NASCAR CUP SERIES
LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM
BUSCH LIGHT CLASH AT THE COLISEUM
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING REPORT
FEBRUARY 4, 2023

JUSTIN HALEY TOPS LEADERBOARD IN CLASH QUALIFYING
Three Team Chevy Drivers Take Heat Race Pole Positions

· On-track action at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum got underway this afternoon with a practice session. Alex Bowman led Chevrolet drivers on the speed chart, clocking in a fourth-fastest lap overall in his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1.

· Single car qualifying determined the starting lineups for tomorrow’s four heat races, with the top-four fastest cars securing the pole position for each heat race.

· Justin Haley and the No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1 team topped the leaderboard in qualifying, securing his first career NASCAR Cup Series Clash pole win.

· Three of the top-four fastest cars in qualifying came from the Bowtie brigade. Joining Haley in securing a heat race pole position included Kyle Busch, No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL1 (second-fastest), and William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1 (fourth-fastest).

· FOX will telecast from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, February 5, starting with qualifying heat races and last chance qualifying races at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the main event for the 45th running of the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum at 8 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE LEADERBOARD:

POS. DRIVER

4th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

7th Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

10th Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1

13th Kyle Busch, No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL1

14th William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1

19th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

22nd Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1

23rd Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey Camaro ZL1

24th AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1

25th Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Animal Control FOX Camaro ZL1

26th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1

27th Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1

28th Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Food 4 Less / Velveeta Camaro ZL1

29th Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Camaro ZL1

32nd Ty Dillon, No. 77 NASCAR Fan Rewards Camaro ZL1

36th BJ McLeod, No. 78 Celsius Camaro ZL1

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

1st Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1

2nd Kyle Busch, No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL1

4th William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1

6th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1

8th AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1

9th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

10th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1

Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1, Press Conference Transcript –

Q. You got your first career NASCAR Cup Series pole here. Talk about that advantage heading into tomorrow.

“It’s obviously key. We fired off here last year and we were pretty good. Obviously, we had some trouble during the race.

I felt like we had a pretty good No. 31 Celsius Chevy in practice. I just felt like I wasn’t getting the full potential out of the race car, and then obviously in qualifying, our lap was just dominant.

I feel pretty confident about where we are. It’s a good place to start the season. I’m not sure why we’re so good here. I wish I had this much talent at all of the races, but I’m pretty thankful. It’s pretty cool to get Kaulig Racing their first NASCAR Cup Series pole; my first pole as a driver in my second year here; and get Celsius their first pole.”

Q. Any difference in the track? How it handled, characteristics?

“No, it’s the same. It probably doesn’t look fast, but yeah it’s pretty similar. I wouldn’t say anything is noticeably different.”

Q. Did you come with the same setup that you started with here last year?

“No idea. They do not let me know any details on setups. I couldn’t tell you a single air pressure or a single spring. That comes from Chris Rice. He just wants me to drive the race car. I have no idea if I have four tires on the race car or three.

I would assume we’re close. We’re obviously pretty good. I wish I had a better answer for you, but I honestly don’t know details like that.”

Q. What do you think suits you about this track?

“I don’t know. I’m terrible at Martinsville (Speedway). Martinsville might be my worst race track.

I just feel like we’ve been good. Obviously, the car is a lot of it. It’s cool that we’re good here. We just have to figure that out everywhere else.”

Q. Did you ever end up having a conversation with (Kyle) Larson?

“Yeah, I did right after the race.

Right after the race, I went up to him when he was getting out of the car. I was pretty calm and I was just like, ‘hey, what was that’. We just had a conversation, he said he messed up. I said ‘cool’ and that was it. No reason to hold a grudge or anything. Obviously he’s an excellent race car driver and we’ve been good ever since. Today at our seminar we had, I asked him what kind of jeans he bought because we’re pretty similar in fit and leg length in jeans. Yeah, we’re good friends.”

Q. I was talking to Chris (Rice) earlier today about the amount of coverage you get, or lack thereof. How important was it for you to beat out a lot of more high profile drivers during qualifying?

