NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY
WURTH 400
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT

APRIL 29, 2023

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 STARTING LINEUP:
POS. DRIVER
1st KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1
8th WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1
9th RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/ICY HOT PRO CAMARO ZL1
10th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
11th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 ALLEGIANT CAMARO ZL1
14th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1
15th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 PITBULL/FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1
16th TY DILLON, NO. 77 NATIONS GUARD CAMARO ZL1
18th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1

TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:
POS. DRIVER

1. Kyle Busch (Chevrolet)
2. Christopher Bell (Toyota)
3. Ryan Blaney (Ford)
4. Brad Keselowski (Ford)
5. Chris Buescher (Ford)

The NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway was canceled due to weather. With the starting lineup set by the NASCAR rule book, Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1 team will lead the field to the green from the pole position.

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1 – Polesitter Quotes

A LOT OF TALK ABOUT TIRE ISSUES. IN PRACTICE, JOEY LOGANO HAD A RIGHT-FRONT THAT CORDED. DID YOU HAVE ANY TIRE ISSUES DURING PRACTICE?

“We didn’t really run long enough to see any tire issues for us. I think we saw the No. 48 (Josh Berry) had a little bit. I think they had a 14-lap run or something, so they saw a little bit of that. As the tires were wearing, they weren’t really laying the rubber down into the race track as what we used to see here. They were kind of foaming up, if you will. Like you pick it up and it was like dust, like foam. That’s not too out of normal here at Dover, but definitely not seeing any rubber on the race track is not positive.”

DOES TOMORROW BECOME A TIRE MANAGEMENT GAME, OR DO YOU HOPE THAT AFTER 100 LAPS THAT THINGS GET RUBBERED UP?

“Yeah, I mean you would like to hope that after today it gets rubbered up. The Xfinity race getting out there and hopefully being able to lay some rubber down, but who knows with the weather tomorrow. If it rains and washes all that off, you start over with the Cup race. So if we’re going to be on a green track, it’s going to be a bit rough to start. Probably need a competition caution. Don’t ask me what lap number to put it on because I don’t want to be the one that’s on the hook for what lap, over or under, that the tires will blow. But yeah, you’re definitely going to need a competition caution or two.”

HOW WAS YOUR CAR DURING PRACTICE? IT SOUNDED LIKE THERE WERE SOME HANDLING ISSUES THAT YOU WERE BATTLING.

“Yeah, I mean the car drove fine. The ride quality of the car, the platform of the car – everything on that front was fine. It was just the balance was super, super tight. We were kind of throwing a little bit of things at it. We weren’t going too heavy on it just to kind of sneak up on it. We saw Austin (Dillon) crash in practice and so we were a little tentative on what our adjustments were and how fast we would go to free it up. But seeing what we saw for the rest of practice and how our balance is right now, we’ve got a lot of work to do on the No. 8 Lenovo Camaro to get it where we want it for the race and what it’s going to take to keep the right-front tire on it for a long run.”

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY
WURTH 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

APRIL 29, 2023

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:

HAVE YOU TALKED TO ALEX? ALSO, WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF RACING SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES A CUP CAR THAT WOULD MAKE THE ARGUMENT THAT WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO RACE OUTSIDE OF HERE?

“I have talked to Alex. Look, I know he’s bummed. But I think it could have been a lot worse, right. For me, number one, I’m thankful he’s in a position where he’s going to be able to get back to the team and be able to contribute 100 percent as he was before. So to me, his health is really first and foremost. I know he’s bummed and he’s probably not feeling good, but I’m looking forward to having him back.

As for what you get out of it, I think that depends on who you are. I think that depends on your outlook on what you enjoy doing and what makes you happy. Alex enjoys racing sprint cars. He likes building his cars – drift cars, midgets and going and racing that stuff. That’s a passion of his, so I think for that reason, it’s meaningful to him and I think that probably changes per who the individual is and what your outlook on things are. I think for him, he seems to really enjoy all aspects of that stuff. It’s a bit of his getaway and I think that’s important.”

HOW MUCH CONCERN IS THERE ON YOUR END ON WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE NO. 5 CAR LAST WEEKEND AND THE WAY THE PASSENGER SIDE COLLAPSED AND THE DOOR BARS COMING IN?

“Yeah, I mean it’s not great, right. At the end of the day, you look at that thing – I haven’t seen it in person. We tested at Loudon this week, so I wasn’t at the shop on Monday. From what I’ve heard and the pictures I’ve seen, certainly it’s a bit concerning on a multitude of levels. I’m disappointed in that, personally. Last year, the softer hits were a problem, but that’s in preparation for a bigger hit being covered. From the data I heard, he was only doing 130 mph, so what happens if he’s doing 180 or 160 mph? So yeah, I definitely think that’s concerning. But I also think it’s probably more of a conversation on how to move forward outside of this room. We’ll get it better to where we can be productive on it and not just sit here and run my mouth.”

JEFF ANDREWS WAS JUST IN HERE AND HE SAID ONE ACCIDENT IS BAD. TWO EXTRACURRICULAR ACCIDENTS IS NOT GREAT. HE SAID MAYBE THERE’S A CHANCE IN THE FUTURE THAT HE MIGHT HAVE TO LOOK AT WHAT YOU GUYS DO. HOW CONCERNED ARE YOU THAT THERE COULD BE A CHANGE IN WHAT YOU GUYS ARE ALLOWED TO DO AND HOW MIGHT IT EFFECT YOU IF THEY HAVE TO GO FORWARD WITH THOSE TYPES OF CHANGES?

