Marlin, Nemechek Comment on the Daytona
500, and the Upcoming NASCAR Season
STERLING MARLIN, NO. 14 WASTE MANAGEMENT
CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO AND JOE NEMECHEK, NO. 01
U.S. ARMY CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO - POST SESSION
TRANSCRIPT:
Q. This looks like a heck of a team,
can you comment on that?
STERLING MARLIN: Yeah, it is, I won a
couple 500s and Joe has won races here,
two guys that really get after it and
really work hard. It's been a long time
since we've come in here, been fast in
practice and all hard working guys, Hendrick
Motorsports, the whole deal.
JOE NEMECHEK: Well, I'm definitely looking
forward to the year having Sterling on
board as a teammate and to have Bill
Elliott as a teammate down here at Daytona.
The 500 is going to be fun. We've been
talking about that. We have got two experienced
guys that hopefully we can get hooked
up and make some noise when we come back.
Yeah, going fast down here at Daytona
it's about the team. As they say, anybody
can get out there and drive these things
around there when you're doing qualifying
runs, but it's getting back to the motors
and all of the guys at Hendrick Motorsports
have worked hard on the engines and as
always the MB2 guys can build a whole
bunch of cars that run fast. So that's
a good thing.
Q. The speed, Sterling, you were the
fastest in the afternoon; and Joe, you've
been up there real high throughout.
STERLING MARLIN: Well, we got just a
little bit of help, we run a 48.12 by
ourselves. Seemed like the track slowed
down, we slowed down about 2/10ths and
everybody else had a pretty good head
wind on the back straightaway, so it
hurt everybody's speed.
It's probably warmer I guess than it
was last week, from what I heard. Again,
we've got six race cars and they are
probably set up a tenth of each other.
Just shows how good the guys in the shop
are putting stuff together. The car that's
fastest is not supposed to be the fastest,
so I mean, Bill last week. We'll see
8 car a little bit more tomorrow and
see what we come out with.
Q. What do these numbers mean in testing?
And what do you do when you have a fast
car to make sure it's fast in the 500,
a fast testing car and be fast in the
500?
STERLING MARLIN: I think ??inaudible
?? you'll see spoiler back three or four
degrees, cut some good laps. Nobody does
any more than what you've got is what
you've got. We've got some fast race
cars. The key is do good in the qualifying
races and get your car handling good
for the 500 where you can just hold it
wide open the all day long and never
have to lift and then with the tires,
get driving good, we should be in real
good shape.
Q. Some of the data acquisition guys
said they are just scratching their heads
because the headwind was so strong they
are going to be nuts with the numbers
today. When you are trying to keep your
line on the track testing and they are
taking care of their job, how hard is
it for you today just to keep on your
line with the wind this afternoon?
JOE NEMECHEK: Well, the wind definitely
tried to make the cars move around. But
as drivers when you're testing, the most
important thing is to run the same line
all the time. First lap, get up to speed
lap in the first lap, second lap. When
the wind blows, it tries to make your
car push or loose in different spots
whether it's turn two or turn four and
you just try and compensate for it.
You know, right now all's we're doing
is trying to evaluate changes and evaluate
engine stuff and we're just doing testing.
Q. Joe, would you mind going over your
schedule, your full schedule for this
year? And also what does it mean to have
all three of the MB2 cars running fast,
potentially in the qualifiers and the
race?
JOE NEMECHEK: Well, as far as having
all three cars running fast, I think
that's a good thing. You know, both the
10 car and the Army car were fast last
year when we were down here in testing,
and when we came back for the race, we
qualified very well. I think we both
ran decent in the race.
You know, having three fast cars, I think
that means that if you can get hooked
up on the racetrack, you guys can run
together.
As far as my schedule, I mean running
the full year with the Army, we've re?signed
with MB2 last year for two more years
and still working on trying to get our
Busch Grand National sponsor. Still don't
have a sponsor for that Busch car, but
we'll be down here for the 300 and trying
to get more races and run with that car.
Q. Can you guys talk about the technology
involved in putting a race car on the
track?
STERLING MARLIN: Joe probably could tell
you more on that. It's just you used
to come down here ?? inaudible ?? no
computer in the car and you just go,
just hand?held stopwatch, didn't know
if it was any better or not but they
tell you, now all of a sudden, it's like
just all car. It goes as fast as it does
and if it don't, it don't. It's just
a lot of technology to it.
And just talking about the wind a while
ago, you go back out and you might get
change that should help you lose 2/10ths,
you have to go back and look at computer
and you had a gust of wind up the back
straightaway that slowed you down. So
they have to just put all that on computer
and figure out if it was any better or
if it wasn't.
