NASCAR CUP SERIES
BOWMAN GRAY STADIUM
TEAM CHEVY TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 1, 2025
Richard Childress Racing teammates, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, met with the media onsite at Bowman Gray Stadium ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray.
Media Availability Quotes:
For Austin, as someone who grew up not even a half hour south and came to (Bowman Gray) growing up, what are your emotions coming here in a Cup car and seeing the amount of buzz The Clash has created?
Austin Dillon: “It’s really special. I remember leaving Truck races on Friday night flying home and excited about coming to Bowman Gray on a Saturday night, sit in the beer garden and watch the wrecks and the race that happens around the wrecks. I always enjoy coming up here. It’s a 15, 20-minute drive from my house now. Came early to watch practice in the modifieds and then watch some of the modifieds race. It’s exciting. It’s really cool to see my grandfather and how happy and excited he is. It’s kind of the start of RCR is right here. Selling peanuts in the grandstands to buying his $10 taxicab and run races. He was talking about wrecking over in Turn 1 and 2, and had calcium in his left rear tire to try and make the car turn. I remember when he hit, it sprayed powder all through the air and stuff. Everybody wrecked behind him. Just hearing some of his stories, it was cool sitting up there with the Myers family and listening to him chat about Bowman Gray.”
Is this one of those races you feel like no matter what the end result is Sunday, the sport, the people will remember?
Dillon: “Yeah, for sure. I think it’s just special. It brings you back in time. Very special to those who have raced here, been around here and the history behind it, and the entertainment value that this place has brought to so many for so many years.”
Both of you guys were second all three years at the L.A. Clash. What was it about that track that fit your driving styles? Could that transfer here?
Kyle Busch: “I’ve had some pretty good runs the last few years in The Clash race, and was so close to picking up one of those golds out there in L.A. That would’ve been pretty cool. (Got) a couple of silvers, bronze. Not too bad, but obviously the short track, the quarter mile, the flat track atmosphere of that being a bit different than what it is here. There, it seemed like you had a little bit of runoff, that you could use the runoff as the racetrack. It was tight regardless. I anticipate much of the same here. Tight quarters, not a lot of room. Didn’t seem like the outside was very advantageous for many in the modified race, so I predict we’ll see a lot of fighting for the bottom and guys nerfing guys to make sure they’re the ones on the bottom. Nobody can fall down and get down on the bottom.”
Dillon: “I think The Clash was a lot of fun out there in L.A. We got a second and third while we were out there, and last year we kind of disappeared. We had a brake issue. Hopefully, this year, we can show that kind of speed we had at L.A. I’m excited. We worked pretty hard at the simulator trying to get a baseline for this place. We’ll see if what we did is correct.”
Austin, a couple of years ago, you said you wanted to see The Clash at Dallas Cowboy’s stadium. Is that still top of the list for you?
Dillon: “This place is pretty awesome. I regret saying that now, because it’s ten minutes from my house, 15 minutes from my house. This is pretty awesome. I think the arena style racing is interesting and can bring another fan base to the sport, and get more people involved easier, obviously, the stadiums that are in the U.S. and around the world. I think it’s always cool what we can do with this racecar. It seems to go to some interesting places and make it work. Right down the road is nice.”
How has it been with Richard (Boswell) coming over from a different manufacturer, different organization, what it’s like working with you?
Dillon: “Yeah, Boswell, I think just his leadership. You can tell his professionalism when he walks in the door. He brings a great attitude to the team. Listening to him speak to our guys is pretty cool. I think he’s going to be great for me. He’s going to challenge each and every one of us to be better. Anything he can bring is great. Last year, he had a strong season there with Chase and was able to get to Victory Lane. I think certain places he definitely can help us. For the entirety, I just think from a leader aspect, it’s going to be a gain for us.”
What do you think on the state of the sport, and from your perspective, how do you feel about the direction NASCAR is heading?
Busch: “I think you always have questions in the game. Certain situations that are happening in the moment. Things like that, calls. I think there is sort of the same thing happening on the other side of the fence with the NFL. Overall, I would say we’ve got a really good product. You’ve had a lot of good races, really close finishes the last few years, and some exciting late-race shenanigans if you will, that certainly put on a lot of talk. I feel like the attention is there. We always want to see the benefit of the race teams and the owners and the drivers and the sustainability of our sport. If we can all continue to build more fans and more TV numbers and that, it all flows down and keeps everything going in the right direction.”
Dillon: “I think it’s a tough place to be in for, I would say for the league, NASCAR, to make the right decision all the time. I feel like they do a good job of implementing change to fix problems. The willingness to make change is good. The only thing I complain about is the schedule. It’s a grind for everybody in this deal. From an aspect of racing out on the track, I think we’ve made this car better each year. You just want to see progress and I think you see it each year. The guys before us were talking about the Playoff system, and slight changes can be made, but it creates moments. We need that excitement. You want fans and the media to have as many dramatic moments as you can get, because that’s the entertainment value part comes into it. Then, pure racing also, you’ve got to balance that also.”
