Toyota Racing – Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 14, 2024) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Jimmie Johnson was made available to the media on Wednesday prior to the Daytona 500.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 84 Carvana Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB

What was the motivation to join the Extreme E series?

“I think anything that we do as a company in any form of motorsports that we compete in, I intend on it coming back, somehow or some way to benefit our Cup program. NASCAR is our core product, and I think there are many opportunities in Extreme E to reach a new fan base, reach new partners. There’s some new technology coming out in 2025 with those vehicles that happens to align very well with Toyota and their vision of sustainable forms of energy to race with in the future, so there is a lot of layers to it. I think in ’24 they have a smaller schedule. It is easy for us to get in and get our feet wet and see and decide what we want to do for ‘25, but really excited for the opportunity. Going to lean on Travis Pastrana and Gray Leadbetter to jump in pretty late in the game. Gray’s there and Travis will be there soon. He had some obligations to wrap up, but I’m really excited to go get dirty again. It’s been a long time since I’ve been either off the ground or upside down, and I think both things could happen in Extreme E.”

How does the sponsorship work in that space?

“It’s a similar process and I’m trying to understand that landscape better. I can say with my time in the UK the last six or seven months, that I’m just impressed with the amount of fandom around all forms of motorsports, and the corporations that are active in European racing and the amount of interest in what’s going on over here in the States. So, I’m definitely taking advantage of my time in the UK and try to network and expand, and time will tell if it really comes together, but car culture and motorsport fandom in England is impressive.”

You are in the unique position to be a NASCAR Hall of Famer that can win a race. What does that mean to you?

“It’s a good question. I didn’t realize that. I truly am in this race, the nine races this year – will see what comes about for next year, because I just want to race. Of course, I want to win. Of course, I want to add to the win list and the other aspects of what I’ve been able to do in the sport, but that’s not why I’m here. That goes with saying – that when I put the helmet on – I want to win. That’s just how I’m wired. I’ve shared the reasons why I’m out there. The purest of all is that I just love driving. I love racing. I’m excited to be here for those reasons.”

Is your schedule based on sponsorship and is nine the number of races?

“Nine is the number. I was kind of around the 10 number, but for Toyota and my team and what we can do, nine seems like a great number for this first year. Partnerships really did dictate that. I had an open race or two to pick, and I chose Dover and Las Vegas, because I have so many other mile-and-a-half tracks on the schedule, so I thought I’d throw those two in as well.”

Is the second year a pivotal time for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB?

“I don’t know. I physically wasn’t around a lot last year for obvious reasons, but I was still heavily involved and when you look at the partnerships, and Toyota coming on board, I’ve been quite active on the revenue or marketing side of the business. I think we’ve made some great hires in our executive leadership group on the corporate side. We are making some huge strides there. We’ve basically doubled in size in a few short months, so there is a lot of growth, but my involvement has been pretty steady and consistent. It has been really impressive to watch everyone work so hard. There are really so many men and women working countless hours to help us make a huge step forward this year. I think this year, I hope, that we do make a huge step forward and everyone can see it and it’s noticeable. After that, I think after that it becomes incremental. It is going to be tough to chip away at the people at the top and the people that we want to race with and race with on a consistent basis.”

What do you do to knock the rust off with a part-time schedule?

“It’s very little. It’s just the way things play out and work out for all of the teams. I’ve been in our simulator a little bit just to work on pit road and get those reps in place. I ran a couple of single car laps around here, which really doesn’t do much for you. I feel like I’m well prepared for qualifying and my shifting locations and kind of the technicalities of that, but then the Duel is that opportunity to knock the rust off. It’s been since May since I’ve been in a Cup car. I did do some vintage car racing, but a much different animal than wheeling one of these cars around.”

What have you seen of the change of Denny Hamlin through the years and what has been the constant?

“His commitment to his craft. He’s had that from the early days. When we were competitors, it was hard – we still are – but the Toyota family does offer a layer of being on the same team. I’ve spent more time chatting with him on his perspective on many things here recently than I have in all of the years that we were truly competitors on the track. He was nice enough to give me a lift down here today, so we got to chat some more. The competition aspect – everyone is kind of in their own lane – but he was always committed to always growing his skill set and I know he studied my work at Martinsville for many years. Next thing you know he was the guy I had to beat at Martinsville, and watched him kind of evolve and always have that mindset to work and hone his craft, and then spending time today talking to him about the ownership side, and his new building opening up and their vision on where they are going and how involved he is – I’m able to see more of that. He’s constantly evolving and trying to recreate himself as a driver or as a business man.”

When see the role that Denny Hamlin is willing to take now, what do you think about that?

“I think that speaks to part of his evolution. He has his podcast. He is very opinionated and is very honest about his opinion and has certainly been honest about where his motivation is coming from with those boos. It’s not easy to do – I think when I watch, I see an authentic Denny (Hamlin) responding in that way. He’s not making it up and it’s not bothering me, and he goes home and it’s really bothering him – I really think it is fuel for him. I don’t think that Denny Hamlin that showed up in ’05, ’06 – somewhere in there wasn’t at that point. It’s tough to be at that point early in your career, but his evolution has led him to this place.”

Has anything changed in your desire to compete?

“There are aspects of it – the grind of it, certainly wears on me. I know that is why I didn’t extend to run INDYCAR and sports car last year. I had an opportunity to do so, but the commitment it takes to run a full-time season in any championship, I just knew that I didn’t have that amount in me to run 17 INDYCAR races and a handful of sports car races. But the desire to drive and to race and compete and to have the nerves in my stomach, or butterflies, the focus that racing requires, I truly long for it. There are aspects of it, I think we all know it being on the road, there are certain aspects of it that you wish weren’t there, but to truly do the job. I love it. I’ve chase it my whole life. To put in the context of a musician or something, it’s like asking a guitarist to put down their guitar at 48 or 45. Even stick and ball pro sports, late 30s is when most of them have to hang up the cleats. When you spend your lifetime doing your passion for a job, and then you have to put it away, it just doesn’t seem realistic to me. That’s the thing I keep chasing.”

What do you think the perception is going to be when you roll off in a Toyota tonight?

“Everybody has just been so kind on Twitter, I’m just going to have a standing ovation out there.”

What do you recall about this race in 20 years when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won?

