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

 KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING CAMARO ZL1 – 2024 Daytona 500 Media Day Quotes

Q. Of everything you haven’t done, is there anything else on the bucket list besides this race?

KYLE BUSCH: Winning a damn Bandolero race down the road, yeah. We finished second three days in a row, man. He led every lap today and finished second again. He’s close.

Anyways, yeah, the Daytona 500. It’s certainly the highest honor out there to be able to win a race in our sport. I have not done that yet, although I won the Daytona 500 last year under the yellow flag, not under the checkered flag.

Those damn technicalities keep coming up and getting me.

Q. Five drivers led the Daytona 500 (indiscernible) have not won it. Where does that rank on the pain scale?

KYLE BUSCH: High. High. I don’t have the trophy or the ring. It just means that I could have, should have, would have if it was prior to 2005, right? That sucks. It is what it is. I guess 2005, I knew the rules coming in anyways. That’s when I first started in the Daytona 500 was 2005, so… It happens.

Q. You talk about the results here at the 500. Have you looked into the results, meaning luck for some miscalculation on your part?

KYLE BUSCH: Not necessarily. I haven’t looked at that. I’ve kind of looked at like, Okay, I finished second, third, fourth, fifth. I think there might be five finishing positions that I haven’t finished in in this race, but I’ve gotten all the rest of them. Weird stat. Maybe somebody will look that up.

All in all, coming out of turn four in 2007, maybe I had a little bit of sentimental feeling for Mark, trying to push Mark to the win. I didn’t pull out on the backstretch to take the lead around the outside, then I spun out of four. That was the melee of Bowyer upside down and on fire in that race.

2016, I should have pulled out of line down the backstretch when Denny got the lead. He won. I finished third on that one.

There’s a lot that have stung that you still think about, Dammit, man, should have, could have, would have.

Q. Do you compartmentalize those instances going through a race? I should do this this year…

KYLE BUSCH: You would think, but I’m not that good of a studier. I procrastinate too much. I watch the races, I just don’t study them.

Q. It seemed like on superspeedways last year, the finishes were a lot better. Something to that?

KYLE BUSCH: I would agree. I don’t know why, no. Speaking of study, I feel like you can study and get all those things in your mind of what to do in certain situations, but damn, man, you’re going to get surprised of a new situation and not be ready for it, then try to run through the categories of, Where does this one fall? What should I do? By the time you think that long, it’s over. You know what I mean?

You need to be a quick thinker on your feet and just go with reaction and what you feel in the moment.

Q. Last year you won early and often. How important is it to get that out of the way early, then concentrate on what’s next?

KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, no, winning early, man, that’s huge for your season. It kind of sets the tone, gives you a chance to know you’re in the Playoffs. You just have to make sure you keep everything else in order.

If you’re getting into the July, August months, and you don’t have a win yet, it gets stressful. That’s not going to be a place where you want to get to.

Q. You had two top 10s at Atlanta last year. You really took to that track quickly, the reconfiguration. Different car. What is it about it or are you just easy acclimation?

KYLE BUSCH: I don’t know. I’m not a fan of it. I don’t really like it, but it is what it is. I don’t know.

We got lucky last year in the fifth-place finish because we stayed out on fuel mileage and then the rain came and gave up that opportunity.

Track position is hard to get there. Hard to pass. Two lanes, two-wide… I felt really good about my car. I felt like I could go to the bottom and rip the bottom better than anybody, but then there was no room to get back in line on the top to get the straightaway speed you need. I kept getting sucked backwards every time I would try to pull out of line and try to make a move.

The confidence I had in my car was net hurting me. Just hard to be patient in those situations and sit and ride.

Q. I noticed the logo on your sleeve. A sports betting logo 10, 15 years ago would be unheard of. What do you see as the role of sports betting in sports?

KYLE BUSCH: It’s huge. I think there’s a huge market for it. I grew up in Vegas obviously. A lot of betting happens there. A lot of gambling happens there. It feels like I’m the natural fit for that. Thanks to Bet MGM for being associated with a Vegas cat.

All in all, again, it’s a huge market. A lot more states are coming up with releasing the regulations and allowing sports betting to happen in their states. I feel like that’s only a good thing for the industry, just having that chance.

Q. What’s your responsibility as an athlete in all that?

KYLE BUSCH: Well, I mean, obviously I feel like for us, keeping the integrity of the sport obviously. You’re not going to do anything that hurts the things that you’re supposed to do behind the wheel. You can’t change the outcome of events, right? That’s a big piece of it. That’s what our part is.

Also just making sure you deliver the message of safe betting as well, too. Not getting somebody too much into it, addicted to it, right?

Q. Should we bet on you to win this week?

KYLE BUSCH: I would. Well, from what I’ve heard of a lot of other people around our industry this past week, there’s a lot of people that have good feelings on us this week. Maybe that’s a good omen.

Q. What do you remember of your first win at Las Vegas? Being in front of the home crowd, what did that mean to you?

KYLE BUSCH: In ’09, the Cup win?

Q. Yes.

KYLE BUSCH: It was huge. It was big. That was a cool deal. That to me felt like my Daytona 500. I’ve had some big wins. I’ve won Indy. I’ve won the Southern 500. I’ve won the Coke 600, All-Star Race, all that stuff. But the Vegas win, it was just like such a relief, such a monumental win for me because I remember I grew up right down the street watching that place be built.

It was pretty cool. I can only imagine what winning here at Daytona on Sunday night will feel like.

Q. Is there less pressure when you go back to Vegas?

KYLE BUSCH: Because I’ve won there, yes, there’s less pressure. But I’ve never backed it up. You still want to win there every time you go, being the hometown. I think I have four or five third-place finishes there in the last six or seven races, whatever the hell it is. We’re right there, we just don’t get it.

Q. Of all the various places that you have finished here at Daytona, is it more frustrating to be high and just miss or to be in position and get collected, you’re down the list?

KYLE BUSCH: I think last year probably hurt the worst. We led mile marker 500, then got crashed out and finished 19th. There’s other years I got beat towards the end, finished second or third.

Yeah, you’re pissed, but you also know that’s a good start to the year. Getting out of Daytona with some good points, a good go of it, I guess lends it to be a little easier on the feelings than coming out of here with 19th.

Q. All the championships, the wins, the majors, do you still feel that something would be missing until the Daytona 500 box is checked off?

KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, I mean, it’s missing, right? There’s no checkmark there. Does it do anything to solidify your career, validate the things that you’ve done or accomplished here? I don’t think so.

I mean, I look at Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace and Tony Stewart as some greats that have blue jackets that made it to the Hall of Fame that haven’t won this race.

It would certainly be nice to not have to worry about that going in and have this trophy at home.

Q. You’re about at the point where Earnhardt was when he won his first.

KYLE BUSCH: Trust me, I’m well aware. Thank you very much. I hope we can talk about some of the same storylines on Sunday. That would be nice.

Q. How do you compare the level of parity in this series compared to when you first got up here?

KYLE BUSCH: Way more now than it was. Way more. I mean, back in 2005, early 2000, 2005 when I was here, I mean, you had to be in good stuff. That was one of the most frustrating things that I had, too, was I knew I was in good stuff at Hendrick, and Jeff Gordon is winning around me, Jimmie Johnson is winning around me. They’re raking up championships, top threes in points. I’m spinning out, crashing, winning only one or two races a year. It got frustrating really quick.

Over the years at Gibbs, found my own, found my way. Now again just with the car and everything, it just feels like it’s so tough. Parity is so tight. You can go to races back in the mid 2000s and probably race against five, six, maybe eight guys. Now you go to races and you’re racing against 12 or 15 of team win.

Here at restrictor plate races, I think it’s 30. You can literally look down the list and be, Yeah, there’s no reason why any of these guys wouldn’t win.

Q. Do you think Chevy will have an advantage, considering the new body styles on both the Ford and the Toyota, they’re going to have to work in and get used to it?

