NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500 MEDIA DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
FEBRUARY 11, 2026
Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – 2026 DAYTONA 500 Media Day Quotes:
After being with different organizations over the years, how nice is it to come back to Daytona with the same organization that you worked with the previous year?
“It’s huge. It’s probably the first time in six years that I am working with the same team two years in a row, and I am not showing up to Daytona trying to learn names, functions, systems, and things that are going on with the team and how everything operates. It usually takes a couple of months to even feel comfortable with a new team. Unfortunately, I have a lot of experience doing that, but don’t have as much experience coming back with a team for the second year. It’s a lot easier doing this than it is learning a new team for sure. It just helps the confidence in knowing that I pretty much have the same guys that I raced this race with last year and we can build off of things from there and we can build on past experiences for the first time in a long time.”
What have you learned about balance from earlier in your career to now being married with three children?
“I think most people go from being very selfish and everything is about you to you have a child or you get married. First, you get married and it’s less about you and it’s about your spouse. Then you have a child and you realize nothing is about you anymore and sometimes that can be a shock. And then you realize the things you do from the point you have children matter so much beyond your life. You are leaving an example for your child behind. So now I look at things as ‘okay how would I want my child if they are going through a career or whatever they are chasing in their dreams, how would I want them to approach it’. I would want them to get an example from their dad and how would he treat people, treat his career, treat his wife. I want them to see that in the best light possible so that they leave a good legacy behind. You just start changing your view and I believe that is the beauty of life and having a family and having kids.”
What is the best part of this week for you?
“I think the best part of it for me is driver intros and the madness of the fans around the cars and the energy around the gentlemen start your engines, the pace laps and the start of the green flag. You won’t get that anywhere else in your life. That feeling, that high, that chaos when everybody is buzzing. I think finding perspective that there are only a few times you are going to get to do this in your life. It’s not going to happen every year of your whole life, so you have to take it in. I look forward to that moment every year and I let it get ahold of me, I get emotional, I get anxious, I get nervous because how many people get that opportunity to be in the middle of the spotlight of one of the biggest events in the world.”
What has this offseason been like this year in looking ahead at all the things you have to do?
“I think as many things that are important that we lost, we gained just as many unique abilities. We won’t find out total gain and loss of what has happened until throughout the season. I think it’s a measure that we as a team are all like, what is it going to be like. Everyone has a new body with Chevy, so we don’t really understand where we are going to be at but qualifying at Daytona will teach us a little bit. We are going to have to go to all the tracks at this point to see what is different. I think the car is so similar underneath the body that you should be able to set up similar to what you found success with (before). There are going to be some differences, different programs, usages of different technology from different things. So we are going to have to navigate that and to be very clear in our communications, but also there is a point when you get away from over thinking things you can find some clarity within a team. I think that might help us too. I think there is going to be a loss in not having the technical alliance from Chevy, but we can grow from that.”
Inaudible
“Its massive. You know, I have been attempting this race….this will be my 10th or 11th time in the Daytona 500 and I have had some close opportunities, never been in the top-two coming to the white flag, but real close. Top-three or top-four, and you feel it. It would mean a lot to me because my family has had so much success here. And it’s one of those races that changes your life forever, no matter what is going on. It would be awesome to be a part of the history here with the Harley J. Earl trophy and to have your name etched on it and be able to lift that big trophy up.”
Regarding the Daytona 500, is there any kind of brotherly rivalry with Austin?
“It would be nice to have a trophy too. It would be nice to have a Harley J. Earl with both our names on it. Two Dillons on that trophy would be special, and I don’t know if brothers have done it, so it would be cool to do it first if nobody has done it. I have been putting in my time for this race with ten or eleven attempts, and this obviously means a whole lot to our family and our race team as a family’s legacy. So, I would love to win this race.”
About General Motors
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