“I don’t know. It was my first real trip to the transporter to meet Bill (France) Jr. and Mike Helton. Mike showed up with a VHS tape and put it in about an hour after the race had finished. I had to stand up in the hallway with (Greg) Zipadelli and (Tony) Stewart and (Chad) Knaus and myself, just glaring at each other – no one really wanting to say anything. It was really uncomfortable. That’s honestly what I remember most about that race. I’m glad Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) had a good time and was able to win. There with what happened to his father, I recall the magnitude of the win.”

What has the transition process to Toyota been like?

“It’s been overwhelming in the greatest of ways. The amount of data that we have. The tools that are included with that, tools that we need to design and create. We literally had to hire software coders to create the tools that we need because this is a new system, new software for us and we have a lot of responsibilities on our side to receive all of this information, but it has been a great journey, a great partnership. We are thankful that they believe in us, and we look forward to taking a big step forward that I mentioned earlier. We know it is going to be tougher as we go here, but it is truly a partnership, and we are very thankful for it.”

You’ve won this race twice. Does that take the pressure off coming in here?

“For my 19 consecutive years, I’ve wanted to win. It added more pressure to win again. It is the only race that you can win that bestows a title on you, so it is the single largest race that we have. The biggest resume builder. It might be the opportunity to get you in the hall of fame. There is so much that hinges on the Daytona 500 for our sport.”

How does not having a guaranteed spot change your perspective going into the race?

“This will be my third time going through it. My very first Daytona 500 I had to go through and (Chad) Knaus brought a killer car down here and we won the pole, which made life very easy. Last year was quite nerve wracking. We assumed we didn’t have pole speed, and then the whole guessing game on will we outrun the other non-chartered cars, and here we are again. I do feel like I have less stress on me this year, than last, but when I’m standing on the frontstretch and watching cars go by and see the lap times, I’m sure that will ramp back up, but it is a serious moment. We really hope that we can put our best foot forward here in qualifying and be one of those fastest two cars, and not have to worry about anything else.”

How do you contrast the two things of being the race that has the most eyes on it, but it may not take the most talent or skill to get the win?

“It is tricky as we all know. The thing that I see in recent years is just how important track position is and that doesn’t mean that the big one won’t happen and somebody that wasn’t at the front of the field or someone that was being more cautious setting themselves for a good finish or a chance to win – that still can happen, but I feel now more than ever that people are now racing every lap. I didn’t necessarily ride here, but I would in Talladega – trying to protect championship points for the Playoffs. It wouldn’t necessarily win me the race, but I could run top-five and I could hold court with whoever I was racing against or sometimes pull out on them because they were caught up in the big one, but there is nobody who can race that way anymore. It’s not possible, and the way this car drafts – the last car in the group has the most downforce on it. There is less aero benefit of being back there than ever before. Everybody is afraid of being the last car in line, so it really does create a racing environment versus in other years.”

Is there anything about Toyota psychologically that is different or distinct compared to what you are used to?

“I’ll touch on that. I have to start with that the way we race today is much different than my last year in 2020. The demand that is on the manufacturers today – they really control data, and the progression of the technology is different. All of the years that I was at Hendrick, Hendrick really led all of that. Of course, GM helped, but there was less of a technical demand on GM, and it was much more of a marketing relationship, not all marketing but Hendrick did the heavy lifting on the technology. It is so different now, so it is tough for me to compare, because I am with Toyota now and the manufacturers are required to provide so much, so it’s not true apples-to-apples comparison, but the thing that really stands out to me spending time with Toyota like I have is why they have the specific car count and their laser focus on the teams that they have and how they can provide and their philosophy behind that. It really is amazing, and we are fortunate to be on receiving all of the rewards on that. It is very tough to be in that and the family and the partnership, and we are there and I can see how special that is now that we are in there.”

About Toyota

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

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

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona 500 Media Day | Wednesday, February 14, 2024

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW MUCH DO SIM SESSIONS HELP YOU WHEN YOU HAVE TO GO TO NEW TRACKS, LIKE IOWA THIS YEAR? “I feel like when we go to places like in Iowa or Chicago street course, something like that, you don’t really have the ability to use all of the sim time and those tools to really set up. It starts to come down to more of your racing knowledge. So, makes it a challenge for everybody, and I do enjoy that. Iowa, I’m really excited about. That’s a track I’ve been hoping we’d go to for a really long time. So, really, really pumped that that one worked out. I got to race Xfinity and ARCA there and had an absolute blast. It was pretty rough back then, and that was almost 10 years ago. ago so I’d imagine you know some of the the touch-ups are probably needed at this point to get it smoothed out.”

THE REPAVE THAT THEY ARE DOING THERE, ARE YOU OKAY WITH THAT? “I never like repaves in general but it’s understandable that it was probably in need. Like I said it was really rough back then I know it was starting to to crumble and come apart a little bit that I remember. There were already patches, so as much as I hate it, yeah, I can see where it’s probably necessary.”

YOU HAVE THREE TOP-FIVE FINISHES IN THE 500. YOU WON HERE IN AUGUST. DO YOU FEEL LIKE A FAVORITE GOING INTO THIS WEEK? CAN ANYBODY REALLY FEEL LIKE A FAVORITE HERE? “I don’t know what the feeling is on it from anyone else I guess, but for us, I know we’re going to have a chance to win this thing. There’s not a doubt in my mind. With all three of our cars. So in that sense, I’m confident that we will be able to do that. We’ll be able to contend. There’s a luck factor when you come to these races. You gotta be able to survive some of the things that are outside of your doing and every one of these things, there’s always that accident that happens somewhere near you that you just narrowly get through. And I’ve heard the,, you make your own luck comments through the years and I don’t buy into that here. Not fully. There’s a certain amount of control you can, but there’s a certain amount of luck when it comes to some of these speedway races. We need a little bit of luck on our side, but outside of that I know that we have the talent behind the wheel for all three of our cars. I know we’re going to have a speed, like I said, and we’ve studied, we’ve made a game plan, we’ve tried to run through all the scenarios that we can predict, and we’re prepared for that.”

HOW VALUABLE IS IT TO HAVE DAVID (RAGAN) IN A THIRD CAR HERE THIS YEAR? “David, first off is a good friend and someone who mentored me a ton coming in and helped me get into this world professionally so it’s so cool to have him as a teammate on the racetrack. I think that’s gonna be a lot of fun. Secondly, he’s extremely good at speedway racing. I don’t think he gets enough credit for it. But it is very calculated. He studies very hard for these to the point where has been in contention to win this race several times throughout his career. So having a veteran speedway or veteran race car driver, one that really does so well superspeedway racing and having him here with us. I’m pumped for that too. And obviously got to race that one into the show. I feel like qualifying should be in good shape but it’s going to be a good source for all of us to be able to have another friend on the track.”