KYLE BUSCH: No. I would think anytime you come out with a new body, you fine-tune on it and you make it better than what it was. Ours being the oldest, we haven’t had time or any opportunity to work on it to make it better than what it was.

Those guys I’m sure are going to be fast. With all the testing and the things that NASCAR does in the wind tunnel and whatnot, they say parity is tight, it’s close. Everybody is in the same corner of the box. You don’t know till you see it on the racetrack.

Q. (No microphone.)

KYLE BUSCH: So getting called to the NASCAR hauler is like getting called to the principal’s office. You have your own reasons of why or what. You really want to tell them why or what. You are better off just keeping your mouth shut and taking the beating and walking on and seeing the light come up the next day.

I’ve had some meetings in there where I knew I was in the right, I knew I had a point, and my point was the solid, valid point. Boy, did that bite me in the ass.

Q. It’s less haunting now than it was 15 or 20 years ago, right?

KYLE BUSCH: I don’t know. Maybe a little bit. Trying to think. Who was one of my worst meetings?

Q. Helton.

KYLE BUSCH: I think Helton is still probably going to be in those meetings, yeah. O’Donnell in there. Who was the director years ago, like ’05?

Q. Darby.

KYLE BUSCH: Those three: Darby, Helton and O’Donnell. Those were the three worst.

Now you have Moran that’s going to be in there. Maybe Helton. Fortunately I don’t know because I haven’t been in there in a while.

It’s not a comfortable situation.

Q. There’s been occasions where you take it to them. You’re going to them. What is that situation like?

KYLE BUSCH: Way better. I mean, way easier, yeah.

Q. Other people are saying they walk in and they’re all excited and fired up, walk through the door, it’s a bad idea.

KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, I’ve definitely had other times where I’ve wanted to walk in there and say my piece on other things, too. Me inviting myself, not being invited.

My guys get around me and they’re like, Yeah, I don’t think you should do that. You should let that go and don’t worry about it.

I mean, it just kind of depends on the situation. But I haven’t been in there in a while. I’m going to knock on wood on that.

Q. Jimmie Johnson talked about them making him wait. Him and Tony Stewart. This was in ’04. Did they ever make you wait?

KYLE BUSCH: Oh, yeah. They take their sweet-ass time coming down, yeah. No question. I think the last time I was in there for a big issue was me and Harvick in ’11 at Darlington. I think that was the last time, so… They just take their time. They come down here and you’re all staring at each other. Nobody’s in a good mood.

Q. What is it like sitting across from a guy that you just had an incident with, you’re all fired up, hit each other, you have to sit there and twiddle your thumbs?

KYLE BUSCH: That’s what you do, yeah. You just sit there and don’t say much, yeah.

Q. (No microphone.)

KYLE BUSCH: He doesn’t know anything about that, no. He’s not on YouTube yet.

Q. Kyle Busch back in the day, what words come out of your mouth when Brexton is getting fired upped and hot to go after somebody?

KYLE BUSCH: Just calm down, take a breath, think about it for a second. Trust me, there’s been a couple times. Last year we were at a racetrack, he got wrecked by the same kid three times, three days in a row.

I don’t care, you have permission to go kick his ass because if you don’t do it, I’m going to do it. The kid is nine years old. I know I can’t do it.

Q. Did he?

KYLE BUSCH: No, no. We went over there and talked to him. All right, enough is enough. One more time and the gloves are off. Actually the gloves are off now. We’re just forewarning you, if you get close, it’s going to happen.

Q. Do they know him because his last name is Busch?

KYLE BUSCH: Yeah. He already has a little bit of a bullseye. But that happens. It will only make him tougher.

Q. Last year you were on a new team, new manufacturer, Next Gen car. Preparing for this year, has there been more things you’ve been able to do? Do you feel more prepared, more things you’ve been able to work on this off-season?

KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, working with Randall going into year number two with him and all the guys, that’s obviously better. I feel like we’ve had a really good start to the year last year, then we cooled off a lot towards the end, which was not good.

We sat down and we talked about a lot of those things like, Okay, what made us strong, what made us good, what are the setup tendencies that we ran well at each track, what are some of them that we didn’t. We tried to go through all that stuff and pinpoint exactly. That’s always kind of hard to do.

We also relied a lot on the Team Chevy notes we have from the Hendrick bunch and Trackhouse bunch to fine-tune our stuff a little bit more to have a better idea of what direction to go this year.

 

About Chevrolet

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

JUSTIN HALEY, No. 51 Treetop Apple Juice/Jacob Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “This is an awesome opportunity. I feel like this has been a refreshing move to come over here to Rick Ware Racing. Everyone at Ford Performance have been super welcoming to me and we have a lot of manufacturer backing and being on RFK’s campus and around all those great people has been awesome. I feel like we showed at the Clash a small sample size of what we are capable of. I have an awesome crew chief, one that has won a lot of races and championships and we have to just work hard.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “Just everything. I feel like I have been on the Ford simulator more this year than I had previously in the past two years. Ford Performance has been so welcoming and all their people have really put in a lot of effort. On the RWR side of it, Robbie and Tommy and Chris and Rick himself it has been an open door type of situation. You can always go have a conversation and talk with them. I feel like we all have a lot of synergy and are working hard together and can have tough conversations. If I need something I can go to them. That has been refreshing. I feel like it can be a positive change for us.”

YOU MENTIONED LAST YEAR AT POCONO THAT RICK WANTED TO SIGN YOU TO LIKE A LIFETIME DEAL. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? “It is obviously huge. I feel like Rick has made a lot of strides recently. He has a lot of race teams with a lot of success and we just want to change the narrative. That was something Spire has done for a little bit and I raced for them for a while but I feel like this is just something that I believe in. When we went to LA and qualified 10th against teams that have gift shops bigger than our race shop. Truthfully I feel like that lit a fire underneath all of us that we could go be competitive. There are going to be tough runs and tough conversations and things that we will struggle with but at the end of the day I can go to any of them and have an open conversation and be better. It has just been super refreshing and I feel so welcome and I feel like I am in a good position.”

CAN YOU PUT EXPECTATIONS ON THE YEAR? “No, you can’t. We still only have 20 or 30 people or whatever the number is. We are working hard. I think the expectation is to just show up and be competitive and go from there. I think the Clash is a super small sample size but I think we surprised ourselves. I think as long as we keep surprising ourselves and showing what we can do then we will be ahead.”

IS IT BEING OVERLOOKED WHAT YOU COULD MEAN TO THE RFK GUYS IN TERMS OF AN ALLIANCE AT THIS RACE? “Yeah, I think the thing with RFK is that we want to show RFK that we are an asset too. We just don’t want it to be a one-sided information where we are just taking and not giving anything. I have worked with Brad (Keselowski) a little on the sim and his crew chief and it has been awesome to get behind closed doors and work with those guys and everyone at RFK. We are still kind of off on our own separate island and doing things our own way, but I think when it comes down to it, we want to be looked at as an asset to them.”

NUMBERS MATTER HERE COME SUNDAY RIGHT? “Yeah and that is something I have never had in previous years. I would come to a speedway and it would just be me and my teammate and we weren’t really included in the manufacturer stuff. That couldn’t be more opposite at Ford Performance. They really believe in me and Rick and our team and that has been awesome to be a part of that group.”

WHAT DOES FORD DO DIFFERENTLY THAT YOU WEREN’T ACCUSTOMED TO WITH CHEVROLET? “Just in general everyone at Ford has been super welcoming. I feel like I have been on the Ford simulator more this year than I had been the previous two years, which is big for me. Everyone has just been so nice and that is refreshing to me. I am super excited to work with them and I feel like I have raced against them for so long on the speedways. They have a lot of numbers on the speedways and have always been fast. I honestly can’t say enough. It is a scary transition to go to a different manufacturer and a different team but I don’t know anything differently could have been done to make me feel more welcome.”

