RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 JTG DAUGHERTY CAMARO ZL1, 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day Press Conference Transcript:
“That’s one thing my team has been able to do this year is giving me cars capable of running well. That’s been a big confidence boost to myself but also a confidence boost to our team that they are doing the right things. Their setup philosophies are on the right track, so it’s been a great year for our whole team. I think that we’re continuing to build on that. I don’t think we’re at our ceiling yet. I think there is still a lot of room for improvement. We’re looking forward to that challenge. Hopefully we take another step forward here when the Playoffs start.”
YOU’RE AROUND 98 OR 99% OF LAPS RAN THIS YEAR… BEFORE THAT IT WAS 92%. THAT’S A BIG JUMP… LAST YEAR WAS A TOUGH YEAR FOR EVERYBODY TRYING TO GET THEIR HANDS AROUND THE NEW CAR. WHAT HAS HELPED YOU TO BE ABLE TO RUN ALL THESE LAPS?
“Until Daytona, dang it. I think the biggest thing for me is it all comes down to your racecar. I feel like my guys are doing a really good job of giving me cars that I’m comfortable with. I’m not trying to take a 25th place car and run 15th with. That is where a lot of finishing the laps and completing the races, just making our bad races less bad. We’ve had off weekends just trying to get the most out of that, not necessarily behind the wheel, but letting the team pick a different strategy, make more adjustments and things like that. It’s helped us, and it’s helped me and my mindset of just getting it to the finish line and see what happens. So, just better cars makes it easier for the driver.”
WHAT ABOUT HEADING TO DARLINGTON? ESPECIALLY WITH QUALIFYING. THE LAST TIME YOU QUALIFIED THIRD…
“It kind of compounded there. I think going into Darlington, yeah, I’m looking forward to getting there and laying down some laps. I feel like if we qualify well again, then we can run up front like we did. We gained a lot of points, and yeah, we blew a tire, sped on pit road and ended up two laps down, and spent the rest of the time trying to get back on the lead lap. The wrecks at the end helped gain some track position, but feeling like if we didn’t run something over, then we run in the top-eight all day. That’s what it’s going to take. Going this weekend, we’re going to have to be able to do that, and I feel like we’ve made improvements on our setup. Everybody else is working on their cars as well. I feel we should be able to do that really the next three weeks.”
YOU’VE KNOWN LONGER THAN ANYBODY YOU’RE GOING TO BE IN THE PLAYOFFS. DOES IT FEEL DIFFERENT?
“Kind of not really. Unless there’s too many winners or whatever. It feels good that they’re finally here. Like, a few weeks ago, once we were officially locked in, it felt good knowing that we started looking at Darlington then. Still trying to capitalize where we could throughout the rest of the regular season, but all in all, we’ve been focused on Darlington for a while. That’s been nice. My guys put a lot of good effort into it. Ready for the Playoffs to start, ready to get in the car.”
IT’S CLEAR THERE’S A CHAMPIONSHIP ON THE LINE. DO YOU FEEL THAT PRESSURE? IS THERE A DIFFERENT FEELING TO THIS FOR YOU?
“There is. There is a different feeling. If we do our job, I feel like we can transfer through rounds. Realistically, I don’t know if I’m just like “Hey we’re going to make the final four.” For me, that’s just thinking way too far ahead. We’ll take this series of races and focus on those, and figure it out. We’ll see where we end up after Bristol and figure out from there on out. But, for me, just because you get knocked out of the Playoffs in the first or second round, doesn’t mean that’s where you stop. You could make it to the third round and still technically finish 16th in points. 2017, we got knocked out the second round and we had the opportunity to finish ninth at the final race in points. We’re looking to string as many good races in these 10 as we can and make sure that we finish as high as we can in points.”
LOOKING FROM THE OUTSIDE IN, SOME WILL LABEL YOU AS AN UNDERDOG. DO YOU FEEL YOU GUYS ARE?
“We definitely are. Obviously, all the powerhouse teams we’re going up against are manufacturer teams. Definitely an underdog, but I think we like our role. All 40 of us at the team, we like where we are. We have great partners behind us, and great fans. I’ve seen a lot of fans that are pumped up about what they feel like we can do. Hopefully we can go prove all those people right.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL CONSTITUTE A SUCCESSFUL PLAYOFF RUN FOR THIS TEAM?
“I think we’ve got targets on how many points we want per race when it’s all said and done, when all ten are over. If we hit those goals, wherever that shakes out, it shakes out. We did that in the regular season. We had a goal of getting a certain amount of points throughout every single race, and we were able to accomplish that. We felt like we had a successful regular season. That’s something that us and the team, we put together. We had big meetings about it yesterday, and I like where we are, and I like the things we’re looking to accomplish. Wherever that shakes out, that shakes out.”
ALONG THAT LINE, HALF THE PLAYOFF FIELD IS COMPROMISED OF TEAMS WITH TWO CARS, AND THEN YOURS HAS ONE CAR. NONE OF THE BIG THREE- TO FOUR-CAR TEAMS GOT EVERYBODY IN THE PLAYOFFS. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT OCCURRED THIS YEAR?
