Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell and Ryan Preece
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Bristol Motor Speedway – April 13, 2018
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Ryan Preece were made available to the media at Bristol Motor Speedway:
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 GameStop Seagate Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
When it comes to running for a large prize purse, how does it change the dynamic and how important is that money to each of you?
“It’s just special, man. To be able to race for that amount of money is something that you don’t get to do every single week. It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to ever since I announced that I was going Xfinity racing, so thank you Comcast and Xfinity for putting up the money and allowing us race car drivers to have a big prize to race for at the end.”
Do you think the strategy of your racing will be different because $100,000 is on the line?
“So for me, I know I talked about it last week, but it’s – you’re racing three other competitors for the bonus. I guess the only differing strategy would be if the yellow flag comes out and you pay more attention to what these other three are doing compared to the rest of the field.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 18 Rheem Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
When it comes to running for a large prize, how does it change the dynamic and how important is that money to each of you?
“To be honest with you, I’m used to running from anywhere to $2,000 races to $10,000 races, so to come here and to have a chance to win $100,000 is a big deal to me and all of us do say it doesn’t matter if it’s at a go-kart track for a piece of plastic or for $100,000, we’re going to race each other hard – pretty hard. I would say that’s true, but at the same time $100,000, I know what it’d do for me and I’m going to race very hard to get that.”
What would $100,000 do for you?
“What would it do for me? It would do a lot of things for me. Like I said last week, it would help me build more race cars, so that’s a big deal.”
What do you think about Cup drivers not being able to race in the Xfinity event at Bristol?
“Obviously, just to say what he (Daniel Hemric) said, so I’m on that receiving type end like Shane Lee and those other guys that are getting those opportunities to run this weekend. As much as I do enjoy racing the Kevin Harvicks, Kyle Buschs and such, would there have been this opportunity that I’ve gotten this year if they could race all those races? So that, just like Daniel said, it creates opportunity for people like myself and gives us a chance to really show what we can do.”
How do you distinguish yourself off the race track so fans really get behind you?
“For example, I’ve known Daniel’s (Hemric) background. He was a hard core racer. He’s worked on all of his stuff. You know I don’t know if you posted it on social media like I tried to just so people can see that because that’s kind of how I try to grow my fan base is show them ‘hey, I’m just like all of you guys.’ You would’ve have saw it if I didn’t post it out there and I think that’s kind of gotten – the racer that races on a Friday, Saturday night, you know I have them all behind me too. I said it last year about Iowa (Speedway). There was people at Stafford Motor Speedway or any race track – Bowman Grey, everywhere – they sent me photos and everything. They were skipping practice to watch that race, so I feel like that’s kind of what I’ve tried to do and just like Daniel said, be true to yourself, be who you are and people just kind of latch onto it.”
Do you think distinguishing yourself as you have on social media has helped you get to where you are today?
“I think Daniel (Hemric)’s proof. I think all of us are proof. I think we all just have different ways of getting here and a lot of people that are in this series, deserve to be here. Even in the Cup Series, you look at all those guys, they’ve – everybody has a different way to get here, I’ve just had a little bit of a different way and that’s what I enjoy about it.”
Do you think the strategy of your racing will be different because $100,000 is on the line?
“I think that’s – so for example, it’s no different than like I think – (Christopher) Bell you said it and you were in the top three, top four into the Homestead (Race). It’s the same thing. So going through the race and racing, any time I’ve ever been successful winning championships, it’s because I went out there to win the race. You go out and win that race, that’s going to take care of it, so that’s my agenda.”
You’re not scheduled to run next week at Richmond. If you get the $100,000 prize tomorrow and qualify for the next prize at Richmond, would you run?
“Well, I guess we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there. We’re going to approach this weekend like it’s my last. We’re going to try and win the race. I guess I’ll ask that question when it comes. At the same time I want the 18 to go there and have a really solid race, so I don’t want to take anything away from my other teammates also. A fourth car could do that. I’m just worried about Bristol.”
