NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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IN THE COCKPIT: Tony Gibson - Chase Time
I feel like we can go to Chicago, run well, get a solid top-10 finish, and that will set the tone for our Chase...
Tony Gibson  |  Posted September 16, 2011   Charlotte, NC
Crew chief Tony Gibson (Right) and driver Ryan Newman (Left) are looking to begin the Chase on a high note. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
I think it’s fair to say that everyone has a bit of a different mindset entering this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup because of the switch-up in the first track we go to – we are going to Chicago, an intermediate track, instead of Loudon, which is a short track, for the first race.

Going to an intermediate racetrack versus a short track definitely takes a different mindset and different planning but, in the end, the only difference is the racetrack. It’s still the same thing when it comes to being successful in the Chase – you’ve got to be consistent, you’ve got to have top-fives and top-10s, and no DNFs (did not finish).

Our team has already proven this season that we can go to Loudon and win. So if we can go to Chicago and come out of there with a solid finish, then we can wipe our brow and breathe a sigh of relief and say, “Now we can go to Loudon and get after it.”

Honestly, though, I feel like we can go to Chicago, run well, get a solid top-10 finish, and that will set the tone for our Chase.

For us, Chicago is a track where we have been hit or miss. We ran really well there in 2009 but we didn’t run well there last year. It’s a track we have mixed feelings about but, one good thing is, we feel like our mile-and-a-half program has been better. We’re anxious to go there. We’re going there with something that’s more similar to our 2009 Chicago package. We have some confidence going back with that set-up that we will be pretty good.

We ran well just a couple of months ago at Kentucky and then again last month at Michigan, and we’re taking that same basic setup to Chicago.

Last year at this time, we were the first team on the outside looking in when it came to the Chase. That was a pretty bitter pill for us to swallow. But we used that as an opportunity to build a better race team and try some things out that we feel have really helped us this season.

During these same 10 races last year as we’re going into right now, we scored a lot of points and we were one of the most consistent teams week-in and week-out. So, I feel confident we can do that same thing this year. I feel like our team is stronger. I feel like our cars are better.

If we can go and perform in the final 10 races like we did last year – even though we weren’t in the Chase – we performed really well and there were stretches where we had gained the most points of anyone over a certain number of races. If we can take that same performance going into these final 10 races, then I think we have as good of a shot as anybody.

These last 10 races are for everything. It’s a different mindset than the first 26 races but the goal remains the same. In the first 26 races, we felt like we had to win a race so the pressure was to win, roll the dice, whatever you had to do to win.

In my opinion, your biggest fear in these 10 races is having a DNF. That will pretty much kill you. Consistency is more critical than winning a race in the final 10. Consistency is what’s going to win the championship – it does every year no matter what the point system is.

For us, I think it fits our criteria because we typically are consistent. We are not a ball of fire all the time, but we are consistent, so I think that plays into our hands better.

So, this weekend, we’ve got to go to Chicago and run well and a get a top-10 finish. This first race will dictate a lot of how things go. You don’t want to be the team that has problems in the first race. You want to go there and have a solid finish because that sets the groundwork for the rest of the Chase.

Tony Gibson is the crew chief for Ryan Newman and the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet at Stewart-Haas Racing. Gibson led the No. 39 team to a 15th-place finish in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, earning his career-first Cup win with Newman in the spring race at Phoenix. He finished ninth with Newman in the 2009 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup in Stewart-Haas Racing’s inaugural season. Prior to joining SHR, Gibson served as the crew chief for Mark Martin, Aric Almirola, Steve Park and Michael Waltrip at Dale Earnhardt Inc. from 2003 to 2008. He also worked as Jeff Gordon’s car chief at Hendrick Motorsports from 1998 to 2002, after working for two-time series champion Bill Elliott and former champion Alan Kulwicki.
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