Adrian Fernandez will be back in a Busch Series car this weekend for the first time since the Mexico City race. Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Q&A: Adrian Fernandez

This weekend, Adrian Fernandez is going to attempt to start his eighth Busch Series event. On Monday the latest issue of Mexican Leaders magazine named him one of the 300 most influential people in his native country. That's the fourth time Fernandez, who is from Mexico City, has made this prestigious listing.

Q: Adrian, it's a busy week. You're going to race in the Rolex Series sports car race on Friday at The Glen. How eager are you to get back out there into the Busch Series?

	Adrian Fernandez was recently named one of the 300 most influential people in Mexico. Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
	Inside the Numbers Fernandez in the Busch Series Starts 7 Wins 0 Top-5s 0 Top-10s 1 Laps Led 4 Avg. Start 27.4 Avg. Finish 29.0 Winnings $178,727

Fernandez: Firstly, thank you for the opportunity. I'm extremely excited to get back on the track on the Busch car and represent Rick Hendrick and Lowe's. We've done two races already in the road course. We've been very extremely competitive. Obviously we've been in Mexico.

But Watkins Glen has been another racetrack that I have really enjoyed tremendously when I run the nine hours -- actually, the Six hours of Watkins Glen last time in the Grand-Am Series. It's a beautiful track. I feel we're going to have a very good car there. It's going to be exciting. I'm going to be doing two races, the Grand-Am with Mario Haberfeld in the Lowe's car, and I'm going to be driving the No. 57 Busch car with Lowe's also and Rick Hendrick in the weekend.

It's going to be good. It's going to be exciting to race against some of my old friends that will be racing. I think there's quite a few open-wheel drivers that will be participating, like Max Papis. It will be a fun weekend for sure.

Q: How difficult has it been to balance your driving with your team ownership?

Fernandez: It hasn't been bad, to be honest. I have a great partner in Tom Anderson. He's been able to take a lot of the day-to-day running of the team away from me. I can focus more on the future of the team, signing the deals and things like that. I really have a nice balance right now racing the amount of races that I'm having.

I'm for the first time really in my career having a nice balance of a personal life, which I never had. I was always full-time racer since I wake up 'till I slept, you know. Now I'm finally married, looking for kids. Hopefully soon we will have one, just things like that.

To be honest, I feel like I'm driving better than ever. Every time I get into the racecar, I feel fast, I feel good. I keep in shape. I'm enjoying the part of ownership. It really hasn't been a problem.

The NASCAR side, to be honest, it's just been a pleasure to participate with the whole organization of Rick. I have been very fortunate to meet him and have become one of his good friends and meet a great company like Lowe's. The whole experience has just been tremendously exciting. Everybody there is very well-organized. I think that helps me because I'm also a very organized person. It just fits everything very well. I have a lot of time to do other things also.

Q: How optimistic are you going to The Glen?

	Adrian Fernandez finished 12th at Mexico City despite a run-in with Jamie McMurray. Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
	Mexico CityJamie McMurray goes off course and collects Adrian Fernandez Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Fernandez: I'm pretty optimistic. To be honest, we've been very close, as you've seen on my last few races on road courses. I think Mexico should have been the same this year, if it wasn't for the contact that I had with Jamie [McMurray]. We've been very strong. I believe that if I stay out of trouble, you know, I think we should have a shot at winning the race. Obviously, the competition is always strong, but I have a great team behind me. I feel if this time we keep our nose clean and we don't have any problems, I think we should be strong for winning.

Q: Do you receive a lot of help from your teammates when you go to these tracks?

Fernandez: Well, since it's a road course, it was the other way around. Kyle [Busch] in Mexico came to me and tried to get some advice from me obviously because I knew the racetrack. He had not had much experience on road courses like I do. They did the same when I was doing all these oval races last year with Jamie and Kyle. They did the same to me. They actually helped me a lot on the ovals.

But we share a lot of the information. I think Kyle and myself, we sort of like the same sort of car that we run in Mexico. I think we will be able to work really close. I know now what he likes, and we work really well together. Hopefully we can both work towards bringing the Lowe's car to the front.

Q: Juan Pablo Montoya has already made the jump to NASCAR. Now there's talk of Jacques Villeneuve. What do you think that would be for stock car racing, NASCAR in general? How well do you think those guys would do?

Fernandez: I think firstly the appearance for open-wheel drivers outside of how competitive it is is deceiving. I think Juan Pablo will be surprised how competitive and how hard it is to get used to these cars. The same with Villeneuve, if he gets in. It's not a coincidence it has been a problem in the past for open-wheel drivers to get used to it quicker than you think.

