BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
RACE: BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE DATE: SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

AUSTIN CINDRIC
No. 2 MENARDS/MONSTER FORD MUSTANG
FINAL PRACTICE – 16TH
QUALIFYING – 29TH

RYAN BLANEY
No. 12 ADVANCE AUTO PARTS FORD MUSTANG
FINAL PRACTICE – 20TH
QUALIFYING – 11TH

JOEY LOGANO
No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG
FINAL PRACTICE – 15TH
QUALIFYING – 28TH

NOTES – Nestled in the quaint town of Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol Motor Speedway’s annual night race is one typically filled with thrilling action and the occasional flaring temper as drivers vie for the coveted Bristol trophy and sword that is awarded to the race winner. For drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Saturday night’s 500-lapper under the lights at the Last Great Coliseum serves as the final race of the Round of 16 before four drivers are eliminated from championship contention. This will be the fourth time that the Tennessee track has hosted the third race of the NCS Playoffs and just the fourth Cup Series postseason race at the 0.533-mile track all-time.

The on-track action got underway Friday afternoon when drivers and teams took to the track for group practice and qualifying to set the lineup for tomorrow evening’s 266.5-mile sprint. Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang, led the contingent of Team Penske Fords in practice, finishing 15th on the charts. Logano was followed by teammate Austin Cindric and the No. 2 Menards/Monster Ford Mustang in 16th, and the No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang of Ryan Blaney clocking in 20th.

Qualifying saw the No. 12 clock the quickest time of his Team Penske teammates, nearly claiming a top-10 starting spot in 11th. The No. 22 will take the green flag from the 28th position, ahead of the No. 2 in the 29th spot. Wood Brothers Racing’s Harrison Burton will fire off from the 33rd position in the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang.

WHAT THEY SAID: “Decent day to open the weekend at Bristol. We had decent speed in our Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang to get us in the right direction going into qualifying. Unfortunately, came up one spot short to have a shot at the pole, but we’ll take advantage of where we roll off tomorrow night and every point is going to matter.” – Ryan Blaney

WHAT’S NEXT – Saturday night’s 500-lap battle in Thunder Valley is set to get underway at 6:30 p.m. ET, one hour earlier than originally scheduled due to projected inclement weather in the Bristol, Tennessee, area. Coverage of the event will be carried on USA, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Bass Pro Shops Night Race Qualifying | Friday, September 15, 2023

Ford Qualifying Results:

4th – Michael McDowell

6th – Brad Keselowski

11th – Ryan Blaney

14th – Chase Briscoe

17th – Ryan Preece

20th – Chris Buescher

21st – Kevin Harvick

26th – Aric Almirola

27th – Ryan Newman

28th – Joey Logano

29th – Austin Cindric

30th – Todd Gilliland

32nd – Harrison Burton

35th – JJ Yeley

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED TODAY? “Yeah, it’s really close. You’d like to get the pole, that would help things, but I’m really proud of the speed that we’ve brought all three weeks in the playoffs so far. We just haven’t got the finishes and haven’t executed like we needed to, but we know what tomorrow is. Tomorrow is a must-win for us and you’re gonna have to have track position to do that, so I’m glad we executed today and feel like we have a decent Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang. Our long run speed was good, but so much changes tomorrow night with the traction compound and the grooves moving around, so there’s still a lot of homework to do tonight and a lot of preparation to make sure we get the changes just right for tomorrow. But I’m thankful to have good speed and give ourselves a fighting chance tomorrow.”

YOU WERE SLOW IN PRACTICE BUT CONTENDED FOR THE POLE. WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE? “When I rolled out for practice I was in traffic. I didn’t actually set my fastest lap until like lap 15 or lap 16, so I wasn’t terribly worried about it. I thought our long run pace was good and the balance was close and you know how it is here, too, two, three, four, five-hundredths and you’re up or down five or six spots, so I wasn’t terribly concerned going into qualifying. And this track is a lot about commitment going into qualifying and knew what I needed to do. We just missed it last year here. I think we qualified sixth in our group and you go back and study that and look at all the little things that you could have done different to get those couple hundredths, so everything went pretty smooth today.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Bass Pro Shops Night Race Advance | Friday, September 15, 2023

Chris Buescher and Kevin Harvick are both above the cut line going into tomorrow night’s Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race. They each spoke about their respective situations to members of the media before practice and qualifying.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang – YOU ARE THE DEFENDING RACE WINNER. HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE DOES A YEAR MAKE? “A lot has changed in a pretty short period of time, but certainly this time last year we had some really good things happening at RFK. We found a lot of momentum. We had a handful of opportunities to win race and came up a little short and ultimately we didn’t have the consistency to make the playoffs and ended up not in the best place where we had our goals set at the beginning of the year coming into this race, but this has been a track that’s always been really good for and RFK. We’ve always had really strong chances to do great things here. We had one kind of stuck in the back of my mind that Scott and I actually lost together here on a green-white-checker in the Xfinity days and basically just had a fuel stutter late in a race and ended up costing us a win on that day. The Cup win certainly made up for a lot of what we felt like we had lost way back when together and really was the highlight of our year last season. We had a lot of good things happening and certainly hit our stride at a good time similar to this year, but the Bristol win was big for us. We come into it this time, obviously this has been circled for us. It’s my favorite racetrack. I love the night race here and concrete races here, so I’m a fan of the recent news and like that we’re heading into what I would think of as one of the best tracks for a playoff elimination race, especially knowing what we had last time here and knowing we’re in an OK spot in the point side of things and in the playoffs. We definitely didn’t need our issues at the very end of last week’s race. That put us way behind where we wanted to be coming into this race, but I’m excited for it. Again, it’s my favorite racetrack. I know we’re gonna have a fast BuildSubmarines Ford Mustang and that gives me a lot of confidence coming in aside from the fact we were able to win this one last year.”

