Texas Motor Speedway had its media day this afternoon, with a good mix of drivers either in attendance or on the satellite feed from Florida. Now if you've never been to a media day of any kind, let me give you a glimpse of what they are: A lot of questions, sometimes with various degrees of repetition, a lot more answers and some comedic moments. I, of course, want to focus on the funny little moments through the day. So here are some snippets:
Scott Dixon, speaking from Homestead, Fla., chatted about his post-Indianapolis 500 honors he received from his home country of New Zealand. His image was on a postage stamp there, but that was nothing compared to the "lamb for a year" he won:
"It was a bit of a joke. I thought it was LAND for life, which I was pretty proud of that. But it was lamb so I was a little down. But I've definitely had plenty of it, especially when I went down to New Zealand. We also had some at the Watkins Glen race just after the 500; we had a few people come up and cater that. So I’m all lambed out right now."
Texas native Colin Braun had a warm welcome from TMS president Eddie Gossage. Then Gossage asked about Braun's suspension for on-track incidents two years ago: "So the first thing you ask me about is being suspended," the youngster said with a laugh. "What a question to ask."
Ryan Newman had a ball at Tony Stewart's expense while Stewart was in earshot of his on-stage interview. Newman came onto the stage before his name was announced, and Gossage asked how he knew he was talking about him and not Stewart.
"I heard the 43 poles," Newman said to laughter. "I know that number. Forty-three (poles), 13 (victories), one Daytona 500. That’s pretty much all I’ve got."
The two were later on stage together. Stewart talked about how frazzling it's been to develop his new Stewart-Haas racing team: "It is stressful. it’s a good weight-loss program so far."
And as for any Stewart outbursts this season, Newman had the solution: "We have a shock collar for him this year. For whatever reason, my wife is on the button. I just give her a wink, she knocks him down."
-- Tracey Myers
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