NEWS from Stewart-Haas Racing: Transcript of Press Conference to Announce Darian Grubb as Crew Chief for Tony Stewart

Friday September 5, 2008

 

SEPTEMBER 5, 2008

TONY STEWART: Two-Time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion

DARIAN GRUBB: Hendrick Motorsports’ Engineering Manager for the Nos. 5 and 88 Sprint Cup Teams

MIKE ARNING: Moderator, Vice President of True Speed Communication

MIKE ARNING:

“Want to thank you for joining us this morning. It’s pretty cut and dry. We have Tony Stewart, two‑time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, as well as Darian Grubb, the lead engineer of Hendrick Motorsports 5 and 88 teams. Tony, talk about why we’re here today and this latest step with Stewart-Haas Racing.”

TONY STEWART:

“Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out we hired Darian Grubb as our Office Depot/Old Spice No. 14 car crew chief for next year. And this is something that is another key step in the equation of us getting on our feet next year and getting everything pointed in the right direction. So we’ve got a team leader now and somebody that I feel very comfortable and confident in. I’m just excited to work with Darian. The little bit of time that we have spent together so far, I’m really excited to get things started for next year and feel like Darian is going to be a very key part of helping us grow our program to get Stewart-Haas Racing where we want it to be.”

MIKE ARNING:

“Darian, this is another big step in your NASCAR career, but fitting you are doing it here in Richmond (Va.). You are a Floyd (Va.) native and a graduate of Virginia Tech – talk about this moment today.”

DARIAN GRUBB:

“It’s a very huge moment for me, just everything I looked forward to in my life and challenges I’ve been presented with and being able to step up each time and just get that opportunity with Tony; the capability he has as a driver in the past championships and the future heading forward is just extremely bright and just happy going into today and to be able to do it here in Virginia is an extra bonus.”

Q. For both of you, Darian, have you or are you going to talk to Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief No. 20 JGR Toyota) any about life with Tony on the racetrack, in the hauler, that sort of thing? And Tony, do you think that kind of conversation is necessary any more about you?

TONY STEWART:

“Absolutely. (Laughter) I mean it’s ‑‑ and more so, it’s about relationships, and you guys know that. I mean, you build a chemistry and that’s something that Zippy and I, we had to do it from scratch starting in ’99. So actually last week when we had dinner, I mentioned that to him, that I thought that would be a great idea and that ‑‑ not so much that you don’t have to, but just having an idea of just simple things like if you say it’s a little loose or a little tight, those are things that it can take Darian and I weeks to figure out; when I say it’s a little this, he needs to know exactly how much a little is to me versus a little from somebody else. Not only on the competition side, but if I’m having a bad day, how do you shorten the curve there and keep me focused on what’s going on. I do think it’s a very logical question and a topic that we talked about at length at dinner last week.”

Q. I was thinking a little bit more about the times that you made Zippy cry.

TONY STEWART:

“Yeah, I think we are through most of those parts. We are on the down side of that hill. Still, it’s just like anything else, as a driver, there may be ten things that I tell Darian and the first nine may not mean anything, but that tenth one may click something that he says, ‘OK, I know exactly what I’ve got to do now.’ It’s a situation now where the more information you have, the better. And it’s that way as far as, you know, Zippy spending time with Darian and saying, you know, this is how we’ve worked together over the last 10 years and there’s a lot of notes to go off of over there.”

DARIAN GRUBB:

“Any time you have someone that’s got a 10‑year year relationship, you’re foolish if you don’t talk to that person just to see how things go and take those comments and see what they really mean. A 10‑year relationship, it’s going to be hard to build that history up and you really can’t create that just right off the bat. Zippy is a good guy and good friend of mine and co-worker in the garage and it’s one of those things, I’m not going to have a hard time giving him a call if I have an issue or something I want to talk to him about.”

Q. Darian, as I recall, when you left the 25 car, you basically said that you had preferred to be a race engineer at that point rather than the crew chief. When did you change your mind and take this opportunity with Tony? And second, given the relationship with Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas in the future with chassis and engines, how closely will you continue to work with them?

DARIAN GRUBB:

“First question goes all the way back to when I did the deal with the 48 a couple years ago. It was one of those things I didn’t ever look for in the next step of my career, but as soon as those opportunities come up it’s just something that you can’t pass up. And the opportunity here to go forward with Tony and Stewart-Haas Racing and the chance to build a championship‑contending team and go out and just fight from the ground up and build something with all of these people and everything, get it built around my past history with Hendrick Motorsports; and I’ve been there for six years, and of course, there’s going to be a lot of things that I’m going to take from that organization just to go and start building that one, because it’s hard to go against Hendrick Motorsports and the way they do business. And I’m going to use that and my experience from six years to temper the way we run the Stewart Haas organization. The chassis and engine department and the support they put into it is second to none, and I’m not concerned at all and I have a lot of people there I know I can put my trust in because I’ve worked with them for the last six years and I won’t have a problem with that at all.”

