ARCA: J.R. Fitzpatrick Qualifies TRG Motorports Chevy in 42nd at Daytona

J.R. Fitzpatrick Qualifies the TRG Motorsports ARCA Chevy in 42nd
Stewart-Haas Racing to pit car in race
       
Daytona Beach, Florida (February 6, 2009)  - J.R. Fitzpatrick qualified the No. 48 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet in 42nd place for tomorrow's running of the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 ARCA RE/MAX race.

Fitzpatrick, from Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, spent the day on Thursday running nearly five hours on the high-banks of Daytona.  The 20-year old Canadian posted a best practice time of 50.638 seconds with a speed of 177.732 mph, which had him running around the 39th position.

"We have a slightly different car than we had down here in the December test," Fitzpatrick said.  "At the test we were really fast on our own, but the car was not handling that great.  This weekend Butch (Hylton, crew chief) put a little different setup on the car so we can handle in the draft, which is what we want for the race."

In the two lap qualifying session, Fitzpatrick went out tenth and posted a first lap of 51.165 seconds.  On his second lap he improved to run a 50.759 which will have him start 42nd on the 43 car ARCA RE/MAX Series grid.

"We got the car driving so good that it is hard to believe it is that slow.  I think this is the type of car that will be better in the race.  We made an improvement, which is good, but we are starting on the last row.  When we came here testing I was quicker with the gear we have in now than the one we had in for practice. 

Yesterday I was quicker with the other gear.  I think that, yesterday's is the right choice, because we are going to need it to suck up to people in the draft.  I really haven't run with anyone yet this weekend.  This afternoon's practice will really show the true colors of this beast.  I am pumped for the race.  We have a good strategy in place and good people working on the car, so I am excited - it will be fun."
 
"We have J.R. in the show.  He has a really mature approach to his driving.  He is providing great feedback and the team is making the adjustments to make the car go fast.  We came here with a racing setup, not a qualifying one, so we think it will pay off for J.R. tomorrow.  It will be a wild race and I am looking forward to J.R. being right in the middle of it all."

TRG Motorsports crew chief Butch Hylton has recruited the Stewart-Haas pit crew from the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet of Tony Stewart to perform pit stops on the No. 48.  The No. 14 crew is looking for some real race practice time prior to the Daytona 500.

The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 ARCA race will take the green flag on Saturday, February 7 at 4:15 p.m. and will be televised live on the SPEED Channel starting at 4 p.m. ET.

TRG Motorsports is based in Mooresville, North Carolina where they run a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team as well as an ARCA RE/MAX Series effort.  2008 marked the first full season of competition for TRG in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series where they recorded one win, one top-five and ten top tens overall.  The team's sister company, The Racer's Group, was founded in 1993 has been competing at the top level of motor racing ever since.  TRG has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 26, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

For more information contact please contact Kyle Chura at (248) 821-0468 or chura@aol.com.   Detailed team info can be viewed at www.trgmotorsports.com
       
From Kyle Chura / TRG

ATL Introduces The "DryCell"

ATL Racing Fuel Cells, the leading innovator of racing fuel cell and bladder tank technology introduces the DRYCELL, an important fuel stabilization technology that prevents performance loss and engine damage.

ATL's DRYCELL desiccant dryer works with the venting system of your fuel cell to inhibit water molecules from contacting the ethanol component of blended fuels and to avoid the formation of "stratified" layers of pure ethanol and gasoline in your fuel cell (a process called "Phase-Separation"). Modern "oxygenated" race fuels (E10, E50, E85) are especially sensitive to the presence of water, and even a few drops of condensation can begin "Phase Separation".

It is important to understand that no amount of re-agitation will put ethanol back into suspension with gasoline. Once it separates, it's separated. Running an engine on stratified fuel implies first feeding high-octane ethanol from the cell's bottom. Once this is consumed, the engine must run on the residual low octane gasoline with its potential detonation hazards.

The DRYCELL is a must-have accessory for any high performance application where you rely on the full power potential of a gasoline engine. Racers, Emergency Responders, Law Enforcement Officers, Military Personnel and Security Providers all benefit from DRYCELL's economical and reliable technology.

In fact, there is no other product on the market like it! Only the DRYCELL works to protect ethanol-bearing race fuels against the irreversible and damaging effects of Phase-Separation. And it's only from ATL!

www.atlfuelcells.com

ARCA: JR Fitzpatrick goes out 10th for qualifying

J.R. Fitzpatrick goes out 10th during today's ARCA qualifying session at DIS.

Note and photo courtesy of Jason Sharpe.

Ford Paces Daytona Races

(Dearborn, Mich., Feb. 6, 2009) — For the first time in almost 40 years, a Ford pace car will lead the fields for Speed Weeks races at Daytona International Speedway.

The honor goes to a 2010 Shelby GT500, which will pace three events on Daytona’s famous 2.5 mile tri-oval, with a 2010 Ford Fusion Sport prepped and ready to go in case a backup is needed.

Both cars are completely stock mechanically, the only extra equipment being light bars supplied by Whelen Equipment. The Fusion Sport also has a special vinyl wrap applied, giving the car its colorful and distinctive flame motif.

The Shelby GT500 is powered by a 540 horsepower V8 engine. The car’s features include a hood extractor to remove heat from the engine, and a Gurney Flap spoiler to tune rear downforce.

The Fusion Sport is a new model for 2010, powered by a 263 horsepower V6 engine and equipped with an upgraded suspension and 18-inch wheels.

Their pace car duties begin on Saturday in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200, opening round of the 2009 ARCA/ReMax Series. Next up is the Gatorade Duel on Feb. 12— the twin 150-mile Daytona 500 qualifying races. And on Feb. 14, the cars again will be on the scene for the Camping World 300, the NASCAR Nationwide Series season-opener.

# # # #

Contact:     Dan Zacharias, PCGCampbell
                    (336) 922-3266
                    dzacharias@pcgcampbell.com 

NASCAR: Dodge Driver Quotes from NASCAR Media Day

From Denny Darnell & Scott Sebastian
Daytona Int’l Speedway
Dodge Motorsports
NASCAR Media Day
Driver Quotes

KASEY KAHNE (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger)

WHAT AREAS ARE YOU LOOKING TO IMPROVE THIS YEAR?  “Be more consistent, not just for good finishes, but on the bad days when we miss the setup.  On the bad days, we need to finish in the top 25s; last year we were in the 35s and 40s.  We can’t have days like that.  We need to keep working on consistency.  Obviously, we want to win races.  Last year, we won three.  Hopefully, we can do at least that this year in the Budweiser Dodge.”

DID YOU GET IN ENOUGH TESTING AT NON-NASCAR TRACKS THAT YOU FEEL READY FOR THE NEW SEASON?  “I think we did.  As a team, we went to the right places and we did the right things.  The team was comfortable working together, making changes quickly.  The tough part is we tested at tracks we don’t race at, but we learned some things and feel pretty good going into California and Vegas.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) 

WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU SEEN IN YOUR TIME AT PENSKE RACING?  “I feel like we’ve done well at bringing a program back together after Rusty Wallace left.  There were a lot of changes, a lot of revamping to start off 2006.  For me, it was great to win right away, at Bristol in’06.  Then we struggled, but rebounded with a great year in 2007, making the Chase, winning twice and having a shot at the championship.  Then we were introduced to the COT.  Hands down, we struggled with the new car.  It’s up to us to figure it out internally, how to make our Dodge better.”

WHAT IS THE PROGRESS OF THE DODGE R6 ENGINE?  “We have good positive feedback after getting the engine out in the races at the end of the season.  We have planned all along to run the old engine here at Daytona.”

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO STRENGTHEN THE TEAM?  “That’s what we really based our decisions on this off season.  We’ve added a few different crew members to our team and moved some of our guys over to the 12 or 77.  The objective was to get the three teams to communication better first and foremost which is working.  Secondly, we’ve added 30 years of experience by adding a couple of crew guys to our team during the off season.  In my mind, if everybody has the same piece, it’s up to the experienced guys to make a difference whether you’re going through tech or making decisions about how to set up the car.”

REED SORENSON (No. 43 McDonald’s Dodge Charger)

HOW IS THE COMMUNICATION GOING WITH NEW CREW CHIEF MIKE SHIPLETT?  “We spent a lot of time together in January on the track and off, just getting to know each other.  It’s a disadvantage that we didn’t have the opportunity to test more with the McDonald’s Dodge.” 

YOU’RE FIRST OFFICIAL RIDE IN THE NO. 43 BRINGS BOTH PRESSURE AND EXCITEMENT?  “I hope its fast; it will be a thrill then.  I guess its pressure.  The pressure is already there.  Just having that number on the car, there’s a different group of fans watching you.  That’s their number, fans of the King, the Petty’s fans.   It’s going to be cool.  Some of the numbers out there don’t really mean anything to anybody; 43 is one that means a lot to everybody involved in NASCAR.”

DAVID STREMME (No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger)

BEING OUT OF SPRINT CUP COMPETITON FOR A YEAR, ARE YOU AT A DISADVANTAGE WITH THE CHANGE IN THE NASCAR TESTING POLICY?  “We got to test throughout the summer for Roger (Penske – Penske Racing) and got to do the Vegas tire test.  Then, Dodge allowed us to do a tire test at the Arizona Proving Grounds which I think was very valuable for Daytona and Talladega.  I don’t think we’re behind the eight ball at all.  We’ve been able to utilize all the tools available to us, so I feel good going into the 2009 season.”

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAM WILL BE STRONGEST?  “At the restrictor plate tracks and at the intermediate tracks, I don’t see why we can’t run strong everywhere.  The road courses, I know I need help on, but Kurt (Busch) is a really good road racer along with Sam (Hornish, Jr.), so I’m going to lean on them very hard.  I feel good with the people that Roger and everyone have put around me.  We’ll utilize the information we have and put up good results.”

HOW HAS THE YEAR OUT OF THE SPRINT CUP SERIES HELPED YOU?  “I’m back stronger mentally, even physically.  I have a lot to show still.  They’re going to allow me to do it here at Penske.  We’ve got really good stuff that’s going on.  I’m excited.  I feel like this could be a standout year for me.”