“I really don’t see it changing. I think it’s obviously very, very poor timing with where I was at and just coming back and obviously Alex being hurt this week. I mean look, I get it. It’s a bad look. I totally understand that. But also, I understand that there is a timing piece of that and it’s just really poor timing. I think if one happened this year and the other happened next year, would we be having the same conversation? Probably not, you know really. I think them being back-to-back makes it look a little worse than the reality.”

YOU COME IN AS THE DEFENDING WINNER AT DOVER. HOW MUCH DO YOU USE FROM LAST YEAR THAT YOU CAN MOVE FORWARD TO THIS YEAR?

“Yeah, I’m with you.. I don’t know what aero package it is and isn’t anymore. Certainly I’m sure the car is going to drive different because at this point last year, there was still a lot of learning going on. Not that there’s not still a lot of learning going on now, but I do think that people have really progressed a lot through the second half of the season. So I anticipate that it’s going to feel different. The car might have some different tendencies. It’s still going to have those characteristics that come along with being at this race track and racing here, so I don’t anticipate that changing a ton. But we’ll see. It’s been a year since we’ve been here and obviously a lot can happen in that amount of time. We’ll get on track and kind of see where we stack up and go from there.”

HOW IS YOUR LEG DOING? ALSO, YOU MENTIONED THE TIRE TEST UP AT LOUDON. DOES DOING THOSE LAPS AND GETTING THOSE EXTRA REPS KIND OF HELP BUILD BACK THAT STRENGTH?

“Yeah, I feel fine. I’m not going on runs or doing sprinting drills, but I feel fine. I don’t feel like it impacts me in the car at this point. Really, I didn’t think it impacted me in the car at Martinsville either and I’m certainly better than I was then. It’s just one of those things where you’re going to have good days, you’re going to have days that you don’t get around great. That’s just going to be part of it here for a little while I think. I think those extra reps are good. We made a lot of laps and I felt fine there both days and the day after, yesterday, being out of the car.

Yeah, I feel good. Just ready to keep pushing forward.”

WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOUR PACKAGE IS AT, NOT ONLY HERE THIS WEEKEND, BUT GOING FORWARD, CONFIDENCE-WISE?

“Well for me personally, I’m just kind of getting back, really and truly. Obviously Hendrick Motorsports as a company has had a lot of success. When I was gone, I felt like they ran really well at Las Vegas. They ran really good at Phoenix. I thought they were OK at COTA. Atlanta is obviously a bit of a wash. But Richmond, they were obviously very strong there, as well. As a whole, I feel like the Chevrolet camp and Hendrick Motorsports have been strong. For me, we ran Martinsville and then went to Talladega. We were OK at Martinsville – we certainly weren’t anything special. We were really bad there for the majority of the day, but we qualified bad. We qualified bad and put ourselves in a tough spot. You’re going to start see that narrative more – I think when you qualify bad, it’s probably going to set you up for a long day. I think we’re in a good place. I just have to get back in the rhythm of doing this stuff and getting going.”

YOU MENTIONED IT’S STILL DOVER AND IT STILL HAS THOSE TENDENCIES. YOU HAVE TWO WINS HERE. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE THAT KIND OF SUITS YOUR DRIVING STYLE?

“Yeah, I don’t really know to be honest with you. We ran pretty well here I feel like on the Xfinity side, too. We’ve had some really solid runs on the Cup front; last year probably being one of our better runs, maybe our best run. But yeah, it’s been fortunate that this place has been a solid track for us over the last few years. I hope that continues. We’ll see. I’ve enjoyed coming up here. I wish that meant we were going to guarantee me a good run tomorrow, but unfortunately that’s not how it goes.”

WITH JOSH BERRY FILLING IN FOR YOU FOR A HANDFUL OF RACES, HOW DO YOU FEEL HE DID WITH THE TEAM?

“I thought he did great with the team. Not only did I think that from the outside, but once I got back, everybody enjoyed working with him. I think you have to have that dynamic. He’s a guy that doesn’t say a whole lot, but I kind of like that. He doesn’t talk a ton, but he’s certainly putting in the effort and putting in the work; thinking about things, dissecting what he feels and what he needs to do next. I think he’s going to continue to build on that. Obviously he’s going to get a few more weeks here now to run and I think that’s just going to make him better, better and better. I think he’ll continue to run well; keep building on like his result at Richmond. I think he’s going to keep building on those things because he’s a guy that he’s learning a lot in a short period of time and I think he’s going to apply that very quickly.”

DO YOU LOOK AT DOVER AS ONE OF YOUR BETTER OPPORTUNITIES TO WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON TO MORE SAFELY SECURE YOUR PLAYOFF POSITION?

“Yeah, it’s certainly an opportunity. When we show up properly, I think any given week can be a good opportunity for us, frankly. But certainly as I reference a second ago, this has been a good track for us. Does that guarantee that tomorrow is going to go good? No, but I certainly hope so. But look, these races, a lot can happen and a lot can happen out of your control. You have to put it all together on the race track, on the pit box, on pit road – everything has to be perfect. That’s a lot to put together and I think it’s a bit unfair to throw that all on one day and bet the house on it. That’ just unrealistic. But I think we can go and have a good run here just like we can go and have a good run next week or the next 15 after that, if we show up and do our part.”

