Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Food City 500 Qualifying | Saturday, March 16, 2024

Ford Performance Qualifying Results:
1st – Ryan Blaney
2nd – Josh Berry
4th – Joey Logano
6th – Chase Briscoe
7th – Michael McDowell
13th – Harrison Burton
17th – Brad Keselowski
21st – Austin Cindric
22nd – Noah Gragson
24th – Todd Gilliland
25th – Ryan Preece
32nd – Justin Haley
33rd – Kaz Grala
34th – Chris Buescher

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE – TELL US ABOUT THAT LAP? “First pole in a while. I can’t remember the last time I qualified first – 2022 – but it was just a fun day overall. It was a pretty challenging day, I think, for everybody just kind of figuring out what the track was doing, what this tire was doing and where you car needs to get better. It was pretty challenging, which was fun. That’s kind of neat when we’re guessing and things like that and especially qualifying was really interesting because the first round I had tons of grip – everybody did – but it was still tricky. You had people missing the bottom and going for it and slipping out of it, and it was a narrow strip you had to hit. And then the second round I don’t think anyone really know how much grip was gonna be lost and how much we were gonna slow down, so that was a tricky situation. It was, ‘OK, how hard can I attack the entry to the corner to not miss it’ because the last thing you want to do there is go there and blow it and miss it and throw your lap away, but that’s fun. It’s kind of like when we’re learning on the fly like that, that’s a super neat thing to be a part of. It’s really hard to do when you’re guessing how much commitment level you have to put in, when you have that much loss of grip in between like two laps, it’s really, really fun and it’s cool that we were able to finish off the day – a fun day and a good day with qualifying first.”

WHAT PRECISELY HAS CHANGED WITH YOU BECAUSE YOU SEEM MORE CONFIDENT AND YOU’RE TEARING IT UP RIGHT NOW? “I have a great group around me. Everyone who works on this 12 car is awesome and I love every single one of them because they’re really committed every single weekend to put in all the effort that I’m putting in. That’s what I love about that group is they’re maximum effort is every single day, racetrack or not, and that’s what I think really bonds us well together, so that community right there is going really well, which I love. I don’t know. I just think something flipped. I don’t know. I got knocked in the head a couple times last year maybe it flipped a switch, I don’t know. It’s odd, but perspective is a little different about everything and trying to approach it differently. There are some things I still want to get better at, but everything is kind of working really well right now and it’s nice when you work really hard to get better at places you want to improve on, like with yourself and your job and stuff, and when it works that’s really rewarding, so I think I have just appreciated that side of it a lot and I’ve had a lot of people who have helped me out on that too. I just think growing up to getting older and looking at things a little different way. Once you have a little success too, you look at things another different way. A lady at home probably calmed me down a little bit too, so she’s a huge factor in it.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK ACCOUNTED FOR THE TRACK BEING SO DIFFERENT BETWEEN ROUNDS AND WAS RUNNING ONLY ONE LAP IN THE FIRST ROUND DECISIVE? “I don’t know what made the big change. The tire, to me I guess is the biggest change because the loss of grip was just massive. I haven’t seen that many marbles off the corner here in a really long time, so I think that has something to do with it. Maybe the resin is affecting it a little bit differently on the bottom lane, so I don’t know. I think there are a lot of factors going in that a lot of teams and drivers, us included, are gonna be really scratching our heads tonight like, ‘What’s the track gonna do tomorrow?’ I don’t know what it’s gonna be like as we continue through the day with the race. I think running on only lap was a big advantage for us. We had the good fortune of going out last in our group, so I could bail after one lap if we were in, so that was good. I think a couple of us, like us and the 14 ran one lap in our groups and I think that definitely helped.”

ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT GOING INTO TURN ONE TOMORROW WITH THESE QUESTIONS? “I’d rather be first than 30th in the same conditions. Yeah, I don’t know where I’m gonna pick tomorrow. I’m gonna watch this truck race tonight and see what it goes through and then if they decide to put more stuff down in the morning, I don’t know what their plan is. They usually tell us in the morning what their plan is or we kind of talk about it in our driver chat, so we’ll see how this truck race goes. I’m sure they’ll move up at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, so we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

YOU ARE LEADING THE STANDINGS RIGHT NOW. HOW DO YOU FEEL WITH EVERYTHING GOING ON? “We’ve been running pretty good to start the year. I mean, outside of Daytona, which, whatever happens happens, but the last three races we’ve been able to put together some strong runs. We were in contention for a win at Atlanta. which is a speedway. We were fast at Daytona as well, but Vegas and Phoenix we strung together two good runs there, but I never thought we were in contention to win the race at Vegas or Phoenix. Yeah, we ran good, but we weren’t in contention – lead laps, race the leader – we just scratched and clawed for a third and a fifth. I’m proud of that effort for sure, grinding through the day and figuring out how to get better, but we need to take that last little leap and get with the guys who are leading these laps like the 5 and the 20, who just dominated the last two weeks. We just don’t have the speed as those guys right now, but we’re doing the best we can and trying to learn as much as we can. As a group, not just our group, as the whole Penske organization we’re trying to figure out where we need to be better. We’ve got the qualifying one lap thing down, but we’ve got to figure out the racing side of it and we’re inching in on it. Hopefully, we can continue learning.”

YOU’RE FIRST IN THE THE STANDINGS, BUT CINDRIC IS THE NEXT HIGHEST FORD IN 15TH. DO YOU FEEL ALONE AT THE TOP? “Not really. It’s early. It’s early in the year. We’re only a month into this deal so anything can happen. We’ve just been running well the last few weeks and been able to get some good finishes and get some good stage points and things like that. Those other guys will figure it out for sure. I’m not worried about that. I’m just worried right now about getting our cars where they need to be and worrying about the speed side of it. The other stuff you’ll understand where you’re sitting at in about a month as far as the points, so I don’t really feel lonely. Those guys will start creeping up there.”

IS THERE SOMETHING THAT THE 12 TEAM HAS HIT ON THAT THE 2 AND 22 ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT? “We all work really well together and really close together. Between Brian Wilson and Bullins and Paul Wolfe and Jonathan they all work and talk try to compare where they’re at. We do a really good job of that as a company and I feel like that’s what makes us really strong, but at the end of the day everyone kind of has their own little path that they go down. We all have an idea of where everyone is at. We all know where each car is at in our camp, but every crew chief likes something a little different, every driver likes something a little different, so there are little things that are different on that side of it that it just maybe hasn’t worked for those guys yet, or they’re trying new things. I don’t really know the whole story about it, but when we’re all strong, we’re the best, so the goal is to try and get all four of our cars where they need to be and we’re working really hard to try to do that and to figure out, ‘Hey, where are they missing in this spot where we were strong?’ That’s what we talk about this stuff for on Monday meetings and pre-race and what are the differences. ‘Why were you better here than me?’ Stuff like that. I can’t really say too much about it. Everyone is a little different with how they drive it and set it up. We’ve been hitting it pretty good the last couple of weeks.”

IS THE TOP SKETCHIER EVEN IF IT’S THE FASTER WAY AROUND ONCE THE STUFF IS PEELED OFF THE BOTTOM? “Yeah, it’s definitely sketchy. I’m not gonna be the first one to go up there because that’s Reddick or Larson’s job. I’m not going it just because you never know how dirty it is and with these marbles that we see putting down you never know how much it’s gonna get pushed up. You can’t just jump right to the top. You have to continuously work it up and up. That works by moving up three feet and then moving it up another three feet and then moving it up another three feet until you’re at the wall and all that crap is cleared off the racetrack. Yes, racing helps that because we’re restarting two-wide, you’re running two-wide for longer. I feel like that always picks it up. We haven’t practiced around the top here in years just because it’s dirty and since the stuff is on the bottom it’s just kind of the best place to be for practice, and then we get to the race and you’re trying to figure out ‘how do I make the top work now because it’s dominant.’ But it is definitely sketchy. I always ask Timmy, ‘Is anyone up there and is anyone making time up there?’ It’s one thing if you’re up there and you’re just kind of messing around and not really going anywhere, so that’s just kind of a feel thing through the race. If you think the grip is getting a little bit better up there, you might try it.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO YOU THAT NASCAR HAS A TRUE SUPERSTAR AND SOMEONE WHO CAN MOVE THE NEEDLE LIKE JEFF GORDON, DALE EARNHARDT AND RICHARD PETTY? HOW DO WE GET THERE? “That’s the second time I’ve been asked that question today, and I don’t know what the whole kick is right now about needing a superstar. We’re all superstars. Every driver. Everyone is special in their own right. Everyone is successful with how they’ve approached everything. Some branch out more than others in different aspects outside the racetrack and some decide to stick around the racetracks and grow their stardom there with the fans at the racetrack, so everyone approaches it differently. Yes, Jeff Gordon through the nineties was the biggest star in anything, but times change. The times are different. You don’t have guys winning 10 races anymore. This car doesn’t allow that, so how do you separate yourself to make yourself stand out? How do you make yourself different from the rest of the drivers who are all really good at what they do and it starts with success on the racetrack and then the organizations marketing these drivers with how great they are at what they do, and then the drivers have to be willing to do it and be in that role. You don’t need to pluck out one person. There are a lot of us here and you can push it, you can make 36 superstars. I think that’s definitely possible.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DOES THIS EFFORT MEAN TO YOU AND THIS TEAM? “It means a lot. Obviously being at Bristol that’s really cool, but anywhere at this point it would mean a lot. These guys have been working really hard and they kept me jacked up and we’ve been putting in the work trying to get better. We just need a mistake-free day tomorrow. If we do that, we’ll be in contention.”

