NASCAR Media Conference

Topics:  NASCAR

Kevin Harvick
Jimmie Lee Hunter
Brian Vickers
June 27, 2006

HERB BRANHAM: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this week's NASCAR Nextel teleconference. It's in advance of Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. That's the first event in the Race to the Chase, the ten races that lead up to The Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup.
First off, quick reminder to media attending the Pepsi 400. The Nextel wake-up call is set for Thursday afternoon at 2:15 in the infield media center and the guest will be this year's Daytona 500 Champion Jimmy Johnson, who currently leads the series standings.
Today we have a different version of the weekly call. On the line we have NASCAR vice-president, corporate communication, Jim Hunter who has an announcement to make regarding NASCAR's regional touring competition. Jim is joined at the outset by Kevin Harvick driver of the #29 GM Goodrich Chevrolet. Kevin is a former NASCAR West Series Champion. He can speak to Jim's announcement; in addition to talking about the Pepsi 400. Then a little bit later on the call we'll joined by Brian Vickers, driver of the #25 GMAC Chevrolet this season who next year will switch to the new #83 Red Bull Toyota team.
I'd like to turn it over now to our vice-president of corporate communications, Mr. Jim Hunter.
JIM HUNTER: That was some good news, Herb about the wake-up call. I am glad to see they are getting more on my timeframes, 2:15 in the afternoon for a wake-up call. I think that's pretty good. Listen, the reason I wanted to jump on here today was to just to let everybody know that we're announcing today - you will probably receive the e-mail during this telecast or you have already gotten it - that we're going to do a multi-faceted new program for the NASCAR grand national division which includes the East and West Series, new spec engine will be available for teams in those divisions beginning on August 1 and the new engine is expected to save teams considerable amounts of money while still delivering outstanding performance.
The new engine is going to be available through Provident Auto Supply, which is a North Carolina based performance parts distributor owned by a former NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship crew chief Gary Nelson who also worked with NASCAR as a Nextel Cup Series director. Gary was also vice-president of competition and vice-president of research and development.
In addition to the spec engine, a composite body for Grand National cars is also now available for use in the Grand National Division. Composite bodies are currently available from three different sources which are listed in the release. The combination of the spec engine composite body and the option of running either 105 or 110 inch wheel bases, comprise a wide variety of cost-saving initiatives for the Grand National Division, which we hope will serve as the development series for up and coming future stars of NASCAR.
We also plan to reduce the minimum driving age to 16 for the Grand National and modified tours beginning in 2007. Teams will be able to run the spec engine and composite bodies this year and those spec engine kits can be ordered through Provident and assembled by independent engine builders.
The cost is going to be well below what teams are currently spending on engines. Composite bodies should also trim cost for the budgets of Grand National races. The 2007 schedules for both the West and East Series will be announced later this year.
Richard Buck (ph), who is based at NASCAR's Research and Development Center in Concord will lead NASCAR's competition efforts with these tours; while director of administration, George Silverman and senior manager of events and operations Bob Duval, will oversee scheduling and administration.
The NASCAR Grand National Division has been the starting point for the careers of many NASCAR stars on both the east and west coasts. Also the two series meet annually in the annual Toyota All-Star showdown, an invitational event featuring the top 15 drivers in each series and this year's showdown is scheduled for October 20, 21 at Irwindale, Dale California.
With that said, I thought it would be neat and we really appreciate Kevin Harvick, I call him Mr. Cool; a lot of people call him happy, but we appreciate Kevin who is from Bakersfield, California and actually ran some of NASCAR'S regional tours -- Actually he was Rookie-of-the-Year -- he won a track Championship at the age of 17. He ran in the NASCAR Southwest Series and was Rookie-of-the-Year in 1995. He won the 1998 West Championship. He ran in the Craftsman Truck Series in '99; stepped up to the Busch in 2000. Was Rookie-of-the-Year there. And he was 2001 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (inaudible) Rookie-of-the-Year. Of course he's also currently leading the Busch Series points standings. Entering Daytona -- his best finish at Daytona has been fourth twice in the '03 and '04 Daytona 500. His best Pepsi 400 finish was 9th in 2003 and Kevin is looking to put something together here in Daytona this weekend; maybe put his first victory on the board. He's off to a much better start than he was a year ago and with that, Kevin, we certainly appreciate you taking the time to be with us today.
KEVIN HARVICK: Thanks, Jim. It's pretty exciting to hear you guys taking the initiative to really concentrate on the East and West Divisions like you said, I was fortunate enough to come up the NASCAR ranks pretty much as it was designed before through the late models, through the Southwest Tour and what was the Winston west and onto the trucks in Busch and into Cup. So, I think with the way our sport is today it's going to be exciting for the guys on the east and west coast to be not only compete against each other, once a year, but to be able to get in a heavy car and you know, be able to experience somewhat of what they are going to experience when they gets in a truck or Busch car. So that's great. Should be a lot of fun to watch it development. But as far as going into this weekend, we have had -- we really had a great year performance-wise. We have had a lot of things go wrong on the Cup car just circumstances and just situations, but the performance of our cars has been good week in and week out and the Busch car obviously has been really good all year. Looking forward to Daytona this weekend and should be a lot of fun heading into The Chase and going on through the end of the year.
HERB BRANHAM: We'll be ready to take questions from the media for Jim Hunter and Kevin Harvick.
JIM HUNTER: Primarily Kevin Harvick. Nobody wants to talk to me.

