The 12 Questions series of interviews continues this week with Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing. These interviews are recommended as a podcast, but also transcribed for those who prefer to read. 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? Four times a week. That’s a very exact answer. I just feel like most nights in my dreams, I’m thinking about racing of some sort — whether it be why my car is doing this or that or why we didn’t do this or that or why we did good. Four nights a week I feel is like a really solid number. 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? Yes. I’m on the record for saying this many times. Even if you’re not sorry, you’ve got to fake it. If you don’t fake it, you get Matt Kenseth’d into the Turn 1 wall at Martinsville. 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? If they tell you you’re underrated. I think that’s the biggest compliment. 4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be excited to host? Drake. Lil Weezy (Lil Wayne). Any rapper. I like them. 5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it? I only get the pit stall for one week? Yeah, just for one race. You look conflicted. Couldn’t do it. 6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. I’m not going to be good at this. You’re not good at remembering races? No. Do you happen to remember the 2012 New Hampshire spring race, the July race that year? July. OK. We were fastest in first practice, fastest in second practice. Hold on — I may be thinking of the fall race. (Thinks for a moment) I’m just going to go ahead with this. I think I was fastest in all practices, we qualified with race pressure air in the tires — we qualified 28th I believe — and got to the lead about lap 100 and won the race. No, sorry. That was the race after? I wouldn’t pick a win because that would be too easy. Hold on then. Yes, I remember the race I think. I think I finished second to Kasey Kahne. That was when we had the debacle on the radio with me and Darian Grubb and he says, “You need two or four tires?” I said, “I don’t know, I just need tires.” And he took it as I needed four tires. We restarted 15th and only got back to second. I don’t remember the radio part, but that’s correct. You finished second to Kasey Kahne. You led 150 laps. OK. I had the right year. So you remembered both races that year. But you said you don’t remember races! I know. But specific ones where you’re really fast, it’s easy. Ask me about the one I ran eighth at Kansas in blank year, I would never know. 7. Who is the best rapper alive? Alive? Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive. I would just say Jay-Z — you can talk about, great history, fabulous rapper. He’s amazing. But I just feel like as far as natural talent, Lil Wayne is the best alive. Nobody’s said Kendrick Lamar all year. Why do you think that is? Am I just overrating him or something? Probably. Nas said rap was dead many years ago (the 2006 album Hip Hop is Dead) and I just believe that it’s different now than what it used to be. But Lil Weezy can still kick it. It’s a shame he’s in contract disputes with his label or whatever, and got all these probably awesome songs that we’ll never ever get to hear because they’re arguing. (Editor’s note: Lil Wayne’s three-year legal ...

Long Island native John Haverlin, who does some work for ESPN Albuquerque, joins me from the Formula E finale in Brooklyn to talk about both NASCAR at Kentucky and the electric racing experience in New York.

Each week, I ask a member of the racing community to shed some light on their career path. Up next: Bronson Butcher, mechanic and tire specialist for GMS Racing and a part-time driver. These interviews are recorded as a podcast but also transcribed for those who prefer to read. What do you do right now with GMS Racing? I’m the tire specialist and mechanic on the No. 23 Xfinity car for GMS Racing. People may have just picked up right there on your accent. It’s not the stereotypical Southern accent people hear in NASCAR. Where did this whole thing start for you? I’ve kind of lost my accent by now, but I was born and raised in Australia — a small country town in Australia. There wasn’t much racing heritage in my family, but my parents were always rev heads and we’d go to the V8 Supercar races, the dirt racing, drag racing, all of it when I was a little kid. I decided I wanted to get into racing myself and started racing go-karts when I was 8 years old. Just been doing it ever since then. My first trip to America was in 2006. I went to Phoenix, Arizona, through a series of events. I won a state championship in dirt racing in Australia, kind of got invited to race in Phoenix and that was the first time I ever got the experience of NASCAR. Until then, no one had ever heard of it in Australia. It was kind of an unknown thing across the pond. From the first time I watched the Cup race in Phoenix in 2006, I knew that was what I wanted to do ever since. When you first started with the go-karts there, what’s the karting scene like in Australia? Are there tons of people doing it? Is racing a big sport there? It is. It’s just as serious as it is here in America. Everyone takes it real seriously. But the kind of tradition there, especially when I was growing up racing, everyone wanted to make it to F1 or V8 Supercars. It’s all road course racing. There aren’t any asphalt (oval) speedways. If you want to do speedway racing, you’re in dirt, sprint car stuff, which is really big in Australia too, but I was always into asphalt. Since I first saw NASCAR in Phoenix there, I just knew that was what I wanted to do. It was actually the same year Marcos Ambrose made his rookie season in Trucks, and so kind of until then, no one had ever been to America to race NASCAR. For the next few years, 2008, ’09, and ’10, I raced, I’d come over to Las Vegas, raced Legend cars with T.J. Clark and his Spencer Clark-driven race team, and it kind of just snowballed from there. What about NASCAR appealed to you that you’re like, “Wow, this is really cool, more than V8 Supercars and sprint cars?” Why NASCAR? I’ve never seen racing that was so close, like two-wide, the whole field was nose to tail. Just the whole experience, the fans, I’ve never seen that many fans at a racetrack before. The motorhomes, tailgating as far as you can see. That’s just something you don’t get in road course racing, really. It’s all about once they get through the first lap, they all spread apart and the race kind of settles that way. But yeah, NASCAR is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, just cars racing that close. They’re so competitive, especially back in 2006, those 15 guys racing within tenths of a each other, racing for a win. Any one of them could have won. So that was really impressive to me and a real eye-opener. You said you would come over and do Legend car stuff. Was that with the intent of, “OK, I’m gonna get better on ovals and learns how to do oval racing?” Or at that time, what were your career goals and where did it go from there? I’ve always — and still do — want to make a career out of racing. Cup racing is obviously the pinnacle there. So while I was finishing high school, I dabbled around in Legend car racing and Late Mo...