RICK WARE RACING IS A BUILDING TEAM, WHAT HAS IMPRESSED YOU MOST IN THE SHORT TIME YOU HAVE BEEN THERE? “It is just super open. You can have a tough conversation with anyone and I feel like we all can kind of go back and forth and have those conversations. I feel like I have a seat at the table and can make large decisions with Rick and I can be a part of making those shop decisions and for the better. I feel like I kind of have a little more of a say here than anywhere previously and it has just been a good fit. I feel like I finally found a good home and this is the best position I have been in during my Cup career.”

WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE TO HAVE ALL THESE FELLOW FORD DRIVERS ON THE TRACK WITH YOU TO BE ABLE TO WORK WITH? “It is going to be nice because I haven’t been a part of a group like that or those meetings that take place for quite some time. It has been super awesome that everyone at Ford has been so open and welcoming. Whether it is in the simulator or working with everyone at Ford throughout the process, and Roush Yates Engines, it has all been so cool. I think we were the second-best Clash qualifying car for Ford, so that was pretty cool for such a little team. Hopefully we can do the same here in 500 qualifying.”

WHAT IS THE ENERGY LIKE? “After the Clash, I feel like a lot of guys that have been there for a while saw that we could do this and be competitive and run well. I am super thankful and excited that Rick offered me this and an opportunity to be in a Cup Series car for a little bit longer.”

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RILEY HERBST, No. 15 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU FIND OUT WHAT THE NEW CARS WILL DO IN THE DRAFT? “I think there’s a little bit of, at least from my sense of working with the Stewart-Haas guys on practice day to kind of understand how we should line up and push. I feel like it’s gonna be fairly similar for the Fords for sure, and the Toyotas are gonna be different as well, but we don’t really know so the biggest thing is to see how we qualify tonight. It’s kind of gonna play it by ear for us on the 15 team for sure, but we’re gonna work with the Stewart-Haas guys more than anything, just kind of line up our bumpers and kind of see who they want to work with and go from there.”

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THIS RACE HAS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SKILL SET? HOW DO YOU APPROACH THAT ASPECT? “I think it’s an interesting topic for sure, but from my standpoint, it’s a little bit different. I know we’ll have a really fast car, but, again, I’m trying to have the same mindset that I had last year on the plate tracks and that’s to learn every lap and hopefully finish the 500 miles on Sunday better than how I started. Try to gain more respect like I did at Talladega and just kind of make my name more comfortable around these Cup guys that I look up to and idolize, and just kind of go from there. Obviously, I’m a race car driver and I enter the race to win the race, but my main objective and my main priority is to hoist the trophy on Saturday night. My Cup starts, this just happened to be the Daytona 500, which is The Great American Race which is a childhood dream, but to keep the perspective and continue to learn and continue to grow as a race car driver.”

DO YOU KNOW WHAT OTHER RACES YOU’LL BE DOING? “It’s three more after this, but I haven’t even really been told yet. They haven’t been finalized. There’s a lot of moving parts between the Rick Ware guys and the Stewart-Haas guys, and see how the schedules line up, so hopefully later on they’ll be sprinkled throughout the year.”

IS IT EASIER RUNNING THE CUP RACE THAN XFINITY BECAUSE OF THE EXPERIENCE FACTOR IN THE 500? “A little bit, but I think that the talent is just so much higher in the Cup Series than the Xfinity Series, so it’s more of me being patient and playing the long game and just trying to learn and understand the field and just trying to be there at the end is the biggest thing I can say.”

THE EXPERIENCE FACTOR IS THE DIFFERENCE. “For sure. The guys on Sunday are racing on Sunday for a reason. They’re the best in the world at driving stock cars, so it’s just cool to lace them up with them and just try to learn from them and race with them.”

WHAT DID THAT DO FOR YOU TO FINISH 10TH IN THE 500 LAST YEAR? “It gave me a lot of confidence and made me understand more about how to plate race and about biding my time and being there at the end. I want to run all the laps and in order to finish well you have to finish the race, so that’s kind of my mindset and we’ll see how this race unfolds starting tonight and see how the week unfolds.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE XFINITY SEASON AND BEING A CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER? “That’s our goal on the 98 team. I’ve never been more excited for a racing season to start. The amount of confidence I have is the highest it’s ever been in my racing career. I’m excited for the Xfinity Series to get here, to hop in my car and to go race. I think we can go be a contender week in and week out and hopefully make it to Phoenix and battle for the big trophy.”

HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO FINALLY GET THAT FIRST WIN? “It was everything. That win took so much weight off of my shoulders and being able to say that we did it and now focusing on the future to try to go get more, and, like I said, be a contender, lead more laps, win more races, win more stages and be there at the end.”

HOW DO YOU LOOK BACK ON THAT WIN? “I don’t know. There were a lot of emotions pouring out of me thinking back and looking back on it, but I think most of it was just pent-up frustration from the trying and the failing and then the trying and trying over and over again, so to finally do it and have the opportunity to stand on the competition’s neck and to win the race by that big of a margin, I think, says how hard I’ve been working towards it, how hard Stewart-Haas has stood behind me and continue to help me grow as a race car driver and it’s cool to see. Hopefully, we can go get more this year, whether it be by 15 seconds or a photo finish. We’ll have to see how the future goes, but I’m excited for the future.”

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

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW HAS THE DYNAMIC CHANGED AT THE SHOP WITH THE NEW GUYS COMING IN? “I definitely would say that there has been way more togetherness, just how the drivers interact together. We all work out, so we see each other almost every single day now where in the past I would see Kevin on Sunday and wouldn’t see him again until Saturday. We definitely from that side of things we see each other a lot more and work around each other a lot more. Our teams, I feel like, have done a better job of working together. In the past, it was kind of four different teams that worked under one roof, where now it’s four teams kind of collectively working towards the same goal for one organization. All of that has been different and a good change, something that we’ve needed to do, especially in the landscape of the Next Gen car. I’m excited to see how it finally goes now that we start racing, but it’s definitely been a totally different dynamic than what I’ve had the last three years for sure.”

YOU HAVE A NEW LOGO. IT’S LIKE A FRESH START FOR EVERYBODY. “I was telling someone earlier that it’s almost like I moved to a different team, truthfully. I had to throw out all my shirts. We had to get new stuff. My teammates are all new with the exception of only one. The good thing is my team, the 14 team, stayed. Literally, every single person except for the truck driver is the same, so, from that standpoint, everything is the same, but everything else – just the process of how we do things at Stewart-Haas, the logo, the color on the walls at the shop, everything is totally different, so it’s kind of like moving to a new place.”

YOU HAVE MORE TIME AT SHR THAN ANYBODY ELSE FROM A DRIVER’S STANDPOINT, BUT YOU ARE THE SAME AGE AS YOUR TEAMMATES. WHAT’S THAT LIKE? “I think it’s definitely four guys that truthfully are extremely hungry. All four of us only have one Cup win combined, so all the guys have a lot to prove. We all know what we’re capable of. We all kind of have grown up as complete opposites as we can, but we’ve all kind of have grown up the same way for the most part by just grinding throughout our career, so that part of it is exciting. It’s just different now with not having Kevin and Aric there with how much more I’m gonna have to speak up and stand up for things I believe in, so all of that will be interesting and it will be something I learn as I go along, but it’s definitely a different dynamic for sure.”

SO WHAT IS THE FEELING LIKE GOING INTO THIS RACE? “I think there’s a lot that from a momentum standpoint this weekend is extremely important, I think. When you look at everything we went through during the off-season if we can go out there today and sit on the pole for example, that’s a huge shot in the arm for us as an organization and that’s something I think is really possible going into tonight. From that standpoint, I think it’s important to come out of here with a good weekend. Points are gonna be really important all year long, so for us to have four cars come out of here in a good situation would be really good and just be a good kickstart to our year. So it’s a big weekend for us as a company and hopefully we can prove a lot of people wrong.”