YOU TALKED EARLIER TODAY ABOUT WORKING ON COMMUNICATION AND JUST BUILDING EVERY WEEKEND. THIS IS A GOOD START TODAY, RIGHT? “Yeah, I’m learning a lot every week. I’ve done this stuff long enough to know if you do it the right way, you do the right things long enough, the results will come and that’s where I feel like I’m at now. We just have to keep plugging away and learning and getting better. Me and Rodney are working together more and more and our team is getting stronger with that. Like I said, we just need to go out there, obviously the qualifying result is really cool, but I want to race good, too. For me, I think if we just have a solid car and a mistake-free day, we’ll have a good finish.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was way different than anything I ever anticipated. I don’t know. It was weird just how much the track changed there. I’ve never really experienced that in the Cup car, especially here with that big of a swing. It was surprising how much did change, but we’ll just go on and see how we race.”

Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 16, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Express Oil Change Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

What makes a superstar to you?

“It’s the age old question of what do you want? Do you want to see drivers do what other drivers cannot? You have to make things different. You have to make things harder to drive, all of that stuff. Right now, if you put 20 cars in the lead with 10 to go, they are going to win – the star in that is the track position, because the cars are all the same, they are just not as difficult to drive. I think it is all relative. It’s less likely. You can have those big seasons in NASCAR, as long as you have a really good pit crew, good team – you do still have to setup the cars and the drivers do have to have a skillset and execute – all of those things, so I do think eight-to-nine win seasons are still possible, but I don’t know if you are going to grow any superstars the way that it is going. It’s just really, really tough for sure.”

What is a talent that you were able to display 10 to 15 years ago that a fan today wouldn’t appreciate in this era’s racing?

“I think just the ability to control pace throughout the runs. That was really my specialty growing up – the ability to let cars go earlier in runs, and to save something for the later parts of the runs. There would be multiple passes through a run for me and other cars. So, maybe there would be four cars, five cars pass me in Martinsville, and then later in that run I would pass them back, so that is double the passing that would happen. Now, you are going hard the first few laps after a restart and then you are just staying from that point on, so that’s why when you get into green flag passes, it’s all really dependent on how many cautions there are. Every caution is 600 green flag passes, just because we are lined up two-by-two. That’s kind of what I was really good at in the short track days, but as tire wear started to reduce and power started to reduce, it’s all become – just run as fast as you can every lap and then hang on from that point on. It’s just different, and I’ve had to evolve my skill set with each car and each change that we’ve had.”

Could you see an opportunity to race in Japan? Is there a market for it?

“I think internationally certainly opens up opportunities for brand awareness and team awareness. The problem is the schedule. There is just nowhere to fit it in. Especially, going that far across the world. I think it would be very, very difficult to make that happen. I think there is a market for it, but I don’t know if it is feasible or not.”

Can what you had success with in the fall be utilized in the spring?

“I think so. I think a lot of it – is nothing has changed since last fall, other than the bodies of the Toyotas – nothing else has changed. We probably will stay in our home base, where we feel comfortable, but I don’t think there is any relation to – Daytona is the same way. I’ve won the 500, and I’ve never won the other race. I’ve won the Bristol night race, but I’ve never won the other race. I think it is more circumstances and things like that. I believe that its’ only been 12-to-14 weeks since the last time we’ve been here, I think not a lot has changed so we can lean on that.”

When do you start thinking about when you start needing to get Playoff points?

“We are trying. I don’t know where we are usually at, at this point in the season. I would say that we are as good as we’ve been – not since a few years ago, just generally speaking, the gap to the lead in points, we’ve been as close as we’ve been here this year. No stage wins to show for it, just been close – just haven’t closed it, but we’ve only really run two tracks that I feel like myself and my team can control, really outright control, winning those stages – we’ve been close. We’ve got some good stage points. There is also a zero in the top-10 column, if we are really looking at it. But we know we are running well. It will come for sure.”

For whatever reason horsepower is not going to work, would the size of tire be a possible change?

“Just the cost, and then you have to redevelop another tire again, which means you have to do testing – tire testing – along with that, so I would rather not do that for sure.”

Do we need to have more power then?

