NASCAR Press Conference, January 22, 2013
Transcript: 2013 NASCAR Media Tour with Brian France, Mike Helton, Robin Pemberton, Steve O'Donnell And Joie Chitwood
DAVID HIGDON: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the
NASCAR Hall of Fame for the annual preseason NASCAR conferences as part
of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway.
My name is David Higdon, and I'm a member of the NASCAR integrated
marketing communications team. Many thanks to our hosts at this awesome
NASCAR Hall of Fame, an appropriate facility to hold today's media
session, because it's within these walls that you can really see the
evolution, particularly of the race car, which we are highlighting
today.
If you look back, of course you've got the iconic Hudson
Hornet, which is back here, you've got Petty's famous Plymouth, so we go
Generation 1, 2, 3, on up until you come to our Gen-6 car which we're
very excited about.
So before today's program gets underway, let's take a further look at the six generations of speed in NASCAR.
(Video shown.)
DAVID HIGDON: The Gen-6 has truly been an
industry collaboration among the auto manufacturers, the race teams, the
drivers, and NASCAR. Here to provide a little bit more insight into
how this all came together and give a little bit of a preview on the
competition season, somebody who's worked very hard on this car, NASCAR
vice president of competition Robin Pemberton.
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Thanks, David. We believe
there's a great deal of momentum that has carried over from last year to
the 2013 season. We have a brash new champion in the Sprint Cup Series
and close competition in the Nationwide Series and the Camping World
Truck Series.
The emergence of young talent on our tours and weekly series
might be the best we've ever seen. That certainly bodes well for the
future of our sport.
The excitement continues to build for the on-track debut of
the new Gen-6 Sprint Cup Series race car. The collaborative efforts
between the manufacturers, teams and NASCAR has been unparalleled in my
34 plus years in the sport.
Developing this new race car has been amazing. The OEMs,
their engineers have come up with a unique, stylish design that has the
fans and the drivers as anxious as a six-year-old on Christmas morning,
or 56 in my case.
The cars look terrific, and I congratulate the
manufacturers, the teams, and the folks back at the R & D Center for
putting the stock back in our race cars.
We've been highly encouraged by the results that we've seen
at the tests at Daytona and Charlotte earlier this month, and are
optimistic that not only will the cars look great, we believe they will
race great. The teams have been doing a great job getting their cars
ready. The drivers have provided excellent feedback.
I really believe we're going to see some of the most
competitive, intense and exciting racing that we've seen in quite some
time. We're excited about the direction we're headed with our
competition. We made some changes with the series directors leadership
back in December. I believe these changes will provide our sport with a
greater opportunity for growth and strengthen our position not only in
the U.S. but abroad, as well.
So before I close, I'd like to recognize some of the series
directors that will be heading up our respective racing disciplines this
season: John Darby, managing director of competition and NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series director; Wayne Auton, NASCAR Nationwide Series director;
and Chad Little, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series director.
With that, I hope everybody enjoys the show. Have a great afternoon. Thank you.
DAVID HIGDON: Thanks, Robin. Those guys will be
available afterwards. Chad, do you want to stand up and wave a little
bit? This is our new Truck Series director. Great job he's done on the
touring and weekly and moving up.
As we embark on the next season, the NASCAR Drive For
Diversity program, this year's roster, which looks awfully good sitting
right there, has a tough act to follow on the heels of 2012. Here to
introduce the 2013 NASCAR Drive For Diversity class and provide an
update on the program, please welcome our senior VP of racing
operations, Steve O'Donnell.
STEVE O'DONNELL: Thanks, David. Last week the
2013 NASCAR Drive For Diversity class was introduced through NASCAR's
first-ever Google+ Hangout, and for those of you who missed it, I think
it's still online via NASCAR's YouTube page. We had a great time with
the class, the media, the fans, everybody who joined us through YouTube
and Twitter and really provided us with a unique touch to our yearly
unveiling of the class.
The NASCAR Drive For Diversity program really set the bar
high in 2012, capturing the NASCAR K & N Series championship, a
first for the program and for Max and Rev Racing, and throughout the
course of the last couple years, the NASCAR D4D initiative has
strengthened its position as a leading driver development platform in
our sport. The program has captured two Sunoco Rookie of the Year
Awards in the K & N East in just the last three years, and our
program graduates continue to show great promise. Darrell Wallace Jr.
had three top 10s in four NASCAR Nationwide Series races in 2012 and
became the first African American to win a pole in one of NASCAR's three
national series. And Kyle Larson not only won the East Championship
and the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award, he also had a successful
national series start with three top 10s in the NASCAR Camping World
Truck Series.
