Q&A: Mears, Newman, Bowyer.

Tuesday, 21st February 2006

They may have come up a little short in NASCAR’s biggest race, but Daytona 500 runner-up Casey Mears, third place finisher Ryan Newman and top rookie Clint Bowyer still had plenty to smile (and talk) about after the race.

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It's a great way to start the season, no doubt. Thankful for the effort that Roger Penske and everybody at Penske Racing has put forth. We got to continue that, keep striving.

Q.
How much momentum did you have after winning the Rolex 24, coming in here? Was that a huge boost to your confidence?

CASEY MEARS:
Well, I mean, it was a lot of fun, and it was awesome to win that race. I feel privileged to be a part of it.

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But I think really if we had any momentum, it was gained from the pre season testing we did in the Cup car, the adjustment to the 42. I mean, we had a test at Nashville that went absolutely awesome. We had a test at Vegas that I thought went really well. We knew that our car was going to be pretty good in the draft here. We didn't have overall speed that we wanted, but we knew it was going to handle pretty good.
If there's any momentum coming out of this, I would say the majority of it's coming from the running that we've done with the Cup team. But as an added bonus and for the guys to hold their heads a little bit higher in the shop, to win a race at the beginning of the year for Ganassi as a whole was a big positive feel in the shop that really helped everybody, I think.

Q.
There was a lot of talk earlier in the week maybe they would take Jimmie's primary car from him. If they had done that, would there have been enough time during the week, with the practice, that that backup car could have been as strong as his car today?

RYAN NEWMAN:
That's totally "could have, would have, should have" from our standpoint. Totally too hypothetical for us to even say. I don't think anybody on the 48 team could have even answered that one.

Q.
Ryan, you just said that if a situation happens time and time again with a certain individual, something ought to be done besides suspension. Can you be more specific? What do you think should be done?

RYAN NEWMAN:
You know, there's been suspensions for more than one race by certain crew chiefs. You know, NASCAR is the governing body. We can call them the government. The government makes the rules. It's up to them to enforce them.