The 12 Questions series of driver interviews continues this week with Kasey Kahne of Leavine Family Racing. Kahne finished fourth last week at Daytona International Speedway. These interviews are recorded as a podcast but also transcribed below for those who prefer to read. 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? That’s interesting. I actually never really do about driving the car. I feel like my dreams, when I do have them, it’s like I’m going to miss the race or miss qualifying or miss practice. Like I can’t get my seatbelts buckled — they’re too short. I just can’t get them that last little bit, or for whatever reason I can’t put my glove on. Like just weird stuff but I can’t figure out how to do it. Or you can’t find your helmet. I don’t know why, but those have kind of always been my dreams about racing. That would freak me out, just trying to think about getting your glove on over and over and the cars are starting. And then it’s like the race is starting in the dream and you can’t do it because you can’t get your glove on. But that’s not really how it goes. I mean you’ve got tons of time before the race starts (in real life). 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? I think it always does. I feel like you might as well get on the same page and talk about it. It’s usually probably not the best idea right after it happens — although sometimes it is if it’s not intentional and you’re pretty sure they understand that. Then that’s a good time just because it’s over with. But I think the sooner the better — no later than Monday if it’s a Sunday show — just try and get it figured out and talk about it and then you can move on and you know if that person is still mad at you or if it made sense the way you explained it or you did them wrong. They might eventually get you back. But at least you know, and at least they know where you’re coming from also. I think it’s good to get it out there. 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? I always like compliments about a couple things: being a good person, treating a person with respect, treating people the way I want to be treated. And when somebody compliments me on something like that, I feel good about that. Also, anytime I get a compliment about Tanner, my son, just no matter what it is, like, “You’re a good dad” or  “You have a great boy” — just anything to do with him that is a compliment for him or for myself, it makes me feel good. 4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be excited to host? Tom Brady. For one, he’s my favorite quarterback. Over the years he’s just so clutch, so perfect when you have to be perfect in that situation. So I just always thought that about him. And to be able to have someone like that at the racetrack and show them around, to me that would be unbelievable no matter what I got to show him, like about the cars or around the racetrack — just different things that NASCAR has going on throughout the weekend. I think that would be pretty awesome. 5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it? No. I wouldn’t. You like your meat and cheese too much? For sure, and you can still do really well on other stalls and still eat the way I like eating. 6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. This is the 2011 Darlington Cup race.

Kelly Crandall from RACER and The Racing Writer’s Podcast joins me to help break down everything that happened Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Each week, I ask someone in the racing community to shed some light on their career path. Up next: Joey Meier, who serves as both spotter and pilot for Brad Keselowski. Are you the only pilot/spotter full-time guy in NASCAR history? No, no. That’s actually where a lot of pilots used to be. Dale Earnhardt’s pilot, Terry Labonte’s pilot, Harry Gant’s pilot, they all spotted back in the day. Before a spotter was required, the pilot was already at the racetrack and with the limited manpower and the availability of the pilots (it made sense). One of the things we do well, as you know from most piloting, is we talk on the radio well. So Mike Collier, Danny Culler, Eddie Masencup, those three come to mind. They would actually spot. Eddie Masencup stayed with Terry Labonte the longest. I’m kind of the second generation pilot/spotter, but I’m the only one right now that does both fly and spot. You’ve been with Brad for quite a while now — I guess his whole career? So Brad and I met when I was at Dale Earnhardt Incorporated back in 2006. To back up just a couple of years, Martin Truex Jr. ran the Busch Series in ’04 and ’05 with Chance 2. I was with him, and at the end of ’05, he went Cup racing, I went with him in the Cup car. We didn’t have a Busch team at DEI. A younger, new kid came through the garage in 2006 who was driving for a lower funded team out of Tennessee, Keith Coleman Racing — Brad Keselowski. He asked me, “Hey, I need a spotter.” I had never really heard of the Keselowskis; only saw his mom on the roof a little bit, but had never met any of them. And I started spotting for him at Keith Coleman Racing in 2006. Then he went to JR Motorsports in ’07 a little bit, and they only had a single car team over there. Whenever he would run a second team with Dale Jr. driving, then I would spot for Brad, and then essentially TJ (Majors) was spotting Dale Jr. So I stayed with Brad and did at least one race from 2006 all the way to when he came to Penske in 2010. I was at DEI spotting for Truex. Then Truex left DEI in 2009, Jamie McMurray was coming over to fill that spot, but he was bringing his own spotter. So I was going to be out of a spotting gig, but I was still going to be able to fly at Champion Air (owned by DEI). Everybody was trying to figure out how I was going to fly for one race team and spot for another, and as you can imagine the logistics of that weren’t going to work out well. The fall race of Michigan in 2009, Brad approached me and says, “Hey, I think I’m making a deal here, I’d like you to come fly my airplane that I don’t have yet and spot for me for this new race team. Can’t tell you who it’s with, but it’s a big name team.” I said, “Let’s talk about it as it gets further.” And the rest is history. He came to Penske in January of 2010 and I left DEI at the same time and came with Brad and I’ve been with him ever since. I didn’t even realize that you were with Brad before he was the Brad we know today. So going back before that, what came first — the piloting or the spotting? I’m assuming that it’s the piloting based on what you were saying about flying with Champion Air. How did this all get started for you? So we’re going to back up to even before I was born. My father (Fred Meier) and my uncle were involved in NASCAR in 1958. They both raced on the beach. The last year that they raced on the beach, dad and uncle drove a Sportsman car and a Modified car on the last race in 1958 on the beach. Unfortunately, my father’s car broke during qualifying. He qualified, but wasn’t able to start because we didn’t have backup engines in 1958. But my uncle qualified I believe in the top 15. Got a really nice picture that’s actually in the Hall of Fa...

