NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
GEICO 500
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 29, 2016
TY DILLON, NO. 14 BASS PRO SHOPS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed subbing for Tony Stewart, the difference between driving Richard Childress Racing prepared Chevrolet’s and Stewart-Haas Racing equipment, the prospects of winning on Sunday and many other topics. Full Transcript:
ON DOING DOUBLE DUTY:
“Definitely going to be a busy weekend for us with everything going on on the Cup side, but we are coming off a lot of momentum from last week. It was a great run for us winning the Dash for Cash from Xfinity and finishing second and having an opportunity to win the race. We come here with a lot of momentum. I love this race track. I’ve won here before in the ARCA series. I’m excited get out there and be a part of both races.”
THIS WEEK YOU SAID THE NO. 14 TEAM WAS RUNNING YOUR INTERIOR IN THE CAR. I ASSUME THAT MEANS YOUR SEAT. HAVE YOU TALKED WITH TONY (STEWART) ABOUT HOW HE FITS IN THAT SEAT AND HIS COMFORT LEVEL IN THAT CAR?
“I haven’t talked to Tony yet, but talked with Mike (Bugarewicz, crew chief) and the guys. They said it’s just a quarter-inch difference and the belt set is all that we are playing with. So, we’ve got adjustable belts to make up for that really quickly. We have had to make a couple of changes to kind of compensate for a little bit of both, but mostly everything in there is built for me and for my comfort, because I will be in it for the longer part of the race.”
IS THE PLAN STILL FOR YOU TO QUALIFY THE NO. 14 CHEVY TOMORROW? HOW DIFFERENT IS THIS IN A RELIEF ROLE THAN MAYBE OTHER RELIEF ROLES?
“Being a part of this race you have an opportunity to win. It’s going to be quite a bit busy. I am going to qualify the car. I’m going to run first practice. I think Tony is going to run second practice. I will qualify and then he will run until I guess the first caution is what we are looking at. I will hop in and take over the race. Hopefully, we haven’t lost a lap and we will be able to get right back in it and go racing.”
HAVE YOU AND TONY DONE ANY PRACTICE CHANGING OUT?
“Not yet.”
ARE YOU PLANNING ON DOING THAT?
“Yeah, we have talked about it. We don’t know when we are going to do it yet. I think we are going to practice it at some point.”
HAVE YOU ALREADY SPENT THE $100,00 DASH FOR CASH MONEY? DO YOU THINK GETTING PRACTICE IN THE CUP CAR WILL HELP YOU IN THE XFINITY RACE?
“It always helps when I’m in both series to be able to get more laps on the race track is always helpful to begin with. This weekend will definitely help with this style or racing being pretty similar between both cars. No, I haven’t spent all the money yet. I didn’t get all the money (laughs). Most of it goes back to RC (Richard Childress) and building our race program. But, it did help our efforts with my wife and I looking for a house. It was a very fun and exciting weekend last week. I’ve had a great week.”
IF YOU DO WIN THE RACE THIS WEEKEND THEN TONY STEWART CAN USE THAT WIN TO GET INTO THE CHASE. DOES THAT ADD ANYMORE PRESSURE? WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE FOR YOU TO NOT ONLY GET HIM A WIN, BUT ALSO KNOW THE IMPACT OF THAT BEYOND JUST THIS WEEKEND?
“First of all it would mean I won a Sprint Cup race and I would be pretty excited to begin with. On top of that to be able to get Tony a step closer to being locked into the Chase would be really cool. Like I said earlier this week in an interview, I haven’t started a race without the goal of winning my entire career. That is what my focus is. As soon as I get strapped into that race car I’m planning on going to the front and hopefully winning the race. If it all comes together and we do win the race, I’m sure it will be a heck of a party and everybody is going to be happy.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK GETTING CHOSEN FOR THIS HIGH PROFILE JOB REPLACING TONY HAS HELPED YOUR PROSPECTS OF GETTING A FULL-TIME CUP RIDE? WHERE DOES IT STAND WITH WHAT YOU HAVE LINED UP FOR NEXT SEASON?
“I think it’s helped a lot. I was hoping to maybe be full-time this year in the Sprint Cup series about this time last year. That is where I kind of had my goals set, my eyes set, but the opportunity didn’t come along. I can’t thank Stewart-Haas and their organization enough for giving me the opportunity to fill in this year with Tony being out. Not only has it helped me with my career and getting better as a race car driver, but it’s helped me show people that I can get the job done in other equipment too. And that I can prove myself in other ways. I’m very thankful for the opportunity they have given me. It’s helped a lot with a lot of things in my career. Hopefully, it just continues to get better.”
ANY UPDATED ON NEXT SEASON?
“I can’t tell you that (laughs). No, there are a lot of good things going on. That is about as far as I’ll take it.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE RCR XFINITY PROGRAM OVERALL?
“I’m very excited. We obviously started off a little off this year to begin the year. Our cars weren’t as good as the Gibbs cars. They have been really fast. Everybody has seen that. But, we are closing in on them quick. I think it started in Texas a couple of weeks ago with our car. We ran in the top three all week and had opportunities on long runs to compete with those guys. Then it came down, Bristol, we were right there in the thick of things. Austin (Dillon) was running good, I was running good and then Richmond we obviously proved that we are here to stay and we are going to be up front for the rest of the year. I’m just proud of the hard work that all my guys at the shop that are building race cars right now are putting in. ECR has done a lot for our program in Xfinity the last couple of weeks to improve our running order. It’s definitely showed.”
WHEN YOU DRIVE THE STEWART-HAAS RACING CARS CAN YOU TELL A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO CHEVROLET PRODUCTS AS FAR AS DRIVING YOUR FAMILIES EQUIPMENT AND DRIVING SHR’S?
“There are minor things that are different. It was kind of interesting to me how similar things actually were. I think a lot of that is the relationship between both teams and Chevrolet and how well Chevrolet works with our teams. There are small things that are done differently between organizations, the way things are gone about inside of the race cars. Honestly, the way the handling and everything comes down to it they are very very similar and there is not a whole lot of difference. I think it all comes down to working with the crew chief and the team, the people are what I’ve noticed are the differences between both teams.”
MANAGEMENT TOLD ME LAST WEEK THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU IN A CUP CAR FULL-TIME, BUT THEY WOULD ALSO LIKE TO FIND SPONSORSHIP THAT WAS SIMILAR TO WHAT CHASE ELLIOTT HAD. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT AS FAR AS SPONSORSHIP GOES?
“Right now anything suits my brand. If we can get that kind of sponsorship I’m fine with supporting anything and exposing anything. That is definitely our goal is for RCR is to find a sponsor that we can grow with over the next couple of years similar to what Chase has done. That would be the ultimate goal. There are other opportunities that could come along to provide me to be able to run full-time in the Sprint Cup Series. I feel like I’m ready to be in the series full-time as a driver mentally and physically. This year I’m focusing on winning the Xfinity Series championship. Hopefully, make my prospect a little bit better and hopefully that opportunity comes along.”
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