TOYOTA RACING – Chase Briscoe

NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

TALLADEGA, Ala. (October 24, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe was made available to the media on Saturday after willing the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

This is Chase Briscoe’s first pole of the year, and fourth consecutive top-four start. It is his 10th career pole, and first at Talladega Superspeedway. Briscoe is also the reigning fall Talladega race winner.

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Can you take us through your qualifying lap?

“The lap, for my standpoint, was relatively smooth, I guess, outside of just bouncing around. So yeah, just tried to, I mean, as cliche as it sound, just tried to push my foot as hard as I could on the pedal, like my son (Brooks) always tells me, just with how much we’re bouncing, sometimes you can come up off of wide open. So yeah, I just tried to literally push the thing through the floorboard, and I don’t know if that even made a difference, but in my head, it was doing something. So, yeah, obviously I have a great starting spot tomorrow for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota, but who knows what to expect with just the handling and obviously that fuel first run, it’s going to be all about fuel savings. We will probably have the blinker on pretty early trying to not have the lead, but, yeah, we’re going to see how it plays out.”

How much of an advantage is it to win at pole at Talladega?

“I mean, definitely, from a pride standpoint, there’s a lot that goes into just all the little, tiny details that add up. I mean, it’s literally thousandths, probably, but you stack enough of those together, just the pride, I think that comes along with that from the guys goes a long way and the confidence and from a racing standpoint, it’s hard to say. I mean, if you have a yellow flag pit stop, having that first pit stall is obviously an advantage, but if it’s a green flag pit stop, it’s a little bit of a disadvantage. So, I don’t know, it goes both ways. I guess with the package, nobody knowing what to expect, maybe being out front, if there’s a wreck early, maybe save you from that. But, yeah, I don’t know. There are definitely pros and cons of it. It does show that we have a fast car. So, if it’s typically if it’s fast by itself, it’s normally fast in the draft too. So hopefully, that’ll be good for us tomorrow.”

That is fastest Talladega pole run in the Next Gen car. Did it feel that fast in the car?

“I don’t know if my time was actually better in the second round, but I felt slower the second run than the first run, just from like an engine tone standpoint, but it’s so hard inside the car. Like that first round, obviously, we were really, really good, but inside the car, very well could have been 27th. I had no idea what it was going to be. Then, obviously when the time came up, I knew it was good. Yeah, inside the car, it’s honestly pretty hard to tell. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that it was three miles an hour faster. In the pack, I think, it’ll feel faster though.”

Does it make you more hopeful for tomorrow that you may be able to form a third lane?

“Yeah, I think so. I mean, it was kind of wild to me after Daytona, there was a couple guys that felt like the package was no different, and I felt like it was drastically different, just how it drove, just, you were way more on the edge at all times. Historically, that race at Daytona is like the easiest race we have of the year from the balance standpoint. This place could be absolutely out of control. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out tomorrow.”

Are you surprised with how long it took to get you the first pole of the year?

“A little bit, yeah, because last year, truthfully, it felt easy. Like everywhere we would go, if we weren’t on the pole, we were in the top two or three. This year, yeah, we just haven’t been as strong from a qualifying standpoint. It’s kind of flipped. Last year I thought we were just incredible on the mile and a half tracks in qualifying. In the race, we wouldn’t be quite as good. It was kind of the opposite on short tracks. We wouldn’t qualify very good. Well, this year, we’ve been really good, honestly, short track qualifying. Haven’t had the poles, but mile and a half wise, we’ve not been near as good in qualifying, but we’ve been really good in the races. So, yeah, going into this into this season, you would have told me it would have taken until race 33 to get a pole, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. But this sport is just extremely hard. That was a place where we just haven’t been as strong as what we were last year. So yeah, I just have to continue to get better.”

Are you just focusing on your team with as many Joe Gibbs Racing teams competing for the championship?

“I mean, truthfully, I haven’t really had like an actual conversation or anything, but I think just everywhere we go, we typically are racing for the win and obviously it’s different this time of the year just for the championship and things on the line. But yeah, I think it’s kind of unspoken. Coach (Joe Gibbs, owner, Joe Gibbs Racing) knows that we’re all going to be in it for ourselves at the end of the day. I want the 19 to win the championship. Denny (Hamlin) wants the 11 win the championship. Christopher (Bell) wants the 20. We all know that at the end of the day that we’re all going to do what’s best for ourselves, but also I do think we all do a really good job of trying to help each other out when we can. At the end of the race, it might be hard to do that sometimes, but I do think we’re all still very aware of what’s going on and we don’t want to cost both of us a shot at it or all three of us a shot at it. So you’re just aware of that the whole time.”

How do you feel like you have to execute this weekend with the other drivers around you being really good at Martinsville?

“Yeah, I think it’s massive. I mean, we’re at the point of the season now, especially with how tight the points are that, I mean, literally one point can be the difference in you being the champion or not. I think when you look at this weekend, this is the one that’s the most wide open of what can happen where Martinsville and Homestead are just a little bit more traditional. But yeah, out of the all the tracks in the Chase, I would say Martinsville, for us on the 19 group, has been the biggest struggles. Yeah, I mean, every point we can get, you know, this week is extremely important. Just like I said, it’s going to come down to one point probably. So, yeah, execution’s going to be at extremely high level this weekend. Just the green flag pit stops, everything else that comes along with it. You just don’t want to make a mistake and take yourself out of it. It’s one thing if you get caught up in the crash. I mean, hopefully that doesn’t happen, but you, as a driver, don’t want to, to be the reason that you get a speeding penalty or something like that.”