DAVID ISN’T THE ONLY GOOD SPEEDWAY RACER. HAVE YOU LEARNED MORE ABOUT THAT CRAFT SINCE YOU HAVE HAD BRAD (KESELOWSKI) AS A TEAMMATE? “Yeah, for sure. I finished well speedway racing through Xfinity by being smart and surviving and having a little good luck along the way Somehow and when it got to my rookie season in Cup we crashed every single one of them. And not small crashes, like highlight reel crashes for a long time. That was what I got to see of myself on the commercials for superspeedway races. So certainly turned a corner from that but it has taken knowledge from those that are very good at it like Brad did to come to these places and study and figure out how to approach it. He’s very analytical in what he looks for everywhere we go, but it’s certainly been something that’s helped me understand what we’re after when we come to plate races. I think that it’s helped me really buckle down and understand that they can be enjoyable. I didn’t used to enjoy superspeedway racing for a long time. My career just didn’t care for it. I’ve gotten to the point now where it may not be my favorite, but I really do enjoy these. I’ve understood that there is that little bit of luck factor in there. And with that, just understand that is what it is. But having fast race cars has made it a lot more fun for me.”

DO YOU GO IN EXPECTING OVERTIME? “As of lately, yeah. I think, unfortunately, I think we’re crashing at the end of every superspeedway race right now, and not typically small crashes, so I think you have to game plan it. Statistically, I think you have to plan on it. We’ve played back the fall race even and talking about things we could have done different, maybe should have done different. Obviously, it worked out fine, but what if, right? What if that caution comes out at a different time? What if we’re not in the right scenario? What if we’re split apart? At that point, the one that went exactly right for us, we’re still ripping it apart trying to figure out what could have been better, what could have been worse. It’s the level of excitement or just impatience, it’s jacked up right there at the end. And that’s led to a lot of little mistakes that have created big big crashes.”

WHEN YOU AND BRAD AND I GUESS IN THIS CASE DAVID TOO ARE LOOKING BACK AT VIDEOS OF THIS RACE FROM THE PAST AND FIGURING OUT THINGS LIKE THE ANALYTICS, BUT EVEN LOOKING AT THOSE IT’S NOT EQUAL FOR ALL THREE OF YOU GUYS RIGHT? ONE OF YOU MIGHT WORK BETTER WITH SOME OTHER DRIVER THAN THE OTHER ONE TONIGHT. DOES THAT COME INTO PLAY WHEN YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT THINGS? “Yeah, certainly manufacturer alliances have been a whole lot more prominent in the last five or six years maybe. Another thing to that is our Ford bumpers line up very well with other Fords and that’s enabled us to be very aggressive pushing where we’ve watched our competitors try it and not be able to successfully. So while yes, through the years, Brad and David probably have people in mind that they’ve worked well with that may not be just our little core group that we’re talking about, but it’s hard to work with the other manufacturers in some of those ways if that’s who they have in their mind. That is something to keep in mind for us as we’re going through it is I think you’ve got to look hard for Ford teammates.”

HOW MUCH DOES THAT LEVEL OF TRUST OR DISTRUST ENTER INTO YOUR MIND AT THE VERY END WHETHER THIS GUY IS GOING TO HELP ME OR DUMP ME? “I would not have wanted anybody else behind me last fall here, pushing as hard as we were pushing in the corner. If it had been anybody else I don’t think it finishes the way it does. We’re probably turned around backwards. We worked together all day long. We knew how to push each other, and how to connect well. We had that level of trust. I fully expected Brad to pull out of line there at the end and I think given the opportunity and some kind of momentum or run I think he would and we’d have ourselves a heck of a battle of the line. We’re not gonna wreck each other and we’ve talked that yeah the pushing is a big part of it you got to do it and it’s risky and you know at some point it’ll bite us and that’s just kind of understood it’s nothing intentional we are doing it for the best intentions for both of us but it’s hard to do and it’s hard to do correctly.”

HOW DO YOU BEGIN TO DESCRIBE TO SOMEONE THAT YOU CAN BE LEADING THE DAYTONA 500 GOING INTO TURN FOUR HAVING THIS ANTICIPATION OF EXHILARATION AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN IT CAN END UP WHERE YOUR HEART GETS RIPPED OUT OF YOUR CHEST? “Yeah I’ve I’ve not made it quite that far around to where it’s changed right there for me. It’s changed two or three laps to go a couple of times and it’s hard to imagine it hurting worse than that. So I’m sure it does. We’ve had some scary moments there through the years too and it just happens in an instant and it’s just tough. You’re racing for a Daytona 500 win, it is our biggest race of the year when we’re all trying to knock the cobwebs off, so that’s a little tricky in itself, but it certainly creates some big moments. It’s hard. It really is. We’re all competitors. We’re all trying to win, and things are going to happen. I’d love to think that nobody’s out there intentionally wrecking those, but they’re being aggressive and pushing it for what they believe is an opportunity to better themselves for what they believe is an opportunity to better themselves. It can change in a heartbeat here.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona 500 Media Day | Wednesday, February 14, 2024

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Peak Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IS THIS RACE THE HOLE IN THE RESUME RIGHT NOW? WHAT WOULD THIS MEAN TO ADD A 500 RING TO YOUR LEGACY? “I feel like I’ve been close to this thing a couple of times. I had a good shot to win it a couple years ago and it just didn’t work out. When people ask me that, I mean, that’s the dream deal. You win the championship and then turn right around and win the 500. The last person to do it was Dale Jarrett in 2000 I think someone said, so it’s about time someone maybe does it again. We’ll see. You just try to learn from experiences from previous races here and figure out, ‘Hey, what did we do well to put us in a spot to win? And what decisions did I make that kind of kept us out of victory lane?’ And you just hope to find yourself in those spots again and try to make the right decision, so we’ll see. You just try to be rolling at the end of it and hopefully you’re there, but I’m excited for it. It should be great and try to add the 500 onto RP’s Rolex 24 that he got not too long ago here.”