“I think everybody is getting more of a handle on this racecar. This racecar last year, I feel like the bigger teams were really able to kind of advance their learning curve faster than, especially us. We hit on some things throughout last year that we were like “dang, we’ve got it figured out,” then we missed it for a long time. So I think those guys were able to evolve and learn a lot quicker. Now that this is our second season with this car, us, and Front Row and some other teams, you start figuring these cars out a little bit more. Everybody became more competitive. The whole field got tighter. You have different winners, and just a lot more competitive this year than last year.”
IT’S BEEN A FEW MONTHS SINCE THE PIT CREW CHANGE. WHAT’S THE FEELING? PIT CREWS ARE SO KEY IN THE PLAYOFFS…
“My guys, man, they started the season and have four wins now. They’re killing it. I think our guys have been doing a good job. We’ve obviously struggled at times, but not just my guys. I’ve struggled on pit road myself, whether it be getting on and off pit road, getting in the box, putting them in bad spots, just a lot to clean up for us. The last three weeks, I think they’ve got more confidence in where they are as a group. They’re ready for the Playoffs. We’re ready to go battle, and we’re all going to have to up our game just a little bit, including me, making sure we’re maximizing speeds, getting on and off pit road under green, getting in the pit box, so that I can help them out. I can’t put them in bad spots and expect them to excel. All those things are things we’ve been looking at over the last three or four weeks.”
IS THERE ANY BENEFIT TO HAVING THAT EXTRA AMOUNT OF TIME FOR YOU GUYS TO ALL WORK TOGETHER?
“Yeah, I’d much rather the switch happen when it did, versus a week before the Playoffs. I think we’ve got a group of guys that’s used to working with our whole team. There’s a lot that goes into pit crews on the road, not just going over the wall. Setting up pit boxes, getting stuff from the haulers, getting it to pit road – there’s a lot that goes into that. I think my guys are prepared and ready.”
IS THERE A PARTICULAR TRACK THAT YOU’VE CIRCLED OVER THE NEXT TEN WEEKS THAT YOU FEEL IS YOUR BEST OPPORTUNITY TO EXCEL?
“I mean, really, any of the first three. I really like Darlington, Kansas and Bristol are the two I really enjoy. Bristol doesn’t owe us won, but I feel like we’re bound and determined to get a win there. I think we’re three or four second-place finishes there in Cup and a few in Xfinity as well. One that I’ve really wanted to win at a few times and have come up a bit short. It’d be awesome to get our first win at Bristol; Bristol night race in the Playoffs, it’s kind of hard to beat that.”
YOU TALK ABOUT BEING AN UNDERDOG IN THE PLAYOFFS. WHEN I SEE PEOPLE PICKING THEIR GRIDS, THEY’RE PICKING YOU FOR AN OBVIOUS FIRST ROUND EXIT. DO YOU FEEL THAT’S A MISTAKE?
“I feel that’s a mistake. I feel our team and I have a lot more confidence than probably a lot of people have in us, which is fine. I was at the shop yesterday, and my guys were saying so-and-so says we’re going to be out, and I’m like, let’s go prove them wrong. I’m not worried about proving people wrong, but I want to make sure I prove that to our guys and our supporters. There’s plenty of people that think we’re going to make the next round. It’s about proving those people right. I told them don’t worry about who didn’t pick us, let’s just do our job and let’s go perform the way we know we can perform. If we do that, I feel like we can make it out of the first round of the Playoffs. Obviously, it gets harder after that, but we’re going to take it race by race and hit the goals we’ve set out. If those goals are good enough, then we will be in.”
WHEN YOU’RE PREPARING FOR THE UPCOMING PLAYOFFS, AND LAST YEAR BEING SO WEIRD WITH EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED, TIRE ISSUES AT TEXAS, MECHANICAL FAILURES AT DARLINGTON AND BRISTOL, ALL THESE PLACES, WHAT ARE THOSE DISCUSSIONS LIKE INSIDE YOUR TEAM? IS IT DOUBLE-CHECKING THE BOXES FOR TIRE PRESSURE AND THOSE THINGS?
“I mean, yeah. I will race a little more conservative at times, especially at Darlington this weekend. And then, I’m sure my guys on air pressures will be a little bit more conservative knowing that whether I hit the wall and I have to pit, or we blow a tire for too low air pressure, that can for sure take you right out of it. You can afford to be a little more conservative, I feel like, in the first round, and then obviously as the Playoffs go, you have to be a little less conservative and a little more aggressive. I think we will be a little cautious when it comes to things that might push us over the edge and make a mistake.”
DOES THAT HELP YOU KEEP FROM GETTING TOO FAR OVER YOUR SKIS?
