Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
YellaWood 500 Qualifying | Saturday, September 30, 2023

Ford Qualifying Results:

1st – Aric Almirola

2nd – Joey Logano

3rd – Chase Briscoe

5th – Brad Keselowski

6th – Riley Herbst

7th – Austin Cindric

10th – Ryan Blaney

11th – Kevin Harvick

17th – Todd Gilliland

18th – Michael McDowell

19th – Ryan Preece

21st – Harrison Burton

24th – Chris Buescher

27th – JJ Yeley

29th – Brennan Poole

ARIC ALMIROLA POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – “It feels good to show up to Talladega with speed in our cars. I knew coming here we were gonna have an opportunity to qualify well and this would be a great opportunity for us to win a race, so proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing for continuing to fight and work their tails off to bring fast race cars to the racetrack. It would be so easy at this point in the season with where we’re at to just bring a car to the track and check the box, but that’s not who we are. The men and women at our organization continue to wake up every day, go into the shop figuring out how to make our race cars go fast and today is proof of that. I’m proud of the effort. We had a really good car at Daytona. We qualified well. I think we qualified second and just barely missed the pole and ran up front all night and finished third, so similar car, similar setup, all those things, so certainly expected to be fast when we got here.”

WHAT HAS BEEN THE KEY TO SHR’S IMPROVED PERFORMANCE THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS? “It’s good that everybody else notices it because internally I feel like we notice it and they’re continuing to be motivated by seeing things start to go in the right direction, so that’s nice. From my standpoint, to show up to the racetrack with a little bit more speed and be a little bit more competitive is encouraging, but it starts at the shop and it really has gotten to a point to where we were at a pretty low spot, and everybody was searching. Every team, every crew chief, every engineer is searching like, ‘Oh my God, we’re off. What can we do to find speed. Let’s try this setup. Let’s do this to the car. Let’s do that to the car.’ So you end up with everybody kind of going off on these islands trying to figure out what we need to do to put speed in our race cars and over the last couple of months I feel like we’ve come back together because that hasn’t worked and there’s been a lot more unity and collaboration internally inside of our organization, bringing all the smart people together talking about what we need to do and kind of going at it more collectively and that’s been a turning point. I feel like that’s been beneficial.”

THIS IS YOUR SIXTH CAREER POLE. HOW BIG OF A DEAL IS IT FOR A DRIVER TO SEE THAT KIND OF A STAT? “I think it’s something you care about probably when you get older, I guess – when you look back and tell your grandkids you were somebody. You’re like, ‘Look here. Here are my stats,’ I guess. But, for me in my spot with where I’m at in my life and my career I chalk it up as mission accomplished. We show up at the racetrack every week and your goal is to be fastest in practice and then after that it’s to be fastest in qualifying and then after that it’s to win the race and if you don’t achieve any of those things it’s mission not accomplished. I am of course appreciative and get excited, but I get more excited for the team than I do for my stat total. It’s rewarding for Drew and all the guys on my team. It’s rewarding for the men and women back at the shop. It is a morale boost when you show up and you have a fast race car and you qualify on the pole.”

WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT DREW AND HIS ABILITY TO BRING FAST CARS TO THE TRACK? “Drew has been around the sport for a long time and Drew is very savvy. He’s smart and he’s intelligent about a lot of things, but when it comes to prepping race cars and getting race cars ready to go to the racetrack Drew is extremely detail-oriented. I worked with Drew when I was at Petty’s and I was so excited when we had the opportunity to get him to come over to Stewart-Haas Racing because of that. I knew that Drew was a guy that would come in and take fast race cars and make them faster. Unfortunately, over the last couple of years that he’s been there as an organization we’ve been off so it’s been challenging for him to show how good he is and how capable he is as a crew chief, but I think extremely highly of Drew Blickensderfer. He’s very talented and this shows it because you come to a racetrack like this where it’s very paired up and all the little details matter. You look at qualifying and you look at how tight it is, it’s separated by thousandths of a second, which means that the details matter that much more and so that just points to Drew and his leadership and how good he is at getting the most out of our race cars.”

