NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
NOCO 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 16, 2023

LARSON EARNS FIRST GRANDFATHER CLOCK AT MARTINSVILLE

· Kyle Larson became the second repeat winner this season after scoring his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Martinsville Speedway.

· The victory marked Larson’s 21st win in 304 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

· Larson’s victory marked Hendrick Motorsports’ 28th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Martinsville Speedway and 295th all-time victory in NASCAR’s premier series – both of which are series-leading triumphs.

· The win is Chevrolet’s series-leading 60th NASCAR Cup Series win at Martinsville Speedway and 839th all-time win in NASCAR’s premier series.

· Chevrolet has now recorded a manufacturer-leading six wins in nine points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races this season.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 16, 2023) – For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) career, Kyle Larson will leave Martinsville Speedway with the prestigious grandfather clock after driving his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to the victory in the NOCO 400. The victory marked Larson’s second trip to victory lane in the series’ past three races, collecting his first win of the season at Richmond Raceway (April 2, 2023) to kick-off the series’ three-race short-track run. The monumental victory for Larson comes the weekend after the 2021 NCS Champion was named to NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list.

“Just a huge congratulations to this whole No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team and Hendrick Motorsports,” said Larson. “I feel like Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody did a great job all day on pit road – making the right calls, having great pit stops, and then it all kind of worked out for me there at the end.”

Larson took the green flag from the 19th starting position and quickly maneuvered his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 through the field, entering the top-10 early in Stage One. The 30-year-old California native collected top-10 finishes in both stages and with a quick stop on pit road during the Stage Two break, Larson gained four spots to start the final stage from the sixth position.

With pit strategy at play during the race’s final caution, crew chief Cliff Daniels made the call for Larson to come down pit road for a two-tire only stop, ultimately putting Larson in the fifth position for the final restart. Larson battled for the lead with reigning series’ champion Joey Logano for a handful of laps, taking the lead on lap 371 to lead the last 30 circuits en route to Chevrolet’s sixth victory in nine points-paying NCS races this season.

“I never would have thought that I would win here at Martinsville,” continued Larson. “This place has been so tough on me. Just does not suit my driving style at all. I like to charge the center. I like to roll momentum, and that’s just not what this place is like. Thanks to Cliff Daniels and everybody for making me feel like I know what I’m doing sometimes around here. I just can’t believe it.”

Chevrolet drivers took the Camaro ZL1 to three top-10 finishes at the famed .526-mile Virginia venue famously known as “The Paperclip”. JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (No. 47 Kroger / Tree Top Camaro ZL1) took the checkered flag in the eighth position. The 2023 Daytona 500 Champion was running 24th when the final caution flew, but crew chief Mike Kelley opted to stay out for track position, leading Stenhouse Jr. to his fourth top-10 finish of the season. Chase Elliott rounded out the Team Chevy top-10, driving his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 to an impressive 10th-place finish in his return from a six-race absence after recovering from a leg injury.

The 2023 NCS season continues at Talladega Superspeedway with the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 23, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Race Win Press Conference Transcript

THE MODERATOR: We’re now joined by the race-winning driver of today’s NOCO 400, Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. We will go right to questions for Kyle.

Q. You’ve had all three of your teammates win a clock, so was today kind of like a sigh of relief that you finally got one?

KYLE LARSON: I don’t know if them winning added any pressure. If anything, them winning adds confidence when you come to a place like this that I have really struggled at.

So, yeah, it is pretty neat that the four of us now have all won here in the last, I guess, three years; right? I think, did Chase win in 2020 here?

So pretty cool and just shows that — which, I mean, Hendrick has shown for a very long time that they’ve had great setups here and have a handle on things here.

But it wasn’t easy. We didn’t dominate the day at all. We really never even got into the top five there until the last run of the race. So just a great job by my team, great job on pit road all day long and great strategy calls and some good restarts there at the end.

Q. Do you know where it’s going?

KYLE LARSON: I don’t. I have no clue. I’ve been trying to imagine different rooms in my shop or in my house or whatever, and I don’t have a clue.

Owen wants it in his room, so maybe we put it in there, but that’s probably one of my most prized trophies. So I’m not sure if I want to put it in there and have him break it.

So we’ll see. He will probably get annoyed with it too, you know, that thing going off every hour. So he is probably going to find out quick that he doesn’t want it in his room.

Q. Kyle, you come off a ten-win season to three-win season last year. You’ve won two races early this year. Does it start to give a feel like another maybe potential double digit win season, winning two races early and knowing that the team is improving all the time?

KYLE LARSON: I mean, I don’t know about double digits. That’s pretty tough to do, and it’s only happened a handful of times throughout the last couple of decades, I guess.

I’ve told a lot of people around me, you know, when I go to dirt races and stuff, because they don’t follow it a whole lot, competitors and stuff, how is your stuff this year? I tell every one of them, man, I think we’re honestly close to as good or just as good as we were in 2021.

I think in the races that we’ve finished and executed well, I think it’s shown. We’ve been up front in every race. We’ve challenged for wins. We’ve shown that we’ve had winning speed at every single race. COTA maybe arguably is our only race this year where we haven’t been a contender on speed at least for the win, but we were a top-five car that day I thought.

I’ve had a few DNFs, but outside of that we’ve been in the top two I think or top five, four. I guess with Phoenix we had a shot to win there and fell back to fourth.

Anyways, I do feel like we are close to what we were a couple of years ago, and we’re winning at tracks I suck at, so that says a lot (laughing).

Q. Kyle, you mentioned the struggles that you have had here. Considering that, where does this win compare with other victories that you have had?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I think when you can accomplish something that you don’t see possible, when you do accomplish it, it moves up the ladder pretty high.

So this is an extremely special win for me. I’ve worked very hard to get better here. I feel like every time there’s a test available, I get put on that list to test here because I struggle. We want to get better.

I’ve got tons of laps around here, and not many top tens. Honestly probably more races where I have finished a lap down than on the lead lap. So it’s been difficult.