JOE NEMECHEK: In the old days when you
made a change like that and you slowed
down, as drivers, the wind might have
blew a little bit more and guys they
kind of look at you funny. At the end,
they had say, well that, change was worse;
it was actually better. The data guys,
they have as far as the technology and
race cars, as far as the computer and
data acquisition, it's important the
way our testing goes when we have not
as many tests any more, all that information
is more important, because we have to
study that from now till the last restrictor
plate race before we get to do it again.
Q. How many miles an hour does your experience
and your age count for?
JOE NEMECHEK: Yeah, I am the youngest
guy on the team, aren't I? You know,
I don't know. To me ?? to me, I'm looking
forward to this year. Sterling used to
be my teammate when we were at SAVCO
(ph), and he stayed there longer than
I did. But we ran good together, we communicated
well, and both of our cars ran well.
I'm looking forward to that this year.
Sterling knows what he needs in a race
car. He's won races on big tracks, small
tracks; he knows what he needs. I know
what I need in a race car, and I think
between the two of us, the information
that we learn from the test and at the
racetrack is going to make both teams
better.
Q. I know last year was very challenging
for you on several levels, can you reflect
maybe a little bit on with your father
passing and the injury, was it hard to
get through the year, just the emotions
you went through.
STERLING MARLIN: Well, last year we started
off really good, points after six or
seven races and the old saying, whatever
could go wrong went wrong with us. Didn't
finish real good in points. Went off
?? inaudible ?? at the Watkins Glen race
up there, makes me ?? inaudible ?? road
courses that week, anyway.
You know, it was a tough year going through
all the stuff, and we had some good runs
going toward the end of the year and
things happened to us that knocked us
out of the Top?10. Just things happen
for a reason and got signed up with MB2
and been talking to the guys for a good
while and made the best choice I could.
Had some offers out there and Jake called
one day and said hey, let's do it. And
didn't have a sponsor at the time and
I knew that they had a great race team.
I worked with a lot of guys on the team
before, all the from Junior Johnson,
some of our guys come over from Ganassi,
and just a mix in there of guys that
I worked with before.
Q. Inaudible?
STERLING MARLIN: Oh, yeah, still confident
to come in and win a race. We've got
fast cars, and just if I can drive good
and not make any mistakes.
Q. I don't want to throw anybody under
the bus necessarily, but was there a
point last year, the last couple of years,
where you felt like, man, this ain't
worth it anymore; did it ever get that
bad?
STERLING MARLIN: No. I mean, you go home
sometimes, ride home thinking about whatever
you've done, could be worse. Then again,
you come back next week and run good
?? inaudible ?? six, I've been driving
race cars 30 years and never had that
happen. So went from 750 horsepower to
450 horsepower still finished 20th. Stuff
like that went on all year. And like
I said, got re?energized have a great
race team, Hendrick Motors, and got some
good stuff. So looking forward to it.
Q. Since you've been the person with
the most experience, what are some of
goals you're looking for the Army team
and the organization?
JOE NEMECHEK: Well, as far as for the
U.S. Army team, we're here to win races.
Last year we had a finish of 16th in
points which was kind of ?? it was definitely
disappointing for myself, and I think
for the team, too. You look back on your
career and there's so many races that
we had on the car, something happened
to us. We had Top 3 finishes going and
something happened to us whether it's
we only had one engine problem, a radiator
fail, something inside the radiator broke,
never happens. We lost a couple tires.
There was a lot of crazy things happened.
Before the Chase started, give us one
of those races back, we'd have been locked
in the Chase.
So, you know, there's a lot of woulda,
coulda, shouldas, but we didn't get in
the Chase and we ended up 16th in points.
This year, our goals are to win. We're
there to win. As they say in the Army:
You don't get any points for second place
when you're fighting these battles out
there. So I'm proud of driving the Army
car. My team and myself, we're proud
to represent the soldiers out there.
The Army uses this for a recruiting tool,
but also I think it's definitely a big
morale booster. When that Army car is
running and out front, I know the soldiers
wherever they are around the world that
makes them feel good and that makes me
feel good.
As far as the team with Sterling on board,
the goal is we're here to win. I think
we can both finish in the Top?10 points.
Q. What advice would you give to the
seven rookies coming up to the NEXTEL
it up in 2006?
JOE NEMECHEK: I don't think we're going
to give them any. Fair game. Go out there
and learn, right?
Q. Does the Daytona 500 make a career,
and would you trade a three?time Daytona
500 winner struggling for a NEXTEL Cup
Champion struggling?
