The second day of the 2018 NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway took place on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Downtown Charlotte, with media availabilities and individual break-out sessions with several of NASCAR’s top drivers across all three national touring series.
Notable drivers featured Tuesday included Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Aric Almirola, Jamie McMurray, Alex Bowman, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Crafton among others.
Notable announcements from Tuesday included:
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. signed a new, multiyear personal-services agreement with his longtime sponsor, Nationwide.
- Danica Patrick, former driver of the No. 10 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, announced that, along with her GoDaddy sponsorship for her final career NASCAR race at the Daytona 500 next month, she will be driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports, with Tony Eury, Jr. as crew chief.
Excerpts of notable Atlanta Motor Speedway-related quotes from Tuesday at the 2018 NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway are listed below. To view and download the full-version, high-definition footage from the individual media breakouts, as well as B-roll, visit the following link: http://bit.ly/2DD10WI.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports:
- Elliott enters his third fulltime season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018. He is seeking his first career victory at NASCAR’s top level and is the subject of a “lucky charm” promotion put on by Atlanta Motor Speedway, similar to the one that helped propel his father, NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Bill Elliott, to his own first Cup Series victory in 1983.
On transitioning into the No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports this season from the No. 24:
“It’s a special opportunity for me, and it’s a number I have a lot of history with and have a championship with it in the XFINITY Series. All my short-track days are all in the 9, and it’s the number I started racing go-karts with. It’s my favorite number by far, and it feels right for me. I think anybody that’s followed me for any period of time probably associates me with that number, and I think it just fits.”
On the “lucky charm” promotion organized by Atlanta Motor Speedway:
“It was a cool idea, for sure. I hope it brings some luck. My dad-they did a picture of him and he basically had all these good-luck token things, and he won a race shortly thereafter. So, my friends at Atlanta Motor Speedway had this idea to recreate that photo, so I hope it brings some magic. We’ll see.”
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:
- Busch finished second in the overall Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings last season after winning five races and recording 22 top-10s. Busch has also won each of the last two NASCAR XFINITY Series races at Atlanta. He enters his 14th full time season in NASCAR’s top series in 2018.
“I’ve raced against Chase Elliott since he was 13 years old, so I feel as though it helps you a little bit, but it also helps them too. They’ve been able to race against you and get the nuances, if you will, of what it’s like to race against a Cup guy at a younger age.
“I remember Chase Elliott – racing against him at Berlin one year – and I beat him, and he was probably like ‘Man, that’s a Cup guy and I ran pretty much with him. That was a pretty good race – pretty close. Damn, they’re good; what’s it going to take to beat them one day?’ So certainly, he’s on the brink of all that.
“Erik Jones, as well. I’ve raced against him for a long time. He almost coulda’ shoulda’ woulda’ won Bristol last year, and Chase coulda’ shoulda’ woulda’ won Dover last year, and I guess I took both of those, so I should feel like the A-S-S hole, but I don’t. It’s a part of racing. You go out there and race these guys. It’s a competition. They’ve got to bring it, and one of these days, I’m sure they will.”
Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 34 Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports:
- McDowell joins Front Row Motorsports full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018 after four years with Leavine Family Racing. He becomes teammate of Georgia driver David Ragan, who drives FRM’s No. 38 entry.
“I’m very excited about having David Ragan as a teammate. David and I have been friends for a long time, and we have a close relationship off the track, so I haven’t had a teammate in so many years, so it’s going to be new for me, for sure. It’s been all about me at the race teams for a long time, but it’s going to be great, because obviously all drivers have strengths and all drivers have weaknesses. To have somebody who is a friend of mine that I have good conversations with already, that you can be real with and that you don’t have your guard up – we’re not fighting for the same territory (is positive).
“And David is smart. He’s been around this sport a long time. He’s very resourceful. He’s been with big teams; he’s filled-in with big teams. He knows a lot about the race cars and what it takes to run up front. He brings a lot to the table, and he’s going to be a great teammate to lean on, for sure.
“The worry is when you go to Atlanta and you’ve got the West Coast Swing. That’s when the rubber meets the road, right? And so, a lot of my focus has been on that. It’s being prepared for that and what we’re doing at the shop to maximize all the potential. We know that those first five or six races set the tone for the season, and you can’t miss a beat.
“You have to unload at Atlanta quick, otherwise you spend the rest of the year catching up. I know Daytona is important. It is important. It’s our biggest race, but man, Atlanta, we’ve got to hit the track running.
“You don’t know until you get to Atlanta where you’re struggling and where you need to fix things and where you need to step up.”
