Q&A: David Stremme

Q: David, you're from South Bend, an Indiana native. Have to imagine getting the opportunity to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway must mean a lot. What's it like to have that chance?

Stremme: Well, it was pretty neat last year. Everybody's always, you know, talking about going to Indianapolis and watching the 500 or watching the Brickyard. I was never able to really participate in a lot of that because I was doing a lot of local races and stuff. Any time I got to the Indianapolis area, I'd go by the track. Being right in the town, there's so much history there, it's just cool.

But probably a neat thing for me was last year during the driver introductions, we're riding around in the vehicles, I had seen a lot of people that I had raced with growing up or people had watched me growing up, and it was pretty emotional. It was cool.

Q: Could you elaborate on the emotions you felt a year ago when you got to the track and you were going to be participating in that event, what that meant?

Stremme: When you're in the garage area and you got so much going on, at that time we had to qualify for the race, we were outside the top 35 in points, it was pretty stressful. But we made it in on time, actually had a pretty good race all day.

Before the race, we were riding around. It was just different, you know, seeing faces in the crowd that were familiar to me, again, I've known for quite a while. It was really cool. Kind of got me a little more pumped up. Again, I think any time anybody goes close to their hometown, there's always a little extra boost in your step.

You know, it's just fun. I mean, I've raced at IRP [Indianapolis Raceway Park] a lot, or ORP [O'Reilly Raceway Park], won out there. It would be cool, you know, to watch and try to win at the Brickyard. I think when I was watching Tony [Stewart], and he won there, it was neat because obviously he didn't grow up too far from there.

Just the history part of it. When I go there, I think about when they built that track, how long it took to get around in the cars back in the early 1900s there. Now we're flying around there at around 200 [mph], not like IndyCars, but still for stock cars, it's really fast.

Q: What was it like making your first lap on that track, given the historic nature of it?

Stremme: Well, it's kind of funny because when we went and tested there, it was after the Chicago race last year. You know, I really enjoyed the first couple laps, but then I found out how much the tires fall off and I ended up right-siding the car in one of the short chutes there in the corner. It was kind of an adventurous first time on the track.

You know, we went back there last year and, like I said, we were real competitive in the race, so I'm looking forward to going there this year.

Q: Ever since you left Talladega, you have struggled a little bit. You were up to 14th in the standings when you left Talladega. What is it going to take to get things turned around for your team?

Stremme: A lot of it was the COT car was a big struggle for us. The organization wasn't ready. I shouldn't say they weren't ready. They were ready, but we weren't as prepared as we should have been. It was pretty plain and simple.

On the other hand, we had some bad luck. We had a good run going at Richmond; we got wrecked there. You know, we've had some engine problems for whatever reason. Our engine program has been pretty good. It's just been tough.

The last five races, especially, we've had really good cars at least at four of 'em, and we haven't been able to get the results that we need out of it.

Some of it's luck, I think. For the most part, you know, since Talladega, when we hit some of the COT races, we weren't as prepared. But the company's really stepped up. They got the cars working better. At Loudon [New Hampshire] we had a really good car. That was one of them deals, we had an alternator go bad right at the beginning of the race, we had to change a battery late in the race, and we ended up getting wrecked.

Q: Where do you think your best chance to win this year probably would be?

Stremme: The best chance to win? I would probably say an intermediate track. I think you just got to get yourself in position each week. You never know, it might be this weekend. But it's something where our intermediate program has been pretty strong. We just need a little luck on our side.

You know, every week there's probably 20 to 25 guys who could win a race. I know on TV it don't look like that. I know at Texas we were running fifth coming in for the last pit stop. We do one adjustment, air pressure, went from fifth to 10th. It's just really close and tight. But that's what makes it fun.

I can't really pinpoint what race I would, you know, be able to say I'm going to win.

Q: We hear all the time the competition keeps getting tougher and tougher. Can you even compare this season to last season? Is it that much more tough this season compared to last season?

Stremme: I mean, I definitely think it is tougher this year. I mean, the stats that NASCAR send out speak for themselves. You look at how many cars are finishing on the lead lap. It's something where it's getting tougher each year. That's what makes it the top sport. That's what makes it fun to go out and try to achieve a win and get the best finish you can that day.

Q: Could you talk about what it takes to get here, what it takes to stay here at this level?

Stremme: You just got to work hard. I never went to prom. I didn't do none of that. I was racing the whole time. I think that's stuff you just got to give over a hundred percent each day to try to get to this level. Then there's people that won't ever make it to here.

One of the things I try to do, you know, again, I'm very thankful for getting to go out and compete and put on a show for fans. But, you know, I have my own team to where it kind of reminds me of how hard I've worked to get here. I spent the weekend off with my late model team with one of our development drivers, Bryan Clausen. It was cool. I go over there, mess around with stuff. I've got guys that have helped me throughout my career working for me on that team. It's just something where, you know, you got to kind of keep in perspective because each week's a grind here. Last weekend was my only weekend off since March, and it was tough. But you get in the swing of things, you just keep digging the whole time.

Q: Is your energy level as high at the beginning of the season as opposed to like right now, going into the Chase?

Stremme: Well, for me going into Indianapolis, I'm pretty pumped because, again, it's close to home. I'm so looking forward to going there. Especially having a week off, you think about it even more.

But, I mean, earlier in the year, each week, we had a pretty good car. The thing is, that's where your team comes into play. You got to rely on your team. Everybody relies on each other to keep everybody pumped up and going because it is a long season.

But going to the Chase, our odds of making the Chase are very slim -- like very, very slim. We just look at what do we have to do to get better.

Q: You think of the Indianapolis 500 when you think of Indiana. What was the determining factor for you to follow the stock-car trail rather than the IndyCar trail?

Stremme: That's a pretty popular question all the time from people asking me why didn't I go open-wheel racing. Sprint car and everything is big throughout Indiana. Growing up in the northern part of the state, stock cars were always pretty big. Probably one thing is I always seen a lot of wrecks in open-wheel racing. They were pretty bad. I was like, I don't really find much interest in that.

The stock car, NASCAR, just how the competition, you have 43 cars out there rubbing and grinding on each other, yet still competing and going on.

Obviously Indianapolis, the 500, is a very historical race. I think anybody would love to compete in it. As far as the NASCAR side, I can race 36 times a year compared to the open-wheel side.

Q: The fact that Indianapolis added a stock-car race 14 years ago, do you think that may have turned some of the open-wheel guys toward stock-car racing?

Stremme: I think it did a little bit. I remember actually what I was doing that whole weekend when NASCAR came to the Brickyard. I was following it. I was running around home local racing. As a matter of fact, I won that weekend which I thought was really cool.

I was always like, 'Man, I'd love to go down there and race at Indianapolis.'

But, I don't know, I would hope to think maybe it's taken some of them guys to the NASCAR level. I think talking with my teammate Juan Montoya, he was a big open-wheel guy, won there at Indianapolis. I think just the NASCAR side of things, you can race a lot more. We can do it 36 times a year. I think that's what makes it fun.