Q. Talk about an engineering‑based crew chief versus seat of the pants; now you have an engineering‑based crew chief for the operation, how much of an engineering crew chief was Zippy and how different will it be with Darian?

TONY STEWART:

“Well, we haven’t worked together, so I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work. You look at Darian’s past and what he accomplished with the 25 car and the times that he had to go over and work on the 48 car, the results are what we look at. It’s not necessarily how you get to the end of the road to get to your goal. It’s just the fact that he can get to the goal and, you know, that we have that confidence in him. I think with this car, it’s a more engineering‑type background that it seems like you have to have, anyway, and seat of the pants still doesn’t hurt anything. It’s practical knowledge versus book knowledge. So you know, it’s a combination of the two and like Darian said, it’s hard to know how it’s going to work right now between us and how his style is going to be different than Greg’s (Zipadelli), but at the end of the day, we’ve already got the major ingredient there and that’s that we both have the same passion and desire to be successful winning races and winning championships. That part is something that you don’t have to fix. Now how we get to that in goal is yet to be determined but we at least are focused on the same direction right now.”

Q. Darian, after you won the races with Jimmie (Johnson) in 2006 when Chad (Knaus) was suspended we all assumed you had people knocking on your door and want to go move over and become a crew chief in their organization; how much of that actually happened and did you get offers in the aftermath and were you tempted to leave?

DARIAN GRUBB:

“Never been tempted to leave, but yes, I have had offers. There’s always been conversations going on with that, but I’ve never wanted to step outside of the Hendrick Motorsports organization until this opportunity came up. Just extremely excited to be able to continue my Hendrick knowledge and being able to use those chassis and engines going forward, and just keep building that organization strength outside of Hendrick Motorsports. This opportunity is just a great chance for me to be able to step out and be able to almost take off on my own and help build up the organization and surround myself with the good people that are capable of going and winning championships.”

Q. Tony are you going to name a technical director, or have you surpassed your salary cap?

TONY STEWART:

“I surpassed it when I signed up. I keep telling Joe Custer (General Manager, Haas-Stewart Racing) that I’m going to teach him how to spend money. No, you know, it’s more right now Darian and I talking and deciding what people does he want at this point. You know, we discussed things last week while we were in Fontana, (Calif.), and I think there’s a situation where you can get too many people too early. So Darian and I work really closely together right now, and try to get a game plan on what people we actually want and what positions, and evaluate where we’re at over at the shop right now. So we just take it one step at a time right now and figure out what people we want.”

Q. Earlier Jeff Burton talked about a matchup between driver and crew chief and how it’s different for every driver or crew chief. What makes this relationship a good team?

TONY STEWART:

“He’s got pretty good wit and humor like we do. It didn’t take long in the first meeting to figure that out. You know, like I say, when you have a common desire to win races and championships, that’s the first part of it right away. But you know, just spending time together, the more time we spend together, the more we laugh, and last week, half of our dinner, we had a two‑and‑a‑half‑hour dinner; which getting me at a restaurant at two and a half hours to sit in one seat is almost a feat in itself. Probably half the dinner was as much just talking personal stuff as it was talking on the professional side, and what we were going to do, and that’s how it starts. You know, you don’t just walk into a room with somebody and say, hey, I’m Tony, I’m Darian and you sit down and you start working and everything clicks. It’s knowing each other inside and out and having, you know, just simple things like going to dinner last week was a huge step for us to go and just get to know each other better, and you know, when we had him at the shop, just seeing the ‑‑ just seeing the look on his face when he was at the shop and we were talking to him about coming over was what told me that this was going to be the right thing for us.”

Q. There’s been a report this week that Jay Frye may be coming to the team. Can you address that? Have you guys made an offer?

TONY STEWART:

“Just like I told you last week, when we have something to announce, we’ll tell you, and we’re announcing our crew chief this week.”

Q. We just have to ask about it when it comes up. Going back to what you said about Darian, knowing he’s friends with Zippy, did Zippy recommend him and are there similarities? Do you see a little bit of Zippy with Darian?

TONY STEWART:

“When we were trying to figure out who was going to be my crew chief, obviously when we got it narrowed down to who we thought was the guy, I went to Greg and said, ‘What do you think?’ And Greg was very high on Darian. So that was something that was important to me. I mean, if the guy that I’ve been with for 10 years thinks this is a good guy, then that was a huge peace of mind for me to go ahead with the next step.”