So all that said, it's my pleasure today to introduce you
to, as David said, a great class of drivers from 2013, a class who once
again is rich in talent, and more importantly rich in drive.
(Video shown.)
The 2013 class; welcome, Max. First up in the class,
22-year-old Ryan Gifford from Winchester, Tennessee. Ryan is in his
fourth year with Rev Racing. Ryan will compete in the NASCAR K & N
Pro Series East. He completed the 2012 season 11th in points with two
top 5s and three top 10 finishes.
Second we've got 22-year-old Mackena Bell of Carson City,
Nevada. Mackena has still promised everyone she's going to sing at some
point, but she's competing in her fourth season with Rev Racing. This
year Mackena will race a full season in the K & N Pro Series East,
and in 2009 Mackena made history by becoming the first female in Super
Late Model Division to make the podium with a third-place finish at
Irwindale Speedway.
Third, 23-year-old Bryan Ortiz of Bayamon, Puerto Rico,
competing in his third season with Rev Racing. In 2012 Bryan finished
fifth overall in the standings and runner-up to his teammate Kyle
Larson, so he's in pretty good company for Rookie of the Year. He's a
three-time winner of the Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award and the
season-long winner of the Coca-Cola Move of the Race Award.
Next up, new to the program is Daniel Suarez, a 20-year old
from Monterrey, México. Danny will race in the program a full season in
the K & N Pro Series East. Previously you might have seen him in
the NASCAR México Toyota Series, where he finished third in the 2012
season. Like Larson and Wallace, Danny has been spotlighted in the Next
Nine program as part of NASCAR's Next Nine that we look to promote
again in 2013.
2013 will mark 19-year-old Jack Madrid's first season with
the program with Rev Racing. Jack will compete in the NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series. In 2012 he reached a milestone in his career after
concluding four races in the NASCAR Super Late Model Series as the
fastest qualifier in three of those races. He scored his first 2012
Super Late Model victory at Las Vegas' Bullring.
Up next is Annabeth Barnes. Annabeth is an 18-year-old from
Hiddenite, North Carolina, and she joins Rev Racing for the first time,
as well. Having run stock cars for her first full season, competing in
the Limited Late Model Division at Hickory Motor Speedway in 2011,
she's come a long way. During her rookie year, she finished the season
with the first win of her career in a stock car and nine top-5 finishes.
Devon Amos, 21-year-old out of Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
Devon will join Rev Racing for the first time this year and be competing
in Rev Racing's Legends program. Prior to this, Devon raced Modified
Midgets in the New Mexico Series with nine feature wins, 12 heat wins,
18 top 5s and 20 top 10s. Pretty good effort there.
Ladies and gentlemen, the 2013 class of Drive For Diversity.
I'm going to ask our chairman Brian France to join us for a photo, as well.
DAVID HIGDON: Thank you, Steve. Unfortunately
Marcus Jadotte wasn't able to join us today, but the two of them, Steve
and Marcus, did a great job with the team on the announcement.
Congratulations to this year's class. We're proud to have you on board.
In four days, engines will fire for the GRAND-AM road
racing's premier event, the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Look forward to
hosting and seeing many of you there. It's going to be a great event.
Obviously, with the merger fresh on our minds, we're very excited about
that. And 33 days from now the green flag will wave on NASCAR's marquee
event, the 55th running of the Daytona 500, to be shown on FOX TV on
February 24th.
Here to talk about the fast-approaching Daytona Speedweeks,
faster than he probably imagines, which this year will begin with the
Sprint Unlimited race, followed by the first-ever UNOH Battle at the
Beach for NASCAR's weekly touring series. We're very excited about
that. Please welcome president of Daytona International Speedway, Joie
Chitwood.
JOIE CHITWOOD: Thank you, David, and I appreciate
the time to address you today. It's an exciting time at Daytona; the
future is bright. There's so many things that we're working hard on. I
want to talk to you a little bit about the events that we have.
