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NASCAR CUP SERIES: COOK OUT SOUTHERN 500September 6, 2020Rodney ChildersDarlington, South Carolina THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by our race‑winning crew chief Rodney Childers. We'll get right into questions here for Rodney. Q. Before the leaders hit there and before the caution and stuff, did you have any sense of how the race would have played out had the strategies still been different with Truex trying to track you guys down? RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, I'm not real sure. We decided that the best thing for us was to split it into thirds, and they decided to split it into halves. It seemed like the people that were trying to split it into halves ended up having to pit a little bit early just because the tires were going away so bad and getting down to cords and unraveling. You know, I felt good about what we were doing. It was the best thing for us. We had been cording the right rear a few times during the night and felt like we needed to play it on the cautious side and kind of be aggressive at the same time, so that's why we decided to split it into thirds. Q. Kevin intimated in his interview that the strategy that you used was an aggressive strategy knowing that of course you had the big point cushion. Are you calling these races more aggressively because you have all these points in the bank? And is it all about winning now all the way through until of course you get to Phoenix? Is it all about winning these nine races, and are you calling races that way? RODNEY CHILDERS: No, I mean, that's not necessarily my goal is to be aggressive. We're more or less just trying to do what's right for us and be consistent and do the best we can every week. Like I said, we just felt like that was the best thing for us. With our car kind of falling off too much and cording the right rear, we really didn't have another option. We were just trying to do what was best, and it kind of worked out in both of those last two stages and we got a caution when we were up there at the lead. Q. You're closing in on 10 wins. I asked Kevin the same question. How big of a deal would it be for you guys to eventually win 10 races this year? If you maintain the pace you're going to get there. RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, that's definitely a big deal. In 2018 we were able to win eight races and the All‑Star Race, and that was a huge deal for us. That's one of those dream seasons, and of course this one has been, also. The playoffs are just so hard. I think you hear a lot of people talk about that. Things can go good or things can go bad, and you never know if you're going to make it to Phoenix or in the past Homestead and race for a championship. We've been pretty fortunate to be able to do that. But overall it's tough. You've kind of got to be perfect in every round, and you've still got to be able to win races. Normally if you don't win a race, you're not going to win the championship. Right now we've got decent speed. Tonight we missed it pretty bad, but overall we were able to hang in there and keep fighting the whole race and get a finish at the end of it that was probably better than what we deserved. Q. What did you learn here in May in that victory that benefitted you tonight? RODNEY CHILDERS: Well, we probably felt like we learned too much. We had a great car the first race here. We were able to win that one and brought the same car back here and felt good about that second race and ended up just a little bit off. We had to start on the bottom on about every restart it seemed and ended up not winning that one. We felt like we had a few things that we could make better, and we did a few things to come back here but stuck with somewhat the same balance that we had back when we were here earlier this year, and man, we were just out to lunch when we started the race. We were out of control loose. Just had to keep tightening the car up over and over and over all night long. I mean, we wore the pit crew out by just making so many adjustments. I think we ended up with five and a half rounds out of the right rear by the end of the race and packer and air pressure adjustments and rounds in the left rear and all kinds of stuff, and we gave up a lot of spots on pit road trying to get the car better, and things just kept working out for us. We just happened to be in the right spot at the right time at the end. Q. Now you have a couple Darlington wins under your belt, especially the Southern 500. Of course you won the Coke 600 over a decade ago. Do you reflect on the fact that you have won a couple of these crown jewel races? RODNEY CHILDERS: I don't know if you ever appreciate them as much as the first one, of course. But man, when you win one of these, it feels completely different than all the other ones. You could probably tell by my excitement on the pit box after the race. The Brickyard 400, the Coke 600, this one, and of course the Daytona 500 I've never won, but man, they're just big races, and they mean a lot. They're races that people never forget. You know, just an exciting night for us for sure, and definitely great to get another one. Q. I want to rewind back to May again. When Kevin won here at Darlington there were no fans in the stands. Fast forward to tonight we've got fans here at the lady in black. What does it mean to have fans back in the stands and have Kevin celebrate in front of them? RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, I mean, the fans are just such a huge deal of what we do as a sport, whether they're at home or whether in the stands. But to hear the crowd after the race is pretty special. I mean, we've won‑‑ we've been fortunate to win quite a few this year, and when you win one and you come down off the pit box and it's just completely silent, it's just different. To be able to hear people screaming and yelling and happy for their driver is just an awesome feeling, and really happy that they were back and able to celebrate. Q. How do you guys look at Richmond this weekend with low downforce and the high horsepower? RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, it should be a good race up there. You look back at 2018 and the type of racing that we did up there and the amount of tire falloff that we had and all those things, that was a special type of racing back then. To be able to go back and do that again, I think you've seen at all the 750 tracks this year, the racing has been outstanding. I think you'll see the same thing at Richmond, a lot of tire falloff, the stage lengths are just a little bit different, and I think it'll be a great race up there. Q. Next week Richmond, obviously you don't have to worry as much about it I understand because of the win, but how important is next week because the tire combination is the same as Phoenix and to kind of I guess get a little bit more notes? How does this change things or give you the freedom to do things next week at Richmond? RODNEY CHILDERS: Yeah, every race is important. Richmond is a place I've never won at, so to go there and to be able to just race and race hard is super important to us. We want to go up there and keep things rolling and try to keep winning races and doing the best that we can, like I said, and it'll be a great race up there. The setup and stuff like that is nothing like what you would ever run at Phoenix and doesn't do us a lot of good from that standpoint, but overall it's still another race that we have to go up there and do our best and try to win. THE MODERATOR: Rodney, that will do it for our media availability. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Congratulations on the win, and we'll see you at Richmond. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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