DO YOU GO INTO SUNDAY EXPECTING THERE WILL BE OVERTIME? “Honestly, it’s not something I think about. If there is one, I’d like to make it to overtime. That’s one of the biggest parts, but, yeah, I think you’ve seen that a lot here recently. That’s just a product of it. You get down to the last handful of laps and people are shoving super hard. You have people shoving hard in wrong places and you cause big wrecks. That’s just what it is, so I wouldn’t say I expect overtime. Like I said, it’s not really something I think about, but it’s something that seems to be a normal thing now.”

DO YOU GO BACK AND WATCH VIDEO OF THE FINAL 10 LAPS FROM PREVIOUS 500 RACES? “Yeah, I look at it all. For example, I watch through the couple weeks leading up to this race I watched last year’s 500. I watched ‘22’s 500. I watch each summer race from here the last couple of years, and then I watch even some Talladega races, just drafting tracks, just trying to see scenarios. I usually look at other places I look at my scenarios and that’s just me and my spotter do that work of like what did we do well, what did we do poorly. Even the finishes here it’s like, what move did this guy make at the end of the race last year and in ‘22 that got him the win, so you try to study all that. You never know. There are a million, trillion situations that can pop up, but you just try to figure out that maybe there are some similarities to this situation that you might find yourself in and you just try to dump all the stuff into your brain that you hope to subconsciously pop up if you are in that position and it worked out for those guys who ended up winning the race.”

THE MUSTANG DARK HORSE NOSE IS DIFFERENT. DO YOU FORESEE ANY CHANGE IN HOW THE CAR WILL PUSH OR BE PUSHED IN COMPARISON TO LAST YEAR? “It’s shaped a little bit differently, but it’s hard to tell. You can look at it as much as you want. You can test it in the wind tunnel as much as you want. You can make your assumptions, but until we get out there in the Duels tomorrow night it’s hard to tell. Until you actually have somebody pushing you down the frontstretch, pushing you down the backstretch, getting pushed, pushing somebody else, you just don’t know. That’s the best way to test it. I’ve always been a field tester. That’s the best way you’re gonna find your data, but I think it’s hopefully fairly similar. I thought that’s what made the Fords so strong at these speedways was our ability to push and take pushes from obviously fellow Fords, but other manufacturers as well, so hopefully we still have that strength and I think we will.”

ARE THERE ANY DIFFERENCES IN HOW YOUR TEAM IS APPROACHING THIS YEAR COMPARED TO OTHERS? “I think it just builds confidence in our whole group. It’s not only me, it’s everybody on our team having confidence in knowing that you can do things that you believe in. I think everybody believes obviously that you can win the championship, but until you’ve done it, you don’t know if you can do it, so that knowing part, I think, is really a strong thing to have and I think our group is really good at accepting that and holding their heads up high. You never want to be cocky, but confidence is really important to have and I think our group is embracing that very well, so I’m really happy they get to experience that, too.”

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO BE THE GUY WHO FINISHES SECOND IN THIS RACE? “I remember it. I remember every little detail of how you run second. Drivers obviously remember it. You remember the ones you lose. The ones that sting I feel like you remember those even more. You remember every little detail about them, so, yeah, we’ve run second here twice. I feel like I’ve had a great shot to win it maybe two or three other times and it just hasn’t played out. I try to take those as things like running second or close to winning this thing and not doing it, but I always try to take things from it as, ‘OK, we did a really good job of putting ourselves in a spot to win this race. What can I do and what can we do as a team to try to change the outcome of that?’ Great, you get there, but you’re just gathering data and previous experiences and I think that’s nice. Someone told me that this is my 10th Daytona 500, which is crazy. I’ve been lucky to have some good runs in it, so you just try to get all of that stuff that you’ve learned and try to change it. You do all that stuff and you could get wadded up on lap two and it goes for nothing, but you just try to take all of the info and experience that you can and, hopefully, you’re in a spot to where you can use it. That’s all you ask for is a chance to use this stuff that you’ve learned and apply it, and that’s the biggest thing. Hopefully, we can try to get it done, so we’ll see.”

WHAT IS THE ONE DETAIL OR ONE THING THAT STANDS OUT THAT HAUNTS YOU? “I look at the two that I vividly remember the most. We ran second in 2017 to Kurt and that was a weird one. I couldn’t have done anything different. We got strung out. Guys were running out of gas. I couldn’t get there. But then I look at 2020 when we ran second and me, Denny and Ryan were racing. Yeah, I mean I look back and it’s easy to Monday quarterback the thing and be like, ‘We’ll just make a different move.’ It’s hard to make those decisions in that moment. You’re trying to process a million thoughts in a millisecond and you have no time to think about them, process them, apply them. You’re doing it off of action and sometimes you make the wrong choice. Obviously, I would have liked to do something different in 2020. I would have like to choose a different lane. And then in 2022 I had a great shot to win it pushing Austin and, yeah, it was the same thing. I thought I waited until the correct moment to make sure one of us won the race, but I just wish I would have made a different move. Like I said, it’s easy to look back on those things now and you never know how that leader is gonna react. You never know where they’re gonna go. You’re guessing as well as them of guessing where you’re going, so you just look at those little things and sometimes I try not to get too bent out of shape about them. I try to just learn from them like, ‘Alright, maybe if you’re in this spot again, do something different and then move on.’ I try to not let it eat at me, those tough ones, so just those little things and gathering experience. Or, maybe you’re known for a certain move and maybe you do something different. You try to keep people guessing, so you’re just always trying to change up things and those close ones it’s easy to say what you should have changed up, but you can’t change them up at that race, you just try to do them for the future.”

WHAT DO YOU HOPE YOUR VOICE CARRIES AND WHAT IMPACT DO YOU HOPE YOU CAN MAKE OUTSIDE AND INSIDE THE SPORT NOW THAT YOU HAVE THIS POSITION AS A CHAMPION? “There are multiple sides to that. There’s opportunities outside of the sport, I feel like, that are important to do and I got to do a good amount of them in the winter. There are a lot of them coming down the pipeline for this year that I’m really excited about to grow the sport outside of the racetrack and its inner workings, but then also in the sport I feel like your voice does have some – I think people trust you and believe you a lot. It’s really funny. You do something like win a championship and now people maybe listen a little more to what you’re saying. It’s like, ‘OK, maybe it’s a little different.’ But I do think it’s important, for me, I’ve never been one to always raise my hand and speak up with anything that’s on my mind. If I speak out on something that’s really important to me, and I really have a strong feeling about it. I’ve always thought that less words used the right way is better than a lot of words used for nothing, so I think that’s something I might do a little bit more is maybe bringing up things that I think are important for this sport and bringing them up more, whether it’s internally with NASCAR or if it gets to doing them externally in the public, then maybe I have to, but I’m never gonna be one to have a voice just to have a voice. It has to have a purpose, and then I think I need to pay attention a little bit more to issues going on because I’ll probably get asked about them more because you are a champion and people are gonna ask, ‘What do you think about this and that?’ So, i probably need to pay attention more to those little details so I know what I’m talking about if I do get asked about that stuff, but I think using your voice when it’s an important time to do that, to where you have some weight behind it, is something I’ll try to utilize this year.”

IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIFIC YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE OF WHAT’S COMING DOWN THE PIPELINE? “There are a few things we’re working on. They’re in the early stages though.”

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU AND TIM SAT DOWN STARTED BREAKING DOWN FILM FOR SUPERSPEEDWAY RACES? “I’ve been excited to work with Tim Fedewa. It was great to have him at the test in Phoenix. It was great to have him at the Clash. He did a great job, but this is obviously a whole other deal and we’ve spent a lot of time looking at film, listening to audio of certain situations like watching me and the 4 race in the fall at Talladega. That was a perfect thing. He’s spotting. I’m driving other cars, so I think working that stuff out is good, and I think I’ve always kind of on-track kind of figuring out how things go. You can talk about all this stuff all you want, just like with the new car and the new body, but until you actually get out there and you work out your things, I think that’s good to do. We’ll see how the Duel goes tomorrow night and then he and I will sit down and be like, ‘Hey, let’s do more of this or less of this,’ and just kind of tweak our game plan. But, I feel like we’ve done all we can to lead up to it for now and hopefully it does well. I’m excited for him though. He’s a great guy. He showed me a picture the other day of my dad, him and Randy LaJoie here in ‘99 before a Busch race, which was pretty neat.”

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP RUN THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO THIS YEAR IN THE REGULAR SEASON? “I think something our team did a really good job at through the summer especially is when we weren’t running very good they didn’t freak out. They didn’t lose their mind. They just understood that some things we were trying weren’t working and we had to work in other areas. They just did it calmly and I think that was great. That is what mentally prepared us for the playoffs. People say, ‘Oh, you ran terrible all year until the playoffs.’ Well, we were leading the points until the summer break and then we went down a path that really didn’t work, but it helped us learn what not to do for the playoffs, that, honestly, running bad in the summer really helped us for the playoffs because we understood where we don’t need to work on and we needed to work in other areas. I think that’s what made me super proud of them. They were very calm and collected and really worked hard, so I think having that demeanor going forward is good when things aren’t going great. Don’t freak out. Just do the work and try to get better and give all the feedback you can to figure out how to get better. What parts of the track you need to get better on, and then I think the confidence things is great too. I said earlier that I think everyone on this group has huge confidence of knowing what we can accomplish and trying to figure out how in the heck we do it again.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU COMING IN HERE WITH BEING THE CHAMPION? “I didn’t really have a different outlook on this place after winning the championship. This place is special by itself and I think the only thing that changed is the confidence level and, like I said, you don’t ever want to be cocky. It’s having belief in yourself. Listen, I’ve never been a very confident human being, so any little bits of confidence I can grab and apply to myself is really good and it helps me personally and internally, so I think that is the biggest thing is like when the garage opens today, I think that’s what everyone on the 12 group is gonna have of everyone seeing them and having the number one garage stall is great and that confidence for them is great to start off this week, but, as far as this place goes, it’s special in itself. Championship or not, you understand the meaning behind this place. I’ve been in awe of this place every time I drive through the tunnel ever since I was born. It hasn’t changed 30 years later.”

HAVE ANY OF YOUR PEERS ASKED YOU FOR FEELINGS ON SOMETHING? HAS THAT CHANGED IN THE GARAGE AT ALL? “I haven’t really been around them too much since then. No, I feel like it’s something cool that Joey and I can share now as teammates. That’s kind of nice that we can kind of share that. We already have a great relationship with each other working together, but I feel like now that you have something really special you can share with each other it even makes your relationship stronger, so that part is good. But, yeah, none of that really yet.”

WHAT HAS THE REACTION BEEN LIKE TO THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY? “I thought it was positive. I haven’t seen too many negative things about it, honestly. I think everyone really enjoyed it and you hope it reaches across the board. You hope it reaches the NASCAR fan already, and then you hope it reaches somebody who doesn’t know anything about the sport. That’s what that platform does – Netflix. I met a lot of people in L.A. who were like, ‘This is our first race because we watched the Netflix documentary. We were intrigued and we want to check it out.’ That’s what you hope to do. That’s how you have to grasp people. It gets harder and harder to grasp a new audience every year whatever it is – any sport. It’s hard to grab. How do you make somebody a fan of what you do and just putting a product on TV, on the track, on the field, on the court, that’s not enough anymore. You have to be relatable and these shows have really done a good job of relating to people who don’t do that sport, showing us as people, showing us in our every day lives, showing the emotions of the playoffs, the ups and downs, the heartaches of it. For some reason as a human race, we love seeing heartache and pain and I think the documentary showed a lot of heartache and pain in the playoffs and pride, and I think people really liked that. I have no idea what it’s like to be an NFL quarterback, but watching that show and seeing those guys it gave me a whole new perspective. Like, ‘Man, I like that guy.’ You can kind of relate to those people, so I think it did a good job. Hopefully, it sticks around. Hopefully, it comes back because I think people really enjoyed it and I think the drivers enjoyed opening up as well, and I think you would have more drivers open up even more if it comes back again. You kind of understand what it does, the reach that it has, and I think you’re gonna have more people be like, ‘OK.’ Really open your doors. I opened my doors up probably 80 percent. Some guys were more and some guys were less, and I think if that comes back that more guys will open their doors up a lot more, which is good.”