BEING OUT OF THE CAR THIS SEASON, YOU SAW JOSH BERRY GET THAT GREAT RESULT AT RICHMOND. NOW THAT ALEX IS IN THAT POSITION, SEEING SOMEONE ELSE HAVE SUCH A GOOD RUN IN YOUR CAR, WHAT WERE THE EMOTIONS OF THAT DAY?

“At that point, I was past the weird space of seeing my car – it’s not really my car, it’s really Rick’s (Hendrick) car – but seeing the NAPA No. 9 car go around the track, I was kind of past that weird space of it and was really just excited to see them do good. They deserve it, in my opinion. I’ve been telling you all in here a long time – that team is really, really good. They make me look a lot better than I really am. I was hoping that maybe you all would start to believe me on that over the period of me being out because it’s very true.”

DO YOU TAKE MORE RISK? OBVIOUSLY WITH A MEDICAL WAIVER, TOP-30 IN POINTS, THAT’S GOING TO BE A GIVEN. SO DO YOU TAKE RISK TO WIN AS IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A WIN IN YOUR POCKET, OR DO YOU KEEP CHOPPING AWAY AT THE POINTS AND MAYBE GET TO THE 16TH SPOT?

“I haven’t been keeping up with it closely. That’s pretty farfetched, I would say, even if we run really well. Not impossible, but we’d have to have a summer stretch like we did last year to do that, which was a really good stretch for us. Really, our mindset is no different this week than it was last week. I feel like we have to win. If you’re putting yourself in position to win races, I think it’s probably going to work itself out. On the other side of that coin, if you’re not putting yourself in position to win races at least once or twice in the next 16 weeks, then I’d say you’re not going to win a championship anyways. So does it really matter at the end of the day, right? It matters, obviously. But like when you step back and look at it – if you’re not in contention at least a couple of times, I’d say you thinking you have a shot to go win Phoenix is probably a little unrealistic.”

WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT THE PHYSICALITY OF THIS RACE TRACK AND HOW IT KIND OF JUST MOVES YOU AROUND IN THE SEAT AND HOW YOU’RE PRETTY WORN OUT AFTER A RACE HERE. HOW MUCH OF THAT PHYSICALITY IS ON YOUR LOWER EXTREMITIES, SPECIFICALLY YOUR LEG?

“I don’t think it will be a whole lot. Fortunately, my knee and just kind of where it sits in the car is in a really secure position. And even before the injury, the way I kind of had all my stuff setup like where my knee is, doesn’t move laterally or it’s designed to not move laterally, at least in a normal circumstance. Obviously crashing could be something different. So that being said, no – I don’t foresee it being any more difficult than say a Martinsville or Loudon test where you’re using the brakes and kind of pushing your car from that perspective. I could be wrong, but I don’t anticipate that.”

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Würth 400 | Saturday, April 29, 2023

Inclement weather made an appearance in-between Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions. While practice ran as planned, qualifying was canceled. Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Mustang, topped the charts in practice. He will share the second row with Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang, for Sunday’s race.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Mustang (Starting 4th) – HOW ARE YOU FEELING AFTER RECORDING THE FASTEST LAP IN PRACTICE? “We ran a really fast lap in practice in our Wyndham Ford Mustang. That’s always a good thing. Hopefully that translates to the race. We had good speed in the car, and I was driving it really hard. I like the challenge of coming here to Dover.”

HOW DOES THE WEATHER AFFECT STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD? “Well, you come to Dover knowing it’s probably going to rain. So, there’s that challenge. Then there’s just the concrete track. It’s just really, really rough. It’s really demanding on both the car and driver, and you need to attack it before it attacks you.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang (Starting 6th) – WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS AFTER PRACTICE? “We were just extremely tight during practice. We couldn’t seem to free it up. Sounds like it was a pretty common thing, at least amongst our teammates. Hopefully we can figure something out. We kind of got a save there with the rain. Qualifying getting canceled gives us a good starting spot. Hopefully we can get our car a little better. It’s not too far off speed-wise for how it drives. So hopefully, we can get a little better and be up there in contention tomorrow.”

WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS GOING INTO THE RACE AND DOES THE FORECAST AFFECT GAMEPLANNING? “I don’t know if it really changes the game plan, unless we start the race Sunday and the rain’s coming. I definitely think it’s going to be hard to pass. It seems like all of us are close from a speed standpoint, then you throw in the fact that this place has always been historically hard to pass at. There aren’t a lot of lanes. The bottom line is typically so fast that it’s hard to even make a pass. With us starting up-front, hopefully we can keep that track position all day long. That’ll be a huge saving grace for us if we can do that, so that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Great Stuff Ford Mustang (Starting 20th) – HOW MUCH OF A ROLE WILL THE WEATHER HAVE THIS WEEKEND? “The weather definitely played a role in not letting us get a good selection or qualifying spot today, unfortunately only getting to do practice. But, our Menards / Great Stuff Mustang was great stuff. We have to be able to do it in the race and make the right adjustments. A bit of a bummer because I think we could have qualified better than where we’ll start.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IN TOMORROW’S RACE? “Whether it’s tomorrow or Monday, this place always builds rubber. It’ll be important to watch the ARCA Menards race, as well as the Xfinity race to really understand where the track is going to go. An early start for the race… other than that, same old Dover.”

