NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
AMBETTER HEALTH 400
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAILABILITY QUOTES
FEBRUARY 24, 2024

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 CHEDDAR’S SCRATCH KITCHEN CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series’ qualifying session at Atlanta Motor Speedway – Media Availability Quotes

From the time you come off of turn two, could you go through the process of how that all works?

“Yeah, so we’ll likely have two pages – one for under green and one for under yellow that we’ll use for different lights and what we’ll look for in the gearing, RPM ranges and whatnot. If you’re under green and you’re coming off of turn two, you have to make sure you’re on page two – whatever page it is – and then you’ll slow down as quickly as you can, as late as you can, in order to make it to the 90 mph speed zone by the first line. Carry that around the corner and then you’ll slow down through your lights and then run your pit road lights. There’s different colors – you’ve got three different sets of colors that you can go through, so there’s a pretty wide range. You’ll probably run all reds.. actually you’ll run probably four blues through the corner, and then you’ll run all reds on pit road. That’s typically what we do.”

When you were scouting talent for up-and-coming drivers, what were the factors you were looking for besides just wins?

“For us, the skill level and the background of where they come from. Racing in the super late model ranks was kind of where I got my best sense of racing against some of those younger guys and got to pick up on some of those guys. Brian Ickler was one of our early guys at KBM, and then we obviously got Erik Jones from when he beat me in super late model race down in Pensacola. You look at those characteristics. I don’t know if we ever necessarily looked at their persona, or relied on that a whole lot, or their media training and anything like that. We’d just kind of help them through some of that stuff once they got to us. Toyota, TRD and their workforce of what they all did was a huge part of all of that, as well, too. I had a couple of guys that I really liked that I picked and sold them on, and we were able to bring them in. And then they had a bunch of guys that they wanted and basically said – hey, we’re going to run these guys and we all kind of agreed and worked together on.”

You have a new jackman this week. I don’t know how involved you get in those decision, if at all, but the fact they wanted to try something different after struggle the first week – did it surprise you at all because teams tend to kind of work with the same people, at least for a little bit before trying something different?

“Well the jackman we had was the same jackman we had all of last year. We were trying to redo a few different positions over the offseason, and some of the talent we were scouting, talking to and giving offers to, they declined them and went somewhere else. We kind of just had what we had, and we’ve been working through that. It’s tough out there. It’s really hard to recruit and get guys. Especially with where RCR is based and where they’re at, it’s a long drive to get up to Welcome to pit stop practice sometimes three and four times a week, whatever it might be. I know that Ray and all the guys there in the pit crew department are working super hard. Trust me, they’ve heard it – not from me, but from Richard week in and week out. Their ears are bleeding, but I know they’re trying and I know they’re working hard. Trust me, there were plenty of offers over the offseason to try and get different talent up there, and we just weren’t able to secure it.”

There’s a lot of talk since the fuel saving last weekend. Obviously it’s always been an important part, but how much it’s grown even more so the last couple of years. What can be done, if anything, in terms of taking emphasis off of that and allowing you guys to do a little bit more and race a little bit more, as opposed to riding around more?

“Yeah, good question. We kind of talked about it in our Chevy meeting last weekend among the other drivers, and there was really no solution that came to the forefront. The only one that I really had was to reduce the fuel cell size to create more opportunities of coming to pit road to just break it up more. But then you put your pit crew and the guys on pit road in more danger.. you put twice as much emphasis on doing all of that. When you come to pit road, it kind of breaks up the field for a little while.. like you take about 10 laps to kind of get it sorted back in and get going again. We go like 30 to 33 laps on fuel. If you go 15 or 16, and it takes 10 to bunch everybody back up – well now you’re getting ready to pit again. So you’re not going to sit there and save. You’re going to be going all out as much as you can, and making sure that you’re not fuel saving in order to do the leap frog strategy. A couple of guys said – no, you’d still do the same thing, but I don’t know that you would.”

Is it a problem, or is problem the right word?

“I believe it is. I believe it’s a problem. The start of the race last weekend for the Daytona 500 – we’re all sitting around there running half-throttle; not passing and just riding in a line. I felt disgraceful, myself, being a race car driver – wanting to go fast, lead laps and win the Daytona 500, and that was our strategy that we had to employ at the start of the race because everybody was doing it. When you’re running wide open and you’re in the draft, your pace is probably a 46.30. We were running 49.80’s.. almost 50 second lap times. It was pathetic.. I was like, how slow are we going to go? I felt bad for the fans. This is not good for them. It’s not what I want to be doing. But when you kind of get in that situation, I don’t know what you do. The third lane could have developed. It was so early in the race; nobody wants to develop a third lane. We’re riding – it’s a 500 mile race, don’t blow everything up in the first stage, right? But somebody could have just pulled out into the outside lane and literally just ran to the front and done whatever they wanted to do. So I was surprised nobody did that.”