“We do. Yes. The answer is the same. For sure.”

Do you feel like Bristol as a destination has gotten back to closer its historic significance?

“I hope so, for sure. It always puts on good racing, as long as you are willing to look around. There are always passes going on. With it being such a small race track, there is always side-by-side, some sort of overtaking going on, so there is a lot to take in that is very positive, but it’s just delusion at some point. You’ve got here, Martinsville, Richmond all really close proximately – and all with multiple dates. If we were just fans, we would all be guilty of it. If we lived in this area, maybe we have something going – no problem, we will catch the next one. Or we will just go to Martinsville instead, or we will just go to Richmond. When you have that many options, you are always just going to put off and not really capitalize on the actual moment, so it’s really hard, unless you are the Phoenixs, Daytonas to do really well with their two dates, for whatever reason. It’s just hard when you have this many tracks in the same area, when you run multiple times.”

Do you think the excitement for the spring Bristol race because the concrete is back?

“I think there is. We have seen in this sport. We change from one thing, and then we go back and then we go back. We just keep flipping back and forth, a lot of it is to create a storyline that hey this is different this week. I think that keeps things from getting stale, but when you don’t have it as much, you always tend to want it more, so that goes back to the delusion.”

Does it affect you to get booed at your home track?

“I just used to beat up their favorite drivers in short track days too, that’s why. (laughter) I just don’t mind it. I really don’t because it’s just noise. There was many moments mid-career where there was just claps – that’s just not a needle mover, one way or the other. A lot of it comes with success as well. If you are a contender each and every week, you are going to get more noise typically. I have had so many altercations with so many popular drivers, and that just kind of fuels it as well. I’ve checked all of the boxes of the things that fans despise of. We’ve seen a previous driver at Joe Gibbs Racing – he just changes teams and he’s more liked. When you’ve got all the things that I’ve got in that box in the negativity checked, you are just going to have to live that life.”

Are we to the point of the season that we are starting to see trends?

“I think so. After this weekend, you will be able to draw some sort of comparison on who is good to start the season, because we’ve gone to these tracks that are different but if you have cars that are consistently running up front, no matter what the track, than clearly their team has some sort of process that is really, really good, and bringing fast cars to the race track, so after this weekend, I think you will be able to write some of those headlines on who is looking good the first part of the season, and then we will go through the summer and we will see some teams start to pick up their performance from there and start to peak right at the right time at the Playoffs. You will definitely see some conclusions, but it doesn’t mean anything till the very end of the season.”

Does anyone or anything stand out for you?

“If I was a media member, yeah, I would say that there are some teams struggling that you don’t really see, but I’m not going to give them any posterboard material. Not today.”

Do you notice anything different from your crew chief coming into Bristol?

“Yeah, he’s certainly motivated – really at a lot of the short tracks – because that is where he grew up doing as well – the oval short tracks. This is what he feels like is his super bowl. When we win the Bristol night race, it is always really, really big for him, and we have just been really good here the last couple of years. I don’t know if he puts more emphasis on this race, but he certainly wants it more, so he’s probably a little more critical of my driving on weekends like this compared to others.”

Can you speak to your evolution on the road courses?

“I think there has been a lot of factors. I think this is kind of the benefit of having one of the strongest road course drivers in the Toyota family. I think there are many other Toyota drivers that are up-and-coming that are going to be challengers as well, and I use any information that I can to try to get better. I know that I’m one of the lower talent guys on the road courses, so I just try to do everything I can to learn from them and try to use the resources that I have.”

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Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 16, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Would you like to see COTA continue on the schedule going forward?
“I think that COTA is a world-class facility and a world-class race track. If we road courses on the schedule, it is probably a good one to go to. I’m okay with it. I’m okay with us getting the road course schedule back down, which we have slowly, but surely been doing, but I think that COTA is a good one to go.”

Where would you want a dirt race to be on the schedule?

“I think that there are a lot of different dirt venues out there, but Eldora is the one that really comes to mind, and I’m sure everyone will say the same thing. I don’t think we should go down the path of having one dirt race a year – and I’m just talking about getting rid of some road course races – but we don’t need to have one road course race either. Whenever you have that single event, it becomes easy to overlook and then people don’t take it seriously. We saw that in road course racing early on in the sport, where if you weren’t a good road course racer, you would just kind of put it behind you and it was easy to put it behind you, and on to the next one. The dirt race was very much that same way. For all of the teams that didn’t have a dirt driver, it was just kind of an off week for them, a throw away event. Certainly, the guys that had dirt drivers took it seriously, but I think if you want to go down that route you need to add two to three of them to make it a priority in the schedule, so that you have to actually have to work on it to become better and it becomes more of a real race.”