WHAT’S YOUR GOAL, AND THE TEAM’S GOAL, AT DOVER? “We need to reset – for our group. I mean, we’ve had everything thrown at us in the month of April, so we’ve lost a lot of points. We had speed at times…not had speed at times… so I think Dover is a place for us to reset.”

TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang (Starting 35th) – ANY TAKEAWAYS FROM PRACTICE? “The weather is definitely a tough component of this all, but I don’t know, it’s not laying down as much rubber – or literally any rubber at all. The tires were wearing out pretty bad, but that’s just a green racetrack at Dover. For me, I just have so much to work on here. I don’t understand this track fully for what I need, but we have a long way ahead of us tomorrow or Monday. That’s the plan: Continuing to learn every single lap.”

Earlier in the day, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher stopped by the media center to discuss this weekend’s Dover race.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang (Starting 3rd) – SOME DRIVERS SAY THEIR EYES FLUTTER WHEN THEY HIT THE BUMPS HERE. DO YOU AGREE? “Yeah, I mean it’s rough. It’s weird because it’s not a super rough racetrack. It’s just the landing, getting into the corners is pretty big and then the tire will sometimes get like a basketball effect. Not so much with this car, but with the other car a little bit more. Things just happen so fast, so it takes you a few laps to get back into the rhythm until your body and eyes get used to the speeds here. It’s one of those places – Bristol on steroids. But, it’s a fun place. It’s neat the way it changes. The racing here last year wasn’t great. I wish we would have done the lower downforce deal here, but we’ll see.”

DOVER HAS STATISTICALLY NOT BEEN YOUR BEST TRACK. HOW HARD IS IT FOR YOU? “It definitely hasn’t been a very great track for us. I feel like we’ve struggled a little bit as a whole company here the last handful of years. It was a big struggle for us last year. None of us were very good last year. Coming in with a little bit of a different mindset, and hopefully it changes up our results. But, we’ll see. It’s just something about this place that what we’ve been doing hasn’t really been working. I think the Hendrick cars do it really well, the Gibbs cars have been really good here for awhile – and that’s kind of with the old car and with this one, honestly. It’s kind of just carried over, and it’s been the same for us. So, we’ve come with a little bit of a different approach, and hopefully we can learn something from it.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang (Starting 5th) – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON DOVER? “I love concrete tracks, apparently. It is a really fun racetrack and I’ve enjoyed it from really the first time I’d been here. I hope the sun comes out and it slickens up a little bit and widens out to give us a little bit more racing grooves – some more options there. If that’ll happen, then I think it creates some pretty good racing as well. I love coming out here. Fun racetrack – got our first pole here last year. I think this was one of the big turning points for our season last year. That gives me a lot of hope coming in. That was at this place and hopefully we can duplicate it and run a little better in the race – try to get that win now. Then we can really call it our turning point, again, for this year.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY
WURTH 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

APRIL 29, 2023

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript

WHAT DO YOU GET IN RUNNING OTHER RACING SERIES?

“The difference is between real life situations and simulators is entirely different. The G Forces, the acceleration, the adrenaline of it and all that sort of stuff. So, for me, I have raced Super Late Models before and Micros now more recently with the dirt game and with Brexton in doing what he does. So, it’s just the enjoyable nature of being a race car driver and going out and running in various series and race cars and such. I just enjoy it overall. Does running a Micro give you anything toward running a Cup car? No, not really. But it does give you a sense of competition and getting out there and stacking yourself up against top talent.”

HOW MUCH CONCERN DO YOU HAVE OF WHAT THE 5 CAR LOOKED LIKE AFTER THAT WRECK LAST WEEK WITH THE PASSENGER SIDE DOOR BARS CAVED IN?

“Yeah, I am no scientist, but you see the concern with the severity of the damage on the right side of the 5. And you can only wonder, what if it was the left side? Right? So that is a huge issue, but the bigger matter is what created the damage, you know? And that is the other car didn’t sustain much damage. So, looking at the 41 and seeing some of the stuff on that car, it was a brick getting rammed into a stick of butter. You know? It’s just going to smash it if it’s built too stiff.”

BIG WIN FOR YOUR SPONSOR MCLAREN GRILLS LAST WEEK, WITH THEIR WEBSITE CRASHING. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?

“That’s the KFB factor. No, that is what we are all hopeful for, right? You want to drive attention to the sponsors, and have the sponsors get that notoriety and getting people to check out their products and buy their products. Stuff like that. I can’t tell you the last time that I grilled on a charcoal grill, but I did on Saturday night at Talladega with my McLaren Custom Grill with the number eight on it, my signature on the lid, and all that stuff. So, we had some great steak and some hamburgers and stuff like that. So, it was a lot of fun to do that and to have them be a part of our weekend, our winning weekend in Talladega. It’s been 15 years since I was lucky, and you have to have those every once in a while. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get the luck that we needed in Daytona, but it was nice to have it last week.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ENERGY AROUND THE FACILITY WITH THE WAY YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HIT THE GROUND RIGHT AWAY?

“Yeah, I think moral is high. I think everybody from the Xfinity shop and the Cup shop has done a tremendous job. I think early in the season, Richard (Childress) was in victory lane four weeks in a row or something it seemed. Five weeks maybe. But it was nice to finally get a Cup Series speedway win for me and to have that be a part of RCR and their legacy and history at Talladega – was really cool. I know all the guys are pumped up, and the guys at the shop are excited. That’s two wins on the year so far and we are hoping for more obviously.”