When you say disgraceful.. there were a lot of races where it’s a 500 mile race and you can’t lose it immediately; you have to take your time to kind of buildup…

“But there’s no passing.. people want to see passing. The fans are all about – hey, we want to see racing. That’s not racing.. that’s riding. Yeah, back in the days – sure, you had 500 or 600 mile races where you needed to ride for a while. The Coca-Cola 600, for instance – it’s a long race, but you’re at least still trying to pass the guy in front of you and get in position as the day goes on. You’re not just riding 15th for the first 100 laps and being like – yeah, cool, I’m good with riding 15th right now. No.. you want to get further up the ladder and run with speed, your talent, your car’s ability and everything else. Doing what we did last week, you might as well pull the cars out of the parking lot and run rental cars around.”

Was there any conversations among your team about how to approach these first two races? You’re down a car from Daytona. You’re in Atlanta and you could very easily be down a car, so how do you approach that?

“Yeah, our Atlanta car was the car that we raced in the Daytona 500. So everything kind of got pushed up a week. The Daytona 500 car that we crashed – it went back to the shop and I think we’re on a five-week cycle, so whatever the fifth race is, it’ll probably be where that one goes. But yeah, this week’s car was slated to be our Las Vegas car, so it just kind of moves everything up. The cars are all the same, so there’s not really much differences that you have. You’re talking maybe a small part on a body part that you can maybe push or pull or whatever that you can get through the hawkeye, but it’s not a lot.”

Going back to last weekend, you had the issue on the pit stop. Richard Childress comes on the radio and tells everyone to get their heads out of their butts. When you have a car owner like that, one that’s really involved, what’s that like?

“Well that’s kind of what I answered early, was Richard is very involved and wants any situation to get better. If we’re not winning every single race out of the year, then how did we lose that one race? What can we do to make it better? That’s a racer’s mentality.. that’s what we all try to strive for and try to be better at. It’s tough sometimes when you have the human element. We all make mistakes.. I made tons of them last year and my crew stuck behind me – was passionate that I was their driver and wanted to go to the next week and figure out how to win the next one. I know where Richard is coming from, and I appreciate that – the emphasis he puts on greatness and wanting to be better. It’s what we all strive for.”

With two years on this new configuration, are the ‘warm and fuzzies’ all gone? What has been gained, and what has been lost?

“Yeah, any form of restrictor plate, pack-style racing is not high on my list. I would say – obviously as much as the surface deteriorated, there comes a point where something has to be done and they went through it. I just don’t understand or appreciate why we added the banking and the stuff that they did here in the reconfiguration.. although it’s the same outside wall spacing. Would I have much rather seen them just repave what we had? Probably because you would know then that, at least when it deteriorates some, it can get back to the old Atlanta ways. This deteriorates here, I mean it’s going to be fast.. it’s going to be damn fast sliding around, like 10 mph faster through the corners sliding around than what the old track would have been. We’re racers, though. As I’ve said before, we all want to go fast and do what we can to be the fastest ones out there. It’s not that you’re scared of that, it’s just that the hits are harder.”

Later today, you’re going to make your first drafting track start in the Truck Series since 2015. What was behind the decision to run the Truck race here?

“Well watching the Truck race here last year, it doesn’t necessarily fall in line or orchestrate itself as a Daytona or Talladega-style race. It is different. So I kind of took that into consideration, that you can make some moves by yourself. Yes, you’re in a line, you’re drafting, you’re trying to hold onto the draft and all that sort of stuff. But it did seem like there were some times in which handling kind of came into play.. making some moves kind of came into play and whatnot. It’s definitely not like a Kansas, where you can be the leader, run away and go hide.

It wasn’t my first choice. Definitely wouldn’t have been at all my choice, but I’m thankful for the opportunity that Spire Motorsports and Group 1001 gave to me to be able to come out here and run the five truck races that I’m allowed to do. This was the fifth one that was available on the list that I could do. I didn’t have much pick. It’s tough of a pick with all of the regulations and things that I have with NASCAR and all that sort of stuff, which the triple-truck challenge races, the playoff races. I don’t do speedway races, so my pick of the litter was I think literally eight or nine races that I could do. It gets small.”

What is your thought on the current state of the Truck Series?

“You know, you could talk about the current state of NASCAR. I feel like the current state of NASCAR is healthy and strong. You look at the Cup Series – having all of the things that are kind of happening behind the scenes, with big team owners coming in and being a part of all of that, and it just trickles down. Being able to get a new TV deal and all that sort of stuff, with NASCAR and the TV networks – we’re all grateful and thankful for that, and the hard work that was put in behind-the-scenes. It trickles down into the Xfinity Series and it trickles down into the Truck Series. Would I say that there are 500 ‘Fortune 500’ companies that are all out here participating in our sport? No, there’s not. So the sponsorship landscape is absolutely the toughest landscape in our sport, but I don’t know that’s any different than what it was in the high time.. in the mid-90s to the mid-2000s. I think you still saw cars that were in the back of the field that were under funded or had a struggling time being able to find big name sponsors to be able to get them to the track or to get them a better footing within the series to withstand and have some strength to their company.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
AMBETTER HEALTH 400
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAILABILITY QUOTES
FEBRUARY 24, 2024

 COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 CELSIUS CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series’ qualifying session at Atlanta Motor Speedway – Media Availability Quotes

YOU HAVE ONE YOUNG TEAMMATE AND ANOTHER COMING IN. AS A VETERAN, WHAT FACTORS DO YOU WANT THEM TO BRING TO THE TEAM?

