NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
COCA-COLA 600TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MAY 27, 2023

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1 – Media Availability at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

A FEW WEEKS AGO, YOU SAID YOU HAVEN’T BEEN LOOKING AT POINTS. NOW THAT YOU’RE GETTING A LITTLE BIT CLOSER TO THE CUTOFF, I’M CURIOUS IF YOU’VE TAKEN ANY MORE OF A LOOK AT IT IN THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS?

“I haven’t, really. I hear people talking about it.. that we were I guess somewhere closer and within reach of pointing our way in. But no, I haven’t been paying much attention to it. Really just trying to run better and get some stage points. To me, that’s probably been the biggest thing that we haven’t done, aside from winning. But we haven’t been getting a lot of stage points. We got some at Talladega and a pretty big chunk, but that’s really been about it. We’ve had some decent finishes, but not a lot of stage points.

What did you say.. 63 points?”

YES, 63 POINTS BEHIND 16TH RIGHT NOW WITH 13 RACES TO GO.

“Obviously there’s still some stuff going on there right because you have Alex (Bowman), who’s been out, and opportunities for new winners, too. It sounds like 63 points is attainable in 13 weeks, but I think a lot can happen. My goals don’t really change either way. Your best chance of having a shot at the championship is to go and put yourself in position to win races, and same for gaining the most amount of points you can have. If you’re running up front and in the mix of winning, those are the guys that are getting the most points every week. So to me, it’s all one in the same.”

IT’S BEEN SIX RACES, INCLUDING THE ALL-STAR RACE, THAT YOU’VE BEEN BACK BEHIND THE WHEEL. HOW DO YOU FEEL PHYSICALLY GETTING BACK INTO THE SWING OF THINGS? DO YOU FEEL MORE CAUGHT UP TO SPEED, SO TO SPEAK, WITH THE PACK?

“Yeah, I do. I don’t feel any different, honestly. I don’t even really feel like I missed any time, just from driving. I think the things that I haven’t done well, I wasn’t doing well before I got hurt, too. I think all that stuff is very much back on pace.

In the car, physically driving, I don’t feel any bit different than I did last season or the beginning of this year. I feel like all of that is very normal. Certainly outside of the car and just getting back to being 100 percent physically, it’s a long recovery. If I was playing a stick-and-ball sport, it would still be months from doing those things. So fortunately we’re in a position in these cars that – and I’ve said this – your leg is in a pretty good spot and it’s pretty secure, too. You could be in a much more compromised situation, for sure. Just lucky that’s the reality for us and in what we do, and I could get back to work.”

WHERE IS THE NO. 9 TEAM, IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE? WHAT’S THE BIGGEST THING YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FOCUS ON?

“Well, stage points being one. And I think some of that comes with how you qualify. So yeah, qualifying has been really pour for me for probably six months or more. Unfortunately that trend has continued. I think that’s the big one, for sure. That impacts your pit pick – your pit pick you have to live with throughout the entire race. But yeah, qualifying a little better and stage points. And certainly want to run better in the races, too. I feel like some of the components have been there. Our pit stops have been really good this year. I feel like Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and everybody has called good races. I think it’s really just on me to do a better job and make sure I’m giving those guys the information that they need to make our car better, and then ultimately to go put down a faster lap in qualifying. Just trying to fine tune all of those little pieces. I think the pieces of the puzzle are there and our team has been performing really well in all of the areas that don’t necessarily pertain to me. So I’ve been super pleased with all of that and just trying to push and get a little better on my end to make sure I’m bringing my part to the table.”

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS LED THE MOST LAPS. AT THIS RACE TRACK, HMS IS SO GOOD. IS THERE ANY REASON TO THINK THIS ISN’T A TYPICAL YEAR WHERE ONE OF THE HMS CARS WOULD WIN AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN THE COCA-COLA 600?

