NASCAR CUP SERIES
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
POST-QUALIFYING REPORT
JUNE 22, 2024

Rain Cancels Qualifying; Elliott to Start on the Pole at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway

• When continued inclement weather, the NASCAR Cup Series’ qualifying session was canceled. The lineup of the USA Today 301 will be set per the rulebook, putting Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team on the pole.
• The USA Network will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 23, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 STARTING LINEUP:
POS. DRIVER
1st Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
3rd William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Camaro ZL1
5th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
8th Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kubota Camaro ZL1

 Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 – Pole Win Media Availability Quotes

Chase, you’re the pole winner. What does it mean to be upfront to start this race on Sunday?

“Yeah, I mean obviously we’d rather have an actual pole, for sure. But you know, circumstances being what they are, fortunately our team has been performing at a really solid level over the past couple of months. The reality of it is that it put us in a position to have a good starting spot for a rainout situation. That’s just the reality of the weekend. Certainly, we’ll take a good starting spot, and more importantly, take a really good pit pick there on pit road.”

Talk a little bit about leading the championship standings and getting back in the groove that you’ve really established over the years.

“Yeah, I mean like I said, I feel that our team has been in a good spot, really all year. To be honest, I’ve been super happy with where we’re at; really happy with everything, in general, top to bottom. I feel like we’re all in a good place. I feel like I’m in a good spot with what I’m looking for in the car. I feel like Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) is in a good place with knowing how to give me some of those things. I think that for us, we’ve just got to continue to keep working down those paths. I think that we’d like to have a couple more wins than we have right now. But at the same time, I’ve always been a believer that if you’re upfront – putting yourself in position, stringing together good finishes – you’re going to have your opportunities. I don’t feel any different about that now. I think we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”

A lot of the time, championships are won in the little moments. The season that your team has put together to this point, how important are these little moments if you’re going to get back up to the top of the hill this year?

“Yeah, I mean I think obviously the way the playoffs are now is different than what it used to be. So you have to be really good in those last 10 races and you really have to be extraordinary in the last three or four. I think a lot of it is just having a solid enough base and a solid enough foundation to get you through those first two rounds without many problems; just have solid days. And then you want to be super good in those last three or four weeks. I think that we’re capable of doing that with where we’re at right now. We just have to keep it rolling. We’re only halfway through the year, so there’s a lot of racing left. A lot can change; a lot can happen. It can go your way or it could not, and ultimately it’s up to us to determine the direction it goes.”

I don’t imagine you look at points too closely, but did you take a second look when you saw that you were up top?

“Yeah, obviously they told me out there after the race (at Iowa Speedway). But yeah, it’s nice to be leading the points. Obviously, like I just said, there’s a lot of racing left. I think that we have room for improvement still yet, and the reality of it was that Kyle (Larson) had an unfortunate situation last weekend. We would like to get to a position where we could just be better and get more points, and so on and so forth. That’s where I’m at. I think that there’s still things we can do better; still things I can do better.. bringing more pace and just trying to be a little quicker. I think all of those things are really right there for us in the taking. Hopefully we can add that to our foundation that we have right now and I think we’ll be in a good spot.”

I know you’re not on social media much, but yesterday Christopher Bell said “when Chase comes to JGR…”, and one of your teammates joked that you were headed to JGR. I’m curious, did any of your friends or families fall for it and ask you if you were actually leaving?

“(Laughs) Yeah, I heard about that. It was funny.. the boss actually sent me a message about another – I’m not sure who sent it to him or whatever, but there were all kinds of stuff. He sent me this screenshot that I was leaving and going somewhere else and was going to own a team.. there’s been all kinds of stuff, evidently, going on that I didn’t know what I was doing this week. I guess I’m headed to go drive for JGR now, too (laughs). I don’t think so.. if I am, I didn’t know about it. But I felt bad for (Christopher) Bell.. such an honest mistake, you could tell. It was such a genuine – like he just slipped up, you know? Excited for (Chase) Briscoe, though. I think that will be a really good opportunity for him. I hate that Bell was the one to break the news. I’m sure he got into trouble for that, but it’s all good (laughs). It was going to come out eventually.”

Talk about the challenges that New Hampshire Motor Speedway presents.

“Yeah, I think the toughest thing about Loudon is just the lack of banking that it has. The straightaways are really long, so trying to have your car in a position where you’re just comfortable enough to get yourself in the corner is going to help you turn the middle and ultimately make the straightaway long on the backside. I think that why it’s tough; the corner entries are flat, the straightaways are long and you’re going pretty fast. There are bumps into (turn) three that can be a little unsettling. So just finding that right balance and the amount of comfort that you’re looking for in your car is really important. Comfort in this car, in general, is hard to find. And when you do find it, it’s worth the wait, for sure. So that’s what we’re looking for.”

