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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: CAN-AM DUEL #1

February 18, 2016

Daytona Beach, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Robert Richardson. Robert has qualified for the Daytona 500. Talk a little bit what it means to make the field for Sunday's race.
ROBERT RICHARDSON: A lot of you guys know, it's not all necessarily about the drivers when you come to Daytona. I have to thank Mike Ford and all of our crew for all the hard work and determination that they've had this weekend, for being a make‑shift crew put together here in the past couple weeks.
Two weeks ago I was at home working on my ranch, got a phone call from Lane Segerstrom from StalkIt, saying he was trying to put a deal together trying to run the Daytona 500. This was two weeks ago. A lot of guys start preparing for this race as soon as the season ends from last year.
I'm very, very honored to be a part of BK Racing, having another opportunity to run here at the Daytona 500. I've been in it once before, but this one is very, very special to me. My wife and I welcomed our brand‑new baby boy who was born in early December. Every bit of earnings we get from this race is going to go into a college fund for him.
It's just the good Lord looking down on us and blessing us. Got to give all the glory to Him.
THE MODERATOR: We are also joined by Matt DiBenedetto. Matt has qualified for the Daytona 500 based on his finish in the race today.
Matt, talk a little bit about making the field for the Daytona 500.
MATT DiBENEDETTO: Man, it's a heck of an honor to be racing in my first Daytona 500. On top of that, getting all four of our BK Racing cars in. Depending on how I fell in the race, but try to race my way in, so it would get Robert in, if we were the top‑finishing unchartered team. That was the main goal.
Being able to race in my first Daytona 500 this weekend is going to be a heck of an honor. I've dreamed of it since I was five, so I'm excited.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.

Q. Robert, in 2011 you were locked in the race. This year you weren't. Did you feel any different?
ROBERT RICHARDSON: Man, it's a night and day difference. The stress that I've been putting just on myself in general to make this race, I've been pacing the floor ever since I woke up this morning just eager to get this race underway, just eager to see how the outcome would happen.
I'm still in awe that this happened. I'm very, very thankful for Mike Ford, for Ron Devine, Toyota, Lane Segerstrom with StalkIt, my family, friends, wife. I just couldn't be more blessed than I am right now.

Q. Describe what the pressure is like in today's Duels with so limited number of positions available for either one of you to advance through the race. It's almost like the pressure is concentrated compared to years past where three or four guys can transfer in through the Duels.
MATT DiBENEDETTO: Yeah, you know, there's a lot of change happening in NASCAR. It is a very different format and system than we're used to. But I think it's going to be a great evolution for the sport.
But like you said, it's definitely a lot different because there was a lot of focus on both of us going into this 'cause there was only a handful of unchartered cars coming here trying to make the race. They put a lot of focus on us, a lot of extra stress on us trying to make it. Especially coming down for us to qualifying, we knew we were right on the bubble of whether we could qualify in on straight speed or not because Michael McDowell was really close to us in practice.
They were massaging on the car trying to do everything possible they could. Luckily I got to have the world lifted off my shoulders on Sunday after we made our qualifying lap. Unfortunately for Robert, he had to race his way in. They did the same. They put themselves in the fourth qualifying position, which was huge. It allowed us to have a good position going into the race.
I knew I didn't have anything to lose other than go out there and race my tail off to try to get Robert in.
It's just a lot different this year with the way that NASCAR has changed to the charter system. But I'm excited about it. Now that it's all over with, we can say it was cool that we had a lot of focus put on us.
ROBERT RICHARDSON: I owe Matt for this one, for sure.

Q. Matt, is the plan still to change engines from a TRD motor to a Triad motor for the Daytona 500?
MATT DiBENEDETTO: I believe so. I'm about 99% sure we are going to change to the Triad engine. Triad does a great job for us. They have all last year, did a really good job for us. Obviously I'm thankful that we had support from Toyota, a nice, powerful TRD engine under the hood for practice, qualifying, then the Duels today. It helped us a ton. I couldn't be more thankful to those guys for that.
But, you know, for Sunday I think we're going to switch back to a Triad engine. We have a really good car, so hopefully we can have a good run on Sunday.

Q. Matt, this is easily the most BK has been at Daytona. What do you think the biggest change has been during the off‑season? Is this a result of more Toyota support or the charter system positioning you to be more competitive?
MATT DiBENEDETTO: The more support we get from Toyota, the better it's going to help us. I mean, that's a huge asset. It showed here this weekend. We're really, really thankful to Toyota for giving us more help. That's a lot of what you see there. That's going to help us tremendously.
That and then, you know, Ron Devine, our team owner, made a huge commitment during the off‑season, showed that he wants to get better by buying a whole fleet of cars from Michael Waltrip Racing, equipment from there, we hired some personnel from there.
We're still a small team, so we still run on a smaller budget obviously than some of the bigger teams. But I feel like we are going to take it to the next level. I feel like we have a good chance to perform a lot better this year. Like you said, it was neat to come here and be more competitive.
We're excited about it. I think you will see us running more competitively this year from my aspect as a driver, I learned a lot last year, not being a rookie this year, taking off the dreaded yellow stripes off the back will be good for me as well.

Q. Robert, would you enlighten a few of us on what your ranch is and where it is and what you do there?
ROBERT RICHARDSON: My ranch is located in Pilot Point, Texas, which is about 30 minutes north of the Texas Motor Speedway. Basically what I do out there is hay production for a lot of the horse ranches there locally. Anything from racehorses, barrel horses, anything a horse can be used for, that's basically what I do on a yearly basis.
THE MODERATOR: Robert and Matt, congratulations. Good luck on Sunday in the race.
ROBERT RICHARDSON: Thank you.
MATT DiBENEDETTO: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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