DOES THIS IMPROVEMENT IMPACT ANY DECISION YOU MIGHT HAVE FOR NEXT YEAR? “I don’t have a decision or at least not one that I can tell you. I think, for me, I’m just enjoying it. Claire asked me a minute ago if looking back on it now if I feel like I made the right decision when I came back for this year and I can easily answer that as yes. Performance-wise on the racetrack, no, it hasn’t been the year that I hoped for when I signed up to come back. That’s no secret, but I have met a handful of people that have really impacted my life this year that I would have never met had I not decided to come back. My family and I have gotten to experience some really, really amazing things this year and I think personally I feel like the Good Lord led me to have this opportunity and it was very apparent that the door was wide open and all I had to do was step through, and so as I sit here today I’m wrestling with that same thing. For me, I’ve kind of sort of put my career on the altar because for most of my career I held on so tightly I was like, ‘Man, I just need one more contract or next year’s contract,’ and this year I’ve just been so free with it and held it so loosely and it’s been mind blowing the conversations that I’ve had in the last three to four months and just all the things that are happening and going on around me, so it’s been humbling and I just continue to pray through it and talk with my wife, talk with my kids and we’ll see.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang — WHAT SORT OF EXPERIENCE HAVE YOU HAD WITH THE NETFLIX CAMERA CREW? “I haven’t been involved at this time, but that’s always subject to change. None would be my answer right now. I’ve heard others that have been a part of it and I think it sounds like a good deal for the sport, but I haven’t personally been involved with it yet.”

HOW COULD THAT HELP NASCAR? “What does the portrayal of our sport need to be to attract the masses. I wish I would have known about that one before I came here, I would have written something down. I think for our sport I always go back to the Ken Squier days because I always loved the way that he talked about the sport, where we’d talk about common men doing uncommon things and living on the edge of safety and all these other things. I always thought it was so compelling and when I would go back as a kid and rewatch the old CBS races with him on I was just so thoroughly entertained by that mentality. One of the things I always find so interesting about our sport is that we work so hard for safety and that’s important. We should always work towards it, but we almost to some degree tell the story too much because it is still pretty dangerous and it’s like we’re trying to convince ourselves that it’s safe and when you come here, weekends like this and some other things, you see the big wrecks and it’s like we’re trying to make ourselves feel better about it by telling the safety story, but on some side of it it’s kind of like, ‘Well, maybe we shouldn’t talk so much about it.’ I think we almost water it down for our fans and they don’t understand just how dangerous it still really is to be a race car driver and to race cars or trucks or whatever it might be for a living. That’s a really long-winded way of saying I love the way this sport used to be covered back in the Ken Squier days and if we can tell that story, I think it would resonate. That would be my personal preference.”

ARE YOU STILL INVOLVED WITH ANY BIRMINGHAM OR ALABAMA CAUSES? “I’ve got to do some great things in this area, especially with servicemen and servicewomen and that’s always been very rewarding to me. I really love coming here. I feel, for whatever reason, just a really strong bond. I have a lot of fans in this area and I’m sure some of that is from winning races here, but I think I just enjoy being here and enjoy being around the people here and seeing them let loose and enjoy the race weekend. It’s always so interesting coming here because until this year I feel like every time you come here there’s no cell phone service or any of those creature comforts and it kind of feels like going back in time. I’m almost glad that my phone doesn’t work sometimes. It’s just a fun place for me to come here. We’ve got some great fans and we get to do some great things for charities throughout the years and meet some people and it’s fun for me because I’m 14 years now into the Cup Series and it in some ways has gone really slow and in some ways gone really fast, and one of the things that makes it still fun and still rewarding is coming and seeing people like, ‘Oh, I saw this person eight years ago and haven’t seen them since.’ I just went and did a thing in the campground and it was like, ‘Oh, I was here for your first win in ‘09’ and to hear them tell the stories that makes it really special to be a veteran in this sport, but it certainly doesn’t change the hunger that I have.”

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT YOUR FIRST WIN HERE? “I guess now I look back and I couldn’t have pinpointed it then, but I can pinpoint it better now – I remember feeling like I had a big case of Imposter Syndrome – like I’m not supposed to be here. It felt very surreal and I imagine a lot of people the first time they win a Cup race probably feel that way to some degree, and then just kind of riding this high of maybe I will make it in this sport because you never know, especially early in your career, if you’re going to have any staying power. It especially hits home watching the truck races here. Somebody posted a stat online about how none of the last five winners from the truck race were even in the race today. That kind of personifies the fear that I think you have as a race car driver, especially in your early years. In the Cup Series when you haven’t won a race and you haven’t had any of that success and you’re stuck thinking to yourself something of the effect that this could all disappear tomorrow. When you win a Cup race that feeling doesn’t go away, but you just feel like a little more comfortable in your own skin and it’s a super unique feeling of confidence and staying power. I don’t really know how to explain it, but I’ll never forget that. That’s probably the strongest memory and thought that I have of it.”

