What drivers are saying at Kentucky ...

A look at some of the things Cup drivers are talking about at Kentucky this weekend …

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TONY STEWART had a few things to say about his season and what he feels is a lack of SAFER barriers around the track. Here’s what he said: On his season: “Terrible.  We’ve had a terrible year.  Not been anything like what we’ve been used to by any means.’’

On how Kentucky differs from other tracks:  “They don’t have enough SAFER barriers yet.  Not near enough SAFER barriers for what we’re doing here and how close the wall is to the race track.  Hopefully, none of us will have to test that out and see anything.”

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DALE EARNHARDT JR

On the roughness of the track: “The last time I tested here, the track was in a whole lot better shape. It’s kind of deteriorated a ton since we tested here last time. I think it was a couple years ago. I don’t mind the bumps that bad. They are kind of pointless on the straightaways, but, in the corners they definitely add a new dimension.”

On how his team is doing now: “Good. Hanging in there. We started the season really good. We’ve struggled the last couple of weeks, but, those two tracks, I had them kind of circled on my radar as weekends that might be hit of miss for us. So, hopefully we can get back on track this weekend and start putting together a couple of more good weeks and try our best to lock ourselves into the Chase. … I hate what happened over the last couple of weeks and I look back with some regrets on how we finished our day in Sonoma and what we could have achieved if we had been more patient or tried to take better care of the car. You could have done a million different things at Daytona and I try not to dwell on that but it’s hard. You know you think about it but what’s done is done you’ve just kind of got to try to move forward and not let it really bother you too much and try to put together a good weekend. Maybe two or three or four good weekends in a row and try to change the picture of the points system for yourself five weeks from now and hopefully a better spot.”

On his thoughts of Kansas repaving its track: “I don’t know what an alternative solutions would be, but every time these tracks develop any kind of cracks in them and they put tar or strips on them, and that’s terrible, that is the worst thing you can do to a race track, that track’s got it all over the place and you can’t…the tires that they got don’t like them strips. People, think ‘ah, it’s cool go across the strip and it messes you up’. That adds to the action but it’s not good. It takes away from the racing.’’

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KURT BUSCH

On the the roughness of the track: “If we had raced here for years, I think we’d go, ‘hey Bruton (Smith), where’s the repave?  Let’s put together a better surface.  What we’re seeing here are all the changes that Bruton and his company have put into place and we’re giving him praise for this special event and I know there are steps that are going to move it forward.  The character in the track, it’s fun, different.  You have to drive it very differently.  Maybe it will allow us to rough each other up a little bit – give ‘em that door doughnut by accident because, with the bumps, you can’t predict which way you’re going to slide and move around.’’

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JIMMIE JOHNSON

On what happened where he pitted and teammate Dale Jr didn’t last weekend at Daytona: “Oddly enough, it was nothing that Junior (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and I had talked about or Chad (Knaus, crew chief) on our big calls that we have each Tuesday with all four drivers and crew chiefs.  It’s never been brought up.  I assume there was conversation between Chad and Stevie (Letarte, 88 crew chief) before that pit stop and we elected to pit.  I know that when I took to the race track after that pit stop, Chad said if we have a third – this was when the second green-white-checkered came along he felt like some guys were getting ready to run out of fuel and we were hopeful to get a third and then we would have been in a great situation. 

"I assume that was the thought process.  The tires don’t make a big difference there so I think it was trying to get enough fuel in the car to go the distance for three green-white-checkereds.  Our run to the front was way too late and we were trying to be conservative, trying to make sure the 88 finished the race and with what we saw at Talladega, we felt like going with five laps to go or something wouldn’t be a problem.  With 15 to go, the lead group was so far ahead, we’re like, ‘We’re dead in the water.’  I think when we came to that last, when we pitted that last pit stop for us, I know from the 24 (Jeff Gordon) standpoint and our standpoint and the 88’s, it was just to do what we can to get our best finish and kind of every man for himself because we were so deep in the field.  We chose to pit.”

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MATT KENSETH

On the bumps in the track and if it bothers him: “Yeah, I think it bothers everybody. It is almost ridiculously rough, even on the front straightaway it is so rough that is kind of knocks you all over the place. It is pretty rough. It could use a coat of pavement.”

