California NASCAR Test
David Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Yates Racing Ford Fusion, is back in his home state of California for the first of a two-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test at California Speedway. Gilliland held a Q&A session at the track to talk about a variety of issues.
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Yates Racing Ford Fusion – HOW HAS YOUR FIRST DAY OF TESTING GONE SO FAR? “It’s been real good. We unloaded and we definitely weren’t where we needed to be, but we made some good changes and I feel like here at the end of practice we’re real close to where we need to be. I’m really, really happy with the progress that we’ve made. I think that we had a great test at Vegas and I’m really, really excited about my opportunity this year with Yates Racing. I feel really good about our chances to be able to be much more competitive than we were last year and I’m real excited about that.”
HOW DEEP IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YATES RACING AND ROUSH FENWAY? “I’m not really 100 percent sure on that, to be honest with you. I know that we’re purchasing our cars from them, which has been a great improvement for Yates Racing and really helped our team, I feel like. We’ve been to Daytona and Vegas so far testing and I feel like we’ve had two very good tests. The cars drove very, very well and I think we’re getting some engineering help from them, which was something that was basically very, very, very minimal with Robert Yates Racing last year. I tell people, it’s funny, when you’re in a situation – my opportunity last year was better than anything I ever had and you always try and do the best you can do with what you have, but being on the other side now and getting the engineering support that we’re getting, and the help, it really makes you realize what you were up against. I think it’s really gonna help our program throughout the year. Actually, we were kind of hit and miss. We’d go to some tracks and we were good and we’d go to some tracks and we were terrible. I think with the engineering support and the new cars that we’re getting, I really feel like it’s gonna help us be a contender week-in and week-out, and it’s worked out great so far.”
IS IT BETTER TO GET INTO THIS SPORT THE WAY YOU DID IT OR A FORMAL DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM? “I don’t know. Like you said, we did it the hard way, I guess. I never had money behind me to be able to go and put myself in an opportunity. I feel like I could have done it years ago. I always felt like all I needed was an opportunity, but I think it can go both ways. I talked to Jack Roush probably six years ago and asked him, ‘What do I need to do?’ And he said, ‘Go out and race as much as you can and win races. Get used to racing.’ I don’t know. Like you said, I guess the old-fashioned way. We worked our way up throughout the NASCAR plan that they’ve laid out with late models and grand national cars in Busch and then Cup. I think both ways can work. The younger you are, the more patient the teams are going to have to be when you get there.”
FOLLOW UP RESPONSE. “I don’t know, you can stumble on that one guy that goes out there and hit a home run with him. There have been teams that have done that. That’s why it’s going in that direction.”
IS THERE SPONSORSHIP IN THE AIR? “They’ve had some great leads since Yates Racing got started and they’re continuing to work on those. We’ve been close for a while and hopefully we can get something shored up here shortly. I feel good about the leads that they have and feel great about the marketing team that’s working on it for us, so I’m confident that they’ll definitely get something.”
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE WITH THE CAR ON THIS TRACK LAST YEAR AND THIS NEW CAR? “We’ve been fighting kind of tight and that’s kind of what I’ve heard throughout the garage area, and I think that’s just a characteristic of this car. I think you’re gonna see that at every track we go to, just a little bit tight. Like at Vegas, by the end of the test the cars were driving very, very similar to the old-style cars. Once people got time to work through them and had two days of working on it, and I think the speeds reflected that also.”
WORST-CASE SCENARIO. WHAT WILL THE TEAM DO IF NO SPONSOR IS FOUND? “I’ve asked that question. I ask it every week, but they’ve told us we’re gonna race and we’ve just got to get out and perform. We’ve got these first five races to get out and do the best we can, and I feel really good about our chances. Like I said, our testing has gone well. We do have some great leads and we’re very close on some stuff, but as far as they’ve told me, we’re racing both cars all year.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED MOST FROM YOUR SEASONS IN CUP? “The biggest thing at the Cup level is that the races are sometimes three times longer than anything I’ve done, so you just learn when you’re racing when to take chances and push the envelope. You just learn that sometimes taking that chance isn’t worth it. Patience is the biggest thing I’ve learned and feel like that’s gonna help me the best this year.”