“I think for us, its consistent feedback in those two cars. Where its really been a one-car team that has more or less functioned as a two-car operation the last couple of years. But there were part time guys, and some crew chief turnover throughout the course of last year on the 77. I don’t think Ty (Dillon) had a great shot at it. There was just a lot of inconsistency with the other car, so if we could just get a little consistency there. Carson (Hocevar) has been doing a majority of the simulator time for us and validating the tires and things like that, that allows me to be at home a little more with the kids and then when I can go on a Thursday evening for two-and-a-half hours, I can really plug in and focus and fine tune and get our stuff ready for the weekend. So, for us, just consistency in the 77 and consistency in the 71, will help the baseline of our team collectively which is something we have had a hard time with the last couple of years.”

ARE THERE THINGS YOU CAN TEACH THEM AS THEY ARE COMING IN, JUST BASICALLY LIKE PIT STALL ENTRY AND THINGS LIKE THAT?

“Those guys are pros. They are championship guys from the Truck Series, and I don’t have the credentials next to my name statistically for those guys to listen to what I have to say, but I have been doing this for a long time, and they have asked some good questions. But at the end of the day too, it’s just like when you’re dad tells you to do something, they aren’t going to listen to you. You kind of have to figure out how to do it yourself. But those guys have a lot of good people in their corner whether its Josh Wise, Scott Speed, and everyone from GM to just help prepare those guys for Sunday. It is a large learning curve, and we are getting the better parts of people to compete on Sundays as well. The learning curve is much steeper if you’re cars aren’t fast. So, if we bring fast cars to the racetrack, then that learning curve flattens out a little bit and I think those guys can succeed.”

DID THE NEAR WIN HERE AND OTHER GOOD RUNS AT RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS GIVE YOU AND EXTRA SENSE OF CONFIDENCE?

“I have a lot of confidence every week, but drafting tracks isn’t such a handicap for what I have had to drive the last couple of years. But after the reconfiguration here I have run well and Talladega and Daytona is somewhere where you can play chess with a little bit slow remorse and take advantage of some guys that might get too greedy or something like that. Where those were my only opportunities to succeed, but now we are going to succeed on short tracks, intermediates, and road courses as well. Going in here, you don’t want to circle a speedway as your chance to win, because a lot of it is out of your control. You can do your best to put yourself in position to win, but sometimes it doesn’t bounce your way. We know we have done it pretty much every race here, put ourselves in position to win, so I think we are going to do the same thing here tomorrow.”

HOW DIFFERENT IS THAT CHESS GAME HERE IN ATLANTA COMPARED TO DAYTONA OR TALLADEGA?

“It’s like speed chess. Talladega is chess, but you have to see runs happening, see runs forming, but the energy of lanes coming or going is a bit slower here. Runs come and then they close. Openings come and then they close, probably double the speed they do at Daytona or Talladega. And I think much more of it is handling here at Atlanta. With a good handling car, you can be aggressive. Where some guys will have to roll out (of the throttle) if their cars are all trimmed out and they are hanging on halfway through a run. We have passed some really good driving cars here. And you have to have some friends, because if you make that move to the bottom for the lead, and the guy behind you goes with the guy you are trying to pass, its not going to work out. So, all of those deposits you make in the bank like at Daytona last week to make buddies, trying to push the right guys at the right time….seems like guys are more apt to stay on my rear bumper now, after all the success we have had at the speedways. So, hopefully that continues here tomorrow.”

IT WAS SAID THAT RACING WAS A BIT SKETCHY HERE, EXCEPT FOR THE TWELVE GUYS THAT CAN HOLD IT WIDE OPEN AROUND THE TRACK. ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE 12?

“I was one of those 12, and I qualified 30th. So, for whatever reason, it doesn’t translate. Sometimes the ones that drive good are a little slow. I have also had bad driving ones here too. So, I anticipate the Fords being strong and as strong as they were in qualifying last week, and I think the Penske cars qualified 1-2-3 here last race. So those guys are going to be tough to beat as always, they know how to make a race car go fast in a circle. That hasn’t been our strong suit, qualifying at any speedway. I don’t think we have qualified within two of the front at all ever. If we can do that, that would be a huge win and give us a little bit more pace to be offensive in the race. But you think it looks easy, just going around there by yourself, but the guys have all the rounds taken out of it for qualifying and you are essentially sitting on three bump stops with, I don’t know, 60 pounds of air in the tires and you are on the razor’s edge of grip by yourself. They make them a little less sketchy to drive for the race, but you still can put yourself in a bad spot pretty quick.”

DO YOU LOOK AT SPIRE IN ITS CURRENT SITUATION AS SPIRE 2.0 COMPARED TO WHERE YOU WERE A YEAR AGO?