WHAT GIVES YOU MORE CONFIDENCE KNOWING THAT YOU WON AT DAYTONA OR KNOWING YOU HAD SOMEONE TO PUSH YOU LIKE BRAD? “Comparing the two I think it’s more about the teammates and having Brad behind us there and knowing what we’ve talked about doing and what we studied to finish those races. Certainly that’s been a massive part of speedway racing in general for us. The Daytona win in itself is huge, but I feel there’s a whole lot more to the fact of how our teams are working together to make things happen and get those wins. We’ve been really close at a lot of those speedway races, so we had confidence that we had the speed there, but the execution and working together is a big factor.”

SO LESS TREPIDATION GOING TO TALLADEGA? “A little bit, yeah. Superspeedway racing isn’t my favorite. I don’t necessarily mind it, but it’s just really not at the top of my list. Now I say that, and it’s been very good to us, but you talk about trying to complete that last two percent of those speedway races has been very frustrating at times and we’ve talked a lot about if you’re consistently there the right opportunity will be there and we’ll be able to get the job done, but also realize how difficult it is to do that consistently. We’ve watched certain teammates go out there and make it work. We’ve watched some Penske teammates work really well together speedway racing and it’s certainly been something that we’ve talked about, Brad and myself and all of our teams, so when we go to Talladega we know we’re gonna find each other. We know we’re gonna have fast Mustangs and just control what we can, but know that if we can be there and stay out of some of the chaos that we’ll have an opportunity to win the race and we’ll work hard together to make that happen for one or both of us.”

HOW MUCH WILL YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING IN THE RACE TOMORROW? “I’m torn on this because with 10 laps to go I’d told you I didn’t want to hear a thing about it. Obviously, it couldn’t have timed out any worse for us to have that issue and have an overtime attempt to try and make up laps and positions and ultimately forfeited probably 15 points. That sucks. There’s now way around that and would have definitely come in here with a whole different feeling, so put all of that aside and, like I talked about a second ago, coming to Bristol being my favorite racetrack and knowing that our cars are always competitive here that kind of gets rid of everything and puts you in a really good spot. Then you watch the race back and you watch 10, 12 tires go down and you watch steering rack issues, stuff that one of our cars experienced a tire go down, not so much on the other issues, but there’s a lot riding on this race and quite a few unknowns – stuff that we haven’t talked about in a long time and kind of thought we were over before Kansas, but it’s got to be on your mind. The thing is there’s just not much you can do about it here. There’s no room to let up. There’s no 85 percent here. You’ll get run over. You’ve got to go out there and run 100 percent. We need to go out and have a good practice. We need to qualify well. We need to race up front, grab stage points. Hopefully,, that comes to us and we’re not having to do anything tricky to try and do that or outplay anybody. Hopefully, we’ll stay up front to where we can build cushion back up to where we don’t have to have those conversations, but we certainly need to be aware of cars that we’re racing – if anybody else has issues. You need to race smart about it and have some awareness. That was a really long way of saying, yeah, I want some info on it. I want a lot more when something significant is happening. If it’s a race where you’re not having any issues, you’re not having accidents, at that point you just have to race 100 percent and hope it’s enough. I kind of hope that’s how it plays out because you don’t want to have to get into the weeds at all with all the little stuff, but you’re gonna take more info than before.”

ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE FROM YOUR XFINITY TITLE IN 2015? “It was different. That was the last year before the playoffs on the Xfinity side and it was the most typical approach to win a championship was Daytona in February mattered all the way to the very end. We worked to win races and be very consistent. We worked to minimize bad days and it came all the way down to the end of the year where I believe our number was 13 no matter what the 9 car did. I remember getting yelled at that race for trying to pass three-wide down the backstretch at Homestead for ninth or 11th or something like that, getting yelled at by the same two people that are in my ears nowadays for not needing to race those cars, to not needing those positions. The 9 car was not leading the race and was not in contention for the win and our number was 20th or something like that and I didn’t need to be making the perceived mistakes that I was. I remember that. I don’t think it’s the same now, though. I don’t think you approach it very similarly to that championship or the ARCA championship even. That one is completely different, but it’s different when we have these three-race rounds. It’s just rapid fire. You’re not so much working off of three months ago, it’s very much in the moment. If the circumstances come up that there are a couple wrecks, a couple failures, something like that, where we start talking about some of those things and we need to gain 8 more points today and we’ll be fine or we need to figure out how to win this thing.”

