Jordan Taylor comments on his first stint in a DP at Daytona

Jordan Taylor: “Well I think I got caught for speeding on pit lane. They extended the line and I think I just got caught out, which I was surprised about. But, the car is good I think it is pretty quick. I don’t know if we have enough for Ganassi if we really wanted to push hard. We are definitely in cruise mode right now saving fuel. I got stuck behind the No. 99 for a while. I think if we were able to get around them we would have been quite a bit quicker. But, I don’t see a point in really racing anybody at this point in the race. We saved enough fuel to go a lap longer than them and were able to pass them in the pits and then pull away on the next stint. I think the car is quick enough if we really want to start going, but at this point in the race I don’t see any reason to start pushing it so far.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR YOU TUBE VIDEO AND HOW IT CAME ABOUT? “Well I was just informed that it might be taken off You Tube so I’m a little upset right now. My friend Mark Jensen we were at dinner one night at a little Mexican place and a Mariachi band came around and serenaded us. I think they thought we were together. From that point we kind of thought of a funny idea of maybe doing a Mariachi dance for a video and then it kind of escalated from there. I said on TV just now that everyone at the track sees all of us as very serious people and I don’t really think they see our personalities away from the track. We all thought it would be fun to kind of just do a weird, goofy video like that. If you have a sense of humor you will enjoy it. Some people took it a little too seriously I think and were making some weird remarks. I think if you are just open to laugh at people we were just laughing at ourselves the whole time. It was just a fun video.”

YOUR BROTHER SPENT A NUMBER OF YEARS IN THE SAME ROLE LEARNING IN THE PROTOTYPE WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE FOR YOU THE FIRST WEEKEND WITH MAX (ANGELELLI) AND RYAN HUNTER-REAY? HAS IT BEEN A BIG EDUCATIONAL ASPECT FOR YOU YET? ARE YOU STILL SOAKING IT ALL IN? “We had the November test just Max (Angelelli) and myself and then January it was all three of us. I’ve been able to get used to everything, get used to the car and the team. It’s definitely been a learning experience as you saw in that first stint that was basically my first time in race conditions when GT cars are actually trying to hold you off. It took a little time to get used to it and following guys like (Allan) McNish and (Scott) Pruett and them. You pick it up pretty quickly just learning from the best guys. I think when you are thrown in at the deep end with these guys that is the best way to learn.”

AFTER YEARS OF BEING THAT GUY IN THE GT CAR WHAT IS THE EXPERIENCE LIKE NOW? “I realize why so many DP guys dislike GT cars. You are in your own race in GT and you try your best to not lose any time. You do block a lot of DP cars. I didn’t really realize how irritating that is until tonight. You are always on the radio asking who is in this car, who is in that car, because you want to understand which drivers are like what. When you get back in the car later on the team is kind of aware of what drivers drive in what style and you know what to expect so you don’t get caught out.”

THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF TALK HERE OF THE CHEVROLET’S MAYBE BEING DOWN ON POWER A LITTLE BIT, BUT AT ONE POINT MAX (ANGELELLI) WAS ALMOST MATCHING SCOTT PRUETT’S LAP TIMES, BUT HIS QUOTES SAY THAT HE JUST COULDN’T KEEP UP WITH THEM ON THE STRAIGHTS. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE TO THE BMW’S? “I would definitely put it to straight line speed. We were around the cars in practice and it was difficult to even stay close to them out of the bus stop even if you got a run on them. Even if it there was not a great driver in the car, but our car in years past the No. 10 car has traditionally been very strong here at Daytona under braking and on the infield. It is not surprising that Max was able to match lap times I would say if you look at sector times we are gaining in the infield maybe two or three tenths on them and then they are gaining it back on the oval section. I think if we get to the end of the race. It will be definitely a very tough battle for us because the best place to pass is obviously on the straight.”

Chevrolet Racing