NASCAR CUP SERIES
PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2023

 KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1, 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day Quotes:

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THESE NEXT 10 WEEKS?

“You know, I think I have had the same mindset my whole career that I have ever made the playoffs and that is just being consistent, finishing and not making mistakes. If you remember last year, I had a mistake at the Roval, and it bit me and cost us a chance to win the championship. So, if you can finish and be consistent and get good stage points, you can help yourself out quite a bit. So, that is the mindset for me.”

WHAT DID YOU GUYS LEARN FROM THAT EXPERIENCE IN THE PLAYOFFS LAST YEAR THAT CAN TRANSLATE INTO THIS YEAR?

“Last year was just difficult on many fronts. We had a lot of adversity throughout the year speed-wise, mistakes, and all that and we still were in the final four for the owner’s championship. So, it was a good realization that our team is extremely good and if we just clean things up, we can be really strong. And I feel like we did that this year, I think we did that and although the results look very similar, we have been a way better team consistently this year. We have challenged for a lot more wins this year. So, yeah, I think we are in a good spot going into the playoffs and hopefully we can just be smooth and quietly make our way through.”

HAS THERE BEEN A MESSAGE FROM CLIFF TO THE TEAM ON HOW TO APPROACH THE NEXT 10 WEEKS?

“I am not sure because I usually hear the message Sunday morning. He has probably talked to the team throughout the week, but he is really good about motivating us and saying the right thing at the right time. Usually, the pre-race meetings are very motivational.”

ARE YOU AT THE POINT OF YOUR CAREER TO WHERE IF YOU DON’T MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR, IT’S A DISAPPOINTMENT?

“I don’t know. It hasn’t been that long since I won a championship, so I have only gone one year without winning one. So, I don’t know how I feel. Last year felt shitty because I screwed up at the Roval and took myself out of it. So, that wasn’t fun to deal with. But, at the end of the year we still had three wins and that is not a bad year. This year we have got three wins as well and won the All-Star race. If I don’t win the championship, for sure I am going to be disappointed. We didn’t achieve the goal, but it wasn’t a disappointment from start to finish. We won a lot more than a lot of people did and this year we still have 10 races left. So, I try to be a glass half full guy most of the time, so I try to set realistic expectations as well.”

WITH THE 9 AND THE 48 NOT IN THE DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP, DOES HENDRICK APPROACH THAT DIFFERENTLY IN HAVING THOSE TEAMS HELP YOU AND THE 24 TEAM?

“Yeah, I don’t know. I am not sure what….I am not sure. We all work really well together as it is and I don’t see that changing. And I don’t know if there is any R&D stuff coming or not, but I could see if there were any R&D things that Alex (Bowman) would probably get it first and depending on where Chase (Elliott) is in the owner’s points….which he is going to do really good job. He has got a really good shot to make it to the final four of the owner’s side of things. But yeah, I don’t really know and I think we all work really well together, so its really hard to change everything up.”

IS THERE A TRACK OVER THESE NEXT 10 WEEKS THAT JUMPS OUT AS A NEXT OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM FOR, AND MAYBE A STRUGGLE POINT WHERE YOU GUYS FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO MAKE THE MOST IMPROVEMENTS?

“I think the first round are three great tracks for us. Darlington, Kansas, and Bristol are really, really good. In the second round, Texas hopefully will be a good track for us. Talladega is Talladega. And the Roval is a good track for us as well. I think if we can make it to the Round of 8, I like that better than the Round of 12. We have Vegas in there and we almost won that earlier this year and Homestead is probably my best track. Then there is Martinsville, where we won at earlier this year. So, I would love to make it to the Round of 8, because I think we would have a good shot. You just never know, and this sport kind of evolves each week and you don’t know if you are going to be as strong the second time around as you were earlier in the year.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO NOT OVERLOOK ANY OF THE 16 TEAMS IN THE PLAYOFFS?

“Yeah, especially with the Next Gen car, I don’t think you can overlook anybody. Everybody is so equal and those underdogs have done a really good job this year of executing each race and finishing where they probably deserve or a little bit better. I look at Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.), because he has probably had his best season by far to date. He has been super consistent and has had a lot of speed at times and those races that he has had speed, he has finished up there too. You can’t overlook those guys at all because they are going to be consistent, and they are going to do a good job. There is always somebody where their team just does a really good job of executing and making themselves stand out. So, hopefully that is us this year.”

IS THERE ONE TEAM OR DRIVER THAT STANDS OUT THE MOST AS THE BIGGEST COMPETITION?