WHY IS THIS PLACE HELD IN SUCH HIGH REGARD TO YOU AS DAYTONA? “It is to me comparable. I go back to watching this race growing up. This was one I wanted to sit down and pay the most attention to win an Xfinity race. This is the one race I’d stay after and go find an empty seat in turn three and try to sit down and watch the Cup race. It’s a track that I feel like there’s always movement here, that there’s always a hustle. There’s no breather and I also think that from a racing standpoint this brings in the very fundamentals of racing. This brings in short track racing. It brings in aggression, but smarts into it. It brings in mechanical basic race car technology versus being so far caught up in some of the aero and other things that are way above my head. It brings it back down the basics. Now, you’ll never get back to the simplicity of racing 20 years ago, but it certainly just hits home for me. The Bristol Night Race for me is top of my bucket list. To get that one first was certainly awesome. Now we’ve got to get another one and get a couple more races.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang – A VIDEO THIS WEEK SHOWED SOME OF THE EMOTION YOU’VE HAD THROUGH THE YEARS. WHAT BRINGS THAT OUT HERE AT BRISTOL? “All of those weren’t from Bristol, but I think Bristol, especially this race, really in general, it’s short track racing and everything happens so fast here that you’re amped up and excited and mad and frustrated and all those things pretty much every lap, so you just have to take it with a grain of salt. It is what it is and sometimes emotion comes out and those things happen.”

THIS WILL BE A CONCRETE RACE IN THE SPRING. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? “I think that’s fantastic. I think the dirt race was what it was. I think it’s something that you try and probably tried it a couple years too long, but I’m always gonna vote for something that’s not dirt.”

ARE YOU AMAZED TRUEX IS BELOW THE CUT AND WHAT WOULD IT SAY IF HE DOESN’T ADVANCE? “It’s a tough scenario because it makes it exciting and stuff to talk about and I think even in the championship that I won and some of the ones that I’ve lost it doesn’t really represent your whole year. You get to the point of making the playoffs and trying to get through the rounds and doing the things that you do, but it’s still not representative of what you had as a year. I think you just go out and do what you can and try to put yourself in the best position that you can and these things work in weird ways. He probably hasn’t had that happen all year and then it happens in the first round of the playoffs. It’s definitely frustrating, especially when you’re in that position. That group has had a phenomenal year and won races and then you have one moment that could dictate your whole season.”

ARE YOU NERVOUS OR WORRIED ABOUT HOW CLOSE YOU ARE TO THE CUTOFF? “No, not at all. It is what it is. You go race as hard as you can and where it falls it falls. It’s like Martin’s situation last year. There’s nothing you can do about some things and I don’t worry about those things anymore.”

CAN YOU GIVE US ONE MORE FIERY MOMENT? “That stuff is not made up. Those moments happen naturally, but you never know. It is Bristol. You just never know what the day or night is going to bring.”

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES WHO SAY YOU’VE ALREADY CHECKED OUT? CAN YOU ANSWER THAT? “Those are the ignorant people that are keyboard warriors. Obviously, they weren’t watching with three laps to go at Daytona and all but leading the race at Darlington. If they can’t answer that question. That’s a pretty simple question. They are people who just like to type.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT SATURDAY NIGHT? “I don’t expect it to be any different. You guys know I’m boring. I give the same answers every week. It’s really just about each moment and each lap and trying to do everything that you can do to put yourself in position to be in the best position possible. That’s really everybody else’s goal and I think the racetrack itself will dictate a lot of what happens. If they do spray the racetrack again and try to keep the top groove from ever being used like they’re talking about, it could be a one-lane deal. There’s just a lot of scenarios that have to come together and play out and you just never know where those are going to go. It’s hard for me to predict anything because it’s so unpredictable.”

HAVE YOU AND RODNEY BEEN LEANED ON BY THE CREW WITH THE SITUATION YOU’RE IN? “Nobody has even talked about it. That’s how irrelevant it is to us.”

WHAT WILL YOU LOOK AT TONIGHT AS FAR AS TRACK CONDITIONS AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE? “This particular car is not like the old cars. You have to have options. Multiple cars following other cars around tends to make the cars not be able to get close enough to even push each other out of the way with the aero situation, so you need options. I hope tonight it at least moves up into the three-quarter mark of the racetrack to be able to at least get it cleaned off. I think there’s definitely some guys that are gonna push that issue to try to move the groove up the racetrack and once it gets cleaned it comes in pretty quick, but it’s not gonna come in for our practice I don’t think. I’m sure Larson and a couple of those guys will try to run up there, but it’s very unlikely that it comes in in practice unless everybody commits to going up there and trying to blow it off. That’s really all it takes, just a bunch of cars making a short amount of time up there to blow it off and then it really comes in quick. If it doesn’t move up more than it is now in tonight’s race, it’ll take a while, especially if they repave it, but not having multiple grooves with this car is tough.”

SO WOULD YOU HAVE TO BE MORE FORCEFUL TOMORROW NIGHT? “You can be forceful and do other things, but you’re gonna be aggressive and race hard and do the things that you need to do, but typically if you run somebody over, you’re gonna get run back over, so you just have to balance all that stuff. It doesn’t change. If it’s just one groove, it’s not gonna change any of the thought process that goes into trying to put your car in the front to me personally.”