DO YOU FEEL THERE WILL BE ANY MORE OR LESS AGGRESSION DURING THE DUELS WITH TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE NEW CARS? “The Duels I always try to approach them, obviously you want to be smart in the Duels. You’re trying to win it and there are some points involved, but the last thing you want to do is wreck your 500 car kind of making a dumb move, but at the same time you can’t just ride around the back because this is your biggest chance to figure out what your car handles like in a pack. Friday, Saturday, you’re not gonna have a big pack racing like that and drafting just because it’s close to the 500, so this is the best chance to figure out what you need for Sunday, so I’ve always tried to put myself in funky spots in the Duels, spots that I would be in in the 500 – really close to someone’s back bumper exiting four with someone close to your outside. How does your car react to that? So, I think you have to be smart about everything, but also you need to figure out what you need to work on. We’ll see. The Duels, I never know how they’re gonna go. I’ve sat up here and been like, ‘I think they’re gonna be boring and they’ve been wreck fests and crazy.’ And then I’ve said, ‘It’s gonna be exciting and it’s single-file the whole time.’ So you never know how everyone is gonna feel tomorrow night.”

ARE YOU CALLED RFB NOW AFTER THE NETFLIX SHOW? “I don’t know. She was mortified when that was caught on microphone. When we watched it a few days before it came out she’s like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe they put that in there.’ And it was on the trailer. I was like, ‘That’s bold putting it on the trailer.’ But it was fine. I think she’s gotten over her embarrassment of that and she’s embraced it. She’s like, ‘Yeah, I said that.’ So, maybe we’ll make some shirts. I can’t have the full wording on the shirts, but we’ll bleep out some letters.”

DID JOEY GIVE YOU THE CHAMPION’S JOURNAL? DID IT SAY ANYTHING THAT STUCK OUT? “I can’t tell you what it said. It’s very cool.”

ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO DEFEND A CHAMPIONSHIP? “Joey was super helpful to me through the playoffs. I mean, him being in spots multiple times and winning a couple of championships he was really helpful to me and kind of understanding. I picked his brain a little bit. Everyone approaches things differently, but just kind of picking his brain on at Phoenix, how did you approach the week leading up to it and things like that, and he was super helpful to me, and I appreciate that from him. We try to work with each other very, very well and we’ve done that, so it’s always nice to kind of have a teammate like that. That’s what you want. You never want teammates at each other’s throats and we’ve been lucky to have a good relationship. He helped me out a lot through the championship run. I don’t know if I’ll get much help anymore (laughing), but he’s been fantastic. Hopefully, we can continue to work really well together and compete with each other for many championships to come.”

WERE YOU ALWAYS GOING TO BE A RACER? “Yeah, that’s what I wanted to be. I never knew if it was actually gonna happen or not. I had a lot of great opportunities of my dad getting me involved in it early. As a kid, I just wanted to do what my dad did and, like I said, I was super lucky to get some opportunities to be able to do what he did and have his support along the way. I tried other sports, but I came to the realization that I’m a very short kid and I will never make it in any other stick and ball sport. I’m a scrawny little kid, so racing seems good and I have a lot of opportunities and I’m OK with it. It’s what I always wanted to be, so I’m super lucky it came true.”

ANY MOMENT WHERE YOU WONDERED IF IT WAS GOING TO PAN OUT? “Always. You never know if things are gonna work out or not. You can get the best opportunities ever and you struggle for a few years and your opportunity is gone, so, yeah, growing up you’re always scared to death of not having a job and everything not working out, so you just work hard at it and it kind of motivates you. But, yeah, definitely when you get going you’re like, ‘I don’t think this is gonna work out. I don’t know.’ When I wrecked my second Xfinity race I thought my career was over and, luckily, Tommy Baldwin had another car I could drive for a few more races, so you always had that thought.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500 MEDIA DAYS
FEBRUARY 14, 2024

 COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 SPIRE MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1 – 2024 Daytona 500 Media Day Quotes

Going back to Atlanta last year, and the showings you’ve had in drafting style and superspeedways, to come here with a major sponsor and a big week. Do you feel this the best position you’ve walked in here this week?

“For sure. The bar has been very low, and we keep continuing to creep that bar up each year. I remember sitting here in such a difference in perspective my first Daytona 500 we made in the No. 83 car. Marty Smith asked me a question and I started crying. I said I’d wreck my grandmother to make the Daytona 500. If I didn’t make that one, I promise you I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you.

We continue to understand what we need to do to put ourselves in the right spots. Someone told me this week that I’m second in average finishes here at Daytona behind the guy that just walked out, and that guy is pretty good. We know what to do. We know how to put ourselves in position to be in the hunt to contend for these races. I think we’re going to continue to refine that and do an even better job this year.”

A lot of talk about Spire (Motorsports) this offseason – the moves you’ve made. Do you feel like there’s pressure to perform, and what do you have to do this year to show you can handle this responsibility?

“I’ve always had pressure. Pressure is different than expectations. I think that pressure, as a competitor, to continue to get better and you want to win. I’ve been successful and I’ve won at everything I’ve ever done in my life. Then you get here, you’re really aligned on opportunities and strength of teams, and that’s why that success in black and white on paper in terms of adding trophies to your trophy case, has really slowed down the last five years. The pressure I put on myself to get better is something I wake up with every day. That hasn’t change. Now, it’s just, having more potential to do that. Ryan Sparks has more tools at his disposal. The team has more resources coming in from super recognizable brands on my fire suit right now, like Chili’s. To be able to get our race team to a point where we can represent brands like this and start attracting talent from other race teams to our team, whether it’s on the floor or on a pit box, I take a lot of pride in having a part of that. The pressure is no different than what it was my first Cup race because you want to do good, and you want to be successful and win, but the expectations are what you really want to manage. That’s what really starts bogging a team down, when you try to start to reach and setting unrealistic expectations. The pressure is part of the job. You deal with it.”

Spire has made all these moves. Was there something that jumped out to you saying, ‘Wow. We’ve made this leap?’

“Everything. The purchase of (Kyle Busch Motorsports), that was unbeknownst to me. I was told by Dickerson about a week before it happened. I’m like, “holy cow, man. We’re going to have to have a hell of a bake sale to pay for this building.’ Then you get the Truck team, those guys. I think the biggest thing I talked about in our team kickoff lunch last week was all the empty trophy cases. The guy that was in that shop before, they had trophies in the rafters of that place that had dust on them because they had no other place to put them. With all of Kyle’s (Busch) success, all of the Truck series wins, that place was full of trophies. Now, there are a couple of pictures and my kickball trophy in the trophy case. So that’s part of the expectations. We need to continue to build to a place where we can start filling these trophy cases up with legitimate trophies. I’m super hopeful of getting Ryan Sparks more depth in engineering, whether it’s some help from GM, help from Hendrick with their engines and pit crews. I’m set up for success more than I’ve ever been in the last seven years of my Cup career. Also, on the flip side, you talk and hear how Ryan Blaney approaches the sport and his preparation. You’re also racing against 30 of those guys with very high IQ’s, high level of high caliber teams. To be able to gain five spots, that means you have to outwit five of those teams, or five of those pairings. It doesn’t make my job any easier. It does make everyone’s job a little more equipped, so that’s what we’re going to do heading into the season.”