WHAT IS THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN YOU AND AUSTIN (DILLON) AS FAR AS TEMMATES?

“We have obviously been in our team meetings every week and we continue to talk about our stuff and how we can get better. What things can we look for and try to do. I think a lot of that is going to come into play this weekend and next weekend so I am optimistic and hopeful that we will have some really strong runs at Dover and Kansas. I thought Austin did an awesome job with what we had at Martinsville, running 12th there, that was good. I think he was actually better than me at the Bristol dirt race, had a better long run car than I did. I could go on the short run, but not the long run. He got the finish he deserved, and I didn’t do a good enough job to get the finish that we needed out of that one. So, obviously we all have our ups and downs, and I would say that we have struggled at times for sure, you know, Martinsville being the worst. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t go to work and try and figure it out and make it better for both of us.”

REGARDING HOW YOU LOOK AT THE SAFETY OF THE CARS YOU AND YOUR SON GET INTO

“Yeah, you know, safety first, right? That is always my biggest thing is to make sure my seats are right, and they are mounted right and are in the position that I want them in. The seats that we buy for Brexton are safe and secure and good seats. Depending on what vehicle we are in, we will go to the lengths of lightening the seats and go to a point of where we feel comfortable. But like his Junior Sprints stuff, we don’t touch that, and leave that alone as is from the manufacturer. Safety is all our concern, all of our priority, and there have been so many advancements over the years. You are never going to trump natural occurrences, right? It’s just going to happen. I haven’t seen the (Alex) Bowman crash, but grateful that he will be okay. I remember Chase (Elliott) at the Chili Bowl, last year or the year before, he had a violent flip as well. So, he was okay after that. It’s just the nature of running those cars a lot of times. I stick to the Micro game, they are a little bit slower and shorter track. You hope that you end up okay, but there are injuries in that as well too.”

WAS THERE SOME LEVEL OF EXCITEMENT AFTER THE TALLADEGA WIN AFTER YOU GUYS WERE ABLE TO GET IT DONE THERE?

“Yeah, I mean, I think anytime you get a win that is obviously exciting. That is obviously what we all strive to do each and every week. I have been good a lot, and have won a lot of races, not at restrictor plate tracks. I have not had a lot of restrictor plate wins and lucky enough to get those wins. There are guys that are better at that style of racing than maybe me. But I still think it comes down to certain circumstances at the end, and where you are, and how it all works, and how it all happens. That is just the nature of that beast of restrictor plate racing. So, thankful to win, but isn’t a defining factor for our season.”

PRETTY FUNNY POST THIS WEEK BETWEEN YOU AND SAMANTHA. CAN YOU GIVE SOME KIND OF CONTEXT AS TO WHAT YOU WERE UP TO?

“Yeah, you must be talking about Celebrity Game Face. We were on that show with Kevin Hart and his wife and a couple of others, his buddies. So, we were just all playing games and stuff like that. So, just kind of unique, kind of fun. Just thanks to the network for allowing us to be on there and being part of that. That was really cool to have some face time with him. So yeah, check out our social….it was on E, so you got to go watch.”

CHASE PURDY HAS AS MANY TOP TENS THIS YEAR AS HE DID THE LAST TWO YEARS COMBINED WITH HIS OTHER TEAMS. HOW HAVE YOU SEEN HIM DEVELOP OVER THE FIRST THIRD OF THE YEAR?

“Yeah, I have been excited about that. With Chase, and Jack (Wood) and (Nick) Sanchez, they all had a shot to win Atlanta. They were all running up front in the top three, top four. It was really cool, and I was hoping we were going to get into victory lane, but unfortunately circumstances just didn’t work out there at the end on that last lap. Purdy has done a good job. He went to Vegas and was smooth and consistent and ran in the top 10. Texas was a little more of a struggle where he ran 10th to 12th, but finished 10th. Where Sanchez was dominating that race, leading that race. So, there are still some things we can work on to help those guys be better and get better. Top 10s are great, but being up front and contending for wins is what it’s all about and where he wants to be. I know he has been working hard at that. Him and Jimmy Villeneuve, they have built a good working relationship thus far. It’s exciting to see that as well as all the drivers and crew chiefs at our place. It’s going real well.”

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY
WURTH 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

APRIL 29, 2023

JEFF ANDREWS, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS; BLAKE HARRIS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1; JOSH BERRY, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:

JEFF ANDREWS: “Obviously you know by now, Alex (Bowman) had an accident in his sprint car this week. INAUDIBLE… He has a fractured vertebrae and the timeline he’s been given is somewhere in the three to four week window before he’ll be ready return. That’s really all we know right now. Talked to him yesterday. He’s home and resting. Some pain – it comes and goes for him. But overall, he’s in good spirits and we look forward to getting him back as soon as he’s ready.”

JEFF, OBVIOUSLY THE SECOND TIME YOU’VE HAD A DRIVER INJURED THIS SEASON. I KNOW YOU SAID AT LAS VEGAS THAT DRIVERS NEED TO LIVE THEIR LIVES. BUT IS THE MOMENT WHERE THE TEAM NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEPER LOOK AT WHAT DRIVERS CAN AND CAN’T DO?