About Toyota

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

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
YellaWood 500 Qualifying — Talladega Superspeedway
Saturday, October 24, 2026

Ford Qualifying Results:

5th – Chris Buescher

16th – Joey Logano

19th – Ryan Preece

21st – Josh Berry

22nd – Brad Keselowski

27th – Ryan Blaney

28th – Austin Cindric

31st – Zane Smith

35th – Todd Gilliland

39th – Noah Gragson

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Kroger Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That’s solid. We had a lot of speed here today. I know it’s single car, but it translated really well at Daytona, so I’m proud of everybody to be able to go into the second round and have a shot at this thing. I’m not sure how far we missed it by, but we were there. I’m proud of everybody. We’ll take this Thomas’ Protein English Muffins Ford and be up in sight of everything that we want to see. We’ll be in good shape for tomorrow. This track has been good to us. It’s kicked us in the throat a few times, but we’ve been running well when it’s happened, so I’m looking forward to it.” A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CHANGE IN PACKAGE. WILL WE SEE MUCH DIFFERENCE? “I hope we have some handling. I do. We didn’t get past stage one in Daytona, but everything was going well until it wasn’t. We’re leaning on our teammates a little bit for that info. I felt like even though it went into night time, Daytona still had some handling come into play. That gives us hope and some confidence that we’re gonna be in good shape here. I hope it’s enough to really make it a problem at Talladega – a good problem. This place is so big. The corners are so banked, so much radius around. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had any real balance issues here, so hopefully this is the start of something more fun.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU HAVE A FULL BASKETBALL TEAM AT HOME. “Yeah, we’ve got a full team now, for sure. We’ve been blessed to be able to do that. The facts are there are a lot of great kids out there that need a home and need somebody to love them and hug on them and tell them about their potential. We’ve had a lot of people that pushed us along to do it and we’ve always came up with reasons why it was too hard and we weren’t ready and all that, and, really, a lot of that is just in our head. It’s tough, but it’s easier than we made it out to be, and I think it’s like that in life a lot of times. So, if you’re thinking about it, do it. I think that’s the message. That’s why I’m talking about it more than anything is just try to encourage others to do the same thing.”

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL? “Where do you want to start? You’re giving a couple kids the opportunity to become whatever they want to be, and I think that’s probably the most rewarding part, but also seeing my biological children and how they have shown how big their hearts are. I’ve always kind of wondered about my kids sometimes because when you’re home you always see how your kids can sometimes do things that push you to the edge, but to see how opening they’ve been about helping – they share rooms now and they’ve got to share all their stuff now. It’s just a different life and they’ve been great. My wife is the super hero of this. I feel bad that I get any credit. I shouldn’t get much at all. Really, the kids should get the most of it because they go through the most. It was a very special moment there in the courthouse because the last time they were there was a really bad experience for them, so walking into the same room with a really awesome experience like this was a real tear jerker. I told everyone that we had to rehydrate after that day. There were a lot of tears.”

SO ARE YOU A THREE-TIME CHAMPION OR A FIVE-TIME CHAMPION? “Yeah, I know. I had a trophy for every kid before. Now, I’ve got to win a couple more (laughing). Uh oh.”

CAN YOU EXPAND ON HOW BRITTANY HAS LED THAT PROCESS? “To start, anyone who has gone down this road before they understand that just becoming a foster parent is hard to do like getting your license and all the classes and all the things you’ve got to do. A lot of paperwork. It’s a lot. It’s too much to be honest with you, but it’s a lot. So, that process is a big deal and then getting the placement and then going through the adoption paperwork. Brittany did all the paperwork. She’s done all of it. Like I said, I can’t take much credit. I’d go home and I’d shut racing off and I’d say, ‘What do you need me to do, honey.’ And that’s when I plug in. If that’s playing with the kids or helping around the house cleaning up, whatever it may be, I do it. You’ve got to think that we’re gone a lot and we don’t hire help. We want to raise our own kids, so she’s really doing a lot of it with the school work and all that stuff too. They go to a hybrid type school, so there’s a lot going on. She’s a super woman.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS SMALLER SPOILER CHANGE? IS THERE STILL EXCITEMENT THERE? “Yeah. I think there are still a lot of unknowns on how the draft is gonna work out here at Talladega. Daytona and Talladega are completely different and even if it was the same rules package as we had at Daytona, Talladega is still gonna race differently. So, I think the things I’m looking for more than anything are just the lanes themselves. The third lane has always been pretty touchy here. It could work, but it also more than likely it takes kind of a perfect storm to make it grow. How does this package affect that? Does it make it better or worse? That’s kind of one of the first things I’m looking for when the race starts.”

DO YOU LOOK AT TALLADEGA AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOMETHING OR ARE YOU MORE DEFENSIVE AND DON’T WANT TO SCREW UP EVERYTHING? “I would say let’s not screw it up if we were 44 points ahead. Instead, we’re 44 points behind and you’ve got to attack at that point. We’ve got to get points every stage and we’ve got to go out there and be in contention to win this thing at the end of the day. It’s just the facts of where we are with three races left and 44 back and you’re sixth. It’s one thing if we were second and 44 back, which we have a lot of cars in front of us we’ve got to pass to do that too. It’s close and it’s very achievable. We definitely can do it, but you can’t afford to be much further back than where we are right now and realistically think you’re gonna pull this off.”

NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway
Team Chevy Driver Quotes
October 24, 2026

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in a panel with fellow Chase contenders, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney, in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway.

Chevrolet Newsroom

Kye Larson Media Availability Quotes:

The next nearest Chevrolet in the point standings is 10th. Have you guys talked about just how many resources you expect to be funneled into your efforts in the draft among fellow Chevrolet’s and what kind of a boost you feel like it’ll give you?

“Yeah, I don’t know. For me, I think just having the awareness of where we’re at in our situation. I’m not asking for people to go out of their way, move over, anything like that. I think just the awareness is always good, which I feel like there’s been that throughout the Chase already. It’s been going on for a handful of weeks where I feel like I’ve been cut a lot of breaks from other Chevy cars, which has been much appreciated.

But then, yeah, on the Talladega side of things, it’s always easy to have a plan, but it’s always difficult to replicate your plan on the racetrack. So, again, just the awareness is all for me.”

You’ve never competed in a Chase format and that was something you mentioned coming into this year. You were excited to do it, so maybe just speak from that perspective of what the experience has been like just in a different format from your last two championships?

“Well, I mean, it’s still a lot of the same answers they just gave, I think. You know, for me, I think I’ve recognized how much winning is extra important, it seems, with the points. It seems like you gain more points than what it actually says you gain, so that’s been a lot of fun. It’s been interesting to see all you guys, like, ‘oh, this person’s out, that person’s out, the No. 5 has it locked up’, and it’s four races in. I’m like, ‘guys, come on’. The points swing so much. I didn’t really recognize that as much in the regular season, but I think when it’s been in the Chase, just the little bit smaller sample size, it’s like the swings just seem way bigger.

There was always pressure with the other format, I thought. But this is just consistent pressure throughout, and these 10 weeks feel longer than the other 10 weeks.”

When you guys show up at Talladega, do you see this venue and this style of racing as an opportunity, or is there more pressure? Has that changed how you look at it because of where you are in the points standings? Is this a place where you feel like, I can really do it, I can make a difference right now, or there’s so much pressure I just don’t want to screw up?

“Yeah, I mean, as bad as my results are here, I still look at it as opportunity, for sure, to get out here and have a shot to win. I feel like we all, every single car in the field, maybe aside from a couple, have a shot to win if things go a certain way. So, yeah, I mean, I look at it as opportunity. I feel like, just speaking for us on the No. 5 team, we’ve scored stage points in a lot of the stages here. We’ve been up front at the ends of the races. I’ve been in the top-five here a few times in the last few years. So, yeah, I look at it as an opportunity, but also opportunity the other way, if you do get caught up in things and get caught up in a crash. You can really lose a lot of ground here. But yeah, I’m more confident here than I am at Phoenix.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.

GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.

NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway
Team Chevy Driver Quotes
October 24, 2026

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Chase, most popular driver voting opened yesterday and your name was removed from the ballot. Could you talk to us just a little bit about your decision to have that done?

“Yeah, I think a couple things went into it for me. You know, when Dale (Earnhardt, Sr.) passed in the early 2000s, dad removed his name. Ultimately, I was a young child, but looking back on that, I just always thought that was a really cool and admirable nod to, frankly, one of his biggest rivals, right? And just something that I just always had a lot of respect for. Now, I was too little to know how he went about that and kind of what the things were that he did to go about doing that. But as the time got closer, I had been asked about it a few times throughout the course of the year since we lost Kyle (Busch). I certainly thought about that some, and then also kind of thought about what Kyle meant to my career and just the relationship that we had. And also, just how much noise I think our fans have made for him over the course of his career. I know that he, certainly, kind of embraced that villain role. And maybe people totally didn’t like him, but they sure did make a lot of noise for him, and I think we can all agree to that. I just felt like because of that, and because of a lot of the things that I’ve got the chance to see behind the scenes of things that he did for his fans and how much he cared about the sport and for his supporters; I felt like he deserved to win that vote.

Now, that being said, just because I was in there, that’s not me saying that he wasn’t going to win by any stretch. But I do think it’s an opportunity for me to encourage the great supporters that I have and the people that have supported my family over the years to show that love and show that energy to Kyle and his family. Ultimately, I believe that he is a deserving winner of it, and he has my vote. I encourage those out there that want to get involved and want to take part in that to show him that same love. I think he deserves it. I think it would be a really cool honor for he and his family.”

Were you a fan of Kyle Busch?

“Yeah, I was a fan. You know, I think I’ve said this some too, but really, anybody my age and probably a little younger that were coming along at that point in time and got to see his dominance; I mean, if somebody sits there and tells you that they didn’t want to be like that in some way, shape or form, they are lying to your face, right? Like the guy was killing it. He was out there and he was just unbeatable at some places. And I feel like he kind of embraced that role and he loved that character that he took on of kind of be in that villain role. But as a racer and a guy coming along, it was really hard not to admire just his craft and how good he was behind the wheel and just some of the things that he changed the game with from a racecar driver’s perspective. And, you know, coming from somebody who loves the discipline of what we do and the craft behind the wheel that ultimately makes somebody better than the next; that’s my favorite thing about what we do. You know, I think he was definitely a game changer in that regard and deserved a lot of credit. So yeah, absolutely.”