YOU ARE THE ONLY DRIVER WITH TOP 10 FINISHES IN THE FOUR PLAYOFF RACES. HOW CAN THAT CONTINUE TO KEEP YOU GOING? “I guess it depends on if you have stage points or not. If you put up good stage points, I think that will take you all the way to Phoenix. I feel like it’s gonna take in this round 110 points and probably the next round it’s probably gonna take 125-130 points. Top 10s with stage points will get you there in the races, but you also know inevitably that you’re not gonna be able to continue to top 10 your way through it. You’re gonna have to actually put up wins and all those other things, top 5s, so I know that that’s coming to – that we need to execute those pieces, but when you’re not in a spot to win I think it’s important to get those points and then it’s important to have solid days, especially in these early rounds. I think that’s kind of a good ethos for our team to operate under.”

IS YOUR CONFIDENCE GROWING WITH EVERY RACE OF HOW FAR YOUR TEAM CAN GO VERSUS WHAT THE EXPECTATIONS WERE? “It’s funny because now that I’m wearing the team owner hat I sit in different meetings than I used to – some good ones to with competition, don’t get me wrong – but I was sitting in a financial meeting going over budgeting, which is everyone’s favorite topic, and we got to talking about how in the company budget we had 14th and 16th and now after making it through the Round of 12 and getting to the Round of 8 the budget projections change. Those are moments that I think hit home where you’re like, ‘Yeah, this is better than we thought. This is better than what we thought might happen.’ We’re on a good path, but you try not to take anything for granted. I think we could go out and put up goose eggs this weekend and if you take your eye off the ball in this sport for one second that’s exactly what’s gonna happen.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT AS A DRIVER IF YOU’RE SECOND ON THE LAST LAP WHEN TO MAKE YOUR MOVE? “To some degree I’ve let go thinking about that because I’ve had races here where I’ve won and lost where you’re in position to make the move and the yellow comes out and you’ve just literally passed the start-finish line and you didn’t even get an opportunity to make the move. You’re like, ‘I should have made the move,’ and then over time I’ve had races where I feel like we’ve gotten into a spot to where we’re the leader on the last lap and it falls apart, where you get your doors blown off and it’s like, ‘Oh, I was up front too early.’ I think Talladega and Daytona these tracks are really easy to overthink. It’s not that you don’t want to put the effort in or the workload and all that, but sometimes you have to just allow yourself to accept the fact that there are only certain pieces you can control that being one of them. What’s gonna happen on the last lap? Do you want to be leading? Do you want to be second? There are so many circumstances around that that you can’t control, whether it’s a yellow coming out as I was just saying or either the line line behind you formulating the right way or the wrong way. To some degree you just want to get in position to strike and just be thankful for that and hopeful that you don’t do anything to screw it up and let circumstances dictate from there. Ultimately, the goal for me is I don’t ever think about, ‘Hey, I want to be in the lead or I want to be second on the last lap.’ I don’t really think about it that way. I think about it more so of I just want to be fortunate enough to be in the top two or three so that if things go my way they’ll go my way.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
YELLAWOOD 500
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT
SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

 LARSON, BYRON TO START IN THE TOP-10 AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

LINCOLN, Ala. (Sept. 30, 2023) – The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) hit the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway for the first time this weekend for a single-car qualifying session to setup the starting lineup for tomorrow’s YellaWood 500 – the second race of the Round of 12. With no practice session on superspeedway-style tracks this season, the series’ drivers and teams got their first glance at where they stand on the speed chart during the first round of qualifying. Team Chevy playoff drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron posted a top-10 qualifying effort in the first round of qualifying for an opportunity to compete for the pole position.

