NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Motor Speedway
Team Chevy Driver Quotes
September 18, 2026

Carson Hocevar , driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Racing in the Bristol Night Race, as someone who is such a fan of the sport and growing up watching this event, what’s it like for you to be able to compete in it now, and do you sense that aura of the event going into it during pre-race and whatnot?

“Yeah, I do, I enjoy it. This is Luke (Lambert), my crew chief, it’s his favorite race of pretty much the whole schedule. This is always his favorite race. This is the race he grew up going to. I know our whole team enjoys going to it. I think it was Luke and I’s second-ever race and we ran like fifth that night for the majority of the race, and then we had a loose wheel but still finished good. Yeah, we just have a lot of good memories at this track. When you talk about NASCAR and you talk to new fans about what events you have to go to, I feel like one of the highest is always the Bristol Night Race. So yeah, I always enjoy it. I feel like NASCAR has done a really good job of trying to keep the prestige of this race, or the energy rather, and the excitement every time it comes up.”

With the fans being as close as they are to the action here, as well as the sword trophy, what would your celebration look like if you were to win tomorrow night? How much planning goes into your winning celebrations?

“I don’t know… I would take advantage of not having to fly home, I know that. Yeah, I don’t know how the banking would be, you know, if I tried to recreate what I did at Talladega. But that would be all good problems to have. Watching the Truck race last night, we kind of laughed that Jake (Garcia) just kept doing laps. I was like, I wonder how many laps you could just keep doing before people would just start wondering what the hell you were doing. So we were laughing about how many laps it would take before they would actually step in and say, ‘no, do your burnout’, and you just kept doing laps and acting like you didn’t know the race was over. We were joking about that. But yeah, I don’t know what I would, but I think all of us would enjoy going up the ramp, obviously.”

Before the Chase, you swore you weren’t going to look at the points. Do you know how many points back you are now?

“I have no idea. I have tried not to look. Sadly, I think I know where I’m at because we had our Monday debrief and we were going through excel sheet. It showed the points and I was like, ‘dang it’. It was just right there. So I remember where I’m at, but we’re trying not to look at it and just enjoy it. I think, ultimately, us looking at it gets us focused on stuff like, oh, we’re racing this guy or this guy behind us. But if we just raced the whole field and tried to run up as far forward as we can in the race itself, it’s all going to take care of itself. I mean, you know, if we get a loose wheel, it’s like we’re going to give up all these points and everything. But then all of a sudden, they started taking each other out and you’re like, oh, cool, we’re getting some of those points back. It can just flip like that, so if we can just focus on finishing good, the points are going to take care of themselves. I think a single-digit at the end of the season. would be really strong for our whole team.”

You talk about your good results here at Bristol Motor Speedway. What is it about this track that maybe fits your driving style or tendencies behind the wheel?

“I think, ultimately, being able to move around sort of suits by style. Obviously, I like dirt racing. I don’t call myself a dirt guy, but dirt guys tend to run really well here. I feel like I watch enough dirt racing that I can kind of understand it. I really love that you can run the top and get a huge run, as well as run the bottom. I just give Luke (Lambert) a hard time like, oh, I think we’ll run good this weekend because this is your favorite race and you’re going to try this weekend. I asked him on the plane last weekend, I was like, ‘are you going to try this week’. He got all excited and I was like, ‘you finally get to try, maybe we’ll win’.

But yeah, for whatever the reason, I think Bristol kind of fits my sort of style and I take advantage of it. But it always helps that Spire Motorsports has been good at these tracks for a couple of years now, so it’s a good marriage there that my best track is one of their best tracks.”

Where did the idea come from to have the fans come down to the pit wall last week, and is that something you’re going to try at other tracks? Did any other drivers join you for that?