“I think Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron have been the two best guys consistently all year long. Maybe not necessarily the fastest every week, but they are about. They are top three guys every week and then they do a really good job of executing. So, I look at those two. They have a lot of playoff points as well, and not necessarily that they are guaranteed to make it to Phoenix, but I think they have the best shot.”

REGARDING THE RYAN PREECE WRECK AND THE ROTATIONS IN THE AIR. WHAT IS THAT LIKE?

“When I wrecked in New Zealand a few years ago, it was not as crazy as that, but very similar where I had like really quick rotations and its just wild. Like the gravity pulls your hands and whole body off the wheel. My eyes were bloodshot for a few months, and I am sure he looks pretty attractive right now.”

YOU ARE ABOUT FIVE WEEKS AWAY FROM THE INDYCAR TEST. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DO NOW TO PREPARE?

“I haven’t done anything yet and I haven’t heard if they want me to do any simulator time or anything like that. I don’t know how well their oval stuff is on there for INDYCAR. But yeah, I am sure it’s going to creep up on me. It is kind of tough because it’s right at the beginning of our playoffs, so it’s hard to take too much focus off that currently. I think once we get racing, I can focus more on the test. But honestly, I don’t even know what to do. Like I don’t know what to look at before I get in the car. I think I just need to get some laps and get familiarity with it and then I can understand what I need to work on.”

REGARDING WILLIAM BYRON SAYING THAT YOUR DRIVING STYLES ARE SIMILAR AND THAT COULD HELP ADVANCING IN THE PLAYOFFS

“I don’t know. People have said we are similar, and I think at least set-up wise, we are the most similar it seems. As far as driving style, I don’t know, I think at this point and the way these race cars are driving that we all have similar driving styles. I think William and I can do a really good job and we can go bring Rick (Hendrick) another championship.”

HOW HAS YOUR TIME AT HENDRICK HELPED YOU EVOLVE AS A BETTER DRIVER?

“Well, I don’t know how things would be if I was still at Ganassi, but we have so much more data to look at now than we did a few years ago. So, maybe I would still be doing all the pre-race stuff that I do now, it could be the same because you have the data. You have so much more data and I think Cliff and the engineers are so good at looking at the data and kind of coaching me through how I can be better, things I am doing good at and keep after. So, I don’t know how like I have evolved, and you just naturally evolve. With all that data, the learning curve is so much easier, and everybody is getting so much better every week because of the data.”

REGARDING IF YOU LOOK AT KYLE BUSCH’S DATA MORE NOW THAT HE IS IN THE CHEVY CAMP NOW?

“I wouldn’t say I look at his stuff any more or less than I used to. But maybe now that I can see his data, I can understand that our cars drive more similar now than when we were at different organizations. So, we can talk about it and debrief about it a little bit more and understand what he is talking about a little better. Kyle Busch is one of the top drivers in this sport, so I was always looking at his stuff before, and I am still looking at it now.”

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

CHARLOTTE (August 31, 2023) – 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace was made available to media as part of the NASCAR Playoff Media Day.

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing

Did you celebrate at all on Saturday?

“Saturday, we got home about 1:30am. We didn’t go to bed until like 3 just from being wired, but I had the 23 team over Sunday, and we didn’t get too crazy, because we knew that Monday was right around the corner, so I had a couple adult beverages and played some pool. Just good to kind of kick back and celebrate with them and show that I’m proud of them of what we were able to do.”

What does it mean that Michael Jordan was there celebrating with you?

“I think that is a better question for the team members, because I would be interested to see how they felt. I thought it was really cool to share that with them. For me, that’s just MJ (Michael Jordan) being happy and proud and wanting to see his cars do well. To have the interaction with Bootie (Barker, crew chief) was really cool, the reaction with the crew was really neat, so I’m sure they felt really ecstatic over that.”

You said you are ecstatic for the crew, are you ecstatic for yourself too?

“Yeah, no doubt. From looking from where we were at the beginning of the season, wrecking out at COTA, I was just pissed off at myself for being in that spot, so put in the work and got us kind of back on track, and then you had to fight for it the last three or four weeks, so yeah, I’m definitely proud of myself. Watkins Glen was probably the best showcase of road course performance that I was able to put together to date, so yeah.”

Why did you call Scott Dixon before that race?