And then, like I said, when you can win at a place like this, it is definitely up there. I was teared up the whole last lap. I heard Cliff was teared up too. So that feels really, really special because he is so strong and, like, emotionally strong. To hear that means a lot.

This win here today means a lot for everybody and, too, Hendrick Motorsports as well with everything that they’ve — everything that this kind of racetrack and trip means to them.

Q. You said the trophy will be one of your most prized possessions. Does that go back to everything that you just said, the reason why? What makes this trophy other than, of course, hearing about it so much going to be so special to you?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, I’m not into clocks or anything like that, so being that it’s a clock doesn’t add any significance to me. But I think every time you look at it and you look at, it will remind me of the ten years of struggling I’ve had here.

Then to accomplish the win that we now have and the work, I mean, this was probably the first weekend I’ve showed up here with, like, a positive attitude, honestly. I’ve left here just mad. I hated this place. I’ve wished it would flood (laughing). I’ve wished a lot of bad things on this place. It’s not going anywhere.

I wish it was like that, maybe dirt. Yeah, I think just because it’s such a tough track that that’s why it means a lot.

Q. In general, how much does a driver like yourself even think about what trophies look like when you win races? It’s all about winning and championship points and whatnot? Do you even think about most of the time what a trophy is going to look like?

KYLE LARSON: Oh, yeah, definitely. For sure, yeah. Typically they have the trophies somewhere throughout the weekend, so you get to see it before you race.

The majority of NASCAR trophies are really cool. You know that when you win you’re going to get something cool, but even sprint car races, you know, rarely are there trophies that look cool, but when there is, you — I think not that you put any more pressure on yourself to win, but when you do win, you’re, like, all right, that’s pretty cool and I get to take that home.

Yeah, thankfully NASCAR races have all pretty cool trophies.

Q. Did you feel like you had this place figured out today, or did you suck and just have track position and a good car?

KYLE LARSON: Thanks, Bob (laughing). Well, so I guess I’ll just take you through my race. The first run of the race we started 19th and drove to 10th really easily. My car felt really good, and I was, like, all right, this is going to be a great day. This next run we’re going to put tires on, and I’m going to drive right to the front. We’re going to be battling up front the whole rest of the race.

Then the next run I was really bad. Next couple of runs I was really bad. Then I was, like, not really pouty. I was trying to stay positive, but I was, like, okay, it’s just typical Martinsville. I’m tight in the center, loose off like always, and I suck, and it’s probably me (laughing). The car is fine. It’s just me.

Then they kept working on it and got us better and better. You know, never once did I really feel like we had the car to win, but we made the right strategy calls to stay out when there was that weird cycle, you know, restart on the front row with Briscoe.

Then on that run, I was finally able to settle in. I got kind of away from the 45 and could kind of get into a rhythm. I felt like I learned some things behind the wheel and helped my balance out.

So I used that and applied it to the next run, and thankfully we took two tires then. My car was really good on two tires there the last run.

So, yeah, then I was battling Joey for the lead and knew it was going to be tough. Knew he’s very hard to pass at a place like this. Once you do get by him, he’s not done. So I knew I was going to get a shot in the back from him.

Thankfully my car just had a lot more grip than his did at the time and got away and was hoping to lap cars. Or not lap cars, but the guys I was catching that looked like they were racing pretty hard were not going to wreck. Yeah, I was pretty positive, though, today, this weekend. Better than normal.

Q. Kind of piggybacking off the previous questions, you have said in years past that this has been your worst track. You know, you kind of count this race as a write-off. What was it about your car today that allowed you to overcome the aero problems here at the short tracks, get to Joey’s bumper and just allow you to walk away at the end of the race?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I guess as far as the aero stuff, I didn’t notice anything different with this package here compared to last year.

Yeah, it’s just I think Phoenix I felt a little bit different. Richmond I felt a lot better with it. And here, if you would have told me that we had the same package, I would agree.

Yeah, it was just my car was good enough there at the end to drive to the 22 and kind of just work him over.

Q. Kyle, with your victory today, does it give you a better outlook on returning to Martinsville in October where the race could mean the difference between making the championship or not?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, I think it definitely adds confidence. We finished second here in that race last year to Bell. Similar thing. I think we took two tires, and my car was okay.

But there’s also a lot of room for me to get better here still. There was a run on that long run there, I was better than the 10, better than the 6. A lot better than the 6 once the 10 got by him. I just don’t do a good job at passing. So just got to get better at my race craft still here.

The good short track racers, if their car is better than somebody, they can get to them and pass them pretty quickly, where I seem to just get stuck and waste time.

I think that’s a lot to do with the line that I run, yeah. Still got to get better. For sure, I feel like the last three times here at least with the Next Gen car. Every time I’ve been here with the Next Gen car, I’ve been top ten. That’s pleasing, but you always want to be better.

Q. A few minutes ago Josh Wise tweeted a thread of thoughts about you winning, and part of what he said is since 2017, I’ve watched him – you – push himself to learn at a track that he hasn’t felt comfortable at, one of the few. The most notable part of that is that it’s remained the track that he has put the most work into. Seeing K.L. win today is probably one of the coolest wins I’ve ever had a small piece in watching one of the greats push himself for years and finally get the reward that he has earned. I think a lot of times people look at what you have done across the spectrum in your career and just view it as talent and maybe don’t see the work that goes on behind the scenes. Can you give us a sense of the work that you have had to put in the last few years that Josh is referencing to get to this point today where you can suck and still win?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah. A lot of it has to do with Josh for sure. I’ve worked around him now I guess since 2017, and he has done a really good job at pointing things out.

I think for so long when I came to Martinsville everybody was, like, oh, you have to back your entries up, get good exits and stuff like that, so you work that into your brain, and you try and drive that way.

Over time through data and seeing how the good guys get around here, I quickly realized that it’s the opposite. You make your time on entry, and it’s not about your good exits.