Q. Kevin, given that you were a big winner here in Chicago if you could just move a weak ahead for us. Talk about what this track in Chicago means to you and it looks like as you look at where the winners have started from, it's kind of a wide open kind of a race as opposed to needing to start near the top. Can you address those two topics?
KEVIN HARVICK: Obviously Chicago has been really good to us. We have won a couple races there. Had a lot of success there. A lot of it goes back to the very first test that RCR had before the first test a great test and applied a lot of that stuff over the next couple of years and had been able to handle a lot of success there.
So starting position is, you know, probably not as important at a lot of places as a lot of people make it out to be. Helps for pit selection and things like that. It never hurts to qualify good but I think you can -- the races are long enough to where you can win from anywhere.

Q. Is that a track, too, that's wearing thin? I remember one of your races you went through the grass much to Jeff Gordon's consternation to get around him. Are those days over in terms of being able to pass?
KEVIN HARVICK: I didn't go through the grass on purpose. I spun out and the grass is way away from the racetrack there, so it's not something that you can drive through, but yeah, I did spin out and actually probably won the race for us we were able to pit and the caution came out a few laps later, everybody else had to pit. We were able to stay out. So probably won us the race that year.

Q. Your truck Series. It seems that after the team made the crew chief change they have been winning races, starting up front, winning poles for you. Looking back now, was it a little too soon to put Chris Rice as crew chief and would you have made that switch a little sooner knowing what you know now?
KEVIN HARVICK: Well I don't think you ever know how the chemistry of things are going to work. It's something to where I think there was a lot of different scenarios that were involved in everything that was going on with the team and basically we just stopped and just decided to evaluate everything and pretty much start over. So we were fortunate enough to have a boss in Richard, was able to help us and let us use his 7 post and help get us pointed in the right direction. They have done a great job but I don't think we probably be where we are without RCR.

Q. What is your future plans for that team as far as keeping the driver and team together?
KEVIN HARVICK: We have another year with Ron under his contract right now. We're just kind of evaluating whether we're going to run Busch cars or we don't have a sponsor on the trucks, so we won't run a truck next year if it doesn't have a full-time sponsor.

Q. You certainly made the end of the Busch race at Milwaukee exciting. But do you like it when people, drivers like Paul said it was unsettling to see you in the rearview mirror.
KEVIN HARVICK: Well, it was -- I mean, first of all, it was awesome to see Paul win. He did exactly what he had to do to win the race. I just kind of got punted from behind there in the end, but I don't know, I mean it was lot of fun. Sometimes you come out on the good side of that stuff and sometimes you come out on the bad side of it, and this week we happen to come out on the wrong end. But I think it's great for the Busch Series and for the sport to have Paul win the race and have two Busch regular guys win the race two weeks in a row. It was exciting and you know, just didn't work out our way.

Q. What happened at the end? I know you had discussion with NASCAR and I know that -- when you are there it's always exciting, certainly you helped make the end of the race exciting but what happened at the end?
KEVIN HARVICK: The end of the race or after the race?

Q. After?
KEVIN HARVICK: Oh, I got -- they called me up in the trailer just wanting to know -- it probably didn't come off very good - but I was happy for Paul. I wasn't really mad at Paul at all. Heck, he didn't spin me at all. The 18 spun me out. That's what caused the big wreck at the end. They just wanted to know what was going on, nothing major.