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CLINT BOWYER

On if he’s feeling pressure to win with the wildcard format with the Chase: “I think the pressure, that’s what is the unfortunate thing about that wild card deal.  I’m just not a big fan and I never was.  I told them when they said what they were going to do, I said, ‘Well, I think this is what’s going to happen and it’s pretty sure the race is going to be for ninth and 10th – 11th and 12th is going to be locked up plenty before they ever get there.’  It’s unfortunate that it is what it is.  There’s a good chance that the best 12 teams aren’t going to be in the 12 spots for the Chase.”

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CARL EDWARDS

On what happened to him at Daytona last week and how bad things were in the car: “What happened, best that I understand it, was that the crush panel got knocked out. Whatever was going on back there it was pumping the exhaust fumes directly into the car. That is the hottest I have ever been in my life by a big margin. I drove around out there and I didn’t want to quit. I didn’t want to pull in just because I was getting hot there. Fortunately it got something in the car hot enough that the car started running badly and I had an excuse to pull in. Once they put the crush panel back in it was good. We talked about it a little this week and if that were to happen this weekend we would have to fix it. I don’t think the car or driver could make it for more than 30 minutes or something like that. I think things would be on fire. It opened my eyes to how hot things can be in those cars if you knock those crush panels out.  I don’t know how many races I have run in, but I have never had that situation before. Not anything like it. If the hottest I had ever been before was say, 140 degrees, it felt like it was 240 degrees. It was a whole different dimension of heat. It got my attention. I don’t think there is anything that could battle that. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I am glad I have gloves on or my hands would be burning right now.’ It wasn’t just fumes or something. We will try not to do that again.

"Bob (Osborne, crew chief) and the guys were mad at me that I didn’t pull in and fix it right away but that is just our nature. You can’t pull in and say, ‘Hey, I am too hot.’  It got my attention for sure. I was doing the math. I was thinking that we had 100 and something laps to go and thinking, ‘I don’t know if this is going to work.’ That is an interesting predicament to be in. I can see how in years past there have been guys that got out of cars and have had something wrong with the crush panel it is a serious situation. That was a lot of heat.”

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JEFF GORDON

On Tony Stewart’s comments about the need for more SAFER barriers at Kentucky: “I was just making a comment after last week’s announcement by Richmond (International Raceway). ‘I wonder what other tracks don’t have Safer Barriers.’ Then I came here and saw the inside wall. Hopefully that is the only time I notice it this weekend. You understand that they have put a lot of effort, you can tell they’ve put a lot of time and money and effort into getting this race track ready. Hopefully it’s not an issue. We’ll see. There is definitely some areas out there that could be addressed. Right now, the way that this track is, I see that the inside is not as much of an issue as maybe it is at some other tracks. But, we’ll have to get through a race and I’m hoping I’m not the crash-test dummy this weekend.”

On Kansas repaving its track: “There are those tracks that I think are just…they absolutely have to be repaved. This one (Kentucky Speedway) would be one of them. It is very rough here. While I really like the surface, the roughness is kind of a must. Kansas, to me, should not be re-paved. But it might be a foundation issue. It might be a drainage issue. There’s deeper stories behind the scenes that we maybe don’t know as competitors so they do what they need to do. I’m not a fan because the new pavement that exists out there is so smooth and is not very abrasive.

"Goodyear has a very difficult time building tires for the new re-paves because it just generates so much heat, but they don’t dissipate the heat by having abrasiveness. I just wish we could talk to the companies that are doing the paving and find a way to put some abrasiveness into…and a lot of it…is just in the aggregate. The aggregate that is in the newer pavement is so small and very little of it is at the surface. So that is what has caused a lot of issues. But, it lasts 10 times as long as the old pavement. I think that there is certainly for whatever reasons the tracks feel it is necessary to do that, but, I wish there was a way to meet in the middle on it, because, to me.

"The variable banking certainly will help. We saw that at Homestead (Miami Speedway). But, you’re still going to have a very fast race track. A very smooth race track which a lot of times makes for less side-by-side racing in the first event of two. I love the surface at Kansas, so I think that is one of the reasons why Kansas stands out to me. It is a great surface right now. To me it is perfect. You are slipping and sliding. You are running up against the wall, in the middle, at the bottom. How can the racing get much better than it is at Kansas, in my opinion.”

 

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