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NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 13, 2018

Brett Moffitt

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Brett Moffitt, driver of the No.16 AISIN Group Toyota, and Brett will be competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship for this weekend on Friday evening at Homestead‑Miami Speedway.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk about your relationship with Shigi and how you guys' relationship has evolved over the years from when you were running the K&N days to now competing for a championship, and my second question is are you feeling relaxed, or have you ever felt this kind of pressure before in your life going for a championship?
BRETT MOFFITT: As far as Shigi goes, I had the opportunity to work for him for two years back in the K&N days, and I always liked working with Shigi as an owner. You know, he had one mission, and that was always to win races and compete for championships. Grateful I get the opportunity to do that for him. Back in the day it probably wasn't as good a relationship as it could have been. I feel like there were some people in the company that honestly caused a little bit of turmoil, and we went our separate ways, but ever since rejoining with Shigi and the people he has in place now at HRE, it's been a dream come true, and it's been great to work with him.
I honestly feel more relaxed going into Homestead than I did going into the playoffs just because with the new playoff system it's so easy for something to happen and you get eliminated. One bad run can take you out of a championship hope, and I feel like we've had the speed all year. We've had really good Tundras all year, and we deserve to be in the playoffs, and we went and earned that spot.
Homestead is just going to be another race we've got to go execute, and I feel like we're going to have to go win the race to win the championship.

Q. Scott said Friday night at Phoenix that you guys would be winning the NT‑1 motor at Homestead. Is that still the plan?
BRETT MOFFITT: We've had a long week. It's been an interesting week. I'll say that. I'm not going to disclose which engine we're running at this time.

Q. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about what this means for you to be running for the championship because I think if people were to look back at your very recent career, you've really had to be somebody that's gotten it done on the spot to kind of keep things going for teams and for yourself, and you've done it every time you've needed to.
BRETT MOFFITT: Yeah, certainly. You know, I've been fortunate enough to be in a position where I've been able to capitalize on a lot of substitute or fill‑in roles, which as a driver that's not 100 percent what you want to be doing. Obviously I appreciate and want to make the most of every opportunity I get, but at the same time, you want to be competing full season and racing for championships, and that's what Shigi Hattori has allowed me to do this year. You know, it's just an honor to be in this position, and hopefully I can go out here and win a championship. I think for myself more than anything, just not having raced full‑time in a series since 2012, you know, it would mean a lot to myself to prove to myself that I can go win championships and not just races here and there.

Q. Kind of your thoughts on the Truck Series championship race at Homestead every year; the series puts on incredible races every week anyway, but this is always a very exciting event. How do you prepare yourself for something like this? Do you just relax during the week or do you get all amped up? How do you go about it?
BRETT MOFFITT: Fortunately I'm busy enough this week that I don't have a ton of time to think about it until we get to the racetrack. But our partners at TRD, they give us a lot of tools to use, simulation to use, and we've been working on our truck setup the best we can to have the most confidence that we can going into this weekend. Homestead is a track I've really liked in the past. I've got a couple Cup starts there. I've never ran a truck there, though, so I'll have a little bit of a learning curve when we get there, and I think you've just got to relax and enjoy the moment we're in right now, and everything we've done up to this point, but we've got to work our tails off and go try to win this race and win this championship.

Q. You've been active with the floods and the tornados back in Iowa. What would a Truck Series championship mean for you and for the state of Iowa?
BRETT MOFFITT: Yeah, you know, I try to give back in a way to the state of Iowa and then also to the North Carolina hurricane victims. You know, I think it would mean a lot. As the season goes on, there's more and more people commenting, whether it be Twitter, Facebook or on Instagram, that they're watching and rooting from Iowa, and a lot of them are from Grimes, Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, and obviously that's where I grew up. It's great that my hometown fans are acknowledging what I'm doing and supporting what I'm doing, so it meant a lot that I could try to give back in a small way. I know it's not going to fix everything what I did, but I'm just glad to be able to help in any way that I can.

Q. A year ago, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think you knew what, if any, NASCAR future you had, and now one year later you are getting ready to have the opportunity to win your first national series championship. Has this journey over the past years, and you guys have had your own ups and downs at Hattori, has it been sort of surreal when you look at how far you've come so quickly?
BRETT MOFFITT: Certainly. Like you said, a year ago, I honestly had no idea whether I'd have a job this year or not, and I was pretty damned close to moving back to Iowa and starting to build houses to be honest with you, and that's just based off a financial decision where I was fortunate to make some money early in my career when I was Cup racing, and eventually that money runs out and you need a job. I wasn't certain what the future would hold, but to get paired up with Shigi and the team he's built throughout the last couple years and to take it to Victory Lane not once but five times and be competing for a championship this weekend, it is pretty surreal, like you said, that we got together and we instantly clicked with myself and all the crew guys and Shigi. It's honestly just a blessing, and looking forward, I'm kind of in the same position as I was last year where I don't know what next year holds, and I'm just hoping that this year's effort will go a long way and show the right people that I have the talent to get the job done.

Q. You kind of already answered part of the second question, which was do you feel‑‑ I know the year isn't over, but do you feel maybe you have garnered or captured the attention of some people to get maybe a second look at a NASCAR career after what you've been able to accomplish this season?
BRETT MOFFITT: I would certainly hope so. You know, we've had a hell of a year, and I think we've proven that even with a small team we can go to Victory Lane multiple times and compete with the biggest teams in the Truck Series. That's just speaks for how hard everyone at HRE works and how well we work together. But I don't know what the future will hold, like I said, but I'm just trying to do everything I can do, and that's part of me putting the pressure on myself to go win a championship, is that at least I can say I did it. Not knowing what the future could hold, that would mean a lot to me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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