Do you think some of the things have worked for you in the night race at Bristol could work for you in the day race?

“I would say so and I would say that is a fair comment about saying how concrete tracks are not as sensitive to ambient conditions. It’s certainly been a while since we’ve had a daytime race at Bristol and I think it will probably be a little bit different, but no one knows how different it will be with the Next Gen car. Our team, at least, just found out that the treatment at the bottom is a little bit different last year, so yeah, it is going to be a little bit different than we’ve had the last couple of years in Spring Bristol for sure. I can promise you that. (laughter).”

How does winning early help you focus on getting Playoff points to set you up strong for the Playoffs?

“That has been our focus ever since that ’21 season, where we won early and then we never got any more Playoff points after that, but then ’22 and ’23, we’re kind of the same. We just have not been able to execute on multiple race wins and multiple stage wins. That has been a focus the last several years, of us trying to be the team going into the Playoffs that has the points buffer, because certainly when you get into the round of 12, round of 8, I had to win basically if I was going to make the final 4. I don’t know other than to say it is the same mentality that we’ve had, just we had to do a better job of executing it. Getting Playoff points is hard. The only way to get Playoff points is to win races, win stages – and being up in the final regular season standings. We need to win more. I need to win more, and good news is we want to win more, so that is what it is all about.”

With the road courses coming up, does it allow you to be on the opposite strategies to get those Playoff points?

“With the yellow flags being back in place, it definitely opens that back up on the road courses. You are really going to figure out where you stack up on Saturday, where you practice and qualifying, and then where the race falls, if you feel like you have a car capable of winning the race, then you are probably going to jump the stages and you are not going to get the stage points, but say that you are a guy that doesn’t have the pace to win the race, if the Playoff point is given to you by everyone short pitting the stages and racing for the win, then it is definitely something that we would consider. I believe that we did that at Indy road course, a couple of years ago, where we knew that we didn’t have the pace to win the race, so everyone short pitted the stages and we took the points. That’s one of the few rare occasions that it happens, maybe Pocono, or something like that. Certainly, at the road courses, we hope to have the pace to win, but if not, it does open that possibility to take the stage points and the Playoff point.”

After all the success you had at Phoenix, are you excited to get to Richmond with the same short track package?

“I think that Richmond will be a good track for us. Statistically, it is probably one of my best Cup tracks too, but obviously haven’t reached victory lane there. It’s a unique place, because in the Xfinity Series, the strategy is pretty self-explanatory. You are going to run to the stage break, you are going to put tires on, and do the same thing all race, but the Cup race, you have to make a green flag stop, and the tire fall off is so big that you might have to make two green flag stops in one stage. There is a lot that goes into it, and in order to win at Richmond, you have to have the whole package. You have to have your entire team clicking. It is not a place where a driver can make up for a bad car or a bad pit crew or anything like that. Richmond is a team race track. You have to have great pit stops, you have to have a good driver and obviously a good car. We have been close. I think I’ve been a top-10 car there the majority of the time but haven’t sealed the deal yet. Maybe this year is the year.”

How much of an adjustment is it from coming to a bigger track to Bristol?

“There is an adjustment period for sure. That is a little unique to Bristol because even at Martinsville, it’s a half-mile in length, the speed is slower than here, so the acclamation time isn’t as big, but definitely that first run of practice, I think all of us are going to be holding our breath and the crew chief is going to be asking what we need on the car, and we are going to be like hang on, I’m trying to breathe in here. The acclamation period at Bristol is probably the biggest of the schedule, and the runs at Bristol – while the lap times are short – the lap count is really, really high. A 90-lap run at Phoenix is probably a little bit easier on us than 125-lap run, which we have to do stage one of the race on Sunday. The lap count being high here makes it a little bit tougher.”

How do you think the Netflix show raised your and NASCAR’s visibility? Is it important for NASCAR to have a superstar that people outside of the sport would know?

“I think that is the name of the game for the whole Netflix deal was trying to get more eyes, more casual fans, engaged with our sport and try to understand the process of what a NASCAR race is. It is not just cars turning left. I can promise you that. Getting superstars is what getting fans to watch. It all goes hand in hand, so hopefully that was step one of getting us more exposure and getting this sport back to where it was.”

How important is it for you to show your personality to NASCAR fans and the general public?

“It has been something that I haven’t been very good at – showing my personality, showing who I am, to the general public, so whenever I got the opportunity to be on the Netflix show, I tried to open up as much as I could. I just hope that we are able to keep it going, keep the momentum going. I know that the ratings have been really good this year, and there has been a lot of positivity going into 2024, so hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”

You won the dirt race here last year. Do you feel like the defending race winner?