Q. Just wanted to ask you about the formation of your team; how much did you use the model or the paradigm that Job Gibbs established there in terms of using that as a model for what you wanted to do, and has his presence been kind of discernable; when he’s there or not there with the team; there a certain aura that he brings to the shop when he’s there?

TONY STEWART:

“Oh, absolutely. You’re talking about a guy that no matter what professional sport he’s been a part of, he’s been successful with, whether it’s drag racing or whether it’s been the NFL or the Nationwide teams, the Cup teams. But going back to the organization, you know, that’s how I’ve patterned, simple as my USAC teams and World of Outlaw teams, I’ve used a lot of the things that I learned from Joe, and I think that’s the great thing with Darian and I combined, we’ve got a lot of experience from two different great organizations that have been very successful, and I think you can take the best of both worlds and try to work off of that. It doesn’t mean that either one is better than the other necessarily but both of the organizations that we have both been with now have had pretty good track records in this sport. So we come from two sides that have a lot of knowledge and a good base to build a program off of.”

Q. I think it was 2006, you came into this weekend in pretty good shape, it seemed, in the points situation, and then you ultimately missed the Chase. What was that disappointment like for you, and that realization?

TONY STEWART:

“That was terrible. You know, we started off the day in the practice that we’re going to have here in about an hour, and went from having a car that was pretty decent and within a tenth of where we needed to be to be the best car out there to all of a sudden crashing it and having to get a backup car out. So that kind of set the tone for the weekend and got everybody on pins and needles and then the next thing we knew in the race, we couldn’t get a handle on it and just missed it. But it’s a ‑‑ at the time it’s a feeling of disbelief, because up to that point, we had never not been in the Top‑10 in points in our entire career. So you know, to miss the opportunity to run for the championship and make the Chase was something that we never dreamed as a team that we would ever be in that situation.”

Q. Can you talk about the 2005 (Championship) run, just sort of look back, some key moments for you there?

TONY STEWART:

“Obviously winning the Brickyard was huge. That was something that was really, really big to me, and that just took a lot of pressure off, I think from that moment on for the rest of the season of just being relaxed and confident that what we were doing was right, so I think that was a huge pivot point for us.”

Q. Inaudible

TONY STEWART:

“Not that I can remember. We just weren’t brilliant like Jimmie was last year winning four of the last five weeks. I think we were just solid in 2005 and I don’t even know ‑‑ I can’t even remember if we won a race in the Chase that year, but we just had a lot of consistency and I think all of us had a bad race that year that kind of evened everything out. With the exception of that, I think we were pretty solid, pretty consistent.”

Q. Do non‑Chase drivers have a different racing responsibility during the race, like if you knew that two guys were going for the lead, are you a little more gracious with their space, with their real estate, than you would normally be with regular Chase guys?

TONY STEWART:

“It’s not the non‑Chase drivers’ responsibility to look out for us. It’s our responsibility to look out for us. If we’re not in it at the end of tomorrow night ‑‑ everybody has their different personalities and everybody has their different style of racing but ultimately it comes down to the guys that are driving their own cars. We know what’s at stake but when you’re in the Chase you know what’s up for grabs the last ten weeks and you know that if you put yourself in a bad position, what you have to lose is normally a lot bigger than what you have to gain by putting yourself in a bad spot. I don’t believe that it’s guys that are not in the Chase, I don’t believe that it’s their responsibility, because there are a lot of those guys that are still fighting for their jobs and still trying to keep themselves in the top 35 in points, that have bonuses if they finish, you know, at certain spots in the point standings at the end of the year whether they are in the Chase or not. So it’s not really their responsibility as much as it is the drivers that are in the cars that are in the Chase.”

Q. I’d like a comment from both of you, at some point, 1.5-mile tracks became the track of vogue and the racing was really good there and now going into the Chase this year, those tracks seem to be the ones where both of you guys have a tough time getting your arms around them; can I get a comment from both of you on the 1.5-mile tracks?

DARIAN GRUBB:

“From a Hendrick Motorsports’ standpoint, it’s just another evolution of the Chevrolet with the Impala SS and going to the racetrack and finding a package that works. It’s just another engineering project and everything that we have taken on that we may have been a little behind on the start to be able to get those things going but hopefully we are heading in the right direction. We’ve done a lot of testing, and you know, the majority of the Chase races, we are pushing really hard to make sure we get those packages figured out. And obviously Jimmie’s performance from last week shows the 48 has it figured out, but there’s still issues. The 24 wasn’t that great, and the other car wasn’t that great either. We are still in discovery phase and hopefully can get a win now going forward.”