I realize that it’s still only midway through the season, but it’s certainly looking like you, Kyle (Larson) and William (Bryon) are going to be three of the guys that are going to be going for the regular season championship and probably the overall season championship. What is that like, in terms of, are you guys still sharing everything? What is that dynamic like?

“Yeah, over the course of my time being there, nothing has ever changed, whether we’re racing – Kyle (Larson) and I have raced for a championship for a couple of times, I guess now, at Phoenix (Raceway). I can say with a lot of confidence that our meetings have not ever changed in how everyone talks; the things that are discussed, information that’s uploaded into our internal servers, as far as setups and things of that nature. It’s all very straightforward. It’s all an open book. What you take and do with that from there is up to you. It’s just important for us to try and lean on each other and ultimately take the information that you gather and try to do a better job with it.”

With how difficult it is to pass here, how much confidence does it give you to start on the pole?

“It’s certainly nice… nicer to have the pit pick, though, to be honest. I always feel like the pit stall is more important than the starting spot, just because you live with the pit box all day. The odds of you leading 301 laps are slim to none, but you live with that box all day long and that’s something that can help you all the way through. If you get a late caution or whatever and you’re right there in the hunt, that can be the difference of you coming off pit road first or third, and I think that’s a really important thing that we see every single weekend. Excited about that. Really, I think it’s a team effort that earned us that opportunity. It wasn’t a stellar lap on my end, it was just a solid effort from our group other the last two or three months to have us in a good position to take advantage of the circumstances today.”

William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Camaro ZL1 – Starting 3rd

Are you prepared to race with no practice or qualifying, and how does that impact things for tomorrow’s race?

“I mean, for us, it’s probably a little nerve-racking, just because we haven’t had a ton of success here. So we just wanted to get laps and get a good balance. But we had good notes from last weekend and I feel like all four of us are probably going to be close or in the ballpark. This isn’t our best track, but if we can unload and have decent speed and a decent balance, we’ll be fine. Typically, we do hit our balance off the truck, no matter what track it is, so I’m not super worried.”

What would it mean to you to take Hendrick Motorsports back to victory lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway?

“Yeah, Kasey Kahne was the last win here, so that’s been awhile, for sure. He was really good here, so maybe we can get some of that magic back. But I don’t know, it’s just been a tough place for us the last few years. I feel like it’s only gotten tougher for us. My first start here – we weren’t good at a lot of tracks that year, but we were OK here. I think we finished like 14th. But it’s just progressively gotten worse. Hopefully this year we can turn that around. Last year, we had a decent car. We were a little bit tight and then we got some damage on the splitter on pit road; ran into Justin Haley on pit road and that really hurt our day. Hopefully this year we’ll have a smooth execution and be upfront at the end.”

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 – Starting 5th

Bowman on how he feels going into tomorrow’s race with no qualifying:

“I’m not that sad that qualifying got rained out, to be honest. My average qualifying attempt here isn’t great, so I probably ended up with a better starting position without qualifying. Obviously we wanted to get laps. This is a place I’ve struggled at for a long time, so I’m running the Xfinity car, too, to try and get better. I haven’t gotten any laps yet, so we’ll see.”

How are you feeling with the weather forecast tomorrow? What are you planning for?

“I’m kind of curious to see how today plays out. Obviously, we want to get the Xfinity Series race in. I would rather not have to run both in the same day, but if we do, I’m sure it will be fine. We’ll wait and see.”

Is there anything you can learn from the Xfinity car that will help you for tomorrow in the Cup car?

“Yeah, I mean I think just fundamentally, I’ve struggled here. The way I like to approach race tracks just doesn’t really work at this place. My best day here in the Cup car, even though we blew a tire late and didn’t get the finish we deserved, was 2016 when I ran the Xfinity car on the same weekend. So hopefully we can go back to some of that; get more laps on the track, more reps and be better in the Cup car.”

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kubota Camaro ZL1 – Starting 8th

How does no qualifying truly effort your day in the race tomorrow?

“I don’t know.. when it comes time to race, I go race. Wherever I start, we’ll make a plan to get to the front. It’s not the longest race of the year by any means.. it’s one of the shorter ones. But yeah, it’s alright – whatever it is, we’ll take it as it is.”

What’s the confidence going into this weekend knowing the success has been seen in the past at similar tracks?

“Yeah, the confidence came for me at New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) when I got my crew chief, Phil Surgen, on top of my pit box. He changed the game for me at this track.”

About Chevrolet

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
New Hampshire Media Availability | Saturday, June 22, 2024

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Mendards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse, met with media members at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon to discuss his win last weekend at Iowa and more.

Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse

HOW DOES THIS CHANGE THE SEASON NOW THAT YOU’RE IN THE PLAYOFF? DOES IT CHANGE IT AT ALL, YOUR PREP FOR THE PLAYOFF? “I feel like winning last week was just, I wouldn’t say kind of pressure off, just kind of a little bit of relief of man, you know, finally got in the victory lane. I feel like we’ve been close a couple of times and I thought we had one won at Gateway and it didn’t work out for us and it was nice to string together a few good runs in a row there with Gateway and Sonoma. I thought we were really good. And then Iowa last week. So hopefully we’re hitting our stride and learning things that I think we can apply. I just hope to keep learning and keep learning things on tracks. I think our short track stuff is pretty good right now. It’s just a matter of trying to get the mile and a half’s and bigger worked out. So hopefully we can continue this momentum in our company of running a little bit better.”

I’M DOING A STORY ON CHICAGO AND SHANE VAN GISBURGEN. ON A DRY TRACK, DO YOU EXPECT HIM TO KICK EVERYBODY’S TAIL LIKE HE DID A YEAR AGO IN THE COUNTER RACE? “I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting to see. Obviously he’s really talented. I’ve been enjoying watching his inaugural Xfinity season. He’s a good guy. I’ve gotten to talk to him a good bit, and he loves the sport and really enjoys it. I don’t know if he’ll have as much of an advantage this year because everyone was kind of in the same boat last year as far as first time there, but he raced on a lot of street courses, and the V8 stuff and the rain and all that craziness that went on. He probably had a little bit of a leg up on everybody and it showed, and he took advantage of it and won the race. Hopefully, we can all draw a little bit closer to him at that place to where he doesn’t embarrass us like he did last year. We’ll see though.”

YOU’RE STILL CHASING YOUR FIRST CUP WIN HERE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THAT THIS TRACK PRESENTS FOR YOU, ESPECIALLY THIS WEEKEND GIVEN THE WEATHER? “I don’t know what the weather is going to do. Nobody knows. I feel like we’ve always run pretty good here. I thought we had a good shot to compete for the win last year and we had a problem on pit road, last stop of the race and kind of took us out of it. I feel like this place has been fairly good to us and like I said earlier, I think our short track program is kind of getting to be fairly decent. That stuff changes week to week. You just try to stay on top of it and try to keep learning from previous years and weeks. But I’ve always wanted to hold the lobster ever since I was a kid. So hopefully we can keep adding to our entrees. We had corn last week and lobster this week and trying to add a full plate of dinner. So we’ll see what we can do. But I love it up here.”

THE THREE TIMES THAT PENSKE CARS ROLLED INTO VICTORY LANE THIS YEAR WERE WITH THE SHORT TRACK PACKAGE. WHAT HAS BEEN CLICKING REALLY FOR THE TEAM ON THESE SHORT TRACKS AND ARE THERE ANY NOTES COMING IN TO LOUDON THAT ARE BEING CARRIED OVER FROM THE OTHER TRACKS? “I definitely think we can carry over some notes. This place has some similarities to Iowa last week as far as rough entries. I think entry to turn three is super rough. You can see it on TV and it’s kind of the same, a little bit kind of different angle in the corner, but turn one entry at Iowa last week was super rough also. So, did we learn some stuff last week that helped us get in the corner at Iowa that might help us get in the corner here? There’s all these things you piece together. You can’t just bolt in what was in the car last week. I think there’s maybe some ideas of what you can change. Here you’re kind of limited and we don’t have the long practice like we did. Locked into springs and stuff like that. You hope to hit it fairly right to where you can tweak on it. I think short tracks have been a strong suit for us this year. Last year I even would say the same thing as far as the end of the year. So hopefully that stuff continues to get better and you’re always trying to stay on top of the competition. We’re good right now, but that could change in a week. You just have to continue to learn with each other and your team and your teammates. But at the same time, you have people in the background working on mile and a half stuff. How can we be better at those places? So the neatness of what we do in our schedule, all different types of racetracks, that you have to figure out how to be good on all of them, but that seems to be a strong suit for us right now.”

