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Joe Gibbs Discusses Controversial Richmond Race · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Well, what happens at the end like that?
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  We go all day, we run, we have so many laps like that and then
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  at the end I'm holding my breath and of course you see a caution.
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  Didn't even know why until I looked up and saw everything.
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  Just I think what you what I reflect on is when you have four
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  cars like that and you see those guys battle as hard as they do
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  each and every one of those cars and you just hate it for Martin
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  to have a night like that where he fought so hard and so it just
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  this one of those things you reflect on really happy for
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  Denny Mavis our new sponsor sponsor auto owners was on
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  Martin's car and so it just it was a battle really.
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  I know that there wasn't the stage breaks not a lot of
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  cautions but I think it was really really a battle and so
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  appreciate our guys tonight. We love coming to Richmond.
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  It's a favorite place for us and I I think our sponsors here.
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  We had a large number of sponsors here tonight.
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  It's a big deal for us all the way around, so really appreciate
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  it. I know you guys are anxious to
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  get to the important guys, Denny and and and Chris, so we'll get
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  to them as quick as we can. Bob Parker's Fox Sports A2, The
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  1st is what did you think of the use of the wet weather tires?
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  Were you good with it and with the way NASCAR handled it?
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  Yeah, I I think we all kind of felt like if that was going to
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  be the case and it wasn't really raining hard, we did we we
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  didn't have windshield wipers but I I heard a couple of guys
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  comment said they never use them anyway so but I felt like as
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  long as it really wasn't a steady downpour that that would
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  probably be the way we would get the race started.
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  And I don't know if you're aware, but Hendrick Motorsports
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  is going to be do a big 40th anniversary celebration next
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  week at Martinsville. And I know Rick played a pretty
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  big role. When you got into the sport,
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  what did you think his impact was on your entry into the
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  sport? Yeah, I I think it was major.
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  I had an interesting phone call. So I'm, I'm there in Washington
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  and I was thinking about trying to get into racing, JD and Coy
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  said. Dad, let's get in racing in some
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  way. And so everybody had told me the
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  person you need to call is Rick. Well, when I call Rick, he said,
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  yeah, I'm going to put my my general manager with you and
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  that was Jimmie Johnson. And so that's how we started
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  out. The Jimmie Johnson was taking me
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  around to everybody at that point Chevrolet, and he went
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  with me to Interstate. And so Rick played a a key role
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  in getting us started. We also bought some stuff from
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  him. We also had a motor, a motor
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  package with him for quite a while.
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  And so Rick was instrumental. And I think with our sport,
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  almost everybody here knows to come into the sport, it really
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  does help to have an alliance. In those days it wasn't called
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  an alliance, but that's really what he was for us because we
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  were, we had 17 people our first year and so just really
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  appreciate him. You know, we joke back and
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  forth, kit each other all the time and have a good
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  relationship. I invited him to the football
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  game. So he comes to the football
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  game. Just a quick story.
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  You probably heard this and he wore these boots, these fancy
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  big boots. They came apart on the sideline,
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  it was freezing cold and he almost died on the sideline the
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  night he came. So that was a side Side Story.
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  All right, let's go to Chris Powell.
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  Chris Powell, Couch Coach, Live coach, You had a great weekend
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  for the organization. You out Chandler wins yesterday
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  in Xfinity Series and also Danny wins today.
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  What's your thoughts on just this weekend overall?
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  Yeah, I I think just love coming here.
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  It was obviously a a big weekend for us, just really appreciate
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  that. And again, it emphasizes in
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  Xfinity we got four cars. Three of them, you know, have
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  been running really good. And honestly, it shows you how
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  hard our sport is for Sheldon. I feel so bad.
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  You know, we've had three real tough races in a row.
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  And so it just goes to show you our sport is really tough and
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  it's not often you get to walk away from the racetrack and have
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  all four teams happy. It just doesn't.
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  And tonight's a good example, you know?
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  But anyway, I just really appreciate it.
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  Appreciate coming here. The fan base here, I always get
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  along really good with them whenever we go to hospitalities
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  and stuff. There's a lot of Redskin fans
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  here and so they treat me great all.
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  Right. Let's go to Randy.
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  Randy Holman, Richmond Times Dispatch Joe Denny talks about
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  his goals. Long range sometimes.
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  What are your goals for Denny? Yeah.
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  Obviously just we we want him. It's all the obvious things.
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  He wants to get the sixty wins. I think that tonight made it 53.
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  I told him I'm counting the clash, so we're at 54, but I
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  think he wants to get the sixty wins.
