NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
GEICO 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 23, 2021
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:
GIVE US A RECAP OF HOW THE WEEK HAS BEEN SINCE YOU WON ON SUNDAY.
“Yeah, Sunday night was fun. Recovery and kind of a normal week, honestly; normal competition meetings, team meetings, a little more media than normal. It was really special to win at Richmond (Raceway), on a short track, get the No. 48 back in victory lane and get Ally’s first win. That’s really, really cool.”
AFTER A PIT PENALTY AND BEING QUITE FAR AWAY FROM THE LEADERS IN THE CLOSING STAGE OF THE RACE, HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT ACTUALLY ENDING UP WINNING THE RACE?
“Yeah, it was a surprise to me, I guess. I knew we were really good, but really to be buried in the field twice throughout the day, to be able to come back from that pit road penalty and pass as many cars as we did. Really under green, we drove from last to third. The leaders were pretty checked out and then got that late caution to be able to pass the No. 22 (Joey Logano) and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) was really neat. I felt like we had a car capable of winning all day, just didn’t have the track position to get up there and do it until the end.”
CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH THE INTERACTION OR THE WAY YOU LIKE IT WITH YOUR SPOTTER ON THE RACETRACK? ALSO, PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES ON FRIENDS. SO, HOW DOES HAVING FRIENDS HELP OR HOW MUCH DOES IT HELP TO BE SELFISH THESE DAYS?
“Spotter/Driver interaction on the No. 48 team is very sarcastic. Both of us are very sarcastic all the time, whether it’s daily life, meetings, in the racecar, spotting. Neither one of us do a very good job of turning it off, it’s always there. So, there’s a lot of that, for sure.”
“I think having friends on the racetrack doesn’t really benefit you, expect for this week going to Talladega (Superspeedway). I respect everybody I race with. There are a few guys in the Cup garage that I would consider friends, but I’m not there to make friends. I’m there to do the best I can. I have a pretty small circle of friends as it is; it’s not just an in-racing thing. I have a small group; I keep to myself and do my own thing. I think being selfish is definitely rewarding in the Cup Series. But this week, I need all the friends I can get. So, everybody be my friend and push me to the front.”
WITH TEAMMATES TO THINK ABOUT AND CHEVROLET TO THINK ABOUT, HOW SELFISH ARE YOU ALLOWED TO BE? HOW SELFISH CAN YOU BE?
“I think the goal is go win Talladega and if you have to be selfish to do that, that’s fine as long as you win. We’re all going to work together as much as we can. If we can’t win, we want one of the HMS cars to be there and being winning it.”
NOW THAT WE’RE ABOUT TEN RACES DEEP, HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THE START OF THE SEASON FOR THE NO. 48 TEAM AND JUST HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS IN GENERAL?
“I think HMS, in general, has been great. I feel like about every week, they’ve had a car that’s capable of winning. It’s really cool to see that. The atmosphere in the company is amazing. Everybody is working really well together. A lot of new faces and everybody has really clicked. For us, it was a rough start to the year. Obviously, we got the pole at Daytona; crashed like 12 laps in. From there, we had some rough weeks. We had a lot of speed, but just really couldn’t put races together. I felt like Bristol and Martinsville, we had cars capable of winning. Obviously, didn’t get the job done at either of those; broke a transmission at Bristol and then, Martinsville, we got crashed. It’s been rougher than we wanted and rougher than what we wanted for Ally. But going to Richmond, we just wanted a good, solid top-10 and to come out of there with a win, I think it’s a good point in the year to kind of get pointed in the right direction and hopefully we can carry that through the summer and into the Playoffs.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL LIKE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS STACKS UP AGAINST THE COMPETITION RIGHT NOW? DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IS THE ORGANIZATION TO BEAT?
“I think so. It might not be one specific car every week, but every week there’s one of the cars that are up front. I think we’re only going to get better, just with the atmosphere in the company and everything. Everything is so positive right now and I think it’s going to continue heading in that direction. It’s really cool to see that. In 2018 when I started there, it was a rough year. 2019 started rough and got better. Last year was kind of hit-or-miss and ended the year really positive, and it’s good to see it carry over to this year.”
AS IT GETS CLOSER TO MOTHER’S DAY, WHAT ARE YOUR REMEMBERANCES OF YOUR MOTHER HAVING A BIG ROLE IN YOUR RACING CAREER COMING UP?
“She hated it (laughs). She was not a fan when I was a kid. She was definitely skeptical about racing as a kid; being safe, how much school I had to miss, kind of all of that. I think once she realized that it wasn’t going anywhere and I was going to stick with it, she got super, super supportive and has been supportive ever since. I remember she hated it at first, but once she realized it wasn’t going to stop, she’s been extremely supportive.”
