| What is your mindset as you begin your fourth season with Stewart-Haas Racing? “I would say my mindset’s definitely different. I think all four seasons have kind of had a different feel to them, but this one I feel like is the one where I have the most pressure, and honestly it’s the most confident and the most excited I’ve been for a season. The mindset, honestly, is just excitement to finally get going. I feel like we’re in probably the best place we’ve been in as a team, and even the organization just has a lot of change going on, which is exciting. Just looking forward to see where it all goes, and obviously we can’t see where it goes until we start.” As a kid growing up in Mitchell, Indiana, what did the Daytona 500 mean to you, and was competing in the Daytona 500 something you always aspired to do? “I think the Daytona 500, for anybody in racing, it’s one of those races you watch the whole week leading into it. I remember always coming home from school and trying to catch the second Duel. It’s just a huge event, right? I would watch it every single year. Truthfully, growing up, I never in a million years thought I would ever get to run that race. It’s funny, on Facebook they have the memories and what not, and literally mine popped up and it was 13 years ago and I posted, ‘If you could win any race in the world, what would it be?’ And I said, for me, the Daytona 500 or Indy 500. But more realistically, I thought I would try to win this one sprint car race just because I never in a million years thought I would get to run it. I think everybody in racing dreams of getting to run the Daytona 500 and it’s definitely special every time you get to go there and do it.” You’ve competed in three Daytona 500s (2021, 2022 and 2023). What is it like to drive in the Great American Race? “It’s always, for me, one of those ‘pinch me’ moments the first lap or two. The prerace is crazy just knowing how many people are there, first off, but then even when you’re in the car and going around there, just knowing there are millions and millions of people watching the race on TV. I’ve made it a point every year before we take the green flag to look up at the grandstands to take it all in, just knowing you get to run that race. It’s super cool. There aren’t many races in the world that have that kind of feel and effect to it. Definitely a cool one, and I’m excited to run another one, truthfully.” How important is the driver-spotter relationship at Daytona, and what kind of information do you need from your spotter when you’re in a 200 mph freight train? “The spotter is the most crucial part when we go to a place like Daytona or Talladega, or even Atlanta now. For us, we really can’t see a whole lot from inside the racecar, so the spotter is the one guy who is trying to paint the picture of what’s going on and really is making the decision a lot of the time for us. You still have a decision to make, but he’s normally telling you kind of what’s the best-case scenario or what he would do just because he can see so much better. So there’s a ton of trust that comes along with that. Any time they’re clearing you with binoculars from half a mile away, there’s a lot of trust in that. The spotter is super crucial every time we go there and plays a massive role in the race. I don’t think you can go there and win that race if you don’t have a good spotter on the roof.” Drivers are often asked about their strategy in a superspeedway race. But what strategy is there for the entire week of Daytona, where you want to show speed, but also keep a clean car through qualifying, the Duel and then, finally, the Daytona 500? “The 500 is definitely a unique week because you’re obviously trying to keep your car for Sunday, but you also have to race that car before we get to Sunday. How your week goes, it’s hard, now, with how limited practice is. We won’t even get to run the car until we go out to qualify, so you don’t know if you even have a shot at the pole until we go out there. In the past, when we had practice before, you kind of knew what to expect before you went out to qualify, where now we don’t know. It’s kind of hard because you try to go all out for the front row, but then if you don’t get the front row, the Duels are an absolute handful and I think we had that happen last year. I qualified third or fourth and missed the front row, but then I started like 30th because of how we did in the Duels. It’s a hard balancing act, just trying to figure out what’s the best thing to do. Obviously, I haven’t figured it out yet, but it’s one of those things where you definitely have to try to make your car last, not only throughout the whole week but in the 500. It’s one of those races where you have to be running at the end, and if you’re just running at the end, you at least have a shot. Thirty other times throughout the year, just because you’re running at the end doesn’t mean you have a shot.” You’ve got some new teammates this year