ELLIOTT SADLER (No. 19 Stanley Tools Dodge Charger)

HOW EXCITED ARE YOU ABOUT THE DAYTONA 500?  “I’m very excited!  I’m excited about driving for Richard Petty who has seven Daytona 500 wins and a lot of great memories here.  I think I’ve finished in the top 11 in the last five Daytona 500s in a row.  To come in here for Stanley’s (Stanley Tools) first Daytona 500, we’ve got a lot of cool things going on.  We just have to go out there and perform and do what we know we can do here at Daytona.  I love this race track, love this race.  There’s a lot of emphasis put on it.  I finished second here a few years ago; I want to better that one position.  We need that right now as a team and as a person.  I can’t think of a better track to put our best foot forward than right here at Daytona.

ARE YOU READY TO BE THE LEADER AT RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS?  “I definitely think I’m ready to be the leader. I’ve worked well with Kasey in the past and have a good relationship with Reed.  I look forward to that opportunity.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 44 Valvoline Dodge Charger)

WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY FOR THE BUD SHOOTOUT?  “Obviously, as a racer, you want to win.  That’s important.  Ultimately, I need practice on superspeedway racing.  I haven’t done a lot of it.  That’s the way I’m taking the Shootout.  If I have a chance to win, we’ll try to win the thing.  If not, I want to run all the laps and get as much practice as I can in the Valvoline Dodge.”

HAS THE CONTRACT BEEN SIGNED?  “I think so.  I think that’s actually been signed in between all the stuff, so I actually do have a contract for the first eight races, through Phoenix and there’s an option for 2010.  Ultimately, the objective is to run up front and stay up front all eight races.  Hopefully, we can find more backing and run the whole season.  The goal is to run up front and find a sponsorship for the rest of the season.”

HOW TOUGH HAS THE OFF-SEASON BEEN?  “You can sit there and feel bad for yourself about how bad things are happening to you, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that bad.  There are a lot of people right now in this world that are a lot worse than myself worrying about running only eight races in Cup.  I’m still at Daytona.  We’re still talking about racing cars.  I’m still getting in the racecar.  There are two options.  You keep fighting and find a ride or sponsorship or you quit.  I’m not going to quit.  So, you have to keep digging.”

SAM HORNISH, JR. (No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger)

YOU HAD A GOOD START AT DAYTONA LAST YEAR; DO YOU EXPECT THE SAME?  “I think we should run well here.  This track is more about handling than what Talladega is and a little less about horsepower.  The big thing for us is to make sure that we can handle well in the draft and keep the foot down on the pedal.  That’s what we had last year.  I think if we play our cards smart and not having the rookie stripe on the back of the car, we should be able to give and get a little more help there toward the end of the race.”

IS THIS A BETTER NO. 77 TEAM THIS YEAR?  “I sure hope so.  Having the No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge team together for a year and the addition of some new people, hopefully we can move forward and get the results we want out of it.  It’s a lot more the team than a lot of people realize.  I feel the crew excelled toward the end of the season last year.  Working with Travis and all the other changes, I think we’ve made ourselves better.”

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE 2009 SEASON?  “Oh man, I’ve been looking forward to this season since about 30 seconds after qualifying was over at Homestead-Miami.  It has been a long off-season for us.  With the exception of not getting any testing, I think we have a great opportunity this season.  I know everybody else is in the same boat as us.  I feel Penske Racing put their resources to good use on the technological side that’s going to help us out.”

ARCA: Thursday Practice Session at Daytona story

Five Hour ARCA RE/MAX Series Practice Session at Daytona Productive: Carter, Annett, Buescher, Logano, Fischer, Scott Lead

DAYTONA BEACH FL (2-5-08)—Matt Carter was fastest among 54 ARCA RE/MAX Series drivers who participated in a five-hour-long practice session at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday afternoon. The session was designed to prepare drivers for Saturday’s Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200, which is scheduled to air live on SPEED beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and marks the first of 22 events in the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series.

Carter, in a Larry Clement-owned Stine Seed-Liberty Link Ford, posted his best time of 49.187 seconds (182.975 mph) around the 2.5-mile paved oval late during the session despite missing a three-day ARCA RE/MAX Series test session at Daytona in December.

“That was the draft,” said Carter. “We had a pretty decent car. We didn’t get to come test and basically during the first four hours of practice we just worked on the car and tried to make it better. Then we worked on the draft with Annett and Buescher and Logano and those guys late during the session and I think anyone could have pulled a lap like that in that draft. I’m really excited though because I think we have a good racecar.”

Last year’s ARCA Daytona race winner Michael Annett was second quickest in Shigeaki Hattori’s No. 01 Visit Japan Campaign Toyota.

"The car is pretty good in qualifying runs,” said Annett. “I'm excited about the race because we were able to do some drafting at the end of practice. The car turned out to be better in a pack than it was by itself."

Carter and Annett were followed by James Buescher in the No. 32 Wolfpack Rentals Toyota fielded by Win-Tron Racing and Venturini Motorsports teammates Joey Logano, Ryan Fischer and Brian Scott. Tom Hessert, JR Heffner, Justin Lofton and John Ferrier rounded out the top-10.

Anatomy of an ARCA RE/MAX Series Racecar

ARCA RE/MAX Series racecars are similar to the cars used in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series before the Car of Tomorrow debuted and many of the chassis that teams are using at Daytona this weekend have an interesting history. Frank Kimmel’s No. 44 Ansell/Menards Ford Fusion was previously run by Matt Kenseth in the Cup Series in 2007.

Tom Hessert, III, driver of the No. 1 Buddy’s Home Furnishing Ford for Andy Belmont Racing, is competing in a racecar that his crew has named “Awesommo 5000” for the popular television show South Park.

“This was a junk car we pulled from the weeds,” said Belmont. “We straightened the chassis on a frame machine and put on a used body from the JTG Nationwide Team. It’s just a bucket of bolts that runs pretty good.”

Hessert’s Andy Belmont Racing teammate Brett Butler, who is driving the No. 14 IndustrialDepot.com Ford, will be competing in a racecar that was previously raced by Christi Passmore in the ARCA RE/MAX Series.

Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 First of Nine Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge Races in 2009

The Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge is a $75,000 total point fund for races on speedway ovals greater than one mile in length and includes nine races in the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series: Daytona (February 7th), Talladega Superspeedway (April 24th), Kentucky Speedway (May 9th and July 18th), Pocono Raceway (June 6th and August 1st), Michigan Int’l Speedway (June 12th), Chicagoland Speedway (August 28th) and Kansas Speedway (October 1st).

Since ARCA began honoring superspeedway challenge champions at the end-of-season Championship Awards Banquet in 1984, an accomplished list of competitors have earned the award.  Last season, ARCA RE/MAX Series car owner Eddie Sharp and driver Scott Speed earned the award. Car owner Larry Clement is a five-time Superspeedway Challenge Champion with driver Frank Kimmel (1998, ’01, ’03, ’05, ’06). Other winners include Davey Allison (’84, ’85), Lee Raymond (’86), Bill Venturini (’87, ’91), Tracy Leslie (’88), Ben Hess (’89), Bob Brevak (’90), Bob Keselowski (’92), Jeff Purvis (’93, ’94), Mike Wallace (’95), Tim Steele (’96), Mark Gibson (’97), Chad Blount (’02), Bobby Gerhart (’04), Blake Feese (’04), Kyle Krisiloff (’04) and Erin Crocker (’07).

Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell Scheduled for Friday

The 43-car starting field for Saturday’s Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona will be set following the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell qualifying session, which begins at 12 Noon Eastern on Friday. The fastest 32 cars from the qualifying session will be locked into the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200. Positions 33 through 36 are reserved for car owners based on final 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series Car Owner Point Standings, while positions 37-42 are reserved for “Golden A” eligible teams who competed in 100 percent of the Series’ races in 2008. Position 43 is made available for a past ARCA RE/MAX Series champion. If no past champion is in need of a provisional, the position is made available to a Golden A eligible team who competed in 100 percent of the Series’ races in 2008. If no additional Golden A teams are eligible for a provisional, the position will go to the next eligible team based on the final 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series Car Owner Point Standings.

46th Annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona Live on SPEED

The ARCA RE/MAX Series’ Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 will be aired live on SPEED beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 7th. The race marks the ARCA RE/MAX Series’ 46th appearance to Daytona since the Series made its superspeedway debut at the track in 1964. In addition to SPEED’s live coverage of the race, live timing and scoring and audio coverage of the race will be available on arcaracing.com beginning at 4:15 p.m.

CONTACTS:
ARCA PR/Media, office (734) 847-6726
Don Radebaugh, cell (419) 450-0611
Jackie L. Franzil, cell (419) 574-2685

NASCAR: Daytona Media Day: Ryan Newman Press Conf Transcript

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
WEEKLY TOP 12 PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
February 5, 2009

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway and discussed his Daytona 500 win from last year, not racing in the Shootout, the top-35 rule and much more.  Full transcript.

ON HOW HE FEELS HE WILL RUN BEING WITH A NEW TEAM FOR 2009  "I think with our resources from a mechanical standpoint and our resources from a personnel standpoint that we will be competitive right out of the box and we'll be competitive throughout the season.  I feel we should without any doubt have an opportunity to be in the Chase.  That opportunity is up to us to succeed."

ALL THE TEAMS ARE SAYING THE SAME THING SO WHAT MAKES YOUR TEAM DIFFERENT?  "Because of the people.  I mean if you take the mechanical resource part of it, it can be exactly the same.  You can see that within the own mother ship with Hendrick, the No. 5 car last year didn't do what the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon), No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) did so that's not just a satellite team situation it's a personnel situation."