I KNOW YOU WON EARLY IN THE YEAR LAST YEAR TOO, BUT HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET THAT FIRST VICTORY OF THE YEAR PRETTY EARLY IN THE SEASON?
“Yeah, I think it’s a little bit of a stress reliever. But (INAUDIBLE)… we want to win each and every week. There’s a lot more races that we’re going after. Last year, we won early and then kind of fell off through the summer months, and I think that’s something we really want to avoid this year. We want to stay strong all year long and have good Playoff points to fall back on in the Playoffs. We put together one of the best Playoff runs of anybody last year and still ended up sixth in points, just because we didn’t have the Playoff points to fall back on. We want to do a better job of that throughout the summer, but it’s definitely good to have a win early.”
YOU’VE TRADITIONALLY PERFORMED WELL IN THIS PARTICULAR RACE, THE GEICO 500 AT TALLADEGA. YOU FINISHED EIGHTH IN 2018, RUNNER-UP IN 2019 AND THEN SEVENTH LAST SEASON. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE KEY TO NAVIGATING THE DIFFICULT TRACK, WHEN TO MAKE A MOVE AND WHEN TO STAY PATIENT?
“Yeah, really the key is just surviving, right? You’ve got to be there at the end and that’s really hard to do at superspeedways these days. Everybody is just continually getting more aggressive, continually feeling like they can throw huge blocks and not cause crashes, and push each other really aggressively and not crash. Surprise, we crash a lot. It’s just tough to make it to the end. I think knowing when to be aggressive is key. It’s different each and every speedway race. It kind of has a flow to how the race goes and it’s kind of a guessing game, to a point. I feel like there’s definitely some guys that have it a little more scienced out than I do, but we just have to do what we can to survive to the end and be aggressive when it counts.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT HIM, WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT HE’S DOING NOW?
“To be honest with you, I expect him to have a lot of fun. Probably bring a lot of new eyes to IndyCar and make the most of his opportunity. I feel like putting an expectation on finishing position and stuff like that isn’t really fair to a guy that got two test days and went racing in the hardest open-wheel series in America. It’s really cool to see him do that and see him trying something new. Never having driven anything like that, going into a car with so much downforce, some really technical racetracks that he’s never seen before – I think it’s hard to put a finishing position goal on that. I think by the end of the year, you’re going to see improvement. All year long, he’s going to continue to get better and better; learn the racecars, learn the racetracks. But I think the biggest thing you’re going to see is he’s going to have a lot of fun with it and probably there’s going to be nobody in the garage area happier to be there than he is.”
I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE SHORT TRACK AND WITH THE WIN: YOU MENTIONED YOU DRIVE THE TRACKS A LOT DIFFERENT THAN YOUR TEAMMATES AND MAKES THE SETUP A LITTLE MORE INTERESTING. HOW IS YOUR DRIVING STYLE DIFFERENT THAN YOUR TEAMMATES, BUT THEN ALSO HOW MUCH OF A CONFIDENCE BOOST IS IT TO SEE THE SPEED THAT YOU GUYS SHOWED?
“Yeah, I feel like we all have different backgrounds. Chase (Elliott) grew up racing super late models. William (Byron) grew up iRacing and then quickly into late models, and then Xfinity and all that. Kyle (Larson) grew up somewhat similar to me. He raced a lot of sprint car stuff, whereas I raced the midget stuff more. I think it just makes us all drive different. When we go to short tracks, we all kind of point to Chase. He’s been the most successful lately. Chase and I have really different driving styles at the short tracks. So, it’s hard for us when we have one car that’s really successful there and we’ve kind of struggled to go a different direction. But I think it’s something I feel like Greg (Ives, Crew Chief) realized that we needed to do. I was never going to be able to copy Chase’s driving style and it’s worked out here recently. So, I’m appreciative of him sticking with me and knowing I ask a lot out of the racecar at short tracks and want different things than most. But we’ve been able to figure out how to make it work.”
NOW THAT YOU GUYS HAVE A WIN AND ARE LOCKED IN THE PLAYOFFS, WHAT’S THAT FOCUS NOW THAT WE HEAD INTO SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER?
“Really just winning more races; staying consistently upfront through the summer months. It’s something we’ve struggled to do the last two years, really. We’ve fallen off through the summer. So, we want to continue to be as strong as we are right now and win more races before the Playoffs start.”
HOW MUCH IS THE LUCK FACTOR FOR YOU AT TALLADEGA BECAUSE YOU HAVE JUST ONE TOP-FIVE FINISH THERE. IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, HOW MUCH HAS LUCK KIND OF PLAYED INTO YOUR RESULTS?
“Well, I definitely think you make your own luck to a point. I feel like we’ve crashed out of a lot of superspeedway races. Daytona, we were like 12 laps in, leading the top line minding my own business and got cleaned out. Luck is definitely a factor, but there are also guys that can consistently seem to avoid those situations and consistently seem to be upfront at the end of those races. I have to figure out how to do that and do a better job of doing that, but it’s definitely part of it. To a point, you make your own luck.”
