Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

“Since I first came to this race, I’ve seen people coming from all kinds of disciplines, all coming for the same reason ­ to have a good time and go race. It’s a great gathering. It’s good fun. There’s a lot of people here that, growing up, you watched racing and admired. Also people I’ve grown up racing with. It’s cool.”

 

“It shows how good this race really it. It attracts a lot of people from different walks of motorsport. For us, as Indy Car drivers, we have an incredible intense championship, but there’s no better place to warm you up for that than here. Obviously, there’s so much competition, there’s good teams, and there’s drivers that have won championships and races from all over the world. It’s a lot of fun.”

 

“It’s awesome. It’s exciting having everybody here. Just a lot of talent, a lot of dynamic guys, a lot of friends, and they’ve all come to be a part of this race. I think it puts a bigger shine on what’s already a pretty bright light.”

 

“I think it’s exciting. This is a cool race. I’m excited to be back here. It’s a tough race. Any little thing can get out of your hands, like you saw this morning. We should be OK. I think the key to win this race is to have a good pace. You don¹t need to be the fastest car out there, you need a good pace and have no problems. Have clean pit stops.

You can drive the wheels off the car for two hours and make up maybe 10 seconds on somebody, driving hard. But if you have a good pit stop, you can make up the 10 seconds, even 20.”

 

“It’s cool. This is always a good way to get everyone together. Nobody ever wants to the one thing at the same time. It’s good to catch up with a lot of the guys, and it’s a nice club to be in. There are a lot of accomplished guys. I’m kind of privileged, I guess. That’s the great thing about this race. Even without the champions, there’s a lot of guys that you’ve raced against over the years, and you get to hang out with them and catch up on some stories over the past year. It’s a lot of fun.”

 

 

 

How you feel entering tomorrow?

“It feels great. Yesterday in qualifying, I was expecting a little bit more. We took a lot of chances on the downforce but again, it’s 24 hours. Lucky No. 13 is our starting position. So hopefully we’ll be in good shape on Sunday.”

 

“Obviously, be consistent, but not only that, but to keep your self out of trouble. It’s so easy to get into it and sometimes you don’t get into it, the trouble comes to you. That’s the biggest challenge in this type of racing. That’s what I learned last year. It doesn’t matter if you’re one, two or three seconds off the pace, what matters is that you need to keep at the end and on the same lap of the leaders you need to keep because you’re definitely going to be in good shape.

 

Last year, I did pretty well. I took a plan. Every time I got out of the car, I went straight to the motorhome, took a shower, ate, sleep and when I went back, I was ready to go. It works for me.

 

Pasta is the easier one to digest quick and it’s light. You don’t want to get yourself in trouble in the middle of the race.

 

“I think they’re scared of us.”

 

“Obviously this event is a great event – it’s the biggest. The good thing about Daytona is that anything can happen, even 30 minutes to the end. Yes, you can get back laps and everything. They changed the rules, and now it is going to be even more challenging for the teams and the drivers for strategy. I think it’s going to be a nice show for everybody.”

 

“I don’t even recognize that they’re here, to be honest. Once you’re in the car, it’s just you and the other cars. It’s great for the series; great for Daytona and good for Grand-Am. But you know, they’re just other drivers.”

 

“Like Max said, hopefully we don’t have to do what we did last year, having to fall back and regain all of those laps. If we just stay on the lead lap and stay out of trouble; you have to stay out of trouble and just get fuel and tires. The race will really start Sunday.”

 

“It’s eight to 10 hours. It’ll start after midnight, probably around 2 o’clock in the morning. You’ll have to start pushing then.”

 

“It would be a dream come true to be a part of sports car history in this manner. The race is very prestigious, very long and tough. It’s a tough race to endure. So I’ve got great teammates, a great car owner in Penske and Wayne Taylor helping us out. I’m just beside myself.”

 

“My job is to drive the tough stints, hand the car back over in one piece and let Helio and Ryan Briscoe take it from there. I enjoy the night. They think I’m the endurance guy because I drive four-hour long Cup races. They are going to triple stint me at night.

 

“I still feel like I can improve a bit. I’m running comfortable lap times but I’m still at that 100 percent pace. What I need to be able to do is run at a 90 percent pace and still produce the lap times that Ryan and Helio are doing. One thing that I have shown skill on is the nighttime and traffic because my lap times don’t fluctuate that much.”