“Yeah, I certainly would like to think so, right? That betters my chances. Yeah, it’s been a really good track for Hendrick Motorsports over the years, even before I was around. I hope that those trends continue. Obviously I think you have to look at more recent history now to gauge where things are, especially since the Next Gen car has been implemented. And then even more recent than that, looking at this season – I feel like the 1.5-mile program has been solid as a whole for Chevrolet, which is a good thing, and also very solid for Hendrick Motorsports, in particular with William (Byron), Kyle (Larson) and Alex (Bowman), as well, before he got hurt. I think that’s been a strong suit, so would love to capitalize on that. I think it’s a place where we can come and run well at. I know one of our cars did the test here a couple of months ago or whenever they had it, so have some notes and information to look back on from that, so that’s always a help coming into the weekend. Just try to put together 600 miles and be around there for those last 100 to have a shot.”

YOU’VE SAID IT’S THE LONGEST RACE OF THE SEASON, BUT IT DOESN’T FEEL THAT WAY TO YOU? IS THAT TRUE WHEN YOU’RE RACING IT.. THAT IT DOESN’T FEEL THAT LONG?

“It really doesn’t. It is a long race, for sure. But I don’t know.. from the driver’s seat, I just feel like a lot of times when you’re running this race – which I feel like I’ve crashed out of quite a few of them. I did last year.. I think I was out before halfway last year. I guess it’s been a couple of years since I’ve finished one. But the couple that I have finished, I just feel like – it might seem a little longer, but you’re just so honed in on what’s going on right now, that next pit stop and just focused on that next task, so it makes it go by pretty fast from the driver’s seat, in my experience. Hopefully that’s the case again. Typically if things are going good, it goes by quicker. If you’re really struggling and having a hard time, it can make it go by slower. Hopefully we’re on the good end of that.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE THE WHOLE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS’ CAMP BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY?

“Yeah, it’s just nice to be back to normal. I feel like everything at our campus over there has just been a little chaotic in one way or another right – with me getting hurt and just kind of not knowing when I was going to be able to come back and talking through all of that stuff. I feel like everybody over there did a great job handling it and same for Alex’s (Bowman) injury, too. But it’s just extra work, you know, that you don’t want to have to do – more questions to answer and I think a little bit of just a distraction more than anything. But fortunately or unfortunately, we’ve gotten well-versed in this category this year. Hopefully that’s the end of it, at least for this season. The good news is that there’s a lot of racing left. You have the entire summer stretch into early fall before the playoffs start, so plenty of time to get done what you’re going to get done and to figure out how you’re going to run and whether or not you’re going to be a contender or not. Those things don’t just change overnight, so plenty of time to get back on track if that’s what we’re going to do. I certainly feel like we can as a group and as a company and particularly in the No. 9 camp, too.”

YOU HAD A REMARKABLE SEASON LAST YEAR WITH FIVE WINS, BUT WE KIND OF EXPECT YOU TO BE THIS ROAD COURSE WARRIOR ONCE WE GET TO THOSE TYPES OF TRACKS JUST GIVEN YOUR SUCCESS THERE IN THE PAST. DID THE NEW CAR HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH NOT GETTING THE WINS ON THE ROAD COURSES LIKE YOU HAD IN THE PAST?

“No, we talked about this some last year and I feel like I answered this question then, too. I told y’all when we were winning all those road course races that I didn’t feel like I was doing anything special. We had a good package that worked out and it just suited me at the time. I don’t think I did anything special or spectacular. I tried to make sure everyone understood that. I just think as time goes on, everybody gets better and improves. Certainly coming in with a new car, you kind of have to re-baseline on some of those things – those thoughts and ideas that were working for us. You just can’t copy and paste those things, and all the little small details that I feel like we did a good of exceling at. So yeah, it’s just different. It’s definitely different everywhere, but certainly the road courses are no different in that regard.

I guess to answer your question – yes, I would say the new car and all the changes that came along with that, and then combining that with everyone just getting better in the garage, too.”

DID THE CAR FEEL CONSIDERABLY DIFFERENT WHEN YOU WERE AT SONOMA RACEWAY?

“Yeah, the car feels pretty different everywhere that I remember last year. To me, it was a complete departure from anything we had driven in the past in the NASCAR world. It’s just a different animal. The thing is just different, for sure, good or bad. It kind of has its own way now.”

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO GET BACK INTO A CONDITION WHERE YOU KIND OF FEEL LIKE YOU’RE AT 100 PERCENT?