HOW DO YOU THINK THE NEW CAR WILL REACT AND PUSH IN THE DRAFT? “I would say that the pushes are gonna be way more timid at the very beginning at least. If we were showing back up in the same car like lap one I think you would see us just blasting each other, trying to get the guy out to the lead or whatever, where I think we’re gonna be a little more timid and just careful about our pushes. I know visually the Ford to me looks way more rounded than anything we’ve had in the past, especially the back bumper, so I’ve been kind of anxious leading up to this week just knowing that, so, yeah, I think the Duels will be a little timid at the beginning, but I do think there’s not near the forgiveness that we’ve had at least on the Ford side in the past, so that will be interesting when we really start pushing each other hard and see what happens. The Toyotas are different. The Chevys are gonna have to push us differently now too, so it’s all gonna change and it’ll just take some time for all of us to learn it.”

IS THERE WORRY OR CONCERN THAT THE ADVANTAGE THE FORDS HAD WITH THE OLD CAR WILL GO AWAY? “I’m definitely anxious to see how this thing pushes and gets pushed. I feel like the last two years we’ve worked extremely hard on just making our car be able to get pushed without it being out of control, and we finally figured that out in the last fall race. Now, the reset button has been pushed, so I don’t know what to expect. From a single-car speed standpoint, we were super fast last year and I think this year we should be faster just by what it says on paper, but the Toyotas are a huge wildcard for us. We don’t know where they’re gonna be at, so there’s definitely some question marks going into this week in general, but one I’m definitely excited to finally get going.”

HOW DO YOU VIEW THE CHANGE THIS CAR WILL HAVE ON SHR? “I think you can say that the Fords were at a little disadvantage last year, but that’s my thing. We need to be the best Ford and we were the worst Ford, so if Penske and Roush could figure it out, then we have the same engine, the same body, the same everything as them, so how they’re putting their pieces together to make that puzzle is different than how we’re doing it. That’s where I think we’ve gotten better over this off-season of just having better clarity of how to put that puzzle together. We still don’t know how to do it, so we’re gonna figure that out as the season goes on, but I definitely think from the standpoint of the new Dark Horse body, relative to the field, we’re gonna be way better.”

DOES THIS FEEL LIKE A NEW START? “Yeah, a little bit. I definitely think the whole organization has hit the reset button. Tony said it in the XM interview the other week. There’s no need to look back. We are at the bottom, so there’s really no need to be worried. I mean, there’s a lot of reasons to be worried, but there’s no point in looking back and doing things like that, so I think, for us, we’re all motivated. I think every guy and girl in the shop knows that if we don’t figure it out your job is on the line. He’s already come out publicly and said he’s willing to make changes, so I think that’s good. I think we kind of need that kick in the butt as an organization to have it publicly said, something that I think we all kind of knew was out there but it’s never been said, so I definitely think this year is a little bit of a clean slate. I will say that just going to the shop there’s a whole different feel. When I went there last year it was doom and gloom every time I would go in there, and now everybody is excited. Everybody has been ready to go and it gives me that same vibe truthfully we had in 2020, where everybody is excited to go to work, which is something we haven’t had in a long time there, so I’m excited to see how the season finally stacks up.”

HOW MUCH DID THE RESULTS AT THE END OF LAST YEAR HELP AS FAR AS THE ENERGY FOR THIS YEAR? “I would say the short track stuff, we were really good everywhere last year like at Martinsville and the flat tracks. Bristol, not so much, but I would say that the Clash especially, for us, I can’t speak for the other guys, but the 14 car we started literally dead last and was able to drive up there and pass Hendrick cars and Gibbs cars and finish seventh, which was really good for us. So I think from that standpoint some of the things we did in the off-season, you can say the Clash is a total throwaway, but at the same time it was still important for us just because we wanted to go there and see where we stacked up. It’s still a race where everyone is taking their best effort, so I would say we took a little bit out of there and I would say what we’ve done in the off-season that the Clash is kind of just the start of seeing the rewards of that.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET OFF TO A GOOD START? “It’s super important, truthfully, to have two good races to start the year off. I feel like if you look back in the past, where you ended at the end of the West Coast swing is pretty much where you stayed within three or four spots in points. It’s just so hard to dig out of that hole and every year I feel like you have to expect to have three or four bad finishes – like 30th-plus, and those are kind of your mulligans for the year, and you don’t want to use those up at Daytona or Talladega or Atlanta, so, for us, points are extremely important. I feel like there’s gonna be more than 16 winners, so points are gonna be at an all-time high, but even if there’s not 16 winners, points determine your playoff berth. For us, I think we realize how important points are and we talked about it, even if we do sit on the pole tonight, the Duels still pay points and we need to try and go get them, so I think that tells you how important points are and especially getting out of here with a good points day is important.”

SO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE MORE THAN 16 WINNERS? “I think there will be more. I think you could see 17 or 18 pretty easily. I just think you look at the guys that didn’t win last year. I know you had a couple of guys that you probably didn’t expect to win, but I think you could have that same thing happen again. Where it really happens, I think if you get to more than 16 is all about Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega. Those are your wild cards, If a William Byron or somebody that’s winning all the other races wins those races, then I don’t think you get to 16. But if you come out of there with a Corey LaJoie or somebody like that, then I think you’re definitely over 16 winners just because that takes one of those spots away that somebody else is probably gonna win. You look and Bowman didn’t win a race last year. Chase didn’t win a race. I feel like we’re capable of winning a race. There are a lot of good cars that didn’t win a race last year, so I definitely think you could see more than 16.”

THERE’S ONLY ONE ATLANTA RACE IN THE REGULAR SEASON. “Yeah, it’s one less, but I just feel like there’s so much of the wild card races early now that I think it’s gonna change the strategy in that middle part of the season. Guys are gonna have to be way more aggressive on strategy calls and things like that, and when you have that, sometimes it’s a 50-50 call and it goes your way and you can luck into winning one of the races. I don’t know. I just have a gut feeling it’s gonna be over 16. We could have nine winners this year, who knows, but I feel like there’s gonna be more than 16.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE RACING AT ATLANTA? “I think it is the most mentally draining racetrack we have on the schedule. Daytona and Talladega have always been mentally draining at the end of the day, but you go to Atlanta and things happen four times the speed because you lose a mile with that racetrack. It’s an interesting track because it races like a superspeedway, but it’s still an intermediate. The corners didn’t change. The radius of the corners, all of that is still the same that we’ve always had, so it’s not like a Daytona or a Talladega where your car goes around there wide-open super easy. You’re manhandling the car at all times, so Atlanta is a very challenging racetrack and by far the most mentally draining with just how much your brain is trying to process and listen to your spotter, but then actually apply what your spotter is saying is hard because things happen so far there. It’s a tough one for sure.”

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

 ZANE SMITH, NO. 71 SPIRE MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1 – 2024 Daytona 500 Media Day Quotes

Would this step have been possible without all the work Justin Marks has put in?

“It’s been very busy since Bristol and our announcement. What’s been awesome is Trackhouse is doing so much in this sport and so is Spire. For me, landing at Spire for this year and getting this Cup experience I think will go a very long way. I just have a great group of people around me and the people that Spire is acquiring from their management side and the people who put in the work behind the scenes is very high. I’m excited to see what we can do.”

When did conversations start on this deal?

“It definitely came out of nowhere. Justin and I have stayed in touch from when I was possibly going to end up at Ganassi and he had taken that over. He has always been so down to earth and so cool to talk to. My racecar is not out of that building but I do have meetings and it’s great to be back. It’s cool to see all the Trackhouse touches on that building.”

Has this hit the timeline you expected, or has it been a bit of a whirlwind?

