Justin Haley, driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Media Availability Quotes:
What does racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway mean to you?
“Yeah, this is obviously my home track. Gainbridge has a large presence here, as well. So, yeah, just an important race for our team. Hopefully we unload here fast in practice and can put on a good show. So, yeah, obviously important for me. I grew up racing here — not racing here, but watching a lot of the Indianapolis 500’s. We have a strong relationship with Gainbridge, who’s been one our main sponsors this year. So, yeah, I’m excited to get going here. It’s always good to be home.”
How would you describe the season so far for you and the No. 7 team? What are the boxes you’re trying to check as we get closer to the end of the regular season here?
“I think it’s just been interesting. I mean, that’s really all I can think about when I think about our season. Obviously, I feel like at the start of the season, we were pretty good, and then the car chief and crew chief change happened. We kind of went through a section through May and June where I thought we were pretty decent; had good speed but just caught up in a lot of incidents that kind of tanked us back in the points.
But again, I feel like anytime we got into an incident, it really wasn’t our fault. It was just a bad stretch. So, yeah, we’ve kind of tried to climb back through the metric and have decent days. I feel like we’re coming off two okay finishes right there inside the top-20. I feel like we’ve had good speed, but just trying to find our groove again. Obviously, it’s been a pretty difficult season, in general, with where we are in the points standing and kind of what we’ve gone through. Definitely not what I expected when I started in Daytona, to go through all we’ve been through. But just trying to find a little bit of silver lining and get some good finishes by the end of the year.”
How old were you when you first came to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and what is your first memory of this track?
“Yeah, I’m not sure. I know I skipped school a few times. I was definitely in elementary school. My parents had some friends that still live right here, not but a quarter mile away. We used to stay at their house and used to watch a lot of Indy 500’s — come up here for Carb Day, all the practices and spent a lot of time here watching the INDYCAR’s.
I’m not sure if I ever came to a Brickyard, but yeah, I would say I was pretty young… probably six or seven. I knew it was before I started racing. I started racing when I was nine. So yeah, spent a lot of time here; had a lot of fun with it. I enjoy coming here.”
It’s been a tough season so far. What’s your outlook going forward for the rest of the year and trying to get things back on the right track for yourself and the team?
“Yeah, I mean, I kind of hit on that earlier. It’s just been interesting. I’m not really sure why or how I’ve gotten to this point. But yeah, it was tough, obviously losing what we lost and just trying to find our footing after that.
I feel like we have speed. I feel like there’s been weeks where we show a lot of promise, and a lot of those weeks we got caught up in someone else’s mess. So yeah, we’ve kind of climbed back up the metric. I feel like we’re in a good spot here for qualifying. I feel like the past two weeks, we’ve had decent speed. We had the fastest lap at Sonoma. Unfortunately, it took us a day-in-a-half to get there to be the fastest car. But yeah, it’s been fine. I feel like it’s just been difficult. Not what I expected at all, but just trying to find a little bit of speed and get some finishes.
I’m glad to have (Michael) McDowell on my side. He’s been a big part of this year and helping me. He’s been an awesome teammate. Can’t say enough about Michael and what he’s done for our organization and our team.
So yeah, I feel like we’re okay. We just got to get a little bit better.”
Practice was cancelled yesterday and moved to today. Does that change your approach to practice today with the shortened time and the boxes you check to get ready for tomorrow?
“Yeah, it certainly does. I feel like that’s kind of hurt us, too. I’ve been trying to find a feel that I haven’t quite found yet. We had some packages we wanted to run through yesterday to try to hopefully find that feel and get translation from the simulator. So yeah, we kind of had to go with the package and stick with it today. And tomorrow, obviously with the shortened practices that we normally have, you really can’t do much to it.
I was kind of looking forward to yesterday. I know we brought some extra people to try to run through some more changes on my car and figure out something that I liked. I mean, I’m confident that it’ll be fast. Hopefully I have a good feel for it and we’ll be all right.”
You mentioned that this just hasn’t gone the way that you expected it to go from when you started at Daytona. What have you learned about yourself and the guys who are still around you on the No. 7 team throughout the course of this season? Also, what has Michael done specifically to help you out throughout the course of this season?
“I think Michael (McDowell) is just like a good glue guy, right? Like he just, I feel like, ties up all the loose ends that there might be and just kind of brings everyone together.
So yeah, just having teammates like him. I relate to him a lot like I did AJ (Allmendinger), right? Like just a figure that’s been around and seen it all. He just has a good overview perspective on maybe where your team’s at, where your car’s at or where you’re at as a driver. I’m living in it and trying to do it all, but having a neutral figure like Michael who is just there for your best interest has been a big help.
So yeah, I’m glad he’s taken me under my wing, and obviously I’m fully supportive of him and his team, as well. If it’s at 5 a.m. when we’re hitting pickleballs at his house or if we’re hashing it out in a competition meeting about something, he’s just been a great human being.”
GM PR