With expectations lifted some more this year, with a last lap scenario sitting out there, do you take a little more of a chance than you did two or three years ago? Do you go to the edge more or not?

“I think that winning the Daytona 500 can change your life. You will do everything you possibly can to do that. Now, there are moves you can make that are ill-advised and dumb, and I’ve made several of those. On the flip side, I know what I did back to Atlanta, which is a similar drafting track, and it didn’t work out for me there. I figured out how to lose one of these speedway races, so I’m going to figure out how to be on the other side of this come Sunday.”

A Chili’s executive has said that 60% of NASCAR fans have dined at a casual restaurant which is part of the reason why they’ve decided to get into motorsports. Is there an opportunity for this to expand?

“I think there are always opportunities to grow a partner. I think this is that they are jumping into the deep end with the biggest race of the year, the (Daytona) 500. We did about a 14-hour production day with a couple of TV spots that are going to air. You saw the one on social media with me covering up the QR codes, but there is another one coming that’s going to play during the broadcast that’s pretty funny. For them to spend the money and budget and activate, as well as being on our car, I think really sets us up to really be able to start growing that partnership. They’re going to be an associate for four or five races, and I think their NASCAR-span is going to lead all the way up to COTA in March. They’re associate in Vegas, Atlanta, some other places, and then end of the program ends at COTA, but they’ve been pretty excited so far, and we haven’t even hit the racetrack yet. That’s when people really get excited. We’re going to get them on TV, get them in the mix, and try to get us a good starting spot in the Duels and kick off Sunday with a bang.”

You talked earlier about the challenge of gaining five more spots. As the perception of the team changes, how do you change the mindset?

“That’s a great question. I think I may have talked about that on the podcast. It is a big adjustment. When we first started here, the reins were pulled so tight that you don’t engage. Don’t look at the front, don’t even think about going up there. You just need to have this car cross the start, finish line at the end. That sentiment has really changed and adjusted. For me, as a driver, it certainly has changed in how you approach the race, how you prepare, and how you make moves in the race with the intention of a changing goal as we progress the team. As we get more partners, you can afford to stick it up in the mix to try and punch your ticket to the Playoffs, because you can justify it. I think, for (Ryan) Sparks and I, this is our fifth year working together, and our relationship is now like a marriage. The first day you say I do, it’s not going to look the same in five, 10, or 15 years. Our relationship has definitely changed on what we expect out of each other. I’ve had kids since we’ve started working together, and that whole navigating, making the most of what he had, and where we’re starting to build towards a team with some assets to work together with, we’re helping each other grow up in a way. Him coming from (Richard Childress Racing), not working anywhere else, me coming from a lot of bottom-feeding teams to where we build now. As people continue to look toward the No. 7 car to be a contender at a speedway, that’s a big change. But, for me, I’ve always had the go get it, do whatever it takes mindset, that’s never changed for me. So to have that brindle in your mouth, the reins pulled back, that was so counterintuitive in how I’ve been growing up. I’ve started to have the reins loosened up a bit to go and attack the race how I see fit, I think it’ll start to pay dividends.”

The trophy case you’ve mentioned, there’s no escaping it at the Spire shop. It’s built there. How do you keep that as a motivating factor and not something that becomes overwhelming?

“We’re not going to take that step in a day. We haven’t taken that step to where we are currently in a week. It’s taken four years, three-and-a-half years to get to where it is currently. It’s going to take a significant amount of time in the future to go to the racetrack with the expectation to go for a win. Our expectation is still, ‘Alright, let’s run for more top-15’s consistently.’ Last year, we brought cars with top-10 pace probably four or five times. My mindset going there when I realized we had some pace was ‘Okay, if I’m 10th, let me try to go win this thing.’ I probably made mistakes, or we’d call a bit different race then what we generally would have. We’d take a 10th place car and run 18th with it. We’ve got really good at taking a 25th place car and running 18th with it. We need to start making the 10th place cars run 10th first, then start taking advantage of mistakes. If we start taking cars with more pace more often, I think the rest will fall into place as we get settled in. The air is different on that side of the garage. The expectations are different. I think we have the right parts and pieces, especially with Doug Duchardt being the president of Spire Motorsports now. He has seen every aspect of this sport, helped build Hendrick (Motorsports) to what it is today. That guy brings a lot of knowledge, and I guess, culture. Positive culture, positive expectations for what we can build. Having him in addition to (Ryan) Sparks, and Luke (Lambert), and Steve and the drivers we have over there, it’s going to be really good in the future. I go in the back door so I don’t see the trophy cases anyway (laughs). When we start putting some in there… There’s a grandfather clock in there from the Truck win, and some other stuff, but I’m always a back door guy. I don’t walk in the front door. If you need me, I’m probably sliding in the back door.”

Your dad is a hero or yours, and he drove in the Cup series for 15 years including a stint at Hendrick Motorsports. Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, second generation drivers. Among some of those guys, were any of them your heroes growing up?

“I grew up coming to the track a lot. I was a Saturday kid, running around with Coleman Pressley, Austin and Ty Dillon, Ryan Blaney. Those guys would stick around for Sunday because their dads were racing on Sunday. My dad was content being a Saturday guy and got a couple of stints in and out, but never wanted to pursue that. He wanted to be home with us on Sunday. I think there could be a whole story written up as I have this theory on a drivers’ son, some sort of obstacle you have to overcome. Listening to Ryan (Blaney) talk about it, whether it’s Chase (Elliot) or any other second-generation guy, I don’t think you’ll ever be as good as your dad because your dad is your idol and he hung the moon. Driver-son complex was the word I was trying to think of. For me, I’ve raced more Cup races than my dad has. Certainly, my dad has a lot of success in the Xfinity series, but I’ve grown up wanting to be a Cup series driver. I grew up wanting to be a Cup series winner. I’ve continued to work towards that. I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I feel I can be measured against my dad. I think that Ryan (Blaney) and Chase (Elliott) would say the same thing no matter how successful they are. But it’s so cool, to answer your question about guys I’ve followed, I wasn’t really following those guys so much. Late 80’s, early 80’s, I was a Ricky Rudd, Dale Earnhardt, I had a couple of my favorites. Dale Jr. was when I really started to understand the sport, in the early 2000’s, when I’m 10-14 years old. Especially some North Carolina guys, for sure.”

