NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY R.C.
ROUND OF 12: ELIMINATION RACE
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
OCTOBER 12, 2024
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 VALVOLINE CONFETTI CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
Media Availability Quotes:
YOU’RE LOCKED INTO THE NEXT ROUND. IN THIS RACE, AT THIS TRACK, WHERE IT’S EXPECTED TO BE CHAOTIC ON SUNDAY, HOW GOOD OF A FEELING IS IT THAT WHATEVER HAPPENS ON SUNDAY, IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, IT WON’T EFFECT YOU?
“Yeah, it’s great.. it’s awesome. It changes the whole mood and vibe for the weekend, for sure. I mean, I haven’t really thought a lot about it, in terms of just trying to do the normal preparation and be ready for the race and try to go win. But yeah, there aren’t consequences for us, so that’s a great feeling and I feel like it’s one that we can take advantage of. We don’t have to worry about going out here in practice; try to ease into it. We can just try to send it and see what happens.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE WHATEVER DOUBTS OR CONCERNS THAT WERE CIRCULATING AROUND YOUR TEAM ARE KIND OF ERASED NOW, AND THE NO. 24 TEAM IS AT THE SAME CALIBER AS THE OTHER TEAMS THAT ARE RACING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“Yeah, I mean this is the time of year that matters. I’m proud of our team for showing up. I knew we would. I’m confident in our group. I know that for us, winning races early in the season is great. We want to have success throughout the summer, but we were just a little bit up and down. But yeah, now is when it counts and our team showed up, so I’m excited for the Round of Eight, for sure.”
NOW THAT YOU’VE HAD A CHANCE TO WATCH SOME OF THE XFINITY SERIES PRACTICE AND LOOKING AT THE LAYOUT, WHAT ARE YOUR INITIAL READS ON THIS CIRCUIT AND LAYOUT?
“I mean, it looks really similar to what sim was like. So for us, it’s really status quo. I feel like turns six and seven are definitely different. But yeah, it looks a little bit awkward. Turn six is definitely awkward.. the way that you load into there. There’s a crest to the hill. There’s some paint that’s going to rubber in and gain some grip as the weekend goes that you’ll have all four tires on. Turn seven is a U-turn, really. It’s a very different corner.. no banking whatsoever. So I think you’ll see a lot of dive bombs there, for sure, and some spins because of that. I’m just curious to get out there. Hopefully we can qualify well.
Oh and the frontstretch chicane, too, is slightly different. But yeah, I’m excited.”
I’M PRETTY SURE THE CURRENT TOP-EIGHT ABOVE THE CUTLINE ARE IN THE HIGHEST SCORING POINT EARNERS THIS YEAR. WHAT DOES THAT SAY TO YOU ABOUT THE CALIBER OF TEAMS THAT PRETTY MUCH, DESPITE ALL THE CHAOTIC RACES AND THE SCHEDULING, THE TOP-EIGHT TEAMS ARE THE TOP-EIGHT OF THE PLAYOFFS?
“Yeah, if it stays the way it is now, it will be a really entertaining and competitive Round of Eight, you know because there won’t be any guys that are kind of easing their way in. So I think it will be really competitive. I am a bit surprised by that, based on the way the schedule was this year with the two superspeedways and two road courses in the playoffs. But so far, everyone has kind of adapted to it. The speedway racing has been a bit different in the playoffs this year. I feel like everyone is taking care of each other, for the most part, until some of the wrecks last weekend. But overall, I feel like guys are scoring a lot of stage points and staying up towards the front, which is unique at superspeedways. You never know what can happen.
And then, I feel like Watkins Glen was just a wildcard. So yeah, I’m a bit surprised. But at the same time, I know that the Round of Eight is going to be really competitive.”
ADVANCING TO THE ROUND OF EIGHT WITH A WEEK TO SPARE, WHERE NOBODY ELSE IN THE PLAYOFFS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO THAT IN THIS ROUND, WHAT KIND OF AN EDGE DOES THAT GIVE THE NO. 24 TEAM? WHERE DO YOU GUYS CENTER THAT FOCUS.. IS THERE ONE OF THOSE THREE RACES THAT YOU GUYS REALLY FOCUS ON PREPARATION-WISE?
“Yeah, I mean it just allows us to get started on Las Vegas. We’ve already looked at tape; reviewed our setup and started to get an idea of what we need for Vegas. We were good there in the spring, until we had the trash bag on the grill. Honestly if we can just go there with similar speed, and similar speed to what we had at Kansas, I think we’ll be right there in the mix. Last year was a bit disappointing in Vegas. We weren’t as good as we thought we would be, even though we had a few week to prepare. So I think we’ll probably do some things a little bit differently this time around. But we already have a good head start on it. Its been two years in a row that we’ve been able to kind of cruise through this Round of 12, and that’s been really nice for our team to think ahead a little bit. But we still want to win this weekend. We still put effort into the ROVAL setup and try to go out here and be good tomorrow.”
I KNOW THAT MARTINSVILLE LAST YEAR IN THE FALL WAS A STRUGGLE FOR YOU GUYS. IS THAT ANY CONCERN FOR YOU?
“I mean, yeah – we won there in the spring, so it’s pretty much fixed. But I think yeah, it’s been a hit or miss place. So I feel like for us, we just have to do more of the hitting. The way the spring was, was great. We had a really strong car in the spring, and we were one of the few guys that could pass people. We started 18th. We’d like to qualify a little better because you never know how difficult it will be to get through the field. So yeah, that’s probably my focus way long term.. try to qualify better at Martinsville and see where that takes us.”
