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This Week in Ford Racing - NASCAR Edition

Tuesday July 8, 2008

 

Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 28 FreeCreditReport.com Ford Fusion, is in 20th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings heading into Saturday night’s race at Chicagoland Speedway. Kvapil was running just outside of the top 10 in Saturday night’s race at Daytona before getting caught up in a last-lap wreck. This weekend’s race will be a bit of a homecoming for Kvapil, who is from Janesville, Wisc.

TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 28 FreeCreditReport.com Ford Fusion – TO DO WELL IN THIS SERIES, YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DO WELL ON MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACKS. CHICAGOLAND IS A MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACK. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT TRACK, IN PARTICULAR, AND WHERE YOUR TEAM IS ON MILE-AND-HALF TRACKS, OVERALL? “Chicago is a track that I’m really looking forward to going to. It’s close to home. I’ll have a lot of family and friends there. It’s only a couple of hours from where I grew up in southern Wisconsin. I feel like some of our best cars have been at the mile-and-a-half tracks, if you look at Las Vegas early in the year, Darlington is on that same page. We feel like we had a good car going into Charlotte until we wrecked in practice. Chicago is a fun race track. High-banked, mile-and-a-half tracks are places I look forward to going to, and I think we’ll have a good showing there.”

IF SOMEONE WOULD’VE TOLD YOU AT THE START OF THE SEASON THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY, YOU’D BE WITHOUT A FULL-TIME SPONSOR BUT IN THE TOP 20 IN POINTS WOULD YOU HAVE BELIEVED IT? “Not really. We knew we were up against a lot when we started the season. As a group, we felt like we were capable of being a top-20 car, but the reality, until you go out there and do it, keep yourself out of trouble and survive without having a full-time sponsor, it’s tough. And we’ve been able to do that. We’ve been able to piece a lot of great deals together and lot partners throughout the season, and we’ve been nice and steady and consistent as a group. So, I’m just really proud of where we’re at. I think we definitely need to improve a bit, for sure. But, so far, so good.”

DO YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO THINK ABOUT “WHAT IF?” AS IN, “IF WE HAD FULL-TIME SPONSORSHIP, WE COULD’VE DONE THIS?” OR, RIGHT NOW IS THIS TEAM RUNNING AS WELL AS CAN BE EXPECTED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES? “Yeah, we’re definitely running on all cylinders, but I think there’s definitely a few things we could do more of. I feel like we’re staffed at a minimum. I feel like we could have a few more people to help out with our engineering or our shock program, things like that. We’ve not gone and done a Kentucky- or Milwaukee-type test. I feel like we could, if we had some money, spend a little more time doing a little track testing and things like that. But at the same time, my race cars are top notch, my crew is top notch. They’re putting good hardware and people behind me to be able to go out and run in the top 20. But, like anybody, if you had a little more money, there’s always things you can do, but we’re pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.”

Doug Yates, co-owner of Yates Racing that fields the Ford Fusions driven by Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland, is midway through his first season heading up his own operation with Max Jones. Yates spoke about his team’s progress and the current state of his sponsorship search.

DOUG YATES – Co-Owner – No. 28 and 38 Ford Fusions – HOW DO YOU FEEL THE SEASON HAS GONE SO FAR SINCE WE’RE PRETTY MUCH AT THE HALFWAY POINT. “With Max and I being partners in this program, he was coming from a real high standpoint as far as running Roush Fenway while things have been pretty tough the past couple of years for Robert Yates Racing, so we both thought about where we would be at this point. He was a little bit more optimistic and I was probably a little bit more pessimistic, but I think we’re probably right in the middle of where we hoped we would be and really pleasantly surprised with starting two brand new teams in December and being where we’re at today. We’ve had some really fast cars. At Daytona we had really good cars. David drove all the way up to second and Travis had a good, solid run before both of them were caught up in accidents, but I think, looking back after that race, people knew we were there. As a team owner or as a competitor, the biggest thing you want is a chance to compete at a high level and a chance to win every week, and we’re starting to have that confidence when we walk into the garage week-in and week-out, which is a great thing.”

HOW DO YOU VIEW THE CURRENT STATE OF SPONSORSHIP IN THE SPORT? “When we started this team, we knew that it was an uphill climb from where we were at and felt like if we could get the performance back to where we wanted it to be, that we could go out and get companies believing in our team and we’re starting to do that. It’s a tough environment out there. The economy is hard right now for a lot of people, but we’ve had some really good meetings and we feel like things are coming together. At the end of the day, we want people to believe in what we’re doing and we’re starting to get that feeling and starting to get meetings to talk about the future. But as we all know, things aren’t done until they’re signed and sealed, so we’ll just keep plugging along and hopefully we’ll go out and have some more good runs and get some things done here.”

IS IT FRUSTRATING TO SEE ALL OF THE BIG TEAMS ATTRACTING MANY OF THE BIG PRIMARY SPONSORS? “There’s no doubt that it’s tough and the big teams have the momentum right now, and most of them are getting themselves positioned to have four cars. It is an uphill battle for us right now, but we knew when we got started what we were up against and we’ve got to remain positive by knowing what we have and knowing where we’re heading. That’s all we can do. Being frustrated about competing against some of the bigger teams is not going to bear any fruit for us, so we just have to keep our head down and be proud of what we’re doing and keep working hard every single day to make our teams better and we’ll get there. Hopefully, we can get back to where one day people are talking about Yates Racing in the same sentence as Roush Fenway and Hendrick.

Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 59 Kingsford Ford Fusion, sits 13th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series points heading into this weekend’s race at Chicagoland Speedway. After a few bumps in the road this year from an early season crew chief change to a hauler fire that damaged several cars, Ambrose talks about the progression of his season and racing career.

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 59 Ford Fusion – “On my last big oval, at Kentucky, we ran sixth and qualified third and ran strong all day. It was a good day for us. I think our intermediate program is probably our strongest suit, right now, that and road racing. So, I’m looking forward to Chicago. I’ve only raced there once. It’s a little unique, with the turn on the backstretch, but I can’t wait to get there. I think it’s going to be a good event for us. We’ve got a good car, I know that, a car that’s not smoked damage, which is a good thing because we’ve got a couple of badly damaged cars with smoke now, so we’re doing good. I think that’s a good weekend for us. I think the next stretch coming up here is going to be a lot of fun. We had a decent day at New Hampshire, not a great day, but decent. We’ve been working on our short-track stuff. It’s getting better and better. And our intermediate stuff, I’m looking forward to getting another run on that. We’ve got some road races coming up. So, we should have a pretty good stretch here.”

ON THE MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACKS. “They’re tough race tracks. They’re the bread and butter that we go to, they are the majority of the race tracks that we race on. You’ve got to be good on an intermediate-style race track, and it takes a lot of engineering to get the cars to run. It’s not hard to miss it. It’s a tough series, and we are under-resourced to a degree. It’s not about finances, it’s about having the knowledge to make these cars go fast. And that’s going to be tough – these big teams have more resources to tap into, and that’s always been our problem. But, I feel like we can fight with them on a mile-and-a-half race track, and we can run strong. We should be able to run top 10.”

NOW THAT YOU’VE RACED AT THE CUP LEVEL – QUALIFYING 10TH AND RUNNING UP FRONT AT SONOMA AND NOT QUALIFYING AT NEW HAMPSHIRE – DO YOU APPROACH THIS SPORT ANY DIFFERENTLY? “No, not at all. Last week was a classic example of going from hero to zero in five days. I felt like I had forgotten how to drive. But, that’s just the way it is. It’s a tough sport. If you get confident for one second in this game, it’s finished. It’s going to bite you. This sport has a habit of nipping at your heels the whole time. If you get too far in front of yourself, you’ll get leveled off pretty quick. And that’s what I think I’ve been able to bring to the table is I don’t get too high and I don’t get too low, I’m a pretty stable-kind of character. It’s important to have that approach in NASCAR, and I’m still learning to deal with the difficulties of the sport – the travel, the logistics and all that. We’re with the big boys, but we’re not playing with the big boys. We’re flying around on commercial flights, we’re struggling, we’re putting deals together that aren’t as flashy, so you short-change yourself here and there. I always feel like the underdog, even though we run strong a lot. And until I win races or I’m with a superteam, I’ll feel that way.”

RACING AT THE CUP LEVEL HAS BEEN YOUR STARTED GOAL. NOW THAT YOU’VE SEEN IT UP CLOSE, IS IT WHAT YOU EXPECTED? “The Sonoma deal was just fantastic. It was just a real thrill to pass Jeff Gordon on the race track. It’s dream. Who gets a chance to rub fenders with Jeff and pass him, and Jimmie [Johnson] and Smoke [Tony Stewart]? Racing against these guys, it’s way cool. It’s cooler than I ever could’ve imagined. At the same time, I don’t quite feel worthy of being there yet, and it will take time. I’ve got question marks that I can’t answer – is it me, is it the equipment, is it the team? And, hopefully, I’ll get myself in position where I can answer those questions. And if I can’t match my pace on a road course on the ovals, I’ll be the first to put my hand up and say, ‘It’s just not my deal.’ But, right now, I can’t answer that question, I can’t tell you whether I’m the weak link or whether I’m doing okay, because I just don’t know. I just have to put myself in a position to be able to really get to the point where I can answer that question. And until I get to that point, I don’t feel like I’m not worthy to be there because I just don’t know.”

DID THE RECENT HAULER FIRE PUT YOUR TEAM BEHIND? “No doubt. Massive behind, especially for a small team like ours. There’s a lot of damage. We lost two race cars with smoke and heat – they didn’t catch fire but they got a lot of damage to them. And then all the parts that were in the truck have been damaged with the oxidization from the fire extinguishers. It’s a big hit. It put us back. It’s a short week as well. We’re lucky we had a spare trailer, and we’ve been able to borrow and scrimp and scrape from the truck team that shut down to get through it. But, it puts you back, there’s no doubt – especially in the middle of this long spell here. We’ve got a lot of races back to back, and it’s tough. Real tough.”

WHEN WOULD THOSE CARS HAVE BEEN USED AGAIN? “We would’ve used those cars at Memphis and ORP. But, a lot of the components – we don’t have components for each car, we swap stuff around, steering wheels, steering boxes, cool-down units, cool boxes, dashes, axles, suspension parts, all that stuff was going to be re-used [this] week, so, yeah, it’s going to put us back. We’re lucky that the fire was contained to the back, so all the gear at the front had a lot of smoke damage, but it didn’t have any flame damage.”

YOU HAD CARS PREPARED ALREADY FOR CHICAGO? “Those had already been prepared. You’re not going to feel the impact of a problem like that for two or three weeks. Once we get past Chicago, that’s when it’s going to hit us. We’re going to get to ORP with cars that have to be rebuilt, and that puts everything behind. If we get through the next couple of weeks without crashing, that’s going to help, too, because that gives people a chance to catch up.”

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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