With (Kyle) Larson being the points leader and kind of the opportunity for Chevrolet to win this championship and for Hendrick Motorsports, what’s the balance tomorrow between typical teammates and Chevy helping each other? And then, is there going to be any extra to help or protect Larson tomorrow to help him with that point lead?

“Yeah, I mean, certainly, we’re all thinking about that from a manufacturer’s perspective, and I’m sure it’s the same in every other camp with everything that’s going on. But I think the answer to that is the best way we can help him is no different than last week or next week and that’s to be competitive, to be good and to be in the mix, right? Because as soon as you are not and as soon as you have a bad day, the strength in numbers slowly dissipates. And then ultimately, you could potentially leave them on an island of not having any help and not having any friendlies around at the end of the race. So, to me, I think it’s business as usual from the standpoint of how we execute our day and control the things that are in our hands the best that we can, no different than any other speedway race.

I feel like for us, especially us four teammates, we do a pretty good job of just trying to take care of each other the best we can. Just trying not to hurt one another, I think, is the big thing with this stuff. And ultimately, executing all those details, right? Getting on and off pit road, being good through the cycles, setting ourself up for the right moments in the race. So, it’s really not any different from that standpoint. We have to continue to do all of those things and put ourselves in a position to even be able to help, right? And certainly, I know that if the roles were reversed, I would want that too.

So, yeah, I think that for us, we just have to kind of zoom in on all the details. There are a lot of things in plate racing that are out of your hands, and I think we all recognize that. But being competitive, running our race and putting us all in a position to have a shot, is ultimately the best way to help him.”

Just this era for you of these eight years, winning the most popular driver award. What has this meant to you looking back on it? Not to say you won’t win it again next year, but just this first chunk of those for you?

“Yeah, I mean, to me, the first thing that comes to mind is just extremely grateful. You know, I’ll speak for myself and how thankful I’ve been for the overwhelming support that I’ve had throughout the course of my career. And when I say that, too, it’s not just it’s not just the vote, frankly. You know, I see it and get to live it every week. I see the support throughout the entire country that we travel. I get to see people and have even gotten to know people over the course of my career that are supporters and just genuinely want to see us do good. I think that’s one of the coolest things that you can experience being a part of sports, right, is just having somebody’s support; they’ve got your back, they just want you to be you and want to see you succeed. So, I think seeing that firsthand has always been very humbling, and I’m extremely grateful for that. I can speak for my whole family and tell you how grateful I think we all are for the support that we’ve received throughout the course of well beyond my lifetime. Just very thankful and appreciative for all of that. And ultimately, at the end of the day, I just want to give all those folks something to cheer for. You know, we all watch because we love the sport and we watch because we love seeing cars go around the racetrack really fast. We appreciate the folks out there that want to see us do good. And like I said, I want to give them something to cheer for on a regular basis, and that’s what I work hard every week to try and accomplish.”

After Daytona, you said that the updated aero package was edgier. It was easier to build runs, kind of use that momentum. Talladega is a different tracks, slightly smaller spoiler. Do you kind of know what to expect tomorrow when you guys are out there racing?

“Yeah, I think it’ll be really similar to Daytona in a lot of ways. You know, I will say that throughout the course of my career, I feel like I have always complained about balance the least at the Daytona night race. And I just think in general, the level of aggression that you can have in that race with the temperature, typically the sun being off the racetrack and the surface being somewhat new — I shouldn’t say new, but has a fair amount of grip to it, it has always kind of surprised me how different the Daytona 500 feels to that race. There’s been many years where we’ve gone to that night race, had a really good balanced car and the car drives great, and we come back there in the spring and we’re terrible, and I’m always just kind of baffled by that a little bit.

But with all that being said, it just kind of makes me realize with how edgy those cars were at that race in particular; I feel like you combine the track surface and the age here that it has – and I know it’s not necessarily super-hot, but certainly the sun being out on this racetrack, I think the cars will have an element of poor handling. To what degree, I don’t know. But I’m excited to find out. I kind of enjoyed the unknown at Daytona. I thought it was kind of fun, just having absolutely no idea what to expect. I think there’ll be another element of that here this weekend. I do think that just the conditions and the track surface can play a big role in that too.”

Regarding the dogleg shortcut at Phoenix, do you have any input for NASCAR for maybe doing something different for that, given some of the conversation this week?

“I mean, I think it’s fine. You know, that racetrack was always awkward as it was. And then, when we turned it around, swapped the corners around and put the start-finish line where they put it; it just kind of made it more awkward, I guess. But I don’t know what you do about that. I’m not sure what the complaints are or not, but I think it’s fine. It makes it unique. It makes it something different.

The restarts, I feel like if I had anything to complain about, I think the restarts are fine; you know, cutting the dogleg and all that, I think is okay. It becomes a little difficult to police when you turn left on that situation. I’ve found myself in that situation and that spot before of guys getting runs and knowing exactly when you can pull out of line at that start-finish line. Just the advantage that you can have in that, I think, can get a little gray. But that’s been part of it. That’s nothing new and everybody kind of plays those games the best they can to put themselves in an advantageous situation, which is what they’re supposed to do racing, right? So, yeah, the long-winded way of saying it, I’m good with whatever they decide to do.”

