Saturday to discuss their 43 car throwback scheme, the weekend ahead and more.">

Ford Performance NASCAR: Darlington (Aric Almirola/Trent Owens Press Conference)

Ford Performance NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Bojangles Southern 500 – Darlington Raceway
NSCS Practice Sessions
Friday September 4, 2015

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 STP Ford Fusion, along with crew chief and Darlington, South Carolina native Trent Owens, met with media members after opening practice Saturday to discuss their 43 car throwback scheme, the weekend ahead and more.

ARIC ALMIROLA, driver, No. 43 STP Ford Fusion – TALK ABOUT BEING HERE FOR THE THROWBACK WEEKEND. “Well, it is always fun to come to Darlington, first and foremost, but to come here on Labor Day weekend now that it is back to its roots and what everyone thinks about coming to Darlington is really cool. 90-percent of the race teams have really gotten involved in the throwback schemes. The sponsors have gotten involved and the crew guys and the race track obviously. It is really neat to walk through the garage area and see the cars and pit crew guys. It really makes you realize how far our sport has come and just the appreciation of what all the teams and everybody has for the guys that came before us.”

TRENT OWENS, crew chief, No. 43 STP Ford Fusion – TELL US ABOUT BEING BACK HERE AT YOUR HOME TRACK AND THE TRADITION OF DARLINGTON. “I see the weather hasn’t changed much. It is always good to come to Darlington. It is home. Anytime you come home it is good. Darlington is one of the toughest places we go. It is mentally demanding, physically demanding and tough on the crew chiefs.  I won a race here with Jamie McMurray way back when I worked on that team and that was really special. Hopefully we can have a good race this weekend and find ourselves in victory lane.”

ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED – HOW MUCH FUN IS THIS WHOLE THING TO DO WITH THE MUSTACHE AND THE OLD SCHOOL UNIFORMS AND ALL OR IS IT A DISTRACTION? “I think it is fun. Like I said earlier, I think it is really cool to be able to honor all the guys, the crew guys and drivers and stuff that came before us. Obviously we have a very special situation having STP as the sponsor that has been sponsoring Richard for over 40 years. To have that opportunity to kind of go back in time is really fun. I don’t think it is a distraction at all. I think it is fun, all the crew guys are enjoying it and I think it is exciting. It gives everybody a chance to break up the monotony of showing up to the race track with kind of the same old thing every week.”

YOU HAVE RICHARD’S OLD MUSTACHE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO FIND HIS OLD SUCCESS HERE? “From what I have heard he didn’t have that much success here. This is the one track he didn’t just show up to all the time and dominate. He ran good here but he didn’t have the success here that he had at a lot of other race tracks. Trent could probably shed more light on that because he came to all the races, especially in the summer time with the King. I think they ran a lot better at Martinsville and Rockingham and those places. I think he still ran top five even when he ran bad here. I would certainly take a top five out of here. I would love to go to victory lane. This is a really special place and when you think of all the race tracks you want to win at, Daytona is top of the list. Indy and Charlotte are special but Darlington is really high on the list. Especially now with it back on Labor Day weekend and it really is the Southern 500. That would be really cool. Obviously Trent has a really special connection to this place so it would be really fun to get him to victory lane here.” 

I AM SURPRISED YOU DON’T HAVE THE COWBOY HAT AND SUNGLASSES. “He didn’t wear the cowboy hat in 1972. He started wearing it later on. I am trying to be traditional. I have the bill of my hat square like he did when he would shove it in his back pocket. I am trying to be as original as I can.”

TRENT OWENS CONTINUED – YOU GREW UP HERE AND WILL BE GRAND MARSHALL OF THE PARADE TOMORROW NIGHT. WHEN DID YOU REALIZE THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS RACE ON THIS WEEKEND? “It really was when we started coming back and they changed the date. I was involved in racing when they changed the date, as crew chief in the Saturday series and it hit home then when the date got changed. Now with it coming back, that is really important. When you look at the history of the event itself and the guys that have won here and raced here and the pictures of the cars running the bottom because they were scared to jump the banking. It really is one of the more important places and parts of this sport with the history. Now that I am older it means a lot. When I was a kid I was more interested in playing in the infield.”