Hitting the track first in the final round of qualifying, Byron clocked-in a fastest lap of 52.926 seconds, at 180.932 mph, in his No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 to take the eighth position in the starting lineup for the 500-mile event. Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Larson recorded the fourth-fastest lap in the final round – driving his No. 5 Valvoline / HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to a lap of 52.746 seconds at 181.549 mph.

The YellaWood 500 will take the green flag tomorrow, September 30, at 2 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the 500-mile race can be found on the NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

 TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 STARTING LINEUP:
POS. DRIVER
4th Kyle Larson, No. 5 Valvoline / HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1
8th William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1
14th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Camaro ZL1
20th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 X WORLD WALLET CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway. Press conference quotes in advance of tomorrow’s YellaWood 500 – race two of the Round of 12.

With where you are in points and this type of wildcard race, does it change anything? Obviously I know you’ve won here, so you know you can do it again, but how do you approach this weekend? Does it change because of your positioning?

“No, it doesn’t change. I think you come in here with your stress-meter pegged, regardless of whether you’re 30-points to the good or 30-behind. We obviously know in our situation that we’re further behind, so you have to race. I think it’s been more sought out to just race these races; run them normal and not hangout in the back and try to wait for something to happen. With these cars and the way the race plays out, it’s so hard to make moves, make passes and get yourself track position whenever you want it. You can’t, so you’ve got to hold it when you’ve got it. If you don’t have it, then you have to figure out how to fuel save and short-pit guys and jump them on pit road. So there’s so many variables – you just have to race it out and don’t worry about it. What happens, happens.”

You had three wins so quickly in your transition to Richard Childress Racing. Have the other teams caught up? When you were that good to start out with, we just expected it to continue. What do you need to keep putting up something in the ‘W’ column?

“Trust me, I see it too. I think when we’ve had really good cars, I’ve just over-tried. In 2017, 2018, whatever when we were super-fast all the time – I always think back to the golden days.. you could drive from the back of the field to the front of the field. You could make something happen and I still feel like I can do that – I can drive from the back of the field to the front of the field. But in reality, with this car, equipment, talent and everything being so equal.. SMT data, everybody seeing it and being so equal – it’s tougher than ever to pass the guy in front of you. So I guess that’s kind of been a bit of my demise, which is I don’t feel like I can do as much as I want to be able to do. Me overtrying has sort of hurt my race craft, if you will.. where I haven’t been finishing, frankly.

With me and this Next Gen car, look at how many times I’ve spun out and crashed, you know what I mean. It’s just stupid compared to what it has been over time. I still have some work to do on figuring that out. But also I’m a very non-patient person and you have to show some patience in these races. They’re long races. Last week in the first stage, pushing and literally then just telling myself – OK, forget it, back up.. let’s finish this stage, and then swapping ends. I just finished telling myself to just make it to the end of the stage and I’m backwards. I don’t know exactly, but we’ve got to fix it.. I’ve got to fix it.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1

How does this race feel different than the spring Talladega Superspeedway race?

“It doesn’t for me. Honestly, I come prepared the best that I can. I don’t want to stall it like I think I just heard somebody do leaving pit road. Do those little things right, on and off pit road. Last week, got super fortunate to come back after a throttle issue. If I would have been more aware earlier in the race, I would have never stalled it in the first place. For our Worldwide Express Chevy, it’s minimizing those little mistakes and just doing what I can do – whether it’s the next lap, taking it for what it’s worth if we get shuffled to the back. And just breathing.. I forget to breathe sometimes, physically and mentally. It doesn’t feel much different, I just need to try minimizing my mistakes.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1

Byron on how he feels going into this weekend after picking up the win at Texas Motor Speedway and moving onto the next round, not having to worry about the outcome here:

“Yeah, it feels good, but we still try to show up to win every race. It definitely seems like we’re still in the same mindset when we get to the track. During the week, we’re a little bit more relaxed and maybe a little bit more relaxed in the hauler. But when we come out here on the grid, we’re focused on what we need to do. It’s the same objective and the same details.”

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 – Bubba Wallace
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

TALLADEGA, Ala. (September 30, 2023) – 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace was made available to media prior to qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday:

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing

Do you like your chances heading into these last two races in this round?