The series of 12 Questions driver interviews continues with Aric Almirola, who is currently enjoying the best season of his career during his first year with Stewart-Haas Racing.  1. How often do you have dreams about racing? Most of my dreams about racing stem from panic. Panic sets in because I’m late to the race. Like I’m trying to put my firesuit on as fast as I can, I’m trying to find my shoes, the cars are lined up, the national anthem just finished, everybody’s getting in their cars and I’m not dressed yet and I’m like in this massive panic to try and get in the car and hurry up and run to the car and get my belts on while the other cars are out on the track making pace laps. And then usually I wake up in a cold sweat in the bed because I’m freaking out that I’m going to miss the race. So that’s usually what any racing dreams are about. 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? I think it’s very situational. Most of us know when it’s intentional and unintentional. If it’s unintentional, you can typically take care of it on the track, you give a little wave out the window and it’s all good. Life goes on. But when it’s flat-out intentional or an accident that takes them out of the race, then I think it’s important to be able to work through that and try to hash that out — or at least make an effort. When everybody’s mad in the heat of the moment, I think it usually falls on deaf ears. But later on in the week or leading up to the next race, once everybody kind of calms down, it usually works itself out. 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? I feel like through the years, having people walk up to me and say, “Hey, we really think that you’re a class act.” Lately a lot of people have walked up and said, “Hey, the way you handled post-Daytona 500 media, you’re truly a class act and that was awesome of you and we really think the world of you because of that,” or whatever. That makes me feel good. The racing side is one thing, but character is a whole other thing and I think character is really important. 4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be excited to host? I am totally drawing a blank on that. I don’t know. Are you not much of a celebrity guy? I’m not much of a celebrity guy. I prefer kind of my own little world and my own little group of friends. I don’t know. I got nothing for you on that one, Gluck. That’s fine. That’s an answer in itself because it reveals something about you. I’m not one who really cares or gets that excited or anything about famous people. I like real people. I like the people that are just normal, everyday people — not that celebrities can’t be real people. 5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it? Can I put bacon on everything? I don’t think that counts as vegan. Can I eat a completely vegan salad and then just top it with lots of Smithfield bacon? Would that be OK? Let’s reverse this in light of your sponsor. What if they said you could get the No. 1 pit stall you went all-bacon for a month? Bacon only? Yeah. Like breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Well, I already do that, so I think sure, why not? So all-bacon diet for the No. 1 pit stall? Yes. That’s a deal. When are we gonna do that? What race? Which pit stall do you want the race for? Dover’s a pretty good one to have, right? Yeah. Well this one (Sonoma).

This week on the post-race podcast, I’m joined by two people who have made names for themselves in their respective industries — and happen to be NASCAR fans who live in Oregon. Kate Ertmann, who is now a management consultant for small businesses,  and Brian David Johnson, a futurist and bestselling author, help me break down the exciting Chicago race.

Each week, I ask a member of the racing community to explain their career path and how they reached their current position. Up this week: Steve Page, president and general manager of Sonoma Raceway. This interview was recorded as a podcast, but is also transcribed for those who prefer to read. Did you grow up around here? Did you grow up interested in racing or anything like that? I did not. I grew up in Monterey, which is about 150 miles south of here. My father was an attorney on the Monterey Peninsula. And the only experience I had with motor racing before the day I interviewed for this job was I had been to Laguna Seca when I was very young to see a race. It was the Can-Am Series with Jim Hall and Mark Donohue. I didn’t know what I was seeing. Then in high school, they used to hire high school kids to park cars there. That was my entire motorsports universe. I’d never been to a NASCAR race until I came here. I didn’t follow the sport, didn’t really know anything about it. When you were growing up, what did you have aspirations of doing? I bounced all over the place. My first real sporting event was when I was about seven years old. My dad took me to a Giants game at Candlestick Park, and Willie McCovey hit a three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Pirates, and it pretty much set the hook on me. I grew up as a diehard Giants fan, and it became quickly evident when I played my one year of Little League that I was probably a better candidate for the front office. The only sport I actually played competitively was tennis; I was on the tennis team in high school. But I’m not sure I had a specific career aspiration. I always had a certain attraction to events. There was a lot of rock music that happened on the Monterey Peninsula — the Monterey Pop Festival, I saw Bob Dylan for the first time when I was about 10 years old and used to get jobs ushering and working rock concerts at the fairgrounds. I think there was always a certain attraction to event activities, the event business. But my career has just been a whole succession of happy accidents. If someone had told me I would be running a motor racing facility back when I was in high school or even in college, I would have told you they were nuts. I graduated high school, I started off in college down in Santa Barbara — and had a great time. Got a letter from my dad at the end of my sophomore year that said, “If this is your idea of going to college, then you’re more than welcome to keep doing it, but you’re gonna pay for it yourself from now on.” So you were having too good of a time. I was having a wonderful time. But I was not on a good trajectory academically. So I used that as an excuse to drop out of school for almost two years. Did a lot of traveling, eliminated a lot of potential career choices. I spent six months selling women’s shoes, I sold Buicks, I worked as a gardener. I traveled across the country with a friend in a van. We spent about three months getting across the country through the Southwest and the South and up the East Coast. He was one of my college buddies, and then he went back to go to school. I wasn’t ready to give up the road, so I hitchhiked up to Maine because I was running out of money and it was the potato harvest in northern Maine. I worked the potato harvest, and then hitchhiked back to California. Wow! Hitchhiked all the way? Maine to California. And the last guy that picked me up — it was right around Halloween — was driving a truck full of Christmas trees and hired me to drive Christmas trees back and forth from Oregon back to San Francisco, and I lived in a trailer on a Christmas tree lot and sold Christmas trees. And at that point I had actually somehow managed — ...