HOW RELIEVED WERE YOU TO GET THE MONKEY OFF YOUR BACK LAST WEEKEND? “It was nice. I feel like we had a couple chances to win already this year and just hasn’t really gone our way. It was nice that we put a really good night together. I was proud of the effort from our whole group of the changes we made from Friday to Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t really feel good Friday. I knew we had a lot of work to do and they did a great job of figuring out what we needed to do to be better. It showed in qualifying, it showed in the race and we got better through the night, especially the last two runs of the race. It is good. I don’t sit around and think about races you lose, like Gateway, but you know you get asked about it every weekend about how much does that kind of still sting and it was just nice to kind of redeem ourselves from that one. Nobody on our group hung our head and just just kept thinking about man we gave that one away. It’s just we knew that we’ve been running good and let’s just utilize this while we can and try to get them while we have a little bit of a leg up on everybody on the short tracks. It sank in right away. I think it sank in the most when a lot of my family came to victory lane. That was pretty cool. It was neat to have my parents there, my Uncle Dale, my mom’s side of the family that were there. So yeah, it sank in pretty quick. It’s cool to do it at a place like that where I’ve gotten support over the years by so many of those folks that are just from down the road. A lot of them, you know, maybe never been to victory lane. I get lucky to go to victory lane if you get a chance to win the race and to be able to bring your family into something like that, especially the younger ones, that’s a pretty cool experience for them so to see that is cool. I feel like a cool uncle whenever you can do that and just add to the cool uncle pot. It’s a big big weight off our shoulders and hopefully we can keep keep this going and continue to keep running you know pretty strong like I know we should and try to get back some of those races in the month of May that we had really bad races. Charlotte and Darlington and getting wrecked out early. Try to get back a little bit in this points battle and keep trying to climb back up the ladder.”

HOW MUCH OF A GAME CHANGER WAS WINNING POCONO, THAT FIRST WIN, AND WINNING IT WITH A TEAM AS ICONIC AS THE WOOD BROTHERS? “Pocono is one of my favorite wins. You’d never forget your first one, and especially to do that with those guys. I remember walking into their race shop in 2015 before we did the part-time deal that year. And you see everybody up on the wall. They have all the winners up on the wall. Pearson and Yarborough and all those guys. And you’re like, man, I want to be on the wall. I want to be on the wall in their shop up in Stewart. I will never forget the day they hung that picture of me up. Even though it was a small contributing factor to their 99 wins, you’re still part of it. You still have something to do there. Those guys are family. Even when I started driving for Penske, they still considered me part of their family, which is great. I love seeing Eddie and Len and Leonard at the racetrack. Leonard will sneak up on you. I never know when he’s coming, but he’ll find me off pit road and it’s always good to see him and he’s doing good so that definitely means a ton. You never forget your first one. You they work so hard to get to that point of watching people win in the Cup Series. I was able to grow up around it and watch it and you want to be there you want to be there and this is what you want to do and you work every since you are young to try to get to that point and have an opportunity and then to do it like it’s just all comes full circle. It’s something I’ll never forget and standing with Eddie and Len anind victory lane at Pocono after the race for a long time just talking about it all is it’s pretty cool.”

FORDS AND TOYOTAS HAVE COMBINED TO WIN 16 OF THE LAST 17 RACES HERE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE. DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT THERE ARE TRACKS THAT FAVOR ONE MAKER OVER ANOTHER OVER THAT LONG PERIOD OF TIME OR IS THAT JUST A CRAZY STAT? “That is a crazy stat. I didn’t know that. I don’t really know if tracks necessarily form well with a manufacturer or anything like that. I think that’s just kind of a coincidental thing. I look at Gibbs, I look at Penske, we’ve both been really good here. Stewart-Haas have been good here for a number of years. You say that and there might be a Chevy in victory lane, you never know. I mean, it’s just one of those funny things that might happen. I don’t think it’s a manufacturer thing. I think it’s just kind of coincidence of what teams figure some things out here and what manufacturer they are. But that is a nice stat. Hopefully we can add to that streak.”

ARE WE AT THE POINT THIS SEASON WHERE WE SEE OR WHERE YOU CAN EXPECT GUYS TO GET A LITTLE BIT MORE, I DON’T WANT TO SAY DESPERATE, BUT RACY. THOSE GUYS THAT MAYBE ARE REALLY TRYING TO GET IN THE PLAYOFFS. ARE WE AT THAT POINT WHERE YOU NOTICE THAT AS YOU’RE RACING? “Yeah, definitely. I definitely pay attention to that. I look at the points once a week, like on Sunday night when y’all put it out, and then I don’t really look at it the rest of the week. There’s nine to go till the playoff start? So yeah, it’s getting down to those final two and a half months. It’s going to get pretty dicey here with guys who are close to the cut line. Guys who need to win. You kind of start seeing that develop. I feel like, within the last two months of the regular season and then you have funky tracks coming up, Chicago, Daytona and Indy. I don’t know what anyone thinks Indy is going to be like. So there are a lot of opportunities I feel like for teams to do some things that might be bigger risks but they have to do it because they know what they need to do to get in and then you always have the little points battles of a handful of guys who are close to the line and those are always interesting to watch through the stages and end of the race and all that stuff. It’s nice to not be a part of that right now. We just kind of worry about getting wins and trying to pass a couple guys that we’re close to in points. It definitely is that time of the year. You figure out where you’re at, where you’re settled in, and you never know who can jump up and win any single week. It’s just a product of the sport and this car. It will be definitely kind of a race within the race. I feel like sometimes watching on TV, you’ll have this battle and then you’ll have these battles kind of going on for points and playoff spots and things like that. Those are always fun to see. So hopefully TV does a good job covering all that stuff because there is a lot that goes on, but it also is a good storyline. If you can kind of weed that into your race program.”

