■ 11 April 2008 | 9:54 AM
A collection of comments from drivers at Phoenix.
TONY STEWART
Do you think the new cars are too difficult to handle side-by-side and is there anything NASCAR can do to improve racing?
“It was difficult (at Texas) and had similar feelings of Atlanta, again. I'm not sure what the solution is right now. You have to take it one variable at a time and change one variable and see how it makes it act. You definitely gave each other more room than you normally did -- that takes away from the side-by-side racing aspect that we've all been accustomed to in this series for so long that I think has made this series so popular. It definitely was a handful. I mentioned earlier in the race on the radio to Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) I said, 'Every one of these other 42 guys that were on the racetrack were earning their money.' These cars are not easy to drive -- they're not designed to be easy to drive.
"They were definitely a handful and there were a lot of guys that had moments by themselves and were like 'oh man I can't believe you didn't lose it the rest of the way.' Normally we're accustomed to seeing that when you're side-by-side and someone takes the air off of you. Seeing it when you're by yourself, that makes you go 'wow.' I don't think anyone predicted in practice that we'd be handling that bad in the race. I think it's still a transitional period, too. We just haven't ran on a lot of mile and a half and two mile tracks, yet. As the season goes and we get to go to some of these tracks a second time around I think everybody is going to be a little more caught up and be a little more aware of what the challenges for race day will be and anticipate that a little better.”
How has the communication been at Joe Gibbs Racing since the addition of Kyle Busch?
“I think it's been great. It's probably been better amongst the three teams than it's ever been. With Kyle (Busch) coming on board we now have a debrief session after the last practice on Saturday or the final session. We all get together -- all three drivers, all three crew chiefs and all three engineers from the team all get together. We drivers talk about how our cars drove first, the crew chiefs talk about what changes we made to compensate for the balance and the engineers talk about what ideas with the crew chiefs, myself and the other drivers what we think we might be able to do to make the cars better for the race. I think from the communication side, he's brought a lot to the table and helped us elevate our program.”
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DALE EARNHARDT JR.
ON HOW THE HANDLING OF THE NEW CAR AFFECTS THE QUALITY OF RACING.: “The cars are harder to get the handle correctly. They handle pretty bad even when they’re good. I mean even when you run toward the front they don’t drive quite as good as the old car. The racing wasn’t that good I guess, I don’t know. I think it’s important to help with the sport that we put on a good show and a lot of side-by-side racing and if we’re not able to do that right now, we need to figure out how.”
ON HIS CONSISTENT RUNS SO FAR THIS SEASON AND IS IT FRUSTRATING THAT HE HAS NOT BEEN TO VICTORY LANE YET.: “Well I haven’t been in Victory Lane in two years so I don’t see why that would be frustrating because we’ve had plenty of time to get used to not winning. It’ll happen. I’ve got a great team, I’ve got a great program so I’m in the best position possible to make that happen and that’s just gonna have to do for right now. The reason why our position is exactly that is because of the quality of race team we have around us, the quality of the company as a whole.”
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KASEY KAHNE
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS OF WHAT NASCAR COULD DO TO HELP THE NEW CAR OUT? “The bump stops and travel is real sensitive to how the car handles. With the splitter, bump stops and travel – you put that all that stuff together – you can either make it worse or better by using those things. If there is something there that NASCAR can do, I’m not sure how you’d make that better. I don’t really get too much into it. Hopefully, there is something that as time goes on that we’ll be able to make these cars better with something on the front end. I think it’s the front end. The back of the car - you can get them loose, you can get them tight. You can kind of do what you want. The front is always just kind of sliding around. We’re in the top series; you should have a car that is halfway fun to drive sometimes I would imagine.”
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HOW CHILLED WERE YOU WHEN YOU HEARD ABOUT AARON FICKE? “I was pretty surprised that it had happened. I would never have suspected that. I don’t feel like I race with guys on drugs, but at the same time there are certain people you wonder about at some times. I definitely wondered about Aaron Ficke the last year he was in Nationwide or whatever he was racing. I always wondered. I really had no clue why he raced for as long as he did.”
DO YOU THINK NASCAR SHOULD CONSIDER RANDOM DRUG TESTING? “I’d be open to that (drug tests). As far as I’m concerned, where we are at in NASCAR – in racing – whenever you get the opportunities you get, there should be no question that you’re clean or doing drugs. I think there should be no question at all. I really don’t think there is a lot of question. I don’t feel like I race with people that do drugs or anything. I don’t know if there is a lot of question, but I don’t see anything wrong with random tests.
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JEFF GORDON
DO YOU THINK THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE TESTING ALLOWED ON THE MILE AND A HALF TRACKS? "I personally don't think it is a testing issue. I don't think it is a more time thing. Yes, I think it might help a little bit, I am always open for that. We wouldn't be going to do more testing if we didn't think it was beneficial. It is more it is we want to go and figure out some things we are missing. I guess, yes, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea."
DO YOU THINK THE EXTRA TESTING THAT HUMPY WHEELER HAS OFFERED AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY IF NASCAR WILL ALLOW IT IS NEEDED? "Obviously, it is for us (Laughs). I don't think everybody needs it. This car depends on the tire. At Atlanta and Texas, it was a different tire than Vegas and California. We had no issues at those tracks. We were awesome. I felt great at those tracks. Then we go to Texas. And even at Atlanta, as bad as it felt, the car was still very competitive. But in Texas the car felt bad and it was not competitive. Unless we are going to be on a tire similar to the Texas tire and Atlanta tire, I don't feel like we need to do anymore testing. I don't think that case with the type of pavement we have at Charlotte. I am pretty sure it is not the Texas tire. But if it is, then yes, I want to go there and I want to run on it because I obviously don't have a good feel for that tire."
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