Since that, I’ve been able to kind of work harder at my driving style a little bit and trying to really — I mean, competitors know. They look at my data and stuff, and they probably — I have this perfect triangle break here at Martinsville. The good guys kind of can make time under the braking zones and then hold that little bit of pressure at the end to turn still and get pointed for exit.

That’s I feel like the last hundred pounds of brake pressure has been something that I’ve worked really hard on and tried to be pretty conscious of throughout the race today and this weekend. I think that helped a lot.

It’s because of guys like Josh and Cliff and Adam and Cal and Becker at our shop that find those things and point them out, and then we really kind of hone in on them and try to work to figure out a way to not copy because it’s hard to copy anybody’s driving style, but to take little bits and pieces of things that you notice and try and apply them to yourself.

So, yes, I think there’s a lot of things that I have done throughout my career that talent has got me to accomplish, but then, yes, there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.

I’ve worked a lot harder the last, yeah, I mean, I guess seven-ish years than I probably ever did before, but you have the data now to look at and to study and then apply to yourself.

Q. So I understand every win is special, but comparing a win that you won based off of your talent versus a win like today where it was work day after day, is this any more significant, or what does this mean on a personal level to you compared to other races that you have won because of the talent of Kyle Larson?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I think that’s… I don’t know. Maybe I haven’t done a good job of wording it right, but yeah, I think that’s the reason why this win is probably my top seven or so or shorter list than that of wins because I’ve worked really hard for it.

Even with the work, I still didn’t think that I would ever win here because there were so many times that I would put in hours of work and running on my iRacing simulator, and I have data on there too so I can run and then go and look at my brake trace and try and see if what I was doing with my foot matched up to what guys like Chase and Denny do here. I mean, I would run hundreds of laps and then still come here and be 20th or worse.

So, yeah, putting in the work and continuing to put in the work and not giving up on it and then winning, it makes it feel really special.

But with all that, you still have to have a great team and a great car. So that’s also kind of what makes this win special, is that my team was able to produce a setup that can work for my style.

Q. Kyle, you touched on how special of a win this is, but this is the first win for the No. 5 since that first win in 1984 with Hendrick. Does that add anything to the specialness of this win?

KYLE LARSON: At Martinsville?

Q. Yes.

KYLE LARSON: No, I mean, because I didn’t know that. But I think any time you can win in the 5 car, it’s got special meaning.

Winning at Richmond on Ricky’s birthday was special. Then any Hendrick Motorsports win across any of the cars at Martinsville is always special for the reasons there. Yeah, it’s just a place that means a lot to the organization and feels great to win and then get to hear from Rick and hear how excited he was.

Q. I know Chase wasn’t really a factor today, but just as another driver, how good was it to really just have him back out here and how valuable obviously is he to the tour in general?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, it was nice having him back. Just having him a part of the debrief after practice and qualifying again was nice. He always brings something a little different to the comments between all four of us.

You know, I think he challenges himself, but he challenges us all drivers and crew chiefs and engineers to think more, I don’t know, differently or more whatever is the right word, but asking questions, talking about his car. He does a very good job of explaining what he feels. Even between changes, they’ll pit, make an adjustment in practice, and then he can read that adjustment pretty quickly and tell if it’s better or worse.

I feel like a lot of times, especially with me – I don’t know about the other guys – but I don’t like pitting in practice and making adjustments because then I just feel like I’m making an uneducated guess on the change and how it worked.

But like I said, he is very good at feeling his car, and I feel like he is pretty confident and usually the majority of the time right about the changes. I think when he can explain his car and say, hey, this was better for us, the crew chiefs on the other teams can really look at that change and look at how it might work on our cars and apply it to it.

So he is definitely an asset for sure. He is one of the best drivers in the sport, so it’s been nice to have him back.

Q. Kyle, I can’t recall a one-on-one battle between you and Joey for the lead like that. Catching him, racing him, what was going through your mind through that battle?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, so he wasn’t really a factor all day. I was never around him at all throughout the race, but he’s a very good short track racer. His team as a whole always does a great job at executing and putting themselves in position and finishing way better on their off days than they should. So I knew he was going to fight really hard.

Honestly, compared to him than I thought I was going to be as far as grip and all that went, so I could tell the areas where I was better than him as I was catching him. Then he got really protective of his exit. I was just kind of scared to move him out of the way too hard because that kind of opens the door for him to do the same to you, and usually he is going to do it four or five times worse.

I wanted to be as respectful getting by him. I knew that I was going to have to use the bumper at some point to get by him, and I tried a couple of times when I was behind him, and he did a really good job of just checking up and not getting shoved out of the way.

Then I got a good run. I was able to dive in three and four and get a good run on him and kind of out-brake him and get to his inside. I felt like I could eventually work him over that way, and it worked out.

Then once I got by him, I was expecting a shove from behind, so I ran in the corner deeper than I had been and tried to roll through the center faster than normal just to try and keep the bump from behind a little softer. Was able to get the bump, receive the bump, but still exit the corner better than him.

Then my car was really good at that point and drove off and just tried to take care of it from there. It was fun. It was a lot of fun racing him. For the two laps we were side-by-side, I could see the crowd on their feet and waving their towels and stuff and cheering.

It was fun. It was fun from my seat.

 
CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1, and JEFF ANDREWS, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS – Press Conference Transcript

THE MODERATOR: We’re going to get started with our post-race media ability for today’s NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway. We are joined by members of the race-winning team, the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet. We have crew chief Cliff Daniels, and Hendrick President and General Manager, Jeff Andrews.

Q. Cliff, were you surprised that those two in no tires held up against all those fours?

CLIFF DANIELS: Yeah, for sure. Especially the SHR cars were really fast all day long. To be honest, earlier in the race when a couple of guys stayed out on older tires and survived for 20 to 30 laps, which was 20 to 30 laps longer than I thought they would have, that was a tell sign.

A couple of data points last year of guys on higher lap tires still maintaining track position. So still a little bit of a gamble, but we knew there were some data points where it had worked. So that’s the way we went.

