SVG, Logano, Gragson and More!
By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Las Vegas, NV — With just four races left in the NASCAR regular season, eight drivers remain and all of them believe they and their teams have a plan to get to the final four after Martinsville. First, it’s LVMS, and Talladega.
My question to Erik Jones on UFC and NASCAR
Are there any synergies with UFC and NASCAR?
JONES: “Yeah, I mean, some maybe. I think it’s really different for them. They don’t have partners and we’re obviously heavily influenced by partners in what they need and want from us and what we can provide from them. I think there’s probably a lot of personality in our sport that’s in some of the guys are pretty, they’re a little more out there than what they let out and maybe into the media, not necessarily me, but some of the guys are. I think the UFC is a little bit more able to embrace that at times than probably what we are, but I think their promotion and the way they look at things are similar. They are a bigger sport just because they’re global, but I think with it, I would say that they are a niche sport, the UFC, I wouldn’t say it’s, it’s mainstream as the NFL, right? So I think we shared some of those similarities and those challenges of being a sport like that, but other than that, that’s really all I see.”
My question to SVG on Kiwi Nation (also on YouTube)
My questions to Joey Logano
AS A DRIVER, WHAT IS FAIR FOR YOU TO KNOW AS FAR AS THE POINT SITUATION OF YOU AND OTHER DRIVERS? “I want to know, obviously, my point situation because it matters, but I also want to know the other point situations because that matters too, not necessarily for manipulating the race, but understanding what risk I’m taking. Is this guy in a must-win situation and he’s gonna clobber me? Or, how hard is this car gonna be to pass in general. What are the motives out there, and there are plenty of times throughout the year where Coleman will tell me, ‘Hey, the top three cars on this restart are all must-wins.’ I’m like, ‘OK.’ I might be eighth at that moment or wherever, but just knowing that gives me like, ‘OK, this could be a pretty crazy restart. This might be a little different than what we’ve watched before the race and how we think it’s gonna go and I’ve got to be ready.’ I want to know those things. That helps me, not in a case of changing the outcome or anything like that, but how can I make the 22 car finish better. That’s my job, so how do I do that? How do I accomplish that, and a lot of times I need to know the full story to effectively do my job in the most efficient way on the racetrack and do things right.”
My question to Joey Logano about using data vs. having the fastest car
IS THERE ANY SORT OF DATA THAT YOU KNOW GIVES YOURSELF THE BEST CHANCE TO DO WELL? “Obviously, if you’re fast, that gives you an advantage. A fast car always helps. Qualifying up front always helps. With that said, it doesn’t mean you can’t win any other way. We’ve proven that, that you can win in a lot of different ways in NASCAR. That’s why it’s a team sport. It’s not just about the car and the driver. It’s about the strategy and the pit stops and everything else that goes along with it. There’s a lot that goes into it, so it’s not always about the fastest car that wins the race.”
My question to Noah Gragson on being considered for NASCAR’s most popular driver
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse – CHASE ELLIOTT HAS WON THE MOST POPULAR DRIVER AWARD MULTIPLE TIMES, BUT DO YOU THINK THIS COULD BE YOUR YEAR? “I’d hope so, but I doubt it. I don’t know what the numbers look like as far as how much he wins by every year, but he’s got a pretty strong fan base that, at least a fan base that votes a lot. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a fan base that votes for me in the Truck Series and winning the most popular driver there, and then Xfinity Series, but I can’t accurately answer that question. I hope so, but if we’re going off the track record, he’s got everybody covered.”
WHAT IS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY? “We try out best to keep things, like there’s different areas that we focus on with our social team. Instagram and Twitter, it’s more personal between myself and the fans and trying to keep the Instagram and the Twitter posts more raw, not so staged or choreographed. I feel like everybody just wants raw on Instagram. We’ve hired a full-time guy to do some You Tube videos. The fans have been excited over it, but definitely each platform is kind of its unique vibe in a sense, so we’ve been spending a little bit of time just thinking of different strategies to keep growing on those platforms, but at the end of the day, like if I had advice to anybody doing it, you’ve got to stay true to yourself and just be yourself. I’ll take a picture right now and put it into a collage from the weekend and we’ll do that. Everyone smile. I’ll put that in there and then you’ll be in there, but you just have to keep true to yourself and keep it natural, in my opinion. Everything is overproduced right now on Instagram. We need to bring it back to the old ways.”
