MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
MONSTER ENERGY ALL-STAR RACE
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MAY 18, 2018
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway and discussed returning to the Coca-Cola 600 as the defending winner, the new rules package for the All-Star race, Instagram Live and much more. Full Transcript:
WE SAW YOU WENT TO POST MALONE THE OTHER DAY WITH YOUR GROUP HAD DID THAT GO?
“It was fun. It was kind of random I just hit up you guys (NASCAR) and asked about going to the Post Malone concert and we got some tickets and then ended up backstage and got to meet him. He was a super nice guy and watched the concert from the stage. I wasn’t expecting that. That was cool and Cam Newton (quarterback for the Carolina Panthers) showed up behind me and I was like ‘holy cow’ I can of fanboyd over that because I’m a huge Panthers fan. A lot of the wide receiving core and some of the new guys that are on the team were with him and after that we huge out backstage for a little bit after the concert and then made our way home. I got to take my guys with me and they had a lot of fun. It was just a good time on a Wednesday.”
THIS TRACK OBVIOUSLY MEANS A LOT TO YOU, FIRST CUP WIN HERE LAST YEAR, RACED HERE GROWING UP, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO RUN IN YOUR FIRST ALL-STAR RACE?
“It feels great. I remember coming here the last couple of years and worried about getting through in the Open and figuring out ways to make the car fast in short run periods of time. Now I don’t have to worry about that. I’m in the race. With the new package I think it’s anybody’s race to win really, so we are going to go hard and see if we can’t bring home 1 million dollars. As soon as that happens… I actually am a little nervous about qualifying with no experience on the qualifying, but I guess we are going to go straight to that if that is the plan, we will have to figure it out on the fly.”
DO YOU EXPECT THE RACING ON SATURDAY NIGHT TO RESEMBLE DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA?
“I think it’s going to be intense. I have only made three quarters of a lap before it started raining out there, but I felt like I had a ton of grip and the draft will be big, I feel like. The cars in front of you, you are going to go a lot faster. Yeah, I think it’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be what the All-Star race is supposed to be, a wild mess that will probably happen Saturday night. Then the smaller amounts of practice that we have will even intensify that. We will see what we can do.”
HOW TOUGH IS IT GOING TO BE IF YOU CAN’T GET OUT TO PRACTICE?
“It’s not going to be so much tough for myself it’s more about the crew chiefs and engineers and the work they have put in before. So, I just get to yell at them if it’s slow, but it was pretty… by yourself it was like Daytona/Talladega out there truthfully like running around there wide open. I’m looking forward to it. I really wanted some practice because I felt like it would be fun to work on the car and kind of trim it out and trying to figure out what the car needed to go fast. It would have been a heck of a couple of hours of practice. I hope we still get a couple of hours, maybe tomorrow or tonight. Actually, I don’t think we are going to do that tonight. Yeah, I’m hoping we get a couple of hours of practice.”
WHAT DOES THIS NEW PACKAGE BOIL DOWN TO? DOES IT BOIL DOWN TO A GUY THAT MAYBE HAS MORE EXPERIENCE AS A DRIVER OR MAYBE A YOUNGER GUY THAT IS WILLING TO RACE A LITTLE BIT HARDER AND WILLING TO RACE A LITTLE BIT MORE WIDE OPEN?
“Well, I think there will be some really aggressive driving out there. I think everybody will put it out on the line when it comes down to it. The teams that put the most effort into this package will probably shine. The guys back at the shop who put the most effort in will probably go forward and it will be a team by team basis because of the lack of practice that we have. The people that put in the work at the shop or it might play to their body style whoever’s car is good for that. We will definitely see here in a little while or tomorrow.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS COMING BACK TO CHARLOTTE AS THE DEFENDING WINNER OF THE COCA-COLA 600?
“Yeah, I’m really pumped about the 600. It’s a long race for us and obviously coming back being the defending winner hopefully we can do it this year again. If it’s fuel mileage is the way we do it, we will do it that way again, it doesn’t matter, if we can get back to Victory Lane again this year it would be great. But, I’ve always felt comfortable here at Charlotte in any series I’ve ran. I felt like I have been pretty solid here in Xfinity and Trucks. Yeah, I’m pumped for the 600. Anytime I come to this track my confidence is high and I feel good about it.”
WILL THE PARTY BE RAMPED UP IF YOU REPEAT?
“Man, I don’t know it’s hard to ramp up the party when we… we party. It’s not like a dud. We have a good time anyway.”
WHAT DO YOU EAT FOR BREAKFAST ON A TYPICAL DAY AND HOW THAT MIGHT VARY WHEN YOU ARE AT THE RACE TRACK VERSUS AT HOME?
“I actually skip breakfast most days. I know it’s supposed to be like a really important meal, but I think it keeps me at a good level weight. I don’t know, I just like eating a good lunch and dinner, but if I do get up early for race day, I eat a big breakfast. You will laugh, Sunday is actually the only day I eat breakfast and it’s usually an omelet with avocados on it and every now and then we will throw in some fruit and hash browns. I like hash browns, but the omelet with avocado and salsas in the morning is pretty good. It’s like a western omelet on Sunday’s.”
HOW HAS YOUR LIFE CHANGED SINCE WINNING THE COCA-COLA 600 AND THE DAYTONA 500?
“I mean I think for me my life has stayed pretty similar. Big events as far as going on, I’m married now and I’ve got two pretty awesome trophies, but for me it’s just my confidence is higher. I feel comfortable in this sport and I have fun in this sport and those wins, I will never lose, but I don’t think it’s changed me as a person. I feel like I’m still that same guy that I was when I walked into the Truck Series. Maybe a little more bougie because I’m a Cup driver now, but I definitely think that I’m the same person since the Truck Series.”
EARLIER THIS WEEK YOU DID A ONE-ON-ONE ON INSTAGRAM WITH THE FANS CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT?
“Actually, before I came over here I went on Instagram Live and did that again. It’s pretty cool, I didn’t know it existed and I will give a little credit to Ty (Dillon, brother). He was at Bristol and he was in the car doing it. I was like ‘what is this’ and there was a guy on the phone while he was on Instagram Live and I was like that is pretty cool. So, I was watching the basketball game and I started messing with it. It’s pretty funny because you never know what you are going to see. I’m sure it’s going to get me one of these days someone is going to flip on the camera and be doing something wrong or something, but most of the fans, I look for people that say NASCAR on them or people that are avid fans of the sport. But it’s cool to just give them a second and when the kids get on there it’s awesome when they want to show you their NASCAR memorabilia.
“I had a couple of kids that had just tons of diecast cars and they are true fans of our sport. And it’s good to see that and they smile. I was doing it a little bit ago and a little kid was on the school bus and I think he had a Chase Elliott hat and he was from New York and he was like ‘we are coming home from school, I’m with all my buddies’ and he showed me his friends. One of the little kids, I don’t know they were probably, I don’t know what grade they would be in, they were little punks like I would have been in middle school, but the one kid flipped me off and I was like ‘what the heck’ so I flipped it pretty quick. You never know what you are going to see on there. It’s really cool for the fans that are out there to just have a second with you to talk and show me their house, they show what is going on in their life and I think it’s funny too because sometimes you get the crazy things on there, but Instagram Live, it’s cool.”
Connect with Team Chevy on social media. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TeamChevy; follow us on Twitter @TeamChevy; and follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/teamchevy
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
- NASCAR to debut new short track package at Phoenix - February 28, 2023
- The Wrench Who Stole Racing - December 16, 2022
- Matt DiBenedetto’s excellent run comes to abrupt, violent end - February 17, 2019