“No, so, I think they were already open to that. They did it for the Truck race here at Bristol, they opened the gates. We were sitting there on pit road, kind of BS’ing, and all of a sudden the fans kind of noticed me. I was like, well, I’m going to go sign for them, so I walked away from Jeff (Dickerson). And then at St. Louis, same deal — I remember getting out of the car and I could hear (Kyle) Larson doing his celebration. And also, they started cheering really close to me, so I was like, that’s weird, what’s happening? And I realized they were all cheering for me, just because I happened to acknowledge them, I guess, and wave at them. So I was like, oh, that’s really cool, too. So obviously I do all the TV, radio, and everything, and then I started walking. All the fans happened to start crossing, and I was like, well, I’m not going to say no. We were within me to you right now, and I can’t just be like, oh, I’m apparently blind and deaf, I don’t hear you. Luckily, I have a team and support system that if I’m going to be a little late to the plane, a good reason is that I’m signing an autograph for fans.

So yeah, nobody else joined, but hopefully I can start a trend here, maybe, or whatnot. But yeah, obviously I don’t love running away from fans, but also don’t like running away from the races. I like to kind of enjoy the track when it’s quiet to relax and enjoy it. Luckily, I have a team and a support system around me that supports that.”

I kind of want to build on that a little bit. When I saw you signing the autographs for the fans last weekend, it’s something I’ve not seen since Richard Petty did it when I was growing up. I was also impressed that you told the adult one time that the child was getting the autograph, as well, and then Brad Daugherty, when Richard did it for him, it’s why it was in his contract, his number would be 43. What is it that makes you want to connect with the fans, and also what’s some of the coolest experiences you’ve had in connecting with the fans, signing the autographs, and how does that energize you?

“Yeah, for me, I remember my first memories of racing was at Kalamazoo Speedway. You know, if the race wasn’t that entertaining, you had the last race of the night, so you were fine to jump out of your seat to go run down to the fence because you knew the second the last race was over that they would open the fence and you would get to go down to the pit area. I’ve always loved that. I grew up doing that, and I remember how fun it was. I think, ultimately, I enjoyed going to the racetrack sometimes more because I got to be in the pits around all those people. I would be like five years old and acting like I’m 35, so it was fun for me.

But yeah, I just enjoy that. Bristol has had that for a while. Obviously, they don’t really let them in, but for the tunnel, every year I’ve been here, you walk out of the tunnel and they’re lined up all the way to pretty much the driver/owner lot. I’ll sit there and sign. Every year, it’s been a little bit more, so I’m excited to see what the crowd is after tomorrow. Hopefully, it’s late for them because that means we ran really well. I enjoyed the fact that St. Louis did that because I did it as a kind, and I know that there are a lot of fans that are going to enjoy that more than the race itself.”

Has there been one special autograph experience that you’ve given a child or someone?

“Yeah, at Darlington, I thought was super cool, there was a fan that made his electric car match my Cup car, which I thought was super cool. Yeah, that stuff’s just fun because obviously they — I don’t think anybody sells it, the family themselves are making it, so the fact they take the time to do that, bring it to the track and haul it there, is super cool for me.”

I know this week is all about Bristol, but can you talk about next week at Kansas and your thoughts about that?

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to Kansas (Speedway). I think we led some laps last year, so we’ve been getting a little bit better here and there at Kansas. At mile-and-a-half tracks, we’ve been fast at, so I enjoy that track. You get to move around and run the top for a while. The fall race tends to always have a little bit different variation, just because it either is going to be super-hot or it’s going to start cooling down, and that tends to always change the track up a little bit. I feel like that one has put on a lot of good races that are always fun to go be a part of.”

I know it’s only two races in, but with this format being a little bit different than the previous formats, has anything surprised you or stood out to you about how the Chase has gone so far gone two races in?

“No, I think I’ve just enjoyed it, even just following it myself. I think from the fan’s perspective, I think everybody’s kind of enjoyed it. I think as everybody started to crash or have struggles, you’re looking at the top of the pylon and how that’s switching and not looking at the bottom. So I think that’s a good thing for fans to follow or understand and enjoy, that the goalpost isn’t moving and confusing of who you should be following every three weeks, right? You kind of just look from the bottom all the way up rather than you look from the top down with this format. So I think it’s been really solid. I’ve enjoyed it a lot, even just seeing the fan engagement from it. Like this weekend, they get to promote this race, of all places, probably the two best here right now are the top-two in the points.”