HOW SPECIAL IS IT TO SEE COLE CUSTER WITH A TRIBUTE MOBIL 1 PAINT SCHEME IN YOUR HONOR THIS WEEKEND? “That Mobil 1 scheme has been really good to us and Mobil has been such a big part of everything that we’ve done at Stewart-Haas Racing and a big part of the success. I’ve been around Cole ever since he started at Stewart-Haas Racing and I’ve enjoyed watching those guys learn, whether it’s Cole or Chase or Ryan or whoever has come through there. It’s fun to be able to share your opinion on what’s right or wrong and help them learn the sport because that’s what kind of builds our sport into what it is. You learn from somebody and then you develop your own ways and methods and thoughts and things. Cole is a hard worker. I’ve always enjoyed being around Cole and it’s fun to watch the younger guys, especially that you have a relationship with like I do with Cole, to be able to have success and do the things that they do. That’s an honor to see that car on the racetrack and I know he’ll do it proud tonight.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL THE NEXT ROUND LINES UP FOR YOU IF YOU ADVANCE? “The mile-and-a-halves just haven’t been very good for us. I think we overachieved last week. We got some stage points and did the things that we did last week at Kansas and had a chance to finish seventh or eighth and finished 11th, but still way overachieved with where we were. They did a great job and we were able to make something out of it. With the Ford stuff you have to hit it right with where we are with our cars right now and you have a very small window to get the car right on the bigger racetracks. If you don’t, it’s just a battle all weekend like we had all weekend to make something out of it. You never know at any of them, so you just grind away and really take it one lap at a time and try to keep doing everything that you can do, collect as many points as you can and make it where you just try to grind away. They’ve done a good job. We had a winning car at Darlington and got bit by circumstances and last week we had a 20th-place car and ran in the top five for a small amount of time and had a chance to finish in the top 10. Those are things you battle back and forth, especially with this car. Some weeks are good and some weeks are just a grind all the way through, so you have to be mentally prepared to go out and be ready to address whatever that is. That’s why it’s so unpredictable to say, ‘hey, we’re gonna run good here or we’re gonna run good there.’ It’s just hard to tell with where and how you go about everything that we do in today’s world with simulation and simulators and all the things that come with the changes from last year’s rules to this year’s rules as far as that goes and then the body change and the difference in car and only racing at those racetracks once make it even more difficult just because of not having anything from the beginning of the year.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

 COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 NEGU CAMARO ZL1, met with the media ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway. Media Availability Quotes:

YOU HAVE A SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME HONORING PEDIATRIC CANCER AWARENESS. WHY IS THAT CAUSE SPECIAL TO YOU?

“The paint scheme is the same, it’s just the number to gold foil number. The gold ribbon signifies Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month which is September. We were at a Pediatric Cancer center giving out some joy jars, so it was fun doing that, interacting with the kids and giving out some stickers. Passing out some smiles. That was good stuff. It actually helps me, too, keeping in perspective how much of a blessing it is to do to what I do each weekend. We’ve got families with kids that are fighting for their lives. It’s a nice perspective adjustment before rolling into the racetrack for a race weekend.”

LAST WEEK, YOU HAD YOUR 18TH LEAD LAP FINISH OF THE SEASON WHICH IS A NEW CAREER HIGH FOR YOU. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT YOU’VE BEEN RIGHT AT THE FINISH OF EVERY RACE THIS SEASON. THE WAY SPIRE IS GROWING, WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS THE STATUS OF THAT AS YOU APPROACH THE END OF THE SEASON?

“It’s certainly something I’m proud of, being the only car so far, knock on wood, sitting here at Bristol where anything can happen in a split second. That was our biggest objective in the offseason leading into this season, where we ran only eighty-three percent of laps last year. That’s part driver mistake, a lot mechanical issues with the new car trying to figure out the weak links there. The growth of the small team, there’s a lot of growing pains there we’ve ironed out. We’ve got the right people in the right positions to negate all of those mechanical failures we had. If we continue that, keep executing, not putting ourselves in bad spots, I feel like I’ve been as focused as I’ve ever been in my career and getting more experience. We’ve had some decent pace over the last six or seven weeks, and we just need to do a better job of executing when we do have pace. I think that starts this weekend. If, for us, to be the only car so far 28 weeks in, we’re certainly proud of that as a team.”

“It’s certainly not all that we’re looking for. We’re looking for some better runs, better qualifying efforts. I feel like a normal day for us right now should be top-20. If we execute, we have the pace to generally to finish between 16th and 18th, and that’s a big step from where we were the last couple of years. If we continue that trend in that direction, there’s a lot of growth to be had within Spire Motorsports and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

THE NO. 77 HAS ALSO HAD SIGNIFICANT PACE THIS SEASON. HOW HAS THAT HELPED THE NO. 7 OUT?

“It’s something I realize more so than ever, when I was getting a cup of coffee over at Hendrick (Motorsports) driving the No. 9, all four of those teams, the engineers, drivers and crew chiefs are consistently setting a higher watermark. When you’re in an environment like that where every team is pushing the entire team forward, that’s where the biggest growth and biggest development happens. I feel like, for us, the business model that Spire has had to have with part-time guys on the No. 77, it kind of slowed our rate of how much we collected data. It’s been nice to have a veteran guy like Ty (Dillon) and refine our baseline setup. I think that having more points of data over the course of the week and the course of a 20-minute practice session, you have to collect data fast and be efficient with applying it in your race car. That’s nice to be able to see improvements over the last two months.”

YOU LOOK THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENSE BEING THE SON OF A CHAMPION. TALK ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE TO KNOW YOU’RE TRYING TO REACH A PINNACLE OF WHAT YOUR DAD REACHED. OR MAYBE NOT, MAYBE YOU JUST WANT TO BE COREY. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT?