The series of 12 Questions interviews continues this week with Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports. These interviews are recorded as a podcast but also transcribed for those who prefer to read. 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? Racing’s weird. A lot of times I lay in bed at night — I don’t go to sleep very quickly — and I’ll think about it a little bit before going to bed. Especially if it’s race weekend or something like coming (to Sonoma), kind of running laps around the road course in your head. And when I do that, I never fall asleep, so it kind of keeps me up. So my mind wanders elsewhere. The last dream I had about racing was, somehow or another I was running the Indy race somewhere. Actually it was an F1 race. Weirdest thing ever. And I get in the race, qualified like third or fourth, and we’re going out to the grid. We’re about to get into the cars and I realize I didn’t have my suit on. I was in my street clothes, and I had to go run and change really fast and I missed the start of the race. Nightmare, basically. Lewis Hamilton’s not going to let you win when that happens. No, definitely not. 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? I think it kind of depends on the circumstance and whether or not the other person knows whatever drove to that contact in that situation. Sure, if I get into somebody — whether it’s on accident, on purpose, whatever — I do think if an explanation is needed, it’s probably in your best interest to at least say something. You race around the same people every week, so you’re gonna be around that person again and they can make your life easier or harder. 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? Within racing, I just think the kind of competitor you are. If somebody’s bragging on the type of competitor you are and how you conduct yourself, I think that’s a pretty big compliment regardless of performance. I just think if you’re appreciated and respected from your peers, I think you’re doing something right. It’s not necessarily a compliment, but if respect is there, I think that’s a pretty big one in itself and you can typically tell whether someone respects you or not. I think that goes a long way. 4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be excited to host? I had a chance to hang out with Daniel Ricciardo from the F1 side (at Texas last fall). He’s not a celebrity — a California celebrity — but obviously a very well-known racer. Had a lot of fun with that. I think kind of keeping it in the racing community, hanging out with people that understand what you have going on is a lot more fun than hosting somebody that has no clue. I’m a fan of different things. But hosting other people within a type of racing, I think is very cool because they know a lot about racing, Obviously if they’re invited here, they are well-known in whatever area they race in. And they know a lot about it, they just don’t know a lot about this kind of racing, and I don’t know a lot about their kind of racing. So it’s an easy cross and an easy thing to talk about the differences and similarities as well. 5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it? No, absolutely not. No. I’ll take my chances. 6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. This is the 2015 Kentucky Fall race for Xfinity. It wasn’t really the fall,

NASCAR Next driver Will Rodgers, who won Saturday’s K&N West race at Sonoma Raceway, joins me to help analyze everything that happened in Sunday’s Cup Series race.

Each week, I ask a member of the racing community to shed some light on their career path and how they reached their current position. Up next: Marlin Yoder, car chief for MDM Motorsports’ No. 41 team in the ARCA Series. What your current role with MDM Motorsports? This is going on my third year with the same crew chief, Mardy Lindley, and I am the car chief this year for Zane Smith, who is running for the championship in the ARCA Series. (Smith is currently second in the ARCA standings.) I understand you have an interesting backstory. When I was talking to people about this feature, several people nominated you to do this. Can you tell me how you grew up and what your upbringing was like? Was racing ever on your radar at all? No. I was born and raised Amish, and I left the Amish when I was 17, almost 18. We weren’t allowed to follow any sports and could play very few sports. We were allowed to play volleyball but no basketball, no hockey; softball but not baseball. But definitely not racing. That was very looked down upon. And so this is up in Wisconsin, is that correct? Yes, I was raised in Wisconsin. I guess I have preconceived notions about being Amish, like probably a lot of people do, so set me straight on this: You didn’t have a TV? Is that correct? Were you even aware of NASCAR and things like that growing up? No, we didn’t have TV or electricity or radio, so we didn’t have any music. And since we weren’t allowed to follow any sports growing up, I didn’t know anything of any sports like the NFL or NASCAR or racing in general. I didn’t know anything about it. So then how did you first hear of NASCAR or racing? When I was 15 years old, I had a buddy of mine who left the Amish, and I stayed in contact with him. Anytime I would need to get ahold of him, I would call him — but since we didn’t have a phone, I’d have to run across the street and use our neighbor’s telephone. I still remember the first time I used the phone. It took me a little while to figure it out because I had no clue how to use it. Anyway, he brought me a little AM/FM radio. It was pocket-sized, so I could hide it anywhere — because obviously I wasn’t allowed to have that, you know? I could pick up one country station and I just happened to come across the race one Sunday afternoon. Of course, I didn’t know anything about it, but the MRN guys and the PRN guys did a really good job of painting a picture and make it sound so exciting. So that’s what drew me in. I just started listening to it, and I didn’t know who anybody was, I didn’t know what the cars looked like, I’d never seen pictures of the race cars. So this was all an image that I knew nothing about, but I would build the image of what I thought was happening and what it looked like. So you didn’t know the drivers or their past or the schedule — everything you knew was what they’re saying on the radio? Yeah, like I had no idea what the racetracks looked like. I’d never even seen a picture of a racetrack. I didn’t know what a racetrack looked like or a race car. When I finally did leave the Amish, that very day I watched my first Cup race and it was the Atlanta Cup race in 2008 in the spring there. I still remember seeing my very first pit stop, and I asked my buddy, “Why are they putting worn-out tires back on the race car?” I had never seen racing slicks. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a racing slick. So when I saw them put racing slicks back on the tire, I couldn’t understand why because I’d always seen treaded tires. Did racing play into your decision to leave the Amish, or had you left for completely other reasons altogether? No, it was other reasons altogether. Obviously that was something I started following w...