Q. One for each. Cliff, based off of what you were talking about and what we saw today, as a crew chief, are you having to think a little bit differently because of track position and it’s more about you helping your driver pass as opposed to your driver in many cases being able to gain position?

CLIFF DANIELS: I would say a healthy combination of both. I’ll be the first to admit for 200 laps we weren’t a winning car. Our car just wasn’t great.

Some of that was what was in our car, and some of that was kind of the track conditions. So then at the same time we got a couple of good changes in our car. The track did cool off a little bit, and I think all that kind of came our way.

So then to your exact question, yes, I think being able to be more aggressive on the strategy side, get some spots on pit road or spots on what your strategy is, certainly that’s helpful. And every time we did it, we were able to kind of maintain.

But you still saw some cars that were really good cars that could pass up through the field, and we weren’t one of those cars for 200 laps. It wasn’t until later in the race that we got our car better. So both kind of worked out at the end.

Q. And for Jeff, with your extensive experience and knowledge of engines, the discussion comes up again after the race, hey, more horsepower is needed for these cars in a different tire. That sounds like a simple solution. Just give it more horsepower. From an engine perspective, I’m not an engine guy, so how difficult is that? How prohibitive is the cost of that? I mean, is that something that if enough people wanted to get done that that’s something that realistically could be done, or is this trying to climb Everest and getting back to the level of horsepower it used to be?

JEFF ANDREWS: Yes, Dustin, I think multi answers to that question. First, yeah, it’s always achievable. It takes quite a bit of work to get back there.

We are, I would say, five to six months out on parts, orders, and deliveries. Really when you get to this part of the season, you start to consume a lot of sealed engines that you have run earlier in the season.

So it gets complicated just to try to change a package over or change a power level over because these engines are built and tuned and all the analysis and everything that’s run on them is for the current power level.

So when you start to make changes to that, it requires changes to a lot of parts and pieces. And some of those would be as much as a year to possibly 18 months lead time to get that work done and get parts ordered.

So it’s a complicated question. I personally do not disagree with you that more power would be something to take a look at someday. It’s a long-term decision for the engine companies to do that.

Q. So to follow up, it sounds like even if people wanted to do it for 2024, it’s almost too late?

JEFF ANDREWS: That decision needs to be made now. Yeah, very soon. Because depending on the parts and pieces, some things, as I said, are easily six months to a year out from a planning perspective.

One thing that you need to realize is that all these engine companies have ordered parts and pieces for really the remainder of 2023, and to start to change that architecture around, it gets very, very complicated very quickly. That’s a long-term decision for sure.

Q. Jeff, 295 wins for Hendrick Motorsports. Pretty big number. You guys are closing in on 300. Any thought on that? Any whispering about that might be an attainable number this year?

JEFF ANDREWS: I think it was more than a whisper at our season kickoff luncheon for Mr. Hendrick. It was an ask of his, and he lit that fire underneath of everybody very early on in January, and we’re certainly marching forward towards that.

So, obviously, a goal we want to achieve. In addition to that, keep going right on past that. We need to focus on long-term on late summer and early fall and having performance in our cars like we do now at that point of the season. Certainly I know as a company we’re very pleased with how this package has performed for us. Phoenix, Richmond, now here.

Certainly as Cliff said, we weren’t in the best shape, and we still have some work to do here as a company to have some more consistency across all our cars.

But certainly a good start for us for 2023. Yes, 300 is something we’re at for Mr. Hendrick, first and foremost, but that championship in Phoenix at the end of the year is another big one we’ve got our sights set on.

Q. If both of you can answer this question: What struck you most about Kyle’s performance today?

CLIFF DANIELS: I think just the fact that all the conversations he and I have had here, he has had so much doubt in himself, but we’ve continued to stay true to our process, how we prepare, the data we look at, everything that we study.

He has been very open to any adjustments he has needed to make on his end, and it’s kind of a two-way conversation from what can he do better and different and what can we do better and different with the car that really I would say the work behind the scenes, the work in preparation to get here today is what I’m most proud of because you saw at the end of the race when our car was good and he knew he had a shot, he did a great job to go through some of those guys, get to Joey, have a clean, for the most part, race for the win and laid down some really good laps to finish out the day.

JEFF ANDREWS: Yeah, certainly echo Cliff’s comments there. I think the thing for me is just how Cliff and Kyle really put the whole day together. Certainly various phases of that race and track change with clouds and sun and then an untimely caution there certainly threw a twist in everyone’s strategy.

Really just from start to finish how they work together on the radio and continue to make the car better really all day long. Various things for various teams, including our own, that came and went during the day.

It was certainly key to keep track position as you saw with a lot of cars that kind of went from the front to the back and back to the front. So I just commend them, both of them, on how they kept their head in the game all day long and raced the track the entire day and stayed in it all day long.

Q. The No. 5 car hasn’t won here since ’84 when Geoff Bodine went to victory lane. The significance of that number to get that car back in Martinsville victory lane, what does that mean to Hendrick Motorsports?

JEFF ANDREWS: That certainly is a great milestone. I’m not sure that I realized that.

CLIFF DANIELS: I didn’t either. That’s pretty wild.

JEFF ANDREWS: That’s pretty awesome. Obviously being the site of the first win for Hendrick Motorsports back in 1984 and then to come here today and put No. 5 back in victory lane, that’s always a special number. It has been for Mr. Hendrick through the years. A lot of great milestones that go with that number and a lot of history and heritage there.

So for us as a company very proud of that and to bring that to Mr. Hendrick as well back here at Martinsville.

Q. Jeff, I assume there wasn’t much doubt on whether Chase can win or come back and be strong. Did today send any sort of message you feel to him and the team?

JEFF ANDREWS: Yeah, I think if you saw him after the race just the fight that’s in Chase Elliott. Obviously, that was a tough race on him. Tough race on any driver to come here after being out for multiple weeks.

As I said earlier, we didn’t have the best race car today, and he and Alan fought all day long together. Chase stayed obviously with Alan and the team and worked hard all day long, and at the end there that thing came to life and seeing him battle his way back up there to a top ten.

