXTEL CUP TEAMS, IS THERE ONE PHILOSOPHY THAT EVERYONE FOLLOWS? “I think we’d like to think of it that way at Ganassi. We’re pretty much one team. Do we want to have all the same cars? Definitely. We want to tweak them here and there but we don’t want to get so far off that one of us is going down a road that we can’t get back. Yes, we want to be three cars and one team.” ARE YOU IN A REBUILDING MODE? “Definitely. I think for us, what we’re going to try to do is follow more of what the 41 is doing and having the luxury of working with Jimmy, those cars, those people, those pieces and yes, we’re going to try to rebuild our stuff more like the 41 and try to pattern it after them. It’s like a 41 spin off, if you would.” AND YOU GO TO A RESTRICTOR PLATE RACE NEXT WEEK. “Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me [laughs] but I think we’ll be okay. The motor shop has worked really hard. We had a meeting on Monday and those guys are pumped up about what they’re bringing to the table. After talking to them, I feel really good about going. We should be good.” HOW MUCH PRESSURE? “Like I said, if I told you there was none I’d be lying to you so let’s just say lots [laughs].” HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR DRIVER? “Absolutely. He’s proved that he can get the job done. He’s our guy no matter what, whether I’m standing here or whoever the guy is that’s crew chiefing, he is the driver. He’s proven that he can get the job done here at Phoenix. He’s finished third in the Busch car here twice. I have a lot of confidence in our driver.” STREMME HAS HAD A TOUGH SEASON. HOW MUCH OF A ROLE DO YOU PLAY TO KEEP HIS CONFIDENCE UP? “You’ve got to keep the driver pumped up, got to keep the crew pumped up because it’s a people sport. We can all buy the same parts, pieces, and cars. We can buy that stuff nowadays but to keep everybody’s confidence up is going to be big. I agree with that.” WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS? “Let’s just say that in the next three weeks we need to get inside the top-35 in points, get our cars turned around to where we’re more like that 41-type spin off and then from there we’ll start making our small gains. We’ve got to go from 37th in points to the top-35, then we go to the top-25 and top-15. In the next couple of weeks, let’s just get inside the top-35.” ARE YOU GUYS WORKING A LOT AT THE SHOP? “Absolutely. The last couple of days it’s been six in the morning until about eight at night and then I take the stuff home with me and start again. It’s been some pretty hectic days to say the least.” HOW LONG WITH THAT SCHEDULE LAST? “I think it will last a couple of weeks and once we get everything where we want to go, get some cars scheduled to go to the fab shop and body shop like we want, after a couple of weeks it will definitely settle down and things will get a lot easier for us for sure.”

DAVID STREMME, No. 40 COORS LIGHT DODGE: IS THIS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? “Obviously Chip and Felix think so. We haven’t by no means had a spectacular year or even a decent year and you can’t really pin it on one person. We haven’t run well so we did some changes around. It’s not like we brought in anybody different. We did some swapping around with the teams and I think it will benefit us. It will definitely bring everybody closer because Steve knows what’s in the 41. Right now the 41 and 42 have been really good as far as organization. We’ll just keep working and see where we end up. I’ve got a lot of faith in our team, though, and the organization. I believe we are strong. The Cup level is strong and it’s hard to get a hold but I look to make some improvements this weekend but it’s going to be a building process. We’re going to have to change some cars around and do some stuff so I think it will definitely get better. You’re always looking to continue growing and make yourself better. I didn’t know about the change until Sunday night. Come Monday morning we had a meeting and I think just as an organization as a whole we’re trying to get better. Our 40 team hasn’t been that great. We definitely know that it’s a lot better. We have good equipment. We have good people around us. We just have to get all the chemistry right and get the car to drive like I like it and we’ll be fine.” HOW DELICATE IS THE CHEMISTRY AND RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DRIVER AND CREW CHIEF? “You find some people and they gel right away and some people, it takes a little time. But when you work together you have to be able to understand one another and already Steve and I have been talking. And again, he’s been with the organization and he’s heard me. One nice thing is that Reed and Casey, we all kind of like the same things so you can pretty much start with each other. We can start with one of their setups and kind of work off that and kind of get the team going a little better, too. Vandermoss is over on the 41 so we can go over there and talk to him or Steve can go talk to him about some of the things that I’m saying and help understand.” SO HOPEFULLY THERE IS NOT GOING TO BE A BIG LEARNING CURVE? “Steve is definitely familiar with the Dodge Charger, he’s familiar with our cars. I think it’s something that, again, it’s going to make the whole organization stronger. We’ve got to get them all running better. The 41 and 42 have had really good runs this year and we haven’t so we needed to make a change.”

Raybestos Rookies Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer participated in a media function Thursday at Phoenix.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FEDEX EXPRESS CHEVROLET: “It’s been a up and down season. After Martinsville I’ve probably never been more depressed after one race probably in my whole career, knowing that we had a top-five car. We qualified there in the back because of my own fault, getting up in the loose stuff in qualifying. We finally got to the top 10 and had a cut tire and then backed it in. Just that one race back, we’re right there top-10 in points. On top of that, at Atlanta we were leading for half of the race and had two cut tires there. It’s one of those deals where we know that we’re running well. We’re running top-10 every single week. We’re right there. We just have to work on finishing it off and we’re slowing gaining it back. We’ve got to get more consistent.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 07 SYLVANIA CHEVROLET: “It’s been up and down as well, and with all of us Raybestos Rookies it looks like. The Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet has been good and we’ve struggled, also. We’re proud of our consistency at least. We’re sitting pretty good in points still and we’ve just got to get things turned around. Phoenix has been a good track for me and hopefully we can get things started off on the right foot again here in Phoenix.”