“Oh yeah, it’s a totally different team. The transition of the shop, and the shop is one thing, right? But the Gainbridge relationship, the new teammates, the added engineering, the more help from GM and Hendrick Engines, and Hendrick pit crews, it’s not even remotely the same team. The addition of Doug Duchardt too. It would be nice to come to a situation like this, but I was at the dry erase board with the Expo marker trying to figure out how to get to this point. So rarely does it work out where a vision where TJ or someone like that has grandiose visions come to life. It’s pretty cool to be a part of that and it’s almost like we just started being like a legitimate race team. The last three years have been like, how can we just go put a car on the racetrack. So, the intention in going to the racetrack is a little bit different and the expectations are different also.

FOR WHAT YOU HAVE JUST SAID, IS THAT WHY THIS YEAR WILL BE THE NEXT STEP FORWARD THAT YOU HAVE SEEN COMING?

“We have been taking steps forward every year. We have had some good runs on occasion, but not very frequent and not very consistent. In every measurable category statistically last year, we were better than the year prior. And I don’t anticipate this year being any different and we are going to take a step now. Taking a steps in this garage isn’t like 10 places. It isn’t like going from a 25th place team to a Championship Four team overnight, that is not how it works. A tangible step forward might be one spot, two spots, because now there are 24 factory teams essentially between Toyotas, and Fords and Chevrolet. Those are key partner teams. So, for us to be in that 20th to 16th playoff team on points, you are beating eight teams that are fully funded, fully resourced, and we are still on the outside looking in when it comes to key partner information. So, I feel like we have done a great job so far and especially overachieving for the resources that we have and we are going to continue to take…..it may not be noticeable to any of you guys in here, but we are going to be better in the amount of top fives we have, in the amount of top tens we have. There is not a measurable amount, but there is going to be more. We just have lofty goals in terms of……I can’t calculate it right now, but we have for the bonus structure for the guys in the shop, we separate the Daytona 500 as its own race. You race that one different because you want to have a good points day and you want to cash a check. So we essentially start this season as a team here in Atlanta and we break the season up in seven, five-race mini seasons. And if you have a better finish than an average finish over those five races better than 20th, you acquire a certain amount of points, its like 80 something. We set the benchmark of all these with 19th or better metrics with laps led, laps completed, average finish position. If you hit those markers for the five-race mini season, then everybody in the shop gets a bonus. Even the Truck team gets a bonus if the Cup team hits it. So, we introduced that last year and it made the season much more palpable. You know it gets long and grueling, but it allows you to reset and kind of attack each race segment with attention and some attainable goals. I think we hit two out of the seven last year and came up a little short on two more, so if we can hit all those little mini season benchmarks then that should put us up in the conversation as right on the fringe, right on the outside looking in of pointing our way in the playoffs. But obviously you feel pretty good about it if you can get a notch on that column and be in the playoffs.”

IS IT PLAYOFFS OR BUST AND IS THAT LOOKING REALISTIC FOR THIS TEAM?

“I think there are a couple of us internally, particularly Doug, myself and Sparks, and Dickerson, that we feel like that if we execute, we can be in the playoffs. That is a reaching goal, but the only way you can score it is if you have a goal. The goal is also a goal that we set out for the team three years ago, and some of them were let’s just finish the race here. Literally. So, we continue to move the benchmark and raise the bar for our goals. The bar for this year, for our team, is the playoffs. If we can get close to that, it would make a lot of guys, myself included, really happy. I have matured as a driver behind the wheel as well as off, and I think it will be a dogfight. It will be an absolutely dogfight, but I think if we execute for the next 20 weeks, 24 weeks, I think we can be in the conversation.”

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE TO LESSEN THE FOCUS ON FUEL SAVING OR IS THIS WHAT EVERYBODY HAS GOT?

“I don’t know. I think everybody seems to have a quick fix and not much thought behind it when it comes to the people that actually have to make the decision, those guys are the ones looking at the data. Because sometimes you think its going to be a fix and you create four more problems. Because there are world class crew chiefs and engineers that will sit there and nitpick thousands of an inch, or thousands of a mile in terms of miles to the gallon to try and make the races as advantageous for themselves as possible. Do I like trying to work to get the lead and then get yelled at by our crew chief because you are burning too much fuel? No. But what do I do? Just let six or seven guys go by me so I can ride at 60%? No. So, I don’t love that its how its kind of worked. I understand that it’s kind of the game that is presented right now, and with everybody as equal as it is, you want to be on pit road or in your box the least amount of time possible to leapfrog the guys you are in front of. I don’t look at enough data to be able to make a fix and I think anybody that sits here and says they have a fix probably is not correct. But I do know that NASCAR doesn’t like the fact that the entire field was running 51.50s and a guy in a single car qualified two seconds faster than that. So that’s something they are going to be looking at.”

REGARDING THE MOUTHGARD DEVELOPMENT YOU ARE INVOLVED WITH.

