Best quotes from Daytona 500 Media Day

By | Published: February 14, 2018 42

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'That's a long time. To kind of put it into perspective, when I took over for Tony (at Joe Gibbs Racing) and he went to Stewart-Haas, that was his 10th season. ... The part that kind of bums me out is he had two championships at the time. Been close twice, but haven't quite made it happen yet.' -- Joey Logano on 2018 being his 10th season

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'For me, the Daytona 500, no question is the top of the list right now. Right under that would be the Coca-Cola 600 and being able to get that one.' -- Kyle Busch on the race he wants to win most

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'So far it's been seamless, but there's just those little things that you seem to miss when you transition to a new crew chief. One of them was, like 'Pit now!' Whoa. I needed like a five-lap warning.' -- Kurt Busch on new crew chief Billy Scott

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'You certainly want to pick up where you left off last year. Our speed was really hot with our No. 18 M&Ms Toyota and so was Martin's (Truex) as well; and Larson, of course, had speed all year long. Those were the top three guys, but I think the Penske brigade kind of picked up as the season finished. And you've got to look at the new Camaro and the Chevy guys.' -- Kyle Busch on who will have speed in early 2018

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'It seems like (the No. 88 team) sold out for speed. They're so much faster than everybody.' -- Joey Logano

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'This year is the most unknown heading into the 500 than in years past.' -- Kurt Busch on how the Daytona 500 will play out

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'Daniel has learned a lot over the years and he's a sponge. He'll ask you all sorts of questions and he just wants to take it all in and use it to the best of his ability and utilize that to try to go out there and finish well and to win a race.' -- Kyle Busch on Daniel Suarez

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'Mine was a family vacation to Disney and I was like 'Mom, Dad, c'mon, let's go. Daytona is right there.' It was January and the track wasn't hot then but we got to do a track tour and crawl over the side of the wall to check out the banking.' -- Kurt Busch on his first time at Daytona

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“We love our fans everywhere, but especially anywhere overseas. You guys are awesome, so keep following the sport of NASCAR, keep following your favorite driver here, Kyle Busch, with the M&Ms Toyota. Hopefully we can win for y'all. Come see us sometime.” -- Kyle Busch to his fans in the Netherlands

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'I think we're both just a lot more comfortable with everything that's going on. We still communicate well and talk a tremendous amount on a daily basis about racing and life in general.' -- Kevin Harvick on his relationship with crew chief Rodney Childers

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'It's like they're outside the car and they can see the things happening behind them better than I can.' -- Kyle Busch on Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski, whom he called the best restrictor-plate racers in NASCAR

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“I think we have a solid understanding that says I will help you as long as it doesn’t hurt me. That is kind of the recipe that we use a lot. We talk about it. If it is going to hurt you, don’t help me. That would be unfair. But if the opportunity is there to go one way or another and one is going to hurt me, then help me and I will do the same for you.” -- Joey Logano on plate-racing with his teammates

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'I get more satisfaction out of winning these types of races or winning a race in general out of seeing the happiness of my team. Seeing how much hard work and dedication and time that they put in. ... It would be great for me but I would get greater satisfaction out of seeing the excitement out of them.' -- Kevin Harvick on winning a second Daytona 500

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'I love being a part of a team and being able to beat the other guys. There's no more satisfaction than being able to wrap your arms around those guys and doing it together.' -- Kevin Harvick

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“Joey Logano. Maybe. We will have to wait and see.' -- Joey Logano on who will take Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Most Popular Driver crown

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'Joey is one of those guys who you could kick in the balls and he'd walk away smiling.' -- Brad Keselowski

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'It's obviously not luck (to be able to win at restrictor-plate tracks.) You've got to have some luck to miss wrecks and stuff like that, but you've also got to be good enough and aware enough of what lines are coming and stuff like that. Joey (Logano) is extremely good at that. Brad (Keselowski), Chase Elliott's become great at it.' -- Kyle Larson

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'Getting recognized in public. That was certainly never something I'd dealt with before.' -- Martin Truex Jr. on what has changed for him since winning the Monster Energy Series championship

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'I feel like the Latin American population has been growing, following the sport, following NASCAR, not just here in the U.S. but in Latin America, in Mexico, in Brazil, Argentina, all these places, Colombia, and I feel like that really will go a long ways.' -- Daniel Suarez

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'I've worked on it a lot. I've really spent a lot of time working on it, watching a lot of film, looking at data, and TRD gives us a lot of great analytics when it comes to these things. I just use all the information at hand to try to be better. I mean, it's not easy trying to compete with these guys, and so you try to find every edge that you can, and I work within all the margins.' -- Denny Hamlin on plate racing

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'I'm not planning to do that.' -- Daniel Suarez on potentially being on 'Dancing with the Stars' one day

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'It's really tough to say who is the (next) superstar. I think the superstar comes from whoever performs the best. I think that they become very popular because of success, and then fans are going to have to relate to them or like their personalities. I think everyone has likable personalities between all the young guys. I mean, some are more eccentric than others, but ultimately, if you don't cut it on the racetrack, popularity and superstar status will only go so far.' -- Denny Hamlin

