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NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES: FORD ECOBOOST 300November 15, 2014Jeremy BullinsRoger PenskeHOMESTEAD, FLORIDA KERRY THARP: Let's hear from our 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series owner's champion, and that is Team Penske, for the second consecutive season they have won this prestigious honor in the Nationwide Series, and joining us is Roger Penske, owner of Team Penske. Roger, congratulations on this win. You had Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, and Alex Tagliani driving for you this year, and you just had a super season. You had five wins, 23 top 5s and 29 top 10s this season. Congratulations. Just talk about your championship here this year in the owner's and what it means for Team Penske to win this again back‑to‑back years, just showing again the prestige and class that your organization exudes here in NASCAR. ROGER PENSKE: Well, it was a great day. I thought that race would never get over. I think the green‑white‑checker, and all we had to do was finish 25th, but you never know with all the action up front. Brad ran a great race. When you think about five different drivers, it's really a credit to Jeremy Bullins, the job he's done in preparing the car for different drivers, and with six wins, one with Ryan Blaney, it's obvious the Nationwide means so much to us because it's the proving ground. It's the testing ground for our crew chiefs, young drivers. And there's no question, when you see Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson and the people who come up through that series, it means a lot to us, but it also‑‑ the mechanics and the over the wall guys that we train there. To me this was a team effort at Team Penske. Everyone did so much to make this happen, and obviously it didn't come down until the last lap there until we knew we had it. Two years in a row, I think we had four championships here over the last few years, and that's really important to us as we go forward. Tomorrow is a big day, but I've got two boxes checked off now, I get one more tomorrow. Q. What would it mean to you to be the only owner to have the IndyCar title, now the owner's championship in Nationwide, but also what could be accomplished tomorrow? ROGER PENSKE: Well, it would be a dream come true, there's no question. It's a goal that the team had when we started at the beginning of the year. It got a little more real as we came to the Chase, and we saw how competitive we were in that series. We knew that we had a strong car in Nationwide, so to me, can't count our chickens before they're hatched, there's no question about that, but we've got some tough racing to do tomorrow. You could see it today at this track. It's a different track. It would mean a lot to our team. When I think about the overall season, I think about 22 races we've had winners, and that's a record for us as a team for over 50 years. To me I can't say it's a bad year one way or the other, but our goal is to win tomorrow. Q. One of the drivers in this car, Ryan Blaney, we know he's going to do a partial Cup schedule. Do you have it solidified yet, what he'll do Nationwide‑wise next year? ROGER PENSKE: Well, I've got a high‑class problem. I've got three great drivers that want to drive the car, so hopefully we'll divide next year's season up by three, and with Blaney running the 21 car at least 12 races and hopefully more, we'll have a full season, and we'll run a car a couple extra races or a couple cars a couple extra races. But obviously he'll have an opportunity. He'll make the step up into the Cup side with the 21. We've got a great technical alliance there going forward next year. To me it'll be divided up by the three drivers. Q. Roger, you had 11 wins in the Cup Series, and I imagine you probably hoped that you'd have two drivers racing tomorrow for the championship. With the numbers and the way that they are and the success the team has had, will it be a disappointment not to win the championship? ROGER PENSKE: I can tell you I'll be disappointed if we don't win the championship, point number one, but we all signed up for the new format. I think it's been exciting. I've seen television ratings, I've seen more people in the stands, so it's working. What we've got to do is execute tomorrow. When I step back and think about our season, it'll be one of the best we've ever had. Q. Kevin Harvick has been kind of trying to play some mind games with Joey Logano. What have you said to Joey about‑‑ have you had any advice, like ignore him, or what do you tell him about that? ROGER PENSKE: Well, I know Kevin quite well and have known him for a long time. He's from Bakersfield where Mears came from. I remember when he used to think Mears was a superstar. I respect him a lot. But I can tell you this, that 24‑year‑old Joey Logano, no one gets in his head. You could see that when he got down last week in Phoenix. We're standing behind him. To me he's going to be one of the guys that are going to have to get beat. Harvick is going to have to beat him to win. I think it's going to be a level playing field, and the best guy is going to win tomorrow. Q. Roger, could you share with fans how you showcase and display your many trophies? You must have a very large room for all those, right? ROGER PENSKE: Well, you know, trophies are an important part of winning, and we have‑‑ I have an archives back in Detroit and a place that we keep a lot of the memorabilia and trophies. We have our little bit of a museum out in Phoenix and we have some there. So I guess we've spread them around because it's exciting, and if you come to our headquarters in Detroit, we try to have the current ones on display there. It's pretty exciting. I'd like to get one more tomorrow. KERRY THARP: Roger, congratulations on this owner's championship, and we wish you all the luck in the world tomorrow as Joey Logano goes for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship for Team Penske. ROGER PENSKE: Thank you very much. KERRY THARP: We're going to hear now from crew chief Jeremy Bullins, crew chief of the No.22 Team Penske Ford that captured the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series owner's championship. And Jeremy, you had a stable of drivers this year that you worked with, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, and Alex Tagliani, and you had five wins, 23 top 5s, 29 top 10s this season, an outstanding year, and you were there each and every race weekend. Just talk about the significance of winning this owner's championship for Team Penske. JEREMY BULLINS: Yeah, I think the thing we've talked about this week that gets lost a little bit with the owner's championship is it's a team championship. No matter who drove, no matter who worked on the car, all that kind of thing, I think if you look at the Nationwide Series the last two years, the 22 and the 54 have separated themselves from the rest of the teams, and we have two teams that are 100 points ahead of everyone else for two years in a row, are two teams that have a lot to be proud of. There's a lot of people at Team Penske that have been a big part of that, with everybody that drove the car, everybody played a role in it, whether it was one race or ten. Just really grateful for the opportunity, grateful for everything that Roger has given us to be successful and glad we were able to finish it off tonight. Q. Can you just talk about how you juggle everything each of the drivers need and kind of keep it straight what their characteristics are, just what they're looking for in the car and kind of balance that out? JEREMY BULLINS: Yeah, I think with our two Cup drivers, with Joey and Brad, we're fortunate that their Cup teams are right down the hall. We're able to pay attention to what those guys are working on, what those guys like in their Cup cars, feed off that information. Same thing with Blaney, we're able to kind of keep up with him in the truck and learn and gather as much information as you can about how guys communicate, what things they like in the car, what they don't like. And then when we have McDowell and Tagliani this year for just a race or two here or there, it's just a matter of spending some time with them before you go to the racetrack, get to know them as much as you can, do your homework on their history, what their strengths and weaknesses are and try to get the most out of it. KERRY THARP: Jerry, congratulations on an outstanding season and all the contributions that you and your team have made to help get this championship for Team Penske. Job well done, man. JEREMY BULLINS: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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