How valuable is Kevin Harvick buying ASA and being part of that super late model ownership world?

Well, I think anything you can do to inject some health into those series right now, I think are crucial for just the long-term lifespan of that stuff surviving, right? In a couple of conversations I’ve had with him, it’s kind of opened my eyes to how healthy some of that style of racing is in the Northwest. You know, I spent most of my time doing that stuff around the Southeast. We ventured up North some, but we never went to the Northwest. You talk to him and he’s like — man, those folks just absolutely are so hungry for short-track racing and they just don’t have it and they don’t have it presented in the right way. So, I think to have a guy that is willing to take those things to places that are wanted and will be supported, I think are extremely important. I hope it grows. I hope it builds. I hope it offers opportunities for future racers to be able to come up in parts of the country that historically might not have offered them a good path to get here or wherever it is they want to go. So, I hope it does all those things. I’ve benefited from something very similar, right? You know, I came up that way and, and I would love to see that style of racing and those types of cars be around for a long time and be really healthy.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.

GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.

NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway
Team Chevy Driver Quotes
October 24, 2026

 Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway. Hocevar returns as the track’s most recent NASCAR Cup Series winner, a feat that also marked his first career victory in the sport’s top division.

Media Availability Quotes:

When you come back here, what is the feeling that you have, and how much did that victory change your life, and certainly going forward with the opportunities or just kind of you in general since then?

“My life hasn’t been the same, but it’s just more fun because a lot of it is very visual memories. I remember what everything looks like and what we experienced and all. A lot of my friends… I’m glad I won here of all places. My agent was like, ‘Man, with Carson winning everybody wants to come here, all his friends want VIP passes. I was like, “Dude, it’s Talladega. They were gonna come anyways. … It’s by far the most fun track you could play your first one at.”

Is there anything specific that feels life changing for you since you are a NASCAR Cup Series winner now?

“I think more so that you just say Cup Series winner. They don’t say Rookie of the Year like six years ago. I don’t remember whatever it was. They’re rather than saying Cup Series driver or Cup Series Rookie of the Year, they say Cup Series winner. Whether you have one or a hundred, they’re just gonna say Cup Series winner unless you win a championship. That’s a really cool title I’ll have for the rest of my life.

NASCAR fined Zane Smith $50,000 for running into you after the race last week. How hard of a hit was it? Did it jerk things in your hands? Did you think it put you in danger in any way?

“For me, it was just unexpected. I was looking around and I think I was looking down and I hit. My mindset was like, ‘Who did I just run into?’ Because I thought somebody stopped in front of me. Then I looked around in front of me and there was nobody in front of me. I was like, okay. I looked behind me and I was like, ‘I got hit’. I was like, okay, well. Because I remember I think it was Austin Dillon at Martinsville when we were going five miles an hour coming to pit road, and my cool box was broken and it was blowing hot air and we ran terrible. I was just trying to get my helmet off as fast as possible. Everybody checked up or somebody stopped or somebody walked in front of him and he stopped at the last second and I ran into him so I was like, ‘Crap.’ I figured I did that again somehow. But no, I mean it was a hard hit for sure. But more so the fact it was unexpected for me. Yeah, that’s all I got.”

You posted telling your fans to vote for Kyle Busch for Most Popular Driver. Just what made you want to do that in a year where maybe you had a chance to win?

“I’m gonna have way more years and everything. I think keeping up with tradition… obviously, (Dale Earnhardt Sr.) won it the year he passed, and I think Kyle was the most popular driver here at one point, right? The whole garage and everybody, every article… It’s crazy. A driver that was probably super hated or not appreciated enough. He’s super appreciated now after his passing, and I think it just feels right. I texted somebody and I was like, ‘Hey, just go ahead and take my name off.’ They used to be PR and really close to Kyle, and they’re like, ‘He wouldn’t want to win it by default.’ And so I was like, okay, I’ll just keep my name off then if that’s what you feel like. I’ll just urge my fans to go vote for him. I’d be very disappointed if they voted for me. We can try and win another year.”

The video last week of you and Blaney at Driver Intros… How has your relationship changed with him in any way since the thing in Bristol?

“We were cool before. At New Hampshire he didn’t have a ride back after he won. And so he got on the Spire plane because we were the only plane that had an extra seat. He likes the WhistlinDiesel guys a lot and he enjoys them. He always asked me for the last few months about what it’s like to go over there and what they got going on. He’d always had interest in the tank. At Phoenix, I was talking to him about, ‘Hey man, the tank comes next week. It’s pretty cool and stuff.’ But yeah, we were cool already before.”

It seems as though realistically you’re not in contention for the championship. Over the last maybe two or three races, it seems you have given those drivers who are still in contention a little more grace or space when you’ve been racing them — is that true? Was that a conscious decision that you made?

“We haven’t been very fast the last two weeks. We were okay, but we haven’t been super fast. When we were fast, I don’t think I gave them a lot of grace, obviously at Bristol and whatnot. Just trying to finish as good as we can in these things. When you’re going into it, we weren’t probably gonna race for a championship, but it’s just building the notebook of everybody gets faster and everybody gets better. You’re racing against the best guys that it’s tough to build points on them. So really it’s just going through the motions of the year and enjoying it. When there’s no expectations, there’s no pressure. … Ultimately, we’re just trying to have fun with it, enjoy it, and know that as it becomes the norm of being in the Chase, the expectations get higher, the fun gets probably a little less.”