 

“This year, I’m in a very quick prototype. The first time we did it, we weren’t all that fast of a prototype so I was really looking in the mirror a lot to make sure I got out of the prototypes way. This car will maintain pace with other prototypes so now I just have to look at other GT cars. Every time I look at a GT car, I know there are very skilled drivers in there but at the same time, I don’t know if that’s the owner who is a lawyer or doctor. I treat every GT car like it’s a lawyer or doctor that they don’t know if they’ve got enough experience. There’s plenty of experienced GT guys. What I’m seeing this year is there’s a battle in GT on who’s going to come out on top. Those guys are racing pretty hard too.”

 

 

“It is grueling. It’s really tough. Between our stints, we get a little bit of rest. Our crew guys don’t. It’s tough on everybody. It’s a good thing there’s two months off after this race because it can tear equipment and people up. There’s such history involved with it that everyone wants to do it. It really means a lot to win this race. I look forward to it, even though it is pretty hellish. It’s all exciting. There’s a lot of excitement. I think the best part about it is everybody that you get to race against. A lot of people show up from different disciplines, so you get to race against the best drivers in the world. That for us is really exciting and I think it makes it exciting for all the fans to watch it too.”

 

“Our normal races are two hours and 45 minutes so this is like eight or nine races in a row, with no break. So that tells you a little bit about what kind of preparation you need to make it happen, to make it to the end of the race and also, to have reliability with the car and have the drivers make it all the way to the end without making mistakes. It’s one of the most difficult races that there is. Competition is maybe stronger than anything else out there. Champions from all over the world, so if you do manage to win it it’s definitely something super special.”

 

“I’m super honored to be able to be part of such a team and having the faith for me to go out and run the road courses. It’s big for me to be able to go out there and have my friend Jimmie Johnson coming to me. We share a lot of things. This is something for me that means a lot to me. I want to be a Nascar driver and I joined the number one team. I’m learning something that no money can buy.”

 

 

 

 

"I think the Daytona 24 hour race brings together people that have the same passion for the sport. No matter which kind of series you race, doesn't matter where you come from, which nationality you are, you have one goal - that is writing your name on the trophy. I'm lucky enough that I wrote my name a couple of times already, but I still want to do it more. It just makes you understand -a little bit- the level that Grand-Am has been building the championship in the last couple of years. You have a great (Daytona Prototype) Series, you have a great GT Series with big names from all across the world. It helps you realize that people want to come here to win. The parity of the car allows you to have a chance more than any other race I've ever been to."

 

 

"Definitely. Daytona race is not one of the best race tracks for the DXP. The difference of performance and rules between the Pontiac and Porsche - they're big. It's kind of ashamed because you know you can't win the race on speed. That's not fair. I don't really like that.

I feel that we have a great team. I think the GXP car is solid. I'm really, really confident that the car is solid. And we're going to drive it as hard as we can for 24 hours. My goal is to stand in the winners circle for the GT class on Sunday."

 

 

"If I didn't think I could have won the race, I would have stayed home. I have great motivation and I think we can do it."

 

 

 

 

"The car is reliable. It's all about teamwork, spending the minimum amount of time on pit lane. We can count on that because GM and Pontiac/ Miller have put together a great product, so I'm confident that on that side. It's just very frustrating to know that you're driving well and you're always one second off of the pace."

 

 

"My worst Rolex 24 moment was losing the race in 2001, while in the lead with one hour to go. We broke the motor. We actually finished with two-cylinders out of the eight. We still won the class, but we were leading overall. It was maybe the most grueling moment that I remember."

 

 

"It's always humbling, I think, for me, the way that I got my start in Go Karts and didn't go through the NASCAR ranks. So, you know, the publicity those guys get and the notoriety and how well known they are, it's always helpful and not just the NASCAR guys, but Helio and the other guys on the stage as well. At the end of the day we're all racers...At the end of the day it's always good to have a race like the 24 because we have a opportunity to match our talent against all these guys - that's whenever we know that we belong here. It's exciting."

 

 

"I feel pretty good. You know, the Brumos team has been preparing for a long time. They got a lot of experience with this race, and with the loss of Bob Snodgrass last year, who was the principal basically, it would be a special victory if we're able to come away with a win."

 

 

 

"Well, this race in particular is just making sure you got a car that can keep pace - that's going to be the first thing. You can't afford any mistakes. The depth of the field is so strong that if you are in the pits for any length of time, you're going to be out of contention. There's just too many good teams, good driver line-ups, [and] good cars to be able to spend any length of time other than normal pit procedure and still think you're going to win. So that's going to be the goal - to try to run a competitive race, try to stay on the lead lap, that's all you need to do. You don't need to, you know, push the absolute limits of the car, just try to stay on the lead lap and see what kind of shape you're in come Sunday morning. The big key is just staying out of the pits. That means staying out of other cars. That means staying on the track. It means not getting penalized on the pit lane. I mean just all those things are going to be key."