Q. What do you have to go through in the process to get your arms around it?

DARIAN GRUBB:

“I think it’s just a property of the car. We figured out a lot of the short track things earlier. It was a little bit easier process we think because we got so much more of a head start on it. But then last year, middle of the season you’re trying to race two different styles of cars trying to keep up with all of the changes week‑to‑week and change parts and pieces in the haulers and stuff — it’s a big project, much less trying to get yourself ahead. So playing the catch‑up game now but I think we are making headway.

Q. Can you talk about why it’s been difficult for the drivers to really get their arms around those tracks?

TONY STEWART:

“I don’t think it’s the drivers that have had such a hard time figuring the tracks out. It’s a learning process of learning a new style of car that is a very technical race car. I mean, when you’re dealing with bump stops and bump rubbers and shims and everything else, the packers that you’re using in these front shocks, it’s very easy to get a car unbalanced, I believe. So you know, that’s why it makes it so critical right now to ‑‑ when you get the car in that window, that window seems to be smaller to keep the car adjustable during the race. You know, if it it’s not close to start with, you’re not going to get it the rest of the way there. You very easily ‑‑ just like last week, we had a car that was decent during two‑thirds of the race, and during the last third of the race we tried to make it better and ultimately ended up making it really, really bad trying to make it better. So it’s a car that is very sensitive to change and what you can and can’t do with it. And I don’t know that it’s so much been a handle for the drivers as much as it’s been a challenge for entire organizations to figure out what that car likes and dislikes and what we can do as drivers, what the crew chiefs and engineers can do to make that window of balance be a little bit bigger and wider where we can keep the cars nicer during the race.”

Q. Could you talk a little about from driving go‑karts on and driving that record, and can you talk about who your racing heroes and role models were? I think we know one of them, and could you also talk about, are there people out there somewhere in the NASCAR series now that you see and you look at them sort of like A.J. Foyt spotted Tony Stewart; in other words, that kid is going to be really good.

TONY STEWART:

“Obviously Foyt has always been my No. 1 hero. Steve Kinser was, in World of Outlaw Racing; Rick Mears was in IndyCar Racing. But you know, you see guys every day. There’s so many young guys that are running different types of cars right now that there’s not just one or two guys now that stand out anymore. You literally look at Indiana and you see a couple of kids and you look somewhere else and you see a couple more. There’s a lot of young talent out there that’s good talent. So you know, that’s the good thing about the future of auto racing is we are not going to lack in the talent category with guys coming up.”

Q. A lot of people looking into the Chase will look at Kyle (Busch) and Carl (Edwards) as the favorites, possibly Jimmie with his run lately; why should somebody consider looking at you as the title contender, or even any of the other guys?

TONY STEWART:

Well, we are in it, first of all. You have to be in it to win it. So just making the Chase in itself is an accomplishment. You are not a weak team if you’ve made the Chase. But you know, those three teams and drivers that you’ve mentioned, obviously their track record speaks for itself this year, so that’s why people are putting those guys ahead of everybody else right now.”

Q. For many years of experience, I expect that you’re going to take the Chase one race as a time ‑‑

TONY STEWART:

“That would be a great guess.”

Q. We’ve seen drivers like Jeff Gordon struggle this year with the new car and the Chevrolet. How will switching back to Chevrolet and this new car ‑‑ what is that going to take? Do you think that you’re going to have to struggle with that, or how much will Darian help you adjust to switching back to Chevrolet?

TONY STEWART:

“I promise you, that will be an easy switch for me. That’s the least of my concerns. I mean, that’s a proven variable that’s been consistent for more years than I’ve been a part of this sport, and will continue to be after I’ve left the sport. So that’s one variable you don’t have to worry about, Chevy’s package. You look at the history books and it’s easy to figure out that’s going to be the smallest part of the equation is that change. So that’s the one that we have a lot of confidence in right off the bat. So there are a lot of other things we have to work on other than that.”

Q. Has assembling a team and everything that’s gone into that, has that affected your focus or ability to compete on the track this year, do you think?

TONY STEWART:

“Not at all. I mean, that’s why this morning is important, for both Darian and myself, we both have jobs to do outside of what we’re doing next year for the remainder of this year. So once we both leave this press conference, we’ll shift gears and be back to what we’re really here for this week, and that’s Darian working for Hendrick Motorsports and myself working for Joe Gibbs Racing the remainder of the year. It was important to be here today to inform you guys of what’s going on officially, and once we get that done, it’s going back to what we have to do and what we’re passionate about for rest of the year before we get a chance to do this job together next year.”