Your win here in the spring greatly elevated your profile, not just within NASCAR, but also with all the national media attention you got and all the things that you got to do and everything that went with that. What would you say that in your experience here the last five months or so, what has that taught you about handling fame, success, things of that nature?

“I don’t think anything’s really changed other than I signed a few more autographs. But I’ve always enjoyed it. Obviously the crowds are a lot bigger, and I get recognized in a lot weirder spots and a lot more spots. There’s a lot more female fans for sure, which has been cool. All of it’s been awesome for me. I remember walking through places when I was a kid wishing that somebody would recognize me because I raced quarter-midgets. None of it is like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this’ or ‘Man, this sucks’ or ‘Man, I wish I could walk somewhere and hide.’ I greatly appreciate it and look forward to it and know that I’m doing good. That’s what a driver should be and that’s what the sport should be. You should be able to really walk anywhere, especially within these walls you shouldn’t be able to walk anywhere without getting recognized.”

Have you thought yet of what driver intros are going to be like on Sunday and how Talladega might receive you now and moving forward as a winner here?

“I haven’t thought about driver intros. I was more thinking about how do I one-up that. And I have some ideas that I think would be good, and I think they’d only really work at places like a Daytona or Talladega where I could really ask for forgiveness on that. … But I feel like these tracks kind of fit the ideas I have.”

You have been in at least contention for the win at every single drafting race this year, including the one where you did win here in the spring. As you gain more experience in the Cup Series and these sorts of drafting tracks do you feel like you have gained a better sense over time of knowing which moves are going to work and which ones aren’t worth the trouble?

“Definitely trial by error. What I’m most proud of our superspeedway (races) is obviously Talladega, as the fans would say, is gridlocked and very difficult to pass. Atlanta is the exact opposite. Daytona is somewhere in between, and I think we’ve been up front or in contention at all of them. The one we won was the only time I’ve ever had a Chevy on my back bumper. Otherwise we finished second, third, fourth. Obviously you just kind of drag race to the line and whoever has the most help probably wins there. A lot of it is manufacturer-based, obviously. But I’ve just enjoyed that aspect of it – that at all the different styles of racing that the superspeedways present, we’re up front at all of them, and that’s what I enjoy and feel good about it. I think we’re one of the best at it right now. Everybody else studies and gets better. For me, I don’t think I ever watched a single lap of data from a superspeedway race ever. It’s just all adaptive for me, and everybody else has different ideas and ways of going with it. Right now our ways are going good. If the field somehow figures it out and a lot of them get really good or really comfortable at it, maybe I’ll have to adjust. But right now I think we’re in a really good spot.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.

GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
YellaWood 500 Media Availability — Talladega Superspeedway
Saturday, October 24, 2026

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse, comes into this weekend trailing leader Kyle Larson by 40 points for the NASCAR Cup Series championship. Those two, along with Chase Briscoe, participated in a press conference before today’s qualifying session.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CHASE FORMAT AND HOW IT’S PLAYED OUT? “What do you all think? Has it been exciting? I think that’s the most important thing is do the fans enjoy it. I know from my side, I have personally enjoyed it. I pay way more attention to the points week in and week out, not only through the Chase but beforehand way more than I ever did in previous years because it was so much more important and you kind of knew the guys you were racing. I think it puts pressure on you every week. You don’t have rounds to go, ‘Hey, we’ve already advanced to the next one.’ It keeps it really exciting and exhilarating. You look at last week, the excitement level. I’m sorry, Kyle, for bringing this up, but the whole storyline is, ‘Oh, six more guys are back in it now and they have a shot because the points leader had a bad day.’ That stuff is really exciting for everybody watching and people involved in it, so I’ve really enjoyed it. I think it’s good to have a lot of consistency in there. You need it. And winning has mattered probably even more than it has. I feel like before it was the playoffs I feel like in the Chase we talk about wins more. Before it was like, ‘Oh, you advanced to the next round. That’s cool. We’re not gonna talk about you much for the next race or two.’ Where, now, winning, that’s a massive points day for that person. How many positions did he jump? Did he get close to the lead or did he extend his lead? So, I’ve really enjoyed it. I think it’s been a lot of fun to be a part of, and I hope it’s been fun to watch, too.”

DO YOU SEE THIS TRACK AS AN OPPORTUNITY OR IS THERE MORE PRESSURE? “I’ve always tried to go to these places – Daytona and Talladega and stuff – and just try to do the best job that you can. Do you prepare as much as you can with your team and with your group and can you go execute that day? If you do, that’s very, very rewarding if you can go and do the right things and everything works out for you. But, if things don’t go your way and something happens that is outside of your control, that’s just kind of it is what it is. Sometimes, there’s not a lot you can do about it and you just have to deal with that, but, yeah, I think everyone thinks of these speedways a little bit differently, but I’ve always enjoyed coming just because I like the style, and I feel like it’s just a different form of racing and you just hope you make the right decisions. Sometimes you don’t, but you just hope you make the right ones between yourself and your group.”