“Yeah. I mean, we had great meetings yesterday, and I feel like I brought up a lot of good points for race strategies and things like that for this weekend at Darlington. That’s all we’re focused on right now is Darlington. Darlington can play out so many different ways. You’ve got a lot of tires that you’re going to want to use, but you can’t use them up too soon. There’s a lot of different strategies of when to pit, especially under green. We’ve been getting a lot of green flag runs where time can be made up or lost on those runs. I feel good about our game plan and where we are. I let them still handle that and I give my two cents, but at least on Wednesday. On Saturday and Sunday, I’ll generally let Mike (Kelley) handle that. I think he’s ready for that. We’ve been together through a lot of up and down. We believe both of us can get the job done we need to get done.”
ARE YOU WORRIED WITH IT BEING THE TIGHEST PLAYOFF FIELD WITH NOT GETTING PLAYOFF POINTS SINCE YOUR DAYTONA VICTORY?
“I mean, we wanted to obviously have more Playoff points to start with, but we just didn’t really have any opportunities where we… You’ve got to be the fastest car at that point of the race in order to get stage wins or win the race. So, we had some opportunities with some speedways and stuff like that, but we’re more worried about trying to collect stage points throughout these first three races than we are the stage wins that carry over in the Playoffs. But, yeah, it’s tight. The further you go into the Playoffs, the more of those Playoff points you’ll need to start with. All in all, I still like the position we are in. I think we can get a decent job done with what we’ve got.”
ARE YOU WORRIED ONE RACETRACK DURING THE PLAYOFFS?
“I think the two races that probably aren’t our best in the Playoffs is the Roval and Martinsville. Those aren’t until later on after the first round, so we’ll get through the first round. We’re not worried about those yet. The biggest thing is getting through the first round, but we haven’t talked yet about the second round yet. I would imagine if we make it through the first round, I think we go to Texas, and then Talladega, then Charlotte. So after Texas, we will probably see where we shake out points-wise, but my assumption is we would play Talladega safe first and second stage, and make sure you’re around to go win.”
TAKE ME THROUGH THE FIRST ROUND, AND WHERE YOU THINK YOUR BEST SHOT IS TO KEEP YOURSELF IN THE GAME…
“I think all three. I think Darlington, Kansas, and Bristol are all three good racetracks for us that I feel we’re capable of running inside the top-10 at all three of those. I think they would go in order the way they are. Darlington is probably the least of the best tracks for us, but I feel strong about all three of them. Bristol, being my favorite by far. I feel really good about the first round.”
ARE YOU AT A DISADVANTAGE BEING A ONE CAR TEAM?
“I would say, yeah, overall. I think the more info you have as the bigger teams have, you can learn more at a quicker rate whether that be in the season or the race weekend. If we’re struggling in practice, We do have some ties with Hendrick we can get some help. But as far as full-on teammate help, it’s tough. When you have 20 minutes of practice and qualifying, it would be nice to have some of that information whether you’re in the second group and your teammates are in the first group, and they find something. We don’t have that luxury. Maybe a little of a disadvantage, but I don’t think it will slow us down any.”
YOU SEEMED A LITTLE BEAT DOWN AFTER LAST YEAR, AND I’M WONDERING TO HAVE SOMEBODY TO HAVE YOUR BACK LIKE MIKE KELLEY COME IN AND LET YOU KNOW OF HIS SUPPORT, HOW DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR DEMEANOR AND HELP REBUILD CONFIDENCE AFTER A YEAR LIKE THAT?
“It needed rebuilt for sure. I think what Mike (Kelley) has been also able to do is bring confidence not only for me and myself and what I can do behind the wheel, but also my confidence in what them and the race team are capable of doing. And vice versa, I feel like he’s got all of our team and people at the shop believe in him and what he and I can do as well. I think it’s just lifted the whole team up. If I had someone else come in crew chief and experience elsewhere, I think they’ve had good success, I don’t know that you’d get that same feeling out of it, right? Mike (Kelley) and I have been through the ups and downs of this sport and been on the top and been on the bottom. I think that goes a long ways especially when you’ve done that with that individual. So, yeah, I think for me he brought a lot of confidence in this offseason, but then after we started going through the season week in and week out, they’re giving me cars capable of running in the top-10 and top-15. That gives me more confidence as we go weekly. Running in the top-15 at road courses that we struggled on throughout my career at points, so this season has been really good for that whole landscape of things of being confidence in what we’re able to do as a race team.”
WHEN YOU HAVE ONLY ONE WAY YOU KNOW WHICH IS GO, AND MIKE (KELLEY) TELLS YOU HAVE A 15TH-PLACE CAR, AND TO BRING IT HOME 15TH, HOW HARD IS IT TO RETHINK YOURSELF OR RETRAIN?
“I don’t feel like it’s retraining because I feel like I know we’re a single car team with 40 employees. I know if we’re running 15th, that’s a good day. That’s not a bad day. So, for me, if he tells me we have a 15th place car and let’s run 15th, that’s easier for me to do. I would always get in trouble when we had a 28th place car and I tried to finish 20th with it because I just didn’t want to finish 28th. I felt like that’s where we were last year. I feel like we’re ahead of that now, and I feel like we’ve been able to do that throughout this whole year.”
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