“Well I think racing is the biggest piece of that puzzle, right? I sat around for six weeks or better there before Martinsville and I was hurting for sure after that. But even when you’re in good shape and you have good weeks of preparation, you can still go through a race weekend and certain events, temperatures or whatever can fatigue you more than others. I think it depends on the weekend. The good news is for Alex (Bowman) and probably me too with still trying to get back in the groove of things – it’s kind of cool here this weekend and obviously the rain coming through can impact that, as well. The summer stretch is going to be tough.. it always is. But Alex is in good shape and he hasn’t really been out that long. It’s only been four weeks, so I think he’s going to be fine. Like I said, he’s in good shape, so I don’t think he’s going to have a problem.”

About Chevrolet
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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Coca-Cola 600 Media Availability | Saturday, May 27, 2023

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, held a Q&A session in the infield media center at Charlotte Motor Speedway after NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying was canceled.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – HOW WAS IT IN THE BOOTH AND WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THE RACE? “The booth today was a lot of just hanging out and eating probably too much junk food before a 600-mile race. We were just chilling and talking to our fans. Kevin graduated from the Driver’s Only, so that was a big news event for you guys today. I don’t know if you want to write all that down, but that was huge. Outside of that, we just had some fun and unfortunately the weather got the best of us. I’m looking forward to the race. The Coke 600, a crown jewel event and one that has haunted me for a while and one that I really, really want to win. Obviously, nobody knows what they’ve got as far as their race car without practice or qualifying, but we’ve got 600 miles to figure some stuff out.”

WHAT HAS CAUSED FORD’S INCONSISTENCY THIS YEAR? “I think you’re going down the right road to understand what’s going on. Everyone had the ability to adjust their front ends, cooling packages, and we didn’t maximize as well as we needed to. I think that’s the bottom line. There’s no other way around it, so we’re constantly looking for improvements and how we can make our cars better, just like everybody else is, but we’re starting a little bit behind. That doesn’t mean we can’t win races. It just means we have to be perfect, and that means the teams are gonna have to do their jobs to really overcome some of the issues. There’s still a long season. There are still plenty of races to win and plenty of time to turn the ship around a little bit, but it’s tough right now. It’s probably gonna be tough for the foreseeable future until we can make some adjustments, but we’re still in the hunt. When I look at the races that we’re executing perfectly from a car setup perspective, pit road perspective, strategy, restarts, if we nail all of those, we can win. If we miss one of those, we can’t win. So that’s just what it’s come down to right now is we have to strive for perfection, which we do anyways, but it really matters now in how we execute.”

IT SEEMS THE SUPERSPEEDWAYS HAVE BEEN SOLID, BUT THE ISSUES ARE SHORT TRACKS AND INTERMEDIATES. “Yeah. We’re lacking downforce. That’s where we’re lacking. There was a compare done a few weeks ago and everybody got to see it, so that’s the situation. It doesn’t mean we can’t make up that difference on car setup and maximizing what we have. If we do a better job than everybody else, we can make up that difference.”

HOW MUCH OF A CHALLENGE IS THIS WEEKEND WHEN NOBODY KNOWS WHAT THEY’VE GOT. IS 400 LAPS A LUXURY IN THAT REGARD? “No, it’s hard to say it’s a luxury. If you asked us this before COVID – what was this like starting a race without practice, we never did that. We always would have practice before the race. Now, we are kind of used to it. It’s like, ‘OK, there’s no practice, no qualifying all right. We’ll just start the race and see what we’ve got,’ so it doesn’t seem as crazy as it used to be and, like I said, we’ll figure it out. You just hope you get your heights right. Really, these days with practice you can’t change a whole bunch anyway. You can adjust your heights, some wedge, swaybar arms and toe. That’s what you got, so there’s not a whole bunch of room for adjustment anyways, so it’s not as big of a deal as it used to be.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE UPDATES THAT WERE MADE THIS WEEK WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR? “I don’t think any of us are satisfied until we see that it’s better, and I think that’s kind of the situation we’re in. We’ve seen how we got to this spot that we’re in now as far as safety with developing the Next Gen car, and it’s frustrating. That was frustrating, but I feel like now there’s some pretty clear data on where we’re at and at least we can understand that, and there are steps being made to move forward and make it better. So, when you think about the rear clips, OK, that seems to be better. There’s been a few rear impacts and everyone seems like they’re doing OK. It stinks that it got to the point where it’s hurt a few drivers last year, and then you see Larson and Preece’s wreck in Talladega and you’re like, ‘OK, the front is too stiff, too.’ We can’t forget about that, so then next steps are made for that. The frustrating part is that we had to wait until some big wrecks happened to make changes. That was the frustrating part, but changes are being made now and that’s good.”

