MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
SONOMA RACEWAY
TOYOTA / SAVE MART 350
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 21, 2019
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights:
INAUDIBLE
“I feel like we’re OK. I think we need some better direction change in 7 a little bit, but we are getting there. First laps on the track were fast, which is nice. We just have to continue to improve. An hour and twenty minutes of practice is good to have because we don’t normally have that; it’s such a thrash. We have the chance to make some detailed changes.”
DID YOU TRY TO GET DICEY OUT THERE OR WAS IT MORE CONSERVATIVE?
“You try not to be around guys, but it seems like the same areas to pass that were there before are kind of there now. You could try to set up a pass in 7 or 11. The carousel is tough though. It’s really flat on exit, so you have to get your car to work there.”
CAN YOU SEE WHERE IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO MAKE A LOT OF PASSES IN THE CAROUSEL AREA?
“I think so. It’s so blind on entry, so it’s going to be hard to make much out of the entry. I’m sure there will be some passes there once we are all together and stuffed in there, but I don’t know. I think the biggest area to focus on will be exiting that carousel and trying to get that good so you can launch to the next corner.”
WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST SURPRISE WHEN YOU WENT OUT THERE?
“It was wild. I was surprised how much grip the track has lost in some areas. It’s not as black as it was last year, for sure. I feel like it has less grip up the hill into Turn 1, which is kind of interesting. The track was really dirty to start, so it had to get cleaned up. Guys were throwing rocks into the grove too.”
DID YOU LIKE OR NOT LIKE THAT?
“It was different every lap. Some guy would go through there and throw a dust storm up, and you’d have to peak through to see where you were going. That’s part of it.”
YOU’VE LED LAPS FOR FIVE RACES IN A ROW; THAT’S THE FIRST TIME YOU’VE DONE THAT IN ANY SERIES. WHAT LESSONS ARE YOU LEARNING AT THE FRONT OF THE FIELD?
“All of the little details and things that it takes to win one of these or being in the top five. I feel like we are learning, the communication is getting better and more upfront. We got a chance to do this Spring Mountain trip yesterday with Chad (Knaus) and all the drivers and crew chiefs; that was a lot of fun. I got the chance to take Chad (Knaus) for a ride around the track. I think that’s going to help us this weekend; kind of help him better relate to what’s going on. We will continue to try and improve.”
DO YOU THINK THIS IS A DIFFICULT TRACK FOR YOU AS A YOUNG DRIVER?
“It’s tough because you have to be really patient and really confident. Usually you aren’t patient when you’re not confident in what you’re doing, like when you don’t know exactly how deep you should get into the braking zone or how hard you should get in the gas. You have to be really confident here to be successful and be really patient. It’s closer to a short track than any of the road courses that we run, so you have to be extremely good on the throttle and good at tire management.”
HOW BENFEICIAL WAS THE SIMULATOR?
“It was really beneficial. I feel like it helped right off the bat during the first couple of laps on the track. I think that really helped. I’m glad we did that because I think it was a good advantage for us to have going in here. It just allowed us to open up our practice and not be so worried about speed.”
HOW MUCH TIME OVER THE LAST MONTH WOULD YOU SAY YOU SPENT ON THE SIMULATOR?
“We go every week. We go every Tuesday from 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM or 2:30 PM to 6:30 PM, depending on the day. We got to run Pocono, Michigan, Charlotte twice for the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600. I feel like there are areas that it helps me, but it also just helps us overall get a chance to practice and get our car right. I don’t think it hurts by any means.”
WHAT TYPE OF EXERCISES DID THE TEAMS WORK ON WHEN YOU WENT TO SPRING MOUNTAIN?
“Honestly, we just got out there and ran some laps. It was me, Jimmie (Johnson) and Alex (Bowman). We ran laps nose-to-tail. We were able to look at data so we were able to see what our throttle and brakes were doing. It was funny because we were all so close in lap times, so that was pretty neat to see. We just did that all day; we got a chance to run probably one hundred laps there.”