“It’s Talladega, you are not safe. Anything can happen. I think for us, if we do what we did at Daytona, and the first Talladega race – and finish where we were running, we will be okay. We just have to survive. We put a lot of scenarios in play – talking with our Toyota teammates on what we do and how we execute with it all. I was like we need to survive. There is usually on three Toyotas that finish the race, and there is only six of us. I was like – let’s get to the final 10 laps and then we can start to worry about this stuff. You don’t treat it any differently, you go out and do what you are capable of doing and try to execute the best you can. That is all you can do.”

How much of a mentality change did Watkins Glen give you as you head to the ROVAL?

“You cannot relate anything from the Glen – obviously two different race tracks, but I think the things I learned at the Glen – approach-wise on corners and techniques stuff, you can carry that over. So, I worked on a little bit of that in the sim and picked up some speed and find some decent momentum. It’s all virtual right now until you get there next weekend but looking forward to it. We’ve run well there the last couple of times at the ROVAL. It’s just a matter of surviving and not trying too hard and getting caught up in somebody else’s accidents.”

How much does the stage breaks change your strategy at the ROVAL?

“I was whooped after the Glen with no breaks. I don’t know. I think that will be a fair question to ask after – and yes, we’ve had them before. I don’t know. If you talk to the teams, stage breaks – you kind of know your plan. There is no strategy involved with stage breaks. That’s the only thing – your fate is kind of sealed. Pit this lap, pit again and finish the race.”

Has your goals changed for this season now that you are in the Playoffs?
“A win would be great. I would love to continue to advance by winning, not pointing our way in. But advancing is advancing – no matter how you do it. I don’t think the mindset changes. I thought last weekend was all-around one of our cleanest and greenest races from the 23’s perspective. I thought Bootie (Barker, crew chief), the pit crew, to me – we all kind of executed the way we should have. It’s like – if that is what it is like, leading a hundred laps and finishing third – you do that every week – and it’s hard to do, but that is what we are capable of. When you are in the top-three every week, they say your win is bound to come. I do believe that. We have to just keep putting out name in the hat and keeping doing what we know we are capable of doing.”

What were you thinking the ceiling was for this team coming into the season?

“I went to lunch with Dave Rogers (Competition Director, 23XI Racing) the other day. About midway through the season, we were probably an eighth to 12th place car, and we are sitting ninth in the points right now, right on the cusp of that. I think having an understanding that, when usually the Playoffs start there is going to at least be two or three Playoff cars that take care of themselves, whether that be failures, crashes, penalties – whatever that may be – try to be one of them. Have a good day, execute solid, pit crew has a good day, crew chief, strategist, they execute solid. If that leads to 20th-place, you missed it. But when you put yourself in a hole, it’s tough. That’s when the mistakes happen. I think we are very capable of getting to the round of 8. I look at the third round – those are really good race tracks. Going off what I watched last year in Homestead – the car looked really, really fast, so I’m excited to get there, and then obviously, Vegas and Martinsville. I think if we can just fight our asses off these next weeks, it will be interesting to see what we can do for the remainder of the Playoffs.”

When you have runs like Texas, do you believe more that you are that top-five team?

“No, I believed that this entire time. It’s just a matter is everyone on their a-game this weekend. I guess if you divide it between three pieces of the pie – driver, pit crew, crew chief – I feel like a lot of times, we’re showing up with two of the three slices. We never had all three. So, we started to do that more and more, and look at what we are doing. It’s not because we are trying harder or whatever – it’s just show up and bring our a-game and we will take what we can get. It’s understanding that and appreciating that are two different things. It goes a long way. It helps team morale, and when you fight as one team – this sounds very bland – but you fight as one team, you show up to the race track and you are ready to battle with whatever circumstances come your way and that is what makes us so good is we feel like we can overcome anything if we don’t take ourselves out. The races can get super long, and you can doubt yourself right out, but if you have the right people in the right place to help you out, it makes that transition easy.”

Did you have to learn to like the ROVAL?