Our Rolex 24 event, this is race week, and last year we
celebrated the best we've ever had, our 50th anniversary. We have
former drivers who had won the race, over 30 former winning cars. For
us we had to raise the bar for this year. We've actually added some
other elements to make this event ever better: The addition of the
Ferrari Challenge; the 50th anniversary of the first Formula V event at
Daytona. We'll have 10 vintage Formula Vs on property to actually take a
ride around the track; and of course with the impending merger of the
ALMS and GRAND-AM, the future is bright. And this Rolex 24, I venture a
guess, will be better than our 50th anniversary, and what a great
opportunity for us.
As we turn the corner, we look at the Daytona 500. There's
so many exciting things that we're doing right now with the addition of
the UNOH Battle At the Beach, Daytona International Speedway is the only
racetrack that hosts every form of NASCAR racing product. Of course we
talked earlier about Sprint stepping up for the Sprint Unlimited at
Daytona, and Budweiser shifting their role to actually now take over the
duels for us, it's a great dime.
Of course when we think about Daytona, we think about last
year and the challenges that we experienced with weather and ultimately
the postponement, and of course Juan Montoya wanting to spice up the
event in Turn 3 during primetime TV. Although we don't have any in-race
pyrotechnics planned for this year, after seeing the tests of the Gen-6
cars, I think that's all the excitement we'll need on track for our
Daytona 500. So we're excited about those two events.
When we think about Daytona, I'm sure if I asked everyone in
this room about their memories from our great property, it might be the
first time that you ever visited, seeing a special winner in Victory
Lane, or maybe it's a family experience that you've enjoyed. But when
you think about the history of Daytona, you also have to look to the
future. You have to say, what are we doing to continue to create those
memories and those special opportunities.
A couple months ago in our community we started working with
the city of Daytona Beach and Volusia County on appropriate zoning
rules so we can start considering a potential redevelopment project in
Daytona International Speedway. Make no doubt, this property has
survived the test of time, over 50 years of great experiences and great
racing. But for us we have to continue to look at the future and what
do the next 50 years hold.
We've actually enlisted Rossetti Architects out of Michigan
to partner with us as we consider what this redevelopment might mean.
Rossetti Architects has over 40 years in the sports and entertainment
architecture including projects at Ford Field and the USTA Tennis Center
in Flushing Meadows, New York.
With them we've been able to create a new grand vision, and
so today for the first time I unveil some creative as it relates to what
we consider the new vision for Daytona International Speedway. As you
look at this image, you can see the massive structure and feel to it,
grand entrance statements and architectural skin, very reminiscent of
professional sport that you see nowadays.
As we continue through a look at the artist's rendition, you
can see what it might look like on race day with a new tower and the
structure behind it. For us we're very excited to unveil for the first
time these images.
Images Courtesy of Daytona International Speedway
Now, there's a lot of hard work left for me to do, and
this is the exciting time, the ability to unveil some creative. I hope
to actually get in front of the media again in February and maybe even
unveil some more detail as it relates to all the hard work that we've
done. For now, though, I have to very work on the business case
associated with this potential redevelopment project. I hope that later
in 2013 I'll be able to get in front of senior management at ISC and
make sure that I have all the things buttoned up so that we can consider
this project for approval. But we're so excited about where we are
today, we wanted to showcase it to the folks in front of you today.
So when you think about 50 years at Daytona, and I can't
imagine what big Bill France went through in the late '50s in terms of
moving the racing from the beaches to the high banks, but I can tell you
I do know what his excitement level must have been like because I think
our team is enjoying it right now as we consider what the next 50 years
of Daytona might be like. And of course the best way to predict the
future is to create it, and so as NASCAR focuses on racing to innovate, I
think the track at Daytona is taking up the same challenge as we look
to race to innovate the experience our fans have when they come to
Daytona International Speedway.
Thank you very much.
DAVID HIGDON: Thanks, Joie, and thanks for
whetting our appetite. Certainly something to look forward to at
Daytona. NASCAR begins its 66th season this year, clearly one of the
most anticipated that we've had in quite some time. The visionary
behind it and what we're doing here and the stuff we're doing here with
the innovation and technology behind the Gen-6 car, our chairman and
CEO, Brian France.
BRIAN FRANCE: Good afternoon, everybody. I'm
just going to touch on a few things, much of which you already heard
today, that we're obviously excited about going into 2013. It starts
with the new car, the Gen-6 car, and you're seeing, I think, what we
started a few years ago was an unprecedented amount of collaboration
with our entire industry, certainly with the drivers, teams and tracks;
that's a given. But we've stretched that out to work a lot closer with
the OEMs, all the car manufacturers and others to do two things: One is
to get a car that looks from a technology standpoint and a resemblance
standpoint similar to what is on the showroom. We've done that.