HOW MUCH HAVE YOUR RELIED ON KEVIN (HAMLIN, SPOTTER) OVER THE YEARS, AS FAR AS KIND OF GUIDING YOUR WAY? I KNOW THERE ARE TIMES WHERE HE DOESN’T HAVE TIME TO REACT, BUT HOW MUCH DO YOU RELY ON HIS NAVIGATION FOR YOU?
“Yeah, I mean a ton. The Cup cars, you can’t see a whole heck of a lot out of them, so your spotter is really all you got; painting a picture of what’s around you. I think he does a really good job of giving me what I need. I feel like we’ve gotten continuously better at knowing what each other wants and needs in communication. He’s done a great job. I rely on him a ton. I think every Cup driver is relying on their spotter a ton. He’s going to go through some radio batteries this weekend, for sure.”
CJ LEARY, WHAT’S YOUR GAMEPLAN FOR HIM, AS FAR AS HOW MUCH INTERACTION AND SUPPORT ARE YOU GIVING HIM IN WHAT DISCIPLINES?
“Yeah, him and I are really close friends. Obviously, he drives my wing car and he’s going to keep driving the Chili Bowl stuff. Other than that, he’s got his own non-wing deal driving for Bill Michael from Arizona. That’s their deal, but the wing deal is going OK. We’ve got a lot to learn. I feel like he’s just got to get comfortable in a wing car. We seem to be able to go fast and then just struggle to race. He just needs laps and races. I think by the end of the year, we can be really, really strong. We’ve been racing with the World of Outlaws and the All-Stars lately; kind of jumped in head first. So, I think once we get back to the local stuff, he gets his feet under him and figures out how to race the air and all there, he’ll be really, really strong.”
NINE, GOING ON TEN RACES THIS SEASON, WHAT’S IT BEEN LIKE HAVING KYLE LARSON AS A NEW TEAMMATE AND WHAT HE’S BROUGHT TO THE TABLE TO BETTER YOURSELF AND THE ORGANIZATION AS A WHOLE.
“Kyle (Larson) and I are good friends, so it’s really cool to have him as a teammate. It’s been a lot of fun. I feel like he fit right into the group. Everybody has clicked really well and he’s definitely fast. Everywhere we go, he’s very sharp on what he wants in a racecar. He does a really good job of knowing exactly what he wants and kind of what he’s had in past experiences and I think that’s been really good for the team. I feel like the four of us are all clicking really well together. The four crew chiefs are working really well together. Obviously, Rudy (Fugle) is new and he’s been really great, too. It’s cool to see all the new faces and people that have moved around at HMS all clicking really well right now.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO PUT THE NO. 48 BACK IN VICTORY LANE AFTER ALMOST FOUR YEARS AND STARTING TO BUILD A NEW LEGACY FOR THAT NUMBER?
“Yeah, it’s really special. It’s a similar thing that I went through with the 88 and it’s cool to do it again in the 48 and put it back in victory lane. We want to win a lot more. There are some high expectations to live up to driving the 48 car. But to get it back to victory lane and get Ally their first win, it’s really special.”
HOW DOES GOING FROM THE BRINK PLAYOFF CUT-OFF A WEEK AGO TO NOW HAVING A WIN CHANGE THE VIBE GOING INTO THE NEXT FEW MONTHS?
“Yeah, I mean honestly, last week I couldn’t have told you where we were in points. I wasn’t thinking about that or worried about that. I knew it wasn’t good; we had had a rough start to the season. But I felt like if we run as we should run and finish how we run, we could make the Playoffs and win races. The vibe for the rest of the season is just to keep it turned on through the summer months. It’s something that we’ve struggled to do as a team throughout the last couple of years. We’ve got to run strong each and every week for the rest of the year. I feel like we magically turned it on for the Playoffs last year and went on probably the best streak of my career, as far as how strong we were each and every week. But we need to do that for the entire rest of the year to come away with what I feel like we’re capable of doing.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM CHASE ELLIOTT AS A TEAMMATE AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES CHASE A GREAT CHAMPION AND THE MOST POPULAR DRIVER?
“Yeah, I think having Chase (Elliott) as a teammate is really cool. I feel like all my teammates are pretty great in their own way. Chase approaches things a little differently. He doesn’t live here, he just kind of does things a little different. So, it’s cool to see him be so successful. I think he’s a great Champion for the sport for a lot of reasons. I think it’s been a while since such a popular guy has won the Championship, so for him to do that is obviously really popular. People love him; people just absolutely love that guy. Chase is a great guy and I really enjoy being around him. I don’t know what parts or pieces makes somebody so popular, but he definitely is and it’s really cool to see.”
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