HOW ABOUT THE PARADE? “It was neat that they called and asked if I would participate in the Southern 500 parade. I remember standing on the side of the road uptown and watching it as a child. I never envisioned myself riding in the parade as Grand Marshall so it is an honor and I am excited about that.”

ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED — WAS IT TOO EARLY TO GET A FEEL FOR THE LOW DOWNFORCE PACKAGE IN PRACTICE? “No, I thought I got a feel for it the very first lap. I think the thing that the low downforce package does is it creates a lot more off throttle time. As soon as you drive down into the corner for the first lap you know. We tested here a month or so ago, maybe six weeks ago and with the other package there was a lot of on throttle time. You were really close to wide open in one and two. You had to lift in three and four. The amount of on throttle time was unbelievable. Now with this package you lift really early, before you even get to the corner and it drives more like the older cars. It drives like the old Darlington and the pavement is getting worn out and Goodyear brought a tire that seems to be falling off more. I am really excited about the race and this aero package. In practice I ran around a few other cars and the balance doesn’t change that much when you are behind another car so I am happy about that. As a race car driver, that is what we want. We want to be able to lift off the gas, use the brake pedal and actually drive the race cars, not just run wide open and steer around the race track. We don’t want the car to drastically change balance when you catch another car. I feel like that is what we have here and it is very similar to what we had in Kentucky.”

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THE MUSTACHE AND DID HAVING LAST WEEK OFF GIVE YOU A CHANCE AT A RUNNING START ON IT? “I have about five days with this. I wasn’t fully committed. I shaved last week on vacation when I went to dinner with my wife and I got cleaned up. After that I kind of just let it go crazy and I had a few drinks out on the beach and thought it would be cool to grow this. I got a late start. I would like for it to be a little fuller but this is all I’ve got for now.”

HAS THE KING SEEN IT? “He did. He saw it and he actually like it. He said he won the Daytona 500 with a mustache that looked just like this. We will see if we can’t win the Southern 500 with one.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE SEEING IN THE TIRE FALL-OFF AND HOW SIGNIFICANT OR DIFFERENT THAT IS FROM YEARS PAST? “The tire fall off is quite a bit more than last year. It has some to do with the track I am sure and some to do with the tire they brought. This aero package needs a tire that falls off and it needs that to put the race back in the driver’s hands. In a crew chiefs perspective it lets us work on the race car in a more mechanical way rather than just worrying about aero. It opened some old avenues of thoughts as far as car setup so I like it. I think that you need cars to run fast in the first 10 laps and fast 50-60 laps in and have the diversity in the field and passes for the lead and stuff like that. I like what I see here. The extra set of tires just means we get to pit one more time. I am sure we will use them all with how the fall off is going.”

HOW MUCH ARE SPEEDS FALLING OFF ON LONG RUNS? “Aric and I were looking and some cars made 20 lap runs and it was close to a two-second fall off in speed. Those aren’t exact numbers but two seconds is a lot of time in 20 laps.”

ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED – DO YOU VIEW GETTING IN THE CHASE ON POINTS AS REALISTIC? “Honestly I do. I think when you are mathematically still in – until somebody tells us we are not I feel like we have a shot. I have been really proud of what we have accomplished this year. Last year we were 25th or 26th in points but we made the Chase because we won at Daytona. This year, I feel like if we made the Chase we certainly earned it. We have been consistent this year. We haven’t had the speed we want. That is just being real. Our cars haven’t been as fast as we have hoped. But we have executed and gotten the finishes when we have had bad days and turned them into okay days and turned okay days into good days. We have had a few hiccups along the way but overall this has been probably one of our best seasons as far as executing and running solid races and finishing. I think if we do that two more times and some of the other guys around us maybe have some bad luck it is certainly possible. I don’t see why it is not. If we come here and run good, run top-15 or top-10 and the 15 hits the fence or something happens or an engine failure or anything like that, then we are right back in it and we go to Richmond 10, 12, 15 points out, then that puts us within a real shot. We run good at Richmond from time to time. I am excited about our chances. We have as good a shot as some of the other guys around us.”

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Best New Zealand Online Casinos

RacingJunk.com and Leaf Racewear Safety Equipment Giveaway

Rocketplay Casino

10 deposit casinos

Best Betting Sites in Canada

bettingtop10.ca

Latest articles