“I am glad I haven’t been the crash test dummy before, or too much like Ryan Blaney has been lately. I appreciate him collecting the data for us. When they first came out, they have been working with Wake Forest and those guys are top notch. I think really and truly it speaks to the investment that NASCAR is making in the health of the drivers and seeing how much….especially with the Next Gen stuff and speaking about the comments about how stiff and rigid the car was, they actually wanted to see how much of the energy was transferred to the drivers. The first couple of mouthpiece designs were pretty clunky and sat in the top of your mouth and you sounded like you were talking with a mouthful of peanut butter. Something we came up with was to wear it like a night guard, like an Invisalign at night, and we actually put all the hardware on the outside of your teeth. Which is something they hadn’t done before because normally with football players you want everything inside and in the top of your mouth, so for now with the way the races are and no contact with the helmet, we are able to put the hardware on the outside of your mouth. There are probably 15-18 guys interested in wearing them because you can talk, and it’s comfortable. So, we have continued to evolve that and they have some really cool stuff like the bus stop at Watkins Glen, and some other areas of the race track where they were really high G load, whether it was left to right or up and down. And we have really worked hard on the headrest surround foam, so its all correlating and that has been a really big piece to understand head knocks in our sport.”

YOU HAVE COME SO CLOSE HERE AND YOU HAVE SAID YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, ARE YOU CONFIDENT YOU WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO IF PUT IN THAT POSITION AGAIN?

“Well, I can assure you this Bob. I don’t think any situation is the same, but the characters, the players and the point in the racetrack and how much run you have, will never be the same. So, I have relooked at that lap here a couple years ago here at Atlanta and I was trying to get to Chase’s right rear, and the moment that I kind of thought it was a racing thing. It was probably one-half step over the line of what would not be considered dirty, but nonetheless, he did what he had to do to win. With experience here now at speedways, there are things that I am going to do different. Preferably be the one in front. It is much easier to defend than to be on offense on the last lap. So, we are going to do all we can to put ourselves in that position here tomorrow.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ambetter Health 400 Media Availability | Saturday, February 24, 2024

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, is the defending winner of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He stopped by the infield media center before qualifying to talk about the start to his season in last week’s Daytona 500 in addition to his hopes for Sunday’s race.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE EXCESSIVE FUEL SAVING WE’VE SEEN? “We talk about all the time how the draft evolves and how people evolve over time and you can’t unlearn things. Well, this is kind of the next step of speedway racing as the field is closer and closer it’s harder and harder to pass. How do you cycle yourself ahead of the pack? Well, it’s pretty obvious what the answer was last week. It was where only a couple of teams were doing it, but now it’s all of the teams doing it. How do you fix it? I don’t know if there is a fix besides doing something to eliminate stage cautions or something like that, like we tried at the road courses, or just adding more stages, which I don’t know if I really want that. I don’t know what the fix is. I do think it adds a different storyline for sure. There was that first stage where we were going so slow that everyone behind us was about to be able to bridge it to where they didn’t have to pit and at that point we took off and left. To me it was like the Tour de France is what it felt like to me. Everyone was in this peloton and a couple of runners take off and you’re like, ‘What are they doing? Why are they doing that?’ Trying to drag the pack along and get them up to speed and then everybody did kind of get up to speed after that. It’s a different strategy. It’s interesting. It’s a different way of racing. It’s still a race. It’s still part of the race it’s just a different way of doing it and it’s up to everybody in this room to really educate the fans on what this next step is and why we’re doing it. As much as we want to say we want to run 100 percent all the time, it’s all well and good, but there’s also just a strategy race that sometimes is pretty interesting.”

FROM A STRATEGY PERSPECTIVE IS IT BETTER TO BE LEADING OR BE A LITTLE FURTHER BACK? “It’s a little different here. You’ve got to look at it that the further back you are the more fuel you can save, but the less control you have. So you can’t control the speed of the pack anymore, so you’re kind of at the mercy of what’s going on in front of you. You’re in a little bit more of a danger spot at that point of the race. I’m gonna choose more towards the front, maybe not the leader, but towards the front. Sometimes you are where you are and there’s not much shuffling. A few laps after the restart it was kind of like this is where everyone settled in and they were content with what they were doing, so that can continue here, maybe. It’s not as wide of a racetrack. It’s a little harder to gain track position. It takes a little longer to move through the field. You see some restarts last week where if you went for it, you could go from the back to the front really quick if everyone is saving fuel and you can kind of catch them off-guard a little bit, but I don’t know if that happens as much here.”

DO YOU AS A DRIVER WANT TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL YOUR OWN RACE? “I don’t know if you ever do completely. It’s still a team sport. We talk about that all the time. I’m not just gonna go pull my own strategy out at any track and say it’s the right one. Those guys have way more data in front of them than what I have. I have some interesting things around me and things that they can’t see, but they also have a lot of things that I can’t see and the best thing we can do is communicate and be on the same page together. For the driver to just go rogue and do whatever he wants, I don’t know if that’s quite the good call. I don’t know if it’s gonna work out every time.”