DO YOU KEEP A LITTLE BIT OF A LITTLE NOTEBOOK ON THAT? MAYBE YOU’RE RACING SOME GUY LATE IN A RACE, YOU’RE LIKE, OKAY, THIS GUY’S LIKE 90 POINTS BELOW THE CUT LINE, HE’S GOING TO BE DESPERATE TO WIN OR WHEREVER. DO YOU SORT OF KEEP SOME OF THAT IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND AS TO WHAT THESE GUYS MAY THINK THEY HAVE TO DO? “I feel like you do have a little memory bank of all that stuff, kind of where everyone’s at. I feel like sometimes I get told that in certain scenarios. I get reminded of it, like, hey, this guy’s, he might be desperate to win, he’s out, by a good bit he’s got to win the race. So that just kind of gives me a little bit of heads up of, hey, you know, might be some desperation moves that are gonna be thrown just so I can be prepared for it. So yeah, you definitely keep that in mind. You’re not gonna give up any positions for anybody. That’s just not the way it is but yeah it’s nice to know that if someone throws a haymaker, you never know but you have to understand, at least I try to understand in my shoes if that does happen, I get it. I’d do the same thing if I was in that person’s position for the win and they need to win and I get roughed up, that’s just part of it. I get it but it is nice to have that reminder every now and then just to make sure you know what might be coming.”

Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LOUDON, NH (June 22, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday.

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Do you feel more relaxed now that you’ve made your decision?
“I feel like I’m pretty relaxed generally? (laughter) I don’t know. I guess. If it comes off that way, sure. I feel relieved after I finally made a decision after thinking about it for two years. I guess, yeah.”

Would a win this weekend mean anything more?

“I think winning here in general is a really big deal. Last year was just huge for me personally. My family – what this place has meant to us over the years, so to finally – it was a frustrating thing to come here year after year after year – and feel like it got away again, so many times we were in position to win, or we were right there leading laps and things. It has always been a really good track for me and just not having that win for so long was really, really frustrating, so yeah, it was a really, really big one last year and I think to be able to go back-to-back would be awesome. That is what we are looking to do, and we are excited to be here. The guys are fired up and I feel good about it. I’m looking forward to going out there in practice and seeing what we’ve got.”

What did the first win at Furniture Row at Pocono mean?

“At that point, we were still a young team and things were feeling like they were coming together. We had been in position to have a chance to win a few races that season, up to that point, so it was really good to get to get our first win together. It was a big deal for all of us. I think it just kind of got the ball rolling for us, and in 2014, everybody knows how bad we struggled. It was a huge deal for all of us, and for Barney (Visser) – being his second win. The first time that we were competitive each and every week and we were up front a lot, leading laps and doing a lot of good things, so it was cool to check that off the list and who would have thought how the next few of years would have gone. It was an incredible run and the start of a really special group.”

When you look back at Nashville last year, what do you remember?

“It was a good race. We had a really strong car at times, at times, I just remember being really free and losing the lead and getting the car better at the end and tracking down Ross (Chastain), and I just couldn’t find a way around him, so that was a little bit of a frustrating race, because I felt like we had the car to beat – we just didn’t put it all together at the right time. I’m looking forward to going back. It is a fun track. It has been really good the last few years.”

Is there any changes from last season and the win here that can give you some momentum?

“I think it is going to be different. The tires are a little different from what I hear. The short track package is different, so I think for us, we have still kind of been searching a little bit, I think, to figure out the package and to get the feel in the car that I’m looking for. Last year, at Iowa, we never quite got it where we needed it, and then, of course, I sped on pit road, but in general, for us, the short track package – we’ve been off a little, and we’ve been kind of searching for that. The 20 (Christopher Bell) has been really good on the short tracks with this package, so we’ve kind of been looking at that and kind of trying to figure out what we are not quite doing right, but the last two years coming here, we’ve been really, really strong, so I have a lot of optimism that we will be able to do that again, but it is going to be different for sure, but weather today, compared to tomorrow is different for sure. We need to have a good day today for a pit selection and a good starting position, so hopefully, it goes well.”

What is your favorite thing about the track surface here at New Hampshire and do you have any advice for any new drivers coming into this race?