“(Steve) Lauletta (president, 23XI) set that up. He brought him over last year in Indy to the Grid, so it was cool to see him win Indy. Steve texted me – he set it up on Monday after Indy, and then Wednesday or Thursday, he was like have you talked to him yet, and I’m like no, because I’m not the type of person to reach out. I was like let me get some laps under my belt after practice and qualifying, and I felt pretty good about it, but just the mental side of things is where I struggled. I failed to shoutout Jordan Taylor too. I talked to him after Chicago. Just on race craft stuff and how to be better there, so I appreciate him as well. Apologize I didn’t mention him there. I know he really doesn’t need a mention, but there is a lot of people that I reached out to that helped out in a massive way, so I appreciate that.”

Was it because they were good at road course racing?

“Yeah, hands down.”

Or because Scott Dixon is a champion?

“it’s a little bit of everything, but it’s the road course side for me. It’s hard because those guys don’t drive my car, and that was the first thing that he said – I need to see some data, and he was like I want to help out more, so I thought that was pretty cool.”

How far can you go?

“Well, if I don’t do anything dumb, I hope to be racing at Phoenix, right? Don’t miss any weeks, no vacation. I think we are a lot better than 16th. I look at this first round, as one of the strongest of any of the top 16. Darlington, we ran fourth in the spring, Kansas, we know we can do Kansas. Bristol, Bristol we need a little more magic there, but top-10 car. Second round is where we are starting to work on that. Texas, we’ve been okay at. Talladega style is, Talladega, and then the ROVAL. We ran top 10 at, but don’t feel good about that one. Then the third round, I feel pretty good. So if we can do what we know how to do in the first round and maintain or do some stuff in the second round, there is no reason we can’t be top eight, top four. I really feel good about that, but definitely not a 16th place car.”

Is there an edge to have your teammate and car owner in the Playoffs?

“Yes, it is nice to be able to have people to rely on and get some insight, but at the end of the day they are competitors, so we’ve got to go beat them. We are all working hard towards one goal, and that is bringing a championship home for 23XI.”

Do you think about how hard you’ve worked to get to this point, or do you have to put that to the side?

“I think in the moment, you are like we made it, good job, but time never stops. You have to keep going. You have to be so ready for the next task at hand. Now I’m focused on getting to Darlington and executing.”

What would make this a great Playoffs?

“For it to be great, you have to be great. I think I’m pumped to be an underdog. We know we are way more capable of being better than 16th, but we know if we don’t execute, we can see our happy asses in 16th. We just have to go out and do what we know how to do, and just do it. Not get complacent and be one of those front running cars over the next 10 weeks. We know it’s a tall task, but we can do it.”

Where is the disconnect from getting stage points, but not getting those same finishes?

“Yeah, the last month or so, running fine but not finishing worth a damn, so I’m like what are we doing, like I’m legit asking what are we doing to dial ourselves out? We are all scratching our heads because we kind of noticed a trend earlier this year when we kind of had the same thing going on where we were really good to start the race and then nowhere to be talked about in the end. It was like we did a half-pound of air pressure out of the left front, holy cow that is it. Well, we weren’t doing that, and we still had the same result. I don’t know. But we hope that is gone. We hope we can finish out the races where we need to be. Just goes back to just grind. You have to grind and work hard through the whole thing.”

Inaudible

“There is nothing easy about the spot that we are in, so I think that’s looking at every avenue and not expecting the same results as before. Am I expecting to show up and qualify second again, no because I want to qualify on the pole. We missed it by just a little bit. Am I expecting to run fourth, no I want to run first, but it is not that easy. You can sit there and dream about it, but you have to put in the work and dedication to make this happen. The guys at the shop have to do the same thing. We can’t miss a nut or a bolt, loose screw or anything. We’ve got make sure the bodies are right and do everything we can to make sure our cars are up to par and beyond that.”

Did you pull anything from last season’s owner playoff run?

“Yes, but for me, it is just another race. It is another set of 10 races. Saturday is another practice, another qualifying, and Sunday is another race. I think the things you learn last year is how you race, how you approach things, but I made a lot of mistakes last year that I regret, and there is a lot of learning curves coming out of that, setting you up for this year. I was saying this was going to be our best year yet, so I’m glad it’s living up to par. We still have to continue to fight, because a couple of bad races and you are out.”

Did you have time for any of your stress relievers (drumming, photography) before the races recently?

“I have to schedule when I go to the bathroom, it’s that crazy (laughter). I didn’t really have much time. Music is there every day, so you have time for that. Drumming, there’s some dust on all of the cymbals. Photography, clearly, I have my camera with me, but yeah, I try to find any escape that I can. Really, I’m cool, calm and collected. No stress right now.”

How is your mental game in handling this pressure?