DO YOU FEEL ANY DESPERATION TO SUCCEED AND DO WELL THIS YEAR? “Definitely – every year. This sport is very difficult. There are a lot of people waiting in line to get here and I think at this level you have to perform. This year is definitely probably the most pivotal year of my career. I’m not the 18-year-old guy here anymore and I just better get it done, so I feel good. Like I said earlier, with the engineering support we have and the cars and the chassis we’ve been able to get, I think the performance side of it will come. I feel very confident in that this year.”
LAST YEAR BOTH YATES CARS WERE ON THE FRONT ROW OF THE 500, BUT THE FORDS HAVEN’T SHOWN AS STRONG IN TESTING. WHY? “I don’t think anybody shows all their cards in testing. Like you said, the Fords were kind of in a group and we feel real good about the stuff and what we’re gonna be able to take back to the race. The Toyotas were definitely strong. I know Doug and our engine shop have been extra-hard. I think they’ve got the upper-hand on horsepower right now, but Doug and all the guys are working extra-hard and we feel really good about what we’re gonna be able to bring back. Like I said, it goes both ways. I don’t think everybody shows everything in testing.”
WILL THIS NEW CAR MAKE IT EASIER TO GO FROM A TRACK LIKE CALIFORNIA TO MICHIGAN? “I think it’s gonna help more with the car of tomorrow than if we would have tested here with the cars we had last year. I think the car of tomorrow is new to everybody on these type of tracks and you get all the information you can gather from a place like this. Michigan is close enough to where you will learn stuff here that you can transfer over to Michigan and with this car, it just makes it even that much more important to gather that information just because it is so new to everybody.”
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion, was also part of the testing session at California Speedway and followed Gilliland into the media center to discuss how preseason testing has gone to this point.
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion – HOW HAS YOUR DAY GONE SO FAR? “So far I’ve been really pleased with our Office Depot Fusion. I’m surprised at how well the car drove around here. It felt a lot like the other cars that we’ve run here before, so I’m looking forward to testing some more. It’s gonna get warmer and slicker out there, so we’ll see how the cars are gonna handle in a little bit, but I think it’s gonna be fun.”
A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SURPRISED AT HOW WELL THEIR NEW CARS HAVE RUN. IS THAT AN INDICATION PEOPLE ARE GETTING A HANDLE ON THIS THING? “Right. Personally, I was nervous about running these cars on these bigger race tracks. I wasn’t sure how they’d handle, but the engineers have been doing a great job of getting the cars so that they feel real nice around the race track. All the stuff I was concerned about was the front end dragging the ground and the splitter bouncing off the pavement and stuff like that, it seems that they’ve got that under control pretty well, so I’m very and pleasantly surprised.”
WHAT CHANGES CAN YOU MAKE WITH THESE CARS BETWEEN DAYTONA AND CALIFORNIA? “That’s a really good question. I don’t know. Bob Osborne and I have a real simple relationship. I tell him what the car is doing and he works on it. As we get closer to the race weekend, we set out a plan and we know what our parameters are that we can work in, but, historically, Daytona has been way tighter on everyone – the speedway races have – and there is room for adjustments at these places. It seems like with these cars it’s not as simple anymore as just changing springs and things like that, which, with the way we were running the old cars, it was getting more complex. It used to be how you stayed on those bumped stops on the front end and that’s a big part of it. It’s not classic setup anymore.”
DO YOU MISS ANYTHING ABOUT THE OLD CAR THAT WAS IN THE NEW ONE? “I don’t know. In a way it would be great if we could race cars where we were just changing springs for their spring rate and we were making adjustments that were simple and straightforward, but that’s just the nature of the sport. I mean, everyone always looks for that little extra bit and these cars make the window of the amount that you can address the car much smaller. It has to be perfect. I don’t know if I really miss it, in a way I’m looking forward to these cars because everyone is so close and I believe that it opens the opportunity for the drivers to be able to make a little bit bigger difference. I think that’s gonna be a pretty good thing. Overall, I’m excited about these cars – more than I thought I would be. After running them I’m excited.”
