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NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: NEXTERA ENERGY RESOURCES 250February 24, 2017Jerry BaxterMaurice GallagherKaz GralaDaytona Beach, Florida THE MODERATOR: Impressive run out there tonight, Kaz. Crazy finish. Please walk us through your perspective on that final lap. KAZ GRALA: Thank you very much. It was very impressive, all those stats. I'm pretty happy about that, thank you. That was a crazy finish to the race for sure. My radio actually came unplugged towards the end of the race, so I was a little bit nervous and frantic at the end. But I got it plugged in thankfully, and at the very end of the race, I'm really glad I did. My spotter Eddie D'Hondt helped me through that one big time. I'm really happy to have been able to do that. I was just pushing Timothy Peters. I couldn't really see much ahead of me, but I did see stuff start to go wrong. And I knew I wasn't going to lift out of the throttle, so I just tugged the wheel left, crossed my fingers, closed my eyes a little bit, and I'm really glad it worked out. That was pretty hectic at the end. We had a little bit of luck, but we had a really fast Kiklos Chevy for sure. Jerry Baxter, the whole No.33 team, GMS Racing, really gave me a fast truck. That's what it takes. Get a fast truck to be up front, put yourself in these positions, and these kinds of things happen. I can't be more proud of them and happy to be able to run the whole season with these guys. THE MODERATOR: Jerry, how nervous were you on the pit box during that final lap? JERRY BAXTER: Pretty nervous. I've been coming here a long time and seen it go away a lot of times. A few years back, I was just talking to Michael Waltrip, and we were leading this thing going into Turn 3 on the July 4th Busch race and lost it. Last year I was with Christopher Bell and we pushed Johnny Sauter, another GMS truck, to the win, and ended up flipping upside down. You just never know how the end is going to be. I was a little nervous, but I'm sure proud now. THE MODERATOR: Those GMS trucks, we knew they were going to come into Daytona pretty strong. Finished strong last year at Homestead, as well. Maury, talk to us tonight about Johnny winning those first two stages. You knew you had some strong equipment. Talk about the win, though, by Kaz Grala. MAURY GALLAGHER: First things first: My hat's off to the GMS team and particularly Mike Beam. Mike has been around for 40‑some years in this business, and we were very fortunate to hook up. Our saying over the door going into the shop is, "Who are those guys," so we couldn't be happier for Jerry and Kaz and all the team and the guys back home who have done so much. We build our own chassis. Those guys put in a lot of yeoman's work. It was a nailbiter. I would have had a little less activity. I wasn't upset if Johnny had been able to pedal on away back through, but it's not the way these things end at this part of the world. You know, having Kaz just keep his head down and push on through, it was exciting to see. I was kind of counting some dollars there at the end, though, as the metal started flying. You know, Mike has put together just a terrific program, and you're seeing the results of it. Q. Kaz, earlier today you were the youngest pole winner in Daytona history; now you're the youngest winner in Daytona history. Could you have imagined this week going any better? This is pretty much the top. KAZ GRALA: I certainly didn't envision it going it this way at all. I felt pretty confident that I was going to have a fast truck. The pole, I was very excited about, but at the end of the day, that's really all about everybody back at the shop and Jerry putting together the best truck. That was their hard work, long hours over the off‑season that paid off. It wasn't until that green flag dropped that my real difficult work had to begin for the weekend. I'm pretty happy that I feel like Jerry and myself both were able to get a win today, and that whole youngest statistic sounds really cool. I didn't even think about that at all. I'm just happy to start our season off like this, because this gives us a ton of momentum, a ton of opportunity for myself to really learn on tracks I haven't been to, and for us to build up our program hopefully heading into the playoffs. We're not definitely locked in yet, but this is a pretty comfortable place to be in, the most comfortable out of anybody. I can't be more excited about that. Q. Kaz, being the youngest when you headed onto the backstretch on that last lap, it looked like they pretty much planned on hanging you out to dry and dropped you back to about seventh or eighth in line. In hindsight, that's probably why you were able to get through that wreck. At that point that you saw those trucks going by you, did you have to struggle to focus to stay pointed in the right direction and keep your mind on it, or were you getting a little bit upset about the fact that you were kind of getting railroaded? KAZ GRALA: I wouldn't say I was upset. I would say I was overwhelmed. I know I'm a rookie out there. I am not surprised that they left me. I would have done the same thing to another rookie myself. It is cut‑throat out there. Everybody is trying to win for sure. But when I saw that outside line charging past me, I thought, oh, boy, it looks like my shot at a top 2 may have just gone away. Luckily a shove from behind, I am not really sure who it was, but that helped get my momentum get back going again and closed up to the rest of the pack coming out of 4. From there it was game on in that last lap. I knew anything going to go. I knew everyone was going to be bump drafting and getting squirrelly out there. That's just part of it. I had my wheels straight. I was ready for it, and everybody just cleared out on top of me and I just kept it pinned to the bottom and drove on past. A little bit right place, right time, a little bit of strategy as to where we wanted to be going into that last lap. But like I said, it really is all about having that fast truck from GMS Racing. Without that, none of this would have been possible. Q. Kaz, I was just wondering how it feels to be a part of NASCAR's playoff already. KAZ GRALA: Oh, I don't want to get ahead of myself there, but I definitely feel pretty good about it. I think that gives us a really good chance of getting in there, and that's what it's all about in this sport. I think until then, we can do a lot of learning, especially me. I've never been on a mile‑and‑a‑half before, so next weekend is going to be my first time doing that. I'll get plenty of those under my belt, hopefully become a little bit stronger at them, and then going into the playoffs, there's quite a few of those. Really I'm just going to be working on myself, try to get more wins, try to get more playoff