HOW DID IT COME ABOUT THAT CHAD (KNAUS) GOT IN THE CAR WITH YOU?
“He just texted me and said ‘Hey, I want to get out there’, so we stopped and he got in the passenger seat. Really, he just wants to learn what the car feels like, what I’m asking the car to do and where I want the car to work really well. I think it has helped us this weekend because we know exactly where we want our car to perform well.”
“I would run a lap or so with him and then we’d slow down and talk about it. Talk about each corner and go through exactly what I felt like I needed in each one. I thought it was really good for us to do that and I think it’s just going to help. It kind of makes it more relatable for him when we are talking about the car. He even admitted that it helped just understanding what makes speed and what’s going to make us successful.”
YOU PROBABLY HAVE EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE LIKE WORKING WITH CHAD (KNAUS) THIS SEASON. HOW HAVE THOSE CHANGED OR IS IT DIFFERENT THAN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE THIS FAR INTO THE SEASON?
“It’s been very similar to what I thought it would be. I’ve been around him for about a year now, in the debriefs and knowing how he works with Jimmie (Johnson) and his team. I feel like it wasn’t much of a surprise. Honestly, I feel like he’s very direct so you don’t have to worry about whether he’s trying to send you a message in a certain way or if he’s trying to blow you off. He’ll tell you if you’re doing something wrong.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR STYLE WORKS WELL WITH THAT APPROACH?
“I think so. I don’t really think there is any reason to be offended at the track when someone tells you what you’re doing wrong. You have to learn from it. He’s helped me with that by just being really direct and not having to worry about the emotional side of things at the track.”
YOU’RE GOING TO CHICAGO NEXT WEEK AND IT HASN’T BEEN YOUR BEST TRACK IN TRUCKS AND XFINITY. YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT THE SIMULATOR, BUT DO YOU THINK IT’S JUST GOING TO TAKE TIME FOR YOU TO GET GOOD THERE?
“I don’t know. It’s just been a rough go of it at that track. I’ve only ran there three or four times. Xfinity was going OK, but we had a transmission blow up and we just got the rest of the day to go out there and run laps. As weird as it sounds, I feel like Chicago helped us do as well as we did at Homestead in the Xfinity car. I blew a transmission and ran the rest of the race against the fence all day. We really didn’t care if we knocked the right side off of it because we could come back into the garage and fix it. We ran the whole race like that and I felt like that helped for Homestead later that year.”
ARE MICHIGAN AND POCONO YOUR TWO BEST SHOTS AT WINNING FOR THE PLAYOFFS?
“Probably. I haven’t really looked at the schedule, to be honest with you. Honestly, those two are pretty good and New Hampshire has always been a good track for me. I would say probably those three.”
CAN YOU POINT TO ANYTHING THAT HAS HELPED YOUR SUCCESS IN QUALIFYING?
“I’d like to say I’ve always been a pretty good qualifier, so I’d say it’s just confidence. Obviously, the car has to be good for a lap and you have to bust out a good lap. I don’t think it’s been one specific thing, but I don’t ever really get nervous for qualifying. I think that has helped.”
IF YOU AND JIMMIE (JOHNSON) ARE GOING DOWN THE LINE, IT’S RACE 26 AND YOU GUYS ARE ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS NOW, IS IT GOING TO BE EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AT THAT LAST RACE?
“Yeah, for sure. It always is. It’s that way every week. Jimmie (Johnson) and I are pretty close, but we race each other as hard as anybody. I don’t think we’ve ever really taken that personal. We had one little thing last year, where I kind of threw a block and he didn’t like it. We talked about it and I feel like we’ve been closer since then. It’s been good.”
GIVEN THE SPEED THE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS’ CARS HAVE HAD THIS YEAR AT DAYTONA, HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK THERE?
“Yeah, it’s going to be good. I think we’ve always had speed at the superspeedways ever since I’ve been with Hendrick Motorsports. It’s a credit to the engine side and some of the old school guys that we have at Hendrick and JRM. I think that has always helped and hopefully it continues.”
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