STERLING MARLIN: The 500 is good but
the NEXTEL Cup sure pays a hell of a
lot more, so I believe I'd take it. Yeah,
I don't know, I think it goes a long
way. We won I think in '94 and '95, but,
yeah, I mean back then it was the Daytona
500 Championship, and the sport has grown
and got bigger and bigger, more fans,
more fans. It's got more attention now
than it did then. You know back then
we're racing before I think ?? it was
good money back then, but it's about
quadrupled now. And the fans probably,
50,000 more fans than it was in '94,
or 64,000. So the media hype then in
'95 to now has really stepped on up,
so just makes it bigger.
JOE NEMECHEK: I would have to say any
NEXTEL Cup race you can win is I think
something you hang your career on because
it's so hard to do. There's not that
many people that have won races.
But if you can win the Daytona 500 that's
definitely a special place for myself
being 100 miles down the road growing
up and being over here as a little kid
watching races, winning here would definitely
mean a lot.
But anywhere you can win, it's tough.
Q. Earlier Mark Martin was asked about
getting serious, making it be miserable,
he says he goes over the miserable factor,
and trying too hard kind of thing. And
Sterling, you never really seem to do
that, change of operations now, where
you kind of agonize can sometimes make
it worse ?? is it fun, can you still
just go out there and have a good time
and end up doing well?
STERLING MARLIN: Well, I mean come race,
race hard and race as hard as you can.
When you go home Sunday meaning, I know
my heart I've done all I can do, if you
finish 15th, you 15th or you run fifth,
you run fifth. I still enjoy it a whole
lot. I've been coming over here since
'64 with my dad when I was that tall
and came back in the 70s full?time and
been here ever since. It was fun watching
him race Childers, all that bunch, Baines,
just growing up ?? I wouldn't take that
now for growing up the way I did and
just coming in as a 20?year?old now.
And then seeing what you've got now,
I think it makes you appreciate more
what you've got now than I think them
guys will ever realize what the old guys
do, and not to talk about myself but
Richard and Bobby, Donny, all that bunch,
they didn't make a lot of money but they
had a lot of fun.
JOE NEMECHEK: I look at it now as I didn't
get into the sport until after Donny
Allison (ph) was getting out by the time
I was coming in. And you would look back
at how many races they used to run a
year, they were serious, hard core racers.
I know what I went through and, now you
look at the new guys coming through,
it's different. They are used to hopping
in an airplane and going everywhere.
When I started racing, we drove in Texas,
we drove to Illinois, we drove everywhere
and just how times change and you think
about what they went through back then.
What we do now to what it's going to
be like in 20 years, going to be interesting.
I'm trying to teach my son to do the
same thing. He's learning how to work
on his own race cars and motorcycles
and just teaching them how to do it.
And I think you've got to teach them
young, you get starting and he's getting
the five?year head start or ten?year
head start over myself. So hopefully
he'll be one of these guys in the future.
Q. As veterans, have you been able to
get comfortable with the fact that as
drivers you're not able to do as much
or not called on to do as much as you
had in the past? Now with the engineers
and shock specialists and everything;
you're drivers now, are you more comfortable?
STERLING MARLIN: I mean, for me, I live
in Tennessee and I don't get in the shop
as much in Carolina as I want to, but
I always enjoy working on race cars.
I enjoy building them and just trying
to make it go fast and doing whatever
it takes to work. I never much get on
the motor side of it, but as far as the
chassis side and the fabrication, I love
working on them. You really kind of miss
it, you get around the racetrack you
want to snatch a pair of ?? inaudible.
Obviously do enjoy it.
JOE NEMECHEK: As far as myself, I only
live about two miles, two or three miles
from our new MB2 shop in Morrisville
(ph). I get by the shop quite often.
They don't let me work on anything. If
I want to work on something, I've got
to go to my own Busch shop.
Q. Have you gone around and told all
the other drivers that you're driving
with the 4 team and not the 40 and, can
you comment with so many driver changes,
being able to remember who is in what
car and who you're drafting with?
STERLING MARLIN: It's wind of weird walking
in and seeing just different drivers,
Dave in the 42 car and never dawned on
me he was driving 42 sitting on pit road
one time. Who is driving 18? So it takes
two or three races to figure out.
Q. Do you have another sponsor lined
up or along with race management?
STERLING MARLIN: They are really focusing
on we're going to race all year regardless.
I don't think if one pops up ?? inaudible
?? all year I guess. But they are a great
bunch, group of guys. I've been around
then all at Homestead and had a ball
with them. I think there are close to
two or three deals to closing out.