It was Thursday, February 16th, and it was Media Day at Daytona. I spent the whole day at the Daytona International Speedway’s 5th Turn Hospitality tent, located outside the track approximately where the start/finish line is.
For those of you who have been following me for the past four years, know that my blog was formerly known as “The Fifth Turn Blog.” And by the way, that was BEFORE Daytona named their hospitality tent…. I suppose great minds think alike. I just find it ironic that how time has gone by and my blog has grown, that I would “return” to a place that had the same meaning as my previous blog that had started it all.
Anyways, I arrived and checked in. I was handed my media credential and the woman working the registration desk, then gave me a huge “goody” bag filled with goodies from a majority of the race sponsors. I’m talking four different hats, three glasses, two tumblers, 3M goodies, a panoramic photo of Phoenix Raceway, Ritz, Oreo’s, mouse pads, etc… you know where I’m going with this. I was shocked and from what I was witnessing, so were other media members. Again, is this a sign of a turning economy? Apparently so, compared to last season’s Media Day, this was an awesome goody bag!
Moving on…
I walked around to look for a seat to set up camp for the day. This would be my lifeline to
AJ Allmendinger stops by one of the media tables to show off his Rolex watch he won for winning the Rolex 24. Photo by Karen Pistone
the race fans. By this time, most seats were taken and I was able to grab one in the “overflow” area by the door. But come to find out, it was the best seat in the house, seeming how the drivers would stop to chat on their way out – as AJ Allmendinger did. He just had to show us his Rolex watch from winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona just a couple of weeks ago.
SPEED, NASCAR.com and Sirius Radio were on hand doing their thing. I chatted with Chocolate Meyers, said hey to John Roberts in between interviews and ran into Monica Palumbo – AKA as one of the “former” Miss Sprint Cups. By the way, she is getting married on May 5th and is working on a radio show as well as holding interviews for NASCAR.com.
Every driver was there and available to the media for questions. Yep, we the media, approximately 300 of us all ranging in print, radio, tv, internet – had the drivers all to ourselves! There were booths set up, as if it were a trade show. Drivers were doing promos, recordings, photo shoots, and autographing items to be used throughout the season for fundraising through the NASCAR Foundation.
Sam Bass presented Tony Stewart with a Gibson Guitar he painted during Media Day at Daytona. Photo by Karen Pistone
I must admit, that yes, while it was awesome being around the NASCAR Cup drivers, the big moment of the day for me was talking to Sam Bass. Sam Bass is well known as being the first officially licensed artist for NASCAR and for painting Gibson Guitars for trophy’s to be given to race winners at Nashville Superspeedway. Bass has been designing guitars since 2002. As a Graphic Designer and a race fan myself, I can relate very well to Bass’ passion for his work. To my surprise, Sam knew who I was…. ME!! I was tickled to death! We have been friends on Facebook and I have written a couple of blogs about his work, but had never met in person. But for HIM to know WHO I WAS!! That was the “WOW!!!!” factor me!
Anyways, I walked around the media area, snapped photos and participated in some driver interviews.
I know you all are so ready for the 2012 NASCAR season to begin, and believe it or not, so are the drivers. Here’s what they said:
AJ Allmendinger
He made the move to advance his career and to win races and make the Chase. His highest expectation this season, is that of himself.
Aric Almirola
“I am a Rookie, and will make some mistakes.. but I hope to limit them.” Almirola hopes his experience in the other series will help improve his career.
Trevor Bayne
Bayne will race under any type of race conditions and is ready. Bayne commented on how this year is different. “Last year, I was asked about how I felt if I could win the Daytona 500…while this year, I’m being asked how I’m going to defend my title.”
Greg Biffle
“The Bud Shootout is going to be awesome this weekend because no one knows what’s going to happen… first time with the fuel injection, big pack, what’s the push going to do, how long can one push… I’m really looking forward to the Bud Shootout!”
Clint Bowyer
“We’ve had fortunate enough to have a lot of testing, but not so much as to work on equipment, but rather communication. Communication is the key for setting up the car.”
“Yes, there are nerves…everything comes with the word ‘new’. When I change, I change it all….everything from the ground, up.”
Jeff Burton
“I’m focusing on the future, instead of the past. I’m confident that we will be up there with speed, but I honestly do not know what the rules are.”
Kurt Busch
“The way James Finch loves these restrictor plate races, he builds really good cars for this effort, this is one of the best chances to win and it’s one of MY best chances over the years… I’ve been with Roush and Penske, and now with James Finch and Phoenix Racing and to have a Hendrick motor under the hood, and a chassis and a body, I’m really stoked about this.”
On the Budweiser Shootout:
“It’s a win or bust mentality.”
Kyle Busch
“I always like to have a fast start so that way you’re not worrying about catching up. I like to have Daytona or first three races where you could screw up in, but it doesn’t mean a whole lot, and you can still come back from that, and that you can go outside the box, and not really worry about it.”
On the Budweiser Shootout:
“We’ll figure out how long we can push during the Bud Shootout.”
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
“It’s a great feeling to be on the grid for the Daytona 500…yeah, it’s a special feeling.” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that the equal performance of primary and backup cars allows him to race hard in the preliminaries.
“It just really comes down to luck, not how good your car is.”
Carl Edwards
“I wanted to win that Championship more than anything last season. It was very humbling and very motivating at the same time. I’m hoping we go into Homestead this year with a shot to win and apply what we’ve learned and we’ll be tough to beat.”
“The Daytona 500 is the biggest race in America. For me, the excitement level with the things that go on that Sunday’s morning are unlike any other event -There is so much electricity in the air, there are so many people so ready and so pumped for the new season to begin. Just seems that with the whole off season and all the waiting around and all the preparation just explodes in that race, it’s just crazy.”