“Well, this place is tough. There is no doubt about it. It has changed a lot over the years, since they redid it. I think it was 2002-ish, when they did the progressive banking, new pavement in the corners – all of that stuff. It has just changed so much since then. It has gotten really bumpy. It has lost a lot of grip. Last year, we saw lane three and lane four come in with the old pavement, way up high, which was quite the shock. It is going to be different again this year. I think that is the biggest challenge. It is really bumpy. It is very slick. It is a technical track, all of those seams between each lane is probably the biggest obstacle to deal with. It can really mess up a lap. It is a hit your marks kind of track. You have got to be spot on, so I always look forward to that challenge, but memory wise – a lot, a lot of good memories. One of my first ones was watching my dad win his first Busch North race on TV. I was at home. I was madder than hell that I wasn’t here. My dad just won a race on TV. It was the coolest thing ever – I’m just a kid. Just a lot of memories coming up here and trying to make my way into higher levels and whatnot. Just a lot of good memories. A lot of wins and a lot of fun times.”

Would you target racing here again?

“Yeah, probably. We will see. I haven’t really looked into all of that and started the scheduling process. I’m just kind of focused on what we are doing here, but eventually, we will figure it out and it is definitely a place I would like to come back to.”

Would it definitely be for 23XI Racing?

“We just kind of started talking because he threw it out there in the media center and we’ve chatted a few times this week. A few things to figure out, but it seems like we will be able to do some races if we want, which will be awesome. Excited about that. It is really cool that Denny (Hamlin) did that and reached out this week. It means a lot to me.”

How important to do you think New Hampshire Motor Speedway is for growing talent in this area?

“It is huge. I think going back to my early days and watching a guy like Steve Park get an opportunity with Dale Earnhardt, and Mike Stefanik, who was a legend up here, getting to race in the Truck Series – things like that. It is really special. This place has really put a lot of people on the map, not just drivers, crew chiefs, crew members – you name it. We used to come here four times a year, back in the early days. It was the Daytona for the Busch North and Modified guys, and everything else. It is a special place, and it has done a lot for a lot of people.”

Have you heard from anyone this week that was really special to you?

“I’ve heard from a lot of people. This week was really kind of humbling to see the comments and it means so much to me just to hear what people think. A lot of people that I really respect and look up to have sent messages or said something in interviews, just whatever. It is really special to know that you’ve represented yourself well, your family well, your teams – all of the people I’ve worked with over the years. Really, really humbling to see that. I’m sure there will be more down the line, but it means a lot. It’s really special. It reminds you of how lucky we are to be able to do this.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 26 electrified options.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
NCS Qualifying | Saturday, June 22, 2024

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse met with media members at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ahead of Cup Series on-track action Saturday afternoon.

Joey Logano, No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse — COULD I ASK YOU TO LOOK BACK AND REFLECT ON YOUR FIRST START UP HERE AS A NEW ENGLAND GUY COMING UP TO THIS TRACK TO GET YOUR FIRST OPPORTUNITY? “Yeah, there are so many memories for me any time I pull into Loudoun here. Some of my first ones are just coming up here to watch, watching the Bush North Series and going camping out here with my parents. I think it was like 1996 when I came out here to watch my first time. I was 6 or 7 years old. It was a fun race to watch. I remember I was hooked after that. I was racing quarter midgets at the time, but the first time you see a professional sport as a kid, it’s magic. It’s the magic mile. It was a really special thing. And then starting my first Cup race here, it went really hard. But then getting my first Cup win here was great. I think it was back in 14 or 15 when we won here last. So yeah, definitely a lot of great memories here. And they all come rushing back as soon as we drive back into this place. Yesterday, we landed and driving in they all come back as you see the sign driving down the road and pulling into the infield.”

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE NEW DARKNESS POLICY WHERE THEY’RE GONNA SET A TIME, THEY’RE GONNA TELL YOU WHAT TIME THE RACE IS GONNA END RATHER THAN A LAP AND THEN ONCE THEY SET THAT TIME ONCE THAT CLOCK HITS THAT TIME, LEADER CROSSES START FINISH, THEN THE NEXT TIME THEY TAKE THE WHITE AND THE NEXT TIME THEY TAKE THE CHECKER. RATHER THAN GIVING YOU, SAYING LIKE, THE LAP IS GONNA END AT LAP 75. “I like that. At what point are they gonna tell us that?”