“Yeah, that’s a tricky line to say. Obviously the better we run, the more coverage we’re going to get. There was a race last year in the Playoffs at the (Charlotte) ROVAL where we ran in the top-five all day and didn’t get an interview afterwards. I think that he’s always been pretty upset about that. We weren’t a playoff car and we have to run better week in and week out to get talked about.

We’re also a young team. Matt Kaulig is building this thing from the ground up. He didn’t buy a race team that was already pre-built. He’s done it all from the ground up and you have to respect that about him. We have to earn our name in the sport, earn my name in the sport. I have to feel like I belong, which has been tough for me. It was a very humbling year last year trying to figure out if I belong at the top or not. Yeah, it’s been hard, but having moments like this solidifies it a little bit more.”

Q. You said no grudges held with Larson, but is there still payback owed?

“No, it’s terrible to intentionally wreck another race car driver.”

Q. Is there a chip on your shoulder with the strong showing you had here last year?

“I feel like I have to prove myself every week and we have to prove ourselves as a race team. We have to go out there every week and prove that we’re a team worthy of being here, and that I’m a driver worthy of being in this field.

I think the biggest thing last year was just respect. I think towards the end of the year, I gained a lot of respect from other drivers. I started talking with a lot of them a lot more. It’s hard being a new driver in a top series. It’s tough, but I kind of feel like I’ve earned that respect now and I’m pretty good friends with a lot of the other drivers.”

Q. Talk to us about how the track changed between practice and qualifying, and what does that tell you about tomorrow between the heat races and the main event?

“I think it was pretty similar. The tough part is obviously just getting heat in the tires. You see us all playing all kinds of weird games to do so. Honestly, I felt like we were better on the long runs. I thought we were going to struggle in qualifying and I told AJ (Allmendinger) that. I thought we were going to qualify around the 20’s.

But I don’t think the track really changed. It being new asphalt, it definitely had some oils and grease in it. But I honestly can’t say that I felt like it was any different.”

Q. Talk about your crew chief and your team.

“I have the exact same team as I did last year, with Trent Owens as my crew chief. Darren is my car chief and Garrett is my engineer. The only change we had this year was an interior guy.

The No. 16 team helps a lot. We all go to the simulator together and we all share very similar setups at Kaulig Racing. We usually go to the race track identical. It’s very important to have AJ (Allmendinger) on full-time this year. He was professionally racing when I was born, so just to have his expertise, all of his knowledge and everything he’s been through.

I feel like we’re pretty strong. We’re still a very little team. Our pit crews are still leased out from Trackhouse, so we don’t have that in-house, and we have an alliance with RCR.”

Q. How important is it to just focus on what is at hand, focus on driving?

“Usually the cool part about this race is that there’s nothing to lose. We’re just out here not points racing or anything, and just putting it all out on the line. That’s definitely a different mentality going into it. I think the heat race format is cool. Still haven’t lost a heat race. I don’t want to jinx myself, but I won both of them last year. So we’ll try to keep that streak going. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and I’m excited for it.”

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
Clash at the Coliseum Qualifying | Saturday, February 4, 2023

Ford Qualifying Results

5th – Aric Almirola

13th – Harrison Burton

14th – Kevin Harvick

15th – Chase Briscoe

17th – Joey Logano

23rd – Brad Keselowski

24th – Ryan Preece

25th – Michael McDowell

26th – Austin Cindric

27th – Todd Gilliland

29th – Chris Buescher

31st – JJ Yeley

32nd – Cody Ware

35th – Ryan Blaney

Driver Quotes

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang – NOTE: Briscoe was involved in a practice incident with AJ Allmendinger and suffered damage to the right-front of his Mustang. He spoke about what happened after practice.

WHAT HAPPENED? “I just got drove through. I thought he was slowing down so much down the straightaway to get a gap and I felt like I was beside him pretty far down the straightaway. I got in there a little hot for sure, but I honestly thought he was just gonna give it to me since we were in practice. I went into three and he just drove me straight into the fence. It’s definitely frustrating. Our car is obviously really, really good. Even after the damage I think we were still the best car out of our group, so it’s unfortunate. We don’t have a single backup car out here between the four of us at SHR, so that will definitely set us behind quite a bit. We’ll just chalk it up in the memory bank.”

