| Has restrictor-plate racing changed in your career?
“What I remember about 1999 is the bumpers didn’t really line up really well. If you bumped into a guy, you had to be really careful about how you did it. Now, guys are just slamming into each other. It doesn’t matter if the bumpers line up. It’s like bumper cars at 198 mph in the race. The dynamic of it has changed quite a bit of how we do things and how you run there. I preach about it all the time, but blocking is now standard on a restrictor-plate track and I have never liked it. It’s what you have to do now. Everybody has to do it. You can’t blame somebody who blocks now. They are doing what they have to do to protect themselves. It’s just part of the game.”
What’s the difference between Talladega and Daytona?
“Talladega is wider and over a 10th-of-a-mile longer. We talk about Talladega and Daytona being a chess match, but Talladega truly is a chess match. You always had somewhere you can go. Four-wide is not uncommon there. It was nerve-wracking, but not uncommon. Three-wide at Daytona is pretty much what you are going to get at Daytona. Talladega is where I learned my style and what my concept of racing at restrictor-plate tracks were like. It was the first time having a teammate. What Bobby (Labonte) liked to do and what I liked to do at restrictor-plate tracks were different – where we thought we needed to be, when we needed to move, when we needed to pull out of line. But, Bobby said, ‘Listen, it’s all right if you have a different approach. You have to do what’s right for you and I have to do what I think is right.’ There weren’t a lot of times Bobby and I were able to hook up at the end of the race and go. But, we had a pretty good run there.”
| How would you rate yourself as a restrictor-plate racer?
“Well, I’m not any happier about it than I’ve always been, but we’ve had a lot of success at restrictor-plate tracks. We’ve run in the top-two at Talladega a gazillion times. I’m glad we’re halfway decent at it, but it’s still always frustrating when you have to rely on what everybody else does. It’s not what you do. It’s what you do along with somebody else who decides that they’re going to follow you and help you. That’s the part that frustrates you as a driver.”
It seems that luck plays as much of a factor at Talladega and Daytona as everything else. Why is that?
“Someone described racing on the superspeedways as being a combination of a science project and the luck of a casino, and it’s exactly that way. You do everything in your power to take care of the science or technology side. You do everything you can to build the fastest car. If you don’t have the luck to go with it – even if you don’t have any drama with getting the car touched, nothing happens to the car – if you’re just in the wrong spot at the wrong time, it can take you out of the opportunity to take the best racecar in the field and win.”
When you’re in the draft, how much control do you feel you have inside the racecar?
“It depends on the circumstances. You can’t see the air and you hit different pockets (of air). You hit a pocket where you get a really big tow, or you hit a pocket where it seems they’re getting a tow and pulling you back, and you just have to play the circumstances. You just try getting in different scenarios and try to learn if you get in the middle of the draft, what does it do? Will it give you a push? Will it not give you a push? If you get next to this car, does it suck you up or does it slow you down? It’s trial and error but, at the same time, it’s like pulling a pin on a grenade. You know through that process that if one guy makes a mistake, your car’s torn up. It’s just a delicate balance of how hard you go, how many things you try, and how much time you spend doing it.”
How much translates from Daytona to Talladega?
“They’re different tracks with their own characteristics, but it’s plate racing and that really doesn’t change. Daytona has always been billed as being more of the handling track, but we’re still drafting and we’ll be in a pack where you’ve got cars on top of each other. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time, and that’s the same whether we’re racing at Daytona or Talladega.”
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Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Delvac Team Report
Round 32 of 36 – Alabama 500 – Talladega
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| Car No. 14: Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Delvac Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing
Teammates: Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS
Danica Patrick, No. 10 Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet SS
Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation/ Monster Energy Chevrolet SS
At Track PR Contact: Drew Brown with True Speed Communication (704-498-7596 or Drew.Brown@TrueSpeedCommunication.com) |
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Primary Team Members:
Driver: Tony Stewart
Residence: Columbus, Indiana
Crew Chief: Mike Bugarewicz
Hometown: Lehighton, Pennsylvania
Car Chief: Jerry Cook
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
Engine Specialist: David McClure
Hometown: Sacramento, California
Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
Headquarters: Concord, North Carolina
Spotter: Bob Jeffrey
Hometown: Bristol, Tennessee
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Over-The-Wall Crew Members:
Front Tire Changer: Ira Jo Hussey
Hometown: Manchester, New Hampshire
Front Tire Carrier: Brett Morrell
Hometown: Windham, Maine
Rear Tire Changer: Chris McMullenHometown: Canton, Michigan
Rear Tire Carrier: Josh Sobecki
Hometown: New Kensington, Pennsylvania
Gas Man: James “Ace” Keener
Hometown: Fortuna, California
Jackman: Getty Cavitt
Hometown: Owensboro, Kentucky
Windshield: Justin Peiffer
Hometown: Lebanon, Pennsylvania
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Road Crew Members:
Truck Drivers: William “Stump” Lewis and Rob Fink
Hometown: Linkwood, Maryland and Baltimore, Maryland, respectively.
Engineers: Lee Deese and Chris Chidgey.
Hometown: Rockingham, North Carolina and Gainesville, Florida, respectively.