“It has hit the timeline, but it’s definitely been a crazy path to get here. There have been so many times where I didn’t think I would see a racetrack again, and to make it to Sunday is what every racer dreams of and is so special. I want to make the most of this opportunity and be here for a while.”

What are the expectations given the gains that Spire has made?

“They’ve accomplished a lot in just this offseason. Their goals are to perform and nothing short of that. For Carson (Hocevar) and I, this is our rookie season, and we hope to learn and progress throughout the year. We know how crazy rookie seasons can be, but that’s where we’re at. On Corey (Lajoie) side, I know he’s looking for his first win as Carson and I are, but he’s had a lot more experience and have seen the old Spire days so it’s cool to hear him and Ryan Sparks’ stories of where it once was and to see it now. I’ve just experienced all the stuff that they’ve gotten through this offseason, and it’s been a lot. It’s cool to be a part of.”

What does it mean to you to know this is the start of a 36-race process?

“That’s the most exciting part. Last year I got to race in the Daytona 500 and didn’t get to sit in it for a few weeks and then would race and would wait a couple months and back in one, so to be able to race week in and week out is awesome. I feel as if I’m going to learn so much. I learned so much in just one Cup race last year. It’s been crazy the path to this point but excited for this year.”

What’s it been like this offseason working with both teams?

“It’s been a lot throughout this offseason just with me doing double everything. Double competition meetings, double pre-race meetings not only the Trackhouse side but the Spire side. My racecar is out of Spire, so I’d say I’m there a little bit more, but it’s just been a lot of trying to soak it all in learning every bit I can. It’s been great so far but ready to get this year going.”

 

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 – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 14, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Wednesday prior to the Daytona 500.

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

Does it feel like you’ve improved at the superspeedways?

“I’m getting better. I hate them, but it has been going better. I’ve just been luckier. I joke because ever since me and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) got paired up, I told Adam that speedway racing is 100 percent luck. I know that is not true. I don’t know – for whatever reason, it has come our way more. Definitely the addition of Atlanta on the superspeedway side of things – Atlanta has been good to us for some reason. I don’t know why but that has been the best speedway race of the bunch, and then Talladega has been by far the worse. We’ve done better for whatever reason, and hopefully I can keep it up.”

With two wildcard races to start the schedule this year, how important is it to get off to a good start?

“Yeah, that’s tough. It could go really bad. Two superspeedway races back-to-back are really tough and hard on the drivers and hard on equipment for sure. I like Atlanta, though, and Daytona was good to me last year, so I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

What’s your perspective on the new Toyota Camry race car?

“Most of our people inside the team are excited about it. I think that Daytona, Talladega – the superspeedway qualifying stuff may take a little bit of a hit, but we are excited about how it could race, but no one knows until we get it on track.”

How important are the Duels tomorrow?

“The Duels are everything. Having that as a practice session, that is the most valuable practice session that you are going to get, so they are going to be very important tomorrow.”

How long did it take you to get over Phoenix?

“Honestly, I felt really good about Phoenix, and how we ended there. Obviously, it was disappointing, but I was pretty content and at peace. Really, almost instantaneously. The anger and frustration I had was whenever my brakes were in the process of failing, and when they did fail – you know what, it wasn’t meant to be this year. The grieving process was surprisingly short, and I felt good about moving on. I was looking forward to the future.”

Will the Duels be a good time to test the new noses?

“I think the Duels will be super important to get a feel of how well or not how well you can push and how aggressive you can be with pushes. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes pushing, so hopefully I can keep it clean this time.”

How much of an advantage is it to have the addition of LEGACY MOTOR CLUB this season?

“I think it is definitely an advantage if we can get to the end of the race. If we can get to the end of the race with all of our cars standing, I feel confident that our chances will be higher of getting a Toyota in victory lane.”

What’s the offseason been like for you?

“Pretty boring. I’ve been ready to race. It seemed like November and December went by really quick, but once January got here, it slowed down. I’ve been ready to race. I’ve been ready.”

What has it been like since the Clash?

“The Clash was a tough one to swallow and moving on from that has been difficult, and I’m glad we’re finally here. Once the race season gets started, you can move on from races pretty easily, but definitely missing the Clash was not ideal.”

What do you expect for qualifying this evening?

“That is a great question. I wouldn’t expect the Toyotas to be up there with our new cars, from the sounds of it, it doesn’t seem like we aren’t going to increase our speed qualifying at the speedways. I think the Fords have the potential to be really good. The Chevrolets and Hendrick has been the benchmarks. I think it will be up to the Fords to take them down.”

When you say you don’t expect much from the Toyotas, is that an aero thing?

“Just an aero thing.”

Do you feel like an elder statesman at Joe Gibbs Racing?

“No, I don’t (laughter). I don’t. I have Martin (Truex Jr.) and Denny (Hamlin), who are old and veterans and legends, and then I have Ty (Gibbs), who is younger than me but has been around the JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) family forever. I’m still the new guy on campus.”

How much do you have to learn tomorrow?
“The Duels are going to be huge. That is going to be the best practice we get for the Daytona 500, and especially with our new cars – new nose and tails – it is going to be very important to feel that out and understand how much grip we have when we are pushing.”

Do you have an early indication of how that is going to feel or check back in with you after the Clash?

“Yeah, data says that, but we won’t truly know until Thursday when we get on track.”

What have you noticed about Ty Gibbs?

“I think Ty (Gibbs) is destined for great things this year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win multiple races. He came really close last year, and then he was in position to win the Clash. He’s going to be fast at a lot of different racetracks. He’s matured a lot and I think he’s ready.”

What jumped out to you about Ty when you first met him?

“He’s just so young. I mean, I’m a young guy, but I think he’s eight years younger than me. He’s matured a lot and he’s always had the raw speed and now that he’s getting experience, he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

What is the role he plays in the team?

“I mean, he’s in an interesting place, because he is part of their family but he’s a driver. He’s another driver. He’s our teammate and so he’s treated like our teammate in the competition meeting and his feedback has definitely become more valuable. That happens as drivers get older and more experienced.”

Where do you feel you and Adam Stevens are in, in the cycle of your relationship?

“I think we are in a really good spot. We continue to get more and more gelled together, and I think we poised for more great things in 2024 than we had in 2023. I’m looking forward to what we have in store.”

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.

Toyota Racing – Ty Gibbs
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 14, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs was made available to the media prior to the Daytona 500 on Wednesday.

TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Can you talk about being back at the Daytona 500?

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. This is a really great race and of course something that I’d love to win eventually. It’s a fun one, fun week. So, we’ll see how it goes.”

What’s this offseason been like for yourself? How do you process everything from last year and apply it to improve this year?

“Yeah, I think the improvement is just taking time off. I think that’s really important for success and progress throughout the ranks, talking to people who have done stuff and been a part of a long journey in sports and business, it’s important to take time off. That was really good for me. Just kind of fixing some things that I needed to fix last year.”

What are some of the most impactful lessons you got from the process?

“I think just learning how to relax and recover during different times where you want to work hard and stay up. But sleep is very important, staying in the gym is important too, right? Just for your mind. Controlling yourself at a young age. Taking time to recover.”

You went to the Waste Management Open last weekend. Is there anything from a fan point-of-view there that you think could be taken to NASCAR?

“I miss watching the races, and just being a kid and watching the races, that’s what I miss. I said that to someone. I remember coming down here for the Daytona 500, flying down with my cousins for the day to go watch the race while I was running ARCA or Late Models. So, those are times I miss sometimes. But of course, I’d rather be racing in the Daytona 500. It does make you appreciate the journey of growing up.”

How do you spend rain delays?

“There are sometimes when I’ll go see – if we’re in the middle of the race and I was struggling in some spot, I’ll look and see where I could get better at. My team sends me some stuff or I look myself. That’s for races that have already started. Otherwise, I usually just hang out. I eat well and try to hydrate the proper way.”

What do you feel like were some of the biggest lessons you took away from the last superspeedway races?