The series of 12 Questions interviews continues with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. of Roush Fenway Racing. These interviews are recorded as podcasts, but also transcribed on JeffGluck.com for those who would rather read. 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? I don’t dream very much. Well I’m sure I do, but I don’t actually remember them or wake up and be like, “Oh wow, that was crazy.” When I was younger, I used to dream quite a bit around racing. Now that I do it for a living, maybe I don’t dream about it as much. 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? I always feel it’s necessary to apologize if it’s an accident. I’ve gotten into people on purpose and I definitely ain’t calling them if I feel like they deserved it, right? So I’m not apologizing. That’s the way I roll. If somebody gets into me on accident and I know it’s on accident, I expect at least like a, “Hey, sorry about that.” And then I’ll let it roll off. But if it seems intentional, I’m like, “I’ll get them back.” So there’s no fake explanation later where you’re like, “Oh, I really didn’t mean to do that” even though you did? You just don’t bother. Yeah, I just don’t bother. I feel like they really understand after that: “Alright, he meant to do that.” 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? Throughout my racing career, I always loved when people are like, “I love how aggressive you drive, on the edge,” because I feel like that’s my driving style. So I like it when people feel like I do that. And get the most out of the car. I feel like that’s always a positive compliment you can get as far as driving a race car. 4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be excited to host? Probably Alan Jackson, that’d be cool. I feel like there’s a lot of cool sports celebrities and people that come to the track that you get to meet, but I feel like Alan Jackson doesn’t do a whole lot outside his (singing), so I think that’d be cool. That brings up a good point because we see so many country artists — but not Alan Jackson, unless he came through in the 90s or something. Surely he’s been to a NASCAR race at some point. (Editor’s note: We forgot about this notable Alan Jackson video featuring some legendary drivers.) I would think so. His music and him scream NASCAR, so I don’t know. That’s who’d I want to come hang out with me. I wish I could have hair like he did, especially in the 90s. You almost did for a little while. Yeah. I might try and get it again, but I don’t know. I mean, long blonde hair is pretty solid. 5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it? Who says vegan’s healthy? There’s people that say you need to eat some meat, right? Protein. That’s a good point. But for a No. 1 pit stall, it depends on what track they would give it to you at. I would definitely do it for pit stalls where it feels like it’s a huge advantage, a track position racetrack. So I’d probably do it. I quit eating candy for a month one time, and I feel like that was probably harder than going vegan for a month. 6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. Are you good at remembering races or no? I’m OK,

The series of 12 Questions driver interviews continues this week with Jamie McMurray of Chip Ganassi Racing. These interviews are recorded as podcasts but also transcribed for those who prefer to read. 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? Just every once in a while. Not that often. I did have one just recently, but I don’t remember the last time I had a dream about racing. 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? Does it matter…to me? Is it better asked if someone gets into you intentionally? I’d say if it matters to them. Like is it going to make a difference if you apologize, essentially? I think it does make a difference. If you’ve been racing awhile, you know how everyone races you. If it’s intentional, I probably wouldn’t send a text because I feel like that person would know why. But most of the time it’s not intentional, and I always send a text or call. Like I got into Daniel Suarez at Pocono on a restart. It was actually like a chain reaction — he hit the car in front of him and I hit Daniel. I knew he was going to be at the (tire) test at Darlington, so I just waited until I got to Darlington and went over and talked to him. I kind of knew he wasn’t going to be mad, but you also never know. So yeah, I always reach out to somebody if I get into them. 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? I’m a good dad. 4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Kate Upton. That’s who you’d want to host? That’s who I’d like to host, yes. And my wife says she’s OK with that. Well, not really. I said that jokingly, but I would be OK with that. I think that she’s down the road here in Detroit. Oh wait, (Justin Verlander) got traded to the Astros. Yeah, and then they won the World Series. 5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it? Sure. Have you gone vegan before? I know you’re healthy. I’ve eaten a lot of plants. I would assume once you do something like that, it wouldn’t take a long time to kind of get acclimated to it. Like anytime someone changes their diet, it takes a little time to adapt to it. But what am I getting? Number one pit stall. Oh. I don’t know if that’s really going far enough. You want more of a reward? I do. I think I want more of a reward for that, yes. 6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. I’m never going to guess this. You’re not good at remembering races? I don’t know. I guess if you picked the race I won. No, I have to make it somewhat harder. OK, this is the 2015 Sonoma race. I greatly appreciate you making it somewhat recent. 2015 Sonoma, let’s see…I have to say where I finished? Ninth. It was 11th. Ugh, I was close. I was gonna say 11th. You started 18th. Kyle Busch won. This was after you’d gotten back to back poles the previous two years. You finished behind Sam Hornish and ahead of Tony Stewart. Does this ring a bell at all? No. Not at all. (Laughs) 7. Who is the best rapper alive? (Cringes, rubs his face.) I don’t know. I don’t know who the best rapper alive is. I wish that the face rub translated to the interview. I was trying to just rattle a random name off, but I felt like I would seem less cool if I said a name than it would if I just said I don’t know. 8. Who has the most punchable face in NASCAR? Punchable?

