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NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2016

Joe Shear, Jr.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and continue on with our NASCAR Camping World Truck Series crew chiefs. We are now joined by Joe Shear Jr., crew chief for the No.21 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet for Johnny Sauter and GMS Racing. Thanks for joining us today.
JOE SHEAR JR.: Thanks for having me.
THE MODERATOR: You and Johnny have been close friends for years now. After joining GMS Racing mid‑season, how has that friendship helped you and Johnny succeed on the racetrack and you look for your first championship together?
JOE SHEAR JR.: Well, it's always good to have an open relationship and a friendship like me and Johnny have. It makes the tough times and the good times just as important. We have a great communication, so we talk all the time about how to make our stuff better and how to win these races and win for championships. We've won championships together before, but we just haven't done it in NASCAR, and we're really excited about winning this first one and trying to win this first one, and we think we've got probably the best chance we've ever had with this GMS group.

Q. I wanted to ask you a little bit about Johnny and if you think this style to decide a championship kind of suits his personality, going for it all with this one big race.
JOE SHEAR JR.: I think it makes it exciting. I don't know, we looked at it before, like even if we were running the old championship points, we'd be leading it. So I think it really comes down to winning races and executing and top 10ing through the whole year to win championships no matter what. But I think the format is exciting. I think it's really exciting, and I think it puts the pressure on me and the team and Johnny, and I think the championship crew chiefs and championship teams thrive on competition and stress, and I think it brings the best out of us. When it happens like that, we kind of thrive and find the best people and the best stuff and bring the best out of us.
This was like a few years ago when we were running for a championship, we had to go down to Homestead and dominate, lead the most laps and win the race and try to win the championship, and we did that once before, and we fell a little bit short in the championship, but we knew what we had to do to go down there, and we're kind of treating this the same way because that's kind of what we've got to do, so we're in that mentality.

Q. You guys have been fast all year, but obviously the last three races you've really turned it on. Just what's been the difference?
JOE SHEAR JR.: Well, I came over to this team a little bit into the season here, so I had to search and find basically‑‑ me personally, I had to learn their equipment, their aero platforms and their stuff that they were doing, so I brought some of my technology on setup stuff over here, and I had to get it to jibe with the stuff that they had going here.
So I had to kind of do a learning process myself, and then it's been a few years since I worked with Johnny, so I had to learn him again, even though we've been best friends forever. I know everything about him, but I had to learn him again.
With the win early in the season, we had that kind of room to work, so we were experimenting with some stuff and playing with some stuff, and here at the end of the year we've kind of put all that together and found some stuff that worked, and we've been on a roll. We've been winning and we've been feeling really good, and we're on a high wave, and we're riding it.

Q. Another question that might tie into that a little bit is after Martinsville, Maury talked about just the success of the organization in its first couple years, and I know you've only been here for part of this season, but just what part of the culture at GMS has made it so successful so quickly?
JOE SHEAR JR.: Well, it's a big organization with a lot of people and a lot of good people. Putting everything together and getting everybody working in the right direction and doing what us racers do has been successful because of the people that we're surrounded by here, and it's happened in a short amount of time.
I feel good, and everybody here feels good, and everybody's hard work is paying off now. That's what's winning races and making this team so successful.

Q. With the organization being relatively new and also expanding so well, so quickly, and getting to this point, how extra special would it be to get that championship and to bring that home? And since you know Johnny so well, you obviously know that he's somewhat of a firecracker at times and can go out there and mix it up. How do you temper him from the box, or do you want to, in his run for this championship this weekend?
JOE SHEAR JR.: Well, Johnny is a veteran, so I don't really tell Johnny how to drive or do anything. I don't really have to because he knows when to go, and he knows when not to. We work good together like that.
But this is‑‑ with the Chase format that we've got here, it's all out or nothing. If there's any driver out there that I would like to be behind my steering wheel, it's him, because he can get it done, and he knows how to get it done. The way we've been running here, I feel great having him there.

Q. You've been around the Truck Series in the past. What's your take on the new Chase format and how it's affected the championship battles this year?
JOE SHEAR JR.: I think it's great. I think it makes it exciting. I think it puts a lot of pressure on the teams to do well. I think it‑‑ I don't even know how to say this, but I think it's pretty exciting. Like you don't have second chances or you don't have the year to back down onto. You work to get to this point, and then you've got to make it happen, and if you don't make it happen, you're out. So you've got to do and you've got to be on your best job.
THE MODERATOR: Joe, thanks for joining us today, and good luck on Friday.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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