HAMLIN: YOU WON THE POLE HERE AT PHOENIX HERE LAST NOVEMBER. YOU MUST BE EXCITED ABOUT COMING BACK HERE. “I’m pretty excited about it. This is probably my favorite place to go out at night and probably my favorite racetrack [smiles]. It’s good to be back here. It’s a flat mile track, which fits right into my driving style. We don’t really look to run outside the top-10 in both series. We’ve got a better Busch program than what we had last year and I feel that we are a race-winning contender just about every week there. We just need to get a little bit better on the Cup side. We’re a top-10 car, but not consistently a top-five car every week. I know it’s going to take time to get that far but as a driver you’re never happy unless you’re first.”

BOWYER: LIKE HAMLIN, YOU ARE RUNNING BOTH BUSCH AND CUP HERE THIS WEEKEND. “The main thing is our Busch program hasn’t really run up to par, up to speed with the rest of these guys. I had a really good run at Nashville. It was a track where we thought we’d be good at and it was a good confidence and momentum booster coming into Phoenix where we had a good run last year. Hopefully we can keep that momentum up in the Busch car and carry it on to the race on Sunday as well.” WHAT ADVICE DO YOU GIVE TO RAYBESTOS ROOKIE DRIVERS IN BUSCH? “Probably for me when those guys come down, the Mark Martins, Matt Kenseths, Greg Biffles, those type of guys that are coming down the Busch Series, learn all you can from them. Race with them, give them respect and they’ll show you respect and gain experience from those guys because it goes a long ways when you get over here to the Cup side when those guys know who they’re racing against. When they pull up on that yellow stripe on their bumper they don’t just knock you out of the way.”

HAMLIN: WHAT ADVICE DO YOU GIVE TO RAYBESTOS ROOKIE DRIVERS IN BUSCH? “I see a lot of my tendencies from last year in the Busch Raybestos Rookies this year. I could almost strangle some of them sometimes. I wish I could just tell them exactly ‘This is what I did last year, same thing you’re doing, and it’s not the right thing.’ Just racing too hard at the wrong times and getting themselves in bad situations but it’s just part of the learning curve. It’s something all rookies go through and it’s something that me and Clint and Martin will go through this year in the Cup series. I’ve had my run-ins already with the veterans in the Cup series and I talked it over with Mark and we’re on the same page now. And I think I’m a better driver now because of it. It’s definitely a situation where guys like me and Clint have been racing just as many years as these guys. We’ve just been racing different things. Our racing experience is no different. We know how to race and we shouldn’t be treated any differently.” COMMENT ON TONY STEWART AS A TEAMMATE AND LEADER AT JOE GIBBS RACING. “Most definitely. There’s a lot of times that I’ve gone to his motorhome and asked him things and every time he sees me the first thing he says is ‘Be patient, just be patient.’ These races are so long and it’s just not racing these other guys that you need to be patient. It’s using up your brakes early and if you don’t have enough car left at the end, you’re not going to be able to be a contender. He’s taught me a lot and I know he’s helped J.J. out a lot. I think out of all the Raybestos Rookies, J.J. has been one the biggest surprises based on how he ran those first few races last year and the way he’s performed this year.”

BOWYER: KEVIN HARVICK AND JEFF BURTON HAVE THEIR OWN PERSONALITIES AT RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING. WHERE DO YOU FIT IN? “Probably straight up the middle [laughs]. Kevin Harvick, everybody knows his personality and Jeff Burton is pretty laid back, experienced and pretty polished. I think I’m kind of in the middle and it’s a good group for me to bounce off of because you can learn bits and pieces from each of them. Jeff Burton with all his years of experience and Kevin Harvick being a little bit closer to my age and been through this a little bit, sooner than Jeff has, it’s good teammates to have and pull off of.” DO YOU LEAN ON ONE MORE THAN THE OTHER? “You know, last year it was pretty much all Kevin, but the more I get to know Jeff, especially now that we’re racing in the same cars in the Cup series, I really have been pulling off him and we’ve been working a lot together.”

HAMLIN: DO YOU ENJOY RACING AT NIGHT? “I do, because it’s like racing short tracks back home. It’s the same kind of atmosphere, when you see all the flashbulbs go off it’s kind of cool. And you get to be home on Sunday and that’s always good.”

BOWYER: DO YOU ENJOY RACING AT NIGHT? “I agree. Everything I ever raced was under the lights back home so it just feels a little bit more like home. The atmosphere is a lot better and the energy in the air is a lot, a lot of fun.” YOU MADE YOUR FIRST NEXTEL CUP SERIES START HERE LAST FALL IN A SYLVANIA SPONSORED CAR. “It was a special weekend for me to get my first Cup start. It was an important race for me. The main thing was that we weren’t guaranteed in the show and we had to qualify in. We sacrificed a lot of race run type setups to qualify and get in the show so I pretty much fought tight the whole race. We did what we were supposed to do. We came here, ran all the laps, gained the experience and made it to the end of the race.”