Daytona Duel: Tony Stewart press conference transcript

KERRY THARP: We’re going to go ahead and roll into our post race Gatorade Duel at Daytona press conference. We’re joined by our second place finisher in today’s duel, Tony Stewart. Back to back strong finishes with that new race team. You have to feel good about that.

TONY STEWART: Yeah, real happy. Kind of picked up where we left off the other night. This car is a little better than our Shootout car was. It drove great today.

Just really proud of Darian Grubb and the Old Spice Office Depot team. They’ve done a great job. Still amazes me how much they got done in such a short amount of time to come down here.

Q: Tony you came out on the topside of this qualifying situation here. Could you comment a little bit about this qualifying format. Do you think it’s fair? Do you think people understand it?

TONY STEWART: I don’t understand it fully. I mean, the part I do understand is that the guys that are trying to race their way in are split up evenly. That part I think is really good. It’s not fair to have nine guys on one side and one guy on the other side that’s trying to make the race and have to race in.

I’m not sure that I fully understand exactly how we ended up where we did, how we started in our starting spot. But that’s the great thing about NASCAR: there’s smarter people than us that figure that out for us. They give us a lineup and tell us where to go.

Q: Tony, you expressed happiness with the car yesterday, how it handled. Did it meet or exceed your expectations in traffic out there today?

TONY STEWART: It was better today even. You know, even at the beginning of the run when we were back about seventh or eighth spot, it wasn’t hard yesterday to get back that far and have a car that wasn’t very happy.

So I was pretty pleased with it today. I mean, obviously the further forward you get, the better it’s going to drive. Still, to be able to work our way up there the way it did, to drive the way it did, I was real pleased.

I think we made gains over yesterday. We made a couple real small changes for today, and the car really liked it.

Q: Tony, you’re an intense guy. You seem subdued after this race. Is your dominant emotion that you’re happy that you were second or frustrated you were that close?

TONY STEWART: I was real happy. I guess I’m worried about Ryan right now more than me. Obviously them getting ready for the second qualifier, I was really happy with the way it turned out.

Jeff and I had a great battle there at the end. It wasn’t one of those deals where, you know, everybody’s trying to run each other all over the racetrack at the end, which makes it a little more enjoyable. But I think that’s part of knowing we’re in a qualifying race where we got to bring these cars back on Sunday, and you just have to take care of them is part of it.

We got a lot of respect for each other, too. That’s what made it fun. If a guy got an honest run, he was going to get that spot. We ran right with him all day. We ran second and third for the majority of the day, and then ran first and second the rest of the day.

I wasn’t at all disappointed. I mean, you still want to win, obviously. That was our goal. But more so it’s knowing that we need to bring this car back on Sunday. Guys like Matt Kenseth that got involved in wrecks today, that’s the stuff that hurts you going into the rest of the week, makes a lot of extra work for the guys.

I am really happy. I guess I’m still in shock about the fact that this week has gone as well as it has. With the exception of losing the motor on Ryan’s car yesterday, it’s been awesome. But all the Hendrick guys, especially from the engine shop, yesterday when we had that problem, they were right on top of it. By this morning we found out exactly what’s cause of that failure was.

It’s just unbelievable to have the support from Chevy, Hendrick Motorsports, have the week we have had.

Q: Tony, do you think the racing has been better this week at Daytona? And if so why?

TONY STEWART: Obviously every year the qualifying races, the middle of the race, it gets kind of single file, strung out a little bit, and there’s multiple battles throughout the field. At the end of the race there nobody knew who was going to end up where. Guys were all over the place as far as shuffling back and forth, lead changes like we had.

It’s nice to be able to do that, not be in a big melee. I thought the races have been good this week. I thought the Shootout Saturday, it was definitely exciting. It was exciting to watch. It’s been exciting to watch the replays. It was exciting to be in it.

I don’t see Saturday night being any different. I think another year of time with these cars everybody is getting more comfortable with them I think everybody is figuring out how to get them driving a little better. That gives us a little more flexibility as drivers to move around the racetrack. It helps us put on a better race.

Q: Tony, if you were to be completely honest with us…

TONY STEWART: That will never happen, not in this lifetime (smiling). But let’s just pretend.

Q: Would you say that you are genuinely pleasantly surprised by the way everything has gone this week? To a certain extent, you didn’t know how things were going to work out of the box. Would you say even you are a little surprised they’ve gone as smoothly?

TONY STEWART: I guess I came into it with an open mind, not knowing what it was going to be. I didn’t come here saying, We’re going to struggle, or, We’ve got a shot to win every race every time. It was more taking a step back and saying, Let’s just see what happens.

But I have been pleasantly surprised. I’ve been obviously very ecstatic that we’ve run the way we have. Ryan’s car obviously was good in qualifying. We qualified well. We’ve had two good races now this week. It’s been an awesome, awesome week for the organization.