The second part, though, that we're still working on, is
using innovation, using our R & D Center, and I want to give a quick
shout-out to the group that's worked very, very hard on this project,
which starts with Robin Pemberton, starts with Steve O'Donnell, that
goes down to a lot of the engineers that you'll never see who are
working on making sure that our promise or the closest most competitive
racing in the world is kept. That's a hard promise for us to get right
all the time. But that's why we're using innovation, we're using, as I
said a time or two recently, a lot more science than art to accomplish
that.
So our recent testing is all designed not just to shake the
car down and obviously get the car in the best position we can from a
rules packages for the drivers, that's a given, but the second part of
that is to what are the things we can do with a clean -- almost a clean
sheet design to tighten up and close the racing up even tighter than it
already is. And we're learning some things, as I said, we're using a
lot more engineering, a lot more third-party expertise to accomplish
that, and I'm quite satisfied that we're going to be on -- it will be a
continual thing for us to get right.
Let me touch on just a few more things as we go into 2013.
You saw the Diversity group. We're real proud of that program that's
been going on for a number of years. We've got some talent now, not
only hopefully in this class, but as you saw with Darrell Wallace a year
ago, and I think he'll be on to bigger things. I'm hopeful that he's
going to be on the national stage, one of our top national divisions at
some point soon. So we know that program is delivering results for us.
I'm excited as a matter of fact that we're going to take a
NASCAR Mexico event and host it in Phoenix to get a real flavor of our
diversity plan in our racing that's gone on very well south of the
border.
You hear the word "innovation" a lot, right, and we talked
about that with the car and so on. There's a couple other things that
we're excited about that innovation is bringing us. And one of them is
the track drying, which has always been a difficult thing for our fans,
both on television and certainly at the track, that once it rains, how
long it takes us to get the track dried again. So what I declared to
our team a couple years ago is let's change the way we do it, let's
innovate, let's get a system, and the goal is to improve it by 80
percent. So that means if we're drying Daytona off, where it usually
took two and a half hours, we get it down to 30 minutes. That's the
goal.
And we're real close. We'll be debuting our first cycle,
our first generation of this track drying system, which is pretty
interesting, and we also are going to do it in a much more green,
carbon-emission friendly way. So what that means is obviously when
you're at the track, we're going to be able to dry Martinsville off in
15 minutes. It's going to be a spectacular thing, and all auto racing
will benefit from this as we go down the road.
So why are we doing all this? Obviously everything we're
doing is designed to make the racing either better or the experience
better when you're at track or watching us on television. That's what
-- everything that we're up to and trying to get done at the R & D
Center and throughout the industry, coming together, that's the goal.
That's why we're so dedicated on doing that.
Let me talk about just a couple more things because I'm
going to take obviously a number of questions, but the television, we've
obviously announced the renewal of FOX for the first half. We're
excited about extending that relationship on for eight more years past
2013, and we are in the discussions right now to get the rest of the
packages completed, and I anticipate that to be done here in the coming
weeks and months.
But it's a good time for premium sports properties like
ourselves, so we're quite confident that we're going to get the right
packages, the right partners. We have great partners now. My hope is
that we'll be able to extend those relationships. But those
negotiations are alive and well, going fine.
But look, we're excited for everybody to get down to
Daytona. We're always -- this is always an interesting time of year
because you have teams -- got new drivers, Danica in this case, and some
other rookies that always come in. Then you have team members that
have changed places and teams that have made adjustments, and they're
all anticipating competing at the highest level.
But this year with the new car, it adds that unbelievable
excitement and anticipation. So it's a great time. We'll kick it all
off here, as Joie said at the 24 Hours this weekend, and we're looking
forward to a spectacular 2013. I'd be remiss if I didn't say, too,
thank you so much for covering this sport week in and week out. We know
you love it as much as we do. Thank you very much.
DAVID HIGDON: Brian is joined on stage by our president Mike Helton. We'll go about 20 minutes. They'll take any of your questions.
Q. Brian, can you talk about the moment or the time
or the transition from when NASCAR seemed to be reacting and now is
innovating? Some of your executives were talking about the fans and
media engagement center, and you said, get it done. When did all this
start happening in your mind to get these initiatives not so much
reacting but innovating in your mind?