It’s great to have him back. From that aspect, it’s the first weekend for us to kind of have our team or have the band, so to speak, put back together. We haven’t all been back together since Fontana for various reasons.

I think just a statement for the company and a compliment to the men and women behind the scenes at Hendrick Motorsports who have been building and working on these race cars through this time of adversity for us.

To come here today, not only Chase, but Cliff and Kyle, it’s a good day for us, and we’ll build on it. Certainly glad, back to your question, to have Chase back. He fought all day long and did a great job for us.

Q. You’ve won almost half the races this year as an organization. Do you feel like you are the dominant team?

JEFF ANDREWS: I wouldn’t consider us dominant. I don’t think there’s anybody at Hendrick Motorsports right now that has that comfort level or that feeling. As I said a little bit earlier, we need to run and perform like this in the latter half of the summer, early part of the fall. That’s when it really starts to count.

Yes, stacking up the wins right now and the points and the playoff points, it’s very important to have those to go into the fall. We have a lot of work to do. We have to come back here. This is a very, very critical stop for us, as you all know in the fall on the way to Phoenix.

We have to certainly be a lot better than we were here today. We pulled it all together there at the end and had some competitive cars and were able to win the race, but we need to be better as an organization coming back here.

So we won’t take too much confidence out of here, and we’ll go on to Talladega next week and approach that and attack that for what it’s worth, but we certainly need to put some focus on Martinsville for the fall.

Q. One other thing is you guys have won all the key races. Phoenix you’ve won, host of the championship. You win at Martinsville, the next to last race. You win at Vegas, a key race in the last round. Was there an emphasis? I know at Hendrick it’s all about winning, but was there any additional emphasis on either of these tracks? And because there’s such a long gap between now and when you come back to these tracks, the challenge of maintaining that strength so you can take advantage of those opportunities later? For either of you.

CLIFF DANIELS: Yeah, certainly everyone in the whole cup field has Phoenix circled, obviously; right? And we as a company didn’t perform as well as we needed to in the fall. We certainly got beat by at least two organizations that I can think of just outright, forget strategy, forget anything else. They just had better and faster cars than we did.

So, yes, we did circle Phoenix specifically over the winter, and we kind of assembled a group back at the shop to help us attack some of these tracks in the specific areas that we knew we were deficient. So big shout out and credit to those guys back at the shop, those guys and gals.

Yeah, kind of the way you described it for each one of these races, we’ve had a similar approach. Vegas last fall all of our cars didn’t run great. Obviously I spoke on Phoenix.

Here it’s been hit-or-miss for us, and it was kind of that way today too. Kind of hit-or-miss from what you saw. So we have identified all those races, the keystones that they are, to your point, for the playoffs and tried to make an effort for what those are.

And then the things that can carry over between Phoenix and Richmond, you can carry a little bit of that to Nashville and Gateway and stuff like that in the summertime. No, it’s not the exact same, but the general concepts you can take and you can keep working on and building on.

That’s what’s gotten us to this point, but certainly a lot of work ahead of us.

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
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
NOCO 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT
APRIL 16, 2023

LARSON EARNS FIRST GRANDFATHER CLOCK AT MARTINSVILLE

· Kyle Larson became the second repeat winner this season after scoring his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Martinsville Speedway.

· The victory marked Larson’s 21st win in 304 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

· Larson’s victory marked Hendrick Motorsports’ 28th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Martinsville Speedway and 295th all-time victory in NASCAR’s premier series – both of which are series-leading triumphs.

· The win is Chevrolet’s series-leading 60th NASCAR Cup Series win at Martinsville Speedway and 839th all-time win in NASCAR’s premier series.

· Chevrolet has now recorded a manufacturer-leading six wins in nine points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races this season.

Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 – Race Winner Quotes

Kyle Larson with that masterful burnout around the entire race track. Kyle, we know you’ve said it many times, this is not your favorite track. It’s been tough for you. That two tire call, though, how were you able to capitalize on that strategy call and change things and get the win here?

“Just a huge congratulations to this whole No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team and Hendrick Motorsports. I feel like Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody did a great job all day on pit road – making the right calls, having great pit stops, and then it all kind of worked out for me there at the end. We had a great car. That was the best my car had been I think, being able to get out front and manage.

But, yeah, I never would have thought that I would win here at Martinsville. This place has been so tough on me. Just does not suit my driving style at all. I like to charge the center. I like to roll momentum, and that’s just not what this place is like. Thanks to Cliff Daniels and everybody for making me feel like I know what I’m doing sometimes around here. I just can’t believe it.

I’m glad my family is here too, Katelyn and the kids. I’m sure they’re trying to get down here to the infield, but this is amazing.

I honestly have never thought I would win here so I don’t have a spot picked out either for the clock, so I’ll have to make some space for sure.”

Such a storied racetrack. It’s been in the series since NASCAR began, and it means a lot to Hendrick Motorsports. You’ve heard about the clock. All of those things considered, what does this mean to Kyle Larson?

“Yeah, it means a lot to me. But I think more importantly, it means a lot to the whole Hendrick family and Hendrick Motorsports family.

You know, everybody knows what happened here so long ago. That’s on everybody’s minds every time they come to Martinsville, so wish Rick (Hendrick) and Linda (Hendrick) were here, but we’ve got Jeff Gordon here. I’m sure Rick is probably on hold with Jeff Andrews or somebody waiting to talk to me.

Gosh, again, thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. You guys are the best and make me — I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that I won at Martinsville.”