YOU'VE WON A LOT OF DIFFERENT RACES THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER, CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT ITS LIKE TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500?  IS THAT A DIFFERENT FEELING FROM WINNING ANOTHER RACE?  "It is.  I mean it's the ultimate in my opinion.  To me it was, I stated it before and people have asked me how long did it take to sink in and it didn't.  It happened as soon as I crossed the start/finish line.  I knew what I had achieved as a person.  I knew the effort that it took by all the people around me throughout my racing career to help me get to that point.  The people that bought my first uniform owned a Pizza King in South Bend, Indiana gave us I think it was $400 dollars, those people.  The people that bought me a right rear midget tire for Christmas.  Just the people that gave us credit cards to use for gas to get back and forth to Phoenix.  All those people I feel were part of the team that got me to victory lane that day and that's what was really special.  That was special that race because of the importance of that race verses Loudon or Charlotte or Pocono or whatever."

IS THERE ANY OTHER WIN THAT STANDS OUT IN YOUR MIND?  "The All-Star race was really special because that was the race we weren't expected to win which was kind of like Daytona.  We weren't even in the race to begin with. We beat everybody at the home field on a given night and we did it because of the pride and the money not because of the points and there's a lot to be said about that."

IF YOU GUYS DON'T TEST WHAT DO YOU DO TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE TO THE POINT WHERE YOU NEED TO BE, WHAT TELLS YOU YOU'RE GOOD?  "It's kind of unique because it kind of got to a point where teams had to have test teams and teams had to have a separate group of people to do these things and now we're not testing and as I felt always before, 90 percent of your performance was based on the work that got done in the shop not the work that got done during a test, the work that
was done by a test team.  It was getting to a point as drivers we weren't even going to a test, the test team drivers were doing it.  Then you get a mixture of feedback and a combination of questions that go along with what was he feeling?  Is Ryan going to feel the same thing?  I feel that it's back to old school racing.  You run what you brung.  You show up, you have your stuff ready and the guy that is most ready will probably win."

HOW MUCH IS SIMULATION THE SAME?  "Well simulation is just another tool for homework.  It's the modern day calculator for race teams.  What we do with our simulations is just another way of preparing for the race.  It's another way of getting ready and doing the homework for the next test or the next quiz.  Its just practice for qualifying in my opinion."

YOU SAID THE DIFFERENCE WAS THE PEOPLE, YOU WERE WORKING WITH ROGER PENSKE AND ALL . . . "You can have the best people in the world and if you don't have the chemistry and the relationships to go along with it then you have I won't say nothing but then you don't have what you want.  I look forward to starting that opportunity all over again.  I kind of halfway quoted somebody, I don't remember the exact quote but the bottom line is it's impossible to start a new beginning but you can begin to start a new ending.  I feel that is what I have in my career to be able to build on the things that I haven't accomplished and try to achieve those things with a group of people that is searching for the same thing."

HOW MUCH OF A HANDICAP IS IT NOT BEING IN THE SHOOTOUT?  "Well it's only half because Tony is in it.  To me personally it's only half of a handicap but I think that I have the confidence, the car and the people.  We can unload in race trim on Wednesday or whatever it is and be ready to be a Gatorade Duel winner on Thursday."

DOES IT BOTHER YOU WITH BEING THE LAST YEAR'S DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION THAT YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO RACE IN THE SHOOTOUT?  "I'm not happy with the way they organized the Shootout.  If we're going back to last year we made this statement that we're going back to racing old school and some of the old school things, going back to the old school fans.  I don't see that in the formation of the new Shootout.  To me, it's a thank you pat on the back to the manufacturers out there which in the end doesn't make it the ideal race in my opinion."

HOW IS THIS ECONOMY AFFECTING YOUR TEAM AND AFFECTING THE SPORT AND HOW WORRIED ARE YOU ABOUT IT?  "I hear everybody complain and I mean everybody complain about how bad the economy is and I don't think it's that bad.  I think it's just not as good as it was.  I think that everybody from an organizational standpoint whether its NASCAR, Stewart-Haas Racing, Hendrick or Roush whatever has to keep their pencil sharp and put themselves in a position to where they can be strong for the future.  I think the economy is going to have more of an effect six months from now than
it will now.  If the economy is as bad as everyone says it is then realistically we are living off of our reserves whether it's financially or whatever and we'll have to see who has the biggest stockpile of reserves.  I'm no economic adviser but that's just my gut hunch about it."

HAS THAT AFFECTED PEOPLE?  "I think it's mentally affected everybody more than it has physically.  Maybe this is my opinion but when we go to the gas station and we can't get a gallon of gas and a gallon of milk then the economy is really hurting.  Now gas is half of what it was last fall when the economy was good and there's no shortage of milk.  I mean how bad is it really?  That's just my gut feel.  And I'm probably a little naïve from the standpoint that I think NASCAR spoils you a little bit.  Spoils me personally, you know my lifestyle is not the same as somebody that is greeting at Wal-Mart but in the end I don't think the economy is that bad.  The cream is always going to rise to the top and I just think it separates it off from the weak individual.  It's like a minor plague I guess."

ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS ABOUT THE DRUG POLICY?  "I don't have concerns about that but I know a friend of mine was questioned after he was tested and come to find out it was because he eats poppy seed bagels every morning.  Who would have thought that?  No matter what the banned substances are I don't worry about that.  I don't take substances to have to worry about that personally.  What I would be worried about is what you could combine not just over the counter but food-wise to set off the system.  I'm glad that NASCAR is doing it and I hope they continue to refine it to the point that the entire garage can be drug-free and eventually because of that the entire grandstand will be drug-free.  I've never drank in my life and I've never done anything to become high in my life so I'm a little different than your average driver or person."

EARLIER DID YOU CALL HENDRICK THE MOTHER SHIP?  "Well I was referring to not from our standpoint but from a big group stand point.  Roush is another mother ship, there's different ways of looking at it."

HOW MUCH STRONGER ARE THEY WITH MARK MARTIN ON BOARD, IS IT A YANKEE'S TYPE LINE UP NOW?  "No, I wouldn't say that.  I think Mark brings different things to the table from the experience standpoint that another driver may not have or could have but in the end as I've said before it's not just about Mark Martin it wasn't just about Casey Mears and it wasn't just about Kyle Busch it was about the people that surround him and as an organization you can only be so strong.  You look at what they did last year it was still pretty amazing."

SO MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE IN THE CAR AND DIFFERENT SPONSORS THIS YEAR, DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE A MENTAL NOTE OF WHO IS IN WHAT CAR?  "No
because you're still racing the cars and you are partially racing the driver's but you still have to put yourself in the position to go around them."

DON'T YOU RACE SOME PEOPLE DIFFERENTLY THAN OTHERS?  "You figure that out as a driver pretty quick.  You're only responsible for knowing 42 other people so that's not the rocket science part of it.  Because of the economy or the sponsors or whatever doesn't change the way you race people or change the way that you think about racing people."

WITH ALL THE CHANGES FROM LAST YEAR DO YOU APPROACH THIS YEAR'S RACE ANY DIFFERENTLY?  "I feel that going into this year that I'm trying to achieve the same things that I did last year.  It's like I don't even take into account what I did last year.  I'm still as dedicated and have the same drive that I had last year having not won it.  I don't see it changing me or the way I driver the race or race anybody else I just see the perception of me change because I have won the race."

YOU TALKED ABOUT THAT YOU CAN HAVE THE BEST EQUIPMENT AND THE BEST PEOPLE, WHEN YOU START A NEW TEAM WITH A NEW OWNER AND A NEW CREW HOW SOON CAN YOU GUYS BUILD THAT CHEMISTRY?  "You don't know that.  It happens.  It happened with me in 2001 basically with Matt Borland and Michael Nelson and that group of guys.  It just happens.  There's no boiling the water and waiting for it to mix.  There's none of that.  It just happens.  I don't see it being anything special other than it just happening.  It's tough to explain.  Without sounding like a nerd, a long equation you've got this formula and you have so many variables that are mixed up in that formula and you have the car and the people and the chemistry and getting to the race track, there's a million plus variables out there and if you just miss one of them you have to compensate with the other. Chemistry is the one thing that stands, that no matter what your people are or who your people are or how smart they are, no matter how good your car turns left and goes forward if you don't have that chemistry you're not going to have the right calls.  It's like having the best gun in the world and not being able to aim it correctly.  That's what that chemistry does for you."

WHEN CAMERAS ARE RIDING WITH YOU CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT YOU FEEL THAT THE CAMERAS CAN'T?  "It's tough.  That's a good question.  I guess the sense of speed from 140 miles per hour on up you don't feel a change.  The sense of closeness, it's no different than being on the interstate.  What you really have to put in perspective is being on the edge.  I would expect anybody that's been to war or anything like that knows what it's like to be on edge and knows what it's like to be close, knows what it's like to have a shell whistle past your head or something like that.  You have to know that edge.  That's what separates what we do at 180 miles per hour with the people that are running 105 miles per hour at a local short track.  It's everything to the next degree, to the highest degree."

YOU'RE A FAIRLY SMART GUY RIGHT OR WRONG, HAVE YOU TRIED FIGURING OUT THE WHOLE TOP-35 SITUATION THIS YEAR, WHO IS IN AND WHO IS OUT?  "No, it gets crazier every year and honestly I shoot myself in my own foot by saying it I wish it wasn't the top-35.  I think you could take the top-10, 15 or 20 and then make everybody else race their way in.  We're here to race."

EVEN IF IT INVOLVED YOU HAVING TO RACE YOUR WAY IN?  "Absolutely.  That's why I said I'm kind of shooting myself in my own foot.  We're here to race.  You should be here to race your way into the race.  That's how it all starts.  That's how it's always started and part of that has been taken away. There's still a group of people that are racing their way in but I don't think that you should be locked in.  I'm guessing if you ask Tony Stewart the same question he would say the same thing in reference to the champions provisional.  He rather race his way into a race and be deserving of it than to be locked in because of what he achieved in the past."

IT'S NOT JUST THAT IT'S PEOPLE SELLING POINTS, SELLING THE TOP-35 POSITIONS.  "It's become a business.  You saw what Bill Davis and Penske did here in the last week.  It's just things you wouldn't expect.  People talk about how bad the economy is, it must not be that bad."