Is there an area that you look at that could help launch NASCAR further?
Busch: “I would say we’re doing that. I think Mexico is a cool step in that direction. The Xfinity series was there years ago and now we’re going back there with the Cup series this year. One of the questions somebody asked about The Clash and it’s rotation of different places, I’ll speak on that for a second where I really like the opportunity here at Bowman Gray where I don’t know what the budgets are. I don’t know if it’s three million, five million, seven million, 10 million, I don’t know. The fact of us going somewhere to reinvest in the future for other racing and local level racers – to be able to see a better venue, to go and enjoy and bring their sponsors and have fun and race and compete, is only going to benefit from the top. Bringing that down here to Bowman Gray, seeing the upgrades here, looking at other tracks around the county we could do some of the same stuff. There are short tracks in Florida that are cool. Pensacola is one of them that would really benefit from this opportunity. There’s a couple in Alabama that would really benefit from this opportunity. That could be a really cool thing down the road that this continues to float around. Return on investment? I don’t know, but I think the return on investment is the younger generations and the younger racers that want to be somebody and get to race at a cool place, and then can move up the ladder and someday, one day go back and race at their home track as a pro.”
Dillon: “I think that’s awesome. I think it’d be cool to join the 24 Hours one year. Each team gets a car in the 24-hour and their driver lineup gets to race in it. I think that would be a cool Clash moment as well. This car is built for road racing, so I don’t understand why we can’t run the 24-hour race, and each team gets to field a car and see what it would be like after 24 hours. It lets you get with your guys and work things out before the season starts because you’re going to be working on the car throughout the night. It’s a pretty cool team-building opportunity.”
What do you think about allowing the 41st driver in the field?
Busch: “I think it’s a unique ruling or statute that could benefit the sport as a whole. It just kind of depends on how it’s used. I’m still a little fuzzy on all of the details of it. Castroneves is a cool guy who’s won the Indy 500 and now he gets a chance to run the Daytona 500, so I think that’s neat. I think you could look at some other guys, whether a Verstappen or Louis (Hamilton), somebody like that who could come over here and do something like that. I don’t know. Sure, they could. They have the credentials to do so. I think that would be something that would be cool. Whether or not you could actually get them to do it is another point.”
You don’t have an issue with the exception?
Busch: “I don’t have an exception to that. I think there’s a money factor there too. I think that’s fine. It’s literally just to bring eyeballs to our sport, they’re fans, they’re demographic of where they come from and whether they’re from a different country, which Castroneves is, maybe makes some fans.”
Dillon: “I think it’s interesting. I think Kyle (Busch)’s on a pretty good point there. To me, I think it would be interesting if you just gave the IndyCar champion and the F1 champion those opportunities. I don’t know. You want to put eyeballs on the sport in any way possible. Either should bring some of those. The champions in the other top two forms of racing is a good place too. It’s interesting. We’ll see how it all works out. Maybe RCR will get involved in it and want to put in one of those one day.”
For Austin, going into Daytona, you look at results and stats don’t tell the rest of the story. You’ve won there. Is that a confidence builder going into the race?
Dillon: “It definitely gives you confidence when you have a Harley J. Earl (trophy) at the house. It makes you sometimes throw caution to the wind or put yourself in different positions, but still you really have to focus on that race and put yourself in the best position. You’ve got to have a good car, just like any other race. There are so many other factors that go into that weekend, but I always feel confident driving through that tunnel one way or the other, with RCR, ECR power. I think Kyle’s (Busch) got even more confident in the speedway stuff since he’s been with us because he’s been pretty dominant. He got the win at Talladega which I think was pretty much all him staying out on gas. I think our cars do a really good job on speedways.”
Kyle, is that the one trophy that’s missing on your resume that Kurt (Busch) does?
Busch: “I have a lot more cooler trophies. He doesn’t have a Driller either. Certainly, winning the Daytona 500 is top of the list. We have talked about it a long time. I feel like that would certainly be cool to win that one. Would certainly be awesome and to add that to the resume would certainly be cool. Championships and All Star wins, (Coca-Cola) 600’s, Southern 500’s, all that stuff is really, really cool. I’ve got all of those, so to be able to add to that with going to Victory Lane at Daytona for the 500 would be pretty awesome.”
Is your confidence up?
Busch: “Yes. Austin hit on it there where I feel like since joining RCR, with ECR, we’ve had really good opportunities to win speedway races. We won Talladega, but we’ve been in position to win a heck of a lot more than we have. So, having more opportunities to be in position to win, eventually you should be able to take home that trophy. I won the Daytona 500 last year, the only problem was the checkered flag wasn’t falling, it was a yellow flag. There’s certainly a good set of confidence with the team and organization when you get to go to those places. Daytona is one of those, Talladega, Atlanta now.”
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