“It’s not like we’ve all sat around a campfire and sang Kumbaya and talked about it. But you look at certain guys, there are so many father and son relationships in this sport that have been prominent. The biggest one was Chase (Elliott) and the driver, son complex. I can relate somewhat, and even though Dad (Randy LaJoie) was voted in the top 75 greatest NASCAR drivers. Bill (Elliott) was known as ‘Million Dollar Bill.’ In my case, specifically in my opinion, no matter what I do in this sport, it’ll never be up to as good as my dad. My dad is my idol, my hero growing up. There’s a little bit of no matter what you achieve in this sport, you’re not going to be as good as your dad.”

“I feel like that’s some of the things where Chase (Elliott) is the way he is, Ryan (Blaney) is the way he is. Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) has been pretty vocal about that as well of his dad (Dale Earnhardt). I think as much as you’re under a microscope growing up as the son of a famous racecar driver, you still put that as much pressure and expectations on yourself to try to live up to what people expect you do being the son of somebody who has an established career. I’d be interested in hearing what those guys have to say on it, if it affects their psyche or not, but I think whether or not they acknowledge it, it shapes who you are and what kind of career you have.”

THIS WEEKEND, EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM IS PAYING ATTENTION TO THE PLAYOFF AND THE CUTOFF POINTS AND SO FORTH. YOU’RE KIND OF IN A BATTLE FOR 25TH. THAT’S NOT AS SEXY AS OTHERS, AND YOU’D LIKE TO BE HIGHER. HOW DO YOU VIEW WHAT THAT MEANS?

“I don’t feel like our place is under any pressure. The guys we are in striking distance of shouldn’t be back there with us anyway. A lot of those guys get eaten up a spot, it’s more fire under their seat. I’ve challenged our team, even though we’re not in the top-16 and resetting those points for a championship, I challenge my guys to reset the points of those four or five guys in front of us and the couple behind us, and have our own little Playoff points structure and see if we can chip away at them with the time with 10 races left. I don’t know for certain, but there is a big monetary difference at the end of the year with points payoff between 25th and 26th. Our car, too, is in different spots as the No. 7 finished last at (World Wide Technology Raceway) when it broke a rotor, so it’s 20 points behind where I am in drivers’ points. So I naturally look at drivers’ points because that’s where I compare and see my name on it, but the one that pays is the one that I need to go get a little more effort and get 20 more spots throughout the year. There are certainly three cars in the crosshairs that I feel like, when we execute, we can beat each and every week and we’re going to have to, we can’t have any off weeks if we want to go get those guys.”

BRISTOL DIRT IS NOT COMING BACK. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

“Halleluiah.”

“I was at the Trackside Live stage earlier, and Alex Weaver mentioned that. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard it, but it was the first official announcement and there was a majority of fans were excited. I said ‘Guys, you guys have to come to the race or else they’ll put ice or gravel or some sort of funky substance to make it a flash in the pan. So the people who are clapping, you better be here in the spring with your butt in a seat so the race doesn’t move somewhere else or they don’t figure out some other substance to put (on the track).’”

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Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BRISTOL, Tenn. (September 15, 2023) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media after before practice for the NASCAR Cup Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday:

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

If you don’t advance, is there something wrong with the system?

“I don’t think so, we just had two terrible races. That’s kind of the way it is. You can’t afford to have bad races and we’ve had two of the three so far. Hopefully tomorrow night goes better.”

What is it like to be in your position?

“It’s a terrible spot to be in, last week, we didn’t even get a chance to race, which was disappointing. I felt like it was probably the best car I had on a mile-and-a-half all year long. I was really excited about it after coming off a tough Darlington race, and then two laps in, you feel like you’re in trouble with a flat tire and it turns out you ran something over. It’s terrible bad luck. I don’t know what you do about it. You just move on and do the best you can tomorrow night. Obviously, it’s a bad spot to be in.”

What is it about Texas that hasn’t suited your driving style?

“It’s been different things over the years. It’s always been a good track for us. Last year, we were leading, and we blew a tire. It’s one of those plays that I feel like we’ve been snakebit a lot We’ve had some good runs, and we’ve had some struggles at times since they repaved it. It’s just one of those things. It’s been up-and-down, but I feel confident going there with what we have this year that we will run well, especially, after we did last year. It’s been tough. Got poles there, led lots of laps, just haven’t been able to win at. Always look forward going there, and I think next week we will have a good shot to win.”

What can you tell us about your approach that doesn’t allow you to be bothered in this situation?

“I think just working together for a while helps. We feel confident in one another and our abilities. I’ve got a great team. I know what they are capable of. For me, you can’t change what happened last week or the week before – you just learn from it and move on and try not to let it affect this week. Tomorrow night is a big race. This hasn’t been our best place, by any means, but I look forward to the challenge. It’s going to be what it’s going to be. We just have to do our best. Hopefully, it shakes out and we can start round two in a good spot again.”

Why hasn’t Bristol been good to you and does it make you nervous?

“I guess a little bit. I think it has been a lot of different issues over the years. We’ve run well here at times. We’ve certainly struggled at times, but I think everybody has. This place is tricky with the spray, and the groove moving around. We won’t race where we practice. It’s a little bit of a challenge there, but all of the times we’ve run here it’s always been a flat tire or a loose wheel. I can’t even use both hands to count all of the times that has happened. It’s just been a tough place, hopefully no bad luck tomorrow night and we can go just have a smooth race and hopefully have the performance to get the job done.”

Are you approaching that you can still point your way in?

“That’s the goal every week – try to get as many points as you can. You want to run up front and be in the mix with whatever position you are in. We certainly try to do that. It is going to be tough to point our way in, but it is a long race and a lot can happen and we are looking forward to the opportunity.”