points, just see what we can do, and all the while I'm not going to be able to help but learn a lot. That's really what it's all going to be about, and hopefully come playoff time, I will have learned enough to be competitive against some of the big dogs in this series. Q. Maury, can you talk about GMS Racing's superspeedway program; it seems like the last couple of years it's been incredibly dominant and the elite of the series. MAURY GALLAGHER: Well, yes. Again, I go back to Mike Beam and Tom Ackerman and all the guys at the shop. They're tireless. I think if you had to take Mike to his favorite place, it would be‑‑ he'd have a wind tunnel back in his backyard and put a cot in it so he could stay there. He's very focused. He's a competition guy first and foremost, but he's done a terrific job of putting together the right teams, the right people, and putting a product together that is second to none. The results are showing out there, between Talladega last year, this time here. It's really been exciting to be around, and I look forward to more of it. Q. Kaz, you got some experience last year at GMS. When you look at what you did last season and what the organization did and how for the most part of this race you guys were pretty much dominating up front, what do you think‑‑ what kind of statement do you think that makes for GMS? KAZ GRALA: Well, I think it makes a huge statement for GMS. I know the past year they've been making a statement for themselves quickly, solidifying themselves as the top team in the Camping World Truck Series, which is not easy to do and certainly not easy to do in as few years as they've done it so far. I had a blast being with them last year and being a part of this organization, so coming into 2017, I was pretty psyched about being with these guys again. It's a great group of people. It's a really great family environment over there. Everybody enjoys it. Everybody has fun. At the end of the day, the sport is about winning and the sport is about success, sponsorship, all that, but it's got to be fun. We all do this because it's fun. It's way too hard of work to do it if it wasn't fun. I'm really glad that Mr.Gallagher, Mike Beam, Jerry Baxter, we all keep it fun over there and enjoy ourselves, and certainly there's no better way to enjoy a night than this right here. Q. Jerry, how big is this for you personally after making the change in the off‑season? JERRY BAXTER: Well, you know, that's huge. Been a lot of learning going on since December the 1st, different manufacturer with Chevrolet, and they do things a lot different than what I'm accustomed to, but it's reenergized me. Got a lot of cool people that I'm working with. I've got a really strong team; I'm pretty proud of that. Obviously we've got a strong company. But man, it's Daytona. I've won a few races over the years, but damn, Daytona, it's pretty cool. Anyhow, that's my take. Q. Kaz, how important has Jerry and Eddie D'Hondt been to your early development this weekend, and if you could, Jerry, could you address that kind of tutelage that you've given him, as well? KAZ GRALA: They've been unbelievable. I mean, I came into this race having done the ARCA race here last weekend, and before that I hadn't raced on a track in my life bigger than a mile and a quarter. Honestly I was a bit of a fish out of water over here trying to figure things out for the first time, but I watched a lot of video, talked to a lot of people, leaned on Johnny Sauter and Spencer Gallagher a ton over the off‑season and the week leading up to this race. Jerry and Eddie at the track could not have been more helpful to me. Luckily I sat down with both Jerry and Eddie leading up to this, and we went over notes, we went over strategies, thoughts, different takes on situations here, and I felt like we came in as prepared as we could have been given the situation I was in. I felt like I had all the pieces I needed other than that key experience piece, and throughout the beginning of the race I got some of that experience, not nearly as much as a lot of those guys out there, but enough to feel like I had my bearings slightly, and going into that last lap, I knew anything was going to happen. I just was going to keep my foot in it and see where it shook out. Luckily Jerry did his homework to give me a fast truck. I did my homework to be able to keep myself up front there, and at the end of the day, these things happen. This is how racing goes, and if you just keep putting yourself in that position, you're going to get wins. Hopefully we can continue doing that throughout the rest of the season and grab some more of these. JERRY BAXTER: Eddie and I actually last night after talking after practice and whatnot, we were actually a little concerned that we had overwhelmed him with information, and we were thankful that he had a night to sleep on it. But I think we were really concerned because he's new to both of us, and the fact that he's 18 years old, he's definitely mature beyond his years, so that was good. I just was pretty worried that I just gave him too much to think about and he'd just be a nervous wreck today, but he didn't seem to be, so that's‑‑ KAZ GRALA: Maybe a little bit, just a little bit. JERRY BAXTER: It worked out good. At least he's got a couple of old guys teaching him, so that's good. Q. Jerry, we've seen this in the past that different organizations kind of unlock the box to going fast at plate tracks, and they'll make that run for a while. The key to getting everybody on it is replicating each truck to a tee. How hard is it to make these trucks all exactly the same or as close as you can get to being exactly the same so they perform exactly the same way on a plate track? JERRY BAXTER: It's very difficult. It's actually easier now than it was years ago because we have a lot more tools to work with. With General Motors, what they afford us for tools is a lot better than back in the day, and so it's a lot easier. But as far as the speedway trucks go, the truck that we ran today was actually on the pole last year at this race, but when we have four trucks in the stable, it went to Talladega, and I think it was the slowest of the four. So all four trucks are very similar. That's what we've tried to do, and of course I'm only into this program about my third month right now, but that's been the whole goal with Mike Beam and Tom Ackerman was to try and repeat these trucks once we get something that's right, and they're doing a pretty good job of it. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, congratulations on the win. Kaz, I'm sure this is the first of many to come. Enjoy it, and we'll see you next week in Atlanta. KAZ GRALA: Thank you very much. I definitely will enjoy it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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