MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
RICHMOND RACEWAY
FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 20, 2019
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights:
HOW ARE YOU LOOKING AT RICHMOND? IT’S A TOUGH TRACK. ARE WE GOING TO SEE FIREWORKS?
“I don’t know if we’re gong to see fireworks. I don’t know if we’ll be fast enough for that. We’ve been pretty terrible since we unloaded. We’ll throw the kitchen sink at it for the race and hopefully we better. We need to be better than where we are. We’re pretty terrible.”
IS THAT SHOCKING TO YOU?
“We’ve struggled here in the past. We ran pretty well here in the fall last year. We tried to bring a new car with some new ideas and it just hasn’t worked. I think across the board we’re all finding very similar things. We had two pretty poor practices and didn’t really find anything the race car likes. That’s always frustrating. Obviously, my team is working really hard to make it better. Hopefully we’ll find something.”
IF THIS WEEK IS A SURVIVAL WEEK FOR YOU, WHAT’S NEXT WEEK GOING TO MEAN?
‘We ran really well there last year. Our road course cars are really good. Last year my weak point was the back straightaway chicane. That’s gong to be a lot different now. They took my weak part out of it so we should be pretty next week.”
DO YOU FEEL PRESSURE TO DO WELL AT CHARLOTTE?
“It really depends on how this week goes. I think we need to have a solid week, this week, regardless. Hopefully we can make that happen.”
WHAT’S HARD ABOUT RICHMOND?
“You unload and your car is doing three different things throughout the corner and you’ve got to pick one to try to work on. And then, it starts doing other things worse. I was really aggressive. It’s a tough race track. Obviously the practices are within an hour of each other.”
HOW DIFFERENT ARE THE FOUR SET-UPS ON YOUR TEAMMATES’ CARS? DOES THAT MAKE YOU SCRATCH YOUR HEAD MORE?
“I think the thing that makes you scratch your head is the fact that they’re all four different and yet we’re all fighting the same thing. So, that’s always frustrating. But, I think everybody is staying pretty positive.”
LAST WEEK IT LOOKED LIKE IN PORTIONS OF THAT RACE, YOU REALLY HAD IT. WHAT HELD THAT ALL BACK?
“Qualifying where we qualified was rough. Starting back that far and then that first run, we were just really right. We had to free-up a bunch. And the car got really good and once we got up there with track position, we were good and we stayed there. Just poor qualifying, I’d say, is the biggest thing.”
WHEN THE CAR DOESN’T HAVE MUCH SPEED, LIKE COMING TO THIS WEEKEND, GOING FOR STAGE POINTS AND ALL THAT IN THE PLAYOFFS, HOW DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR MINDSET?
“I don’t know if we’re good enough to get stage points. We need them, for sure. We finished sixth last weekend and we dropped two spots in the points. So, we definitely need some stage points.”
IS HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS REALLY STRUGGLING RIGHT NOW?
“I don’t think we’re struggling. We had four cars in the top 11 last week. I think this is just a race track that is rough on us and our short track package has probably been our poorest package all year. I think we all knew that this was going to be the hardest place for us, probably throughout the Playoffs, and we just have some work to do.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT YOUR WIN AT CHICAGOLAND DIDN’T KICK-OFF ANOTHER HOT STREAK?
“Yes and no. We got really aggressive with some things. And then, at Darlington and Indy, we just crashed late in both of them. Kentucky was going to be really good. There were both good runs and also some tracks that we struggled with throughout there. That’s just part of the make up of the year and things just didn’t go our way there for a while.
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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