IS IT EASIER TO GO AND UNLOAD WITH THIS NEXT GEN CAR COMPARED TO OTHERS? “No, I don’t think it’s any easier. If anything, it’s harder because we understand the old car probably even better than we still understand this car, but it’s the same for everybody. Nobody had any laps. It’s all going off the setups that the engineers and crew chiefs and drivers have come up with. You’re looking at sim, other races at that track or other tracks like it, and the best decisions you can make. That’s what you’ve got and we’ll see what we’ve got tomorrow. It’s kind of exciting in some ways. It’s like, ‘How good did we do?’ So, I’m kind of excited about that part.”

WAS THAT THE LONGEST BROADCAST YOU WERE A PART OF TODAY? “That was the longest time I sat in the booth not doing anything, yes. I think you were there the whole time to see it.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE? “It’s just hanging out. At that point, you’re just kind of bs-ing and having a little fun. We just tried to figure out what was going on and what was next as far as next hits that come up. We’ve got to do those and just wait it out like everybody else. It’s really not any different. We’re just waiting to hear the answers. You’d think that we would know the answers before everybody else up there in the TV booth, but that was not the case. We found out right at the same time as everybody else did.”

HAVE YOU DONE ANY iRACING OR SIM WORK FOR CHICAGO? “No.”

WILL THAT START THE WEEK BEFORE? “Yeah, probably something like that. I did some of the iRacing stuff when we did that during COVID. Actually, I take that back. I did do it one other time, but outside of that not right yet, but we’ll do some Ford sim stuff I’m sure and try to figure some stuff out there.”

CAN YOU IMAGINE GETTING IN A CAR A MONTH AFTER YOU BROKE YOUR BACK? “With no practice. That’s really hard, I would assume. It’s gotta be hard. Alex is a professional, though. He’s been racing his whole life. He’s a good driver. I’m sure it’s gonna feel a little weird at first because you’re getting back in something going really fast and it takes a few laps to get used to it again, which I would assume that’s what it’s gonna be. You can think of the offseason most of the time and you get back in the car at Daytona and you’re like, ‘Whoa. I haven’t driven a car since Thanksgiving’, and it feels a little odd. I’m sure it’s gonna be like that. Usually, we have practice to kind of work out those things and knock the rust off, but I’m sure with Alex it’s not gonna take long – a couple laps before he’s right back at it.”

HOW WILL KEVIN DO IN THE BOOTH NEXT YEAR? “I think Kevin will do fine. The one thing that all of us sitting in this room and everyone in this industry are very blessed to have is Kevin Harvick and the fact that Kevin Harvick isn’t going away. Kevin cares about this sport. He cares about the people in this sport. Hearing him talk about the guys in the garage a lot. He talks about the guys in the garage as much as the drivers or the fans. He cares about the sport is what I’m trying to say and that is shown in so many ways that you guys don’t see. I get to see, but also in ways that the world is gonna see in the Fox booth next year, and I think that’s something that we all should be pretty grateful for because, obviously, he has a great fan following, but he also has a very loud voice within the industry that is very well respected and the fact that he’s not just taking and leaving, meaning he had a great career and he left and he says, ‘Thanks. I’m out.’ He has decided to stay involved and continue to build the sport for the next generation. That says a lot about a person to me. If it wasn’t for people like that, I wouldn’t be sitting here today talking to you and you wouldn’t be sitting here watching the sport either or writing about the sport. This, to me, is a true hall of fame move that’s probably even bigger than a few race wins that he’s had. The fact that he cares enough to continue means a lot to me.”