in Josh Berry and Noah Gragson. After working the draft in years past at Daytona with Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola, is there going to be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to drafting with Josh and Noah? “I think there’s definitely going to be a learning curve. Luckily, we’re going to get a lot of practice to start the year between the Duels, the 500 and then also Atlanta, so we’re going to get a lot of experience here right at the get-go. It’s definitely going to be different. In the past, I kind of knew what Kevin does and how he pushes and what he does in certain situations, and the same with Aric. Me and Aric probably worked together more than anybody over the last two years on superspeedway stuff. It’s going to be odd not having those guys, but Noah is obviously a really good superspeedway racer, he’s won some races in the Xfinity Series, and Josh has obviously learned from the best guy, too. I think we’re all going to be fairly plug-and-play, but until we go out there and do it, it’s hard to say. Like I said, luckily we get a lot of practice at it and hopefully we can perfect it.” Ford always goes into superspeedway races with a game plan, and they get all the drivers together beforehand to go over that game plan. Are you able to provide a glimpse as to what that game plan is and what you as an individual do to execute that game plan? “Typically, the game plan’s always the same and that’s trying to get a Ford to victory lane, just trying to use our numbers to our advantage. We have a ton of Fords in the Cup Series, and truthfully a lot of really good Fords, so the more we can work together at a place like that, the better it is for all of us. It gets tricky sometimes at the end of those races, everybody’s just trying to do what’s best for them. I would say the goal of every one of those meetings is just to kind of drill into our heads to try to help a Ford win the race, no matter which Ford that is. It doesn’t always come out that way, but that’s definitely the goal and the plan in those meetings.” The Daytona 500 seems to be feast or famine for you – a best finish of third (2022) with two other finishes of 19th and 35th. Is getting a good result at Daytona akin to balancing on a razor blade, to where if you’re too aggressive or too conservative, you don’t get the result you want? “I don’t know if there’s any secret formula there. I feel like the first year I literally just kind of rode around and finished 19th, and the second year I was really, really aggressive and finished third. And then the other year I was a little bit of both, I was patient at the beginning and aggressive at the end and finished 35th. So I don’t know what that right formula is. It’s so circumstantial. There are so many different variables that go into it. If you’re just in the mix there, you’re going to have a good day, hopefully, at the end, so you just want to be there. It’s kind of been one way or the other for us. We’ve been up front, but we’ve also been in the very back, so hopefully we can end up in the front. It’d pretty special to have another good run there.” Is the Daytona 500 a mentally exhausting race when you’re trying to figure out what to do? “It’s hard. That race is one of those where there’s just a lot going on and a lot of different mentalities. Some guys want to be aggressive and lead the whole time, other guys want to just ride around in the back the whole time. The intensity of that race kind of goes up and down throughout. I feel like that race always starts pretty intense because everybody’s pretty amped up, but then we go through a long period of just cruising around, just trying to get to the end. And obviously at the end, it really ratchets up. It’s an odd race because you have some guys, too, that know it’s already a points-paying race and you’re trying to get stage points, and other guys are just trying to make it to the end. So there are so many different mindsets going into that race, but in the end we all want the same goal and that’s obviously where it gets really crazy. It’s a different race than any of the other 35 we have, for sure.” Last year was just OK. You obviously wanted more. How ready are you to start this season and go into the Daytona 500 with the same amount of points as everyone else? “It’s the one thing I’ve been the most excited about since June of last year. With our points penalty and everything else, we really weren’t racing for anything outside of a win. If we didn’t have the points penalty, a second- or third-place finish means a lot that day, but for us last year, a second-place finish didn’t mean a single thing. It’ll be nice just to have a clean slate again, finally, be racing for something every single week and where points matter. That’s something I’ve been pretty fired up about really the whole offseason and even the end of last year, just knowing we’ll be racing for something again. It’ll definitely be nice.” |
