NASCAR CUP SERIES
BANK OF AMERICA ROVAL 400
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 6, 2021
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript:
THIS IS YOUR HOMETOWN TRACK THIS WEEKEND. DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL GUESTS OR FRIENDS THAT WILL BE JOINING YOU AT CHARLOTTE ON SUNDAY?
“Yeah, my family always goes to this race. It’s always a good race to bring everyone out to. So yeah, they’ll be watching and I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun to have them there. I’m looking forward to it. I always look forward to the Charlotte races and they are really important to me; not only because it’s my home track, but I grew up watching races there and racing myself at the summer shootout and stuff. It’s always fun.”
WALK US THROUGH THE ROVAL AND TALK ABOUT THE PLACES WHERE YOU PUT THE POWER DOWN AND IT’S EASY TO SPIN THE TIRES AND THINGS. WHEN YOU THINK OF THE ROVAL, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE NUANCES OF IT THAT YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO BASICALLY HIT PERFECTLY?
“Really the whole track. I think the front chicane is tough because you’ve got some bumps on your braking there, or one bump that kind of off-sets the car. So, you’ve got to be careful there. And then, just throughout the infield, it’s a challenge. You’ve got to get through the infield good to make passes and then get up onto the oval with speed. The whole track is really important. I don’t think there’s one place that I really focus on more than others. It’s a unique road course because there’s not really a lot of straight sections. It’s not like you’ve got a bunch of straight, heavy braking zones, you’ve got a lot of turning and braking and things like that. It makes it tough.”
WHEN NASCAR ANNOUNCED THIS ROVAL ON THE SCHEDULE A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION THEN? CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IS THE FOURTH YEAR OF THIS?
“Yeah, I didn’t know what to expect. Honestly, the first year I kind of felt like it was a little bit of a crazy idea and felt like we were kind of out there just for entertainment. But as I’ve gotten accustomed to it, I think we’ve worked on the track a little bit and gotten a little bit more realistic, I think it’s gotten better and better. We’re all used to it by now. I think it’s a great concept. I don’t know if it would work at other tracks. I think it’s good at Charlotte because of the layout there and the way the banking is and things like that. They do a really good job of designing and setting up the track so it’s a good race track for us.”
CONSIDERING WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS, IS IT A LITTLE LESS NERVE-RACKING PER SE, GOING INTO THIS RACE THAN BRISTOL, BECAUSE YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO WIN TO GET IN AND THERE IS NOT MUCH TALK ABOUT POINTS AND VARIOUS SITUATIONS?
“Yeah, I think you said it best. I feel like there is really nothing to lose for us. We’re 44 points out. We’re not going to make it on points. We’ve got to go win. We know what we have to do to do that. Yeah, the last round I think, would have been really disappointing if we didn’t make it through to the next round. There was a lot kind of on the line for that. And we’d still be really disappointed if we didn’t make it through this round. But it hasn’t been a good round for us as far as luck goes, I guess. We’ve had a flat tire and gotten wrecked and so, it’s not been good. But I think we can make up for all of that on Sunday and we’re very capable of that. So yeah, we just go into it with nothing to lose. We either win or get out of the Playoffs.”
DO YOU TAKE A RISK WITH SET-UP AND STRATEGY JUST BECAUSE OF THAT FACT?
“Not setup. I don’t think there’s anything set-up wise that we could do differently besides maybe a couple of small decisions. But yeah, I think for us, strategy is definitely pretty simple for us. Just try to keep our track position and try to have an opportunity to win at the end. Whatever that strategy is, to get there at the end, is really all we’re worried about. We don’t have to think about points like we do every single week. And we can just really go out there and….how do we put ourselves in the top 4 to 5 with 30 laps to go in the race is all we’re really worried about.”
HOW MUCH OF THIS IS MENTAL WHEN YOU SAY HEY, WE’RE GOING TO THE ROVAL AND I CAN DO THIS?
“Yeah, it’s really just kind of proof in what you’ve learned and how you’ve gotten to this point. And I do feel like, there’s some tracks where if we were going into an elimination race, if it was Richmond, I’d say we have no opportunity to win. But with this track, we’ve continued to work on it. We’ve continued to get better and better. I’ve had a pole there in the past. I’ve led a bunch of laps there over the last two years. So, it’s not a track that I feel like we can’t win. We just have to continue to make those gains that we’ve been making on the road courses. So, I think we’re really capable this weekend of doing it. It’s a lot better than the alternative. It could be a track that we don’t feel like we could win.”
WHAT PARTS OF THE ROVAL ARE YOU VERY CONFIDENT IN, AND WHAT PARTS ARE YOU STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT?
“I think it’s just a really narrow track. So, getting through traffic is tough. I feel like Chase (Elliott) obviously does a great job through traffic and just does a really great job of getting through guys and not burning up his tires. That’s my biggest goal. Hopefully we don’t have to go through a lot of traffic in this race and maybe the start of the race might be the furthest back, hopefully, that we are. I think that we just have to see how it goes and see who is fast. But I feel like we’ll have the speed. We’ve just got to execute a good race.”
WHAT SPOTS OR TURNS ON THE TRACK GIVE YOU THE MOST DIFFICULTY OR ANXIETY?
“Like I said, I think all of them are tough. It’s a track that’s not really like other road courses. You’re always turning and braking, and that’s tough because you’re always setting yourself up for another braking zone and stuff like that. It’s difficult. I don’t know. I think that the corner maybe that’s giving me the most trouble is probably the back chicane and just trying to get through that to set-up a pass. So, that’s probably where I’m focused on for this time, and trying to get better. I mean, they’re all really important.”
HOW DOES THE ROVAL COMPARE TO OTHER ROAD COURSES THIS SEASON IN TERMS OF WHERE IT SITS IN THE PLAYOFFS VERSUS ACTUAL DIFFICULTY?
“I think it’s similar to the Indy Road Course and the fact that anything can happen. It’s unpredictable but I think it’s the least similar to Road America or Watkins Glen; some of those places that are really made for road course racing. Yeah, it’s kind of its own beast.”
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