BRIAN FRANCE: Well, that's really why we built
the R & D Center in the first place was to stay ahead of safety, of
advancements, and fortunately we don't talk a lot about that now,
although it's a continual centerpiece of what we do at the R & D
Center.
But it's also the world that we live in. There's so much
technology that is going around in every industry, and so for us to
embrace that in a smart way hopefully, we always have to when we're
doing things make sure that we don't just put technology or innovation
in without regard to what things cost the industry. Team owners,
certainly the track operators, so whatever we do we have to balance
that. But clearly we're declaring big things. We may not get all of
them accomplished exactly the way we set out to, but I think we're
putting the resources behind it to make these improvements and align the
industry to make racing better and more exciting. And that's what
we're going to continue to do.
Q. My question is a little bit technical. You said
earlier that the Generation 6 car was created to make races more
exciting if I understand it correctly for the fans. Nevertheless,
according to the press release, there are some details mentioned that,
for example, the hood and the deck lid is made from carbon fiber, so
carbon fiber is a very exclusive material, especially in Europe, it's
very light. Nevertheless it's very, very competitive. From the cost
reduction point of view, would it be better to choose another material?
BRIAN FRANCE: Well, we balanced that. We
balanced the weight, the strength of it for safety, and we balanced
that, so that is a -- that's something we looked at, something we chose.
You know, but the enhancements that I'm talking about that
improve the racing to keep our promise of the most exciting racing in
the world often aren't going to be things that cost team owners or teams
additional money. It very well could be in the packages that we
create, downforce, tires play a big role into that, so on and so forth.
And the goal is real simple: We want to see the closest competition
that is possible. That's the goal.
MIKE HELTON: And just, afterwards, when you get
one-on-one with Robin you can get more detail, but a little bit more
in-depth on us choosing to do a composite material, we get the fact that
steel is cheaper than carbon fiber, but in today's world with the
technology of building carbon fiber, it's not that much of a bridge as
it used to be to start with. But the way we've introduced this piece is
this is a standard piece that no one can alter. Steel, if we left the
steel deck lids the way we've done in the past from our experience, then
this new car would be a generation of evolution again. But we
standardized the deck lids with carbon fiber.
We went to a third party to produce the rear deck lid. The
manufacturer has to submit the hood, and the aerodynamics around the
2013 or the Gen-6 package is critical with these components in it. So
Brian was right; there is a balance that we have to reach. If our goal
is for the car to be safe but very competitive, there is a balance
against cost, and we have to balance all of those out.
But get a little bit more detail on this piece in
particular, because there's a good story behind the cost as well as us
managing the sport to keep 43 cars on a very similar playing field.
Q. Going forward, how will you measure or judge the success of the Gen-6 car?
BRIAN FRANCE: I think we'll measure it by lead
changes, we'll measure it by how it races, we'll measure it by how the
drivers feel about it, and knowing that not everybody will always love
every rules package or thing that we do, that's for sure, but we'll look
at it very simply. Everything is designed to have closer competition,
and we'll see -- and I'm quite confident that I know we're going to make
improvements. By the way, that's not a new thing for us to -- a new
issue for us to consider. That's always job one past safety. That's
always job one. It's just today we're just -- as I said, we're using a
lot more science, and so we're going to get answers to questions that --
where we used to use a lot of art and judgment, which we still do, but I
think this new mix of the way we're looking at our tests, at the
packages that we're -- as we drew up the car, it was all for that in
mind. And I think the benefits will be there.
Q. Brian, it's expected that the new car will kind of
increase manufacturer lobbying for rule changes throughout the year.
Is that something you're trying to avoid, or do you want it for, while
controversial, it creates buzz?
BRIAN FRANCE: Well, I don't think we ever enjoy a
lot of good lobbying, that's for sure. But look, that's part of it a
little bit. There will be a little bit more of that, which we
anticipate, to give the manufacturers the look that resembles their
cars. Obviously we had to go away from the complete common template
that really would have defined the old car. So that goes with the
territory a little bit. But having said that, we're also working closer
with them than we ever have, and that's -- and they're really excited
about that, and that's good for us and good for them.
Q. How different is this new proposed drying system from what we have now with the jet dryers?
MIKE HELTON: Quite a bit, visually and
operational. It uses compressed air as opposed to jet engine. It's
designed to expedite, obviously, the removal of water using compressed
air and heat, where the jet dryers were simply designed around blowing
and depended more on hot air. The new system depends more on compressed
air.