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'You can't like Kyle (Busch) for Kyle. There's no way. You can't like Kyle for Kyle. It's gotta be the M&Ms.' -- Clint Bowyer when he and Keselowski talk about why their kids love Kyle Busch

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'I think me and Brad (Keselowski) have similar driving styles on the superspeedways in how they do things. I think there's other things that make bold moves, and it looks good for a highlight reel, but it's not always great for winning a race. And so I think there is a difference, and it just -- for whatever reason, our styles have morphed into kind of the same driver on these types of racetracks, and it's really just -- for whatever reason, it's made us successful.' -- Denny Hamlin

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“I probably had more text messages from him than I did when he was here. I haven't felt his departure yet. Maybe less of a crowd by the 88 car. But I talked to him more last weekend than I did when he was here on a traditional weekend.” -- Jimmie Johnson on Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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'Uber doesn't pick you up where I live.' -- Clint Bowyer

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'We have talked very limited, but we chatted briefly after the Clash. ... I mean, we both had a negative result to the playoffs. We both had our races ruined by the other. Yeah, if you want to try to keep score, then sure.' -- Denny Hamlin on Chase Elliott

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“That was just a couple bottles of wine. We tried Dale. He didn't answer. You could see it ring five times, go to voice mail. We tried again, it rang twice. We tried again and he sent it to voice mail straightaway. I'm like, Oh, he's awake.
“Then I don't know, from there Lance said, Hell, let's try Willie. He's in Hawaii. He's still going to be awake. We tried Willie and got him.” -- Jimmie Johnson on calling Willie Nelson with Lance Armstrong

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“Yeah, I left (the banquet) pissed off. That sucked (laughter). I knew after we got eliminated from the Round of 8, I knew our championship hopes were closed. To relive the highlight reels, all of that, it's like, Damn, I want to be that guy. I want to get back and be that guy. ... That was a huge shot in the arm of adrenaline to get to work. I literally started wearing Rick out on the phone, What do we need to do? Where do we need to start?” -- Jimmie Johnson

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“It’s very different. There are a lot of new things coming at me. It’s been exciting seeing all the things that you get to do at the Cup level that I didn’t get to be a part of before, and I notice the most is the fan interaction. They can be really encouraging because they know what the 24 car is up to in practice or we had a good qualifying effort. I think that part is something unique to the Cup series.” -- William Byron on racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

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“I'm going to be very biased and say Chase Elliott. Admit it, too. He's awesome, on all levels. He's going to be a superstar.” -- Jimmie Johnson on which young driver will rise fastest

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'It seems like the same guys get lucky a lot.' -- Jamie McMurray on luck in the Daytona 500

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“That part has been different. I just kind of go out to eat around the racetrack and I went out to eat last night and I got stopped by four or five people in the restaurant, and that was so different knowing that people were knowing what we were doing. That’s a cool feeling and makes you realize that there are people knowing what we’re doing. It was cool to have that fan interaction.” -- William Byron on being recognized in public

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'Because it's the biggest race of the year.' -- Danica Patrick on why she chose the Daytona 500 as her final NASCAR race

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“Oh, man, a lot of advice. I just think trying to enjoy the moments of what you're doing. I think a lot of times you can take for granted how good you have it in certain areas, whatever it may be. I think being appreciative of what you have and what's there for you to take advantage of, the opportunities that could lie ahead I think is very important, not to lose track of that.” -- Chase Elliott on advice he's gotten from his dad, Bill

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“Jimmie, I’ve never seen anyone evolve as much as he does. He’s so in tune with himself and improves. He doesn’t really come as a veteran. He comes across as someone willing to learn all the time. It’s special to see someone like that, and I feel there’s no generational gap there.” -- William Byron on a generation gap between he and Jimmie Johnson

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'Richard Petty told me before climbing in, no need to be a hero. No need to overstep anything that you're doing. I'm here for a reason, and I'm here because I've proved my point, so just go out there and do what you do.' -- Darrell Wallace Jr. on added pressure being in the No. 43 car

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'He's far from done. He's still in his prime. It's not fair to write him off.' -- Chase Elliott on Hendrick Motorsports teammate and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson

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“I’m running with it. If they’ll give me a rookie set of tires and I can run for rookie of the year I’ll take it. If I can redo 2014 this year, I’m all for it.” -- Alex Bowman on people thinking he's a rookie

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'Little did we know that picture in Victory Lane would be used for years to come. And now I’ve got this opportunity to take the No. 3 car back to Victory Lane 20 years later. It’s very special. I’m thankful for that opportunity and I want to go out there and put it back where it belongs in Victory Lane.” -- Austin Dillon on being in Victory Lane with Dale Earnhardt in 1998

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'All of them.' -- Alex Bowman on how many races he'll win this year

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'Alex and William, Alex has about as many starts as I do and he's an experienced guy, right? William's a champion, he's won in just about everything he's been in. Those guys know way more than I do, probably, and there's nothing I could tell them that they don't already know, from a racer's standpoint.' -- Chase Elliott on his teammates