What is the balance of looking at where your competitors are doing versus what you are doing tomorrow night?

“You kind of just take it as it comes. Right now, we know where we stand and what we have to do, but things change and if things change in a major way, they will let me know, but we just have to go race and do the best job that we can do.”

Do you have to be a jerk tomorrow night?

“It’s possible.”

Are you comfortable with that?

“No, of course not. I’m not really good at hypotheticals, either (laughter). We will see how it plays out tomorrow night and what position we are in and what needs to be done and go from there and make a decision on the fly.”

Is it similar feeling to the Championship 4 race?

“I don’t know. I guess it feels a little bit similar, but at the same time different. You always go to the last race knowing that you are only racing three other guys, and tomorrow night, we essentially have no idea who we are racing yet, so we just have to go and not over complicate it and go and give our best effort and not have any mistakes and stay on top of things. I think we are ready to do it, just again, wait and see. We are ready to go. What’s going to happen is going to happen.”

Are the mechanical issues that were suffered last year worked out for this season’s race?

“I think the issue we had with the steering should be worked out. I don’t think you know for sure until you come here. This place is so unique. Nowhere else we race is like this and puts such a demand on the steering system, so your guess is as good as mine, but I think it should be fine. I don’t think it should be an issue. Tire wise, I don’t know. A lot of times, that is just bad luck like last week. We must have run something over on pace laps or coming down pit road for our speed check. You just never know with tires.”

After a couple bad weeks, does Catwalk for a Cause put things in a different perspective?

“Yeah, for sure. It always does. Even after a good week, it’s always a reminder of what people are going through. A lot of people are dealing with a lot of bad things, and we are all very lucky to be here doing this, and that’s kind of the way I approach it.”

How successful was it?

“I don’t know exactly yet, but it was amazing. Everybody did a great job. It was a lot of fun. The kids were awesome, and they had a blast. That is what it is all about.”

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.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

MATT KAULIG, OWNER OF KAULIG RACING; CHRIS RICE, PRESIDENT OF KAULIG RACING; and DANIEL HEMRIC, DRIVER FOR KAULIG RACING, met with the media at Bristol Motor Speedway to announce that Hemric will drive the No. 31 Kaulig Racing Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024. Media Availability Quotes:

CHRIS RICE: “We love doing these at the race track because of you guys. We know that if we don’t have you, the media, and we don’t have the people that is in this sport, there’s no way that we get this out to our race fans. We love our race fans; we love everything about our race fans. And I said this to our race team on Wednesday – tough times only last a short period of time.. tough people last a long time. And when we started this journey with Daniel Hemric back in February – about Cup racing and different things – that’s what we talked about. We talked about it a lot. With the partnership with Cirkul and everybody that goes along with this, it was just evident that it wasn’t going to take long for Daniel to work as hard as he worked behind the scenes – not just on the race track, but behind the scenes, to be able to go back Cup racing. I know the first time he went Cup racing; it wasn’t the best. He probably beat himself to death every time he left, and he probably didn’t have a good time with it. But our plan is to go have a good time with it. We obviously want to win and we want to win trophies.. that’s what Matt (Kaulig) wants to do.

But for our partners, Daniel’s partners and everybody else, we’re glad to tell you that Daniel Hemric will drive the No. 31 Chevy in 2024.

MATT KAULIG: “We’ve been working on this probably since February – just to advance our race team, to advance our Cup program. Even since last year, even looking at the race shop, we’re trying to improve our program – whether it’s with the Xfinity cars or with the Cup cars. We feel like the best way to even advance our Cup program is to have Daniel Hemric in that No. 31 car. Couldn’t be more excited. I’m super excited for you (Daniel). Daniel has been a huge part of our race team. He’s been a great teammate. He’s been a great family member. I’m just super excited that he’s staying on with us and we’re going to be Cup racing.”

DANIEL HEMRIC: “I appreciate these guys. They went for bat for me when I didn’t know what I had next in 2021. When I got to sit down and hear them out, hear what their vision was – not only for 2021, but 2024, 2025 and beyond – back well before that was on the horizon, I knew after hearing what they had to say that I wanted to be a part of it. You’re never promised anything and you never know what’s to come, but one thing that’s always been true is that if you keep showing up – you put the work in and you bring that heart each and every week, you’re going to have the same shot that you can only dream of. It’s been a whirlwind, to say the least. I’m doing the best I can to hold it together up here, but it’s here. We’re going back.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT YOU HAVE AN IDENTIFIABLE ARM, ACCORDING TO THE INTERNET?

DANIEL HEMRIC: “Yeah, that was a bit bizarre (laughs). I actually told these two guys walking over here, literally 30 seconds before we walked in, I’m like – at many moments this week where I got these random texts and everybody knows I’m not going to lie to them, and they know if they didn’t get a response that they knew the answer. I actually took a screenshot and sent it to Chris (Rice) within 15 minutes of it getting posted, of the handshake photo, and (Ryan) Blaney was like – we’ve been on enough vacations together, I know those arms (laughs). So it was funny to just have people within the industry and family members reach out and I’m like – lips are tied until Friday. But yeah, it was pretty bizarre to witness how all of that went down.”

DID YOU THINK PEOPLE WOULD FIGURE IT OUT BY THE ARM?