“It’s funny, I read that. We had the opportunity to do media during the week to free up the obligations at the race track and to focus on what we needed to do, which was get the 23 car in the Playoffs. That’s the most important thing. As much as talking to media is really important, I’m sorry y’all don’t pay my bills (laughter). I did my obligations before then and then, some of the stuff gives a bad light on my PR team, and it’s not really fair for her because she does a really good job at keeping my schedule really clear and doing all of the stuff that we need to do to get by, not just get by, but things that are going to be good for the brand, good for the team, so to go out and do all of that stuff earlier in the week, it was like hey, let’s go focus on the race now. Then you get back and you see that Bubba Wallace is mentally fragile and doesn’t want to do interviews, and you are like, I was good. I could have stayed on pit road and talked to y’all for hours, but I guess people handle their stress differently, because absolutely, I was stressed to the max. I’ve never been stressed like that before. I’ve never been in this situation before. I’ve always been 20th-21st, 200 points out in a must win situation, 10 loose wheels later. It was like oh, ok. Now that I’m in here, I’m experiencing somethings that I never have, and how to I handle this. Let’s talk to media. Let’s give them – hey I’m stressed out on Wednesday. I’m going to be stressed out until the checkered flag falls on Saturday, but continue to talk about it – how do you feel? Are you going to come up and talk to me in Daytona at 12:00 and then 1 o’clock and ask me the same question? Well, I answered that on Wednesday. I’m stressed. So, for it to offend people that I declined an interview. I didn’t really decline. We did our obligations and we made sure we were focused on the task at hand, which is the most important thing. That was the main goal in all of that.”

What are your thoughts on Kurt Busch?

“I hate the circumstances that put Kurt in where he’s at. I saw it happen live. I was 20 car lengths behind him. To see him, try to fight and try to get back in the car was something that I was always proud of because he was determined to get back in. My wife (Amanda) would always come up to me and was like Kurt (Busch) is so adamant on getting back in the car, what’s his progress like? I’m like I don’t know, I think everything is going okay, and I don’t know the time frame. I think we would all love to see Kurt back in a car, but I think the progress kind of flatlined, and he started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and the next thing for him was to retire. As lustrous of a career as he had and how he came in – the conversation I had with (Kevin) Harvick at Indy, I guess that would be 2021. I went over to Harvick to squash our beef. I was like, hey, how is Kurt, because he’s coming over. He’s like he’s good, he’s really, really good. He makes teams better. His setups are a little wonky (laughter) but he’s really, really good. He was right. He made our team better. He made our team progress faster than if was just me. He’s always given positive insight and constructive insight on how to make this better. He came up to me a couple of times and said that you need to be a better teammate. You need to do certain things to help out the leaders of this team, and I was like oh, okay. I like Kurt for who he is because he doesn’t sugar coat anything. He comes up to you and delivers it straight and that is what I try to do. So, yeah, I’m happy for Kurt, but bummed for him because he didn’t want to go out like that.”

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
PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2023

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 TRACKHOUSE RACING CAMARO ZL1, 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day Press Conference Transcript:

IT SOUNDED EARLIER LIKE YOU WERE FIRED ABOUT DARLINGTON.

“Whether I was driving in the Southern 500 this weekend or not, I would be going down there to watch. I love that track. I love the drive down. I definitely love driving on it. I just get excited about it. I get excited watching clips of racecars going around that track.”

YOU’VE HAD SPEED AT DARLINGTON WHETHER THE FINISHES REFLECT IT OR NOT. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THAT TRACK?

“I don’t know. It’s humbling when I’m on it, and it’s definitely been humbling to me. I don’t know how to describe it. I feel natural when I’m out there. I don’t feel natural running up next to the wall. I just love it up there. It’s been its fair share of mean to me, for good reason. We definitely haven’t gotten the finishes we want. But no matter what, I usually drive out of there with a smile.”

ANY BONZAI MOVES TO GET INTO THE NEXT ROUND?

“No sir, no more up these sleeves! It’s just go scrap up as many points as we can and see what we’ve got at the end of each elimination race.”

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP YOUR SEASON TO GET TO THIS POINT?

“I don’t know if we have enough tape! I think there’s a lot of things I could have done better. There’s a lot of things that I’m grateful that went the way they did. And I learned from all of it. So how do I think it went? I think it went exactly how it was supposed to. Now we have a shot for 10 weeks to go fight for this thing.”

YOU’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK GOING IN. DOES THAT IMPACT HOW YOU APPROACH THE FIRST ROUND?

