NASCAR CUP SERIES
ROAD AMERICA
JOCKEY MADE IN AMERICA 250
PRESENTED BY KWIK TRIP
TEAM CHEVY POST-PRACTICE NOTES
JULY 3, 2021
NASCAR CUP SERIES PRACTICE AT ROAD AMERICA: TEAM CHEVY TOP-15
1st KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
5th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 KALAHARI RESORTS & CONVENTIONS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
7th AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 HYPERICE CAMARO ZL1 1LE
9th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
11th WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
12th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
13th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 ADVENTHEALTH CAMARO ZL1 1LE
14th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
15th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW MILITARY DEGREE EQUIVALENCY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
NASCAR CUP SERIES: POST-PRACTICE MEDIA AVAILABILITY HIGHLIGHTS:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE MISSING RIGHT NOW?
“I don’t know – I want to hear what my teammates have to say first, but I feel terrible. But I think the track is just so slick. I don’t remember much from 2013, but I don’t remember it being this slick. So, I think the track has aged a lot and all that. I just felt like I had my hands full; it looked like everybody else did too. Like I said, I’ll talk to my teammates and see if they feel like I do.”
WHAT EXCITES YOU THE MOST ABOUT THIS COURSE?
“I think just the level of difficulty. It’s extremely narrow and tight. I think to make passes, you have to be really bold. To me, this is probably the toughest road course we’ll go to all year. It’s intense.”
IS YOUR LEVEL OF COMFORT AND CONFIDENCE SORT OF GROWN A LOT OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS?
“Yeah, until I made a lap today (laughs). I felt really good coming here; and then after making some laps, I haven’t hit two corners the same yet. Still have a lot to learn and get better; but we’ll look at data, talk to my teammates and hopefully get more comfortable.”
TALKING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES IN ROAD COURSES, IS IT GOOD TO HAVE THAT VARIETY?
“I think variety is good. I think we’d all like to see more variety on the ovals, too. I think it challenges the drivers and the race teams. I think when there’s a variety, you won’t see the same guy run up front every time.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
I WAS LOOKING AT ROAD COURSE RESULTS – ARE THOSE DECEIVING?
“I think, partly, we’ve been off on speed. But I think we’ve been in that fifth to tenth range and I feel like we’ve gotten in stuff, like getting damage and then we’d get tire rubs and have issues. So, we just have to get above that area where we’re not always scratching and clawing. At that point, you’re up to luck basically whether or not you get some damage and stuff. We’ve been off a little bit and we were trying some things, just trying to get better, and so we’ve just kind of gone back to the basics this weekend. We feel fast. I feel like we’re pretty good this weekend.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT WHAT CHASE (ELLIOTT) AND KYLE (LARSON) WERE DOING, YOU KNOW IT’S THERE, IT JUST A MATTER OF PUTTING A RACE TOGETHER.
“Yeah – we went into this road course thing thinking, ‘OK we have seven of these; we can experiment’. We use our sim a lot because we don’t have practice. Using our sim kind of backfired because we were running so fast in there that when we got to the track, our car was not doing the things that we thought it would do because we were slower, pace-wise. We overestimated the grip for some of these places and kind of adjusted our setup because of that. And then when we get to the racetrack with no practice, we don’t have a chance to get that back out.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
IS THIS A COURSE YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO?
“Yeah, it’s a really fun track. I feel like it’s been a great stop on the NASCAR Xfinity schedule, so I feel like it fits us well on the Cup side. It’s good to be here.”
HOW DID YOU FEEL TODAY?
“I felt OK. I feel like road racing is a lot about finding a rhythm. I never felt like I found a good one today. We’ll go to work tomorrow.”
I ASSUME YOU WERE IN THE SIMULATOR. IS IT SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU SAW IN THE SIMULATOR OR IS IT DIFFERENT?
“It’s similar to what I remember it being a few years ago. I was here in 2015; it’s all about the same as what I remember then. I’ve watched most of all the races that the Xfinity series has run here. It hasn’t really changed a lot from my memory.”
WHAT MAKES A GREAT, NATURAL TERRAIN ROAD COURSE?
“There are definitely road courses that don’t flow. All the tracks that we’ve turned into road courses don’t flow very good. This type of place and Circuit of the Americas – all these tracks in the United States that are known road racetracks, they just have a certain flow to them. It just feels more like a traditional road course. Maybe that’s because we have a preset mindset of what should flow and what shouldn’t, but this place definitely has that feel and it’s laid out well. It has a lot of character to it, which is really cool. It’s a very long course, which is fun. There’s a lot of opportunity to either be really good or make a lot of mistakes.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE TOUGHEST PART OF THE COURSE IS?
“It was all tough for me today. I never felt like I got into a really good rhythm at all. Just trying to find that flow. The racetrack flows well, but that doesn’t mean you’re flowing good on a personal level. So, just trying to find that within myself and getting into a good rhythm. It’s a lot about rhythm and hitting your marks properly – that’s key.”
WHERE DOES THAT COME FROM? IS THAT A MENTAL THING? IS IT THE CAR? IS IT BOTH?
“Yeah, I feel like both are super important. You have to push yourself to the right limits to make the car feel like it should. And then we you do find those limits; you want the car to be there for you. It’s a fine line, but you definitely have to have both.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
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“The track is a unique challenge. There’s an old school feel here with the track’s layout, not a lot of run off areas and the pace the way the lap time drops. I came here with a Darlington mentality, which probably caught a lot you by surprise; but you have to respect the track and know when to push for a lap. And then you have to work on your tires and the balance of the car for all of the different corners and the long runs that none of us are really going to get into until we get in the race. So, you just have to race the racetrack; try to stay clean and stay out of the trouble. We had a good practice to be able to be on top of the charts. Now we just have to back it up.”
HOW CRITICAL DO YOU THINK HAVING ANY EXPERIENCE ON THIS TRACK IS FOR THIS WEEKEND?
“It’s helpful. I jumped on the iRacing sim at my house and some of the curbing isn’t as realistic as what we have here. I jumped into the Chevy simulator and got even closer. But nothing can duplicate what you have for real life and that’s were we just had to maximize today’s track time with the practice session.”
WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOUR TEAM TO BE ON TOP OF THE BOARD AFTER EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEKS?
“That’s exactly it – you drive harder, push deeper and push harder when news like that comes out. It was a surprise to me, but all of us at Chip Ganassi Racing looked at each other and said – we’ve got a Playoff berth right in front of us; let’s go get it, let’s win and let’s push as hard as we can here right now in 2021.”
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“Just take it one week at a time. We’re in a nice battle for the bubble; the cutoff line to get into the Playoffs. I haven’t really been in this situation much; usually there’s a win or there’s really good points that give us a cushion. I’ve embraced this year; it’s just been a whole different level because of all of the challenges that have come our way.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 ADVENTHEALTH CAMARO ZL1 1LE
“Rolling out I felt confident in the AdventHealth Chevy from our recent time in the simulator and everything around the track made sense – braking zones and shifting were all in a pretty good spot. The car was a little slimy the first lap out, but it came in pretty good. We were able to make three separate runs during practice, so I think we pretty much maximized our track time today. I realized throughout the session of how little grip Road America has, which is similar to what we just had at Sonoma a few weeks ago. We’ll use some of those notes and we try to build as much rear grip into the car as we can for qualifying. We’ve got just a bit too much rear slide the longer we run. Kurt had a great mock qualifying run, so we’ll review his data and see what I can learn for tomorrow.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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