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NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 18, 2015

Rodney Childers

THE MODERATOR: We have now been joined by Rodney Childers, crew chief of the No.4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet. Rodney, talk a little bit about the anticipation of heading into this weekend with a chance to repeat as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions.
RODNEY CHILDERS: It's definitely exciting for sure. You know, I feel like we've had a really good season. We've had fast cars all year, and just everybody on the team is doing an excellent job at the shop and all the guys at the chassis shop and the engine shop at Hendrick, also. You know, it's just been a fun season, and you know, we look forward to the opportunity of going down there and at least having a shot at it and being able to do something special. You know, any time you can make that Final Four with this new format, it's pretty special.

Q. Rodney, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you guys are at three warnings, and if so, how does that play into how you kind of prepare for going through tech on Friday?
RODNEY CHILDERS: Well, we've been at three for a long time now, and we haven't had any issues at all. You've just got to be a little bit careful, you know, going through for qualifying and that type of thing. But honestly, the past month it hasn't even been an issue at all.
I think it seems like everything has been a lot more consistent with the LIS, and NASCAR is doing a really good job with that thing, and changed a few lasers out on it and stuff, and it's done really good. At Phoenix it was really consistent.
You know, you've just got to do the best job you can and play it a little bit conservative on some things and get through qualifying and get your pit selection done.

Q. You had told me the other night that you didn't feel like you guys had the best car you could have had at Homestead last year. I'm curious, what do you want to see better out of the car this year?
RODNEY CHILDERS: You know, you always fight the same things at Homestead. Everybody is really loose off the corner, under the throttle, and we just never could get anything to work the way that we wanted it to. Yeah, we got it better as the weekend went on, but it definitely wasn't perfect. We went back to test down there not long ago and didn't get much accomplished at all. It rained half the time we were there and it ended up raining out almost the whole test.
We just need to do some things better than what we did last year and try to get a little bit more rear grip in the car on the exit of the corner.

Q. Rodney, obviously last year you got to live through that whole experience at Homestead with the way that race played out. Adam Stevens was talking about earlier how there seemed to be more cautions in last year's race than in past Homestead races. How do you study or how do you look at the history of this race to kind of help prepare for this weekend, and also with the threat of weather, while it could change at any point in south Florida, there's certainly the potential for rain at least this weekend, and how you have to factor that in, as well.
RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, it seems to be changing daily. It looked like Friday was the worst day a few days ago, and now it's kind of looking like Sunday is the worst day. Man, you just hate to have weather days like that on a big race weekend like that, especially one that is going to determine a championship.
But you know, they could change 10 more times before Sunday, and we just have to wait until we get down there and then Friday morning make a plan on what we think the weather is going to do Friday and get through Friday, and then the same thing for every other day. I mean, you've just got to look at it that morning and decide what you think is right and make the best plan you can and try to execute best you can.
You know, it makes things tough for sure, but hopefully we can go down there and get adequate amount of practice and that kind of thing, and hopefully it'll all move out of there and leave us alone for Sunday.

Q. And just what about the history when you look back at what this race‑‑ the number of cautions and how you look at that as you start to figure things out for this weekend?
RODNEY CHILDERS: Well, I mean, you're not really figuring anything out for this weekend because you can't predict the future and you don't know how many cautions there's going to be this weekend.
But last year there was definitely a lot more than what we had had in previous years. You know, if you lay out the last five seasons in the race down there, there's really no comparison on how many we had last year. But you've got to be smart with your tires and make sure that you don't run out before you want to at the end and that kind of thing, but everybody knows that the pace falls off a lot down there and tires are important.
If you think you want to save a set and everybody else pits and then 20 laps later you're a lap down, it puts you in just as bad of a spot as if you're running out of tires at the end. You've got to be smart about it and just do the best job you can and hope that it works out for yourself.

Q. I wanted to get your perspective on what it's like working with Kevin. How is he a different driver now from when you started working with him, or even from when you competed against him?
RODNEY CHILDERS: I mean, the biggest thing is just I think a little bit is just his relationship with the race team, and I think having Keelan and switching to a different race team and being around different people definitely changed a lot of things. You know, I think just personally he's been a happier person. A lot of that all comes down to running well, but even the times when we're struggling and not running well, he does a great job of communicating and being positive and knowing that he's got a good race team and that we can make the car better as the week goes on and get a good result out of it.
You know, it's hard to say. You know, it could be just getting older and growing up a little bit more, like all of us do, or it could be a lot of different things. But I think just having a good family at home, which he does, and that kind of thing has really changed his outlook on life.

Q. You're also one race away from potentially going two for two since you both made the move over to Stewart‑Haas. Was this something that you guys thought could happen when you came together, or is this still beyond your wildest dreams?
RODNEY CHILDERS: Well, we certainly hoped so. I mean, when I sat at his house and we met and talked about doing this, that's what we both said is we wanted to be in a position where we could race for a championship, and not only for one year but do it for multiple years and keep things going and that kind of thing.
You know, I think just having that attitude from the beginning has been one of the best things for our race team. It's not just me and him that want it, it's the entire team, and it's I think what separates our team from a lot of others. I mean, you've got to have 100 percent of the people wanting it as much as you do, and we've been very fortunate to have that so far.
You know, it's a lot of fun going to the racetrack these days, and hopefully we can keep it going.

Q. My question is a little bit about going up against three guys that you didn't last year. Does that make it a little easier that you guys have been through this or does it make it even harder because you've got three guys that really want at this that didn't have the chance last year?
RODNEY CHILDERS: I don't know. I think we look at it differently than other guys do. We don't look at it as racing those three guys. I mean, honestly if you're going to win a championship, you're pretty much going to have to go down there and win the race. If you're going to win the race, you've got to worry about 42 others.
We don't really look at it as racing those three guys. We look at it as going down there and taking the best car we can, doing our jobs all weekend long, and just do the things that we've been doing all year and just try to have a fast car when it comes to race time and execute the whole race and not make mistakes and that kind of thing, because really, you're racing yourself. It's your own destiny, and it's your own deal, and you have to control it.
You know, those other guys aren't going to win the race for you. They're going to try to beat you. So the best thing to do is just to worry about your own team, worry about your own car, and do the best job you can.
THE MODERATOR: Rodney, we appreciate you joining us today and we wish you the best of luck this weekend.
RODNEY CHILDERS: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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