Q. Have you noticed any difference in the way Jimmy Johnson is driving the plate race this year and do you have any thoughts on why he's kind have been able to turn it around at Daytona, Talladega this year?
KEVIN HARVICK: Not really. I haven't really paid attention to him, tell you the truth.

Q. Seems like he's been able to be a lot more patient? He almost drives Daytona and Talladega the way he drives Charlotte playing it real careful until it's go time near the end?
KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, I haven't paid much attention to Jimmy Johnson.

Q. This question is more directed towards Jim Hunter. Jim, this year with NASCAR, I mean, the NASCAR Nextel drivers they have won in the Busch Series from the beginning of the series, there's more and more of them involved in the series nowadays. Has there been any proposal or discussion by NASCAR OF changing the rules or limiting the number of CUT teams in the Busch event? The question was Jim, there's been a lot of Nextel drivers that have always competed in the Busch series and more so this year than any. Has there been any proposal or discussion on the part of NASCAR as far as changing the rules or limiting the number of cut teams in Busch events?
JIM HUNTER: We have always taken the position that if somebody brings a race car to the track, passes inspection, qualifies, that we like the fact that it's open to anyone.
Also, if you get -- every time we have ever discussed trying to limit the number of Cup cars or Cup drivers in the Busch Series, or any other series, it's a pretty slippery slope because fans buy tickets to see the best drivers compete and many of our Busch teams even though some of them might be pressed financially, they want to beat the best and I think having the Nextel Cup drivers and the Busch races overall, is good for the division and number 1 it sells tickets and it also gives up and coming young drivers an opportunity to compete against the very best.

Q. Kevin, question about points right now. You are involved in it, pretty tight points battle right now. Do you see yourself as being in a good position with the tracks coming up because as we saw Jeff Gordon bounced up three places, you could easily go up 3 or down 3 in the next month or so?
KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, I think obviously we have kind of put ourselves in that position. I think if the performance, you know, should stay where it's at and things should keep going good. It's just a matter of not making any mistakes, so you know, it's really I feel like we should be fourth or fifth in the points and -- but that's not the way it is. So I mean it's just going to boil down to who doesn't make any mistakes. I don't think there's, you know, anybody around us that can beat us week in and week out. I think it's just all -- like I said it all going to boil down to mistakes.

Q. Other question about today's announcement in part with the car of tomorrow now spec engine composite body. Are the cars, the series maybe starting to lose more and more of their -- their individualality, more of its identity?
KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I don't think so. I think -- I think when everybody really gets done with the car tomorrow I think the manufacturers are going to be happy. I think NASCAR is going to be happy. I think everybody is probably going to be a little bit surprised, you know, the look that the car takes. So I think it's going to be -- I think with the wing and stuff on the back I think a lot of the aero push stuff it's never going to go away but I think it's going to be a lot better. The safety aspect of the car tomorrow is the best thing about the whole car, so there's just a lot more room inside the car. But I think that you know, the composite bodies would be a bad idea for a Cup and for Busch, but I think for the Grand National east and west cars, I don't think there's anything that you can do any better. I think as -- I think it was Schrader (phonetic) he said, you can knock the hell out of this thing and just wipe a few smudges off of it, go back the next week and race it next week, so you don't have to come home and put sides on it and spend five or six thousand repairing your car. You can just wipe it off and keep going.

Q. Jim, can you explain why the minimum age is changing? Kevin, as an owner, as you look maybe for younger talent, how does this going to affect what you do and would it be a case of looking at putting somebody in the series as opposed to somebody like the Hooters Pro Cup or something like that?
JIM HUNTER: I think the biggest reason we're reducing the age restriction is the fact that so many teams in the national divisions are looking for young drivers and it seems like the age gets lower and lower every year. They have to have somewhere to race and they are going to race somewhere. And we feel like the -- with the changed -- going to the spec motor and going to the composite body, and running a majority of the races on sort tracks, meaning a half mile or less, and not running these cars on super speedways, we felt it was -- the timing was right to do this and we'll see how it works.
KEVIN HARVICK: I think from an owner's standpoint, you know, if I am an owner and I want to develop a guy, I'd much rather have him at the racetrack you know, if he's 18, I'd rather have him at the racetrack where I am at so I can watch. If you lower the age to 16 he can't race in the truck, can't race in the Busch, can't race in the Cup, that gives you a place that you can go develop somebody that's younger than 18, so that you can, you know, you can bring him up in an environment where there's not so much pressure. You don't have to bring him to the Busch races or the truck races where there's so much competition there. You take a chance of missing a race. So I think it's definitely something that now that the age is lower we'll definitely probably participate in.