“What I’ve taken away is just being there at the end is really important and not rushing it. I think there’s a lot of times I’ve been in a great position, but made some mistakes on fuel mileage, like Talladega last year when we were leading. There’s just a lot of things you learn growing up, and of course some stuff I can’t really talk about either. You kind of just learn a lot. It’s always hard to aim and say one thing I’ve learned.”

What do you mean by making mistakes on fuel mileage?

“I was just using an unnecessary amount of throttle to stay up front when I didn’t need to and I had someone pushing me in the draft. I didn’t help my fuel mileage out there.”

How do you figure that out and take that into the car for a race?

“We have SMT, so I can look at my throttle trace compared to let’s say Ryan Blaney who was on the inside of me in that race. I can look at his and mine, and we had the same equal amount of lines and yet he’s going 30% throttle, 40%, and I’m going 90%. You just learn.”

Is there something in the sim where you can feel with your foot what 30% throttle is?

“Yeah, you can. Sometimes, it honestly depends on the day, but sometimes we have a little thing on the dash that tells us how much throttle we’re putting in so that helps too.”

What do you anticipate that can take you to victory lane this year?

“I think it’s just experience and time with the setups because we’re really new. We’re a year behind on that and just tweaking the setup to where I need it to be for long races. That’s the biggest gameplan on that.”

How has your feel changed or not changed over the last few years?

“Yeah, it’s improved tremendously. Just more time in the car and more experience. Experience is really important. I came from driving basically the same car almost my whole life to something completely different. You just learn a lot through this whole time. I’m basically in an IndyCar with a stock car body, basically. I think Kyle Larson said it was really close. It’s just really different. You just learn, you have experience and it helps.”

Is coming back here for a second time allow you to know what you need coming out of this week?

“Yeah, I’ve experienced media days enough now to where they’re not exciting. It’s just more experience, and I think it was my rookie season going into the Daytona 500 (last year), of course a lot is going on really quickly. And then the year previous, I’m running ARCA full-time. So, it was a big jump. But, you just learn enough and experienced enough. I’m very grateful for the opportunities that I have to be able to do what I do.”

Where do you feel you’ve grown the most since the beginning of last year?

“I don’t think I could name one specific area, I think everything just improved. Just experience. That’s all I say, experience, but it’s true.”

What do you learn from any conflict experiences and what do you take away from it?

“Yeah, it’s the same as life or in business too, right? Not going to make everyone happy. Just learn where you can get better at and then once you figure out – I can get better as a driver in these specific areas and I do start running better and you’re like ‘Well I run better every single week now. If I just suck it up this weekend and not run as good because my car isn’t as capable then I’ll just run great next weekend.’ You don’t want to hurt yourself in the long run and look at the bigger picture. I think that’s the best way to say that.”

How do you learn to be more patient and not always expect to win?

“I never looked at like, ‘I have to win this. I have to win this. I have to win this.’ I just kind of want to win every race, but I didn’t really stress out about it. It’s not going to ruin my life if I don’t win this race or I don’t win a championship. It just doesn’t ruin my life. I’m not really emotionally attached to it, so I just treat it as job and stay even keeled with my emotions. I want to go win this race, but if I can’t, I’m going to do the best I can. I don’t think there’s any other way to do it, to be honest with you.”

What do you take from the confrontation at the Clash and what do you think you did well?

“Yeah, I mean I’ve definitely been in positions to handle stuff like that. I think it just happens, it’s part of life in getting in confrontations. Sometimes it’s not your fault, sometimes it is. You just learn over time and kind of mature, of course I’m 21 right? I’m young for that. I’ve dealt with that my whole life with my brothers and cousins, kind of fought each other in a sibling way. Just learning over time. You get older and you learn how it is. You’re always changing. It’s not going to be how I am the rest of my life.”

With your mom playing a bigger role in the team, what do you think about what she’s able to do?

“Yeah, I think she does a really great job. Of course, I love my mom and it’s really cool to have her there and for her to be a part of it is really special. We’re a family sport and it’s really good to be a part of.”

At the Clash, you were the dominant car. What was the process of moving on from the disappointment and moving onto this week?

“Well, we ran very well. But that race isn’t a points race, so really doesn’t matter if I finish last. We really capitalized on everything, I just need to do my job a little better. I’m happy as I know I can fix that stuff and I have before.”

Was that some kind of statement to watch out for you and the 54 team this year?

“I don’t really know, I don’t really care. Just want to go race.”

Similar to the Clash, you ran well but were frustrated after the Bristol race last year. How do those emotions compare?

“I just think I’ve been in the position a couple times to almost win, knowing I was close. You just keep learning and keep going with more opportunities down the road. Keep working. It’s good to be frustrated for a little bit, but to be frustrated for a few weeks later, I think honestly you’re being selfish at that point. Just keep going.”

With two wildcard races in Daytona and Atlanta to start the year, how important is it to get off to a good start?

“It’s important just to finish and to not get in a hole. But if you can win, it doesn’t matter.”

Did it help your confidence to have the run you did at the Clash?

“To be honest with you, I don’t really go off confidence in racing. I don’t think that’s really the smart way to go about life in general. I just work hard and capitalize in what I did wrong.”

What did you learn?

“I learned that we were really good. I think the new nose on the Toyota body is really good. And we did a really good job preparing for the race.”

About Toyota

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

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

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

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

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU’RE BACK HERE TRYING TO WIN THE RACE FOR A SECOND TIME. DOES THAT COME WITH ANY LESS PRESSURE KNOWING THAT YOU’VE WON IT BEFORE OR IS IT MORE PRESSURE BECAUSE YOU’RE TRYING TO WIN IT A SECOND TIME? “Compare and contrast the two opportunities, the first time coming here as a rookie to now. I think a win here is a different challenge. There are a lot more knowns and unknowns as far as with the car and where the series is at. I think it’s a different challenge each time you come, but especially now compared to the first NextGen car.”

WITH RYAN’S CHAMPIONSHIP, I MEAN EVEN GOING BACK A LITTLE FURTHER, JOSEPH WINNING THE INDY 500, THE ROLEX IN JANUARY, THIS WHOLE PENSKE ORGANIZATION IS ON A ROLL. DO YOU GUYS FEEL THAT CONFIDENCE GOING INTO 500 WEEK? “Well, as far as comparing confidence bleeding over from some of our other programs, it’s great. But at the same time, I feel like it’s so much of the expectation within the building to be able to do that, it’s kind of a disappointment to not. The Rolex in January was really cool for those guys. I watched pretty much every televised minute of that race. But yeah, certainly the goals are all still the same.”

I SAW THE HELMET, THE GIL DE FERRAN TRIBUTE HELMET, WHAT ARE YOUR EARLIEST MEMORIES OF HIM? AND YOU MENTIONED HOW IMPACTFUL HE HAD BEEN FOR YOU. “As far as Gil goes, my earliest memories in racing, Gil was part of that. So yeah, it’s certainly an opportunity for me to kind of reflect on not just my relationship with him, but kind of who I am as a person and why I love racing. And it’s from being around people like that. I had a special experience as a kid because I got to know that guy inside of the car and outside of the car from a pretty young age. So, yeah, very impactful for me and very proud that I’m able to honor him this weekend with the helmet.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THOSE LESSONS OR QUALITIES OR IF THERE’S ONE THAT YOU HAD TO PICK THAT REALLY STUCK WITH YOU FROM GETTING TO KNOW GIL? “It’s the person he is outside of the car. I mean, he’s accomplished everything you need to accomplish inside of an Indy car, but the person’s outside of the car. And I think, seeing over the last handful of weeks or the last month, how much he’s meant to so many other people just due to the fact that after his racing career, he did a lot to help a lot of other drivers, help a lot of other teams and organizations. On the personal side, you know, it’s not just necessarily my relationship with them, but my family. My dad and Gil were pretty close. It’s not just my relationship with Gil, but it’s also my family’s relationship with Gil’s family.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL SAID HE WAS RELIEVED WHEN HE GOT THAT SECOND WIN BECAUSE HE WAS NO LONGER IN THAT SMALL FRATERNITY OF THREE DRIVERS THAT ARE LIKE ONE HIT WONDERS AT DAYTONA. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO TRY TO GET THAT NEXT WIN SO IT’S NOT JUST DAYTONA? “Ask me after I win. That’s it. That’s why I show up every week. It’s what you want to do. So I’ll let you know how it feels when I do it.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “Yeah, quite a lot. Superspeedway racing is a lot more demanding as far as the decisions you make, not necessarily what you go through inside the car. As far as just from a communication standpoint with me and my team but also doing my part to understand whether if it’s scenarios I could have done differently in past races or recognizing things that I might not have been able to pick up on inside of the car just watching film, looking through data and so on. So those types of things that I would say challenged myself mentally beforehand.”

