J.R. Fitzpatrick was the top Raybestos Rookie in today’s first practice session for the NextEra Energy Resources 250, logging the fifth-best overall speed. The rest of the class: Tayler Malsam (7th), Johnny Sauter (13th), James Buescher (15th) and Ricky Carmichael (21st).
J.R. FITZPATRICK, No. 7 MAMMOET CHEVROLET: “The whole TRG bunch is working their butts off on the Mammoet Silverado. We had one little small problem when we went out the first time. We were dragging the bottom a bit but it sounds like a lot of people are. I’m excited. It’s driving like a dream and it’s got good speed. It’s all going good so far.”
HAVE YOU FOCUSED ON MAKING A QUALIFYING RUN OR DRAFTING PRACTICE? “I mean, it’s 50-50 ‘cause I mean we had good practice time when we were here with the ARCA car and that thing couldn’t qualify but it was really good in the race, so that made us change our game plan a little bit. We’re going to work on drafting here a bit to see how it moves around and everything else and we’re going to go over to qualifying. Obviously the drafting is more important but we want to be able to start closer to the front where I don’t have the same problem that I had in the ARCA race.”
IS THERE A LOT OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ARCA CARS AND THE CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS? “Big time. And even for a tall guy like me, I don’t know how Michael Waltrip could ever fit in one of those cars ‘cause I had an old Cup car and oh man, I feel so squished in there. These things here, they’ve got more downforce on the front end. They’re a lot more fun to drive, if you ask me, and lots more room. I like the room. Everything’s going really smooth, fantastic right now, and I’m just pumped right up.”
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE 2009 SEASON? “We found out yesterday that, if I heard it all correctly, we’re going up to Talladega. Not that’s three-quarters of the races, I believe, so we’re really going to try our best. We’re going to keep working in that mindset that we’re going to go for Raybestos Rookie of the Year and just keep plugging away and maybe we can get a couple of deals on the side here just to put on the trunk or whatever just to help us get to the end. I think we have a really good chance. There’s a lot of good contenders going for rookie of the year and I really want that Raybestos hat [smiles].”
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THEN FOR YOU AND THIS TEAM TO HAVE A GOOD RUN HERE IN DAYTONA? “It really helps but in way, for someone trying to get into the Camping World trucks or Nationwide or anything like that, now is kind of the best time to get in but the sponsorship is getting hard to find so it kind of balances out. But for us to have a good run at Daytona is going to help us a lot to move on to California. It’s like everything else: every time someone goes for a championship or Raybestos Rookie of the Year, he’s got to keep plugging away race by race and take it at that.”
TAYLER MALSAM, No. 81 ONE EIGHTY TOYOTA: “This One Eighty Tundra is doing good. These guys have had short hours to put this truck together but they’ve done an amazing job of getting ready to run and I’m really happy for ‘em. I think we’ll have a good chance of coming out in the top-five or maybe win this weekend. It’s a solid truck.”
DID YOU FOCUS ON DRAFTING PRACTICE OR QUALIFYING? “We did all single runs and we did go out in one session and did drafting. We’ll probably work on drafting in the next session.”
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GET USED TO THE TRUCK BOUNCING AROUND HERE? “I mean, I ran here in the ARCA race and they don’t move around but these things move around quite a bit. I come from dirt sprint cars so I’m kind of used to the sideways deal, just not on a big track like this. It’s a handful but it’s a fun handful. I’ve just got to give it up for these Randy Moss guys. They’ve worked their butts off in the shop and put everything together. It’s not much of a driver track out here, just hold it wide open. These guys do the rest of the work.”
WHAT IS YOUR FOCUS GOING TO BE ON DURING THE FINAL PRACTICE THIS AFTERNOON? “Just getting the car comfortable. We’re a little bit loose. Tighten it up a little bit and we’ll be good to go.”
From Jimmy White / Camp & Associates, Inc.