JEFF ANDREWS: “I think from that aspect, we always discuss with them and have conversations. There’s a process that we have in place when they do want to run racing events outside of the Cup Series. That’s still in place, that was in place. For this race, we were very aware of Alex’s schedule through the season for this sprint car. We look at Chase and Alex’s situation as two different situations. This is the first extracurricular racing accident that we’ve had that’s taken one of our drivers out here for three weeks. Chase’s situation was a snowboarding kind of recreational accident.

We’re always looking at it. I think our message is – you know, be careful. It’s difficult because that’s something Alex has a passion for. Something that he’s worked very hard to be better at and we feel like it helped him over here in the Cup Series this year. He’s obviously having the best year of his career in the Cup Series. This is a temporary setback and we look for him to come back strong. We’re always evaluating. We’re always knowledgeable in the conversations with our drivers about what they’re doing and where they’re racing outside of the Cup Series. Obviously it’s a topic of conversation for us. We’ve had discussions with our guys about it since Alex’s accident. We’ll continue to have those talks and as a group, we’ll make the best decisions.”

JOSH, IT’S YOUR SECOND OPPORTUNITY TO STEP-UP TO THE BIG LEAGUES. HOW ARE YOU FEELING RIGHT NOW, ESPECIALLY COMING INTO DOVER THIS WEEKEND?

JOSH BERRY: “Obviously, I hate the circumstances once again. Alex has been a friend to me. Like I said, it’s a difficult situation to step in again. I hate that for Alex. He’s been a friend to me over the last couple of years. You never want to see anyone injured like that. The reality of it is I feel a little bit more comfortable than where we were sitting in at Las Vegas; having a relationship with everyone at HMS and working through a handful of races with the No. 9. I’m ready to go today. We have a great opportunity in the Xfinity race today I feel like with the No. 8 car being the defending winners. We’re going to stay in the present; race these two races this weekend and see how it goes.”

THE NO. 48 CAR IS GOOD AT DOVER. JOSH, YOU’RE GOOD HERE IN XFINITY RACING. REALISTICALLY, WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT? AND BLAKE, PUTTING A DIFFERENT DRIVER IN THE CAR, CAN YOU CARRYOVER THE THINGS THAT ARE SO GOOD ABOUT THE NO. 48 AT DOVER?

BLAKE HARRIS: “Yeah, I think all of those things this weekend. This company has a great history of success here in the No. 48 car alone. Josh, we got him in the simulator Wednesday as soon as we knew something – I mean within two hours, I think, of him knowing he was able to hop in for us. Statistically, he’s probably the best guy here. He’s only had a handful of races, but I don’t know that he’s finished worse than second here. Certainly the easiest fit to plug in. He’s got a handful of Cup races and we’re going to take the approach this week to let him get comfortable and get up to speed. Fortunately we’re going to get practice and qualifying in today, so less nervous from the standpoint of having to throw him straight in the race.

Yeah, I think with his success and the history of the No. 48 and HMS all together, I think all of those things are the best situation we could be in with what we’ve got.”

JOSH, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THIS PARTICALLY RACE TRACK AND THE COMFORT YOU FEEL HERE IN THE NO. 48 CAR?

JOSH BERRY: “I can’t really decipher exactly why Dover has fit me pretty well. I remember how nervous I was coming here in 2021 for the first time in the Xfinity Series with no practice or anything. It’s been a good track for me. Obviously Hendrick Motorsports has been super strong this year and they build great cars each and every week. For me, it’s just going to be about getting comfortable. Kind of like Blake said, just taking it one step at a time. We get practice and qualifying, which will be different. I think I only practiced twice in the No. 9 out of the five races, so that will be nice to kind of get that under our belt and hopefully that will accelerate the process of kind of adapting to the Next Gen at Dover. I’m confident in Blake. He’s a racer like myself. Those guys have been off to a great start to the year, so I’m sure we can have a solid day tomorrow; limit our mistakes and see where we end up.”

JEFF, NO SECRET IN THE GARAGE THAT THERE ARE CUP TEAMS TALKING TO JOSH FOR NEXT YEAR AND SOME OF THEM AREN’T CHEVROLET TEAMS. WAS THERE ANY THOUGHT OF NOT USING JOSH BECAUSE HE MIGHT BE GOING TO ANOTHER MANUFACTURER NEXT YEAR?

JEFF ANDREWS: “I don’t have any knowledge or anything on that. But there was never a question in our mind of who the right person to put in the No. 48 car was while Alex is out.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY INSIGHT INTO ANYTHING YOU GUYS HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE NO. 5 CAR FROM THEIR ACCIDENT LAST WEEK? IS THERE ANYTHING YOU FEEL LIKE NASCAR CAN DO SHORT TERM OR WHAT YOU’RE DOING SHORT TERM FROM WHAT YOU SAW IN THE NO. 5 CAR AFTER THE ACCIDENT LAST WEEK?

JEFF ANDREWS: “Yeah, so what I can tell you is that a group of us were there very early on Monday morning. That group included Kyle – he wanted to see the car and sit in the car. We went through kind of an initial evaluation of talking with NASCAR; discussing it and looking at it through the day and the days that followed that. The car went through somewhat of a disassembly process so more of it could be evaluated and looked at. Obviously you can see in the pictures there was quite a bit of damage to the door car area, specifically on the right-hand side, that’s moved significantly to the left in the vehicle. From this point, it’s just going to be the industry I think working together to really understand and figure out what we need to do to prevent things like that from happening. There certainly are things – there needs to be some short term discussions and some long term discussions, as well. NASCAR is very involved, very concerned. Had us over there multiple times and I’m sure there will be a lot more discussions in the coming weeks and months on what we do to prevent that going forward.”