Q. Kevin, can you also address the fact that I think what we're looking at is we're kind of having a bid for drivers among the Nextel Cup Series certainly your name was mentioned earlier in the year, won't be -- the ability to bring these guys in and bring them up earlier cut some of the costs from an owner's standpoint in developing talent in which you will have to pay for salaries in the future?
KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, I would say last year, you know, we did probably a five or six hundred thousand dollar driver development program with Bernie Lamar just running 6 or 7 races. Now, you can probably run the whole year off of that with the composite bodies and the new rules and things like that. The drivers shortage is, I mean, there's definitely a shortage of capable drivers to drive in the Cup Series and I think right now it's driving the prices through the roof it seems like, and it's -- it's putting the owners in a little bit of an awkward position.
But I mean, it's just that time in the sport where everything is kind of going through a transition where a lot of guys -- some of the guys are retired and there's not enough -- there's more good cars than there are good drivers. I think -- it's definitely going to give you a place to develop people at a lot lower cost.

Q. Also as far as making The Chase this year, you are teetering right there. Where are the areas that the 29 car has to pick up so that you will know you will be there?
KEVIN HARVICK: The 29 car doesn't have to pick up. It is just we all have to quit making mistakes. The car runs fast every week, and we just flat out have to quit making mistakes all around.

Q. Kevin, as a Busch owner and Cup driver, having raced against the Cup guys in Busch, is this helping him or hurting him?
KEVIN HARVICK: Well, I don't think it can ever hurt. I think it's something to where, you know, where you need to be and everybody's goal is to race Cup cars and I think in order to get to that point, I mean you can ruin your career in a heart beat going to Cup not being ready to come to Cup and you know, never be seen again. Casey (sic) (inaudible) A huge example of coming to Cup and probably not being ready or not being in the right position or whatever the case may have been, but it will ruin your name forever if you are not ready. I always tell people if you can't win races in the division that you are racing in, then you probably don't need to go to the next one.

Q. You're comfortable with him racing against that level of competition as an owner?
KEVIN HARVICK: Yeah, I think if he can't race against those guys I need to find somebody else because I mean, those are the guys you are going to have to race in week in and week out.
HERB BRANHAM: We're going to kind of shift gears here and let Jim Hunter vice-president of communications and Kevin take off. Can't thank you enough, gentlemen, for joining us.
We're joined by Brian Vickers. It was announced over the weekend that Brian will join the new Toyota effort NASCAR Nextel Cup in 2007 with the 83 Red Bull Racing Team. Brian, it is going to be pretty interesting next year, I am sure you are excited, about being involved in such an historic development in NASCAR.
BRIAN VICKERS: Yes, sir, I am. It's a neat opportunity to be a part of Team Red Bull. These guys are coming in the sport to, you know, devoted to wining races and championships. They are very competitive. They are new to NASCAR but are very familiar with racing in general. They are involved in just about every form of racing around the world and NASCAR was an obvious logical step for them in America and I am excited to be a part of it.
HERB BRANHAM: We'll take questions from the media for Brian Vickers.

Q. With the announcement that came this weekend, what can Red Bull Racing offer you that Hendrick Motorsports can't considering Hendrick Motorsports is one of the best team in Cup, what was the motivation or temptation to move over to that team?
BRIAN VICKERS: Obviously we touched on some of those things when I talked to the media in Pocono. Obviously, for whatever reason, I take my part in the responsibility; me and the 25 team haven't been able to perform to my expectations or theirs. And that's why I talked to -- the first step of the process was to talk to Rick in Hendrick Motorsports about if we want to look at other options. We decided to do that. Then I went to -- was fortunate enough to be able to have an opportunity to speak with lot of different teams and we decided on Team Red Bull because these guys are very committed to winning races and Championships. I think they are going to bring new ideas, new concepts into our sport that they have learned from other forms of racing around the world. The sponsor is the team. That's kind of a new concept for our sport. And it's a clean sheet of paper. We have seen the clean sheet of paper concept work very well for a lot of teams including the 24 way back when, the 48, it worked real well for those guys, the 9 as well so it's an opportunity to build a team and to grow that and make all those pieces work starting with a clean sheet of paper.
The commitment these guys have already put into it is unbelievable. I am sure that's just going to continue.