CHRIS RICE: “Daniel (Hemric) can tell you how that come about. I’m always trying to figure out what’s going to stump the crowd, right? No matter what it is. I didn’t think it would go that deep. I did think they’d figure it out, but man race fans want to find out. Bob (Pockrass) walked up to me last week or a couple of weeks ago, and he said it was Daniel Hemric. I can’t lie, right. I can’t lie.. I might not tell you something, but I can’t lie. When we did that, I never knew it would get down to the freckle. My daughter is pregnant and I think she went into labor after looking at all of the comments, and I’m like – quit looking at all of the comments (laughs).”

HOW DIFFERENT OF A CUP DRIVER ARE YOU NOW THAN WHAT YOU WERE IN 2019?

DANIEL HEMRIC: “We’re going to find out. In all reality, through the process of just trying to be a better person, a better racer, over the last five years – you do learn a lot about yourself through those ups and downs. I know just from attaching to what a racecar driver at that level has to go through – through preparation and being on the race track – but more so what happens once you leave the race track. How to detach, how to mentally stay sound at home and still be the best father and best husband. I know without a shadow of doubt that it would be naïve for me to think that I’m the same person and I’m not. I’m excited about the person I am going into this new opportunity.”

YOU HAVE ANOTHER CAR, THE NO. 16. DO YOU KNOW WHAT AJ (ALLMENDINGER) IS GOING TO DO NEXT YEAR, AND ALSO, NOAH GRAGSON GOT REINSTATED THIS WEEK.. HE’S DRIVEN FOR YOU GUYS BEFORE. IS THERE ANY INTEREST IN HIM, EITHER IN THE CUP OR XFINITY SIDE?

CHRIS RICE: “We’re super excited about our No. 16 car, but we’re honestly coming in here today about the No. 31. I would love to sit here and tell you everything that’s going on. Yes, AJ (Allmendinger) is very crucial. He was a big decision factor with Daniel (Hemric). I’ll be dead honest with you – we brought it to AJ first because AJ is big part of Kaulig Racing. I think his middle name is ‘Kaulig’.”

YOU HAD NEXT GEN CUP EXPERIENCE LAST YEAR. HOW MUCH IS THAT GOING TO BE A BENEFIT GOING INTO THIS, KNOWING THAT YOU’RE NOT COMING INTO THIS CAR BLIND?

DANIEL HEMRIC: “Yeah, that’s a great question. I think I said it after I ran the first handful of races in that car. It was brand new to the entire garage. We went to Daytona (International Speedway) and kind of survived and ran top-15. But then when we went to Fontana (Auto Club Speedway) – unloaded inside the top-10 and qualified inside the top-five, I believe. We had a mechanical failure that put us six laps down, and then to come back, made those laps up and get a top-10 finish. I got out of the car right then and man, for me, all of 2019 and the years of trying to figure out how to even get back into a Cup seat, period, even though then it was on a part-time basis, it felt like – yeah, you’re right, you can do it back at this level. For me, that was like – OK, how do we bridge this gap.. how do I get back there full-time. So I used a lot of that experience and I’ll be able to continue to use that experience that I got last year. I really feel like, just in general, the garage changes so fast. I’m sure if we went back to Fontana tomorrow, what I drove and felt in that car is not what it’s going to feel like today. But just to know that you can go and compete – run upfront, qualify that good and race that good – when you’ve been in that situation where you struggle to feel like you’re physically capable of doing it after getting let down, whether it’s self-induced or team-induced, to go and prove to yourself that you can do it, that’s all the experience I needed to gain that particular day and that’s why I look forward to what’s ahead.”

IT’S AMAZING TO ME HOW YOU’VE WEATHERED THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THIS SPORT. HOW HARD HAS THAT BEEN AND WHAT’S IT LIKE TO FINALLY GET WHERE YOU’RE AT NOW AFTER HANGING IN THERE ALL THIS TIME?

DANIEL HEMRIC: “Yeah, just because this opportunity is here doesn’t mean that it’ll be there well into the future, right? So you just try to do your best right now, and right now is all that matters. Through the past, it’s taken a support group that’s been incredible, like my wife Kenzie, Matt (Kaulig) and Chris (Rice), and everybody else around me – to lift you up in those times where you are second-guessing yourself. At the end of the day, everything else outside of that – if they’re not on your team, or your core group, it’s just noise. And to me, it’s been about eliminating that noise and just keeping your head down. It’s very surreal, but not something that I haven’t worked every day since 2019 to figure out.”

ONE OF THE THINGS THAT’S CHANGED ABOUT THIS SPORT IN THE PAST 10 YEARS AT THE CUP SERIES LEVEL IS THAT THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE MUCH MORE LIMITED NOW THAN THEY WERE IN THE PAST.

DANIEL HEMRIC: “It’s a testament of the values you have as a kid. Like you are constantly trying to find your way, whether it be in racing or not. I think all the way back to my short-track career – watching people that I’d go mentor or driver coach.. they get their shot to get up the ladder and I’d still be at that same local level trying to figure out how they got to go on. I bring that up because this opportunity feels no different than that. I feel like in do time and the right time, in general, you just end up exactly where you’re supposed to be. I think about that.. I think about all the kids around the world trying to figure this out. My mentality was to keep going.. one more step, figure it out. And when that guy decides he can’t go no more, I went one more and I get the shot.”

MATT, THIS IS YOUR SECOND FULL SEASON IN CUP. HOW MUCH TOUGHER IS IT? GIVEN ALL THE SUCCESS YOU HAD IN THE XFINTIY SERIES, YOU ALMOST MADE IT LOOK EASY COMING IN. TALK ABOUT HOW JUST THE LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY IT IS TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL CUP PROGRAM COMPARED TO WHAT YOU WERE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH SO QUICKLY IN XFINITY?

