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Raybestos Rookie Emerson Radio 250 Advance: Bryan Clauson and Brad Parrott

Friday September 5, 2008

 

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER ADVANCE MATERIAL FOR THE EMERSON RADIO 250 NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES RACE AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2008, PAGE 3.

Brad Parrott, crew chief for the No. 40 Fastenal Dodge driven by Raybestos Rookie Bryan Clauson, discussed the upcoming NASCAR Nationwide Series test session for the new generation car this coming Monday and Tuesday at Richmond International Raceway.

BRAD PARROTT, CREW CHIEF, No. 40 FASTENAL DODGE: HOW MUCH TIME HAVE YOU SPENT PREPARING FOR THIS TEST SESSION? “We’re partners with Dodge in building a COT car for Dodge and everything at Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. There’s a lot of hours put into it because we took the body off, put another body on, took the body off, put another body and going to the wind tunnel a lot with NASCAR. We’ve been working on it probably since around February so there’s a lot of time and effort that we’ve put in at our company for this and to help Dodge out and develop this car. They came to us and asked us if we want to do it and we said yeah and we jumped all over it. Matt Chambers and his test team are actually going to run the test. Myself and a few other guys are going to be collecting data to learn from it and everything but Matt is going to run the test. Bryan [Clauson] is going to drive, David Stremme is going to drive so we’ve got some Dodge drivers that have been running in the Nationwide cars and have been testing the COT cup cars so we’ve got some experience there.” THIS TEAM HAS ALREADY GONE THROUGH DEVELOPING A COT CAR FOR SPRINT CUP. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THAT EXPERIENCE THAT WILL HELP YOU WITH THIS CAR? “We’ve got springs already that they’re running over there now a year and a half ago, two years ago, they didn’t have the springs that they have now. They sway bars are different. You know what kind of tendency the car is going to do but it is going to be new. We have a five-inch splitter where the Cup cars have a four-inch splitter so there’s going to be some differences. It’s going to take us a day or two here at Richmond and then probably coming back again next year with the car and then doing it all over again because our travels are going to be different. There are Cup car travels and they have the bump rubbers on their shocks and we’re not going to be allowed to do that. We’re going to on the test if we need to but we’re preparing for not to be able to use them so we can go ahead and get some good date off the car.” IS THE MAIN THING JUST LOGGING LAPS DURING THE TEST SESSION? “Run, run, run and get a lot of information for Dodge, for NASCAR. All our information is going to be shared with all the Dodge teams. We’ve put the effort in as far as the car but its Dodge and Chevrolet and Ford and Toyota; they all put the money into it and everything. The main thing is we’re looking for a safer racecar. You know, in the Nationwide cars, if Dario Franchitti would have been in this car at Talladega earlier this year I don’t think he would have broke his ankle so we’re definitely looking to make improvements on our safety of our cars and this is a start.” WHEN COULD THE NEW GENERATION CAR BE READY FOR RACING? “Realistically, I think it’s fair to say 2010. There’s a lot of time and effort that still needs to be put in it plus it’s real late in the game to call it a car for next year and to get your sponsorship dollars. You can go to your sponsors right now and say hey, this is how much it’s going to cost us in 2010 to run. We’ve already set our budgets for 2009 I’m sure and that’ll help a lot for the sponsors to understand. That’s the tough thing about the Cup cars. They had to go back and ask for more money and for more testing money and everything. It’s not a free business for sure and we need all the money we can get.”

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates announced earlier this week that Raybestos Rookie Bryan Clauson would compete in seven of the eight remaining NASCAR Nationwide Series races. Landon Cassill leads Clauson by two points (160-158) in the overall Raybestos Rookie standings.

BRYAN CLAUSON, No. 40 FASTENAL DODGE: “We’re going to run all but Texas, as of right now. That’s really good to kind of get six or seven races in a row here and kind of get in the seat regularly is going to be a big help, not only in our performance but building our team for next year and what we’re going to try and do next year as far as running for points and that. We’re real excited. It’s a really good situation for me. It’s tough to see Dario [Franchitti] go. He was a great teammate and a great competitor and a great guy to work with and he taught me a lot, not only inside the racecar but a lot outside the racecar. It’s a great opportunity for me to get behind the wheel for six or seven more races and start building for next year and chasing down Landon [Cassill] for Raybestos Rookie of the Year.” WHAT IS THE GREATEST NUMBER OF RACES THAT YOU’VE RUN CONSECUTIVELY? “I believe four or five, so this will probably be the longest string. The more you run the better you are physically. It’s really hard to work out for this. You can run as much as you can, you can lift as much as you want, but getting in the racecar and working those muscles that you can’t find in the gym, it’s really the only way to help yourself. I’m really excited about this. It’s going to be a lot of fun and it’ll help our team, not only to build chemistry but performance-wise, having the same guy in the seat, the same guys talking about the setups each week, asking for the same things is really big. Instead of having to bring one thing from one car and one setup for Dario one week and coming back running with me the next was a completely different car, completely different setup. Going to Montreal with Pruett and ever changing, it’s tough to really get where you kind of get a baseline. It’s tough to do that with four or five different drivers.” WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR? “It would mean a lot. This is a talented crop of Raybestos Rookies that came in this year. I think we could almost compare it to the year Denny Hamlin won rookie of the year in the Cup series where there were six or seven guys that were really strong. You only have three or four of us really battling for Raybestos Rookie of the Year but you have your Chase Millers and Cale Gales and guys that are running partial schedules that have been really strong at times, too. A really talented crop of rookies and to be at the head of that class would be really awesome and a lot of fun and something that would look really good on the resume.” WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER MAIN OBJECTIVES FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON? “Run strong. We failed to do that the last couple of times in the car. We’ve kind of struggled to 15th, 16th, 17th-place finishes. They’ve been good character building days [smiles] and we’ve learned a lot and made our racecars better during those days but we need to come out and compete a little bit more than what we have. I think working with Brad full-time now and running every week will definitely help that.

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Ren Jonsin.

 

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