Q. As a former Busch Champion what is your opinion on the ongoing discussion involving Cup in Busch and if you were in the Busch Series now with even more Cup guys in it than there were when you were racing, do you think that you still would be to the point of development that you are?
BRIAN VICKERS: That's a great question.
I think that Cup drivers being in the Busch Series is a great thing. I said it when I raced in the Busch Series and I still do now, I disagree with running the complete schedule personally. Personally, I think that in taking it to that far to me would be a distraction for me and would take away from my Cup effort. Some guys may disagree. Also I think that a Busch guy -- a Busch regular should win the Championship, should be winning the Busch Championship not a Cup driver, and -- but I do think that it's great for Cup guys to be racing Busch Series. The year that I won the Championship, I practically had to race, you know, a lot of the same Cup guys I race now to win those races in the races we won. I had to race a driver who won the Cup Championship that year on multiple occasions from position and for a win. I gained a lot of experience out of that. I think that was a great learning tool to learn how to race with those guys if that's where you want to end up in the Cup Series, but to be running the whole schedule, I don't necessarily agree with.

Q. Can you give us a few of the details about how the deal with Red Bull came together, whom you spoke to, that sort of thing and also when you sort of first had an indication that they might be interested in signing you.
BRIAN VICKERS: Well, it was actually my manager was kind of doing his job; we weren't really sure where we were for 2007. We had, you know, we weren't, you know, sure what was going to happen going into the next year. So he went out and looked at all their options, you know, and then when we -- at the same time had Darren -- First I went to Rick and talked to him about obviously we weren't, you know, satisfied with our performance and you know, he wanted to look at other stuff. He granted us that. They went and did the same thing. That's when Eric went out and you know, looked at a lot of options. We had people call us obviously during this time and before that, but before we went and pursued any of them we wanted to clear things up with Hendrick and once all that got handled, I pretty much stayed focused on my responsibilities now which is with this 25 team. He worked out with the guys at Team Red Bull, talked to those guys and they made it very clear from the beginning that you know, if we decided to come that way that they wanted us to be in the car. And we just had to make that decision, and once we made that decision, we worked everything out and was very excited to be able to announce it this past week.

Q. Now that you made the decision and it's officially announced do you think that's going to change the dynamic with Hendrick going forward?
BRIAN VICKERS: I don't think so. We have known for the past -- everybody known for the past three or four weeks that -- that I was going to be leaving in 2007. The guys on the team and the people from motorsports know Casey is going to be here next year. I am happy for him. He's a good friend of mine. He will do a good job. Past couple of weeks as well that hasn't changed anything. We continue to run really strong and the best we can and you know I am sure we'll continue to go out there and try to do the same.

Q. I don't know if you heard earlier on this teleconference NASCAR announced lowering it's minute age requirement from 18 to 16 for NASCAR East and West Series and modified series. When you were 16 you moved up to Pro Cup. When you were 16 what were the options available? Were there many options to go racing?
BRIAN VICKERS: It will definitely help things. I went for (inaudible) Cup Racing when I was 15, my first race and then 16 raced that for 16, 17 I ran my first Busch race when I was 17. When I was 16 you could actually run -- nobody had done it but you could actually go run Busch and Cup technically. And I had my first Busch race actually in Milwaukee when I was 17 and then shortly after that, raced to 18 which I don't think was a bad idea for their top series. Going to Daytona, Talladega, places like that, I know at 17 I wasn't ready for that. That's why we stayed at the short track. I think that -- after all that took place I think it's a great thing that NASCAR is bringing that age back down. It gives young talent an opportunity to go prove themselves, try to gain some experience in short tracks, at places where I am sure they are plenty capable -- a large majority of them are plenty capable of running.

Q. Red Bull and Formula I are known for throwing lavish parties. As a young man does that excite you that you are affiliated with them in NASCAR?
BRIAN VICKERS: I think that it's definitely exciting being a part of Team Red Bull, but you know, and obviously Red Bull is gives you wings. They always say, like I said, I decided to take the bull by the horns. They do it different. They do it exciting. They bring some energy, you know, which is what they are all about, to everything they do, whether it be a Formula 1, NASCAR, motor cross, all kind of crazy stuff, but the main reason I came here was for the competition and to be in position where I thought the best opportunity to win races and Championships. And all that other stuff will come along with it. Yeah, it's kind of cool when everything is done you sit back and think about some of the neat opportunities they may bring along, but right now, the focus is on winning those races and Championships. The rest of that stuff will take care of itself.