You have noticed anything different on the track in the last two races?

“I mean, they wrecked a lot, so I think that just shows the intensity of every point, right? I think a lot of those guys wouldn’t be racing like that for eighth or whatever it is. They know every point matters against each other, versus round one, you’re just kind of like, oh, as long as you survive, it resets and I’m good to go. I’m sure Denny (Hamlin) was panicking at times when he was watching (Christopher) Bell lead. I’m sure everybody’s starting to panic any time a Chase guy’s in front of you and you know you’re racing them in points because that’s points you’re just giving up. There are no more resets, there’s no more get backs. You don’t know when your mulligan’s going to happen.”

After you got your first win at Talladega, did you find that that has fueled even greater desire to win the second race, even maybe more so than you had to win the first one?

“Yeah, I think so. I think all of us want to go back to that feeling because you know what it felt like. I think that you don’t know what you don’t know, right? And once you have that feeling — it’s like racing, even when you first start racing, you don’t know you missed racing until you take a week off or whatnot, and then you want to go back again. So yeah, hopefully we can kind of itch that soon.”

About General Motors

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TOYOTA RACING – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BRISTOL, Tenn. (September 18, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Friday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Bristol Motor Speedway.

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

Can you talk about why you love Bristol and this race so much?

“I love Bristol, the track, just because of how it races, and the multiple grooves that it offers, the lap traffic, the long green flag runs, the physical demands that this place has. Then you add The Night Race on top of it with the energy, the atmosphere, all of the pre-race ceremonies that they do here, it just is truly one of a kind. It feels like SMI (Speedway Motorsports, Inc.) just doesn’t really good job with their events and this one’s special.”

What’s your thoughts on the new wet weather policies?

“I don’t know that I spent a lot of time thinking about it, honestly. I don’t know. I know that there has been a lot of talk about how different the setups are. I don’t know. That’s a good question. You kind of stumped me. I didn’t expect to be talking about that, but I guess I like it from the aspect that it puts more in the team’s hands. So, I don’t know that I have much for you. I guess it’s a positive, though.”

What are your expectations when you go to Kansas, Las Vegas and Charlotte?

“Yeah, our expectations are high, for sure. I think that’s been our, the Toyota’s bread and butter. Speaking at the media day, whenever I was talking about the champion being a Toyota, or that’s how I felt, I mean, those races really came to mind for those three intermediate races, the Homestead race. I think that there’s going to be a lot to be gained, or lost on a very similar type of track coming up the next three weeks at Kansas, Vegas, Charlotte. The points are tight and I think it’s going to be a battle for sure, but those three races, I think the same contenders are going to be up front. So, whoever runs good at Kansas, I think is going to have a good opportunity to elevate themselves between Kansas, Vegas, Charlotte, compared to the competition.”

What are your thoughts on the 54 car and paint scheme?

“It’s pretty wild. I was there whenever they unveiled it earlier this week. It’s going to be really weird, for sure, seeing that thing out there and just happy that the memories and that I think it’s going to be a really, really cool tribute and it’s going to be fun to see it out there.”

Is the Bristol Night Race a Crown Jewel?

“I mean, in my head it is. I would say that, I don’t know, I think that’s for you guys, the media, and for the fans to decide, really, it’s not really on the drivers, but for me, you know, the Bristol Night Race has always been my favorite race of the year. So it is a Crown Jewel to me but I would say that it’s not for us to decide what our Crown Jewels are and what are not crown jewels.”

How has trying to race here change over the years?

