Why do you work on a
NASCAR team? What drives you to be part of the
fastest growing sport in the USA?
There are a couple reasons
I work on a NASCAR team. I've always loved racing
from a young age and was lucky enough to meet the
right people to get in. Unlike my other teammates, I
do not work in the shop during the week. I'm just a
race day guy. I like it like that since I can still
keep it a hobby that is fun. I have a great job that
I love during the week and then to top it off I get to
go racing on the weekends. I tell people that one of
the main reasons I work on a NASCAR team is that I was
never good enough at any other sport to play it
professionally but here I am and can compete at the
top levels of our sport. I love the competition and
enjoy working with my teammates.
What has been your most
rewarding moment in your racing career?
In my career, I've been
fortunate to have many rewarding moments. I've been
on 6 winning teams to date (3 with JB in the truck
series, 2 in the Busch series with Michael Waltrip,
and one ARCA win) so I'd have to rank those up there.
But I think my most rewarding moment was the first
time I ever went over the wall. My first time ever
pitting a race car was at a Winston Cup race in
Watkins Glen in 2001. Not to many people go over the
wall for their first time at a Cup race. I did the
catch can there which is what I love doing. I was
very nervous and to top it out, the other guys pitting
the car were from one of the Petty cars that DNQ'd.
But it went well and it was probably one of my
proudest moments in racing.
What has been the most
challenging moment in your racing career?
There have been plenty of
them. It can be a very stressful job at times. For
me the most challenging moments have been when I've
had to find a new team to work for. It's not fun
getting a call that the team you're on lost
sponsorship and is closing down or that you're getting
laid off. When that particular incident with my
Busch team shutting down happened, I was still living
in the Washington, DC area which made it even harder
to find a job. There is no job security in racing so
you don't know if you'll have a job one day to the
next. I think that's why I enjoy just doing it on the
weekend. I can call this my hobby and my Monday
through Friday job my "real" job! It's also
challenging when you're on a team that doesn't run
good and you're almost just going through the motions
because you know you don't have any shot of winning a
race. What
would you like the fans to know about you?
I am just so lucky to have
gotten the opportunity to work on a NASCAR team,
especially a good team such as Bill Davis Racing. I
started in racing when I was 16 and this is my 8th
season in it. I've had both some good and bad times,
but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
What would you like to say to the JB fans?
Thanks for all of your
support. I've been on the team since JB started
driving for us and we know we've had some ups and
downs but it's always nice to see his fan base behind
him. JB is one of the best drivers I've worked for
and he's very cool to hang around. I've always liked
JB but I respect him even more after getting to know
him personally.
