Hunter-Reay will share the No.91 Pontiac Riley with Jimmie Johnson, Jim Matthews and Marc Goossens at the Rolex 24. (Greg Aleck/Fastlines photo) » More Photos
Q: Are you considering sticking around for the rest of the A1 season?
"Right now I have a one-race deal with Team USA, but I like to see it more as the beginning of a relationship with Rick [Weidinger, A1 Team USA franchise holder]. It's a starting relationship, a starting series. But the important thing is that we had been in touch for almost a year, and now it's time to go racing."
Q: So your focus for '07 remains on landing a Busch Series drive?
"I've chosen to go the NASCAR route. It simply offers a lot more options to be competitive and basically just be out there than open-wheel racing does. I have a few options there and hopefully we'll be able to make a formal announcement soon."
Q: Are you looking to drive full-time in Busch?
"The idea is to do a mixed schedule with part-time Busch Series racing in addition to other things, maybe some races in Trucks, some in ARCA. I've been testing with the same [Busch] team, in fact we just had a test last week, but it's a bit early to name names right now."
Q: It's looking like 2007 will be a lot busier for you than '06 was…
"I've been keeping pretty busy. I was testing the Busch car last week; this week I'm flying to New Zealand and when I come back I go straight to Florida on Monday to do the Rolex 24 at Daytona with the Riley factory team [Hunter-Reay will share the No.91 Pontiac Riley with NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson and sports car regulars Marc Goossens and Jim Matthews.] So it's busy for sure, but I'm not complaining…"
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Q: Is Champ Car something you're no longer pursuing?
"If it were an ultra-competitive situation of course I'd consider going back to Champ Car, but I'm finding that there are many more options to be competitive in other forms of racing. I'm pretty focused on building a career in NASCAR for my future."
Q: Do you feel like you were in any way short-changed by Champ Car's bosses after what happened at Rocketsports? [Hunter-Reay was dropped by the team with two races to go in the '05 season].
"I'm not sitting here feeling bitter about what happened or anything like that, but yes, I was promised a series of things that ended up not being fulfilled. I guess I put my faith in the powers-that-be over there and at the end of the day things didn't turn out the way they were promised to me, so I felt very disappointed about it back then.
"On the other hand, it was a blessing of sorts in a way, since it opened my eyes to seek the NASCAR route, which is what I'm pushing for right now."
Q: Considering the fact there won't be any American race winners in Champ Car this year, do you think the series could do a better job of retaining its American talent?
"Sure it would be great if they did, wouldn't it? But one has to say that it doesn't seem to be much of a priority for them, at least in Champ Car's case – the IRL does have its fair share of Americans running at or near the front. If Champ Car thinks it's okay to race primarily on American soil without competitive American drivers, more power to them I guess..."