IS IT SOMETHING YOU WILL DISCUSS WITH HIM NOW OR WAIT UNTIL LATER? “I mean, if he wants to come and talk to me, he can talk to me. I mean, it’s pretty obvious what happened. I get his frustration. I definitely got in there a little hot, but I don’t know if it’s worth crashing cars in practice over, so it’s just unfortunate. We’ve got a really fast Mahindra Tractors Ford. We won’t even remember this if we win tomorrow, so that’s what we’ll try to do.”

WHAT KIND OF DAMAGE DO YOU HAVE? “It killed the whole nose, the right-front fender. I don’t know how it works if we have to change the nose. Do you have to go to the tail for your heat race? I don’t know how that works, but it killed it, for sure. It knocked the toe out and everything else, so we’ve got pretty significant damage even for how slow we’re going. It’s unfortunate for sure and definitely could have been avoidable.”

CAN YOU QUALIFY? “We were still the fastest car at the end there, so it will still be fine, I think. It’s obviously not optimal to race like that, so I don’t know how it works. If they’ll let us change the nose, I don’t know. I would say if you have to start in the back of your heat, you might just leave it. I don’t know. I don’t know how we’re gonna go through that. We’ll figure it out as we go. It’s kind of uncharted territory for us.”

BUT IF YOU COULDN’T FIX ANYTHING, COULD YOU STILL QUALIFY? “I could still qualify. It’s definitely not perfect by any means. There is a lot of stuff bent, but I think you could still qualify, for sure.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang – WOULD YOU BE IN FAVOR OF THIS EVENT BECOMING A POINTS RACE? “I don’t think there’s a good way to answer that. I think that, to me, as I look at this, there are a lot of possibilities of things that you could do with other venues. I like it as something that could move around and go to different spots and I think when you look at the stadium aspect of things, it opens up possibilities to take this event to different countries and different parts of the world to expose our sport, or you could have a Stadium Series. I don’t know. I think there are a lot of options. I think this has opened a lot of doors that probably in the past weren’t really expected to be opened because when I came here last year I really thought this was gonna be a joke, personally. And it was probably one of the races that I had the most fun at last year. You look at the atmosphere and everything that happened, it was a great event and I think coming back this year everybody is looking forward to it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Kings Hawaiian Ford Mustang – “I think it’s a great venue. They did a heck of a job. Similar to Kevin, I had some pretty big concerns coming into it last year and I was blown out of the water by what I saw here. I thought they did an amazing job. The potential is here to do so many different things – points races or carry the idea to other venues that I think it’s certainly in one year’s time earned a lot of respect within the industry that opens up numerous doors and opportunities. How that plays forward, I know I’m pretty open-minded to it as both a driver and an owner and look forward to see it do just that – play out.”

KEVIN HARVICK CONTINUED – HOW HAS YOUR MINDSET CHANGED WITH THIS BEING YOUR FINAL YEAR? “I think when you look at events now I think it allows you to look back at the things that you’ve been a part of and be in the moment at these particular events and really every event as you go to in different parts of the country. You have your spots that you like to eat or things you like about the track or people that you know in that area, so I’m fortunate to have done this for a long time. I feel like the timing of everything is really good. I go into events and I feel like we’re prepared and we go to the event and we do what we’re supposed to do and we go home, so I’m definitely going to try to enjoy the moments that you have at the racetrack, but in the end I feel really good about the timing of stepping out of the car at the end of the year. I am looking forward to going to all these places for the last time, but I think as you go through the moments and different things you’ll start to remember and celebrate things as we go along the way.”