Holly Cain of the NASCAR Wire Service joins me to help digest everything that happened Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Each week, I ask a member of the racing community to explain how they reached their current position. This week, NASCAR Director of Industry Operations John McMullin Jr. — known to most as “Johnny Mac” — sheds some light on his career path in the sport. Can you first tell us what your role is now for NASCAR and what you do on a given race weekend? This is my 13th season with NASCAR. I’m the Director of Industry Operations for NASCAR. Basically, “Operations” is a very broad title. I’d say 80 percent of our workload is at the event, working with our tracks, our broadcast partners, our race teams, our partners, their sponsors — everything that goes into a race weekend logistically. Some of the bigger assets at the track that we’re in charge of are the drivers meetings — the whole production of it, the introduction list (of VIPs), the layout, the video you see — and pace car rides. One of the more visible assets we control is running victory lane every single weekend for all three series — just the whole run of show and keeping everything going in a timely manner. So that’s obviously one of the more visible things that our job is. But we wear a lot of different hats. Appropriate for the guy who is in charge of the hat dance. There you go. Very appropriate . So yeah, we handle a lot of requests. I can’t even think of all the different things I’ve asked to do, help out with during the race weekend. But Dave Finley (managing director of NASCAR series marketing) who was my first boss, I always steal his line: He said we were “E to E” — everything to everyone at the track. If you needed something, you’d probably start with the Ops team first and you’d probably get it handled. For those who are reading this and might be like, “Wow, that’s an interesting job. I wonder how he got there,” how did your career path get started? Did you have any racing roots growing up? I did. I actually grew up in the sport. I grew up in Daytona Beach. My father was the president and general manager of MRN all through the 80s and then into the late 90s. So I grew up right in the midst of it. And then my mom, she’s been at NASCAR for almost 37 years now. She was Bill France Jr.’s executive assistant for 26 of those years until he passed in 2007. She’s still with the company. So I grew up in it. I was a fan. Never had any aspirations of going to work or being a driver one day, even though I enjoyed it. I played baseball. But when my A-ball career was done, I needed a job in my mid-to-late 20s. I started at the very bottom as a runner for FOX at the 2002 Daytona 500, filling water coolers, picking up cigarette butts in the compound, driving people around and just kinda worked my way up with NBC. Did some utility work, and then Steve Stone hired me at what was then NASCAR Images. I worked on the very first SPEED Stage show in 2004, the inaugural season of the SPEED Stage. I did audio and some other things around the stage, and met Rutledge Wood — who was our DJ in between shows. So to watch his career path is quite funny, since we kind of started around the same time. But I started eying a job in NASCAR and Dave Finley’s Operations group was something that I really liked what they did. They were very visible, and I started talking to him and was fortunate enough that my mom worked for Bill France Jr. And when he had an opening, I had the opportunity and in January 2006, that’s when I started. Let’s back up for a minute. So growing up in Daytona Beach, especially with both your parents being involved in the sport, I assume you went to races and things like that when you were little. Did you ever have a consideration for working in it, or it just wasn’t on your radar at all?

The series of weekly driver interviews continues with Joey Logano of Team Penske. I spoke with Logano last weekend at Pocono Raceway. These interviews are recorded as a podcast but are also transcribed for those who prefer to read. 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? I have dreams a lot about racing. I recently had a dream in Charlotte that it started raining during the race, so I got out of the car, went back to the hauler to get some food and the race started back up without me. And I went running back onto pit road and my team was changing out my seat and they were putting Paul Menard’s seat in. So I woke up and of course it was raining — like in real life it was raining — and I was like, “Oh my God, am I actually missing this?” And I was nervous. Usually I have dreams about missing things. Which is probably why I’m early to everything in my life. That’s a good policy though. Yeah. I like being early. I get really nervous about being late. 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? Yes, I think it matters. I don’t know about apologizing, but what I’ve learned at least is sometimes it helps just to talk about it. You know? Say, “Hey, here’s what happened.” And if it’s good or bad, at least you know what happened. Talk about it. A lot of times those conversations aren’t really good, especially if it’s recent, like if it just happened. It’s usually not a good conversation, but I’ve learned in life sometimes the tough conversations are the best ones. 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? I’d say the biggest compliment would be something about your integrity or who you are as a person. I think a good job, pat on the back doesn’t really hold much. But when someone talks about your character, it probably holds more value to me. Someone that knows me that says something about my character means the most. Not somebody on Twitter or something? I appreciate everyone on Twitter and their opinions. But it’s hard to know somebody from just social media alone, which is why I try to do things that show who I am more often, whether you like it or not. Sometimes I think social media, it’s all about the posts, it’s about what you put up — and a lot of people post things that aren’t real life sometimes. And I’m not talking about racing and all that, but just in general. People always post the good days, they don’t post the bad days or the work that gets to that post you put up. So I always take social media with a grain of salt when I look at other people’s stuff. 4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be really excited to host at a race? (Deep sigh) I don’t know. (Thinks for a moment) That was a big sigh. Are you not real big on celebs? Not really. I mean, I think it’s great we’re bringing celebrities to the racetrack, that means there’s a lot of great things that come along with that for our sport. Honestly, I kind of live in my own little world sometimes. I get excited about meeting people — a lot of times athletes, because I like asking them a bunch of questions. Most of the time, I ask about their life and how they handle pressure and how they handle the family and work and putting all that together — what they do, how they prep for a game. I really enjoy meeting athletes more than probably anyone. I guess like Tom Brady or somebody would be cool to talk to. But just because I’m a New England fan. No one else really sticks out in my mind, because a lot of times, it’s fun to invite people to the racetrack — but you’re still doing your job,

Zach Sturniolo of the Pocono Record joins me to help break down the action at his home track in this week’s version of the post-race podcast.