COLEMAN MENTIONED BRAD A LOT LAST WEEK IN THE CLOSING LAPS. WAS THAT PART OF YOUR STRATEGY TO BE WITH HIM? HOW DO YOU WEIGH GETTING THE BEST RESULT FOR YOURSELF? “There were points that I could have left Brad to go block another lane and you can probably debate this either way on what the right thing to do is there, but I felt like it was too early in the race to bail on him. I know there was like eight to go and he ended up bailing on me anyway, but I had my teammate behind that with Blaney and that’s one I can trust. So, I’d rather be sitting second in line behind Ross with Blaney behind me with eight to go. I feel like I have a better chance at that point because I have some loyalty behind me. The last lap, maybe things change. The moves you make the decisions you make have to change, but with eight to go it’s a long way to go in the race. If you lose your help at that point, you’re on your own. I’ve been on my own at the end of these races before and if they gang up on you, you’re a sitting duck. You’ve got nothing. So, I was being patient and just waiting. I knew eventually Ross was gonna miss a block and I was gonna slip him again. It already happened once towards the end of the race, so it was gonna happen again. I was just being patient and unfortunately got wrecked before we could really see things through.”

FORDS DOMINATED QUALIFYING HERE LAST YEAR. WITH THIS NEW MUSTANG CAN THE SAME THING HAPPEN THIS TIME? “I’d like to think so. That’s the thing these days with no practice you go straight into qualifying. I don’t know, but I’d say all signs are showing good for qualifying today considering what we did last year here and what happened in Daytona, but you never know. Speeds should be fast though and we should be. It’s a lot different here, though. Everybody trims their cars differently and looks for different things, so it could be a little different.”

CAN YOU TELL HOW GOOD THIS MUSTANG IS GOING TO BE? “It’s still early to tell, but so far, so good.”

DOES YOUR APPROACH TO THIS RACE CHANGE SINCE IT’S NOW A PLAYOFF RACE IN THE FALL? “No. Our approach is the same. It doesn’t really change. The goal is to win, whether it’s a playoff race later or one coming up to it, or is not in the playoffs at all. It doesn’t really matter. Our approach is the same and our preparation is the same.”

CAN YOU GIVE A SENSE OF WHAT YOU LEARN AND PICK UP AS A TEAM AND WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR WHEN THE SERIES GOES TO VEGAS AND PHOENIX? “The season starts when the green flag drops in Daytona. I would even argue sometimes it starts at the Clash. It’s a race and I kind of look at that as the beginning. As far as knowing what you have in your car, to answer the question of what do you think of the new Dark Horse Mustang, I can’t answer it completely yet. So far, all signs are showing great, but we don’t know that until we get to Vegas and Phoenix and Bristol and kind of see where we’re at from a speed perspective, but as far as the season started, yeah, they’re giving points out, they’re giving trophies out, and they’re giving money out, so we better go get it. It doesn’t really matter all the other stuff. It’s interesting with two speedways to start. That does change the game some, but there’s still the execution. The team is still here. Everybody is here. There’s a lot going on still.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
AMBETTER HEALTH 400
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAILABILITY QUOTES
FEBRUARY 24, 2024

 WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTOR HIGH HEAT CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series’ qualifying session at Atlanta Motor Speedway – Media Availability Quotes

I think the consensus is that you’re one of the more quiet guys in the garage. From the Netflix show to doing all of the media in New York after winning the Daytona 500, how has that experience been for you?

“Yeah, it’s been fun. I enjoyed all of the stuff that I got to do this week, especially because it’s something unique and different, and I felt like it was really interesting. There were a lot of interesting questions and just different outlets trying to learn about the sport. I tried my best to do a good job. Obviously I was running off adrenaline for two or three days, and we’re back to the race track now and ready to get to work.

I enjoyed it. As much as I am quiet, I feel like most of my quiet time is spent at the race track when I’m trying to do my work and focusing on my job.”

It was referenced that you were in New York. I want to say you’ve been there before, but I know this is a pretty intense experience for you. How as the media tour and how did you enjoy your experience in New York City?

“Yeah, so my sister lives up there and I go up there and visit her probably once a year. But yeah, I enjoyed it a lot. Like I said, there were a lot of cool outlets. I think the best way to go around New York is in a car service with going place-to-place (laughs). We didn’t have to walk anywhere, so it was a very unique situation. But very cool and just thankful for NASCAR that they put that together. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go getting on the plane Monday night. I was a little nervous about it all, but I thought they managed it really well. It was super smooth. The Empire State Building was probably one of the coolest aspects, just being able to go up there and see the views.”

You mentioned all of the different media outlets trying to learn about NASCAR. The thing about winning the Daytona 500 is that it’s really transformative, in the sense that it takes someone in the sport to entirely new level and you’re serving as an ambassador for NASCAR. Have you started to grasp exactly what being the Daytona 500 Champion has done and will do for you?

“I don’t think so.. not yet. There’s just a lot of different aspects to it. I feel like the big thing for us is being able to start the year like that with a lot of momentum, for a lot of different reasons – for our team and to be able to lock ourselves into the Playoffs, and also for sponsor engagement and things like that. I feel like for me personally, it’s a huge relief and something I’m really excited to carry down the road.”

You’ve had great success here at Atlanta Motor Speedway. How do you negotiate the two different pit road speeds – from the time you get off the track, how do you know how fast you’re going? Do you have two sets of lights? Do you downshift during the 90mph section, that sort of stuff?