The first race I competed in an oval, they told me if I was going to finish in the top 20 the first race, that was going to be an excellent result. I thought these guys were out of their minds when they told me that.

I practiced really well. I practiced in Fontana. I was really quick. I was actually 1 second quicker than I actually practiced that weekend. There is a lot of things that changes. We are not used to these cars in terms of setups and things like that. It doesn't matter how many laps you do at the beginning. There is nothing like to keep racing and racing and racing and getting the experience of these cars. It just takes time.

I think the smartest thing that Juan Pablo has done is to sign a long-term deal. I know it's going to be tough for him at the beginning. He knows that. I'm a good friend of Juan Pablo. I have always been a big fan of him as a driver. I met my wife through him in Colombia. My wife is Colombian. I have a lot of ties to Colombia now. We're good friends. My wife is friends with Connie, his wife. I think he's doing the right thing. He's jumping with the right team.

Obviously, he's very inexperienced. Doesn't matter how much experience he has in the other thing, the only thing that will help him is he's a very talented individual. I think that should short him the distance of learning period. But there is no question it is going to be tough. But I see guys like Dan Wheldon, everybody jump, they just want to try. It's good to try, but they'll be surprised how tough it is. Look at Paul Tracy when he tried it, Scott Pruett, Michel Jourdain, myself. It's just not easy. We can be competitive straightaway on a road course, but on an oval it just takes time. It's just because the cars are totally different. They're very heavy. They have very little grip. We're used to light cars, cars that really stick to the ground. Reaction is a lot faster in these things. These things, you cannot push them like we push ours cars, especially in an oval.

I tell you what. It gave me a lot of appreciation doing these six oval races last year and realizing that this sport is not easy and it's extremely competitive.

Q: What caused you to make the crossover?

Fernandez: For me to do some NASCAR races? I never really did completely cross over. What happened is I was racing the IRL. I was winning races. Then I have a problem with one of our sponsors. I was not going to compete in 2005. I got an invitation from Rick Hendrick and Lowe's to do the Mexican race in the road course, which we did very well. After that, they invited me to do six oval races. That was a totally different thing. I enjoyed it. But then I realized that at this stage I'm not a young guy like Juan Pablo and these other guys. To start brand-new for the whole thing, it would be tough commitment that I was not ready to do.

The balance that we found at the end of doing the Grand-Am Series, sponsor with Lowe's, do some road-course races with Hendrick in the Busch car was a perfect combination for me.

Q. We've talked what it would take to get Hispanics to come to NASCAR, make this into something that Hispanics would appreciate. Seems like you mentioned Juan Pablo has the best chance having a long-term contract. Do you think he's the one that's going to finally break the barrier and get more Latins into the sport?

Fernandez: At least he's the first one that is going to have a solid contract and a long-term and he has the age to do it. Nobody has ever had this opportunity like him. I don't think even Scott Pruett had it. I think he had it for one year. I think he was out after that ride.

He has a long-term contract which no other Latin driver has ever had before. So for sure he's the first one that has the opportunity to do it because of that, and probably he will be the first one, yes.

Q: This week you were named one of the most influential Mexicans. How proud are you of that achievement?

Fernandez: I'm extremely proud. I'm always proud of what I have achieved in my career and that has helped my country, my fellow drivers, to make our sport better. I have always tried to give the message in Mexico to help the kids and get more involved in sports and things like that. Obviously to be named like that and to help the image after so many years being supported by your country, it's a tremendous feeling.

I mean, I'm at a different stage of my career now. I have enjoyed tremendously my success, my career, the success of bringing the races in Mexico, having your country supporting you. I have enjoyed tremendously every stage of my career.

This is a very nice recognition at this stage of my life where I'm enjoying also part of the ownership and still driving and still doing something for your country.

Q: Do you feel your job as driver is more stressful than your job as a communicator and representative of your sponsors?

Fernandez: To be honest, I don't find it that stressful. To me, stressful -- I mean, the part of driving is the thing that I enjoy the most. When I was not driving in 2005 at the beginning that much, I was starting to miss it a lot. Being in a racecar, especially when you can be competitive, strong, it's a great feeling.

The other part that I've been experimenting -- not experimenting, but doing with Lowe's, it's been a pleasure to me, that hasn't been stressful. We've been doing a lot of commercials with them for Hispanic TV. It's been a lot of fun.

To be honest, I haven't found anything in this program that I'm doing that is that stressful. Everything is in place. We have our contracts in place. Lowe's is happy. We're happy. Team is doing well. We're doing good. I'm not stressed like I used to be in the past when I have a lot of responsibilities. The whole country, your sponsors, everything. Now I'm more relaxed, and that's what I'm feeling when I'm driving -- I'm enjoying driving better than I used to.