NASCAR Cup

Martinsville: Pat Tryson - Ford interview

Pat Tryson is in his first season as crew chief for Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Jackson Hewitt Ford Fusion. He spoke about his rollercoaster week in which his car was deemed too low after the Bristol race and the uncertainty as to whether or ...

Published: Mar 31, 2007, 12:56 PM

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Pat Tryson is in his first season as crew chief for Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Jackson Hewitt Ford Fusion. He spoke about his rollercoaster week in which his car was deemed too low after the Bristol race and the uncertainty as to whether or not his team would face penalties from NASCAR.

PAT TRYSON -- No. 16 Jackson Hewitt Ford Fusion

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU HEARD THE CAR WAS LOW? "When we went through right after the race it was low and, to me, it was no big deal because there's no rule against it. I wasn't really worried about it and John (Darby) didn't seem too worried about it. But then on Monday morning is when we got worried because we saw that Robin (Pemberton) had come out and said that there's a possibility for penalties and, obviously, we got onto a different scenario at that point. Originally I wasn't worried about it because there's no rule at a downforce race track on minimum heights on the quarterpanels, so it wasn't really a big deal."

SO IT'S STILL A MYSTERY AS TO HOW IT HAPPENED? "Yeah, but I don't think we were the only ones that were low. There are a bunch of issues with the car that we're gonna have to learn about and work through. There were tail pipes coming apart and foam melting, so there's a lot of little stuff, but we'll keep trying to make it better and learn as we go along."

SO DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE ANY MAJOR ALTERATIONS TO THE CAR FOR THIS WEEK'S RACE OR IS IT BASICALLY THE SAME? "It's set up a lot different. You run different springs here than we do at Bristol, but, other than that, it is. They changed the tolerances for what they're gonna accept, but they're not gonna throw anybody out for height violations for awhile until they get a better idea of what happens with this car during a race."

SO THERE'S STILL SOME UNKNOWNS EVEN FOR THIS WEEK? "We only tested and you don't run 500 laps in a test, and you're changing springs, so nobody knew what anything was gonna do, so it was a learning process. We'll just keep going to each track and learn. Bristol is probably a different case scenario, along with Dover, than anywhere else we're gonna run it. Darlington may be similar to those two, but those two places are gonna be a lot different as far as how the car settles and what the car does compared to the other places."

-credit: ford racing

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