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NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500 MEDIA DAYS
FEBRUARY 14, 2024

 DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 TRACKHOUSE RACING CAMARO ZL1 – 2024 Daytona 500 Media Day Quotes

New season, what’s your mindset with the new year?

“This year, to me, feels similar to 2021. The reason is because 2020 was a very difficult year for me personally, and then 2021, we started with Trackhouse and it was like a fresh start. A lot of energy, a lot of hype and excitement heading into the year. This year feels that way and the reason is last year, we had a few spikes of good runs. We had a pole position, had a few top fives, but it wasn’t the year we were hoping for. We worked very hard in the offseason to make our team better. Maybe from the outside the team looks very similar, but from the inside, the team is different. I like what I’m seeing and I think we’re going to be able to move in the right direction with everything we have done.”

Is there any additional pressure on you with others in the pipeline at Trackhouse?

“No. There is always pressure, but I don’t have any extra pressure because of them. I know what I’m capable of and I know what we were lacking last year. I feel like as a group we made some adjustments to be better and we’re going to be fine. We have to be better. Good or average isn’t good enough. To be able to change that mindset to shoot to be great has to be an across-the-board mindset. In the offseason, we have worked very hard on that, and I can’t wait to see how it is reflected on track.”

How much influence did you have in choosing your crew chief?

“It was a little bit of influence, but really the team needed a change and they talked to me about different options. At the time, I didn’t know Matt Swiderski very well. He was one of the options. He wasn’t the only option. Last year, we were a good top-15 team. The last few races of the season, we finished 10th, 11th, eighth, but we were not good enough to win. I feel like the entire year, we only had winning cars probably twice, so to be able to win races you have to have winning cars more than twice to execute everything. We needed something different and the team way higher than myself decided that we needed to make a change in the leadership of the team.”

What will it take for Trackhouse to break through?

“There are a lot of young teams like Trackhouse that are getting stronger every year. I truly believe that this year Trackhouse is really going to be stronger than last year. I can’t wait to see that reflected on track and hopefully we can give them a run for the money.”

What did you do in the offseason to make Daniel Suarez stronger?

“Well, I did a lot of work with Matt Swiderski and the rest of the engineers in the simulator and analyzing myself what can I be better at. This is not just ‘we changed the crew chief’ that’s the solution. No, it has to be way more than that and I think we all need to change a few things here and there. Myself, crew chief, engineering department, pit crew department. With these changes, I believe we’ll be in a different place this year.”

Do you look at open-wheel and say maybe one day? Do you ever second-guess yourself?

“No, I never second guess and the reason is because I really wanted to be the first in NASCAR. Formula One is amazing but there is always politics in sports – some more than others. Here, in NASCAR, there is also politics. But Formula One is a different world. This is a little bit tricky. I’m extremely happy here in NASACAR. I feel like it was meant to be for me to be here in NASCAR and bring the Latino community more close to NASCAR and be successful here in NASCAR. Would I want to go to Formula One? I don’t think I would take it. My journey is to be here. I would love to try it because I’m a very curious guy, but I am right now where I want to be.”

Are there any venues you’d like to see added next year?

“I think Mexico City. I think that’s a no-brainer. You have to go to Mexico City, the heart of the country. The question to me is road course or oval. They have both options. I think that would be very special. There have been a lot of conversations about having a race in Mexico for a couple of years now, and I would tell you I would be the happiest person on this planet if that actually happens.”

You ran second in the second race at Atlanta last year. Drivers call that track a hybrid and why are you so good at it?

“I have good cars. I have good execution from my team, and it’s a lot about being patient. It’s a lot like here in Daytona. I think things have worked out a few times for us in Atlanta, and every time we go to a road course we are competitive. If you ask William Byron last year how many times he had a car capable of winning a race – 15, 18? – and he won six. I had a car capable of winning a race maybe three times last year. You have to have more shots than that because a winning car doesn’t mean you’re going to win the race. You still have to execute; it has to play out. If you want to win a couple of races, you have to have eight to 10 winning cars. So that is what we were lacking – consistency. One weekend we can show up to a racetrack and we were top five and the next weekend we were 20th. I feel like the 99 team is the most prepared it has been in years.”

Is the 1 and 99 working closely together?

“Last year, I would say we were working together a little, not a lot. I think that right now, we’re working together a little bit more. In reality, we’ll find out as we go. The 1 team has done a great job. They have a good driver, good engineering and they have a great crew chief. They have a great package. I feel like something the 99 team failed to do last year was learn from them. I was pushing them very hard. We have to learn from those guys. We failed a couple of times to do so. I think the relationships will bring the teams more together.”

Are you and Trackhouse in talks for an extension?

“I think it’s too early for that. My focus is on winning races and making my team competitive. That’s all I care about. If I take care of my thing and you take care of yours, things are going to work out. I have to focus on that. I cannot have my mind on an extension, what is going to happen in two years or whatever with my next contract. My mind has to be in performance. My mind has to be with the sponsors. How are we going to be able to make this team a winning team. That’s what I’m thinking right now.”

If NASCAR decides to go to Mexico next year, what would be your involvement?

“It would be a huge role – not just for me but for the whole NASCAR Mexico Series. I’m looking forward to it because it would be not only huge for myself but for the sport and the fans in Mexico. The sport is so good and so big to do more international stuff.”

Who was your favorite driver and what did you like about them?

“Jeff Gordon, I like a lot. When I started understanding the sport more, I became a huge fan of Tony Stewart. Then I started liking Jimmie Johnson a lot. I like his style; how smart he was and how calm he was. I thought if I like all these guys, why not make a combination of all these three, right? I always thought if I take this from him, that from him, I can build myself from that.”

Is now the right time to do the international race in Mexico City?

“In my opinion, we are making good steps in that direction. Maybe two years ago, I would have said we’re making baby steps. Right now, we are making good steps in that direction with the Chicago Street Race and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Right now, it doesn’t seem like a big move. We’re already doing a lot of big moves. I’m very excited with everything NASCAR is doing. I’m glad they are thinking outside the box to continue to grow the sport.”

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