I THINK EARLIER THAN LATER, BUT YOU NEVER KNOW. I’M CURIOUS, AS A GUY WHO’S ON THIS BUBBLE DOES THAT MAKE THINGS ANY EASIER AS FAR AS STRATEGY POTENTIALLY? “Yeah, I mean, the last thing you want as a competitor is to be competing and the strategy of the race dictated by the unknown. That is the last thing you want, right? But if you know, hey, the race is going to end at 8.30, whatever it is. OK, we know that. And we can play the strategy off of that. Instead of it being, well, hey, we’re going to run another 50 laps. You’re like, oh, jeez, we ought to change our strategy completely if that was the case. So if that’s something that they can broadcast, even going into the weekend, if we kind of have a general idea of when the sun’s going to go down. I’m sure if the skies are overcast and all those types of things it probably changes that number some, but I think having a ballpark idea, if there’s weather in the area and it seems like we’re going to be pushed late, what that’s going to look like is, I think, a great idea. I like it.”

NOW THAT YOU HAVE A FAMILY AND THE KIDS ARE GROWING UP, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO RETURN TO NEW ENGLAND WITH THEM? AND HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO CREATE ANY MORE MEMORIES WITH THEM HERE AND I’M SURE THE GREATER NEW ENGLAND AREA? “Well, I’m hoping to create one this weekend. That would be great. But there’s still a lot of memories being made for sure. I’ve got Hudson up here with me this weekend and yeah we have fun anytime we go to racetrack it’s just more enjoyable when your kids are there especially when you win and those pictures and all that. I don’t know how much he’ll remember when he gets older anyway but I know he’s about the same age that I was when I came here for the first time now so definitely it’s a pretty sentimental thing. It’s kind of a special thing for sure.”

HOW DO YOU HANDLE THESE NEXT FEW RACES TRYING TO MAKE IT TO THE PLAYOFFS? “I mean, it doesn’t really change much. It just kind of puts you, honestly, in playoff mode a little bit sooner because you’re racing as if you’re in the playoffs, right? You’re not kind of clicked in to where you’re already in. You’re just racing to get playoff points anywhere you can, right? You can’t take as big of risks on certain things because you can’t afford last week to blow a tire. Can’t afford to do it. So it definitely adjusts some of your setup choices, some of the way you drive, some of the way you call the race in general. I mean it goes through your mind, it has to go through your mind. At the same time you still know what a win’s worth, so you gotta go out there and win the race. You don’t just stay on points racing and just lay up, right? You can’t do that. But you definitely got to play it smart and not be caution to the wind type of situation. Whereas if you were locked in, you maybe go for that, right? If there was an opportunity to win the race or finish 20th versus the call that may be a solid fifth-place finish, you probably can’t afford to finish 20th right now. Some of those things have got to go through your mind. And it may change just on the speed you have in your car and stuff like that. It can go back and forth. And emotions can probably get in the middle of that when you’re making decisions on the racetrack. It’s one thing to say it here. It’s another thing to say it when your helmet’s on. But that’s just our sport. That’s the position that we’re in right now. I feel good about our chances of getting in. But it’s not as comfortable as we want it to be, that’s for sure.”

WE’RE COMING UP ON THE HALFWAY POINT OF THE SEASON. HOW DO YOU GRADE YOUR TEAM’S PERFORMANCE THROUGH THE FIRST 18 RACES? AND THEN DO YOU HAVE A HIGHLIGHT JUST FOR NASCAR AS A WHOLE THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON, YOUR ASSESSMENT OF WHAT’S GOING ON AS A WHOLE? “Yeah I’d say for us obviously not where we want to be. We just talked about not being locked in the playoffs. At this point you kind of expect to be locked in the playoffs for the 22 team right? But you know to put a grade on it I don’t know it’s kind of hard to do sometimes because it depends on the weekends and honestly it depends on the type of track. You look at the short tracks here recently it’s hard to not say it, we’re pretty comfortable with it, feel good about our chances of winning on short tracks. The mile and a half’s don’t quite feel that way yet. A lot of work to do there, so probably depends on the track that we grade differently. And then, highlights in the season, boy, I mean, quite a few really close finishes, you know, if you look at the sport as a whole, I mean, that’s some really cool things that have happened there. I’d probably have to say the finishes, the way these things have gone, have been pretty exhilarating.”

IS IT ALMOST BENEFICIAL TO THE 22 TEAM TO BE GOING THROUGH THIS PROCESS AND HAVING TO CLEAN EVERYTHING UP AND KIND OF FOCUS ON JUST MAKING THE PLAYOFFS? “I mean I think the team does a good job being under pressure right our team knows how to handle it because we’ve been in the playoffs so many times. We put ourselves in the Championship Four so many times that we know how to handle these situations and your backs up against the wall. It’s not ever comfortable, to your point. It’s not where you want to be. It’s not fun but it’s not out of the norm for us either to know how to handle these type of scenarios.”