Jeff Gordon
“It’s what it takes to win the race…you never really know. Sometimes you have to be patient, sometimes you have to be aggressive; Sometimes you want to be upfront, sometimes you want to be in the back; Are we going to be pushing in the closing laps of the race? Who am I going to work with in this race? You’re mind is spinning with all the questions. In a typical race you’re thinking your car’s good, get track position, have good pit stops, you can win the race. It’s a lot different with the Daytona 500.”
Denny Hamlin
“I took things for granted in 2011 of how good our cars were, I was lazy in the sense that I felt I didn’t have to work on my technique and anyone will tell you that if you don’ have the best stuff, you need to step up and now I feel I’ve gotten better, my cars have gotten better and we’ll be a force to reckon with because of it.”
On the Budweiser Shootout
“We don’t know what we will be working on because there have been a lot of rule changes. This year’s Budweiser Shootout is going to be the most critical that it’s ever been.”
Kevin Harvick
“This is a wide open race. There’s a lot of anticipation and enthusiasm, a lot build-up and hype, and usually you’ll see something crazy happen at the beginning of the race. You never know what’s gonna happen.”
Jimmie Johnson
On the Gatorade Duals:
“It’s nerve racking day – no body wants to lose a car, guys are trying to find their way into the race, if you’re on the front row, how much racing do you want to do, because you want to start on the front row… you clearly have a fast race car, but Thursday is a very, very stressful day, but the Gatorade Duals are a great race for the fans to watch and there are always great story lines that come out of it.”
On the Budweiser Shootout:
“We have so many changes in the rules, that there are going to be a lot of learning and trying to understand from a drivers standpoint how to work the draft.”
Kasey Kahne
“I’m excited, been looking forward to the opportunity to drive for Hendrick Motorsports for a year and half now…. can’t wait to get started. Winning the Daytona 500 would be a big boost in someone’s career…”
Matt Kenseth
“I don’t do anything different for the Daytona 500 that I do for any other race.”
Brad Keselowski
“The atmosphere around the Daytona 500 is like no other – it makes you recognize and appreciate how cool the race is – you go through all those feelings, you know, the pre-race jitters – and I don’t care who you are…and once you get in that race car, it’s time to go.”
Joey Logano
“You try to block out rumors, because you don’t want to necessarily hear about it, and all it does is takes your mind off of where it’s suppose to be, but you turn on the tv and all you see is they are talking about you, you wonder “huh, is that true?” but you know, that doesn’t make your race car go any faster.”
Mark Martin
“It’s the determination, it’s the drive…I haven’t lost the drive, the age hasn’t diminished that- and obviously you couple that with, I believe, my training I’ve been doing over the past 25 years, that I’m better at it now than I was doing 25 years ago.”
About driving part-time:
“What I’m doing is old school, it’s what David Pearson did, and what Cale Yarborough did, they raced the races they wanted to race, and they didn’t race the races they didn’t want to – I like ‘em all, but I gotta take a certain amount of breaks and the ones I’m taking make the most sense to me.”
Jamie McMurray
“The Budweiser Shootout is a fun race. No points are to be gained nor lost, so it’s just a different mentality going into it…if you crash going for the win, it doesn’t matter.”
Juan Pablo
“I’m anxious to start and see where the team stands.”
On the Budweiser Shootout
“You can get away with a lot of mistakes in this race and learn from it for the Daytona 500.”
Ryan Newman
Ryan Newman says his Daytona 500 victory in 2008 was equal parts luck and skill, depending on who you ask.
Travis Pastrana
“For me, I can only take it one step at a time – we can give it our all and I honestly believe that if I give everything i can for the next two years, that we’d be at a point that it’s your talent is no longer in question, it’s either you have a chance to make it, or you don’t.”
Danica Patrick
“For me I’m moving forward. I think of my family and the scope of what I’m going to do. All the Cup race practice will help in the Nationwide practice – I can see why a lot of the drivers opt to race in the NWS.”
On the Gatorade Duals:
“If you qualify in the 10-20 area, you go out in the Duals and just go race hard and figure out what your car does…but if you have those front starting spots, you almost end up pulling back in the Duals, and being careful, and sometimes being careful is what changes you, what you would do instinctively as a driver, and sometimes things happen then.”
Tony Stewart
“It’s definitely nerve racking – because you know you want to start forward in the 500 and get the best pit selection – but at the same time you don’t want to beat up your car (in the Budweiser Shootout) because it’s your 500 car…. it’s your car they massaged, they worked hard on…. and you gotta make it last 500 more miles after the Shootout is over.”
On Danica Patrick:
“She process information really fast, faster than any other Rookie I’ve seen – her feedback is really, really good and detailed – you can’t teach that – it’s a talent you have to have – no one can teach that – it’s the feedback you have to have to feel for a car.”
Martin Truex, Jr.
“Expectations are to win one race – but I think we can win more – we’ve been in the position to win before – some that we’ve given away – we gotta be smart – but I think making the Chase – without the Chase and winning this year, wouldn’t be an accomplishment or a good year for us.”
Michael Waltrip
“It’s going to be great learning experience for me in the Shootout to figure out what I have to do in the Thursday race to try and get myself into the big one.. I finished in the top 10 at Talladega, so I think I know what I’m doing. I know I’ll have a car to do it with, putting all the pieces together on Sunday afternoon and get into position late to win one more of these things.”
So let’s get these cars rollin’, shall we? The Budweiser Shootout Draw Party takes place this evening Friday, February 17 at 7:30pm at Daytona International Speedway on the SPEED stage located in the Midway outside Turn 4. This event is for starting positions that will be determined by a blind-draw and is free and open to the public. The Budweiser Shootout is Saturday evening at 8 p.m. and will air on SPEED.