IS IT JUST LIKE IN THIS SITUATION WE WANT TO START INSIDE OR LIKE WHAT ARE SOME KIND OF SCENARIOS THAT YOU FIND HELPFUL TO THINK THROUGH AHEAD OF TIME? “I think you just look at things as far as things that went well. This guy succeeded in this scenario, why? And this guy failed in this scenario, why? And what are high percentage things that you can do to prevent or encourage some of those situations and where do you find yourself in the moment that you can affect that?”

I GUESS THAT LEVEL OF PREP WORK TAKES SOME OF THE LUCK FACTOR OUT OF THIS RACE, NO? A TINY BIT? “I think the luck factor is based off of the high probability of wrecks, incidents, being at the mercy of other guys mistakes. I don’t believe in luck in this style of racing. Certainly, it’s more based off of the environment around you, but you also have the opportunity to create the environment around you.”

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

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, GOING INTO THIS HAVING NOT BEEN ON THE TRACK WITH THIS CAR AND YOU HAVE TO PUSH EACH OTHER AND YOU DON’T REALLY KNOW HOW IT’S GOING TO BE DOING PUSHES? I MEAN, WHAT’S GOING TO BE THE TRIAL ON THERE? HOW DO YOU FIGURE THAT OUT? “I reckon the same as it always is. You just go out there and you start pushing and hope you don’t wreck the guy in front And if you do, it’s kind of like I don’t like it, but it happens, right? There’s not really an exact science. I wish it was. You don’t know when you’re gonna push somebody when they’re gonna wreck more times than not. Sometimes you get a little warning, you know, you see a guy bobble a little bit and you kind of go he’s at the limit and sometimes you just push somebody and everything is going fine and then they gone. Well, what happened to that guy? So that’s about all you got.”

YOU RECENTLY HAD A LOT OF PRESS RELEASES COME OUT ABOUT NEW TECHNICAL PARTNERS. YOU’VE ALWAYS HAD THE TECHNOLOGY THERE AND THE ENGINEERS. HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT NOW AND HOW WILL IT AFFECT YOUR ORGANIZATION? “Yeah, we announced the RFK Tech Alliance, which is really just a super important initiative for me and really for the whole company to just be able to bring in the best technology possible to compete at the highest level and stay ahead of where the world’s going or at least keep up with the world’s going to be able to apply that to our team. We want to win races and winning races is about having great teams. Having great teams is about having great resources and technology is an outstanding resource to help our team, no different than it is in your guys’ life. You’ve seen technology come and go in it serves us all in different ways. But the race team, we want to bring people in and we want to see them be successful. And for that to happen, they’re going to need some great tools. And those tools, more often than not today, are technology-based.”

SO IS THERE ANY CONNECTION THERE BETWEEN THE TEAM AND YOUR OTHER COMPANY IN THAT ALLIANCE? “We have some small connections, mostly just a cohesive understanding of the technologies that matter.”

SO LAST YEAR YOU CAME IN, WE ASKED YOU ABOUT EXPECTATIONS AND GROWTH, AND AT THE END OF THE YEAR WE ASKED YOU IF YOU MET THOSE EXPECTATIONS AND GROWTH. NEW YEAR, NEW RACE, NEW THINGS WITH YOUR TEAM, WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS AND GROWTH FOR THIS YEAR? “I think we had a really good off-season. We finished 2023 with some pretty good confidence, Chris (Buescher) ran really well at Phoenix. I ran pretty good there, but we had strong playoffs. We ended up 7th and 8th in the final standings, which was a pretty significant improvement from where we ended at 2022. From there, I think we’ve made a lot of key investments, key moves to just be even stronger for this year. Some of those more tangible than others with the Ford and the Dark Horse Mustang, which I’m sure is going to get, rightfully so, a lot of love and attention. Some of those less visible with people and experience and training and resources and processes and all those kind of buzzwords that don’t really mean a lot to everybody, but they do mean a lot to the results. My expectations coming into the year are pretty high. I think we’re going to be a team that can win multiple races with the 6 and 17 and hopefully take another step up from where we were last year. If we do everything right, maybe even be a championship threat.”

COMPARTMENTALLY, FOR YOU AS A DRIVER, YOU WEAR ONE HAT. AS AN OWNER, YOU WEAR ANOTHER HAT. YOU HAVE A BUSINESS THAT YOU ALSO OPERATE. HOW DO YOU KEEP IT ALL STRAIGHT OTHER THAN SLEEPLESS NIGHTS? “There are some sleepless nights, but ultimately that beats not having a job, right? If I had to choose. It’s not an easy task, but there are a lot of people that work just as hard or harder than I do. I don’t really take any self-pity out of all that. I just want to win. I want to win in life, win on the race track and you want to make sure that at the end of the day there is no reason for that not to happen. At least not that it’s within my control.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE A SENTIMENTAL FAVORITE GOING INTO SUNDAY BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE LIKE, OH YOU KNOW, BRAD HASN’T WON FOR A WHILE AND YOU KNOW BRAD IS REALLY GOOD AT FORMER RESTRICTED PLATE RACES. ARE YOU KIND OF SENSING THAT AT ALL? “It’s flattering but the results are what the results are. They’re not what people want sometimes but I just feel like I can only answer for myself and I just know that we’ve been in position. We’ve led the most laps, we’ve won the stages. To your point, we’ve won a lot of races on the other plate tracks and the 500 is the only missing thing for me. To win it would check a big bucket off the list. I feel like we are doing all the right things for that to be real. In the end, you get to the last 30 or 40 laps and stuff just happens. All you can do is be in position and hope that the bad stuff doesn’t happen to you and you have a shot.”

DID YOU HAVE ANY ISSUE GETTING PARTS AND PIECES FOR THE NEW PART? “There were some small issues with some bumper foam, but those all corrected themselves over the last month and we’ve been in a good spot.”

HOW DO YOU SEE RICK WARE RACING BENEFITING FROM THE ALLIANCE WITH RFK THIS YEAR? “I felt like it was really good for both of us last year. I think they definitely made some improvements in how they ran and where they ran and had some of their best races, I think, in their team’s history last year. So I’m excited for them to see that come together. And, you know, Justin Haley in the 51 car had a pretty good Clash. I don’t know if anybody really talked about how good he ran at the Clash. I think he legit ran like 10th the entire Clash which for that team is a huge uptick in performance from where they’ve been and I would expect them to be a big beneficiary of our kind of arrangement here in 2024 and put up even better numbers. I’m happy for them. For us it gives us some flexibility with processes and resources and ability to kind of play back and forth with different opportunities that come and go. It’s hard to quantify those, but it’s real.”

