NASCAR Cup
Kansas: Pat Tryson - Dodge Saturday interview
PAT TRYSON (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) TWO GOOD WEEKS, TWO GREAT CARS, TWO GREAT RUNS AND NO TOP TEN FINISHES; IS THE TEAM STILL PUMPED UP? "We're ready to go. We're just back in the same kind of scenario we were in to get into ...
Published: Sep 30, 2007, 6:33 PM
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PAT TRYSON (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger)
TWO GOOD WEEKS, TWO GREAT CARS, TWO GREAT RUNS AND NO TOP TEN FINISHES; IS THE TEAM STILL PUMPED UP? "We're ready to go. We're just back in the same kind of scenario we were in to get into the Chase now. We'll just keep digging, take our same approach and try to knock twenty (points) off every week. If we do that we'll be in good shape."
HOW DEMANDING IS IT BEING IN THE CHASE WORKING ON TWO DIFFERENT CARS AND LOOKING FORWARD TO 2008? "I think the Chase thing is you just do the same thing you've always done. You try to win every race and then take what you can get, obviously. The biggest thing is trying to win every race and that will take care of itself. The two car part, obviously if it was a normal season with the cars that we run here we'd be still working and trying to make them better. But, I think everybody is kind of at a point where they have their fleet and they're really not trying to make them better because they are tapped out there. So then your concentration is going on to the Car of Tomorrow. You're trying to get ready for next year, trying to get ready for the big banked tracks, the fast tracks and at the same time trying to get better at the flat track with the Car of Tomorrow. It makes for it to be little hectic. It's part of the job, so we have an Iowa test coming up to try to get better for Phoenix and Martinsville and I am sure we have an Atlanta test coming up for the Car of Tomorrow and hopefully we'll get one of those tire test, too.
HOW DID YOUR TEST IN TALLADEGA GO? "We we're pretty good. I think we probably weren't as fast as we'd like to have been by ourselves. I think we had decent speed and then I thought we were real good in drafting, but it's hard to say because there were pretty small packs down there. It will be interesting to see what happens when we go back."
HOW DIFFERENT WAS THE ROUTINE OF TESTING WITH THE CAR OF TOMORROW VERSUS THE CURRENT CAR? "It was quite a big different, I mean I think the biggest change is for the driver. It's still fairly easy to get a car to do what you want it to. The fact that the closing rate is so fast, if two or three guys are lined up you can actually lose the draft too now. Guys are going to be more protective, so I think there are probably going to be a few more wrecks.
"You can get it to drive and turn and do everything you wanted it to do, but you are still at the mercy of the draft. And, what happens if you get shuffled out, if you don't have somebody behind you, you can actually lose the draft easier than you could in the past.
IS A RICHMOND HARDER TO FIGURE OUT THAN A TALLADEGA? "Richmond is a lot harder right now with the Car of Tomorrow. But, you don't have to worry about losing the draft. You have to worry about getting the car handling. Talladega, since they repaved, is fairly easy set-up wise to get the stuff to do what you want it to do. The biggest difference is going to be the drivers; how they run in the draft.
DOES SPEED AFFECT THE EASE OF SETTING UP THE COT? "No, I don't think it's a case about speed. I think it will be really hard at Charlotte, Texas, California and those places where you go faster just because it's different. Talladega is different with a restrictor plate. Restrictor plate racing is different. Daytona will be harder than Talladega. Talladega has always been just the easiest track to set your cars up for. It's about speed. It has nothing to do with handling. So, you know, it's not about being too tight or too loose. It's more about speed. For whatever reason the Car of Tomorrow, it's got a little more down force than our old speedway cars do on the front so, it's going to turn fine. It's just a matter of does it get enough speed or not.
-credit: dodge motorsports
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