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  That's a huge deal for him. And then I think everybody,
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  everybody asks him the question about winning a championship.
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  Obviously we would love to see that happen.
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  You know, I I met with him up at Watkins Glen and we were talking
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  and I told him that, you know, for a guy that is where he is in
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  his career. He had struggled with Rd. racing
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  and it shows you though his desire and drive.
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  You know, even at at where he is in his career because he went to
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  work on road racing and did a number of things.
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  They put Tyler's set up in the car for him.
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  He did things like that, had a tough time driving it went to
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  work in the simulator and for him to come back at his age and
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  set on three poles, you know, is a huge deal.
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  It shows you his talent and it shows you his willingness still
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  at this point in his career to really work hard.
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  It's something that's hard work. And so anyway, you know, it's
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  been a great relationship when you think about it and you know,
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  18 years FedEx has been there and for us to enjoy this, it's
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  really been special. OK, let's come over here.
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  Right here. Coach, I don't know if you were
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  able to see post race, but Barton was, as you know,
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  probably not happy with the result and ran into both.
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  Ran into Denny. Talk about like how bittersweet
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  that result is considering Martin's dominance And is that
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  given what Martin did post race, is that going to be handled?
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  Maybe in the team meeting on Monday?
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  Well, I think here, here's what, here's what happens.
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  These guys put so much into this.
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  They're all, I mean, great competitors and these things are
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  so hard to win. And so when you haven't
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  experienced the way Martin did tonight, you know to race that
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  hard, you know at at one point there when the five got in front
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  of us on that pit stop and he came right back and got it.
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  I mean he drove his heart out And so, you know, then to have a
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  caution, we go that far and then to have a caution with three
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  laps to go, you know, that was just, it was devastating.
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  We came out of there and we came out second on the pit stop.
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  And so honestly, you just feel, you know, that's what I was
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  trying to relate to everybody. You you're happy for Denny,
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  certainly and everything that happened tonight for him.
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  But then you know, you see that in Martin, how hard he fought
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  for this and how how much he wanted it.
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  But that's some part of our sport.
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  It's it's really hard and you see these guys, when it gets
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  down towards the end of these races, they're going for it
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  because they are really hard to win.
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  And so you can't have that happen, particularly if you got
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  good cars, good drivers. They all want it.
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  They want it for their sponsor, they want it for themselves,
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  their career. And so you really feel for them
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  when they go through a night, you know, like Martin went
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  through this night, you just feel for them all.
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  Right. We can take one more question
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  for Coach. Go ahead.
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  Good evening, Sir. Congratulations to you and your
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  team for success so far this year.
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  You recently brought back Mr. and forgive me if I
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  mispronounced his name, Amira, towards your team.
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  What was that like in the decision to do that for this
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  year and going forward for next next week?
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  What are your plans for the team?
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  Yeah, Eric Amarola. Yeah, huge deal for us.
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  What happened on that? He was in our diversity program
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  that we had when Reggie White was, you know, with us and he
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  was the owner of the rate of the diversity team we had.
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  Eric went through there. He's Cuban descent.
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  You know, we had Bubba went through there, Daniel Suarez
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  went through there. So all of those guys went
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  through our diversity program. And Eric, we got in a
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  conversation about a year ago and I said you need to come back
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  and finish your career with us. You know, he's been 19 years ago
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  when he was with us, he's been really, really just a class
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  person and I mentioned to everybody what kind of guy he
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  is. JD had a lot to do, my son with
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  getting him to our race team and JD got sick and it was over a
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  five year period. He gradually, you know, lost all
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  physical. He could just couldn't.
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  He can converse with anybody or anything.
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  It's kind of hard for me to say. Eric Amarola would come and sit
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  with him even when he couldn't communicate for two and three
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  hours at his house. That's the kind of person he is.
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  So we had a chance to get back together and he said, you know,
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  I can come over. I think he's working with, he's
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  well, he's not thinking. He's working with our young,
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  young drivers. We got a number of them and
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  Xfinity, I just appreciate him so much and the kind of person
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  he is. So that that was that started
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  all of that. And so anyway, we want to
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  certainly keep him as long as we can.
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  Coach, thanks so much for coming in.
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  Thank you and congratulations. Appreciate it.
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  Appreciate it so much. God's blessed us with a great
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  group of people and thank you all for all you do to make us
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  look good and it was awesome today.
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  We had a great service by the way, and and it was really
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  great. I appreciate NASCAR letting us
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  do that and I really appreciate being a part of that on Easter.