DID YOU DO ANY CHANGES FOR THIS WEEK?

JEFF ANDREWS: “There are no changes.”

JOSH, HOW DO YOU LOOK BACK AT THE LAST THREE OR FOUR YEARS OF YOUR CAREER? YOU’RE A GUY FROM SHORT-TRACK RACING AND CERTAIN THINGS HAPPENED THERE THAT DIDN’T GO SO WELL. A TRAVEL AGENT WOULD NOT BOOK THIS KIND OF A TRIP, SO HOW DO YOU LOOK AT YOUR CAREER THE LAST THREE OR FOUR YEARS WHEN HERE YOU ARE RUNNING A CUP CAR?

JOSH BERRY: “I remember it being a lot better than you did, I feel like (laughs). I mean I would do that journey all over again if I had the opportunity. It was just a lot of fun racing short-tracks all over North Carolina and Virginia.

Yeah, just been very fortunate to have some great opportunities over the last couple of years and, in a way, make the most of those opportunities that’s got me here today. For me, just really thankful for everybody that’s had a part in getting me here. Looking forward to this weekend and seeing what we can do in these two races.”

DO YOU TAKE PRIDE IN THE FACT THAT YOU SEEM TO BE ABLE TO DELIVER WHEN YOU GET THOSE OPPORTUNITIES?

JOSH BERRY: “Yeah, I think so. You obviously look at the opportunity in the No. 8 a couple of years ago – it’s really what made my career. Winning at Martinsville and running well at places like here and Darlington is kind of what set me up for a full-time year I think. Ultimately, still have one full season in NASCAR in the top three series, so I still have a lot to learn and work through, but I feel like I’m proving myself that I can do this. I’m just ready for this weekend and we’re going to keep pushing forward after that.”

JOSH, YOU MADE YOUR CUP SERIES DEBUT AT DOVER A COUPLE YEARS AGO. WHAT’S MADE DOVER SPECIAL TO YOU OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS?

JOSH BERRY: “Yeah, like I said earlier, Dover has been a good track for me for whatever reason. I don’t really know why. I think it’s a combination of JR Motorsports being really strong here and Hendrick Motorsports will be really strong here this weekend. I think having great cars makes it a lot easier. But yeah, I don’t know – I just seem to fit the place and it seems to fit my style. Making my Cup debut here a couple years ago – I know it wasn’t the dreamy ending that everybody wanted, but it was a great opportunity. Same deal – last second, thrown in the car kind of deal.

Dover is always going to be special. I got a Monster sitting in my living room that I look at every day, so that’s always going to be pretty cool no matter what.”

BLAKE, WHAT DOES ALEX’S ABSENCE MEAN TO THIS NO. 48 TEAM RIGHT NOW? OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS HAVE HAD A REALLY GREAT START, LEADING THE SERIES IN AVERAGE FINISHES. WITH HIM NOT BEING BEHIND THE WHEEL FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS AT LEAST, WHAT IMPACT DOES THAT HAVE ON THIS NO. 48 TEAM?

BLAKE HARRIS: “I think this year so far, we’ve done a god job of just reacting with whatever has been thrown at us. This will just be another thing that we look back on and we’ll react accordingly. We’ve got full support of Alex. We want him to get well. As soon as he’s healthy and ready to come back, we’ll plug him back in and keep digging. From the standpoint of all those things and the momentum that we’ve had, I don’t look at that as being any different than what we’ve had. We show up every week with the plan to win races. We’re going to have to win races to get in the Playoffs. If we were leading points, we’re planning on winning races. So when he gets back, we’ll have to win races and we’ll get ourselves in a good position to make a run at the title. I don’t see that we look at it as anything different than just another bump in the road here that we’ve got to get across. We’ll go do the best that we can here for Josh, the No. 48 team and Hendrick Motorsports the next few weeks, and when he’s back and ready, we’ll be ready too.”

THIS IS NOT YOUR FIRST TIME IN THE CUP CAR THIS YEAR, BUT IT WILL BE YOUR FIRST TIME WITH THE NO. 48 TEAM. OBVIOUSLY THERE WILL BE SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NO. 9 AND THE NO. 48. DO YOU FEEL LIKE ALL THE EXTRA RACES WILL COME HANDY OR IS IT GOING TO BE THAT LEARNING EXPERIENCE ALL OVER AGAIN WITH ADJUSTING TO A NEW TEAM?

JOSH BERRY: “No, I definitely feel like I’m in a lot better place going into this – having some experience in the Next Gen and having a relationship with everybody at Hendrick Motorsports from the opportunity with the No. 9.

The way I look at it is – ultimately, this is Alex’s race team and my job in this situation is to just try and keep these guys going, prepared, happy and just ready to rock n’ roll whenever Alex gets back. I think that was the mentality we took with the No. 9 and obviously they came back and hit the ground running. That to me, I think that shows a little bit of me in that moment of keeping the morale and everything up high. Obviously these guys are off to a great start of the season and they are going to be championship contenders throughout the year. My job is not come in here and win every race. My job is to adapt and do the best I can and just keep everything pulling in the right direction. I feel like we were able to do that with the No. 9. Had some good results along the way and hopefully we can do that again in the No. 48.”