“So some things have been similar, but probably the single biggest change was going to the Next Gen car, and that just really affected how you approach this track, how you pass on this track, how you approach making lap time here, and how you pass here. So, between the trucks, the O’Reilly car and the old cup car, there was a lot of, well, just talking about passing, you could really pack air on people and get them loose. That was a very successful tactic to pass between all three of those series, the trucks being the hardest, and then O’Reilly cars, probably, and the Cup cars were pretty easy to do when we had the low downforce too. That technique is completely gone with this car in all of the tracks. So now passing has really become just finding a different groove, and hopefully you can have enough pace in that groove. So I think it puts more emphasis on the track prep to make sure that you don’t get a single dominant groove, whether that’s the bottom or the top. Then the Next Gen car, I don’t know, it just feels like it’s become more of a momentum style track where with the previous generation car, it was a little bit more stop and go. You had less tire so you could get more wheel spin on exit. You really focused a little bit more on drive, where now it’s just keeping it free, keeping it free, keeping it rolling, and keeping momentum up. So the Next Gen car has really changed it to momentum style racing, and then not having the ability to pack air has made passing slightly more difficult than it used to be.”

How much did the Spring race at Bristol gnaw on you? Is there more motivation because of it?

“A lot. A lot. Yeah, just reading through my notes, the last sentence of my notes for the spring race was, man, I can’t wait to go back. The spring race a couple of months ago was probably one of my best cars I’ve ever had at Bristol. That thing was just awesome, and I made a mistake. So I have had this one circled for a while to come back and redeem myself. I love this racetrack. Whether I have a good car, bad car, good race, bad race, it’s just a lot of fun to make laps here. It’s a lot of fun to race here, so I’ve very, very much been looking forward to this one.”

What was so good?

“I don’t know, it just handled really well. That was the first race here with the high horsepower, low downforce package and talking about, what I mentioned to Matt (Weaver) earlier. It got a little bit more to the old school Bristol of having more power, having to focus on your exits a little bit more, less about momentum, and it seemed like passing was easier in the spring than it was in years past with the lower horsepower stuff. Yeah, just this place is a lot of fun and giving us more power and less grip is makes it, it definitely makes it more enjoyable.”

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Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Night Race Media Availability — Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, September 18, 2026

Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Kroger/Kool-Aid/Little Bites Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, stopped by the Bristol Motor Speedway infield media center before today’s practice and qualifying sessions to talk about this weekend’s race.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Kroger/Kool-Aid/Little Bites Ford Mustang Dark Horse – AS POORLY AS THE CHASE HAS STARTED FOR YOU, IT’S NOT AN ELIMINATION RACE THIS WEEK. HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THE PSYCHE OF HOW YOU APPROACH THE CHASE NOW? “I appreciate you not being blunt (laughing). This format, like we talked about all year long, is kind of what I hoped we would see more of that gives you a reward for an entire season’s worth of work. Yes, it’s definitely not started off like how we wanted it to and we’ve got to turn that around. We can do that here, for sure, but I think it is important to note that the reason why I’ve been such a big proponent of this is simply the fact that while the Daytona 500 does not mean as much by the time we get to Homestead as it would through just a 36-race season, it’s mattered all the way to making the Chase and then the entire Chase is gonna matter as we get down to Homestead. We’ve kind of used up our mulligan early and we’re gonna have to get away from that and get on track and be strong, but it doesn’t mean that because of two races that don’t go well that we’re done. I think that’s another appreciation for the format and the way it rolls out, so we have our work cut out for us. We’re certainly aware of that, but we’re not completely out of anything yet.”

YOU GO FROM 70 TO 111 POINTS BEHIND AFTER TWO CHASE RACES. HOW MUCH OF A BIGGER GAP DO YOU FEEL YOU’RE AT NOW VERSUS TWO WEEKS AGO? “I would say that we knew coming into the Chase that we were gonna have to win races. We have watched race wins turn into 55, 60, 70 point swings for drivers, so ultimately that’s kind of where we figured it would be anyway. We’re starting further back than we thought we would be at this point, so it’s about winning ultimately, and you shouldn’t win the championship in this format without winning races. I don’t think it’s gonna happen that way. It’s very rare that it’s happened at all, so being that’s the case and we’ve realized that, we have a lot of good tracks coming up for us. We’ve got a lot of mile-and-a-halves coming up that were really strong at the beginning of the year for us – Bristol, Talladega, whatever you put out in front of us, I feel like we have weekends where we can go put massive points on the board with strong days and have chances to compete to win races. We just have to take a little bit of a reset after a few rough weeks and no better place to start that than Bristol. We’re keenly aware of the uphill battle ahead of us, but I think the old saying that winning fixes a whole lot of things, and I believe it would in this situation as well. We’re just gonna have to do it multiple times.”