“That’s a great question. You know, what I vividly remember from last year – it’s just coming off turn two, there’s a couple of brake markers. I feel like they did a good job last year kind of bringing those brake markers into play. Typically we don’t use the left-side of the track to really judge where we’re going to brake for pit road on an oval. It’s very unique. And like you said, you’re not getting down to 45 mph.. you’re getting down to 90 mph, so the gearing is a lot different. The lights are built way differently. I think we chose to go with third gear this time. Last time, we were in fourth. So I feel like just trying to understand the cadence there. My engineers sent me a bunch of stuff.. some layouts to make sure I’m aware of what lights I need to run. But the biggest thing is don’t speed because under green, that section is not that important in comparison to being a couple of laps down here. If you go a couple of laps down with how long that pit road is now, your race is ruined. So you just have to not speed.”

Your father couldn’t be at Daytona. What was it like when you finally saw him for the first time?

“Yeah, so I didn’t see him until later in the week. He’s better now, he just had a pretty severe cold. But yeah, the coolest part was I was driving home from the shop on Wednesday afternoon after we did the toast. It was maybe our second or third conversation on the phone, but we were just talking about the race and something came up about racing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. – how in 2014, that was the last time that Hendrick Motorsports had won a Daytona 500, and that’s when I was driving for Dale in the late models. He was just super emotional. I’ve never really heard him get that choked up over the phone, but it was really special to hear that. Just having been through this journey with him and going to the race track every weekend together starting out, it was very special.”

I was told it took the Netflix deal for you to get into the door with LEGO. Is that accurate?

“Yeah, I mean we’re working on it, for sure. I’d love to have a LEGO car out there. I think they do so many unique things with that design. Certainly, still going to build.. need to work on my next project here soon. I have some ideas. They are going to send me quite a few sets, so that’ll be nice. No more eBay.. I usually go on eBay and get the LEGO sets because they’re backordered.”

You have two wins here at Atlanta Motor Speedway since the reconfiguration, so obviously you’re comfortable with the high banks on a 1.5-mile track. I get the idea that maybe that’s not the consensus in the garage. Do you hear varying views on this track?

“Yeah, I mean look – we’ve been really fortunate that it’s worked out for us a couple of times. The first win, we were pretty dominate here – led over 100 laps and put ourselves in a good position. But since then, it’s gotten even more chaotic. It’s two to three wide and it seems like everyone has really figured out the draft here. It’s unique, for sure. I wouldn’t want to do it every week, but I do enjoy the challenge of it. I think it’s a super exciting show for the fans. If you think about the attendance here when it was the old layout, and seeing how packed it was here in July – it seems like the fans like it. Like I said, I don’t want to do it every week, but I enjoy the aspect of drafting, lifting a little bit and all the different things that come with it.”

With two superspeedway, drafting tracks, back-to-back – do you anticipate it will be a bigger mental or physical toll after tomorrow’s race?

“Yeah, I mean look – in the offseason, I was like man, don’t crash in the first two races because you’re going to be pretty beat up. Yeah, I think it’ll be physical, for sure, if you’re in some crashes. But this track isn’t overly physical.. it’s kind of right there in the middle, I would say. But as we get to some of the short-tracks, really the schedule in March and April, you’ll need to be prepared for those. But we’ve got a little ways to go, so there’s still some training and preparation to try and get ready for that stretch.”

For the fact that this track is now in the Playoffs and you’re locked-in, does that allow you to try something or does that change the dynamic at all for you?

“Yeah, I mean it just makes the race a little more important for us. We just have to have a notebook for this race, so we need to understand what our setup needs to be and kind of tinker with that going back here in the fall. We can’t really try much here because we want to have a good data point for the fall and know – hey, our car drove pretty well. A lot is out of your control here, but hopefully we can have a good driving Chevy, good strategy and just get a little bit of an idea for the fall.”

If it wasn’t in the playoffs, you could potentially experiment more?

“Yeah, I think you wouldn’t put a whole lot of weight on it, especially coming off a win. Last year here, we just had the point penalty, so we had a lot of making up to do. But this year and already being locked into the playoffs, there’s a new importance to it.”

Is there anything that can be looked out or considered that would allow you guys not to be as focused or concerned about fuel saving in a speedway-type of race?

“Yeah, it’s a very complex problem because I think anytime you shorten the amount of fuel that you have in the cars, you’re just going to make the windows smaller. And then you’re going to have the same issue or the same thing happening, where you’re trying to have a shorter pit stop. It’s just evolution and technology.. it’s really just us figuring out what the best strategy is. I’m surprised it wasn’t more of a thing earlier on, but I think with this package and with track position being so important with there being so much drag on the car and really two-wide – it’s very difficult just to shoot your way to the front from the back. I don’t know what the adjustment is that needs to be made. It’s not the most fun thing to do, but I’m going to do whatever it takes to win the race. I feel like we were pretty smart about it. If you look at our average running position last week, it wasn’t what people would think. But we would always cycle forward; have a chance to race it out for the stage win and have a chance at the end. I’m just going to do whatever the rules tell me to do.”

As you look at someone trying a similar career path as yours and not getting directly in a car first, what do you see as far as that next group of drivers coming up? What would be advice to them as they start their career and the path you did, versus being in a car first?

