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NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: FORD ECOBOOST 300

November 21, 2015

Scott Graves

Homestead, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We're going to hear now from our 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series championship team crew chief, and that's Scott Graves. This is your first career NASCAR XFINITY Series championship. Congratulations. How does it feel to be a national series champion in NASCAR?
SCOTT GRAVES: Just feels great to know‑‑ to be a champion at this level. You think of competitive sports around the world, this is one of the top ones to me, and to be able to get a championship in this series was‑‑ it's an honor.

Q. Scott, was it a tough call to bring him into the pits when the three other guys you were racing stayed out?
SCOTT GRAVES: No. I mean, we needed the tires. For us we thought having fresh tires on it was going to put us in a better position, that we were going to be up right behind the leaders, felt like we could race for the lucky dog at that point. We knew if we could be in the lucky dog position and the wave‑around situation worked for those other guys, we were basically going to be on even ground. With the number of laps that were left, we figured that was our best option at that point.

Q. How nerve‑racking was it for you towards the end of the race, especially being back in the pack around some of those lap‑down cars?
SCOTT GRAVES: For sure it was nerve‑racking. For me it was bigger earlier in the race, I guess middle of the race when the 42 and the 54 were so dominant, and they came through the field, and we got‑‑ I knew when we were in a situation when we were a lap down and the other guys weren't, that's when we were most vulnerable. But once they ended up being on the same lap as us, then that helped out quite a bit.

Q. Scott, just talk about the relationship between you and Chris Buescher; I know you were with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for his rookie campaign if I'm not mistaken. What were you able to take from that just to work with Chris in his rookie season and then now to the championship?
SCOTT GRAVES: I learned a lot, really. I guess in 2013 I was with Ricky, and really learned a lot through that year about the teamwork and putting together a good team and what it requires, and so then in '14 when I got the chance to work with Chris and really put our own team together, that really helped as far as getting the foundation of things together.

Q. Can you just talk about Chris and how much he's matured as a driver on and off the track? I mean, to watch him tonight and other nights, he basically goes out there and does what he needs to do. He knew what the big picture was and he stuck with the game plan.
SCOTT GRAVES: Yeah, exactly. Even last year the maturity was there, so it's hard so say that he's grown a lot because he's been that mature and that solid right from the start. This year I think we just got‑‑ as a team got better, cars got better. Chris's racing, he definitely grew when you look at where we were in the stats and how we improved from last year.
He's always just been solid, and I knew I could count on him as we got through the last month of racing even. We knew we were kind of in that situation where we just had to be really careful and not give up the big points days, and he did a really good job of managing all that.

Q. The pace of the top two leaders, did that throw you off a little bit, putting that many people a lap down? Did that change your strategy at all?
SCOTT GRAVES: Yeah, it surprised me to see, because we haven't seen that in a while, to see two cars just be that dominant. It surprised me for sure. I didn't think we would be in that position where we'd be a lap down, so that did catch us a little off guard. Like I said, we were just lucky enough that they were so dominant over everybody that it put everyone we were competing against really in a same situation.

Q. How much of a challenge will it be to repeat for you guys next year?
SCOTT GRAVES: Challenge for sure. I mean, going through this year and understanding how difficult it is, I mean, you look at the guys we were competing against, I mean, you can't have a bad day. You can't have a DNF, and there's obviously going to be some really good people coming up in good equipment next year, as well.
For sure it's going to be a challenge. I'd love to have the opportunity to go back and try, though.

Q. Scott, how difficult is it to run most of the season? Obviously you're trying to win at the end of the year, too, but race defensively, I guess, after your mindset for most of the year has been totally different from that? Is it hard to make that switch, and is it any less satisfying to not be able to go out there and try to race for the championship, knowing you're protecting rather than going after it?
SCOTT GRAVES: It's hard. It's more frustrating, I think, than anything because I think early on, even last year when we were trying to get the first win, it was a much more just‑‑ we would go for it. We would try to take advantage of situations, and knowing there might be a little bit of risk, but the reward was going to be there. Even earlier this year we raced like that in a few places like Dover, getting the win there. We knew the way that worked out, we took a little bit of risk there, but it paid off. Later in the year I don't know that I would have done that or could have done that knowing the down fall on the other side to it.
It was frustrating for sure I know the last month or so. Chris and I would talk about that, that we can't wait to go back and just be able to race and not have to worry about the points side of it.
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on this championship. Enjoy it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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