IS THERE A NEED TO HAVE THE SPONSOR'S PROTECTED WHEN IT COMES TO QUALIFYING?  "That's why I said you do 10, 15, 20 or whatever but 35 you're only allowing eight people to race their way in.  There would be much more drama and much more excitement if there were 23 of them racing their way in."

WE HAD A GUY LITERALLY FIND OUT THIS MORNING THAT HE WAS LOCKED IN FOR THE FIRST FIVE RACES AND HE COULD STILL GET BUMPED OUT IF SOMETHING WAS TO HAPPEN.  "That's not the way racing is supposed to be in my opinion."

HAS ANYBODY ASKED ABOUT THE HAND YET?  "No, do you want to know?  I have a big fireplace in my house and I built the heat exchanger.  So I have a pipe that pushes air out of my subfloor in my house.  It goes up into the fireplace because fireplaces are very inefficient.  I just built a heat exchanger which is just bumper pipe, two and one half inch bumper pipe and it blows air out into the house.  I have a screen in the front of the fire place that's got some vertical bars, those pipes were just a little off-set so I hadn't put all the braces in yet and I put a pipe inside the bumper pipe and was pushing it to bend it to straighten it out to get them perfectly lined up.  Well that pipe slid in, that's a two and half inch pipe right there.  I just missed this part of my hand."

TRYING TO USE THE ENGINEERING DEGREE.  "Trying to."

ITS JUST THE COORDINATION WAS OFF.  "But in the end I have 370 degree air coming out of my fire place in my house."

JUST DON'T GET TOO CLOSE TO IT.  "It's not as hot as you think."

WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO WATCH THE SHOOTOUT?  ARE YOU GOING TO WATCH FROM TONY'S (STEWART) BOX?  "It will be somewhere around Tony's box or his trailer or whatever.  It will probably be on pit lane with checking out his tires and things like that."

IS IT BOTHERSOME THAT YOU WON'T BE RACING?  "It would be bothersome if I thought the way the system was, was based off of racing.  But people getting into it because the seat that they're in is not the way I think it's supposed to be.  You don't change teams and end up with Derek Jeter's number and end up in the All-Star game.  You don't do it."

WHAT WILL YOU WATCH FOR AND TRY TO LEARN?  "I feel like I can learn half as much as I did before. We'll have the information from Tony's (Stewart) car and obviously the Hendrick cars but I want to be able to feel it firsthand.  You know Wednesday is going to be very important for us from a race trim standpoint and a people standpoint making sure that we're competitive."

WHEN YOU CAME TO NASCAR YOU DIDN'T NECESSARILY BEHAVE LIKE A SHY ROOKIE ON THE TRACK, YOU DIDN'T LET ANYBODY PUSH YOU AROUND AND INTIMIDATE YOU.  WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SCOTT SPEED?  "I think Scott did a really good job last year racing.  He was very respectful, he did a good job.  In reference to the give and take part of racing which is something I didn't learn off the bat, Tony and I even had our differences on that.  We weren't raised that way, we never knew the concept of it at least I didn't and he out teached me.  I think Scott did a good job last year.  I don't see him being any different this year than last year."

AS THE NEW CAR HAS EVOLVED, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THOSE WITH DIRT EXPERIENCE HAVE AN ADVANTAGE BEING ABLE TO DIAL IT IN?  "I think the dirt experience helps a little bit but anybody that's driven a race car a lot and has been competitive and has won has driven a car that is loose.  So anybody that has done that is probably here. To me Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch are some of the best at doing it.  Ironically they are the three that won the most races last year.  Obviously you have to have the equipment, that's the most important part of being able to drive that car loose because it's got to be fast.  You can be loose and still be slow.  I experienced that last year.  The bottom line is I feel like it definitely helps but no matter who you are or no matter where you come from there's always those drivers that make it to the top that can drive a car loose. Clint Bowyer for instance came from dirt Late Models, its dirt but he can run a car loose. Jeff Gordon, he came from open-wheel racing and he doesn't like to run a car as loose as Jimmie Johnson does.  It's a known fact.  It's a personal preference in reference to the ability at the same time."

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 252,000 people around the world.  With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 34 countries.  In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands:  Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling.  GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services.  More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

CONTACTS:  Nancy Wager              Judy Kouba Dominick
                      727.415.3109                317.408.1049
                      nmwager@aol.com     jkdracer@aol.com

NASCAR: Daytona Media Day: Tony Stewart Press Conf. Transcript

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
February 5, 2009

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT IMPALA SS, met with media and discussed being an owner/driver, NASCAR’s drug testing policy, A.J. Foyt and the No. 14, his teammate, Ryan Newman, and more. Full Transcript:

MOST EVERYBODY IS SAYING THEY COULD USE MORE TIME BEFORE THE START OF THE SEASON. ARE YOU GUYS READY?
“I think we got a later start than everybody because of how many different people came from so many different teams, and by the time you get them all there and get the direction with everybody, but I was at Joe Gibbs Racing a couple of days before we left to come down here and he was still thrashing too. He said he had a whole stack of paperwork and just miscellaneous odds and ends to get caught up. And there’s a team that’s been established for well over 10 years that’s still in the same boat. He says it’s this way every year. So it made me feel better that our guys have really done a good job of getting caught up in such a short time.”

YOU GO INTO THE SHOOTOUT WITH ALMOST NO TIME ON THE TRACK. WILL THAT MAKE IT A LITTLE WILDER, OR MORE TENTATIVE THAN NORMAL?
“I don’t think so. We’ve all driven the cars and we’ve all been here twice already with these cars, so I don’t think it makes the race any different.  We’ll probably be a little more tentative the first session Friday just because it’s a new car, a new seat, and a new package for me. From that side, it may be for us. But I don’t think in general it’s going to be that way. We didn’t learn anything last year when we were down here for the test for three days. This is probably the one place you could miss the three days of testing and have it not affect you.”

WOULD A SHOOTOUT WIN FOR YOU BE A BIGGER DEAL BECAUSE YOU’RE A NEW TEAM COMING OUT OF THE GATE?
”That’s obvious. You know the answer to that. Yeah, of course it would be. You move to a different organization and a new group of people and that makes it that much better.”

EVERYBODY THINKS YOU WILL BE GOOD RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. IS THERE SATISFACTION IN THAT?
“Yeah, it does. It’s very humbling. I don’t know what to expect. That’s not the first time I’ve heard that. It’s been a very humbling experience knowing that the guys we’re racing with consider us ready to go and ready for us to be a contender with them.”

HOW HAS THE ECONOMY AFFECTED YOUR TEAM AND HOW WORRIED ARE YOU ABOUT IT?
“It’s hurt everybody, obviously. We still have 13 races to sell on Ryan’s (Newman) car. Haas Automation stepped up and is going to sponsor some of those races, but not all of them. So it’s no different for us than for anybody else. It’s hurt everybody this year.”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IN THE BUD SHOOTOUT
‘It’s two more days that Darian (Grubb) and I get to spend with each other before we get to practice on Wednesday, so it’s really big for us. It’s not two days of testing. I would much rather trade and get these two days of Shootout practice and the Shootout versus three days of testing down here. That’s going to be a lot more valuable to us.”

WILL RYAN BE ON YOUR PITBOX WATCHING?
“I’m sure he will. If not, he’ll be watching it on TV in the bus where he can see everything. We’ll all be taking very close notes I’m sure. Tony Gibson will be close by and hearing what’s going on so we can try to do everything we can to make sure both of us are strong next week.”

WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THE SETUP FOR YOUR NEW CAR?  WHERE DID YOU GET THE DATA?
“That’s a Darian Grubb question. He sets the cars up. I drive them.”

TRADITIONALLY, THESE SATELLITE TEAMS HAVEN’T DONE WELL. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOUR TEAM WILL BE BETTER OR DIFFERENT?
“Because we’re doing it, that’s why.”

HAVE YOU TALKED TO THE GUYS OVER AT JGR?
“Yeah. I saw them the other day. It’s the first time I’ve seen them in a long time. So guys were stopping what they were doing and we were all shaking each other’s hands and laughing and carrying on and joking with each other just like we normally would. It was good to go back and see those guys.”

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR JOEY LAGANO?
“I don’t know that I need to give him much advice. I think that’s why I wasn’t so worried when we made this change and how it was going to affect those guys. I know Joey. I feel like Joey is ready. For his age, it’s a very smart kid and a very good race car driver for his age. I don’t think he’s going to have any trouble getting used to this series and he’s got a team and definitely a crew chief that’s got a lot of experience. He’s got all the tools in place that he needs to be good.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM JOE GIBBS, AS AN OWNER, THAT YOU’RE APPLYING TO YOUR TEAM?
“To get good people. When you hire the right people to do the right jobs and you let them do their jobs, it’s good. This is the same thing we’ve said from day one.”

WHAT’S THE SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT BEEN LIKE TO SEE YOUR NEW TEAM GROW THE WAY IT HAS?
“When you haven’t been a part of building a program like this, every day is a learning process; and just being there to see it grow and to watch it happen every day. Those are the things that make you proud. When you go in there one day and you see eight brand new chassis and you see them sit there for a week before they get caught up to get to them and then all of a sudden you see chasses start disappearing and getting into the fab shop and that’s the process and I don’t know whether we were on schedule or not on schedule. It’s going up and talking to Bobby Hutchens and saying, are we all right here? Are we on schedule?  Are we behind and are we going to be caught up when it’s time to go? And it’s just having those guys there and having them to lean on and learn from that have made it better.”

DO YOU BELIEVE YOU’VE DELEGATED AND WON’T FALL INTO THE OWNER/DRIVER TRAP OF SAYING, IF I WRECK THIS CAR; I’VE GOT TO PAY FOR IT?
“I’ve already paid for them. I don’t owe any payments on them. I don’t have to go to the bank on them and say I’ve still got 18 payments or whatever and I just crashed this race car.”