The evolution for -- there's a few faces out here that will
remember when we used to dry tracks off with just a fleet of vehicles
going around the racetrack, or dragging tires behind pickup tricks, and
then someone came along with the jet dryer that expedited it quite a bit
and served its purpose for a long period of time, but in today's world
with the expectations of getting the show done and getting it on, there
was a high priority placed by Brian and the rest of us to come up with a
way that we could expedite that, and Robin and the folks at the R &
D Center responded to that and come up with ideas, and this one seems
to have quite a bit of validity to it.
Appearance wise it's considerably different. It's a gain of
pipes behind a pickup truck that the air is being pushed through as
opposed to a jet dryer.
Q. Mike, the fans come for entertainment and to see
the racing. You walk up to a tower to do a lot more. That's a job for
you, to watch more than just an entertaining race. Will the Gen-6 car
increase what you have to do over the first part of the season, or will
it lessen some what you have to do?
MIKE HELTON: Well, our hope is that the driver of
the Gen-6 car increases more of what we have to do. But the visualness
of the Gen-6 car combined with the driver skill and talent and what
they do will make the show exciting for us in the tower and everybody in
the grandstand and the folks at home watching it on TV.
But from operating a race from the green flag to the
checkered flag, it doesn't matter if it's a Gen-6 car or a tractor and
trailer. That all comes out about the same. But the expectation is
that the visualness of this car and the attractiveness of it as it
relates to the manufactured brands, as well as the ire aerodynamic
package that the team has put together around this car will produce more
exciting opportunities. But it relies on the drivers doing what they
do more than anything.
Q. Mr. France, with all the talk of the new fan
engagement center and all the emphasis on social media and trying to
reach fans in various ways, it's still important to have the eyes on the
sets when it comes to TV contracts and the revenue, and when numbers
are down from people watching, I know there's a lot of concern across
the industry. How do you balance the social media and what you have
going on on the internet, because if fans can watch a race, so to speak,
on the internet with all the things they can do now, they're not going
to watch the TV set. How hard has it been to balance between the new
social media initiatives and the traditional television?
BRIAN FRANCE: I don't think it's hard to balance
that at all. I think one drives the other over time. The idea is that
you're engaging your fans in different ways to take in, to go behind the
scenes or whatever it is, their favorite driver, their team, their
track that they like to go to, you're able to in real-time communicate
those things with our fan base. It should strengthen the relationship
with our fans who will obviously ultimately -- the best thing is to go
to an event; the next best thing is to watch it on television; and if it
doesn't drive and promote those two things, then we wouldn't -- we
obviously wouldn't put the focus on it, but we do.
Q. This will be the 10th Chase. How do you feel that
has reshaped the sport, and how do you respond to those who question if
the Chase has consistently delivered the attention that maybe you
intended?
BRIAN FRANCE: Well, I've said before that I was
surprised that we didn't have in those 10 years some more tighter
battles going down the stretch in the last few events. We've certainly
had some very memorable -- including the first one and including last
year was amazing. And the year before that was Tony. So we're getting
back into what I always thought would be the benefits of a Chase.
What it really has done for me, though, as a fan, because
we're fans, too, is it shows that the drivers and teams, when it's all
on the line, can really elevate their talents, and you saw that with
Tony and that incredible run two years ago; you certainly saw it with
Brad getting on a roll and competing. And you know, you never had those
moments to judge a driver in the old system, and I like that. I like
what that does to the teams, and we certainly like the Wild Card, by the
way. We thought that was a -- and that came from one of our drivers,
actually, in the driver-owner meetings that will start later on today,
getting that feedback.
So we really like the emphasis on winning, winning your way in and so on. I think that's exactly what we want.
Q. Mike, how satisfied, in regards to tech
inspection, how satisfied are you with the new laser measuring system,
and is the goal to get rid of the aluminum templates or metal templates
altogether?
MIKE HELTON: Not altogether, but think the laser
system helps retain the accuracy of the car and shows the rest of the
garage area that here's what everybody else's car measures up to be, and
so I think the -- it's mostly a gain on inspection as opposed to a
replacement on inspection. But I think so far, and you can ask John
later on in the breakouts, but I think what we've seen and what we've
used so far shows us that it's the right direction to go.
More importantly, though, it gives NASCAR the ability to
have the credibility of showing everybody else in the garage area that
these measurements on everybody's cars are the same.
