Author: Jeff Gluck
Date: Sept. 22, 2015
Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to?
A: I wouldn’t. I’m a guy that likes to sit in the quiet and think about things, and sometimes it’s way more relaxing to have dead silence.
Q: Where did your first paycheck come from?
A: Well, I had all kinds of stuff I did as a kid. I mowed yards with my grandpa at $10 a pop for awhile, I painted numbers on curbs, I cleaned swimming pools. I usually did all of that over the summer and then I’d continue to do the yard part during the year as I went to school.
You painted numbers on curbs – like for the city?
No, I had a stencil box, a stencil and you’d go up and knock on their door. You’d ask them if they wanted the number on their curb repainted and I’d go out and do it for them.
Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time?
A: Rick Mears. I still have the picture that hangs in our office, and it’s him the first year he was on the front row in Indy -- I think it was ’79 maybe (actually 1978). And it says, “Hope to see you here someday – Rick Mears.”
So to be able to go back to the Brickyard and win that race and be able to live out your childhood dream was special, because watching him kind of steered me in that direction and I idolized him as a kid growing up.
How did you get the autograph?
Well, the Mears family is from Bakersfield (Calif.) and I raced go-karts with his son, Clint. The Mears Gang was alive and well in town and you’d see them around town at the go-kart track and when I worked at the kart shop with Clint. It was neat to be able to have somebody who was your idol and be able to see them in a normal atmosphere.
Q: Where’s a place you’ve never been that you’d like to go visit?
A: Hawaii. I just can’t convince my wife (DeLana) to fly over four hours of water. (Smiles) That’s really the only thing that’s holding us back.
Q: Do people ever accuse you of being addicted to your phone?
A: I purposefully try to go through days without picking my phone up, and that’s hard to do, because we’re so dependent on it. I’ve heard that from my wife a few times, but I think with my son (Keelan), it’s become a lot less. When you hear your son say, “Daddy, quit texting. Let’s talk,” – you know you’ve been on your phone too much. When he says something like that, I definitely put it down for the rest of the day.
Q: If a genie promised you a championship this year in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer?
A: Oh, 100%. I’d take that trade any day of the week. This is what you’ve dedicated your whole life to, your career. We’re fortunate first of all just to be able to call racing cars our job and get paid to do that. But this is what you race for: You want to try to win a championship. We’re fortunate to be able to have done that before, but we put so much time and effort in, that’d be an easy trade.
Q: What’s your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race?
A: It depends on who it is. Some of ‘em, you don’t care. (Smiles) Some of ‘em, you don’t call them and you just move on.
But the guys you do respect and want to maintain a pleasant relationship with, usually it’s a text or a phone call. It just depends on how bad the situation is. If it’s an honest accident, then usually everybody knows anyway. If you did do something dumb, usually it’s a call. Just in a professional world, sometimes a phone call is definitely more meaningful than a text.
Q: Do you ever get mistaken for another driver or celebrity?
A: Matt Kenseth.
Really?
All the time. Same thing happens to him. And it happens constantly. It’s happened for years.
Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go?
A: The 1980s. I just think the sport was having huge growth, the cars looked like they were super fun to drive and it wasn’t such a business that it is today – you could still sit at the back of the truck, drink a beer after the race, talk to your guys and hang out. It just seemed like a really fun time period to be a driver and race the car. Not that we have it bad now, but I think the ‘80s just looked like the most fun to be involved in NASCAR.
Q: Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible?
A: Oh man. I think over the years, I've enjoyed being a part of things more and being around people if it’s the right situation – so I don’t think invisible would be good. But flying would definitely be really convenient.
Q: I’ve been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Paul Menard, and he wanted to know how much water you drink during a race. He was saying he drinks a gallon during hot races. Have you added it up?
A: It’s not a gallon, I can promise you that. But Paul Menard is a beast. He needs a gallon of water. That’s the only guy I know that can run 250 laps at Darlington with no power steering (which happened earlier this month).
I think I drink about four of these (looks down at 16-oz. water bottle in his hand), so it’s probably 50-60 ounces of water per race.
Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver?
A: Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus?
Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10?
A: I thought this went very well. I can’t give you a 10, because they’re never perfect. But I thought it was pretty good, so I’ll give you a 9.
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