Each week, I ask a member of the motorsports community to shed some light on their career path and journey to reach their current position. Up this week: Cara Adams, chief engineer for Bridgestone Americas Motorsports. This interview was recorded as a podcast, but is transcribed for those who prefer to read. What does your job currently entail? Myself and my team of mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, chemists and technicians, we design and develop all of the tires used in the Verizon IndyCar Series. So there’s a lot of work that goes on back in Akron, Ohio where our home base is, and tire production and tire testing — all of those things we do to develop the tires. We come to all of the IndyCar Series races to make sure everything is going well with the tires, (talk to) anybody who has any questions and make sure the drivers can get the most performance out of their tires. How did this whole thing get started for you? Did you grow up and have this as your dream? My grandfather was an engineer on the launch team for NASA. He got to work on the space shuttle missions, the Apollo missions, and I always thought NASA would be really cool. I didn’t know much about racing. My family are not sports people. We’re not into sports-ing. (Laughs) They didn’t really watch much racing, if any. When I went to school for engineering, I wandered down into the machine shop in the basement of the University of Akron’s engineering building, and they were putting something together. I was asking them about what it was, and it was a Formula SAE car (a student-designed race car competition). They were doing all of the machining, all of the designing and I didn’t know much about cars or tools or anything at all. All I knew was something about rebuilding a carburetor was what you did with cars. My dad had an old Volkswagen Beetle and all he did was rebuild that carburetor. So I started to learn machine tools. That’s where I learned to use a mill, a lathe, all of that. We built the car, I got to drive in a friend’s fast car and between that and driving in the SAE car and then winning tickets on the radio to go see a Champ Car race, I just fell in love with the mechanics of the car. How the car worked, how the car shifted under load — those are the things I really fell in love with. What would have happened in your life had you never gone down in the basement and seen that car? I don’t know. I think I might have gone the route my little sister has. She’s actually an engineer for Boeing and she works on finite element analysis and now she’s doing project management for Boeing. So I might have gone the airplane route had I never gotten interested in the cars. Once you were interested in cars and got out of college, what was the first step in your career? When I first graduated, there weren’t too many jobs in the automotive field. It was right after a downturn. I ended up at Bridgestone and I was working in our tire vehicle dynamics group. Now, I knew Bridgestone/Firestone had a phenomenal history in motorsports; I didn’t realize how far back it went. I didn’t realize it went all the way back to the 1911 Indy 500, when Ray Harroun and his Marmon Wasp drove to victory on Firestone tires. But I did know they were in Champ Car at the time and they were in IndyCar, so I did know there was that history there. When I started with the company, I basically talked to the manager at the time and said, “I really, really want to work in race tire development. How can I get that role? What do I need to be able to do? What are you looking for in your ideal engineer?” So he went back and talked to some of his engineers, and he said, “Well, we really want somebody who understands vehicle dynamics, somebody who can do programming — specifically MATLAB (engineering software) — and somebody who understands tire force moment behavior. I thought, “OK,

The 12 Questions series of interviews continues with Erik Jones, who is in his second year driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. These interviews are recorded as a podcast, but are also transcribed for those who prefer to read. 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? Not a whole lot. Every once in awhile I’ll have one. I guess when I’m really thinking about a given race coming up or thinking about certain things. Maybe I just watched a racing video or something before I go to bed, and then I’ll have a dream about racing. But in general, I don’t remember a lot of my dreams anymore. 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? It does and it doesn’t. I’ve had guys that have gotten into me that have apologized and haven’t apologized, and I’ve gotten into guys and apologized and haven’t apologized. You know when it’s intentional and when it’s not intentional. And if it’s not intentional, honestly, it is what it is. I mean, you’re frustrated as a driver — I’m frustrated if it happens to me — but you can’t be all that mad. It wasn’t their intention to do that, you know they already feel bad enough about it. But if it is intentional, I don’t think there’s much that needs to be said there, either. I guess there are times where I really feel like if I did something completely wrong, I’ve gone to guys and apologized. But if it’s something small, I usually don’t say anything about it. You just kind of move on. 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? Overall, I’d have to say that someone was proud of the work that I was putting into whatever it may be — not only racing, but I think just anything that I was up to in life. Just proud of the work that I was putting in at that point in time, the effort was paying off and it was helping everybody and better for everybody. That would be a big compliment to me. 4. NASCAR comes to you and says they’re bringing a celebrity to the track and they want you to host them. Who is a celebrity you’d be really excited to host at a race? Matthew McConaughey. I’m a big Matthew McConaughey fan, so that’d be pretty cool. I think he’d like it too. I don’t know if he’s ever been to a race, but that would be kind of neat. It seems like he would. He seems like he’s kinda got the Southern relatability going on. I think he’d just be a guy who would kind of sit back and not be a big ego guy. He’d kind of just be along for the ride and really want to take it all in and explore. So I think that’d be pretty neat. 5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it? No. No way. No. I couldn’t. I like a salad every once in a while, but not that much. 6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. This is the 2016 Fall Charlotte Xfinity race. That’s a tough one, because we ran second for a long time that day but we had a restart at the end and we didn’t run second. Did we run fourth? Fifth. That was pretty close. It was hard to remember because that day, we ran second all day to (Kyle) Larson. We had a caution with like five to go or something. We got shuffled on the restart and didn’t finish as good as we should have. Wow. Do you remember all races that well, or is this just one that sticks out? No, that one sticks out. That was the first year of the Xfinity playoffs, and we’d gotten ourselves into trouble about advancing in the next round and we had to finish pretty well that day,

The NASCAR Twitter legend known as @nascarcasm joins me in for a wacky and weird post-race podcast following the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600.

A quick primer on what to expect in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, from the lack of favorites to how hot temperatures could affect the racing.