Matt Crafton, driver of the No. 88 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing:
- Crafton is the 2013 and 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and won the Atlanta NCWTS race in 2015. He finished fourth in the 2017 NCWTS standings after advancing to the Round of 4 in last season’s finale.
“Daytona – I always call it The Crapshoot. You never know what you’re going to get there. I thought I had the race won off of Turn 2 last year, and the next thing you know, I’m in the air. Atlanta – really, I always look forward to going there. That’s by far my favorite race track that we go to because of that old, worn-out asphalt. That’s when it really kicks into high gear, once you hit Atlanta. That’s the bread-and-butter of our races. The majority of our races are on the mile-and-a-halves, so that’s where we’ve really got to focus on our program.”
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:
- Bowyer took over the No. 14 Ford for Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017. His last win in the Cup Series came during the 2012 season. He is winless with five top-10s in 17 races at Atlanta.
“It was a different world back then. You tested a lot. The cars – I mean, it wasn’t even these cars. The old cars, you’d be sitting around there with your foot to the floor on a mile-and-a-half (race track), and you wouldn’t even have your foot out of the gas and already be in the fence backwards going ‘What the hell just happened?’ That doesn’t happen anymore.
“You learned the hard way. Sometimes, those weren’t even SAFER barriers, you know? It was, ‘Damn! That hurt!’ and you learned really quick that you don’t make that mistake again.”
Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro for Chip Ganassi Racing:
- McMurray enters his 16th full-time season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018. In 24 career races at Atlanta, McMurray has five top-10 finishes.
“I think that’s actually tough (to transition from Daytona to Atlanta in the second week of the NASCAR season), because we are in Daytona for 10 or 11 days and there is so much buildup around that race before you ever get there. But then, once that race is over, is really when the season starts, and it’s hard to have that mindset when you’re there for the Daytona 500, because you want to win that race so bad – everybody does.
“It’s kind of the way it’s always been. If you leave Daytona with a bad finish, it makes the next four or five weeks harder just because-you know, you can have three or four average finishes and still be pretty good in points, but when you have that one really bad finish that can happen at a place like Daytona, it takes three or four really good races to recover from that.”
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., driver of the No. 17 Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing:
- Stenhouse, the 2011 and 2012 XFINITY Series champion, enters his sixth full-time season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018. He earned his first two career Cup Series wins in 2017, both at restrictor-plate races at Daytona and Talladega.
On whether or not he’s looking forward to a potential repave at Atlanta Motor Speedway:
“Don’t repave any race track, period. But definitely Atlanta. I think it’s by far one of the best race tracks we go to. There and California, as far as the asphalt tracks we go to. I think they create some of the best racing. Most drivers enjoy the challenge. I know the crew chiefs really enjoy trying to set their car up for that long run to keep the tires on it. And us drivers love being able to make sure we keep the drivers on it ourselves and don’t overshoot them and wear them out. Atlanta and California are really the only two places that we have left that are like that.”
Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports:
- Johnson is a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and has won at Atlanta five times, including back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016. He enters his 17th full-time season in NASCAR’s top level in 2018.
“It does take a load off (winning early in the season). I’ve always put a high priority on winning every year, so it checks a box off for me, personally. I’ve always shined on tracks that are rougher and the tire fall-off is higher. Just with my dirt and off-road background, it seems to fit suit me well.”
Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:
- Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and a three-time Atlanta winner. He enters his 18th fulltime season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018.
On winning early in the season at Daytona or Atlanta:
“Yeah, Daytona-I’ve never won it before. And to win the first race of the year and then all of the energy and everything from Victory Lane and then they tell you, ‘Yeah, you’re locked into the Playoffs,’ you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re right.’ It changes the way you approach the rest of the year as soon as you win. It all changes when you get into that win column. So you want to win early. I want to win often. Those first five races with Daytona, Atlanta, the West Coast Swing, those five tracks really challenge a team’s capability in all areas.
“If you run well in those first five, that’s just going to go all the way through the year.”
The NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway continues tomorrow at the Charlotte Convention Center, where teams and drivers will offer updates to their organizations and thoughts on the new season ahead.
NASCAR racing returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway Feb. 23-25, 2018, featuring the Rinnai 250 XFINITY Series and Active Pest Control 200 Benefiting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Camping World Truck Series doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 24 and the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, Feb. 25.
For more information or purchase tickets today, call the AMS ticket office at (770) 946-4211, (877) 9-AMS-TIX or visit www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.
AMS PR
