How were you approached by Michael Waltrip Racing?
“It’s actually a pretty interesting story because I wasn’t a part of Michael Waltrip’s driver development program, but my teammates were -- Josh Wise and Ken Butler III. We all ran for Eddie Sharp Racing and obviously Michael Waltrip kept a close eye on the program. As we started having success, that led to testing opportunities and the testing opportunities led to a couple Nationwide races and a truck race at Martinsville last year. It just slowly started to evolve into a relationship, but it really started with Eddie Sharp Racing and the development program there.”
What have you been doing to get ready for Martinsville weekend?
“I’ve definitely been doing a lot of simulation -- it’s a tool that I think really helps. It’s something I did a lot last year because it was my first year in stock cars, first year doing ARCA as well and I didn’t know any of the tracks. It really helped just to get familiar with the tracks, the speed and how the race procedure would go. I think the simulation is a good tool, but it is in no way equivalent to actually getting out there and doing it. We’ve been doing a lot of testing in the off-season. We just did two days last week in Caraway (NC) -- so we’re trying to get the car prepared as much as we can.”
How ready do you feel making the jump into the Sprint Cup Series?
“By no means have I underestimated the challenges ahead of me. This is the best series in the world with the best drivers. I didn’t come to Michael Waltrip saying that I was ready to drive a Cup car -- that’s not how it came together. That was the seat that was available and we want to build toward the future. I think we know going into it that it’s going to take time for me to get up to speed. We have a new crew chief on board with Bill Pappas, who comes from open wheel racing and he and I are just learning each other. We know that it’s a process that’s going to take time, on the same side we all know that you’re not going to be able to run in the back for too long before they get rid of you. I know when I get out there I need to get going as quick as possible, but the number one goal is to stay in the top-35 and keep the car in the top-35 -- hopefully we’ll go to Martinsville in the top-35.”
Who has the mentor been for you in this transition?
“Like I said in the past, I have the best scenario ever -- I have two guys with championships, race wins and lots of experience with both Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett and they’ve been great. But I also have David Reutimann, who went through last year what I’m going to be going through now. He knows the type of pressure that I’m under, he knows how difficult the challenges are. I have a great group of guys to lean on and I think Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota and all the partners have done a great job to get the cars competitive and now it’s my time to get in there and try to help that out as much as possible.”
How comfortable are you with where the 00 is in owner points?
“We’re just going to keep our fingers crossed that all three cars are in the top-35 -- it’s not just the 00, it’s the 44 and the 55. Hopefully we’ll leave here not worrying about that and we’ll have all three cars in. I do know that whichever of the cars that is out will most likely be the points that I’m going to get starting out. One of the things going into it was knowing that if we had to qualify then we needed to be in position to do that. We know how difficult it is and by no means do I feel like it’s something that’s going to be easy. One thing I do feel comfortable about is that I’ve had some good success in the past with qualifying -- I had nine poles in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and all the other series I’ve been in, I’ve been able to qualify pretty well. I’ve never been in a series with this amount of great teams and great drivers.”
How will the points work when you start? Will you get the lowest points of the group?
“I don’t really think it’s a Reutimann or Michael Waltrip situation, I think it is a more of a situation where we have great partners in UPS and NAPA and the most important thing is making sure those cars are in the race. The 00 right now that I am moving into is not fully-funded. Therefore, the UPS and the NAPA cars will take priority over the 00.”
How do you feel about the sponsorship search for your car?
“We all know that this is a performance-related business and the only thing that’s going to sell sponsorship for us and for myself is going out there and providing results. One of the great things that we have is Michael Waltrip himself is a huge marketing tool -- not just for himself, but for the team and I definitely look up to him from that aspect. He goes the extra mile to make sure the sponsors are taken care of. With Toyota’s help and with Rob Kauffman coming in and being a partner with Michael Waltrip Racing, it has definitely allowed us to do this third car with a guarantee of being fully funded.”
How much pressure do you feel on the undertaking of driving a Cup car?
“The one thing that I’ve really learned is that no matter how good of a driver you are, you have to have a good car underneath you. The good drivers are able to dissect the car and learn what they need to get the speed out of it and I think that is the most important thing -- to have good feedback and be able to get the car in a position where you can run competitively. That’s one of the things that a lot of testing has helped with and listening on the radio to what guys are looking for at the start of the race, in the middle of the race and at the end of the race. I think that’s the biggest challenge is knowing where the car is balance-wise for practice and what it will do for the race. You have to be confident with that and know what you want. You hear a lot of guys that are loose and want to leave it because by race time the car will tighten up and be fine and other guys want to start the race a little snugger. You just have to be able to make those changes and make those transitions -- I think that will be the hardest learning curve of the 500 mile races.”
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Are there any similarities between the ARCA car and these new Cup cars?
