Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

Our series of NASCAR driver interviews continues this week with Cole Whitt, a BK Racing rookie who is currently coming off his first back-to-back top-20 finishes.

Q: When you're on a long green-flag run and not racing around anyone, what do you think about?

A: It just depends on the day I guess. If you're having a bad day, you're thinking, "How quick can we get this over with?" (Laughs) If you're having a good day, you're just trying to get closer to that next car in front of you.

For the most part, I'm always trying to catch the next car in front of me — even if it's one on a different lap. Whatever I can see, I'm always trying to catch.

Q: Fans sometimes come up to you and want to discuss a moment or race from your career. Which one comes up the most?

A: I always like when the fans know some of my history, because then you actually know they're fans. The thing that confuses me sometimes is when people want my autograph and they're like, "Can you put your number there?" And then you sign it and they're like, "Oh, that's who you are!" I don't understand why you want my autograph if you don't know who I am. (Laughs)

But a lot of fans bring up sprint car stuff for me, because they saw me when I was running dirt cars. They'll bring up USAC wins or my midget championship (in 2008).

So people come up to you because they think you're a driver, they just don't know which one?

Usually one guy will start it, like a guy who knows who you are and is really happy to meet you. I always love taking time for those guys, because I think it's cool for people to know your history and you can tell they followed you.

But then people see you sign that one autograph and people are like, "Oh! There's someone who we apparently need to get an autograph from." It doesn't really matter, but I just don't know why they want it. (Laughs)

Q: If someone paid you $5 million to design a new racetrack and gave you an unlimited budget, what kind of track would you build?

A: First of all, that'd be awesome. (Laughs) I feel like I'd build the dumbest track ever. I'd have dirt sections, a mud hole, asphalt, whoops sections (like in Supercross) and all kinds of weird stuff.

But I guess if it was the perfect NASCAR track, I personally like the road courses. Just something more in between Watkins Glen and Sonoma. There aren't really any straightaways at Sonoma and Watkins Glen has a lot of straightaway, so something in between those two would be a lot of fun.

Would you want elevation changes?

I like the elevation. I think it's cool. Sonoma has some really weird blind corners — that was the first time I got to run it this year — and I didn't realize how blind some of them are. So that's a little sketchy; not real fun as a driver. They have some blind ones at Watkins Glen, too, but that didn't seem to bother me as bad. I guess because it's a little more open; for some reason you feel like you can see a little better.

Q: If you had a day off to do anything in the world you wanted — but you were not allowed to race — what would you do?

A: I'd probably go fishing, for sure. I like fishing with my dad. That's probably the most fun thing I do. I enjoy getting out on the water with him and spending some father/son time. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with him when I was younger because we were always at a racetrack, so being in that kind of environment is super relaxing to me and the complete opposite of what we do here.

What kind of fishing do you prefer? Lake, ocean, river?

I would love to do ocean, but it's hard to get away and do that kind of stuff. Mostly lake fishing — bass fishing is a big thing for me. I have a bass boat, so whenever my dad is in town, we go out and try to bass fish. That's probably the most fun I have.

Q: You get to have a lot of cool experiences away from racing through your job as a NASCAR driver. What's one that sticks out?

A: Hanging out with 50 Cent this year (his SMS Audio company was an associate sponsor for Whitt's former team, Swan Racing) was kind of weird. Well, it was weird and cool at the same time, you know? It's just someone I never pictured hanging out with.

He was really cool. We went and got dinner and just had a chill night. I just never thought I'd see that in my lifetime.

What do you talk about at a dinner with 50 Cent?

I didn't really know what to talk to him about. (Laughs) I don't really get starstruck or act different to anyone; I'm just kind of myself regardless.

He talked about cars a lot. He's a huge car fan, but his idea of cars were a little different than mine. He was all about Lamborghinis and all those type of cars and I'm a big truck guy. I like lifted trucks and stuff. So we had different styles, but he really likes cars.

Q: When you go home after a bad day at the track, do you vent to someone about it or just keep it to yourself?

A: I try to keep it to myself, but I end up taking it out on the wrong people — which is my family. (Chuckles) It's not really funny, but at the same time I guess you hurt the people who love you the most.

I've tried to work on that and be better about that. But it's my first year in the Cup Series and we're working with a little bit smaller budgets and stuff, and we definitely have more downs than ups. We try to find every little victory we can and set realistic goals for our teams. But things don't always go the way you want them to, and it's hard to be patient.

For me, it's definitely very frustrating and I take this very seriously. I've definitely lost my cool plenty of times to my mom or girlfriend, but for the most part I try to keep it quiet and keep my head on my shoulders.

Q: If you have kids someday and they're running around the garage, who would you point to as a good role model in the garage?

A: I'd say Matt Kenseth, just by seeing him go around with his family and stuff. Kevin Harvick has had his kid around him a lot and looks like he's a great father figure. I see Casey Mears and his family a lot in the chapel services. So it's nice to see a family that stays that close and spends time together even though they're so busy.

Q: When you stand around with other drivers and tell old racing stories, what's one of your favorites to tell either about something that happened to yourself or someone else?

A: I don't really talk about racing hardly at all, ever. It's kind of funny. It's just my job I do during the weekend, so when I'm at home hanging out with friends or family, it seems to be the last thing we talk about.

But I've learned a lot through racing. Having to deal with a lot of the stuff we deal with kind of relates to all different aspects of life, and it's kind of allowed me to speak into some other kids' lives and kind of help them with things they go through, too.

Q: What's a TV show you're really into right now?

A: I really don't watch any TV. I guess the World Series is on. My girlfriend has gotten me into baseball. I never watched it; always hated baseball. She was a softball player through college, so she's all about baseball and I'm a big football fan. I kind of got into the World Series, so that's my new thing.

Royals or Giants?

I have to go for the Giants. That's her team, so if you go for anyone else, it's not going to be good. (Laughs)

Q: What's the last movie you saw — either at home or in the theater — and was it any good?

A: I saw this really weird movie on TV randomly the other day. It was called At Any Price. I wouldn't recommend it, so I wouldn't say it was good, but it was interesting. It had a kid who was the son of a seed farmer and he was trying to make it in racing. It happened to be on TV and I got drawn into it. It was interesting and weird at the same time.

Q: If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self — something you know now that you didn't know then — what would it be?

A: Just not to dwell on things. The biggest thing I've learned is stuff kind of just passes and it's not the end of the world when something doesn't quite go the way you thought it did.

I've become a lot stronger in my spiritual faith. It's allowed my life to be a lot more peaceful, a lot more joyful. I might have been able to take it easier on myself and enjoy my life a little more if I'd realized that sooner.

Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Michael Waltrip, and he wanted to know if you'd ever go on Dancing with the Stars.

A: No. I would not. (Laughs) I'm not a dancer and don't ever claim to be.

Q: And do you have a question for the next person?

A: I'd ask them what they do in their bus (motorhome) all the time. I don't have a bus and I see all their buses everywhere we go and they kind of just disappear in those things. They're kind of like superheroes, I swear. They go into those things and change and pop back out and they just end up by their race car.

So what do you do without a bus?

This is what I've got. (Motions to inside of team hauler.) I hang out with my guys and spend a lot of time with my team. I'm pretty close to my guys anyway. Even if we're not working, half the time I'm playing golf with them or taking them fishing. We spend a lot of time together.

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck