This if the first of a 2 part series
On Tuesday Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson were gracious enough to participate in a media teleconference to chat about a few things.
Hmm, what could be on everyone’s minds this week? Let’s find out! The following are excerpts from the teleconference.
How Alan Gustafson Views How 2009 Went
It’s been a real successful season for us. You know, getting Mark on board was obviously a huge step in the right direction, and being able to win five races and contend down to the wire for the championship and have a shot at Homestead has been good. It’s been a great season, and the guys have accomplished a lot and really looking forward to going to Homestead. It’s a really fun track to race on.
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Chad Knaus on 2009 (NBaP asks: Do we even need to ask!?)
We’ve had a really good season, obviously. I think that with Alan and Mark running as competitive as they have this year, very similar to when the 24 car was running as well as what they were a couple years ago, having that internal competition I think has really helped our team and helped our company, actually, to rise to a better level. I think that’s evident with the way that all of our teams are running, especially at this stage in the year. The 88 is running well, the 5, the 24 and the 48 are all battling each and every week. So I think that having the two teams battling for the championship and then with the 24 car right there on our heels, I think it’s raised the production of the whole company up a bunch. So we’re real happy with that.
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Q: Alan, does this current Sprint Cup car make it easier or more difficult to chase teams like the 48 that’s been in front of everybody else?
I don’t think that the car really matters as far as chasing the 48, if it would have been easier in the old car. It may have been a little bit easier to get an advantage in the old car, so with that being the case, maybe I could make a case for yes, it could potentially be a little bit easier to run somebody down in the old car.
This car does have us in a little tighter box to where it’s tough to get an advantage.
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Q: Chad, Ray Evernham won three titles and went into ownership. Do you have any aspirations for stuff like that or management, or is being a chew chief where you want to be long‑term?
My initial goal when I first came into the Cup Series was to obviously become a crew chief and win races and a championship and then move on to an ownership role. I don’t know if I want that now or not. I think it would be foolish of me to try to think that I could be an upstart team and try to make something like that happen.
I just don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see. But the likelihood is probably slim at this point.
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Q: Chad, Can you sort of go back to that 2004 race down at Homestead and just sort of take us through that and how intense that race was?
That race, man, if I could do anything to have that race again. I’ve played that race over in my head a million times. You know, to lose the championship by eight points, we did a very good job. We finished second that race. There were a lot of teams that were in the hunt for that championship, with the 24 and us and the 97, and I think the 20 was the other one maybe. And we did a very good job. We really did. We lost it by 8 points.
The 97 car had that loose wheel. If the wheel would have fallen off just a split second later, he’d have hit the end of pit wall. If the wheel would have fallen off just a split second later, it would have went down pit road and the caution would have never come out. So all of those things coming out. If we would have won the race and the 97 car would have finished where he did, I think he was fourth or fifth, we would have got the five bonus points for winning the race and leading a lap, and we would have won the championship.
That one was a heart breaker because I can tell you probably going back about 15 ways that we could have made up eight points throughout the course of those final races.
NBaP Observation: If there’s one thing I’ve noticed over the years, sometimes it just doesn’t seem to matter what one does, a certain team just gets into this groove of luck or destiny and it all falls into place for them. Obviously for Kurt Busch in ’04, they could do no wrong. The last 3.9 years, the No. 48 team just seems to step into some mystical groove and it’s all them. It doesn’t hurt that they have an awesome ability to adapt, but somedays, it just looks like they could do no wrong, even when they do.
Continued on NASCAR Bits and Pieces [NBaP] at Media Teleconference with Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson, Pt 2!