YOU WERE THE FIRST TO DECLARE THIS A SUCCESS. IN YEAR TWO DOES IT CHANGE? “I think all of our races need to be great events and I think when you go and you watch a Super Bowl the event is great no matter what happens in the game because it’s the Super Bowl and everything it leads up to and builds up to, so I think that’s one thing that as we go along to all the races need to be. We need more events. When we go to Chicago this year it’s gonna be a great event before we even get there and who knows how the race will go. I think as you look at the atmosphere and everything that has come with this particular event, it will probably be better than it was last year just because of the fact that everybody knows how it works and all the lead up and hype and anticipation is still there for everything as we’ve come in here this year. So, I don’t think it’ll be worse.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED – WHAT ARE YOUR TAKES ON KEVIN’S CAREER AND WHAT HE HAS MEANT TO THE SPORT? “I look at Kevin and think of the opportunity that he had 23 years ago and I can’t imagine having to go through that set of circumstances and the weight that would come with that and trying to take that forward and to be able to do that and to overcome that weight and to win races at all three levels and championships as owner/driver at all three levels, I can’t think of anyone else that’s done that – at least not in this era to the regard that he’s done, so I think that’s a tremendous accomplishment. It’s easy to lose sight of. We get so focused on what have you done last week that I think sometimes we lose sight on what people have done over their career and certainly sometimes even over just a few years. So to take over that and then have a new Cup team and an opportunity eight or nine years ago with Stewart-Haas and to build that into a winner, in itself those are incredible accomplishments, and then you think of all the different partners he’s brought into the sport. You’ve got the business side and the competitive side and it’s kind of wins across both boards, which is really hard to do. I think there are a lot of people in this sport who are successful in one piece of the environment, but to be successful in multiple pieces of the environment is that much more challenging, so to be able to have that legacy is one that I’m sure Kevin is proud of and as the industry reflects back over the course of the year, I hope it takes the time to remember as well.”

FROM AN OWNER’S VIEW, WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THIS EVENT? “It’s an interesting event. When you look at the revenues of the race teams, the majority of the revenues are coming from the sponsors, so it does OK for that. But when you look at it for the value to the industry, it’s probably, in my opinion, the second-most valuable event that we have all year to the Daytona 500. To be in Los Angeles, which is certainly a huge market, I read some graphic the other day from NASCAR that we have more fans in L.A. than any other area, which is hard to think of, but of all the regions we go to, there are more NASCAR fans than anywhere else, so I think we lose sight of that sometimes. But to be able to be in their backyard and to engage them for a key event, I think that’s really important. Of course, for our TV partners this is a tremendous event as well. They’re the lifeblood of our sport in so many different ways as probably the primary revenue generator, so from the team perspective it’s probably more neutral, but from an industry perspective this is a significant event for us.”

KEVIN HARVICK CONTINUED – WITH THIS CAR HOW ARE YOU SEEING THE IMPACT THE DRIVER CAN HAVE? “When you step into a car that the team has scienced out it’s particularly easy because of the fact that the driver can get in and they can tell them what to do. Where it becomes difficult, and Brad can speak to this as well with what he stepped into, it’s incredibly important to be a part of the conversation and a part of the progression of the race team because the things that you say and the things that you do and how you communicate those things and how you follow through on those things. The things you push for. The things you give for are extremely important to the direction of the race team and the decisions that are made in the development of setups and really whatever else you’re trying to develop, whether it’s simulator, whether it’s setups, whether it’s at the track, you’re a piece of that puzzle and a piece of that puzzle that has the biggest feel of the car and the things that they’re changing and the things that are happening and whether they work or don’t work and whether that relates to simulation or the simulator and how all of those programs proceed forward whether it’s positive or negative can be detrimental to have to take 8, 10 steps backwards to try to unwind things as you make a wrong move in the development. An experienced driver and learning how to test and develop is not a quality that a lot of our younger guys have because they’ve never had to run a test or be responsible for the decisions that are being made from the engineering staff and a lot of them are very agreeable to what people say and deep down they know that’s probably not what they felt, but they just don’t want to rock the boat. So, you have to have that franchise leader to be able to make those decisions and the staff and everybody believe, ‘OK, what I said as a driver is what they’re going to do and we’re a blend of the engineering staff and the crew chiefs and the people making the decisions on what we’re gonna do with the car.’ There’s always something to develop. They can keep simplifying everything and it’s just gonna make it harder to kick the crumbs out that are better to make the car go faster, so it’s a never ending progression and the driver is a key part of that to keep the organization on par from a competition standpoint to keep the cars progressing forward.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED – WHAT DO YOU FEEL MOST OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THIS SEASON? “To piggyback off of some of Kevin’s comments. Your responsibility as a driver, in a lot of ways, is to kind of find the last 5-10 percent of a car and optimize the performance around that. What’s really tough is when you start at 60 percent, even if you get 5 or 10 percent, you’re still at 70 percent. We started the year last year so far behind that I didn’t feel like I could even really help, so getting halfway through the year it started to get to where I think my feedback and input was valuable and we started to make the right moves and then you kind of naturally run into this trap that the things you need to fix you either don’t have the time to fix or you’re contractually limited with people or tools and contracts and so forth, and you literally just have to endure the pain until you get to an offseason. This was a really important offseason for us at RFK to really apply a lot of the super painful lessons of last year and I think we’ve done a lot of that. We’ve said, ‘All right, we know what we don’t know and now we’ve got to fix it.’ And then we got through the offseason and we want to work and really dug down deep on a number of projects – some internal, some external, some people related and some resource related. I can’t say that we’ve got all of them checked off, but we made a lot of progress this offseason, so I’m super optimistic to see that play out on the racetrack.”