HOW DO YOU THINK THE RACING WILL BE HERE. MORE EXCITING? “I definitely think it’s gonna be more exciting. The reason I can say that with confidence is that all of the cars are closer. The field is closer. If you looked at the testing at the end of the day at Las Vegas, the field was so close. If you were three-tenths off, you were in 25th place. So I think because of that and the way at this track where you can run it from the top to the bottom, I believe there will be more cars fighting closer together. I think it’s gonna be, from where I’m sitting, a more precise race. To be able to win it, you’re gonna have to be perfect. I think if you’re a little bit off, you’ll be running fourth or fifth fighting with somebody who is just a little off. I think it’s gonna be a better race.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES THIS YEAR? “It’s to perform the best we can. My hopes are that that’s good enough to win a championship. I was real confident going in until we tested yesterday and now I’m a little bit nervous at how fast some of these other teams that we’re gonna race against are. I mean, David Reutimann was extremely fast. Cale Gale and Kevin Harvick and Burton and those guys were all really fast, so I’m a little bit nervous about the new engine package and how we stack up using that. So we’ve got to definitely go back after at least that first day of testing and work on these Fusions and make sure we’re as competitive as we should be. Right now, with the way it looked after that test, we’ve got some work to do. But I want to win a championship.”
DOES HAVING THE SAME SPONSOR HELP YOUR CONFIDENCE IN CUP? “That’s a good question. Having the same sponsor, to me, means a lot. I love working with Office Depot. The stuff that we’ve been able to do together with the national PTA, the back to school program. I believe Office Depot has given away 1.5 million backpacks to kids that need them and can’t afford them. I’ve been very proud to be involved in that, and as you go along it kind of gives you a comfort level and a confidence knowing that your sponsor is behind you. In the good times and the bad times Office Depot has been right there with me and I can always call them up or they’ll call me and let me know they’re behind me, so it’s been a good thing for me.”
TEXAS IS THE FIRST TRACK YOU’LL GO TO WHERE YOU HAVEN’T TESTED. WILL THAT BE MORE CHALLENGING? “I was really nervous about this car until we went to Vegas, and, like I said, I was just really pleased with it. I think that Vegas, with the way the track drives and the way the banking is and the grip level, very similar to like Texas or Charlotte. I think that test worked for that reason and I look forward to those race tracks now, where before it was a big unknown. It’s gonna be fun. It’ll be good.”
IS THERE A FEELING IN THE GARAGE ABOUT HOW THE GIBBS TEAMS WILL FARE WITH TOYOTA THIS YEAR? “I think that the guys at Gibbs are gonna run really well. The talent over there is spectacular. The drivers are as good as anyone in the garage, so for that reason I think they’re gonna be tough. I don’t believe that Toyota has shown and real weakness or anything, so they’re gonna be really tough competitors. I’m hoping that it’s that much more fun to beat them with my Ford, but I think they’re gonna be tough.”
DO YOU THINK THE CAR WILL RUN DIFFERENTLY UNDER THE LIGHTS HERE? “I think that as the grip level goes up, there are more forces on the car – more vertical load – it will change how the front suspension works and the handling will change. This will be a very important test this evening to see how when the track cools off, how the handling changes so we know when we come back how to prepare for the race. So it will be a key.”
WHAT ARE THE BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THIS CAR AND THE OLD ONE ON THIS TRACK? “Probably the basic difference is that the old car, when you had it set up perfectly, it was a little bit easier to drive. This car has a little bit less downforce and less travel. It feels more treacherous to drive around loose. It makes it more difficult, but that’s part of what makes racing what it is. It’s got to be hard to drive and hard to go fast, so that’s fun.”
DRIVERS HAVE SAID TESTING AT DAYTONA WAS KIND OF ROUGH. IS IT THE CAR THAT MAKES IT ROUGH OR DOES THE TRACK NEED SOME WORK? “NASCAR should implement a rule that makes it completely illegal to resurface a race track, ever. It should be as nasty and rough as possible. That makes it so much more fun to drive and race on when the tracks are not perfect. I think it’s just the car. Yeah, the bumps, I don’t want to say anything. I don’t want to get that started. The track is perfect at Daytona. I like it and I think the car has a little less downforce and it moves around a little bit more. I think that makes the racing better. I think that’s good. If it was real smooth and perfect and easy to do, that’s not racing. That’s driving down the interstate.”
DO YOU SEE WHERE YOUR NATIONWIDE TEAM CAN IMPROVE FROM LAST YEAR? “Yeah, definitely we can be better in the preparation department. We figured out a lot of ways to lose races in the second half of the season last year and we just weren’t as quite prepared as we could be. I made a couple of mistakes that were compounded by mechanical failures on our backup cars and stuff like that. Those are things we can do a little better at and some of the strategy on pit calls – many of which were my fault, where I thought we could do something to try to win the race, where we could have just gotten some points. That would have been better, so, overall, it’s just basic racing, preparation and strategy we can do just a tick better at.”