DO YOU THINK THAT SHANE VAN GISBERGEN WILL HAVE AS MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE ON YOU ALL IF IT’S DRY IN CHICAGO WHEN WE GET THERE IN TWO WEEKS? “I don’t think it will be as much of an advantage, but there’s no doubt that street courses seem to be his wheelhouse. There’s no doubt he’s good on road courses as well, like the typical road courses. He’s great at those as well, but it did seem like a street course he felt way more at home when we all felt like a fish out of water going around that racetrack. Then you added rain. It was perfect for him and he capitalized as he should. For 99% of the field that was the first time for any of us to do anything like that and we all have very limited experience of racing in the rain. We also had a lot to lose where he had nothing to lose. We’re getting another lose right like though you look at those walls. You’re like a lot of points in those walls. You look at those walls and it is like, whoa, there are a lot of points in those walls. For him, who cared? I think all those things weighed into it for sure. I think this year, now that we all have a general idea of what we’re going into, we can prepare for it. It’s hard to prepare for something when you’re blind and you don’t know what it’s going to be like. I’m sure he’s still going to have a lot more experience with this stuff than we do, but I think we’ll close the gap a lot.“

YOU MENTIONED HOW TEAM PENSKE IS AMONG THE FAVORITES ON SHORT TRACKS. WHY DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT IS AT PLACES LIKE HERE, PHOENIX, GATEWAY, LAST WEEK? “I can’t tell you why. I have some pretty solid theories on why that is, but I don’t think I need to say exactly what those are. It definitely seems like it fits our package better. Whether it’s aero, engine, or setups, you can put it all together and just have a better package on these short tracks. Also the aero package is different as well. The short track rules package is quite a bit different. Somewhere in all that, we’re putting together much better than we are on mile and a half’s.”

IN REGARDS TO THE MILE AND A HALF TRACKS THIS YEAR, WHAT CAUGHT YOU OFF GUARD ABOUT THE NEW FORD DARK HORSE MUSTANG DESIGN THAT MAYBE YOU DIDN’T ANTICIPATE IN RACING ON THOSE TRACKS? “I think anytime you have a new car there’s going to be a learning curve. It’s easy to get excited because you have this new car and oh man this is going to be great, but you also have to be a little realistic and say, boy we still have to learn what this car wants. We don’t get enough practice these days or tests to go and figure out what it wants. We’re going purely off of wind tunnel numbers on how to set this car up where it wants to be. We don’t have the opportunity to really go out and A-B things over and over again to get the perfect ride height. So, how much do you trust the aero numbers that are coming in? As much as you say the wind tunnel is the wind tunnel, but there’s a lot of different things that happen there that is different than the racetrack. It’s a perfect environment. They don’t have dirty air at the wind tunnel. You can’t get the cars as low as we do here at the racetrack. So things change from the wind tunnel to real life. I think trying to understand what those differences are and how to maximize it just takes time.”

IS IT MORE IMPORTANT SINCE YOU GUYS ARE KIND OF LEADING THE CHARGE FOR FORD TO ENSURE WHOEVER GETS IN THAT 21 CAR IS THE TYPE OF DRIVER THAT CAN GIVE YOU AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE JUST LIKE BLANEY AND CINDRIC SO YOU GUYS HAVE MORE INFORMATION? Absolutely. Teamwork means more now than it ever has, back to the point that we don’t get to go testing very often or practice with any substance of where we can change things. It’s more important than ever that we work together knowing that, knowing whatever everybody’s set ups are, we all set up our cars, the process at least is the same. We go to a racetrack, we have a plan, we can talk about it after our practices here and actually learn from each other. Working together means way more now than it ever did in my past in this sport because of the way the schedules are, how the weekend schedule is, and how similar the cars are, right? Before, sometimes a lot of teams built cars differently from their shop so they weren’t even the same to start as far as bodies being hung and those type of things. Now everything is pretty much the same. You have to be able to trust your teammates feedback when you’re making your adjustments or learning from the post-race week meetings that after you go through everything. It’s just the little things that matter more than ever. The field’s closer than ever and we need that. You you need to understand that if you want to win races you have to have teammates that are going to push you and you have to understand that it is much better to finish second or third to your teammate than beat him and finish 20th. It’s just the facts of where we’re at these days. If we get into one of those grudge matches, none of us will win until it falls apart. It’s different today than it’s ever been for sure, but that’s an important key role for sure.”

CAN EXPLAIN HOW IMPORTANT QUALIFYING IS TODAY WITH THIS FLAT TRACK AND THE RAIN OF COURSE? “Qualifying is important everywhere we go. We talk about how close all the cars are. If you’re only a tenth faster than the car in front of you, you’re probably not going to get around them. So if you can start up in front of those cars, it just changes your whole day. It helps your strategy, helps your pit stall selection. So many great things happen from it, and obviously being towards the front is just safer in general. So yeah, we want to qualify good.”