OBVIOUSLY THERE’S BIG TALK ABOUT STRATEGY – WHO’S GOING TO PIT EARLY TO TRY AND GO FOR THE WIN.. WHO’S GOING TO STAY OUT AND TRY TO GET STAGE POINTS. DOES THAT KIND OF STREAMLINE THE PROCESS FOR YOU GUYS, THAT HEY – MAYBE YOU CAN GET A COUPLE MORE PLAYOFF POINTS FOR THE NEXT ROUND AND KIND OF HELP WITH THAT CUSHION?
“Yeah, I think if we’re not very good tomorrow, then we might try and go for the stage win. But it’s tough here because pit road only takes 30 seconds, I believe, including the pit stop. So it’s a big advantage to short-pit here because you can still come out and get stage points. I think the No. 20 did that last year. When he came out, he lost like three positions. I think the lap times being slower this year, it might be more that way. So it will be tough for these guys that don’t – if you’re not running well, I don’t think you’re going to just luck into some stage points. I think you’re going to have to be upfront. So it’ll be interesting, but I’m excited to watch everyone else; see how nervous they are and just go race.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA IF YOU HAVE A TEST SETUP OR A DIFFERENT SETUP THAN THE OTHER THREE FOR PRACTICE, SINCE YOU’RE ALREADY LOCKED IN?
“I don’t think so.. not that we’ve talked about. Just maybe making a little bit more changes in practice to figure out things for next year, in terms of what the changes do at road courses. Watkins Glen wasn’t great for us, but I feel like we’ve got a pretty good base.
No, I don’t think we came here with like something way different. I think we’re all really similar, which is pretty common every week. But I think just maybe try and learn some stuff in practice. With two 20 minute sessions, we might try and use the first 20 minutes to really come in and make a lot of changes and see what we can learn.”
DENNY HAMLIN SAID THE RECONFIGURATION WAS INTENDED TO CREATE MORE CHAOS. YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE, HE SAID. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHETHER DRIVERS LIKE YOU CAN ADAPT AND LEARN TO LIKE IT, IF YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO CREATE CHAOS?
“Well I mean, as drivers, we’re going to adapt and learn to whatever the challenge is, whether it’s dirt, this or whatever. Yeah, that’s all during the week speak, for sure. Once you get out there, I know each person is going to put their full effort in; try to be openminded, learn and be good at it. So yeah, I don’t know how it’s going to change who’s good or not. I did, personally, like the old section. We were really good here last year, and really every year. It’s different, but we did simulation this week, and we tried to get through that section a little better. I do think, on paper, there’s really no other reason, it doesn’t look like. So it was just creating something different, probably, and making it just a different challenge, which probably creates some carnage, I guess.”
HOW MUCH CHAOS DO YOU THINK WE’LL SEE AND WHAT’S YOUR THOUGHT ON DIVE BOMBS, BOTH FROM YOU AND FROM OTHERS?
“Yeah, I mean the way that corner is shaped, there’s no other option. If you’re close to somebody, somebody is going to try and out-brake. I feel like maybe it’s so tight that if somebody does out-brake, they could potentially miss the corner, go past it and you could cross under. We’ll see how that plays out. But yeah, I think that’s going to be a passing zone, for sure. And then we’ll just see how it goes.”
YOU GUYS WON AT LAS VEGAS AND I’M CURIOUS – ARE YOU GUYS CONCENTRATING ON IT BECAUSE A LOT OF TIMES, WHEN YOU DO WIN THAT RACE, THEN YOU CAN JUST START WORKING ON PHOENIX AND PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN THAT BASKET?
“Well I mean, I haven’t thought about it like that, for sure. I think it’s just the first race of the round. You want to be good out of the gate. You want to try and win in the Round of Eight, for sure, but try to create a good points buffer and see how it goes. It just only gets more and more difficult as you go into the Round of Eight, like we saw last year. We were in a great spot starting the Round of Eight on bonus points.. we had 41 points last year and I think when we came out of Vegas, we were only like seven points above the cutline. So it’s just nice to go there with a focus, a plan and try to win that race because then it opens up the rest of the year and just makes it easier.”
WE HAD A ROUND WITH NON-PLAYOFF DRIVERS WINNING. ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THAT, AND DO YOU THINK THAT TREND COULD CONTINUE HERE?
“Well I mean, yeah – I think SVG is in the race and there’s some really good guys. You can just be more aggressive if you’re not in the playoffs, typically. If you’re in the playoffs, you’re counting points and you’re trying to get yourself in position. That all changes in the next round, slightly. But this round for sure, you’re just trying to get through these events. For us, it doesn’t matter. I think we’ll be in the group that’s like the non-playoff guys.. it’s more aggressive. So it’ll be nice to do that.”
THE NEWS CAME OUT THIS WEEK ABOUT THE DVP RULE. WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THAT? WITH A RACE LIKE THIS, HOW DO YOU SEE THAT POSSIBLY PLAYING OUT, IF THINGS DO GO SOUTH?
“You know, I feel like we’re through all those races that the DVP is going to be more of an issue. I mean, in the Round of Eight; if you’re crashing, you’re probably not going to make it through anyways. You know, those races are probably behind us, hopefully. I don’t know.. I guess the ROVAL could be that way, maybe. But we’re going kind of slow around here. In the infield, I feel like you could nurse it back without flat tires. The flat tires are just created from speed, locking the brakes up and stuff.
I don’t know.. I don’t really pay too much attention to it. That’s kind of other peoples’ jobs.”
YOU’VE LED THE SECOND MOST LAPS HERE OF ALL DRIVERS AND THE MOST BY DRIVERS THAT HAVEN’T WON. WHAT SECTIONS OF THE TRACK, IN PARTICULAR, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU EXCEL AT THE MOST?
“The old section (laughs). So yeah, I was good through the old section and good through the old chicane. I guess I’m OK through (turns) one, two and three. We’ll see, but it’ll be a new learning curve, for sure. We’ll see how that goes.”
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