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

1st Kyle Larson, No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1

8th Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger / Tree Top Camaro ZL1

10th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

11th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

12th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Camaro ZL1

13th Ross Chastain, No. 1 Unishippers Camaro ZL1

17th Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

1st Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)

2nd Joey Logano (Ford)

3rd Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)

4th Denny Hamlin (Toyota)

5th Chase Briscoe (Ford)

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Talladega Superspeedway with the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 23, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:

Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Camaro ZL1

Finished: 12th

“What a battle today at Martinsville Speedway. Everyone on the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevy team worked hard all day, and a 12th-place finish is pretty good considering how loose our Chevy was throughout the race and some of the strategy that played out. We were trapped a lap down for a while, but this team never gave up. Our Chevy was really loose in traffic with the nose down. It was pretty bad. I could set them up, but I couldn’t get the throttle down. It was like that all day. I thought we were going to end up with a top-10 finish, but I got too loose. I tried to get the No. 23 on the outside with about four or five laps to go. It was the only shot I had, and I did everything I could but it wasn’t enough. A couple of other cars snuck on our inside and we lost the top-10. All-in-all, a good day for this RCR team. We’ll keep battling.”

Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

Finished: 10th

This is a tough race track. On a braking race track, how did the leg hold up today?

“Yeah, it was pretty good, honestly. It was about what I expected, so that’s a good thing. It was warm. I’ve been sitting on the couch for six weeks, so I think that probably hurt me more than anything. But our NAPA Chevy, we struggled every run but the last one. We finally got it going there at the end and I was able to make some passes and do things that I didn’t really think I’d be capable of doing, or at least of us fixing it to that degree here at the race track. So I was pleasantly surprised by that. Got us a top-10 out of our first day back, so that’s definitely something to not be too bummed about.”

Certainly a nice battle by your team to get your car to the top-10 today. What is the one thing you’ve missed the most about being at the race track over the past six weeks?

“The people, really. From my peers, to my teammates – that competitive nature of being here and wanting to be better. Really nice to be back and appreciate the warm welcome this weekend by everybody, so I appreciate that. It definitely didn’t go unnoticed.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger / Tree Top Camaro ZL1

Finished: 8th

“It was kind of a crazy day. I felt like we were slowly making gains on our Chevy. We got better and better, and then we caught that caution. We had pitted and we had to take the wave around, and we ended up at the very back. But Mike Kelley (crew chief) and all the guys did a great job. Our war room back at the shop said we should stay out there. They felt like if we stayed out, our lap times would come back around and we’d be able to hang on. Really nice that it went green there.

Our No. 47 Kroger / Tree Top Camaro was just a little tight in the center all day. We made it a little bit better. It felt like we were definitely the best we’ve been here in a long time, so we’re really happy with our day.”

TEAM CHEVY RACE HIGHLIGHTS:

Stage One

· Daniel Suarez led the NASCAR Cup Series to the green flag at Martinsville Speedway from a front-row starting spot; the third top-10 start of the 2023 season for the No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1 team.

· Suarez ran in the top-five for the duration of the caution-free Stage One, ultimately leading Chevrolet in the fourth-position at the conclusion of the stage.

· Three Chevrolet drivers collected stage points in Stage One. Joining Suarez in the Stage One top-10 included Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson and William Byron in the ninth and 10th-positions, respectively.

· Alex Bowman drove his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 from the 23rd starting position to 11th at the end of the stage. The biggest mover in Stage One, Bowman consistently clocked-in lap times that were a couple tenths quicker than then race leader Ryan Preece.

Stage Two

· The first round of pit stops got underway during the Stage One break. The No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1 pit crew executed a stop that got Suarez off pit road in the second-position, giving the team a front-row starting spot for the start of Stage Two.

· A spin off Turn Two brought out the race’s first caution on lap 132. After racing to stay on the lead-lap, the No. 1 Unishippers Camaro ZL1’s Crew Chief, Phil Surgen, elected to keep Chastain out for track position.

· Restarting from the front-row, Chastain went on to lead 31 laps, ultimately ending Stage Two in the sixth-position.

· Daniel Suarez and Kyle Larson drove to back-to-back top-10 stage finishes, taking the green-white checkered flag in the eighth and 10th-positions, respectively.

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.

STEWART-HAAS RACING
NOCO 400

Date: April 16, 2023

Event: NOCO 400 (Round 9 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)

Format: 400 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/100 laps/220 laps)

Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Preece of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

Stage 2 Winner: Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

SHR Race Finish:

● Chase Briscoe (Started 4th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

● Aric Almirola (Started 3rd, Finished 6th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

● Ryan Preece (Started 1st, Finished 15th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

● Kevin Harvick (Started 7th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

SHR Points:

● Kevin Harvick (3rd with 287 points, 15 out of first)

● Chase Briscoe (14th with 210 points, 92 out of first)

● Aric Almirola (26th with 143 points, 159 out of first)

● Ryan Preece (27th with 140 points, 162 out of first)

Briscoe Notes:

● Briscoe earned his second top-five and third top-10 of the season. It was also his first top-five and third top-10 in five career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville.

● Briscoe equaled his best result this year. He also finished fifth last Sunday on the dirt at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

● This was Briscoe’s fourth straight top-15. He finished 15th March 26 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, 12th April 2 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and fifth last Sunday at Bristol.

● Briscoe’s fifth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Martinsville – ninth, earned twice (April 2022 and October 2022).

● Briscoe finished fifth in Stage 1 to earn six bonus points and second in Stage 2 to collect another nine bonus points.

● Briscoe led twice for 109 laps to increase his laps led total at Martinsville to 134.

Almirola Notes:

● Almirola earned his first top-10 of the season and his eighth top-10 in 29 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville.

● This was Almirola’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 13th, earned April 2 at Richmond.

● This was Almirola’s fourth straight top-15 at Martinsville. He finished sixth in October 2021, eighth in April 2022 and 15th last October.

● Almirola finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points and ninth in Stage 2 to earn two additional bonus points.

Preece Notes:

● Preece’s 15th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Martinsville – 16th, earned in March 2019.

● Preece won Stage 1 to earn 10 bonus points and one playoff point.

● Preece led once for a race-high 135 laps – his first laps led at Martinsville.

● Preece led more laps in the NOCO 400 at Martinsville than he had in his entire Cup Series career. Prior to Martinsville, Preece had led just 29 laps in 123 career starts. This is Preece’s first season with SHR.