JOSH, KNOWING WHAT YOU DID IN THE NO. 9 CAR, HOW DO YOUR OWN PERSONAL GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS CHANGE NOW THAT YOU HAVE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY WITH THIS ORGANIZATION?

JOSH BERRY: “I think it’s hard to have too high of expectations when you step in this, right. Cup racing is hard. These guys are great; they’re the best of the best in the world racing here at these tracks. I don’t think it’s really fair for me to come in and have really high expectations. I think my expectations are of myself, which is to give the best effort I can each and every week to be prepared to drive the race car and do the best job I can in the race car to limit my mistakes and be there at the end of the race. It reminds me a lot of my opportunity in 2021 with no practice and qualifying. We kind of wouldn’t even worry about the first stage, really. We would just adapt to the car and try to use the second-half of the race to use strategy or whatever we could to get upfront and get the result that we wanted. I think it’s a similar aspect – learning this new car and a new team. These guys are great. That’s what I learned the first time around. These guys are amazing to work with and they’re super, super smart, so I think we can hold our own.”

JOSH, FROM THE FIRST TIME YOU RAN DOUBLE DUTY FROM WHEN YOU FILLED IN FOR CHASE TO NOW, HOW HAS YOUR WEEKLY PROCESS CHANGED IN TERMS OF WHERE YOU FOCUS YOUR TIME, YOUR EFFORT, YOUR MIND, TO ENSURE YOU DO YOUR BEST FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND JR MOTORSPORTS ISN’T EFFECTED IN THAT PROCESS?

JOSH BERRY: “Yeah, you know obviously in the first go around a couple years back, it was COVID-related and kind of last second, so it was really little to no preparation. I remember back on these opportunities; I would say I was notified maybe a day before we left. No time to really prepare for much. Working through the last month – yeah, I mean it’s been a lot to manage. Obviously my primary focus is running for the Xfinity Series championship with my No. 8 team, but I tried to be present as much as I could with everything at Hendrick Motorsports and not leave anything on the table that I felt like I could have done to be better prepared and I think we did that. Really, you can only do so much in a week. It was definitely a challenge trying to manage all of that, but it’s been really important to me to be present with those guys, but also stay really present and involved with the No. 8 team and make sure those guys don’t feel like we’re leaving anything on the table there either.”

JEFF, HOW MUCH DOES THE FACT THAT THERE’S ONLY 20 MINUTES OF PRACTICE WEIGH INTO THE FACT OF LETTING DRIVERS DO OTHER THINGS – THE FACT THAT THEY’RE NOT ON THE TRACK AS MUCH AS THEY USED TO BE IN THE PAST, AND WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE THEY GET BY RACING EITHER SPRINT CARS, DIRT LATE MODELS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, THAT THEY CAN’T GET EITHER IN A SIMULATOR OR DOING SOMETHING ELSE?

JEFF ANDREWS: “I think, first of all, the relationship between the race track and a simulator – I’ve never sat in one, but I think any of our guys will tell you that it’s completely different. I mean the simulator is close, specific to this series and the cars they’re driving and the racing in general. Some of our guys just enjoy that involvement – that hand-eye coordination and those continued reps, whether it be in the off-season or through the regular season. They’ll tell you it’s something that helps them. From our perspective, I think we have to evaluate; we have to look at it and we have to understand what the right balance is. We certainly don’t want to tell them ‘no’ to something we feel like would help them here on Sunday. As a company, we’ll just continue to look at it, continue to talk to our guys and make sure we’re making the right decisions together. Make sure they’re in the right race cars, good race cars, safe race cars. From there, as I said before, our primary focus right now is on Alex. We miss him here this weekend. We want him to get well and get back here soon. We’re very fortunate to have someone like Josh – someone of his caliber – to be here to fill-in.”

CLARIFICATION ON SOMETHING YOU SAID EARLIER – WHEN YOU TALKED TO THE DRIVERS, WAS THERE A CONVERSATION THAT CLARIFIED HOW YOU ALL FEEL?

JEFF ANDREWS: “Whenever our drivers come forward with schedules for extracurricular racing and things that they’re going to do – whether it be the Chili Bowl in the off-season, William has been running a late model and of course Kyle with his sprint car series – those schedules are reviewed. The message from Mr. Hendrick is that – I don’t want to stop those things, but be careful. Understand what the most important thing is and the most important thing for Hendrick Motorsports is the results here on Sunday. So we’ll always keep that at the top of the list. Again, we may take a look at this. If this happens again, we’ll have to. But for right now, there’s not going to be any chances to our policy, other than just be aware. The most important thing is to results on Sunday in the Cup Series.”

WHEN THE SCHEDULE IS REVIEWED, DO YOU EVER SAY – WE WISH YOU WOULDN’T DO THAT ONE.. IT’S AT THAT TRACK AND IT’S TOO DANGEROUS? DO YOU EVER SAY ‘NO’ OR MAINLY YOU’RE ALLOWED TO DO THIS?

JEFF ANDREWS: “It goes through a review process if there’s something added – if we don’t have a knowledge of the track’s safety or things like that. It’s more we want to make sure the sponsors are OK with it. In Alex’s case, we want to make sure Blake and the team is OK with it; it fits the weekly schedule and it doesn’t interfere with something that’s going to effect the results here on Sunday.”

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