“I was not a fan of it. It’s a really, really tough race track. I think the only people who like it are the ones that win. It’s just no room for error. These cars are so on edge – you have to drive them on edge, and more so in the Next Gen car, you have to push these things to the absolute limit. With that, you kind of get bent out of shape and gather it. The ROVAL, I think, the only room for error is one of the hardest corners – (turns) three and four. It’s off camber. It’s a right-hand corner. You are kind of chasing it. You see a lot of guys spin out into the barriers over there. That is the most room that you have. Everything else – you are hitting the wall, and you are done. It’s tight. You have to have super finesse, so I think understanding that and slowing it down more mentally and trying to process things different has helped me with that. And then the prep work that we do has helped a tremendous amount. Being on the sim, talking with teammates and figuring out where to gain speed and where to maintain, and trying to have fun, but it is chaotic. It lives up to the name of being dramatic. I know Marcus (Smith) is probably listening to this, so if I praise it up anymore, he’s probably going to put it on the schedule for the next 10 years – and I don’t want that – but it’s chaotic.”

Can you talk about your level of confidence you have right now?
“Back to my conversation with Dave (Rogers, Competition Director, 23XI Racing) yesterday. He set down and asked how does it feel? I just had come from the golf course with (Ryan) Blaney and I was like ‘Getting my ass kicked on the golf course?’ and he was like no, being in the round of 12. I’m like ‘Meh.’ No, don’t take that like I don’t care to be here. It is just another race; we just so happen to be in the next round. I think it is super cool, but I also think that we should have been here last year. We were capable of doing this last year. We have the right people, just going to have to put it all together. It has been a lot of work to get to this point, for sure. It’s super cool to see the results pay off for everybody on this team. I could see my guys fired up about showing up for this race track and we still have our name in the hat, and we are progressing forward. We were the last seed to start the Playoffs, and the last seed coming into this round, and we advanced, and we are now two points out of advancing again. It’s cool for them. I’m pumped for them and I’m seeing them work extra hard to make sure we are doing everything right – that’s what motivates me, right? For me, Talladega is Talladega, and we know how crazy it can get, and the ROVAL is the ROVAL. We know how crazy it can get. We just have to take it one lap at a time and understand what I said earlier – people are going to take themselves out, don’t be one of those people.”

What did it mean to you racing with Kyle Busch Motorsports?

“Kyle (Busch) is a heck of a racer and gave me a heck of an opportunity when I was part of the JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) camp when I was a part of that between ’13 and ’14. It was tough racing against him. He was the one to beat. I remember in 2013 racing every weekend and didn’t matter where we at, he was fast, and we were just trying to replicate that. He would talk to you, and he was like just do this, and you were like what? I’m trying to figure it out. It clicked about halfway through 2014. The 54 started getting talked about almost as much as Kyle. I think once you figured it out, it was fun to show up to the race track and know you were going to run top-three, top-two. It was going to be the 51 and the 54. I appreciate that and just learning. I remember after Martinsville in 2013, it was the off season, he set me down and said if you didn’t win Martinsville, you were out. Simple as that. I was like, well we won, so let’s do it again. I think just – we know how Kyle is – but you can take and appreciate that – of just trying to push to be the best. It may come off at being a jerk or being an asshole sometimes, but I understand what he’s trying to go for. At the end of the day, he’s helping a lot of people but he’s racing for himself and wants to be the absolute best. If you can learn from that and get past the harshness of that and try to take some of those traits, I think that helps you along the way and that is what I’ve done. I try to not be as sarcastic, but just from the racing standpoint and absolutely going out and being a dog, Kyle taught me a lot about that, so it is pretty cool.”

What do you have planned for the offseason?

“We were talking about it this morning – myself, and (Ryan) Blaney. He and his girlfriend Gianna (Tulio). Amanda (Wallace, wife) and I was talking about going to Australia and New Zealand for two weeks, and my wife is a massive planner. Previous trips – if we were doing something in December, we usually book something in March leading up. It is what – September 30th – we have nothing booked. I don’t know if that is going to happen, but I know if we continue to wait, plane tickets are going to be astronomical, which is more motivation to get to the next round to accept that bonus to pay for those tickets, but thinking about and trying to get all of the irons worked out, but trying to run the Snowball Derby for the first time this year. That is not relaxing at all, and a little more work – I’m looking forward to that if it can all work out. I think other than that it is just chilling at home. We are in the midst of building a house. We broke ground two months ago, and I have no idea what the house looks like – that is all Amanda, which is totally fine. That will be next off season when we move into that, so we will be dealing with that in the off season, but really, I’ve just been able to get away during the weeks, even during the Playoffs now by playing video games and staying at home. That’s what I plan on doing, whether it is in Australia or not.”

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 48,000 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 22 electrified options.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.