Q. Mike, at the two tests and already on the media
tour, we've heard several comments from drivers who believe that the
racing and the quality of the racing will be better with the new car. I
just wondered from your perspective, have you seen enough on-track
testing or testing that you have done yourselves from the NASCAR side to
give you confidence that the promise of that that seems to be coming
forth will actually transpire on the track?
MIKE HELTON: Yeah, I don't know that you ever see
enough evidence until you go racing, but certainly the amount of
testing that NASCAR has done with the teams to get prepared with this
car and work on very specific areas to promote side-by-side racing at
tracks other than the Superspeedway in particular, has been intense. On
the computer, in the wind tunnel, at the race shops, at the R & D
Center and at the racetracks, there's never been as much effort put into
a car to get it ready to go racing, and the testing that we've seen in
Daytona, the testing we've seen in Charlotte shows us, and the voice
that you hear that from, is the most important voice for the drivers to
say that we think this car is going to offer up the best racing we've
seen. It's got us all going in the right direction, so we expect to see
that.
But Brian mentioned earlier, and it's been talked about,
that it's a really, really strong start with the Gen-6 aerodynamically
and the chassis and all the rules and regulations that go along with it.
But it's also from experience, we know that while we may have closed
the gap on the effort that we have to do once we see it racing, there
are probably still things that we will tweak along the way to give the
drivers what they want a little bit of but give the fans what they want
mostly. And if it requires tweaking from our part, we'll do that.
Somebody asked earlier about the manufacturers with the
different looks and everything. That's a good thing. But science and
technology gave us the ability to do this with the Gen-6 car that we
didn't have in the Gen-3 and -4. We didn't have that technology to
build a car that looks and is extremely different in appearance but
comes out aerodynamically the same. But it wouldn't surprise us very
early in the year to see manufacturers come and lobby about spoiler
dimensions or something that is traditional in our sport.
But so far all the indicators and the voice of the sport is telling us that we're on the right track.
Q. We hear from time to time from fans that the
length of races is a little bit too long. Last year at Martinsville for
the late model race they invoked heat races to set the field for a
future event. Has there been any thought of adapting a heat race format
for the Cup Series where the total number of laps raced during the
weekend would be the same but you would race it in heats and then set a
feature that was shorter in length?
BRIAN FRANCE: No, we're not considering heat
races at the Sprint Cup level. We have shortened events. We obviously
have changed our qualifying procedures around, and we will continually
look at the format in terms of mostly how long or short an event can be,
and that's obviously balanced against what the track operator believes
his customer base wants to see, not just what the broader television
audience or whatever might -- everything we do, it's got to be balanced.
But we're watching that.
Q. Brian, part of the promo earlier talking about the
Gen-6 car talked about the racetrack and the showroom arm in arm again,
and I'm wondering if the COT brought you too far away from that
relationship and if it harmed NASCAR, and if so, in what ways?
BRIAN FRANCE: Well, I think it did. Looking
back, you're always 100 percent accurate when you get to look backwards,
right, and I think that would be fair, that we certainly didn't intend
to do that, intended to try to make racing better, and costs were a huge
thing, as they still are today, and we did significantly bring costs
down, and safety was a big thing as it is now. We significantly
improved that. But it would be fair to say that in doing those things,
we weren't as in step as we are today with the manufacturers.
And so it wasn't just that, too. By the way, that obviously
had huge business issues going back to '06, '07, '08, '09, that they
fortunately have really rebounded on that.
So a combination of things, but this is going to -- and also
not just sort of get in the car in terms of more like the showroom
cars. It's also working closer with them, because there's other things
that are now much more important to each of the car manufacturers that
maybe wasn't as important 10 years ago, things like innovation. We've
talked about a glass dashboard. That's coming. We'll balance, again,
against costs and what they want. But that's things that are going to
be -- with ever-increasing fuel mileage cap A standards for them,
they're using a lot of technology to obtain those goals and reach their
goals, and they want to use the NASCAR relationship and the platform to
help develop some of those, and we're going to be a very willing and
good partner in doing just that.
Q. Moving forward are you looking at pretty much
status quo with the three manufacturers, or what are the prospects of
bringing back a fourth down the road?
BRIAN FRANCE: Well, they're a lot better now than
they were a year ago because there's an opening of some sort. It's
still very difficult. But my hope is, and I know there are a couple of
big manufacturers, and there always are - this is not breaking news -
there's always somebody who has an interest in at least understanding
the NASCAR opportunity, and so my sense of it is over time that we will
have a fourth manufacturer. And we'll have to see how that plays out.