“The one thing is that I have kind of a diverse background. I’ve done all the open wheel junior series, Champ cars, sports cars, Grand-Am Cup cars and I’ve done them all in the same weekend. Jumping back and forth is something that I’ve been kind of used to so driving the new car wasn’t much of a transition. It didn’t drive quite like the ARCA car, but at the same time I only had one full season in the ARCA car so everything has been new to me. It’s been new to me ever since I started my career -- every year I’ve jumped to a different series. I feel the transition as far as learning the car and adapting to it should come a little easier.”
Are you going to be nervous?
“I’m nervous right now. You can’t underestimate how difficult it’s going to be and you can act confident and say it’s going to be easy and jump in and do it. We all know there’s been a lot of great drivers that haven’t been able to do it. What’s going to really help us is going to be in the top-35 and being able to run the practice and not have to do qualifying runs the whole time. I think that was one of the set-backs for the team last year is that they spent all of practice trying to get into the race and then once you were in the race, the cars weren’t good because you couldn’t work on them. If we can just break through that barrier then we’re going to have a lot better race results and it’s going to make my job not easy, but maybe a little less challenging.”
Do you think it will be easier to start at Martinsville versus Texas or some of the other tracks?
“I don’t think there’s any place that’s easy to make your debut. All the tracks are unique and they’re all difficult. You can go to Texas and its 210 miles-per-hour going into turn one and you go to Martinsville and it’s only 130, but it’s one of the most technically challenging tracks there is. They’re all unique and difficult -- it wasn’t my choice to pick Martinsville, but it’s the situation we have. I’m glad we’re going to a short track because it is a little more forgiving -- you can get beat and banged up and you can back it into the fence and still keep going, especially with these new cars. I feel like it gives us an opportunity to maybe make a few more mistakes than you normally could.”
Did running the short tracks in ARCA help you?
“That’s one thing that’s great about the ARCA series -- you get a wide diversity of tracks and a lot of short tracks. You run Lakeland, Toledo, Winchester, Salem -- there’s a lot of short tracks and we had success at short tracks. The short tracks I think are a bit more forgiving. You can drive the cars hard -- you can drive them sideways off the corner without killing yourself. I look forward to the short tracks.”
How much does your marketability help you in this situation?
“There are millions of great drivers out there and not everybody makes it. What allows you to make it in this sport is people. It’s your crew, your sponsors, your team managers and team owners -- you have to build that relationship and build that confidence with them and you have to have them 100 percent behind you. If one of the keys to that element is gone then you’re in a situation that becomes very difficult. My focus has always been -- build the people around you, get 100 percent out of them and then everything else falls into place. I’ve tried not to over-analyze my abilities because we won’t know until I get out there and do it, but just focus more of my time on the people.”
Do you try not to show any anxiety to your team members so they have more confidence in you?
“I think having total confidence and having people think we’re crazy to think he’s going to come in here and win the first race -- you have to have a balance of that. Really that just comes from being yourself and I know how difficult it’s going to be and the team knows how difficult it’s going to be. One of the great things is that from the first day I got there and the team knew I was going to drive is they were excited about it. That is an important aspect of it because if you have a group of people that are thinking, ‘we have this young guy and this is going to be one of the hardest years we’ve had’. Then going into it, you’re not getting 100 percent out of everybody. I feel like we have the right team together, we have the right people and hopefully it will all fall into place.”
What type of simulation systems are you using?
“I use all the systems -- it’s a PC (personal computer) based simulator. I have a racing wheel, pedals, force feedback and I have a big monitor that’s almost looking out the windshield of your race car. I’m telling you -- it makes a huge difference. When I went to Salem for the first time, I had already run 300 laps there on the simulator and when I unloaded I was the quickest -- my first time ever there. I led the practice off of my first lap and I thought that was just coincidence and then we went to Kentucky and it was the same thing. The simulator really helps where you’re going to lift and how much brake pressure you’re going to use. The only thing you don’t get is that seat-of-the-pants car sliding experience -- it’s visual. I’ve used gaming and simulation so long that I’ve been able to adapt what’s real and what’s not real. I think it’s a huge help and I’ve probably done 750 laps around Martinsville already.”
How many times have you hit the wall?
“A lot -- that’s the great thing about simulation, you can hit reset and it doesn’t cost you anything. You have to also treat it like it’s real because if you treat it like it’s a game then you don’t really learn anything. I think it’s just like any other tool -- it’s just how you use it and it’s not the answer for seat time, but it’s a definite help.”
How much of an investment is the simulator?
“I call mine the poor boy system because there are some guys out there that will spend 40 or 50 thousand dollars on their system. I bought a 2200-dollar computer, a 300-dollar wheel and hooked it up to a monitor and Sparco gave me a chair to use. It’s not a huge investment -- anybody can really do it. For 2500 to 3000 you can have a really good race system.”
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