“I think just having fun with it. Like what I see from a lot of young kids, going to the carting track and racing on iRacing – people are just taking it way too seriously, way too soon. I feel like you just have to really enjoy what you do – try to learn and try to get better as a driver and learn more about the sport. And then eventually, by the time you get to this level, you’re going to feel a lot of pressure. I think not putting too much pressure on yourself at an early age to try to be the best. I think just try to get out there and experience things; enjoy driving the race car and see what you can do with it.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Toyota Racing – John Hunter Nemechek
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

ATLANTA (February 24, 2024) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver John Hunter Nemechek was made available to the media prior to qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 42 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB

How important was getting off to a fast start for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB?

“Yeah, very grateful we came out in one piece, for sure. I’m excited for this year, getting the year kicked off in Daytona. It’s been a lot of hard work in the offseason at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB with the manufacturer swap to Toyota, lot of new personnel hired, bringing the pit crew in-house, and myself being new to the team. There are so many things that are new, so to be able to go down to Daytona and have a solid run and show some speed in the Duels and race and come out of there with clean car and finish top-10 is pretty good. Not just myself, but for the 43 guys as well. Two cars in the top-10 is a pretty good start for us.”

Can you speak to the mental difference here compared to Daytona or Talladega?

“I don’t think that this place is as treacherous as Daytona or Talladega. Things do happen a little bit faster here than at Daytona or Talladega. I don’t know about the Cup car yet, but on the Xfinity side, runs are a little bit bigger, but you tend to stall out a little bit faster as well. It‘s trying to pick and choose your runs, battles, and it seems like more one-lane dominant here at Atlanta than Daytona or Talladega. You can definitely get multiple lanes going, but I’m going to say it’s pretty much one preferred lane here.”

Why run double duty so often in your return to the Cup Series?

“Why not?! I like to race. I like to be in race cars, and I think getting more laps is more beneficial for myself. Being able to work with the same group of guys at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) that are on the 20 car besides two positions, I think, everyone is still the same. It’s big for me to come back this year and have fun and try to go win races. Not really knowing what the Cup side has in store for the first few as far as speed and other things. For myself, I wanted to put myself in a situation where I can gain confidence on Saturday and go into Sunday and be able to go out there and strive, learn some things from Saturday to try to apply to Sunday. I’m a race car driver. If we could run all three series every weekend, I’d be raising my hand to be into that.”

Are you finding yourself reaching for something different with the cars being so different?

“Not necessarily. I think it’s just remembering what transmissions are in each, where the switches are. Yesterday, I went to kill the ignition switch after finishing my qualifying lap and I reached to where my Cup one is, and it wasn’t in the same spot. So, small things like that. But as far as everything else, it’s similar so far. Daytona and Atlanta will be similar, we’re going to have more differences between the two cars when you get to (Las) Vegas, Phoenix, COTA (Circuit of the Americas), places like that.”

What was the biggest thing you learned from your time going back and racing in the Xfinity and Truck Series?

“I think the biggest thing for me was regaining confidence in myself. I felt I could go win races, but at the same time, I had to go prove that to myself and the rest of the garage and have Toyota and TRD as a manufacturer who believed in me was great validation in that sort. But I think race craft wise, getting smarter, more mature with the positions that you put yourself in. I think every young kid as you grow up running through the ranks, you learn some things the hard way, and some things you learn the easy way, but the hard ones, you will typically remember a little bit more than you were the easy ones, but for myself, it was focusing on completing the tasks at hand, and that was trying to go win races and try to put us in the best possible spots and not getting ahead of ourselves if we got a penalty on pit road or whatever and had to go back and work your way back through. Most of all, just trying to be the veteran in those series, and now the roles have reversed a little bit and I’ve got some learning to do.”

What are the biggest changes you have seen with LEGACY MOTOR CLUB from last year to this year?

“To be honest, I wasn’t super involved last year, so I don’t really know what was going on, what the biggest significant changes were. I feel like Erik (Jones) could probably answer that a little bit better than myself. For me, it has been a great experience so far being able to have LEGACY M.C. work with Toyota, TRD, from a resource side to a motor side, body side – the new Camry body. There are so many different things that I feel like LEGACY M.C. didn’t necessarily have the keys to access that information, and I think it showed. They still had speed last year at quite a few race tracks and they ran well and different things of that sort, but this year, with the alliance with Toyota, TRD – I think we should be able to be competitive most weeks. I feel that deep down, so I would say the biggest change would be resources and then personnel are another big one. Quite a number of new faces to LEGACY M.C. this year. Cal Wells (CEO, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB), now running the team with Jimmie (Johnson) and the other Hall of Famer faces that are involved as well. It is great to be a part of that organization to have so many great people around you. I’ve always been told you are only as good as the people that you surround yourselves with, and I feel like there is some greats at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB.”

Have you spent any time with Matt Kenseth since coming on board to LEGACY MOTOR CLUB?

“Yeah, I have. Matt (Kenseth) is a really funny guy. I’ve enjoyed Matt. I’ve enjoyed working with Matt and talking with Matt and I’ve spent quite a lot of time with him, getting to know him better each and every time I go and spend time with him. He’s a funny dude. I’m going to leave it at that, but it’s been great to spend time with Matt so far.”

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.