“It does not affect how I drive off into Turn One at Darlington during qualifying or on Lap 30 of the race or Lap 230 or 330. It’s what do I need to do to put my car in the best position to win, get as many points as I can, run as fast as a lap as I can. I can’t think of any of that other stuff, and I don’t have the bandwidth for it. I think about the lap I’m in, what does the next corner need from me, and it’s a very repetitive process of 367 times plus maybe a little overtime of repeating that process of what does the next corner need from me.”

EVERY TIME YOU GO TO WORK, YOU SEE THE SPACE PAINTED OF HOW SHORT YOU WERE LAST YEAR. IS IT OVERWHELMING OR IS IT A GOOD REMINDER?

“It was overwhelming at first. The first couple of times I drove over it, I didn’t really care for it. I actually parked on the other side of the building the first week because I didn’t really get it. By the end of the first week, I thought through everything Justin (Marks) said, and he talked to me a little bit more about it. I just started driving across it like everybody else. Now I look forward to it. It’s a little grip of the steering wheel, a little pump of throttle, then a quick memory and right back to what do I need to do today? That’s really all I can do, is try to be better the next time.”

HOW HAS BEING IN THE PLAYOFFS LAST YEAR CHANGED YOUR MINDSET?

“There’s definitely things we’ve learned. It can be something as simple as my schedule, how we go about the 10 weeks and on the raceday what we build into my calendar. Fundamentally from a large point of view, we don’t have to do anything different. We didn’t do anything too crazy last year – the Hail Melon and some of that stuff was crazy – but in our preparation and our execution when we got to the track for all these playoff races, we can’t reinvent the wheel this week for Darlington. We can’t reinvent it for the Roval or anything. We need to go race. That’s what we’ve done for two years and really three since a lot of us were at CGR together. We didn’t get here by accident, and it’s OK to go win some of these things. Somebody is going to.”

DO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHO SAYS IS GOING TO THROUGH THE ROUNDS, WHO IS GOING TO MAKE IT TO THE FINAL FOUR?

“We don’t put it on a bulletin board, no. I see it, but I’m not looking for it. Social media has given everybody’s opinion a platform. I know that about it. If you have access to a device that will post on social media from anywhere in the world and you have the service to get it out, you can say anything you want. I accepted that a long time ago, probably when I still had a Blackberry. From then to now, it hasn’t changed. Social media is what it is. If you have a platform to be on the broadcast team or a platform to have a Twitter account with one follower, you have the same platform on social media. Post what you want.”

WHAT COULD HAVE CHANGED THE END OF THE SPRING RACE AT DARLINGTON?

“It was a decision to take the lead back from the 5… take that Turn One entry, run up the hill, with the throttle commitment and steering wheel commitment I had, it was a decision to take it. And I didn’t need to take it. I could have raced him off Turn Two. I put myself in the wall and we were out of the race. And it took him out, too. Definitely could have changed, and it started with a decision under caution to take the spot on the ensuing restart.”

DO YOU FEEL MORE CONFIDENT COMING BACK TO THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR?

“I’ve got 140 employees at Trackhouse that are going to battle for Daniel (Suarez) and I. Whether or not we have a playoff banner on the window or not, it doesn’t change the caliber or rocketship they are about to put on the track for Daniel and I. We just go about our stuff, and we don’t hide from anything. I don’t have a higher or lower confidence level. I know that I learned a lot last year.”

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST THING YOU DID LEARN?

“That it was OK to just be OK. There were some races where guys are blowing tires, issues are happening and motors are blowing… just be OK and it’s going to be alright. There were times where I could have pushed harder and maybe we could have won. It would have been a high-risk of crashing, and at that moment we didn’t need that so we just ran second and moved on.”

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP THE FIELD THIS YEAR COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEAR?

“The points currently with the reset is tight for most of us. Going to Darlington, you don’t know who is going to show up and be the fastest. You don’t know who is going to be fifth-quick and who is going to be 25th-quick. Any of us 16 could easily be either of those on the practice sheet. That will dictate ultimately who transfers on… who is the bottom-four speed-wise, and it might be the same cars who get the least amount of points. You could easily run 25th right now in Cup, and you could easily run fifth.”

WHO ELSE STANDS OUT IN THE PLAYOFF FIELD?

“I don’t have any of them that I’m not focused on as far as who could be getting more points by the time we get to Bristol, but I can only control my destiny. I can’t control the past and I can’t control the future. I’m going to go to work on my stuff and go through our processes at Trackhouse and Chevy, and all those other guys can do whatever they would like. It’s just about me and my group, and what we need to do to transfer through.”

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.