DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Friday was a busy day both on and off the track. I took part in a charity fishing tournament when the sun rose and then sat down for a two-hour interview for an upcoming Furniture Row Racing video. Did a few news interviews at the track before heading out to do a fishing clinic for the Boys and Girls Club at the Bass Pro Shops store across the street from Daytona International Speedway.
That was the business side of the day. The racing side was equally as good. We did a few laps in our No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota and felt very good. I feel we made some positive improvements from Thursday nightap Duel qualifying race, with gains in speed and handling.
Right now we feel we’re fully prepared for Sunday’s Daytona 500. With that said, we are not planning to practice on Saturday. When you’re practicing in the draft it only takes a little hiccup by another car that can cause a major wreck. Our primary car is damage free and thatap the way we want to keep it for the 500.
Daytona Speedweeks has seemed like it has been one long media day. I don’t have a problem with that, and I think the more media the better for the all of us involved in NASCAR.
Other than last year’s photo finish in the 500, the other most asked question I’ve been getting by the media is about our new team with Erik Jones, who is driving the No. 77 car.
No doubt, Erik is a talented driver. He’s been really fast in everything he’s been in. This will be the first time in my career I’ve been the senior driver on a team. I’ve always been one of the younger guys, so being on the other side of that for once, and trying to give back a little bit of what some of those veterans gave me years ago will be exciting.
Another frequently asked question is about our crew chief Cole Pearn, who I call my Canadian brother. The bottom line on Cole is that he’s really good, really smart, but more importantly he is really, really good at putting the right people in the right places.
Our engineers and Pearn have a past history. They really get along well even though they’re complete opposites. But they know how to work together and hold each other up. We are similar ages and we really approach racing the same way, and feel the same way about a lot of things. Itap the best situation that I’ve been in.
As we say each year at this time of Daytona Speedweeks – itap the lull before the storm. And we’ll be ready to challenge and attack whatever comes our way on Sunday. This is the biggest and most prestigious race to win in NASCAR and you better be ready because the other 39 drivers will be giving it their all.