● Preece earned his first career Cup Series pole on Saturday during qualifying for the NOCO 400. It was the 58th Cup Series pole for SHR and its second pole in as many days. Cole Custer won the pole on Friday during qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville. Between Cup and Xfinity, SHR has scored 75 poles in its 15-year history.

Harvick Notes:

● Harvick finished sixth in Stage 1 to earn five bonus points. He then won Stage 2 to earn 10 more bonus points and one playoff point.

● Harvick led twice for 20 laps to increase his laps-led total at Martinsville to 648.

● Harvick has now led 11,549 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,964 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.

● Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only one finish outside the top-20 at Martinsville, a span of 19 races.

Race Notes:

● Kyle Larson won the NOCO 40 to score his 21st career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Martinsville. His margin over second-place Joey Logano was 4.142 seconds.

● Twenty-four of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● There were five caution periods for a total of 50 laps.

● Christopher Bell remains the championship leader after Martinsville with a five-point advantage over second-place Ross Chastain.

Sound Bites:

“It would’ve been more of a statement if we won the race, obviously. I thought, as a company, we had a really good day. All four cars were in contention. I felt like a Stewart-Haas car probably should’ve won the race and we just couldn’t catch the breaks we needed there at the end, but, overall, a great day. That’s something that, as a company, we needed to go and run up front. All four cars were really competitive. I wish one of us would’ve won the race, but you’ll have that. We’ll go on to next week and, hopefully, we can continue this speed and this momentum as a company.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang

“It’s crazy that Martinsville is a track-position race. The cars are so close and so competitive. I thought we were, arguably, the best car the first part of the race, and then we got a little bit behind as the track changed and the car changed a little bit. Then after that, we got the car really good. Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) made some great adjustments and I thought we were, arguably, the best car. We went through that green flag pit sequence and then a caution comes out for a wheel and gives a lot of those guys just a free gift that stayed out. A lot of those guys we had lapped already in the race, and it’s just so hard to pass that you give those guys track position and you start behind them on the same tires. It’s hard to pass.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

“I sped off pit road, I guess. That ultimately cost us the track position. We had a really fast racecar, so once we got in the back it was so hard to do anything, so that’s on me. I’ll take blame for that. I was trying to beat them out and ultimately got snapped speeding. It’s unfortunate, but when we had track position I think it showed that we had a really fast HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang, but you can’t do those things. You can’t make mistakes. I pride myself on not making mistakes, so that was pretty brutal there, but, like I’ve said, we have a fast racecar and really felt like we could’ve probably swept the stages and ran top-three or top-five. We were just as good as anybody, but it’s really tough. Dirty air against the pack. You didn’t want to smash them out of the way, but it was really hard to move around.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 23 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
NOCO 400 | Sunday, April 16, 2023

Ford Finishing Results:

2nd – Joey Logano

5th – Chase Briscoe

6th – Aric Almirola

7th – Ryan Blaney

14th – Chris Buescher

15th – Ryan Preece

19th – Michael McDowell

20th – Kevin Harvick

24th – Brad Keselowski

25th – Todd Gilliland

29th – Harrison Burton

33rd – Austin Cindric

34th – Zane Smith

36th – JJ Yeley

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Verizon 5G Ford Mustang – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE BATTLE WITH LARSON AT THE END? “I knew the only way he was gonna get by me is he was gonna have to get physical. I had to make the car wide. I had very little chance to win it when he had the two tires. He just got through traffic too quick for us, but, overall, it still was the right call to get us on the front row. You never know, you have a caution at the end and some things can happen, but, overall, I’m very proud of the Verizon Mustang team. We were not good. We went down a lap two times throughout the race and got one lucky dog and one lucky caution and then just some good strategy from Paul and getting the car better. We were awful to start and he did a good job of getting me competitive at least and putting me in position to do something there at the end. There are days when you’re mad about second, most of the time you are, but days like today you’re pretty happy to see the front at the end.”

HOW MUCH WORSE WERE YOU ON OLD TIRES THERE? “Two tenths, apparently. He caught me so quick and there was still 25-30 to go and I was like, ‘Aw, geez. I don’t have a chance here, but I’ll make it wide for awhile.’ I knew he was gonna have to get physical, which is fine. That’s Martinsville racing. He should. I tried to play defense as best as I could and eventually he got underneath me.”

WOULD YOU HAVE TAKEN SECOND AT THE START OF THE DAY WITH WHERE YOU STARTED? “Yeah. After the second stage I would have been stoked about second place.”

DID THE NEW PACKAGE DO ANYTHING TO IMPROVE THE RACING HERE? “No. I’m pretty sure everybody kind of saw it. It’s really challenging to pass still. It’s kind of interesting how some tracks it’s definitely improved it and at some tracks it hasn’t. Richmond was a much better race. Here at Martinsville, I’d say we probably have to go back to the drawing board to try and find something else to help racing a little bit more, but part of it, too, you’ve got understand is that all of the cars run the same speed. They gave us a box with cars that are all identical. Well, we’re all gonna end up running that same speed for the most part. When all the cars are within a tenth of each other, you can’t pass. There’s got to be more speed differential through the field.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang – HOW MUCH OF A STATEMENT WAS TODAY? “It would have been more of a statement if we won the race, obviously. I thought as a company we had a really good day. All four cars were in contention. I felt like a Stewart-Haas car probably should have won the race and we just couldn’t catch the breaks we needed there at the end, but, overall, a great day. That’s something that as a company we needed to go and run up front. All four cars were really competitive. I wish one of us would have won the race, but you’ll have that. We’ll go on to next week and hopefully we can continue this speed and this momentum as a company.”