ARE YOU INSULATED FROM WORRYING ABOUT IT?
“I have made it very clear to Bobby and Tony and Darian that when we show up on Thursdays, that when I go on the race track I’m a driver. That’s it. I’m strictly a driver. And it has to be that way. We have to have those people in place to fill in that ownership roll while I’m doing it. I can’t do both rolls at the same time. I can be an owner four days a week, but the other three days a week I have to be a driver. And that’s the way I want it. That’s the only way it will work.”  

DO YOU TREAT RYAN NEWMAN THE SAME WAY, AS A TEAMMATE AND NOT AS AN EMPLOYEE?
“Yeah. And that’s the way we’ve been from day one. We’ve never had a conversation as an employer/employee relationship. It’s always been a teammate relationship.

“I don’t think it’s for everybody. I don’t think everybody can do that, by any means. And it’s what are you willing to take on? This is what I do. This is all I do. All I do is racing. I’ve got other businesses and things I’m involved in, but nothing that’s really outside of racing. It all ties into racing. There are other guys that when they get away from the racing on Sunday night, they do something totally different and totally away from this. I’m really not that way. I’ve been one of those guys that’s always been 100% involved in the racing the whole time.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE GETTING THROUGH THE FIRST ROUND OF DRUG TESTING AS AN OWNER AND A DRIVER?
“It was a piece of cake. It was easy. It wasn’t really hard.”

WAS THERE ANY ANXIETY THOUGH, RUNNING A WHOLE COMPANY AND WORRYING ABOUT THOSE THINGS?
“No, not at all, because if guys didn’t make it, they knew they weren’t going to be there. We were very cut and dried about how we were doing it. It’s not like you get one strike and then you’re out. It’s you either make it or you don’t. And that’s the great thing about NASCAR and their new policy and the way they’re doing things. They’ve made it very cut and dried to everybody involved that this is the way it’s going to be. I think it’s the best thing they ever could have done.”

DID EVERYBODY MAKE IT THROUGH YOURS?
“As far as I know.”

DO THEY HAVE A DEFINED LIST OF SUBSTANCES?
“Why are you asking me that? Ask NASCAR that. That’s their deal. I’m sure they probably do. I didn’t have to worry about it because I don’t do anything anyway. People either passed or they didn’t pass. If you want the list, go to NASCAR.”

DID YOU EVER CONSIDER THAT OWNING A TEAM AND DRIVING MIGHT TAKE SOME OF THE JOY OUT OF THE DRIVING EXPERIENCE?
“No, not at all. I drove the Chili Bowl for myself and it added to the experience. I’ve been an owner since 2001 and I’ve loved every bit of it. There was never a part of the process where I thought, well, this might take away from being a driver. I think the majority of that is because I know that on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that’s all I am, is a driver. I’m sticking to my guns on that. That’s what I do on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  I drive the race car. Darian (Grubb) is my boss. Darian and Bobby (Hutchens) and Tony Gibson are my bosses on the weekend. Those are the people I work for. And then Monday morning, we go back and work as a team together and figure out what we need to do better.”

HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO TALK TO A.J. FOYT ABOUT CARRYING HIS NUMBER, AND YOU EVEN WORKED FOR HIM IN 1995 AT INDY.  HAS HE GIVEN YOU ANY ADVICE?
“I don’t know that he’s given us any advice. He just told me he was proud of me. He was happy that we got the No. 14 and he knew why we got that and it was because of him and that made him really proud. He just told me to get that thing in victory lane and if I’ve got to answer to him, that’s really all he said.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BRUTON SMITH SAYING THE DRIVERS NEED TO DO MORE TO HELP OUT THE RACE TRACKS?
“Right now, I’ve been worrying about building a race team. I’m not worrying about what Bruton is saying.”

HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO OTHER GUYS WHO OWN THEIR TEAMS LIKE MICHAEL WALTRIP AND ROBBY GORDON?
“I really haven’t very much. I figure it’s a new slate and it has to be treated that way. The only people you want to pattern anything off of is how Hendrick has done for the last three years because obviously they’ve won. Anybody else you’re not really getting good information.”

ON GOING INTO THE BUD SHOOTOUT WITH HENDRICK TECHNOLOGY
“Obviously that was part of why we did what we did. At the same time it’s still the Stewart-Haas people that are working on it and still making the decisions on what we’re doing through practice and during the race. So, we rely really heavily on what those guys are doing too. At the same time, they’re looking at what we’re doing and making sure that they don’t overlook something if we’re going really good and we’re really happy with our cars and they’ll be looking at that and trying to figure out if they can make themselves better too.”

IS DALE EARNHARDT JR. STILL THE ONE TO BEAT GOING INTO THE SHOOTOUT CONSIDERING HIS DRAFTING SKILLS
“Oh, he’s always been the guy here. He’s picked up where his father left off as a restrictor plate driver. He knows the air very well.”

DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE A MENTAL NOTE OF WHO IS IN WHAT CAR AND WITH WHAT SPONSORS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON?
“We do that every year. Every year there are changes. You try to memorize and try to figure out who it is. Even the guys that are in the same cars, they look different. It’s always an adjustment. We’re not reinventing the wheel, guys. It’s still the same process we go through every year. There are always different teams, different drivers, different paint schemes, different combinations and it’s no different this year. Everybody’s got to make this simpler or if you want the big fancy answer you’ve got to get somebody else to do it because I’ve had to take everything with my schedule and simplify it as much as I can.”

ARE YOU MORE OR LESS A DETAILED PERSON NOW?
“I’m very detail-oriented. That’s how we got to this point and you don’t change that. It’s not going to be different now than what it’s been.”

IS IT MORE DIFFICULT OR LESS DIFFICULT TO START THE YEAR AT DAYTONA IN YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH THIS TEAM?
“I don’t think it’s more or less difficult. If anything, it’s probably less difficult because you really don’t learn that much at the test down here. You look at last year’s notes, the guys told you we didn’t need to be down here for three days. We didn’t learn as much as we needed to be able to learn. I think this is probably the best place to come.”

WHAT ABOUT JOEY LAGANO WITH SO LITTLE TIME ON THIS RACE TRACK, COULD HE SHINE IN THE SHOOTOUT OR GET TURNED EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE?
“Either can happen. It depends on how comfortable he is. And that comfort will show with the rest of the guys he’s around. If he’s comfortable and he’s got a fast car, and obviously Denny (Hamlin) proved you could win the Shootout in that situation, so it’s just a matter of your comfort and if your car is good or not.”

GOODYEAR SAYS THEY’RE GOING TO TEST THE TALLER AND WIDER TIRE THIS YEAR FOR POTENTIAL USE NEXT YEAR, THOUGHTS?
“As long as we’ve got good tires, that’s all we care about. I don’t care if they’re square, as long as they feel good when we’re out there running. It doesn’t matter to us. We just want to have a tire that we don’t have to talk about each week. If we don’t have to talk about it each week, that means we had a good tire (laughter). Seriously, if it’s a variable that you’re having to talk about, obviously there’s something wrong with it.  With Goodyear as the sole manufacturer, we expect not to have to talk about it each week.”

YOU ARE LOCKED IN, HOW MUCH PRESSURE IS THAT FOR SUNDAY’S RACE AND FOR THURSDAY’S RACES?
“I think the pressure on Thursday is the normal pressure for guys that are locked in and that’s to not get your (Daytona) 500 car crashed or beat up. I don’t know that there’s really any pressure other than taking care of our cars.”

HAVE YOU EVER HAD SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT BE THE OWNER OF STEWART-HAAS RACING?
“No, not at all. Obviously there are nights when you go, can I handle this? But there’s never been a moment where I second-guessed my decision. I’ve always been one of those guys that when I’ve made a decision, I’ve put myself at rest with that and gotten through that.”

DO YOU THINK YOUR INSTINCT TO DO THIS HAS COME FROM YOUR ROOTS IN MENTORING WITH A.J. FOYT BECAUSE HE’S ALWAYS SO SUCCESSFUL AS OWNER/DRIVER IN HIS HEYDAY?
“It might be a coincidence that it’s worked that way. My whole career has been that way. We’ve had very parallel careers except that he’s won four Daytona 500’s, the 24-hour races and a lot more races than I’ve won. But, of guys in this era, we’re probably the closest as far as guys being parallel as far as how our backgrounds and steps that we took to get where we’re at.”

IF A.J. FOYT CAME YOU AND SAID HE WANTED TO BE INVOLVED, WHAT COULD HE DO FOR YOU?
“He could go get me lunch (laughter). We definitely don’t let him around laptops. The good thing is that he’s going to be here for the 500 and that’s something that we’re excited about. He’s a great friend of ours and that’s why we wanted him here. But him being here shows you how much he cares about what we’re doing too. It’s an honor to have him here.”

IS HE GOING TO BE IN YOUR PIT?
“Yeah.”

WHEN DID YOU INVITE HIM?
“Months ago; a long time ago. It was right after we did the announcement. I said hey, you’ve got February off, why don’t you come down and play with us. He accepted right away.”

YOU SAID YOU’D CROSS THE FINISH LINE ON YOUR ROOF IF YOU HAD TO, TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500. AFTER LAST YEAR, CAN YOU WANT IT ANY MORE THAN YOU DID TWO YEARS AGO?
“I don’t think so. I don’t think after last year you could ever want it worse. The good thing is that since they’re paid for and I’ve paid for them, I don’t care if there is nothing left but me when I slide across the line as long as the transponder is in my hand (laughter). That’s all that I think will count. That’s all I care about is that we get it. I don’t care if it’s destroyed when I come across the line. I don’t care if we have to physically take in on a flatbed to Daytona USA Monday morning and slide it off onto that little stage. That’s what we want.”

HOW REJUVENATED IS RYAN NEWMAN? HOW HAVE YOU HELPED HIM? HE SEEMS TO BE PRETTY EXCITED
“I think you’ve got to ask him about that. I’ve had more fun with Ryan since we started talking about doing this; even before we signed. We’ve got a lot in common. We have a lot of common interests. We both are pretty sarcastic and like to play practical jokes on each other. It’s been a relationship that’s been fun and I think it’s what is going to make us a really good team and be great teammates because of that.”

HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU IN MAKING A RUN FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“I don’t know what to expect. I wish I had that magical answer. As a driver that’s trying to keep your sponsors and team pumped up, you’re supposed to say yeah, I feel like I can win the championship. But I don’t know what those expectations should be and I don’t know what realistic goals should be. I just know that every week, we’ll go out and give 100% and when we leave at the end of the day, as long as we feel like we’ve gotten 100% out of ourselves that day, then that’s going to be good enough for that day. And then on Monday morning, we’re going to try to figure out what we can do to make it better for the next week. But I don’t know other than that what realistic goals should be. I think that’s about as realistic as you can get.”

IS IT STRANGE TO ENTER A SEASON LIKE THAT?
“Tell me a year that I ever knew exactly where I was going to be able to finish in the points. Nobody can do that. If you ask that question and they give you a solid answer, they don’t know. They’re lying to you. They’re telling you the politically correct answer because nobody knows. This is a series that’s so competitive that things change so easily from week to week. There isn’t anybody that can give you that answer and give it to you accurately. They can tell you where they think they might be, but that’s not what you want to know. You want to know where I’m going to be.”

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING TO BE?
“I don’t know. It’s harder for me to guess this year than ever. I don’t know how I can answer that, honestly.”

WITH THE LACK OF TESTING AND WITH THE DOWN ECONOMY, WILL THERE BE A LACK OF PARITY IN NASCAR THIS YEAR?
“I don’t know. It’s those same cars as last year. With no testing, it’s the same for everybody. It’s basically like Homestead ending and Daytona starting the next week. It’s almost like there wasn’t an off-season.”

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT FLYING COMMERCIAL? DO YOU THINK THERE IS AN OBLIGATION FOR YOU TO GIVE BACK TO THE FANS SINCE THEY ARE STRUGGLING SO MUCH WITH THEIR POCKETS?
“I think we do everything that we can. I don’t know what we can do. Obviously if there is somebody who comes up with an idea that works, we’ll all do it. That’s the great thing about this sport that you don’t see in other sports is that drivers and teams and the sanctioning body have always tried to do that; whether it’s at this level or the short track level, it’s always been that way. First and foremost, I’m worried about getting a race team up and going and making cars competitive each week. That’s a seven-day-a-week job. I don’t have four days or five days out of the week to worry about how I can make the world a better place. I’ve pretty much got a full plate.”

AS THE NEW CAR EVOLVES, DOES YOUR DIRT BACKGROUND GIVE YOU ANY ADVANTAGE IN SETTING THE CAR UP?
“I don’t think so. We all started driving this car two years ago and it has proven that the technology and the engineers are more important now than ever. It’s either right or wrong. With a dirt track background, you can slide them around more, but you can’t make it do something that it’s not going to do and these cars are really, really sensitive. We had more flexibility before with the old cars of being able to get them closer to where they needed to be, but with this car it’s either right or wrong. You can make it better as the day goes on, but if it’s not right, you’re probably not going to get it there.”

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 252,000 people around the world.  With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 34 countries.  In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands:  Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling.  GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services.  More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

CONTACTS:  Nancy Wager              Judy Kouba Dominick
                      727.415.3109                317.408.1049
                      nmwager@aol.com     jkdracer@aol.com

NASCAR: Daytona Media Day: Mark Martin Press Conf. Transcript

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
WEEKLY TOP 12 PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
February 5, 2009

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Impala SS, met with members of the media at Pre-Daytona media day and discussed anticipation about full-season with Hendrick Motorsports, the 2007 Daytona 500 finish, Joey Logano, older drivers and other topics.

COMING IN TO DAYTONA THIS YEAR, DO YOU THINK ABOUT HOW CLOSE THE FINISH WAS IN 2007?  “It doesn’t until you force it in there -- you just shove it right back in there.  I try not to think about 2007 that much.  Probably just as much as I try not to think about some other year when things even went worse than that.  To answer your question, does it cross my mind coming into Daytona this year? I’m going to be driving a Hendrick Motorsports car and working with the brightest crew chief.  I had no idea how incredibly bright Alan Gustafson was until I had a chance to go testing with him a few times -- absolutely undiscovered by the media.  He has not been discovered yet -- he has not been discovered and do yes it does cross my mind every once and a while, but I try to keep that at bay because really that -- to me it is silly for me to think about that.  What’s smart is to think about how do I make the most out of this opportunity?  How do we get our car good?  What are the things that I can do to make the most out of it instead of getting all giddy about this might be the best car I ever had at Daytona.”

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO ON THE TRACK IF THE CHAMPIONSHIP WERE ON THE LINE? “Are you saying would I turn a guy to win a championship?  Is that what you’re asking me?  I haven’t seen Jimmie (Johnson) knock anybody out of the way to win races.  I don’t feel like changing who I am is necessary to get the job done.  I don’t feel like it’s necessary.  I’ve done what I’ve done in the past and I will do what I do in the future based off of split second decisions so I really can’t tell you.  Do I understand that I only have so many more opportunities?  Yes, I do, but every decision I make will be made split second and all those things might weigh into my psyche, but at the end of the day I really can’t tell you.

 “I can tell you that I have had a couple of wins where accidents were a part of -- like the Busch race at Bristol with Davey Allison where Davey was passing me for the win and moved up before he got clear of me and he wrecked and I won the race.  That race didn’t mean anything to me because that’s not how I wanted to win the race.  I didn’t feel good about that.  So many of the others I can be proud of and feel good about.  It’s how I feel when I lay down at the end of the day that matters the most -- its how I feel about it.  I can tell you that I want to win really, really bad.  I can’t tell you what I’m going to do.  I won’t be able to answer that question until it’s over with.”

IS THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP THE REASON YOU CAME BACK FOR ANOTHER FULL-TIME SEASON? “No, that was not what drove me to take this.  What drove me to take this was Rick Hendrick, Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff (Gordon), Jimmie (Johnson) and Dale Barnhart Jr. as supportive teammates, Alan Gustafson, an opportunity to drive a blazing-fast race car that could win a race.  That’s why I did it.  All this other stuff we’ll see about -- we’ll see about that.  You have to climb some hills before you can stand at the top of the mountain.  I got hills to climb this year before we talk about standing on top of the mountain.  You have to understand that in 2009 we have plenty of hills to climb before we can even discuss all that.  Obviously it would be incredible -- it would be incredible if we could just make the ‘Chase’ because then we have a chance.  We have to make the ‘Chase’ first.  We’re starting a little bit behind as a race team.  We haven’t had an opportunity to work together before.  We didn’t work together last year.  We’re not in the Shootout, which puts us at a major -- I feel really left out because there are 28 cars -- more than ever and this is the first time in 20 years that I haven’t been in that race and we won’t even hit the race track in race trim until Wednesday.  They all hit it tomorrow so we have a lot more important things to be worried about than trying to worry about whether or not we can win that Cup.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE “He’s (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) as big of a super star as there has ever been in NASCAR from that stand point.  Do I think I have my work cut out for me?  I don’t want to get embarrassed.  I really want to be able and I want them to be able to say -- would love for them to be able to say that I brought something to the table.  That’s my challenge.  I’m going to have to find a way to be able to bring something to the table for these guys.  They’re some of the greatest there’s ever been.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE CARRYING THE BANNER FOR “OLDER” DRIVERS?  “I do feel like I’m carrying that banner right now.  I think that’s part of the appeal to some of the race fans is that they want to see -- some of them are aging themselves and they love the idea of being able to still hold their own against a 25-year old.  Whether it be playing softball or whatever it is -- let’s face it, there’s a huge difference physically and we’ve all experienced that.  There’s some great advantages, but when it comes to playing a game of softball, but after not doing that for a while and you go out and you play a little game and you wake up the next day and you can’t hardly move.  You say, ‘wow, things have really changed because back in the day I could do that and never even feel it.’  Things have changed and we are the contrast to all that and hopefully I can bring a little balance.  There was a lot of emphasis put on young drivers, which I was the one out here talking about it first and everybody thought there was something wrong with me and then a few years later it caught on and now I hope to bring a little balance to that.  I hope it gives some fans a reason to cheer that way because the young ones can go and identify from this way and that just brings a lot of balance.

“A lot of people don’t know a lot of things and even I don’t know everything about everybody in the sport and their history and where they came from and what they did.  In 1981 I was doing things that most 22-year olds hadn’t done in NASCAR.”

ARE THINGS HARDER OR EASIER NOW? “They were real different, but I don’t know that they were harder back then than they are now.  I was a kid then as well and some of the guys -- the hardened crew chiefs like Jake Elder said that I was too little to drive these cars.  I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now.  I ran third at Martinsville with no power steering and with single piston short track brakes -- without all the good stuff that everybody had.  It was actually before power steering and I was 130 pounds back then and didn’t even lift weights.  I wasn’t on any kind of physical fitness program at that time.  My point is that if the cars were ill-handling we made them work as good as we could.  We made the steering work as good as we could.  We had negative caster in the left-front so they would turn left by themselves easier.  We did a lot of things.  Now what we do because we have power steering is we’ve put all this positive caster in the left-front and you can’t steer that car a lick without power steering.  The competition is fierce today -- much more fierce than it was back then.  A 500-mile race you would ride for 400 miles and race the last 100 and now you race that first lap of the 500-miler is as intense as any lap.  There’s differences -- it’s way different, but I certainly wouldn’t say that you couldn’t do it then and I wouldn’t say that I wouldn’t have done it.”

WHAT KIND OF ADVICE HAVE YOU GIVEN JOEY LOGANO? “He’s (Joey Logano) gotten a lot of advice from me already and I’m very proud of him.  My biggest concern for him was -- I’m certain that he will be a Cup champion so my biggest concern was for him to stay humble because when you’re as good as he is it’s not always easy.  He appears to be hanging on to that fairly well.  I was very proud of him in his recent interviews.  He appeared to be humble and that’s not always easy.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO JOEY AT IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY IN THE RECENT RACE? “I don’t get involved in judging NASCAR’s -- the move he (Joey Logano) made appeared to be called for and just based on what had happened to him five laps earlier, if that’s what you’re asking and you want my opinion.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE “It sure is going to be in that No. 5 car.  I had the time of my life last year driving with Tony Gibson in the No. 8 car.  It was so much fun and I’ve been so happy and I’ve been excited since June to be getting in this 5 car and I can’t wait any longer.  I may have had an excitement breakdown if I had to wait any longer.  It’s built more and more and more in the last couple weeks -- the last three weeks I have just been really stir crazy and ready to go.