AT DAYTONA YOU WERE EXCITED ABOUT THE AERO CHANGE BECAUSE THERE WAS NO SCIENCE TO IT. HAS SOME OF THE SCIENCE CREPT BACK INTO IT SINCE THEN? “Yeah, I mean, gosh, even before Daytona everyone over-engineered the hell out of it of aero maps and things like that, simulations of how do you have to adjust everything, your ride height to get close downforce numbers as you did before, whether that’s raising the nose or what, and now just with more time and not as big of a change from Daytona, teams obviously look at that stuff and figure it out. There’s only so much you can do from the car world, but I think drivers are like, ‘OK, we’ve got a race under our belt with this package.’ You kind of got the feel for how it drove, how it drafted. This is a different place than Daytona. It races a little bit differently, but I think with a half-inch spoiler change it’s not gonna be obviously as drastic as the multiple inches that they took off of it for that Daytona race. That’s what teams do. They go into data and try to tweak little things here and there, same as drivers. We try to tweak little things here and there from did you do some bad things at Daytona? How do you adjust it and try to do the right things, so you’re always working at it no matter how much experience or inexperience you have with it.”

HOCEVAR WAS IN HERE EARLIER AND HE TALKED ABOUT THE FERRARI STORY. HOW HAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP CHANGED, IF AT ALL, IN THE LAST MONTH? “Not really any. Yeah, not really much, whether before or after. I don’t walk around with a grudge on my shoulder. I get over that stuff and go out. The funny thing is we had our little mix up at Bristol and we’ve raced each other even better than when we did before, which we really didn’t have any problems before. It really hasn’t changed at all.”

BUT HE HELPED YOU WITH THE FERRARI? “That was back, yeah, he got me connected with some people of a potential buyer, which I didn’t pull the trigger on it, but he did help me with contacts.”

TOYOTA RACING – Chase Briscoe
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

TALLADEGA, Ala. (October 24, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Talladega Superspeedway.

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

How do you balance your personal agendas with the plans for your teams and manufacturer?

“I think like Kyle (Larson) was saying, you have kind of a plan going into it and it’s different, from the Daytona 500 to the fall Daytona race to this race. For our group, at least there’s still four of us that are kind of in serious contention. So, yeah, you’re probably not going to cut each other a break. We’re all knowing what we’re racing against and what we’re racing for. I think the biggest thing you just ask that those other, for our sake, our other Toyota teammates, just kind of are aware of what’s going on and what we’re racing for, which I feel like they do a pretty good job of. But, yeah, I don’t know. I feel like this place is super hard just to have a plan and have that plan ever to actually come together.”

Did NASCAR make the right decision in bringing Chase back as it has played out, as you would have hoped, and what it’s doing for a championship?

“I would just echo a lot of what Ryan (Blaney) said, I definitely think it’s just made aware every stage, every weekend matters. Where in the past, you would advance early or win the first race of a round, really the next two weeks didn’t really mean a whole lot unless you won the race, and even then, you were only getting five additional bonus points. So, yeah, I feel like I found myself way more dialed into the points even during the regular season. Like, you have a bad week, you just feel that way more now, and even a good week, like it just boosts you way more than what it typically did. So, I’ve really enjoyed racing under this format. I think the balance has been great, and I do think that winning has probably mattered more than any of his realized. I mean, when we started this, we all talked about how you got to be the top five or six in points. I feel like that’s kind of gotten thrown out to a certain extent just with how much volatility there’s been. So yeah, I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Do you see Talladega as more pressure filled or more opportunity filled?

“Yeah, I would just echo a lot of what Kyle (Larson) said. I feel like it’s definitely an opportunity for the good and the bad, right? When you think of the next kind of two places, we’ve been earlier, the other six or so places we’ve been, like the more off than not, the Chase guys are for the most part all in the top 10 where here, like, you can just have such big swings, so that that’s an opportunity. If you do have a good points day, then you can just gain a ton of points on guys, but also, you can lose a lot of points too. So, yeah, I think it’s an opportunity for both sides. They’re just obviously a little bit more out of our control here. So yeah, I don’t know. Just try to come in with an open mind. Hope you go away with a solid day.”

About Toyota

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Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

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

NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway
Team Chevy Driver Quotes
October 24, 2026

Austin Hill, driver of the No. 33 Camaro ZL1 and No. 21 Camaro SS for Richard Childress Racing, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Talladega Superspeedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Austin, a lot has changed at Talladega. Can you talk to us about your season so far and your hopes for the races this weekend?

“Yeah, so this season, in general, has just been a lot of rollercoasters. You know, being tasked with doing the Cup side has thrown kind of a little bit of a curveball in some things. Going back and forth between the two is not the easiest thing to do, especially the way that both series of cars drive. Trying to still put all the effort into the O’Reilly side and the Cup side together, you know, it just kind of creates a little bit of a task. But I feel like we’ve been doing an okay job with it. You know, ever since the Chase started, we’ve just had things happen. Whether it’s been my doing, like last week speeding on pit road, or having right front tires go down, having loose wheels at Gateway; there’s just been things that have happened that’s kind of, I wouldn’t say fully knocked us out of the Chase on the O’Reilly side, but, man, we would have to really put it on them these last three races and we’d have to have some guys that have some misfortune starting this weekend.