Q. Joey Logano gets his first start here this weekend; are you as interested as us to see how he will do, and what are your thoughts on him?

TONY STEWART:

I’m excited about it. I’m excited for Joey, and he deserves this opportunity. I hope he has fun this weekend because that’s what his first race in the Cup car should be. I hope you guys won’t smoother him so bad that he can’t enjoy it. This is something that first ‑‑ your first time in a Cup car at a Cup race, you only get to do one time. So, I’m excited for him. I hope that it’s everything he wants it to be this weekend. You know, I’m excited for him because he’s obviously going to take my car next year. So I’m as excited for him as he is for him going into this weekend, because I know it’s a huge step in him getting ready for next year. And as close as I am to the Gibbs family and to Zippy and all the guys on the team, it’s important for us to get him in a car right now. So I think he will be great this weekend and I hope it’s just a nice, smooth weekend for him this weekend.”

Q. I know you and Kasey Kahne are good friends and have similar backgrounds and things like that; he’s a bit of a long shot to make this Chase. Would it surprise you to see Kasey race his way in, and what is it about him that you think this is overcome ‑‑ that he could overcome the depths that he has?

TONY STEWART:

“The kid is one of the best competitors that I’ve ever been around. If anybody can race their way in, it’s him. And at this point, you learn that nothing surprises you in this series after a while. You become immune to the shocks of this. But anything can happen tomorrow night. And we’re not locked in, and we only have to finish 36th or better, and we know that that could be turned, and the confidence that we have that we’re going to make it can be turned upside down in a matter of one corner. So you know, nothing will surprise me right now. It’s all a matter of math right now, and pretty much everybody in this room is good in that category and they know they are sitting next to somebody that is ‑‑ and it’s one of those things that you guys know before we get out of the cars what the scenarios are and what has to happen in those last five laps for somebody to race their way in and kind of what the picture is painted before it’s over.”

Q. Kyle (Busch) has done a lot of impressive things this year; what’s the one thing that’s impressed you the most about him?

TONY STEWART:

“I think how well he’s handled everything. It’s easy when you get on a roll like that that people look at you, and success brings a lot of mixed feelings and fans, and I think he’s probably handled that better than you could ask for anyone in his position to handle that.”

Q. Have you thought about how it’s going to be different working with this kind of driver versus Casey Mears and Jimmie Johnson? How will it be different?

DARIAN GRUBB:

“I don’t think it will be any different at all. I’ve been outside the lines talking to Tony away from the racetrack and stuff and the attitude and stuff is just completely different. He’s just a genuine, normal guy, as you are outside the racetrack. He’s just a guy you can sit and talk to and joke with and carry on. My wife and I hung out with him and just ‑‑ it was just a good time. So I think we are going to be able to get along just fine, and he’s a race car driver and a race car driver’s driver, so everybody respects him. I respect that very much and I’m very excited about going into next year with that.”

Q. You have both yourself and Ryan Newman coming in from teams you’ve been with pretty much the majority of your career, how much of an adjustment is that to come in fresh on a new team, obviously in your situation, you own the team, but for Ryan to come into a brand new team, what are the steps to take getting acclimated to that team to start successful next year?

TONY STEWART:

“It’s just coming and spending time with the guys that you’re going to be working with. None of us just started as (Sprint) Cup drivers so we’ve all come through different steps and worked with different people along the way. This is just another change in that equation. It just happens to be in the same series that we’ve been a part of for quite a while now. So from that side, it’s just getting to know the people that you’re working with. This series to me, the majority of the success in this series is due to people, not due to fancy race cars and trick pit strategies and this and that. At the end of the day, the consistency and the results boil down to the people that you have. When you make a change like, this it’s getting to know the people that you’re with and being comfortable with them every week and having that trust in them that you know that they are doing the right job.”

Q. There are obviously a lot of crew chiefs out there with more experience atop the pit box; what is it about Darian – that he only has a year and a few races atop the pit box that made you want to hire him?

TONY STEWART:

“You look at the stats that he’s accumulated over that short amount of time and just the confidence that he brings. He’s not a guy sitting up here that, you know, doesn’t have the confidence that he can go it out and do the job. When we sat down with him, we saw that and obviously the stats on paper were what we were confident with, his association with Hendrick Motorsports and knowing we were going to be dealing with Hendrick motors and Hendrick chassis, we feel confident that’s the right equation and having somebody like Darian that’s very familiar with that system right off the bat brings even more comfort and security to the program and spending time with him, just seeing the confidence in his eyes and his voice when you talk to him, you know that he’s the right guy.”

MIKE ARNING:

“Thank you very much for your time. We certainly appreciate it.”

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

 

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