DO YOU GET BETTER IN PRACTICE, IN THE RACES, OR IN THE SIMULATOR? HOW DO YOU DO IT? “It’s never one thing. It takes everything, every little piece to make it better. You’re talking just speed, at least the things you just brought up are speed knob type of things. That’s usually downforce, drag and horsepower. When you’re off, that’s usually the things that will bring the speed in and, really, these days that’s all you’ve got. There’s not gonna be a new spindle or something like that. You can’t make those anymore. What you’ve got is what you’ve got for parts, so if you’re off on speed, there’s only three things you can look at to get faster, and we need to maximize our setups and stuff like that, and understand the balance of mechanical grip versus aero grip and platform, and I feel like we’re doing a pretty good job at a lot of that stuff. We just have to continue to look for the little things. It’s just gonna take some time. It’s gonna be kind of grind it out type races and it doesn’t mean that when the playoffs come around we ain’t gonna be in the hunt. We are every year and I expect to be in the hunt again this year. I’ve been through these situations before and 2018 always comes to my mind when I ended up pretty damn well. My mind is kind of set on that, that we understand where we’re off and we’re working on it and we’ve got a little bit of time before the playoffs start. We may not go into the playoffs with the most playoff points, but it doesn’t mean we can’t win the championship. That’s our situation and until then we have to be perfect all the time.”

HOW MUCH OF A FACTOR IS THAT FOURTH STAGE TOMORROW? “It’s a very important race for that reason. When you add another 10 possible points and another playoff point sitting there, it’s one of those days that if you have a good car and you’re fast, boy, you can stack in some points. You can have an amazing day, so hopefully we have that, but that’s what makes the 600 different and special and you have that added stage to it, and, really, if it goes green stage to stage, there’s not a whole bunch of opportunity on strategy. You can split it down the center. There might be few people that go long, a few people go short if it goes green, but it’s not like there’s a caution and half the cars take two or stay out or whatever. If there is a caution, it may change some things up, but if there’s no cautions, a fast car is just gonna get a lot of points, and if there is a car up front and they execute the day, they’re gonna come walking out of here with a boat load of points.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR VISIT TO THE NAVAL STATION NORFOLK? “I was blessed enough to go for Mission 600 to go to Norfolk, Virginia, to visit the Navy Station out there. I got on a Destroyer and they gave me a tour of the whole ship and the tour was special. It was cool, but meeting the people was what really felt special to me and hearing their stories. I guess the thing that stood out to me the most is they just got back from an eight month tour and there were 14 members on that ship that have not met their kid, not met their baby yet. I guess that, to me, it gives me chills thinking about it right now. I couldn’t imagine the commitment that not only that soldier is making, but their family is making in just everyday living. That’s the way they live. They’re gone for eight months. They’re home for a couple weeks and then they’re leaving again for another three months in two weeks. So they’re going home to meet their kid for the first time. I just couldn’t imagine. I get antsy to go home after a rain delay and I’m home on Monday instead of Sunday night. Can you imagine being gone that long and you miss all of that as you fight for strangers that you have not met? Think about that commitment that these men and women do for us in this country. I guess every time I do something with the military it’s a good refresher, and I wish everybody in our country got to see what I got to see because I think that would change our culture and our perspective a lot because it is unreal. Weekends like this are great because it is in the front of everything. We’re stopping the race. We do all these things before pre-race. These things are key for us to do to be able to show our military the appreciation they deserve and it’s so easy for us to not think about that stuff because we live in our little world as we all do and everything is always great in our little world, but that’s because somebody is out there making a ridiculous commitment for us that we’ll never understand. Think about that. That was just a normal trip. Imagine going into battle and then paying the ultimate sacrifice that so many people have paid for us and a lot of them on the windshields of our cars this weekend. To me, that is unreal – that type of commitment people are willing to make for us. This weekend is special for that reason – to just show some appreciation, shake a hand, say thank you. It’s literally the least we can do. It never feels like enough. I always leave these places thinking, ‘Man, I’m not worthy.’ It’s just a special thing. I wish everyone got to see it.”