NASCAR CUP SERIES
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 25, 2021
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript Highlights:
CAN YOU LOOK BACK TO DAYTONA A YEAR AGO AND TELL US WHAT YOU HAD TO DO THEN TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS VERSUS THIS YEAR IN TRYING TO WIN?
“Yeah, I think the pressure throughout the week is a lot easier. I’m definitely not as tensed-up or thinking about the moment and what I’m going to do to execute a good race. I’m just kind of going in there just to have fun. Obviously, you try to have fun every week but, it’s a lot more stressful each week. This week is kind of easier on me. I feel like the speedway races, we’ve been good on. I feel like my plate racing, my queue has gone up. But for me, there’s not a lot of pressure involved. I don’t envy the position of the other guys that are in that position to try to either they have to win or they’re right there on the bubble for the points. It’s a tough position to be in.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT WHAT CHASE ELLIOTT DID IN THE PLAYOFFS LAST YEAR, IS EVERYTHING ALMOST FOCUSED ON THAT LAST ROUND IN PHOENIX?
“It is. I think the regular season has a feel of its own because you’re constantly trying to win to get more bonus points. Everyone it trying to chase the bonus points because it’s such a big deal and that’s the big factor in the regular season. But in the grand scheme of things, the difference of five points in the Playoffs is important, but you’ve just got to go out there and execute. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about each race in that first round. I feel like at Darlington we ran well. Richmond, we ran well. Obviously, we don’t have an idea on Bristol yet. But I think we can improve just a little bit on both of those tracks that we ran already and try to put ourselves in a good position in that first round. Like you said, it’s kind of all about the Playoffs at this point.”
DOES KNOWING YOU ARE IN A DIFFERENT POINT SITUATION THAN YOU WERE LAST YEAR CHANGE WHERE YOU TRY TO RACE IN THE PACK? DOES THAT CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT WHERE YOU RACE?
“It does. I think for me I’d love to get the Stage wins. But realistically, our goal is to get to the end and have a shot to win. That’s really the big goal is trying to get the five bonus points for the Playoffs, and also to get a good starting spot for Darlington. Those two things are first and foremost. But in the grand scheme of things, Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) and I talked about it, it’s not a huge deal either way. So, for us it’s about having fun and trying to go out there and get another win and continue to learn some things and build some things for Talladega. Obviously, the package is different. Less horsepower than we’ve had. So, I think we’re going to be going quite a bit slower. And that’s going to play a role too in trying to learn the draft and the aero package for the next race in the Playoffs. So, I’m just trying to take the temperature on the draft and what’s a safe position to be in. If I can be up front the whole race, then great. But if I get shuffled back and it feels too dicey, then I’ll try to make it to the end.”
HOW DO YOU BALANCE TRYING TO GO ALL-OUT AND TRYING TO GET AS MANY PLAYOFF POINTS AS YOU CAN, KNOWING THOSE COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADVANCING ON OR BEING ELIMINATED POST-SEASON?
“It’s definitely on our minds. I felt like we and Kyle (Larson) have been close, the last three races. I think we had that unfortunate thing at Indy with the curb and that hurt us in the points. So, we’re probably five points, I think, behind him and it would be really nice to get that position. Kyle is a good plate racer. He’s gotten better and better every time and closer to a win. He’s going to be tough to beat. So, we’ve just got to keep tabs on him and try race as hard as we can, and hopefully we can finish the race third in points. I think there is only one point between me and him, third versus fourth, but still, it would be a good one to have.”
LAST WEEK, ROSS CHASTAIN MADE AN INTERESTING COMMENT ABOUT HOW HE USED TO BE FEARFUL GOING INTO SUPERSPEEDWAY RACES JUST BECAUSE THERE’S GOING TO BE THE BIG ONE AT THE END OF THE RACE. HOW DO YOU CALM YOURSELF TO FOCUS ON THE TASK AT HAND KNOWING THAT COULD COME AT THE END OF THE RACE?
“That’s a good question. I think I’ve grown more at peace with it as my skill has kind of improved on those tracks. There’s a lot out of your control at those places. But I do feel like, as I’ve improved and led more laps and been in more positions to win or finish in the top 5, it’s made the end of the race easier. It’s made the end of the race more about how can I make the right move and less about how can I avoid a wreck? I do think the first handful of superspeedway races I wasn’t really comfortable with it, and didn’t really like the end of the race because I knew a wreck was coming. And I wasn’t really willing to take those risks or didn’t really know how to take the right risk. So yeah, I think your mindset changes as you improve, and you focus more on trying to win.”
YOU MENTIONED THE IMPORTANCE OF EXECUTION IN THE PLAYOFFS. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON ALL SEASON TO POSITION YOURSELVES AS CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS?
“We started the year really strong with the win in the third race. After that we were in the top 10, it felt like every week, for a while. That came down to just execution and having the balance of the car close. Those were all race tracks that Rudy and I had been to together. So, we were just using the notebook of Chad (Knaus) and the other crew chiefs to figure out what to do. And then we went through the summer, and I thought we had speed, but we didn’t execute. We kind of left that behind. Some of it was on my end and some of it was on the team. We just kind of needed to clean it up. I feel like after the summer break, we’ve really been a top 5 team every week. I think we are really capable right now of executing well. We’ve gotten back to our roots in that and made our race cars just a little bit better, I think. So, I feel like we just have to continue to execute. It sounds simple but it is really hard. We’re just trying to keep that going like we did in the early part of the season and hopefully the wins will come.”
IN LOOKING BACK TO LAST YEAR’S DAYTONA RACE, WHAT DID YOU DO RIGHT?
“I think every speedway race that you win or do well, there’s a little bit of both. I think there’s always a little bit of luck and there’s always a little bit of skill. I don’t think aby of the plate races, the guys who win them, are pretty much the guys who should win them, especially lately. In that race, we were a good car but our car needed tires to handle well enough to make the aggressive moves. So, I think we were running about fifth or sixth before we pitted. We kind of knew we weren’t going to have the ability to go up there and get the lead with the way our car was handling. So, we put tires on and restarted in the back. We were stuck for a couple of laps, but I knew with our tire advantage, once we got a lane to run in and could make drafting moves, I felt fine about it. We were really fortunate to miss the one big wreck. The move with the No. 22 and the No. 43 was really about the way that we were handling and the confidence I had to split the gap. There was enough of a gap there to squeeze in and put it four-wide and that was definitely the race-winning move. I think a lot of it had to do with knowing our race car, being confident in the moves I could make, and then getting lucky that a tire didn’t go down when I kind of split the gap.”
WHAT GOALS DID YOU HAVE STARTING THIS SEASON AND DO YOU THINK YOUR RESULTS SO FAR HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT WITH THOSE GOALS? HOW MUCH HAS BEING TEAMMATES WITH CHASE ELLIOTT AND KYLE LARSON PUSHED YOU TO ACHIEVE WHAT YOU’VE DONE SO FAR THIS YEAR?
“We’ve performed better in some ways than I thought we would. Probably less in the laps led category. I think we still have some room to go there to lead more consistently in races. But we have led in a lot of different races, so that’s been good. It shows we have speed. As far as the teammates go, we started the year knowing that Kyle and Chase were going to be really good. And that Alex (Bowman) was going to be really good. He’s won a race each year in his Cup Series career with Hendrick. So, we knew our teammates were going to keep us really honest. It is just kind of all about us clicking well. And we were able to win that race early and kind of battle with our teammates for that one. And that was a big confidence boost. Ever since then it’s just been all about trying to execute and put ourselves in good positions and I feel like we’ve been close to a number of wins.”
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