HOW HAS THE RACING AT BRISTOL FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR RACE CRAFT OR JUST HOW YOU SET UP PASSING AND GO ABOUT RACING? “I would say some of the unknowns on what we’re gonna deal with for any given race weekend have kept us almost guessing on what that weekend is gonna look like since we had the extreme tire fall off race we’ve come back here and thought we were gonna deal with that and tried to save tires and one or two cars would start ripping the top and try to make some headway and the next thing you know they’re paying no penalty for it and we’re all sitting here like, ‘Man, we missed the boat. We should have done that way earlier.’ In general, though, Bristol has a very similar feel that it had when I remember racing here in 2014 or ‘15, that you can rip the top a lot of times and you can make a lot of headway up there, but when the groove gets dominant, you have to be good on the bottom. I’ve never raced here in the old-school Bristol ways of having to root somebody up off the bottom as the only way. I’ve never been in a wedge-bodied car around here either, I’ve just kind of missed that era, so it’s always been very similar to what it is now for me, and with that it means that we have to be able to run the bottom. I think you have to figure out how to run right around the bottom of one and two. Three and four is a little hard to pull off sometimes, but the top is a little easier in three and four, so if you can keep your momentum wound up, I think that as long as you have passing lanes, you can still do it. It kind of goes through cycles of whether that shows up quick on restarts or not. I’m happy to see the O’Reilly cars ripping not quite up to the fence, but up there in the ground concrete because I think if they’re gonna keep widening out, hopefully by the time we get to our practice, we won’t have everybody slammed on the bottom and it won’t get too dirty before we’re able to widen it out. So, I really hope we just have a wider racetrack because I do feel like that has been the most run races that I’ve gotten to run here at Bristol.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON KANSAS NEXT WEEK? “I am kind of driving off the hoodpin right now, so I am very much on Bristol. I would say that as we look ahead the mile-and-a-halves were really strong for us at the beginning of the year. I’d say that Kansas has become very quickly one of my favorite mile-and-a-half racetracks to go to. It’s gotten so much character through the years the last several years seems to have accelerated. We have options as a driver to move all over the racetrack. We qualify around the top, which is very strange in general for qualifying anywhere really. There’s a lot of things about Kansas that have just presented a pretty unique challenge that’s become a lot of fun, so given how our speed was at those style of racetracks earlier in the season, we haven’t had one in a bit, but certainly we’ll be looking forward to that one after taking home a trophy from here first.”

YOU GUYS ARE RUNNING SUB-15 SECOND LAPS. DO YOU FORESEE A POSSIBILITY THAT THERE WOULD BE A SUB-14 SECOND LAP HERE AND IS THAT PRETTY MUCH LARGELY DEPENDENT ON THE TIRES? “Yeah, I would say that a 14-second lap around here is ripping. To go a half-second faster would be significant on a half-mile racetrack. I don’t believe you’ll see us get there. I would say you’re probably a couple of limits. One, we’re not using a ton of brake here at Bristol, especially on our fast laps. We’re using a ton of throttle, but I think more horsepower would be the only way to get it up out of the hole faster, but I would say that you’re correct in saying that really it’s gonna have to come from tire and grip, or simply downforce. With the simpler package that we have, the simpler diffuser package, it’s definitely taken a little bit of speed out of it already. We’re pretty low on total downforce numbers as we sit. It would take significant aero or grip advantages, so pretty much the basics. I don’t know if you could get there simply with tire. I think you would have to have more downforce in order to rip that much faster around this place, but that being said, it’s not that I don’t see where running a 13.9 around here is gonna create anything better than what we have, either. It’s not simply about the raw speed of it. I promise it feels plenty lap late into a run when you’re still running a 16-second lap around here. A lot goes wrong in a very quick hurry and it keeps us on our toes, but I guess I doubt. That’s my long-winded answer to say I doubt we see it go that much faster.”