YOU MISSED THE MAIN EVENT LAST YEAR, BUT DO YOU LIKE A FORMAT THAT SENDS PEOPLE HOME? IS THAT A GOOD STORYLINE FOR NASCAR? “I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. I mean, there’s only one winner at the end of the day, so whether you go home early or late, it’s kind of all the same in some regard. There’s always the pressures of partners and getting them on the racetrack and the business model and the economics of that, but, in the end, we have to do what’s best for the fans and from that perspective I think to put on an event like this it’s difficult to put 36 cars on the track and make something that is the best product possible for the fans, so I would look at it always through the lens of what is best for the fans and in this event I think a few cars have to go home to make it the best it can be.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – YOU POSTED ABOUT YOUR HAIR IN THE OFFSEASON. WHAT DID YOU DO AND WHY? “I’ve been battling with Alopecia for quite some time, where it just kind of comes and goes, along with pattern balding at the same time and Hairclub reached out and said, ‘We’ve got a great fix for you,’ and I said, ‘Great, let me hear about it.’ And they’ve got a lot of different avenues you can go, a lot of different things for people that are going through stuff. It was a lot of really cool pieces along with it, ways that we can tie into the foundation as well moving forward, so they had a fix for me and probably have a fix for about everybody, so I went with that and now I look 10 years younger. It’s like the old days. I’m back. It’s good.”

WHAT HAS THE REACTION BEEN? ARE YOU FEELING MORE CONFIDENT? “Yeah. I look better than I feel, which is good, but, like I said, it was a good opportunity. For one, I do a lot of things on TV and things I noticed and this isn’t really uncommon for people to do. It’s probably uncommon for people to talk about it, for whatever reason. People don’t really talk about this stuff or try to keep it secretive, but I’m pretty much an open book at this point and don’t mind talking about things like that.”

THE REACTION ON SOCIAL HAS BEEN MIXED. HAVE YOU READ MUCH ABOUT IT AND WHAT IS YOUR REACTION? “I’ve read through some of it. Honestly, it only matters what I think about it and, honestly, the only person it really matters to is my wife. You guys will probably understand that, but she likes it, so we’re good to go.”

ANY OF THE OTHER DRIVERS HIT YOU UP FOR YOUR CONTACT? “Yes. I got many text messages from a lot of people I know wondering what to do and who to call, so I’ve hooked up quite a few people already.”