So, you know, I’m not going to sit here and say that we’re out of it by any stretch of the matter. I’m planning on going and winning both stages and winning the race today, hopefully. But you just never know, with it being Talladega, we might wreck on lap one. But yeah, I mean, our season’s been okay. I’ve learned a lot about the Cup side. I think that the Cup cars are getting a lot easier for me to drive and the understanding about them has been a little bit better. But it’s still a work in progress and something that during the offseason I’m going to have to really dive deep into to get a little bit better on these Cup cars.”

Yesterday in the Truck Series, there seemed to be some tire issues. You guys have the same change to your right sides. Do you guys have any concerns? I don’t know if you’ve had time to kind of debrief and talk about any changes in plans for today.

“I’m worried about it, for sure. My crew chief, Chad, he said he’s talked to Goodyear. They don’t think that it should be an issue for us today. They think that it was kind of self-induced with some of the Truck teams. But it’s been a long time since we’ve seen tire issues on a superspeedway, even if the Truck guys were doing something funky. So that part of it kind of worries me a little bit. I think it could change a little bit of our strategy going into at least the race starting stage one, you know, for the first pit stop to see kind of where we’re at on tires, how much tire wear we’re getting and that sort of thing.

But at the end of the day, I mean, we can’t race scared, and we just got to hope that the air stays in the tires. Goodyear does a great job each and every week, and we don’t normally have issues like this. So, hopefully, maybe there’s a little bit different recommendation that they can have on air pressure for today or something like that that could kind of help us if there is any issue at all.”

How would you kind of sum up this experience, overall, in the Cup car having to enter it after Kyle’s passing?

“Yeah, it’s been very eye-opening on just the transition from the O’Reilly car to the Cup car and how much different it is. And, you know, as I’ve kind of ran more and more each week, learning how the air works, the dirty air is a lot different in these cars than the O’Reilly car. I almost feel like it’s easier the times that I go run the O’Reilly car now on working the dirty air. The Cup car, it’s really tough with how the dirty air works. If you have your car set out to the left or set out to the right, or if you’re directly behind somebody on how bad the dirty air is on the Cup side; I think that that’s something that I’ve gotten a little bit better at, but it’s still something that I’m going to have to work on in the offseason and really look at a lot of data. I think restarts are a premium in the Cup car. If you can get four or five spots on a restart, even if your car falls off a little bit, it seems like you can kind of work the air a certain way and still kind of have a net gain if you have some good restarts. So that’s something that I’ve been really working on and trying to perfect over these last several weeks and still have a lot of work to do.

But it’s been an experience, that’s for sure, going back and forth between the two. I didn’t want to have this opportunity in the Cup car this way, but this is kind of here we are. You know, this is what life is now and I’m trying to make the most of it.”

Your O’Reilly Series drafting record speaks for itself. Does that door close after today or could we see you make select starts next year and in the future?

“I want to run next year. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to run or not for sure with sponsorship and such, but I do want to run next year. I’d love to run the Daytona race to start the year to try to go for whatever number it is, number five, or whatever it is. Obviously, Atlanta being my home track, I’d love to run Atlanta. And then, honestly, I’d like to throw some road course races even in there and run some road courses. Those are kind of my two types of tracks that I’d love to run next year. Don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I hope that this isn’t the last time that I run an O’Reilly Series race on a drafting track. I have a lot of fun with it. I’ve talked about it before, I used to hate superspeedway racing, and now, I have a lot of fun with it because I have a different mindset coming into these weekends. It’s not that with all the success that we’ve had that I just expect to go win today. It’s just that I just have a little bit more relaxed demeanor and I’m not as stressed out when I come to these events because I know that we could either win the race or we could end up on the hook or run anywhere in between. You just don’t know. There’s just so much uncertainty, and I’ve kind of gotten better at not thinking that way. I just think about going and doing my job and hope it’s enough at the end of the race and it’s worked out for us. So, hopefully, this isn’t the end for us.”

Back at Daytona, you guys had kind of the updated aero package, and now, you have a slightly different version of that same package. What is the level of unknowns kind of heading into this race, especially the differences between Daytona and Talladega?

“I don’t think there’s as many unknowns as there was when we ran Daytona a little while ago. I thought that we made a pretty good improvement from the times that I have ran the Cup car to when we just ran that Daytona race. There’s still a ways to go, and I think that doing what we’re doing with the spoiler and all is the next step for that. I don’t think that that’s going to be the full fix, but I could be proven wrong. I still think that there’s an area that we’ve got to work on, too.

I think, for us, to have better Cup racing, my opinion for the superspeedway stuff, is we’ve got to have some type of bubble effect out of the back of the car. That’s what makes the O’Reilly Series so good on the superspeedways is you have that bubble effect. You have to create your runs. You can’t just throttle up and drive into the back of somebody to create a run. You actually have to work at it and back up to the guy behind you; get connected with them, create that run, that sort of thing. You have to break through that bubble. On the Cup side, you don’t really have that. I know that that was something that we were working on for Daytona. I felt like we got closer in the sense of being able to run more single file stuff. We were able to have the top rolling and you could pull out a line and make moves if you needed to, if you had some guys lined up around you. There’s still an area that we’ve got to get that bubble effect. If we get that, and maybe this will be the fix, if we get that going into this weekend; I think the Cup racing will be just as good, if not better, than the O’Reilly Series.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.

GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.