“I don’t feel like the defending race winner. It feels like we are at a different venue right now, compared to what it was 12 months ago. It is cool that I won the last dirt race. I take pride in that because I’m a dirt track racer. That’s what I grew up doing, but it definitely, definitely feels like a new venue. When you came here for the dirt race, it didn’t feel like you were at Bristol.”

Have you felt underappreciated by the NASCAR fans? If so, does that motivate you?

“I would say that it motivates me a little bit. I want to be clear, that inside my team and the competition industry, I feel like people know where the 20 car is at. Just the outer regions don’t or haven’t. Frankly, I’ve got to win. I’m not a talker. I’m not a shower. I hope to be a winner, and I know for people to talk about me, I have to win. Winning seven races is not there. I want to win, and I want to make you guys have to talk about me because of the on-track product.”

How will the restart zone and the portions that have been repaved change racing next weekend in COTA?

“I have. I actually did a little bit of simulator work last week and there is a lot of patches. They added some last year, and they did more this year, so that is definitely, I would think, affect the strategy a little bit as far as tire management, when you are going to put tires on, stuff like that, and then the restart zone. While I don’t think it is going to be a home run, I think it will be in the right direction of trying to get us spread out, so that we don’t look like a bunch of buffoons running into each other getting into turn one, so I think the road course stuff is going to be a work in process as far as getting the cars where we don’t run into each other going into those 90 degree corners. Another learning experience for us.”

What makes a superstar to you?

“I think I’m probably the wrong person to ask that question. I have a hard time of understanding who a superstar is in general. I would say in my eyes the superstars in the sport are Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, probably (Joey) Logano and (Brad) Keselowski – the guys that have won the most races out of the group. It’s becoming harder and harder to do that. The days of the big three – (Martin) Truex, (Kevin) Harvick and Kyle Busch – are a long way away now. I don’t know if we will ever get back there. There’s positives and negatives. We’ve gotten away from those key guys winning races, but now we have more parity in our sport and you never know who is going to win going into a Sunday. It could be one of 15-20 cars. I guess in my eyes, the superstars are the winners and the guys have ton the most, just like Kyle and Denny.”

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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Food City 500 Advance | Saturday, March 16, 2024

Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse, will be making his fifth start with Stewart-Haas Racing this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Tennessee native stopped by the infield media center before qualifying to talk about his season to date.

JOSH BERRY, No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT KIND OF PLACE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ADDED TO THE SCHEDULE? “Japan seems like a long ways away (laughing). Montreal, I remember growing up and watching racing there. It seemed like a good racetrack to put on a good show. I feel like North America, to me, is the extent of it, whether we’re going north or south.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR NASCAR TO HAVE A SUPERSTAR? “Obviously, I think it’s important for the sport to have those guys that are household names. I mean, to me, the way somebody does that is by winning a lot of races and championships. That’s how those guys beforehand did it. It’s about winning a lot and the difference, I think more than ever now, is it’s just so competitive that it’s hard to stand out compared to everyone you’re racing with. Even the guys that are winning races aren’t winning as much as they were year’s back, so it’s just more competitive than ever. It’s a good thing at the same time, too, from when you’re sitting there watching it.”

THIS ISN’T THE START YOU WANTED, SO HOW DO YOU GUYS TURN IT AROUND? WHAT ARE THE OVERALL VIBES LIKE? “It’s been a little bit disappointing. Even when I started this going back to last summer people asked me all the time what my expectations were and I always said that I expected it to be hard and it is hard. Cup racing is hard. So with that side of it I think each race we’ve had little-ish different things happen that maybe hurt our finish or not, but I feel like when we get everything put together and the car is handling like I want and we execute, we have speed, we make progress, we’re faster, so, for me, I made a couple of mistakes over the last few weeks. Spinning out in qualifying at Phoenix put us really far behind all these guys. All week all they talk about is how you can’t pass. I mean, having a mistake like that puts you really far behind and makes your day look worse than it really is, so, for me, it’s just hopefully getting some of these mistakes out of the way early on and start qualifying a little bit better and I think we’ll be fine.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT BUBBA POLLARD MAKING HIS DEBUT AT RICHMOND? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO SEE HIM HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO TELL HIS STORY AND SHOWCASE HIS SKILLS? “I think it’s really cool and I think he’s going to a great place. I think the Xfinity car at Richmond, when I think if we go back probably seven or eight years, I did that. I had a race there, I think in 2015. It was probably my second or third start and I was racing Cup guys that night and raced up into the top five and had a really good race. I remember coming in the media center afterwards and nobody knew who I was. Everybody was like, ‘Who’s this guy?’ So I think the opportunity is there for Bubba. I watched Dale’s video and he said, ‘If we give him a good car, he’ll race it to the front,’ and, honestly, I believe that. I think that platform at Richmond, I think, is a lot like the short track racing that he does and that I did for years, so I’m excited to watch how he does for sure.”

WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND MOST DIFFICULT OR WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU THE MOST ABOUT DOING THIS EVERY WEEK? “Nothing in particular. I think throughout my opportunities last year I realized how competitive it was and how hard it was. I think just building the relationship with your team, working on the communication of practice to qualifying to the race and learning that. That’s where I feel like I need to grow a little bit. Last year, you’re on borrowed time each race. We didn’t know which race they were coming back or not and we kind of just raced. We didn’t really think about any of that stuff and now whenever you’re trying to build, you build piece by piece into something bigger. This is an important time for all of us right now to learn each other and just do a little better job of that, and I think it’ll come with time.”

WOULD MISTAKES BE THE BIGGEST THING THEN BEHIND THE WHEEL? “Yeah, I think so. Each race has been different. Daytona, we lost a lap getting spun out on pit road. I don’t really know what I would have done different in that scenario. The Duels, we had an issue with the fuel pump. Each race has been a little different. I had back-to-back speeding penalties at Atlanta, which was silly but just an honest mistake of understanding the car and everything there. I think you can’t have those mistakes. You’ve got to execute each practice session, qualifying session and, to me, I think that’s where I’ve missed it a little bit. I’ve got to clean that stuff up. If we can get our car a little bit better here in different spots of the race, I feel like we can run in the top 15, top 10 pretty easy.”

HOW FAR OFF DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE FROM THAT? “I feel like when our car is balanced and driving pretty good it’s fast. The speed is there, so, to me, it’s just about learning how to communicate that, those different pieces, to Rodney. When I go out to practice at Phoenix and feel like I’m tight, I don’t know how tight I really am. I don’t know what adjustments we need to make exactly, so just learning that and understanding that stuff, so I can give him better information, is gonna be important. That starts with practice and qualifying and the start of the race. I feel like the last two weeks are a little bit more a gauge of where you’re at. We’ve had one bad run in each race where we fell back and lost a lap. Really, if we didn’t have those two runs our finishes look a lot better.”

IS THE MOST CHALLENGING THING FOR YOU TO GET THROUGH IN THIS TRANSITION THE ROAD COURSES? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING TO COTA? “Yeah, for sure. I think even when I went to the Xfinity Series I hadn’t raced on road courses at all, so next week is gonna be tough. I definitely know that, especially with all the extra guys that are really talented coming in. I think that’s just gonna make the field that much more deep, but, all in all, going into next week I don’t really have expectations. It’s everything that I said. However we start to learn, to get faster, to get better, get more competitive, not make big mistakes, keep the car on the racetrack and dodge the chaos that is a lot of times if we have late-race restarts. I think if we can do all that, we can get a solid finish.”

HAVE YOU SPENT MORE TIME IN THE SIM TRYING TO WORK MORE ON ROAD COURSES? “Yeah, over the last couple of years that’s definitely been a big effort of mine, and I felt like the biggest thing that I was against learning – a lot of times in the Xfinity car was just learning the racetracks. I felt like when I went back to a place for the second time I was considerably faster. I would qualify better. I would practice better. All of those things we’ve talked about helps you so much if you can just start practice faster, you qualify better and then you have better track position to start the race and you race better. Next week will be another chance to do that. Obviously, adapting to the new car I’ve watched the races. I can kind of see it’s probably more of a purpose-built kind of road course car. I don’t know if that will make me more comfortable or less comfortable until I get out there and experience it, but I’m excited for that. After that, we’re gonna be part of the tire test at Sonoma. That’s gonna be the first time I’ve ever tested with data on the car, so that will be fun for me to take what I learn at COTA and go be a part of that test and continue to learn.”

WHAT’S THE DATA THAT HELPS? “Just all the data. Throw out all steering, braking, just a little bit more detail than what you would normally have.”

WHAT AFFECT DOES THIS LEARNING CURVE HAVE ON YOU WHEN YOU GO FROM SUPERSPEEDWAYS TO SHORT TRACKS AND HAVE DIFFERENT PACKAGES FOR EACH? “I don’t put much thought into it. I just don’t have the knowledge and understanding and experience yet of this car to really know how it’s gonna affect it. I just go and try to learn as quick as I can and take in all the information that I can to be prepared, but really it just comes down to going out and doing it and feeling it for yourself. That’s the most important part. It was funny, I thought even last week I thought it was a step in the right direction and a lot of people said it was the opposite. There was a lot of mixed reviews on that, but I thought it was a step in the right direction. Sure, there’s a ways to go, but I thought it was an improvement in just how the car felt to what I remembered the year before, but we’ll let all these other guys talk about it, I guess.”