Q. Following up have you heard from your fans, are they disappointed that you are making the switch? Are they enthused that you are going to this team?
BRIAN VICKERS: Everybody I talked to is very excited and happy. All the fans have been, hey, we wish you all the best. We're excited for you, that's awesome. You know, with most people through life that do great things, at some point in time in their life they have to take great chances and have to step out of the box sometimes and try some new stuff, and that's kind of the same thing here. It is a new deal. These guys are new to NASCAR. They are not new to motor sports, but they are new to NASCAR. Some people are going say that's taking a risk, maybe it is. But it's a question do you dare to be great and we want to try and go over there and work with these guys because we know what they are capable of it. We believe in them. They believe in us and we have got a clean sheet of paper. We'll go there and try to win races and some Championships.

Q. How much confidence do you have going into Daytona coming off the third place finish at Talladega and the near win there several weeks ago?
BRIAN VICKERS: Quite a bit. We had a really good car there last time Daytona and Talladega. We're very excited about going back. I have always enjoyed super speedway races ever since the first super speedway race I ran. So we're obviously looking forward to this weekend. Hopefully we can pick up right where we left off.

Q. You are only 22 years old. How important do you think it was for Red Bull to get a young guy that they know has a promising future, will be with them for a long time as opposed to maybe an older guy that they don't know how much longer he wants to race?
BRIAN VICKERS: That's probably a better question for those guys. I mean, I know what the basis -- everybody knows what Red Bull is about. It's in 130 countries. They have been around a long time. They are about young energetic. That's what the drink is about. It's all about the boosting mental concentration, alertness, physical endurance, things like that. They obviously have always been keen on young energetic athletes. I think that was probably important part of it. I think the most important part from what I have seen, looking at these guys from inside out, their main goal is to come over here and win. They are not here just to -- I mean yeah they are here to have fun. They are here to do some marketing and try to sell more Red Bull but they are here to win races. That's why they didn't come to a sponsor team. They came to own a team. This is Team Red Bull. That's what they are about. I think the debate and majority of decision as far as the drivers, as far as hiring me and hiring whoever my teammate is going to be will be based on a competition decision. Now if they can find the answer to their question on the competition side and still have somebody that can represent their brand the way they want it represented then obviously they would love to do it. Hopefully I feel like I was able to fit that mold.

Q. Did you look at this as maybe a fresh start still early in your career to where you can get with a new team and be competitive instead of waiting a few years to maybe that's when you want to make a change?
BRIAN VICKERS: Yeah, that was the thing, we have been here for in the Cup Series now for three years. I am only 22. But so it's kind of a double edge sword here. You got enough experience that you have been where you are at long enough to know whether or not that chemistry is going to work and for whatever reason it hasn't, but still fortunate enough to be young enough at the same time compared to most athletes even still coming into NASCAR still plenty young enough to make a move and have great opportunity going forward for a long time to come and to be able to try some cool sponsors.

Q. You came a long way at a young age. Could you identify a few of the lessons major lessons maybe you have learned along the way that once you got to the Cup level?
BRIAN VICKERS: Oh, WOW. There's so many. I would say that No. 1 without a doubt is patience tops the list. Just being patient on and off the racetrack, how you make decisions there again, on and off the racetrack, whether it is the business side of things; to whether or not to make that pass every single time the door opens. If you try to -- if you take that chance every single time, eventually you are going to end up wrecked and you have get to have the patience, especially the higher up in the ranks you go usually the longer the races get. And when you run and 500 mile you can't just jump through every single door that opens when you are out there. Sometimes you just got to be patient and take care of your equipment and be there at the end. No matter how fast you are if you are not there at the last lap it doesn't matter.
HERB BRANHAM: Brian, thank you for taking time out from your schedule. Thank you. Best of luck this week at the Pepsi 400.
BRIAN VICKERS: Thank you so much thanks for having me on.
HERB BRANHAM: Thanks all the media for participating today. Great turnout, one of our biggest participations of the year. As always we appreciate the Cup reach.