So, you know, it’s like I keep going back. I know I sound like a broken record. You are probably sick of it. I’m just so happy. When you’re at the shop every day, you see the progress being made, it’s different than normally I’ve been in Indiana for a whole month, forget about it. I guess when you’re there every day, you see what’s going on firsthand, you see the effort.

It makes me think back to Christmas Eve. We had to kick guys out of the shop at 1:00 in the afternoon to spend time with their families. They wanted to stay and work on racecars. When you show up and have a week like this, it makes you very pleased you’ve had those results. It’s not just for myself, it’s for everybody in the organization, because I know how hard everybody has worked.

Q: Tony, did you feel a little bit of a sense of pride seeing that 20 car up there toward the front?

TONY STEWART: Yeah. I just couldn’t figure out what took him so long (smiling). I knew he’d get there. I mean, obviously Joey has a lot of talent. He’s with a great race team. I know that firsthand. It’s going to be a good combination of Joey being with those guys. The great thing is, Joey didn’t get a lot of time in the Shootout the other night. To come here today on a day when this race normally is a little more difficult because of the weather, you know, to have a run like he had today, I’m proud to see that those guys aren’t having problems, and proud that Joey’s really made some big gains in a short amount of time. You can tell he’s getting more comfortable. You can see it when you’re out there with him. Every lap he gets more comfortable than the one before.

Q: Tony, I know you were briefly asked about Joey and the 20 car. Was that surreal to look in your rearview mirror and see your old paint scheme coming up behind you?

TONY STEWART: It’s a different paint scheme. You still see the same logo on there. I guess I don’t know. I guess being at the shop all winter, seeing red racecars and black racecars everywhere, I got pretty used to it in a short amount of time.

On Sunday after qualifying, I went over and walked up in the 20 trailer, plopped down like I always have, sat there and talked to Zippy and Adam for 35, 40 minutes. Sat up there like we always did. Talked about the same stuff we always talked about. That side of it I’m really proud of, that we still are able to do that, that we still have those relationships.

But it wasn’t. It really wasn’t as weird as you would think it would be. It’s still another racecar on the track that you got to race with. It’s exactly like what Scott said. Everybody’s out there in cars that look different this year. It was just another adjustment.

Q: Tony, the TV camera showed A.J. up on your pit box with the headphones. Can you tell us, was he set up to be able to talk to you?

TONY STEWART: Oh, God, no. No, no, no (laughter).

We actually had a special radio sitting there just for him. It had the button on it and everything, but it didn’t do anything when you pushed the button. I’m not joking.

Q: A pretend radio?

TONY STEWART: Yeah. Can you imagine having to sit there and drive with him yelling at you all day long? I’ve kind of done that in Silver Crown cars a little bit. I’ve learned my lesson. I know better than to give him a radio he can yell into.

The best part about it was when we were coming to the media center. He stopped me. He said he gave me an A minus for the day. I said, Coming from you, that’s as good as an A plus from everybody else. He’s your toughest critic, but at the same time he’s one of our biggest fans, too.

It just means a lot that he cares enough about what we’re doing to want to spend the rest of the week with us here and be a part of it.

Q: Tony, you’ve talked about how pleased you are with where you’re at. Could you have gotten to this point without the aid of Hendrick and his group? Talk about the bond you have with those guys.

TONY STEWART: No, there’s no way we could have got this far, for sure. Scott can tell you that from being at Haas last year. It’s a support system. You really rely heavily on that organization ’cause they’re doing your chassis for you, they’re doing our engines for us.

Obviously those are two of the biggest components and key components of producing a racecar. So definitely couldn’t have got to this point without them.

Mr. Hendrick is such a great guy. He’s been the biggest supporter of us doing this, making this change. There’s times he’s called me at 11:30 at night saying, Hey, is there anything I can do? How is it going? How are you doing? He knows it’s been a stressful off season. He’s kind of been the calming hand on my shoulder saying, Hey, it’s going to be all right; you’re doing a good job.

Q: Tony, you’ve had two races with Darian on the pit box, a new spotter. How is that going communication wise?

TONY STEWART: Bob Jeffrey is our spotter. I worked with him before in the past. I’ve always been comfortable with him. Working with Darian has been a small adjustment. I was talking to Mr. Hendrick earlier today. I said it’s really amazed me at how calm he is. He’s so even keeled.

I almost want to start messing with him just to see if I can get him off center a little bit. I haven’t seen him get mad yet. You barely can get him to laugh sometimes. He smiles a lot, but he doesn’t laugh a lot.

He’s just very monotone about everything. You can hear his confidence on the radio. From a driver’s standpoint, if the guy that is calling the race for you, making the calls for you is confident, it adds to your confidence and boosts your confidence.

You know, it’s been really good. It’s obviously been a big adjustment going from Zippy to Darian. But, you know, it’s not been an unpleasant change by any means, to me.

I miss Zippy, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve stepped into a role with a guy that it doesn’t seem like the first week we’ve worked together at a race. It seems like we’ve worked together a lot longer.