But sure, we're certainly open to it, and there's -- much
past that I don't think -- it would be very difficult for a car
manufacturer to get enough quality teams to make their program work
properly, but four is certainly manageable, and we would -- we're
encouraged that at some point we'll attain that again.
Q. Dale Earnhardt Jr. brought the spotlight on
concussions last year with what happened to him. Are there any new
procedures, policies put in place by NASCAR to make sure a driver
doesn't end up driving with a concussion as he did for several weeks
before the second one?
MIKE HELTON: Well, I think over the years we've
made great strides in our relationships with the drivers in regards to
their medical posture or situations. With the liaison program that
Steve O'Donnell puts in play and modifies every year, we've grown in
that relationship. So we've got confidence in our current program,
certainly.
Having said that, I think Dale Earnhardt's event last year
highlighted to a lot of folks, including the garage area, the other
drivers, the seriousness that you should pay attention to when it comes
to your own health as a driver so that you've got a pretty good life
afterwards.
And through that experience that Dale went through, we also
ourselves had a real-time working model to go look through, and the
different steps that Dr. Petty and his organization took Dale through
gave us the ability to see things used firsthand. Through those
experiences, we've learned, and I think in '13 our goal is to explain
more to drivers what's out there in regards to advance information, in
regards to elements that can be used by them to be on -- and to carry
the load from there on in as far as responsibility is concerned.
And then it also gives us the opportunity to look at our own
program, not necessarily immediately but certainly immediately look at
it as it goes forward, and are there other elements or steps that we can
add to our program to make it bigger and stronger.
But I think our most current issue is to take what we've
learned from Dale's experience and make sure the other drivers know
what's out there to collect data and for them to be in practice of, and
then it's an opportunity for us to look at what we might institute going
forward.
Q. Brian, this isn't dissimilar from Viv's question,
but how would you describe the COT era, and what impact did that era
ultimately have on NASCAR's product?
BRIAN FRANCE: Well, I mean, I don't want to build
too much into it. Obviously we think -- we love the new car, the Gen-6
car, and we have said that we made some errors in -- really in
collaboration to getting the car. We achieved a lot of things with that
car: Costs, as I said; safety went up; a lot of benefits that the
industry and that the teams and drivers gained from that car.
Obviously we got away from some things that historically had
worked well for us: The manufacturer rivalry, which we're excited
about; the relevance issue with the car manufacturers. And then I think
we put a lot more focus in the new car into the rules package
surrounding the car that we didn't put nearly -- I can tell you we
didn't put nearly as much science into the old car as we tried to
achieve better racing.
No sense in worrying about what happened in the past; we're excited about the future.
MIKE HELTON: Yeah, and Brian is right. We
shouldn't stick a dagger in the Gen-5 program and say, man, we're glad
you're gone, because that era, that Gen-5 created a lot of great moments
for NASCAR. The last two championships for one, a lot of races in its
stable or its time in existence.
It also led to the evolution of the collaborativeness that
we now operate the sport by when it comes to the parts and pieces and
the cars themselves.
It also served very well in an era when the car
manufacturers involved in our sport were struggling with their own
businesses, and we weren't a front burner topic to them. We had a car
that could survive that era. So there's a lot of positives to the Gen-5
era that we shouldn't overlook as we celebrate the Gen-6.
Now, I've got to tell you the enthusiasm and the energy
around the car that we'll see in 2013 on the Sprint Cup events is
phenomenal, and it's wonderful, and it's everything that we want it to
be. But it's Gen-6, so there were five before it that gave us the
opportunity to get to Gen-6, and we should never forget that.
DAVID HIGDON: Thank you, Brian and Mike.
Appreciate it. We now invite the media to head back up to where you
were served lunch for the breakout sessions. We'll have three different
booths set up there. Thank you again for your coverage, and we will
see you soon.
The sweeping changes - known as the Fan-Fueled Evolution - come as a
result of recommendations from the Texas Motor Speedway Fan Council and
extensive fan surveys of former season and individual ticketholders. The
speedway executive team, led by Gossage, examined and evaluated all of
the recommendations and survey results to construct an all-encompassing
package to further enrich the fan experience while making it even more
economical to visit the largest sports facility in Texas during its
three major race weeks.