DID YOU HAVE THEM COVERED IF THAT CAUTION DIDN’T COME OUT? “I would have like to think so. I mean, having a two-second lead and just kind of riding trying to maintain that two-second lead. I thought our car was really, really good at that point. Even with the caution I thought we were gonna be OK, and then I thought we were gonna stay out, and then at the end it looked like more guys were gonna come down pit road, so we decided to come down with them. Obviously, Monday morning quarterback. It’s a lot easier to say you should have stayed out, but we didn’t. We win and lose as a team. At the time, I thought that was gonna be OK with the amount of laps we still had to go, but track position was obviously super important. It was really hard to pass. Even if you were better than a guy, they could just kind of hang on. It seemed like tires, it took them 50-60 laps for them to fall off even if you had older tires. We probably made the wrong decision at the end, but at the time and the perspective that we had, we thought it was gonna be the best decision. Sometimes you make the wrong one, but it’s hard when you’re in the lead because everybody normally does the opposite of you. That’s part of it and you just move on.”

DENNY HAMLIN THOUGHT THE RACE HERE WAS WORSE THAN LAST YEAR? DO YOU AGREE? “I thought it was honestly about the same. I thought inside the car we were maybe slipping and sliding around maybe 10 percent more. It was still obviously extremely hard to pass. Yeah, I thought it was five to 10 percent better even though there’s still a really long way to go. I did think in the driver’s seat you made a little bit more of a difference. The problem is when you can downshift and things like that, these cars have so much forward drive and obviously not a lot of power coming off the corner, so everybody is kind of the same speed. It’s unfortunate. I wish we turned a page there with the package. Like I said, I thought it was a little bit better, but it needs to be a lot more better.”

RYAN PREECE, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang – “I sped off pit road, I guess. That ultimately cost us the track position. We had a really fast race car, so once we got in the back it was so hard to do anything, so that’s on me. I’ll take blame for that. I was trying to beat them out and ultimately got snapped speeding.”

DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD SPEED IN THAT BOX? “I didn’t think we could, to be honest with you, but I guess it’s my job to know that. It’s unfortunate, but when we had track position I think it showed that we had a really fast HaasTooling Ford Mustang, but you can’t do those things. You can’t make mistakes.”

RESULTS ASIDE, IS THAT FIRST STAGE INDICATIVE OF WHAT THIS TEAM IS CAPABLE OF DOING? “Absolutely. I pride myself on not making mistakes, so that was pretty brutal there, but, like I’ve said, we have a fast race car and really felt like we could have probably swept the stages and ran top three or top five. We were just as good as anybody, but it’s really tough. Dirty air against the pack. You didn’t want to smash them out of the way, but it was really hard to move around.”

DID YOU THINK YOU COULD GET BACK UP THERE AFTER THE PENALTY? “That first run I think we climbed to 23rd or 21st, so I thought there was opportunity, but after three pit stops everybody else got their car that much better. You saw Joey, they stayed out and gained track position and he ran second. I mean, he was gonna go a lap down for awhile, so you can’t make mistakes.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – “It’s crazy that Martinsville is a track position race. The cars are so close and so competitive. I thought we were arguably the best car the first part of the race and then we got a little bit behind as the track changed and the car changed a little bit. Then after that, we got the car really good. Drew made some great adjustments and I thought we were arguably the best car. We went through that green flag pit sequence and then a caution comes out for a wheel and gives a lot of those guys just a free gift that stayed out. A lot of those guys we had lapped already in the race and it’s just so hard to pass that you give those guys track position and you start behind them on the same tires. It’s hard to pass.”

TWO TOYOTA TOP-FIVES IN MARTINSVILLE
Truex, Hamlin record season-best results

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 16, 2023) – Martin Truex Jr. (third) and Denny Hamlin (fourth) earned season-best results inside the top-five finishers in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. Bubba Wallace (ninth) joined them inside the top-10. Despite a 16th-place result, Christopher Bell retains the points lead heading into Talladega.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Martinsville Speedway
Race 9 of 36 – 210 miles, 400 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, Kyle Larson*

2nd, Joey Logano

3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.

4th, DENNY HAMLIN

5th, Chase Briscoe*

9th, BUBBA WALLACE

16th, CHRISTOPHER BELL

18th, TY GIBBS

22nd, TYLER REDDICK

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

Finishing Position: 3rd

Did you have anything for the two in front of you?

“Yeah, I really don’t know. We kind of had a crazy day with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD. Finally, just got a little bit lucky and got back on the lead lap and we just kept working on our car. We were so loose all day long, and then there at the end we got a whole lot better. It was fun in the end – passing a lot of cars to get up there, but still needed to be a little bit better. Proud of everyone for sticking with it and grinding one out today.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

Can you describe your thoughts on this package and those last few laps?

“The package was terrible – it’s either the package or the tires. You can’t pass. Cars that I was lapping 10 laps before, we caught a caution, and I couldn’t pass them for second. It’s very difficult. Next Gen racing is all about strategy, execution on pit road – that’s who wins. Rarely does the car that dominates or the best car, win, simply because you can’t control the race when you need too – at least we couldn’t. We made a great strategy call at the end to get positions back.”

What more did you need that last run?

“I just needed to stay in the lead. It’s the biggest thing – just like Richmond. When you get the lead, you have to stay there. Just had unfortunate timing of that caution in the green flag pit stop cycle. We pitted, which put us towards the end of the lead lap cars. Cars that I was just lapping 10 laps prior – I couldn’t pass them. It is Next Gen racing with these tires and this aero package –there is no passing. You saw the 41 (Ryan Preece) dominate the race, and then he got caught and went to the back and that was it. That’s just what we’ve got.”

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

Finishing Position: 9th

Nice recovery for you today, Bubba. Can you talk about your race?

“Yeah, for sure. J.R. (Houston), my engineer, and I just walked to figure out where that last section was. I’m 95 percent sure I was good, obviously, I was speeding, but I was like there is no way. Anyways, it is good to just stay in it, mentally for myself and the team and pull that strategy there. I was calling that tire in the restart zone for three laps – I’m like call it, this is our chance. We capitalized. All-in-all, it was an okay day. We are missing something. This is one of my favorite tracks and we come here and run sixth-to-ninth every time. We need to be better, but overall, proud of our McDonald’s Toyota Camry group. We will just keep on digging.”

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.