Toyota Racing – Kamui Kobayashi
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 16, 2024) – 23XI Racing driver Kamui Kobayshi was made available to the media prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.

KAMUI KOBAYSHI, No. 50 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

What are you expecting next weekend at COTA?

“I’m definitely excited for next weekend at COTA. My first race last year at Indy, I think I was a little bit surprised, but I think the race went quite smooth. I think I dropped back in the early stage, and I didn’t get any caution. It was quite difficult in the back end of the field, but I had great fun. I had this opportunity with Mobil 1’s 50th anniversary for this opportunity at COTA. I’m definitely looking forward to next week. We’ve had more preparation. I’ve raced COTA five times already in Formula 1 and WEC. I think Indy – it was my first time ever racing there, but next week I have more experience, so definitely looking forward to the race.”

What was the reaction to you in Japan from running the NASCAR Cup Series race?

“NASCAR – we don’t have it on broadcast for example. Last year, for the Indy race it was live. I think the last broadcast was like in 2016. So, I think maybe people were watching NASCAR and seeing how exciting it was. People have been following my social media. I think we are again going to have the live broadcast in Japan next weekend in COTA, so I think people will get more knowledge of NASCAR. The racing in NASCAR is very different, so hopefully people get more of an understanding on what NASCAR racing is.”

What do you know now to expect that you didn’t know racing at Indianapolis last season?

“I think I learned quite a lot about how you handle the car and how the race goes, and how the race weekend goes. I think the second time I can manage myself better, and I’m putting in the preparation now. I’m spent quite a lot of time in the simulator. We will see.”

Was this always on the radar or did it come together more recently?

“I think it was because of Mobil 1’s 50th anniversary that it came about. It’s not something consistent. It just happened the one time. Toyota and TRD managed to find a partner, so that’s how it came together.”

What feel did you find in the Cup car that compares to anything you’ve competed in, in the past?

“I think the closest race car for me is Supercar in Australia. I think that is the closest one, which I’ve never driven. I’ve driven GT3 for example, it’s way different compared to that car. We have ABS and traction control. With the Cup car, you really don’t have any sensors taking the data. I would say the techniques that I’ve learned are way different. When you look throughout different motorsports, you have BOP and it’s easier for the driver to perform at everything, but in NASCAR, I think you have more of a demand. That’s why I’m happy to be here and challenging myself.”

Any interest in trying any oval race?

“I think I would have to start with a truck first.”

Do you foresee any additional races in NASCAR and how do you like competing in NASCAR?

“It totally different from European racing. The whole event is a huge difference. My dream was to race NASCAR a long time ago. My first race was NASCAR, when I was like four years old. It was an oval race, so that’s why I was dreaming to be here. I think generally we struggle in motorsports with the spectator or the fan with too much detail. I think Formula 1, if you look at the championship – I think something we need to learn when we go to European races – it’s too much detail. It’s difficult to understand as a fan, but when you look at NASCAR. It is simpler. I know there is technology behind, but I think as a motorsport the fans can understand what is making a difference at the end of the day. It makes a huge difference. I think there is more connectivity from the fans to the drivers.”

What did you think at Bristol? Could you imagine racing anything around here?

“First time coming to Bristol. I’ve done the sim here. I think the first time was four years ago for fun. I didn’t expect this big of a stadium, when I drove in the sim. I didn’t expect how the banking is. From when I looked on the outside, it’s not like a race track – something you can see like football in or something like that. It surprised me. As I drove by, it was something I was looking forward to seeing. I think a Cup car is probably what you should race here. It’s probably too small, too fast for anything else. It’s something that I’ve never experienced. I think the biggest banking I’ve seen is Daytona. I think for spectator – there is something very interesting about watching this type of race.”

Is there an audience of NASCAR fans in Japan? Should they race there again?

“I think for sure there is an opportunity. It is very different than any type of motorsport. It’s the sound. NASCAR has amazing sound. It’s amazing compared to any type of car, even Formula 1. It sounds noisy, but it’s one of the greatest sounds. When you are watching them race that close to the wall, it’s something that is hard to believe. I’m impressed. When you look at older sportscars, it’s hard to define the noise. If you bring it to Japan, I think people will be impressed with the sound. There’s a big opportunity to bring NASCAR to Japan. I think many people are looking forward to watching the Cup car.”

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.