ARE YOU A DESPERATE DRIVER RIGHT NOW? “No, we’re not desperate. We’re just going to be aggressive. We are in a point where we have everything to gain in front of us and we really don’t have much to lose at this point. That’s the unfortunate truth of how our Chase has started, but, no, it’s not to the point of you consider ourselves desperate or throwing any kind of Hail Mary. We can take risk and chances and we can push forward, but I would just say that we get to race harder is ultimately it, and maybe not even harder than those who are sitting there in the points. They get to race hard, too. No, I don’t think it changes most of the mindset, it just opens up some options for us and our team on how we approach some of these things – options we would have rather not had, but we do have now.”

ARE WE 100 PERCENT CERTAIN THAT THERE WILL BE NO TIRE WEIRDNESS WE’VE HAD THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS? “What do you think? I’m curious. I can’t sit up here and say 100 percent that, yes, we’re beyond all that. I doubt it, but I’ll give you a better answer in an hour or two. It remains to be seen. I don’t know where everybody else’s head space is at in that part of it, but I can’t say for certain, no.”

HAVE YOU HAD ANY CONVERSATIONS WITHIN YOUR TEAM OF WHAT THAT CAN LOOK LIKE, OR ARE YOU JUST GOING OFF THE SPRING RACE? “I would say that if it turns into anything like that, we seem to have enough tires. We have pit crews that are ready to have 10 pit stops on the day. I’m glad this racetrack is not loud. We’re OK. If we had to get down to that, if we had to be on pit road every 50, 60 laps, then we have people that are ready for that challenge and we will change what we need to, but I would say that is not our belief – it’s more on the side of you’re not gonna see issues to that extent.”

HAS YOUR TEAM DETERMINED WHAT CAUSED THE BRAKE ROTOR TO EXPLODE LAST WEEK? “I don’t know that we have a full answer yet. It seems to be very similar issues to most that had issues. What I will say with us is I saw a couple of the Front Row cars seemed to have an idea they were having a brake problem. Both of them were around us when it happened and started laying up on entries and trying to kind of baby it a little bit. We didn’t have any warning. Everything was fine. I think the 12 car was in a similar situation. The rotor actually exploded down the straightaway before braking, which is very strange in general. I’ve never had that before. The only thing I can say for sure is that we don’t know for sure, but we have a handful of common denominators across the failures in the garage. We have thought processes of sitting there under a red flag and everything super hot and it starting to cool down. I’m aware of that. I’ve had issues of similar sorts in my ARCA days and I learned from those way back when that you just don’t sit there and stay put. You have to keep moving forward and trying to rotate hot spots basically on the entire system – tire, brakes and all. We try not to run all of our cooling fans under caution because you know it will just shock a system, or under red when you’re sitting. I don’t have the solid answer, but I know it went in a grand fashion. We were I guess consider ourselves lucky in the sense that we were still on the straightaway and had time to process what had just happened and did not try to drive down into the corner. I kind of just let it ride the wall. Obviously, it was just a tough end to be three laps away after having a brutal day in the first place – not how we wanted to finish that at all.”

CREW CHIEFS WILL HAVE MORE LATITUDE ON DECIDING WHEN TO PUT ON SLICK OR WET WEATHER TIRES. AS A DRIVER, IS IT A GOOD THING DOING IT THAT WAY? “I like it. I think it makes us weigh risk versus reward. I guess it kind of starts to mimic the road course procedures in the sense that we’ve been aggressive on that. We’ve hit it really well and in Mexico City we hit it completely wrong. I think that it’s just an opportunity to try something different, to make a gain or a risk in a massive area that can play out. So, yeah, I think it’s a good thing to give it back to teams. I think that the start of the race will ultimately be determined, so we’re not gonna change right from the get-go, but I think it gives us time that no matter what the conditions are, we’ll be able to feel the racetrack out, have a general sense before we swap over in anything, and then we just kind of play it by whatever our teams sees fit to change from there.”