MATT KAULIG: “It is our second full-time season. Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s been tough. I think we’re making progress exactly the way that we planned. If we look at when we started the team eight years ago, it wasn’t easy. We weren’t running great in the Xfinity Series in year two. So it takes a little bit. You have to get the right team. You have to get the right teammates. You have to get the right drivers. Even what we’re doing here today, talking about Daniel (Hemric), the No. 31 car and how we continue to get better, we’re just making progress. Whenever you’re talking about anything in business, sometimes it just takes time. It takes experience, it takes time. I’m really, really proud of how all of our teams have run this year. I’m really looking forward to the future.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CURRENT CHARTER SITUATION?

MATT KAULIG: “I think we’re making good progress. I feel good about everything that’s going on, actually. I don’t really have too many comments about that.”

IT’S SO RARE TO GET A SECOND CHANCE AT THE TOP LEVEL. DID YOU EVER DOUBT YOURSELF OR WORRY THAT TEAMS DOUBTED YOUR ABILITIES?

DANIEL HEMRIC: “Oh yeah, sure.. absolutely and I’m sure they still will. And that’s fine.. I’ll keep showing up. It’s pretty simple.”

YOU’RE ALSO CHASING THE XFINITY SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP. NOW THAT YOU KNOW FOR SURE THAT THIS IS A DONE DEAL, HOW MUCH DOES THIS HELP YOU FOCUS ON THE TASK AT HAND? AND CHRIS, IF YOU COULD COMMENT ON THE BELIEF IN DANIEL’S ABILITY TO GO CHASE THIS XFINITY SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP, AS WELL.

DANIEL HEMRIC: “Yeah, for me, my wife and I joke about this – I say joke about it, but it’s a series conversation when you’re trying to go through these waters and navigate it. When it’s just you and you’re only worried about you – like you can afford to work on stuff like this, fail at it and there’s nobody else relying on you. And I think anybody in here with kids, wives and family – when there’s more and more people that depend on you, it becomes a bigger distraction, without a doubt. It’s the best sleep aid.. it helps you sleep when you know you get your deals done and you don’t have to worry about it. It’s only fair to the men and women inside of our shop, everyone at Kaulig Racing – everybody wants to know what’s happening. They want to know if they have a job next year, who’s running what. That matters to everybody’s decisions. There’s a lot of people depending on them, so it’s just a trickle effect of let’s all of us buckle down and zero back in on the task at-hand. There’s no better time than now to get it out there in front of everyone just so we can refocus. I wouldn’t have came here when I did if I didn’t think we could win races and win championships. To have partners like Cirkul that believe the same thing – they want us back focused. To be able to announce this today and put where our head where it needs to be, that’s what it’s all about today.”

CHRIS RICE: “You talk about can Daniel win a championship. As a race team, we have to get better. I don’t think we’re where we need to be. I told Claire at Darlington (Raceway) – it’s unacceptable. Last week, we go and have two failures that are outside of our control. But actually what that did was made us learn – we learned a lot last week. Daniel has unloaded the last two weeks at the top of the board and I think we have to do our job. I think right now, the team, us as a group – we have to get together and start clicking off some wins. We have to win stages and we have to do stuff like that and have good runs to get to the Championship Four. I feel like two cars are already locked-in, with the No. 20 (John H. Nemechek) and the No. 21 (Austin Hill). I think there’s only two places left open, so we have to beat everybody to get there. I think with Daniel knowing what he’s doing over the next year is always good. But as a team, I think Alex Yontz (crew chief) and everybody has worked super hard to fix all the issues. I look forward to today and Texas (Motor Speedway) will be a good test for us.”

YOU GOT WITH THESE GUYS AT KAULIG RACING TO EVENTUALLY GO CUP RACING AGAIN. BUT YOU TOOK A STEP BACK THIS YEAR. YOU DON’T HAVE THOSE CUP STARTS THIS YEAR. HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO GET EACH TO BUY-IN WITH EACH OTHER.. TAKE A STEP BACK BEFORE YOU TAKE THE STEP FORWARD.

DANIEL HEMRIC: “I feel like it’s any good relationship, marriage or whatever you want to call it – you just have to communicate. You try to show your cards right in front of the next person and try to just understand the goals – where everybody wants to get to and where the vision is. Yeah, of course I wanted to be in Cup races this year, but the task at-hand was to spend as much time as possible in the Xfinity Series and give ourselves the best opportunity possible to win and run for a championship. For me, sometimes taking a step back is actually taking a step forward, and I think this is no bigger testament of that. You just have to continue the process and have faith that it’ll work out just how it’s supposed to.”

CHRIS RICE: “I think we learned as a group early on by letting AJ (Allmendinger) run some cars, we’ve let other people run some cars – I don’t think it was as good as we thought it would be.. getting the track time and all that. We could have ran Daniel in a couple of races – Cirkul would have loved to have him in a couple of races, but we saw that it didn’t really elevate what we needed and we don’t want to mess up with the mojo or whatever he might have going at the time. So I think that was more of a call on our end.. probably Matt’s end more than mine. But I think that wouldn’t be a step back.. I think it was a controlled – hey, let’s go for this Xfinity deal instead of putting the efforts in Cup right this second.”

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.