ANY FAVORITE WAYNE AUTON STORIES? “I’ve got a lot of Wayne Alton stories. You guys got time for this? Wayne Auton, 2006. I was running a truck and I had worked all summer and I built this truck out of a garage in Missouri with, what’s his name? Mittler. Mittler, thank you, yes, thank you. And I got it done to run the race at Bristol. And something happened where it got tore up and I had to put a new nose on it. And I didn’t get to race it again until Homestead, which was at that time the last race of the year 2006. I was having a reasonable race, not great, but a reasonable race, and Jack Sprague caught me off of turn four, and he was clearly way faster. Anyway, he hit me. I can’t remember if it was down the straightaway or actually in the corner, and when he did it turned me right and into the wall and tore the side off this thing. I had worked my ass off on that thing for the last few months and now it was tore up kind of for no reason. So when the race was over, you do cool down lap, I ran up behind Jack Sprague and I just piledrove him. Like if I’m going to work on this thing, I’m going to work on this thing, you know, and he’s going to know I’m going to work on this thing because he’s going to have to work on, or somebody’s going to have to work on his stuff too. And so I piledrove him and we got out of the truck. I’m ready to fight this guy. I was 27 years old. I think Jack Sprague at the time had to be in at least his late 40s and nothing ever happened. But I got called into the hauler. Wayne calls me in the hauler and he says, what happened on the cool down last night? Oh, a little disagreement. I don’t remember his exact words, but I don’t think they were something I’m supposed to say. But he says, I got the tape to prove it was more than that. He put the tape in, this VHS tape, in this TV VHS player. It was like a combined unit, you know, you probably remember what I’m talking about, some people that are younger probably don’t, and he put it in there and it was a recording of me running into the back of Jack and he puts it in there, and it proceeded to eat the tape. And so he’s got the play button running and the tape’s just flying out of this thing, you know how the tape would and it just made him even madder. He was just so mad. Like, smoke coming out of his ears mad. He just told me, get the hell out of here and don’t ever do that. Don’t do that. I remember walking out of there, like, trying not to laugh and snickering, but I will never forget that moment.”

“You know, Wayne’s not the most tech savvy guy. But even in the VHS era, he was probably still not the most tech-savvy guy. So when it started eating that tape, I think he went to stop it and he put like the fast-forward button and it just… I mean, just tape flying everywhere. I’ll never forget that moment.”

WE KNOW WHEN NASCAR DRIVER GET CALLED TO THE HAULER IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE IN TROUBLE, BUT SOMETIMES DRIVERS FEEL LIKE THEY NEED TO GO TO THE HALL WITH THEMSELVES AND YOU’RE ALL FIRED UP, AND YOU’RE ANGRY YOU’RE WALKING THERE. WHAT IS THAT LIKE? “You know it feels a little bit like being a kid again and going to see mom and dad with a problem and you’re all flipped out and mad and mom and dad are telling you to calm down and vice versa when you’ve done something wrong and mom and dad are yelling at you and they’re like we’re disappointed in you. It certainly harkens to those memories for me.”

DO YOU HAVE A MOMENT WHERE YOU WALKED IN THERE AND YOU KIND OF WERE PUT IN YOUR PLACE? “Oh I have more than one. If that ain’t happen every once in a while you ain’t trying hard enough right?

HOW MANY TRIPS HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE HAULER? “I don’t know, I never counted. You know, I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

AND BEING LIKE YOUR MOM AND DAD, DO THEY CALL YOU BY YOUR FULL NAME? “No, no, that has not happened, but like mom and dad will tell you, you know, we put you on this earth, we can take you out, and I think there’s some similarities there. We allowed you to race and we can take you out.”

WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT YOUR DAD THAT HE WAS WILLING TO PUT A FIRE SUIT ON TO DEFEND YOU? “My dad wasn’t known for his temper, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one. He certainly could be very quiet and mild mannered until he wasn’t. He was just one of those guys that had kind of like this, you know, long leash and when he broke the leash it was kind of a lookout moment. I know he wasn’t exactly proud of that moment specifically, but it was in the end somewhat flattering for me that he cared that much. I get it.”

YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T GET IT UNTIL YOU HAD DAUGHTERS: “Yeah, to some degree, yeah. In the moment there was some cringe over it, like, oh, Dad, I wish you would just stay out of this. But, you know, as I’ve gotten older, I understand it more.”

WHEN YOU’VE DONE SO MANY THINGS RIGHT AT DAYTONA, EXCEPT THE ONE THING AT THE END, IS IT DIFFICULT TO MAKE DAYTONA BIGGER? IT’S BIG, I GET THAT. BUT IS IT DIFFICULT TO MAKE DAYTONA EVEN BIGGER THAN IT IS? “I don’t know if I have an answer to that, I mean every race is its own race. But Daytona just is another magnitude. You know you come here and you have months of preparation, the biggest purse, biggest rating. It’s a race that people remember in a season of races that inevitably there’s going to be some forgettable ones. You want to make that memory a good one. At the end of the day, Daytona is one of those places where you just don’t have a good points day at Daytona. It just doesn’t happen. You either win it or you don’t. And that’s tough, right? Because there’s only going to be one and there’s going to be 39 that went home unhappy. So it’s just hard to explain the feelings of this place. You know, that feeling of leaving the tunnel when you haven’t won, it’s not a good feeling. But you try to take pride in the things you did right and you move on.

DID YOU HEAR STEVE PHELPS’ COMMENTS THIS MORNING ABOUT THE CHARTERS? “I did not, I’m sorry.”

HE JUST SAID THAT THEY WANTED IT TO BE RIGHT. THEY DIDN’T WANT TO RUSH INTO ANYTHING AND THEY WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU ALL GOT YOUR FAIR SHARE AND THOUGHT THAT THERE WAS A FUTURE FOR EVERYONE. “Well that’s good. I think everybody wants holistically the same thing which is a healthy growing sport that’s around for decades to come or hopefully longer. How we get there is always going to be the challenge. There’s a lot of people working on that. I’m optimistic that’s what will happen.”

ARE YOU AND DENNY HAMLIN MORE SIMILAR THAN PEOPLE WOULD IMAGINE OR ARE YOU VERY DIFFERENT? I ASK THAT BECAUSE YOU GUYS HAVE RACED FOR YEARS TOGETHER AND YOU HAD YOUR ROUGH PATCH EARLY ON. I DON’T KNOW IF MAYBE YOU VIEWED YOURSELF AS BEING AN OWNER AT THAT POINT, BUT YOU GUYS HAVE BOTH KIND OF TAKEN THESE UNIQUE PATHS AND HAVE KIND OF BEEN LEADERS. “I don’t know how to compare us. We’re similar in that, you know, in our personal lives we have children and we’re a similar age group. We’re similar in the sense that we race cars for a living and we have some team ownership and driving responsibilities. So yeah, a 30,000 foot view, that probably looks like one city to another city on the water, right? But I think we probably have some different ethos and values and everybody thinks theirs are better than the others, but who’s to say. I don’t know to say if we’re similar or not. I don’t know if it’s fair for me to answer, but I know it’s not something I focus on. I try to look at our own stuff all the time and just head down. And eventually you have to pop up and take a look around at what’s going on in the rest of the world, just see what the hell you’re doing. But for the most part, I can’t say I pay that much attention.”

“I wish I had more wins like he’s got. I think he’s got like 50-some? I’ve got 35. There was a time about three or four years ago where I was within a couple of him, and then my last few years haven’t been as good as his, but there’s a respect that I have for him and what he’s done and his success and talents. I’m sure he’s got more race wins left as the Clash was an indicator.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE HAVING DAVID RAGAN AS A THIRD CAR HERE? A GUY WHO IS FAMILIAR AT LEAST WITH THE TEAM AND HAS WINS AT DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA? “I mean a third car for us is kind of an acknowledgement of the numbers game that is Daytona. Whether the numbers be running up front enough times and eventually you’ll get the win or those numbers being having more cars running up front and eventually you’ll have more shots at the win. There’s a lot of ways to lose this race and you don’t want it to be numbers at the end of the day. David represents a shot for us to have a quality team and driver representing one of our best partners withBuildSubs to go out and win this race.”