“That’s one of the great things about it is that it doesn’t feel like work -- it feels like a real privilege.”

IS DAYTONA TESTING AN ADVANTAGE FOR TEAMS YOU WON’T HAVE THIS YEAR?  “It’s always been an advantage and I’ve recognized it in the Shootout, but not nearly as much as when you have three days of testing and you’re with an existing team.  This is a new team for me to work with and they are incredible, but we do have to figure each other out and an hour and 45 minutes is not a lot of time to do that.”

DOES IT BOTHER YOU THAT THE EXPECTATIONS ARE SO HIGH? “The first thing that pops in my mind is to look the other way.  I’ve done a lot of looking the other way in my career -- a lot.  I’ve read a lot the last month and expectations are very high and I’m talking about from you guys (media).  Falling short of that because the line is so high, it would be easy for that to happen.  I love this sport -- this is my whole life.  This is what I think about all the time.  I check Jayski at least once an hour everyday and I check that and all the links to every story.  This is it -- that’s why for me to go sit on the couch for the rest of my life is not really -- I thought that’s what I wanted to do.  I was pretty happy there for a month or two -- all of 2007 I was fine, but in 2008 I was having more fun at the races than ever before, even more fun than 2007.  It came more and more clear to me.  I understand that expectations are high, they’re very high for Mr. Hendrick and they’re very high for my three teammates and they’re very high from Alan (Gustafson) and my team and so if you’re asking me how I manage all that internally I’m going to tell you that I’m just going to look over here instead of look at that because I’m obsessive and compulsive and I don’t need to be obsessing and compulsing over whether or not I’m going to be able to meet their expectations.  If I drive as well as I drove last year and they give me the kind of race cars that I had part of the time last year, which were really incredible part of the time last year and they give me those kind of race cars -- the kind of race cars that Alan (Gustafson) and that group are capable of producing then bad luck or not I should be able to hopefully meet those expectations.  I can say that for me mentally and physically I have never put so much into the preparation.  I know I’m not 25 -- I know where I’m at and I know for a fact that probably no one I’m racing against in 2009 have taken the time and had the time because I had a limited schedule and I didn’t even run Homestead -- we did all our promotional stuff for Kellogg’s and Car Quest back in October so I have really been caught up and I have worked.  Just like checking Jayski every hour -- I have put hours and hours into my physical and mental and nutritional program to prepare myself because I don’t have to worry about little things when it comes to the race car.  I’ve never been around anyone that was thinking as much and as prepared as Alan (Gustafson) has been.  That’s let me put a lot more time.  I’ve learned a tremendous amount of stuff from nutrition and about nutrition.  I learned some more about physical fitness and I’ve expanded my horizons in that area -- I’m doing more.  I’m not taking anything away from what I was doing, but I’ve added a lot more.  Yesterday for example I spend from seven till 12 AM -- it was not all working out.  The weights and the cardio took an hour and a half, but after that, from 9:30 to 10:30 I did something else and then did something else.  I’m doing other things than just the weights like I did for a long time.”

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 252,000 people around the world.  With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 34 countries.  In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands:  Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling.  GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services.  More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

CONTACTS:  Nancy Wager              Judy Kouba Dominick
                      727.415.3109                317.408.1049
                      nmwager@aol.com     jkdracer@aol.com

NASCAR: Daytona Media Day... Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Press Conf. Transcript

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
DAYTONA MEDIA DAY
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
WEEKLY TOP 12 PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
February 5, 2009

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD IMPALA SS, met with members of the media at Pre-Daytona Media Day and discussed NASCAR fans, Mark Martin, the Bud Shootout, his business enterprises and other topics. Full transcript:

IT WAS RECENTLY WRITTEN THAT YOU WERE KIND OF UPSET WITH SOME PEOPLE SOMEWHAT PUTTING THE ONUS ON THE DRIVERS TO REACH OUT TO THE FANS MORE, CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT AT ALL? “I thought I was pretty clear in that statement. Someone said that the track owners were complaining that the drivers were negative toward helping out. That is not true. We do the Winner’s Circle program. We are constantly doing things every week for this guy, that guy to help race tracks. Shoot, we were in Daytona for the FanFest thing. I read off 20 darn scripts about selling tickets, that very thing. I have to take a little responsibility for themselves.

“I was thinking the other day they should build their own hotels. That way they can control and bring the hotel prices down and control the hotel price in the region and make a little bit of money. People aren’t coming to the race track because the drivers don’t care, that is not what I meant. People aren’t coming to the race track because it is expensive to do it.

“The drivers do pitch in. The drivers do go that extra mile and we are willing to do more. It is very easy to sit down and shoot a damn 30-second commercial, it is a piece of cake these days to do it. I can it at home. We have the NASCAR tech center where we can do live teleconferences for an hour, whatever they want. We can push all we can push but they have to get a little more creative. They can’t expect people to come back to spend that kind of money in this economy.”

WHAT DID YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAID YOU READ OFF 20 SCRIPTS? “TV, video. Easily 20. It was pretty challenging too. You have to be in a frame of mind to be able to memorize stuff. You know what I mean.”

BORIS SAID MENTIONED THAT HIS NASCAR MEMBERSHIP HAS GONE UP 20%, HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT? “All of the hard cards, everything went up.”

DO YOU THINK THAT IS RIGHT IN THIS DAY AND TIME? “You bought one. They have to do what they have to do. They have to make the choices they need to make to survive. They are a business; they have to make business choices. I don’t want to argue the call about raising prices here and there, but, there is some gouging in certain areas. But not so much across the board. Who is to say what is the correct choice on a hard card. What is it worth? You know what I mean? It is work quite a bit actually. Tripling a hotel room for a night is a bunch of BS.”

DO YOU WORRY THAT A BACKLASH MIGHT HIT DRIVERS SURROUNDING ALL THE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT BIG SALARIES PAID TO CEOS OF COMPANIES? “No. I told Rick (Hendrick) he could pay me whatever he wants to pay me. I don’t have a problem. Rick can pay me whatever in the hell he wants to pay me. I will drive a race car for nothing.”

DO YOU THINK THIS ECONOMIC CORRECTION MIGHT BE GOOD FOR NASCAR AND BRING IT BACK TO THE COMMON MAN? “Obviously there are negatives and positives in everything and there will obviously be a lot of negatives in the swing the economy is taking. There will be some positives; there will be some good things that will come out of it too. It will be hard to see the silver lining in this but there will be some. I really don’t know what that is. That is a good way of explaining it, kind of a correction, if you will.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE HAVING MARK MARTIN AS YOUR TEAMMATE? “I don’t really know yet, man, we really haven’t got to racing yet. I like Mark a lot, he is a good guy. What is not to like. The guy has a great attitude, easy to talk to. He has been great all his life.  Always run well, won races. He has always spoken well, always been considerate. Had some great battles with my Daddy. I have had some good battles with him. He treats you like a gentleman on the race track and off the race track.”

HOW IS THE PROGRAM GOING MARK HAS RICK ON EATING AND EXERCISING TO CHANGE HIS LIFE?: “I think Rick just sent his first email last week. It is a hell of a thing happening. Rick has me working out a little bit.”

TALK ABOUT BRAD’S (KESELOWSKI) CUP SCHEDULE: “I told him it was a good deal man. Anytime you can go hang out with Finch (James, team owner) is good. Mark Reno is a hell of a man. Been around the sport for a long time. Got a lot of history. It would be good for Brad to be around a man like that, learn a little bit. Like I said, being around Finch will loosen Brad up a little bit and that will be good for him.”

ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT HIM NOT BEING IN HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS EQUIPMENT? “No, hell, that pretty much is Hendrick equipment. Do you homework.”

DO PEOPLE RELY ON YOU TOO MUCH, THINKING WELL THEY CAN JUST CALL DALE, JR. TO DO A PROMOTION FOR US, IS THAT PART OF IT? “No. I don’t know man; I try to help whenever I can help. It is pisses you off when people use your name without asking you though. That happens every once in a while. I mean, just ask.  Like the Memphis thing with the ribs, they didn’t even say nothing, you know.

”Texas has done it a couple of times, putting them billboards up at the track. Las Vegas did it. Used some kind of thing where they were give somebody season tickets if I won something championship or something, I don’t know. I like those kind of things, but damn, you know, notify us a little bit. Let’s get a little more creative.”

ARE YOU JUST ANNOYED BY THIS OR ARE YOU MAD ENOUGH TO GET LAWYERS INVOLVED? “Hell no. No, I don’t care that much. It is just a waste of time.”

WHEN YOU WON SHOOTOUT LAST YEAR, WHAT WAS THE EMOTION OF THAT? “Just relief. I mean, I don’t know. It is exciting to win any race. But we just came out of the box as a new team; I got some great help from my teammates in that race which was really inspiring to me. It made me feel great to have them helping me in the race to win. It is so easy to get competitive and you are competitive toward each other. But when it really came down to it, they saw opportunity, they worked with me and that was really good. I don’t know, we were kind of shocked and surprised. It is a tough race to win; it is sort of a crapshoot. Whoever is up front.”

DID THAT KIND OF HELP THE HYPE A LITTLE BIT? “Oh yea. Then we went in and won the Gatorade race. It was good. We broke away though, man. We weren’t trying to shut it down, you know what I mean?”

HOW IS YOUR MINDSET NOW THAT YOU HAVE A YEAR IN WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? “I feel a little more comfortable and a little less concerned.  Going to a race season with a new team, you have not had any laps with, man; you really wonder how it is going to work out. We kind of have an idea that we are a pretty good team. We make a few adjustments, do some things right, catch a few breaks and we are a great team. We are going to try and make that happen this year. I feel pretty comfortable though, no real worries.”