Each week, I ask someone in the racing industry about their career path and journey to where they are now. This interview is recorded as a podcast, but is also transcribed for those who prefer to read instead of listen. Up next: Bob Pockrass, motorsports writer for ESPN.com. Bob, how did this start for you? Did you grow up as a motorsports fan? I grew up in Indianapolis, or moved there when I was 10, so I was a little bit of a stick and ball fan until I was 10. But when you live in Indianapolis, you become a race fan. The Indy 500 is part of the culture of the city more than any other place I’ve ever been. I think I moved there in 1979, and I’m pretty sure I went to the Indy 500 in 1980 or ’81. My dad was like, “Well, we gotta get tickets.” I don’t think he was happy with the amount of people and parking and traffic, and I didn’t go again until I was in high school. My older brother lived about a mile from the racetrack. And so every Indy 500, I’d go and sleep over at my brother’s house and we’d walk to the (track) and the pay the general admission which was like $20 bucks or $25 bucks and stand in Turn 1 and get sunburned and watch the Indy 500. Do you remember any of those races? No. I think what I just remember most is how fast the cars are. To this day, NASCAR goes to Indy, which — look, I can watch them race any type of car at Indy and I’d probably love it. But 220 (mph) in the corner is still a lot different than 160. So once you’re in Indiana, you end up eventually going to Indiana University. When you’re at IU, were you going to college with the intent of, “I want to be a sportswriter?” I went to Indiana thinking I wanted to own my own business, and I was a business major when I got there. I started taking classes and in one of your first accounting classes, they said, “You gotta pay the peons something,” pretty much is the way the professor put it. I realized that they were more training you to work in corporate America rather than maybe owning your own business. What kind of business did you imagine yourself owning? I really had no idea. But I just thought I’d really like to run a business. I’d worked for the school newspaper, and my older brother was working for the Indianapolis News, afternoon paper. There used to be papers that were published in the afternoon. So I always had a little bit of a journalism bug and my second semester of my freshman year, I started working at the school newspaper just doing news stories. What really caught me was I did a story on a crop walk, which was one of those walks for hunger, and I did a story that it was going to happen and then I went to the walk. Two people came to the registration table with a copy of the article to register to walk and donate money. The power of the press, right? And I thought that was the coolest thing. Obviously, IU Bloomington was a huge sports place, Bobby Knight and everything, and I just thought, “I’d like to cover sports.” So that’s when I started covering sports, like my sophomore year in college and I changed my major and that was that. So when you’re at the school paper there and Bobby Knight was the basketball coach at IU, did you have any run-ins with him or anything like that? Was he as difficult as everybody said? Well, I did end a press conference once. Probably my junior year or senior year, I was working for UPI (wire service). I would go there and send like five or six graphs and send quotes. They were doing a national story on how bad free throw shooting was. Indiana was really struggling at the free throw line, and after one of the games, and I think Knight had just gotten the stat sheet handed to him because he looked at something and he just had this look on his face.

The series of weekly driver interviews continues this week with Alexander Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner. Rossi, who drives for Andretti Autosport, enters this year’s Indy 500 ranked second in the Verizon IndyCar Series point standings. I spoke with Rossi during a promotional tour Tuesday in Portland. (This interview was recorded as a podcast but is transcribed below for those who prefer to read.) 1. How often do you have dreams about racing? Never, really. Unless it’s a bad day. And then I don’t think it’s dreams, it’s just not being able to sleep — because you’re constantly replaying what happened and what went wrong. But I never have the good dreams about racing. 2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize? I don’t think so. The result is what it is. I think if it’s someone you have a good relationship with off-track, you’ll probably talk to them. But if you don’t, then no. 3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you? The biggest compliment someone could give me is probably that you’re a good racing driver but also a good person. As much as we define ourselves as race car drivers, outside of that we’re just normal people and human beings who are trying to do good things in the world. 4. IndyCar comes to you and says, “Hey, we are bringing a celebrity to the race and we’re wondering if you have time to say hi.” Who is a celebrity you’d be really excited to host? Ryan Reynolds. You didn’t have to think about that for very long. Nope. Deadpool. He’s pretty cool. 5. In an effort to show they are health-conscious, IndyCar offers the No. 1 pit stall selection for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for a month. Would you do it? I don’t know that it’s a big enough advantage to go vegan, so I would not do it. I like meat — I eat meat pretty much every day, so I don’t think I could give that up. Conor (Daly) would. Conor is a part-time vegan. So I think he’d probably be the first to go for that. 6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I have picked a random race from your career and you have to guess where you finished. This is the 2015 Formula One Mexico Grand Prix. Do you remember where you ended up? Fifteenth? That is correct! Are you good at remembering races? I’m pretty good at remembering races, yeah. That one I wasn’t as sure of as other ones, but obviously I had a pretty good idea. What were those days in F1 like for you? Awesome. I mean, that was my dream. That was what I had worked to do for 15 years. The fact I finally got the opportunity to be a Grand Prix driver — although it was only for five races — was pretty special. Regardless of the fact we didn’t have a competitive car to win races, that was a dream come true for me. I’ll definitely cherish those memories. 7. Who is the best rapper alive? I have a lot of respect for Jay-Z, so we’ll go with him. Just him as a businessman in general. Beyond his rapping, just him as a brand is pretty amazing. It’s something I think a lot of people can aspire to be like him. 8. Who has the most punchable face in IndyCar? Oh, do you want a list? (Smiles) If you have one. That’s a mean question. We’ll go with Charlie (Kimball). Just because of his face, or do you actually want to punch him? I don’t want to punch Charlie. He’s just got that look about him. 9. IndyCar enlists three famous Americans to be involved with your team for one race as part of a publicity push: Taylor Swift, LeBron James and Tom Hanks. Choose one to be your strategist, one to be your spotter and one to be your motorhome driver. Well, I feel like Tom Hanks should be the spotter because he’d be the most analytical. Considering the relationship you have with (spotters), you’re kind of putting your life in their hands in a remote w...

After an experimental rules package was tried in Saturday night’s All-Star Race, I had some thoughts to share about the balance of entertainment vs. competition. This podcast was recorded as a live stream on Periscope.