Mechanic: Tony Silvestri
Hometown: Sylvania, Ohio
Tire Specialist: Russell Simpson
Hometown: Medford, New York
Shock Specialist: Dave Hansen
Hometown: York, Maine
Pit Support/Fuel Runner: Daniel Coffey
Hometown: Granite Falls, North Carolina
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| This car made its debut in July 2015 with Stewart at the wheel for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. It qualified 31st but rallied its way up to sixth in time for the green-white-checkered finish that decided the race in spectacular fashion. But, rather than being able to leverage his track position, Stewart was shuffled back to 14th place, where he was running when the frontrunners collided as the field came to the checkered flag. The incident triggered a dramatic accident that caused Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevy to take flight, smashing into the protective fencing and connecting with several cars before coming to rest directly in front of pit road. Chassis No. 14-947 suffered a good bit of damage but was still able to finish the race. Rebuilt in the months afterward, the car made its second start at Talladega in October. Stewart qualified 12th but started at the back of the field after a suspension change before the race. He laid back for most of the race before making a charge to the front in the closing laps. His bid for victory ended when the No. 14 suffered damage as the field came to green for overtime racing. Stewart finished the race 25th. Brian Vickers substituted for the injured Stewart in the 2016 Daytona 500, driving Chassis 14-947. The team’s decision to take two tires during a caution with 44 laps remaining vaulted Vickers from midpack to fourth. He stayed at the very front of the field, running side by side with the leaders and racing in the top-10 with 10 laps remaining before drifting to midpack in the closing laps. At Talladega this past May, under his doctor’s orders, Stewart drove the first 52 laps before turning the car over to Ty Dillon, who survived wild racing in the final laps to finish sixth. In his swan song at Daytona in July, the three-time champion finished 26th after looking like he might win his second consecutive race of the season. Stewart avoided early trouble, then battled in the top-five as the race wound down. But, with 10 laps to go, the No. 14 slammed into the wall, ending his chances for victory. |
• Sunday’s race marks Stewart’s 614th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 35th Sprint Cup start at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
• Stewart has career totals of 49 wins, 15 poles, 187 top-five finishes, 308 top-10s and 12,814 laps led in 613 Sprint Cup races.
His most recent Sprint Cup win came June 26 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
His last Sprint Cup pole came April 5, 2014 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
Stewart missed the final 15 races of the 2013 season, three races in 2014 and the first eight races in 2016.
• Stewart has a win, nine top-five finishes and 13 top-10s and has led a total of 328 laps in his 34 career Sprint Cup starts at Talladega. His average Talladega start is 16.7, his average finish is 17.5, and he has a lap-completion rate of 97.2 percent.
• Stewart has scored top-10 finishes in eight of the 23 races he’s entered in 2016.
• Talladega in May – The driver tandem of Tony Stewart and Ty Dillon drove the No. 14 of Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Chevy to a sixth-place finish in the 47th annual GEICO 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega. Dillon took over the No. 14 from Stewart on lap 53, after Stewart followed doctors’ wishes and turned over the driving duties. Dillon drove the remainder of the race, narrowly missing three spectacular accidents on his way to the team’s best finish of the season to that point.
• “Always a Bridesmaid:” Prior to winning a Sprint Cup race at Talladega on Oct. 5, 2008, Stewart finished second six times (spring 2006, spring and fall 2005, fall 2002, spring and fall 2001) at the 2.66-mile oval, which tied him with Bobby Allison and Mark Martin for the most runner-up finishes without a Sprint Cup victory at a track currently on the Sprint Cup schedule. Allison finished second six times and never won at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, while Martin holds this distinction at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. Stewart is tied with Buddy Baker for the most runner-up finishes at Talladega with six each.
• Stewart actually has two wins at Talladega. His breakthrough win at Talladega came on April 26, 2008, when he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race from the pole. He led five times for a race-high 81 laps in the 117-lap race.
• In his Sprint Cup career, Stewart has five points-paying victories in restrictor-plate races – the 2005 July race at Daytona, where Stewart won the pole and led all but nine of the race’s 160 laps (94.4 percent), the 2006 July race at Daytona, where Stewart started second and led six times for a race-high 86 laps (53.8 percent), the 2008 October race at Talladega, where Stewart led four times for a race-high 24 laps (12.6 percent), the 2009 July race at Daytona, where Stewart started from the pole (qualifying was rained out) and led nine times for a race-high 86 laps (53.7 percent) and the 2012 July race at Daytona, where Stewart scored the win via a last-lap pass of Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth off turn two and down the backstretch.
• Stewart has six other Sprint Cup wins in non-points restrictor-plate races. All have been at Daytona, with three victories in the Budweiser Shootout (2001, 2002 and 2007) and three victories in the Gatorade Duel (2005, 2007 and 2012).
• Rush Truck Centers an ExxonMobil are sponsoring Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet this weekend to promote a program highlighting the need for more truck technicians and saluting these vital behind-the-scenes professionals. Stewart and his team visited a Charlotte-area Rush Truck Centers location on Wednesday to learn from technicians and help perform a diesel engine oil change. The visit coincides with a discounted Mobil Delvac product and oil change promotion, available at all Rush Truck Centers locations nationwide during the month of October. Fans can see behind-the-scenes footage of the No. 14 team’s Rush Truck Centers visit by following @Mobil1 and @RushTruckCenter on Twitter throughout the Talladega race week. Experienced truck technicians have never been more vital. The American Trucking Association estimates that an additional 200,000 technician professionals will need to be developed over the next 10 years to meet service maintenance demands industry-wide. Concurrently, it is expected that 40 to 50 percent of truck technicians will retire before 2030.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
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