DENNY HAMLIN NO SAYS HE HASN’T LIVED UP TO HIS POTENTIAL AND HE IS TIRED OF BEING THE GUY THAT HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING, WHY DO YOU THINK HE HASN’T ACCOMPLISHED WHAT PEOPLE THOUGHT HE COULD DO? “I think Denny is really hard on himself. I think he has accomplished a lot. Look at it. The damn kid was running a late model, what, three or four years ago. Who knows if he would have ever got a shot at driving a stock car in the Cup Series. Here he is with a great team, good job. Making money, living in a nice house. Basically he has the world in the palm of his hand. I mean, I know he wants more. That is the sign of a true racer and he will get it. Circumstances have went against him. I think he is a talented driver. Just solid. Real good damn race car driver. Circumstances, personnel, maybe.”

IS HE TOO IMMATURE? “No, hell, everybody makes personal mistakes and learns a little bit about being more mature. What to say and don’t say. He is just too critical of himself. He is real hard on himself. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to compete at a certain level. He feels like he should be there every week. We all do, but I think that he has already done a lot more than a lot of people would have thought.”

HEARING YOU TALK ABOUT DENNY, HOW ARE YOU ON YOURSELF? “I feel the same way that Denny feels, especially the last three years, I haven’t really done the things that I thought I would be doing. I haven’t competed like I felt I should be competing. I felt like I was on an upswing ever since I started in the Cup Series in 2000 all the way to 2004. I made some choices and I let some other people make some choices and I started to go in the wrong direction performance wise. That has been the biggest hurdle to try to get over. The biggest thing to try to reverse. My speech to Hendrick was really what I thought hadn’t put me in that direction again to where I go back toward improving upon each year, each race and become more and more the total package.

“The switch to Tony, Jr. (Eury). Tony, Sr. off the box, Tony, Sr. not my crew chief, Tony, Jr. my crew chief. Tony, Jr. not my crew chief. Rondo (Pete Rondeau) my crew chief. Switch the whole teams, all kinds of things that went on that probably just weren’t the best choices.”

WOULD ANOTHER WIN IN THE SHOOTOUT BE A LAUNCH FOR YOUR TEAM FOR A SEASON OR FOR A LONG TIME? “Any time you win, it is a damn good boost for your team. It is pretty exciting and a good morale booster for the team and the shop. Really does a lot of all the guys at the shop. The whole mood, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are different. That only lasts for a week.”

IT IS SAID YOU ARE THE GUY TO BEAT IN THE SHOOTOUT, AS TONY PUT IT, IT IS BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE AIR SO WELL. ARE YOU THE MAN TO BEAT? “I think I am the man to beat. I thought I was pretty good at it. They have put more cars in the race, which makes it more of a challenge. It sort of lessens everyone’s odd a little bit. It is going to be quite a challenge. You just have to put yourself in the right position at the end. I feel like I know what to do.”

CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500? “It is hard. There is no way to explain what that feeling it is like, winning the Daytona 500.”

HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM WINNING OTHER RACES? “You just put some much in to this race. You know, you put so much in to winning here. Your team builds certain cars, special cars. They work on those cars so much. The media and the fans adore the race and build it up. It is such an event. So growing up around that, you are taught that it is a huge race and it means the most of any other event in the season, it is the most important race.”

DO YOU BURDENED BY YOUR FAN BASE? “No, the fans don’t burden you; it is the media that is friend and foe. That’s all right. That is your job, I am fine with that too and it is fun reading you guy’s take on things. Because a lot of times, you are just one person and you see things one way, especially when you are in the position I am in, you have very strong views about how you feel things are. You guys have a way of telling both sides of the story, sometimes. Whether you like to hear it or not.”

ARE THERE ANY MISCONCEPTIONS YOU WOULD LIKE TO CLEAR UP? “The thing about the track owners is going to get more play that it should. I don’t really want to go after Bruton (Smith), he is way too big. He’s way tougher than I am. I just wish it was easier to go see a race and I want the fans to have whatever they want. I want the racing to be like they want it. I want the drivers have such diverse personalities that everyone has a favorite. I want the weather to be perfect, you know what I mean. You just want them to be able to go to the race and have a good time. You remember how it was 10 years ago? It seemed like nobody was really complaining about little things like camper parking and the traffic. The cost of a parking pass for the infield, whatever, you know what I mean?  All these things not really being discussed. Now these are big issues for some reason. They have to figure out how to fix that.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU LIKE TO DO OR PLACES YOU LIKE TO GO? “I like to be home. Nothing is better than being home man, being around your friends and family.”

HOW IS A KID LIKE LOGANO GOING TO DO IN THE SHOOTOUT? “It is hard to say. Depends on how fast his car it. If you have a really good car, guys have got to go with you no matter who is driving it. Hopefully he can get out there in drafting practice and get some miles and learn some stuff. See what is going on. Chances are he is going to find the going difficult there at the start of the race because a lot of guys are going to try and shuffle him to the back because of his laugh of experience.”

HOW IS THE NEW BAR (WHISKEY RIVER) GOING? “The bar has been great. It has surprised me how successful it has been. I have some great people. J.R. Rhodes being one of them and a good partner that is making it easy. I don’t really have to do much. The thing just sits there and people enjoy it. I can get down there whenever I feel like it. I haven’t really got down there, I didn’t go down there as much as I thought I was going to go, especially when it got later in the month of January. I was like man, I am going to go down there a lot but never really got down to it. I bought this old ’53 pickup truck and I tooled around in it for awhile, a week. It was a lot of run. It is an old ratty and old rusty looking thing; it is pretty fun driving it.”

WHAT IS THE TOUGHEST PART OF BEING YOU? “Answering a lot of questions. I got to answer so many damn questions. I never wanted to be asked so many questions. I just wanted to drive but that’s not all there is to it.”

HOW DO YOU SEE THE ENTHUSIASM OF MARK MARTIN? “I already knew a lot about Mark so it is hard to say I have picked up anything new. He has a strong work ethic and his attitude, persistence and diligence is sort of contagious. I hope it rubs off on everybody. He works really hard to be where he is and who he is and to be as successful as he is.”

TALK ABOUT HIS WORKING OUT AND BEING FIT? “His personality and his take on being fit. Jimmie is the same way. Jimmie does a lot of things to stay in shape. Those things are smart.”

SO YOU ARE WORKING OUT HOW? “No, shit. (LAUGHS) There is a time in your life you have to take a little responsibility and try and take a little bit better care of yourself.  I have 20/13 vision in each eye and both eyes together. But my cholesterol got a little bit higher, so I am trying to eat better and not eat so many fried foods. Trying to drink a lot more water too, drink too many sodas. It is like 300 times better for you.”

MARK MARTIN SAID YOU HAVE THE BROADEST SHOULDERS OF ANYONE IN THE BUSINESS, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? “That is a hell of a compliment, man. It is a great compliment. I feel like I take a big role in this sport. I am glad to be part of this sport. I am glad to represent the sport, either on my good days or my bad days. I love being a part of it and whatever I got to shoulder that I feel is fair, I am fine with. If it isn’t fair, I am not fine with it. But I bet a lot of people are like that. I have been through enough crap to not want to be here anymore, but I love driving race cars and I am going to drive them as long as I want to drive them. I hope that is a long, long time. It feels like it will be a long time. I want to have good years, I want to have good seasons, I want to win races. I just enjoy driving a race car, whatever level that is on, whatever I’m supposed to be. However good of a damn driver I am, I guess that is up to everyone else to decide.”

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP?”I don’t know what it is going to take? Wins, points, I know that for sure.”

DO YOU HAVE GOALS FOR THIS SEASON? “I try not to set specific goals. I think if I can have a good season like I had in 2004, I would be happy if I could have that year every year. I hate to set specific goals, man, because you end up shootin’ a little short or over shooting. And be disappointed either way.”

DO YOU THINK OF YOUR DAD EVERYDAY? “Yup, every day. Sure why not. This place (Daytona) doesn’t really bring it out. I just think of him every day because that was part of my life. I just think about him. He was an awesome S.O.B. He is fun to think about. Everybody thinks about him. I am not angry, but I am excited because I think everybody does at some point. Maybe not as much as me obviously, but I think about him the same way you would. Just in conversation, something he did. Something cool he did on the track. Something he won or how he won it or what he said. Think about that all the time.”

IS EVERY RACE JUST LIKE AN ADVENTURE TO YOU? “Every race? Hell yes! Pretty much. They are all like a little mini season, you know what I mean.  They all have a lot of drama.”

DO YOU THINK THIS SHOOTOUT WILL BE WILDER THAN USUAL BECAUSE NO ONE HAS TESTED? “I think it is going to be more of an adventure because of the amount of cars. More so than the testing thing. It is just going to be wilder.  Everybody is going to practice and know what they have got here in a minute. It will be pretty much what you do in testing. You run the car and go that is a good one, that is not a good one. That is the better car. Let’s run this one in the Shootout and we will race this one in the 500. You are pretty much done. But if you have a hard-ass crew chief like I do, he will run you for three damn days if they will let him.”

DO YOU THINK A LOT OF THOSE THINGS YOU SAID EARLIER ARE PART OF YOUR RESPONSIBILITY? “I don’t like being asked those questions because I don’t want to be responsible or have that responsibility for speaking, speaking for anyone. I try to speak for myself and how I feel. I try not to be the voice of anyone else because that is just a dangerous situation to be in. I am not telling anyone how to do their job. I have an opinion and you all asked me what it was. I don’t like….pigeon-holed is a good way to put it. But, I just don’t like being…if people agree, they agree. If they don’t agree then they don’t agree. I am not the damn voice of reason by no means.”

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 252,000 people around the world.  With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 34 countries.  In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands:  Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling.  GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services.  More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

CONTACTS:  Nancy Wager              Judy Kouba Dominick
                      727.415.3109                317.408.1049
                      nmwager@aol.com     jkdracer@aol.com