ARE YOU READY TO GET BACK IN THE CAR AND THE OFFSEASON TO BE OVER WITH? “Absolutely. I know I’m not anywhere near the end of my career because I can’t wait to get back in a race car. That’s kind of, to me, the telltale sign of where you’re at and I was very excited about just getting back out here and racing again. Coming back to the L.A. Coliseum and seeing the track again. The excitement is the same as it was last year. Maybe you feel a little bit more comfortable this year because we know a little bit more about what we’re about to get into, but it’s definitely very exciting.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Great Lakes Ford Mustang – YOU’LL BE BACK IN THE BOOTH AT DAYTONA. WHAT KEEPS BRINGING YOU BACK? “I’m doing a handful of races for them (FOX) this year. It’s something I have been doing more and more, whether it’s the booth or the Hubs and I really just enjoy the booth. I mean, it gives you a neat perspective on the race. It’s different watching up there than watching from the bus or anywhere else, and I feel like the more current driver insight you can give to the fan watching at home is great. The people they have working up in the booth are really talented, who work up there week to week, but I think if you can get some drivers in there like they have been doing, whether it’s FOX or NBC, it’s just really good. You can kind of say, ‘Hey, I felt this today in practice today and maybe look for this and this in the race.’ Or can explain a situation maybe a little bit more just because you’re more experienced on that side. It’s something I really enjoy doing. A handful is enough for me. I don’t want to be up there every single week, but I think some of the knowledge a current driver can give is helpful for the person watching at home.”

ANYTHING WEIRDER THAN DEALING WITH THE SNOW DELAY IN VEGAS? “I was on a streak there for a while where it was raining or snowing in weird places. It snowed in Vegas. It rained in Phoenix and it was whenever I was in the booth, so I didn’t know what was going on, but the delays do stink. You make the best of it, but hopefully we’re over that hump.”

HOW IS YOUR MINDSET COMING INTO THIS SEASON? “Yeah, definitely after the year we had last year of kind of missed opportunities and not having the best of years and things like that, not winning, it feels like it makes you more motivated than ever. Really, how our season ended I would say motivates me the most, even without the wins in the regular season or things like that, I messed up two of the races in the Round of 8 and it kept us from getting to Phoenix and we had a car that could contend at Phoenix, for sure. That kind of stinks and you look back at that and you’re disappointed in yourself when you’re the one who kind of inflicts both of those mistakes. I think everyone is motivated and I feel like, as a driver, as you get older you’re mindset is trying not to dwell on those things too hard and just learn from them and move on and realize you’re gonna have good years and bad years and try to figure out a way to come off the bad years and turn them into good years and take the positives out of it and apply it. I think that’s kind of what fuels our team. I’ve got a great group. They’re very deserving to race at Phoenix and win races and I think what we’ve learned last year and hopefully be applied to this one.”

JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED – HOW IMPORTANT IS IT WE’RE HERE FOR A SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR TO BUILD ON THE MOMENTUM FROM LAST YEAR? “Last year, this was one of the biggest risks, if not the biggest risk, our sport has ever taken. When you think of the track we’re racing at, brand new. Brand new cars that had never been raced before in front of a lot of new fans that have never seen a race before, this could have been really bad. I was very nervous. This could be really bad for the sport and it was great. You think about it. The race was really good. The heat races. The last chance qualifiers. Each race kind of had its own feel and personality and the feature was good. There was good racing. There was a concert in between. It was a spectacular week, I thought, out here to pull this one off. It seems crazy. When they told us the first time it was like, ‘What? Where? How? With brand new cars? OK.’ But it worked out great and obviously that’s why we’re back again and not really many things have changed and the things that have make it even better for the fan experience. This is great. I think it’s added something to the Clash in general. It was special when it was in Daytona, to win at Daytona is special, but I think last year after going through the whole weekend and being able to win the race the excitement and the amount of eyeballs that were watching were far more than what it would have been at the Clash, to where I would almost look at winning the Clash last year as one of my biggest victories, and I don’t think there’s many non-points paying races that you’d ever say that about, but just the fact that it was an inaugural event at a place like this was just really cool.”

YOU TOOK HUDSON TO MILLBRIDGE. HOW SPECIAL WAS THAT TO GET HIM ON THE TRACK? “We had fun. His crew chief, which is men, is lost as last year’s Easter egg. I can tell you that much. I have no idea what the heck we’re doing. No idea what gear to put in the car. How much air to put in the tires. I need someone to help me unload the cart from the truck. I just had a pickup truck and I was like, ‘What do I need for a go kart?’ But we had a lot of fun. He’s decent on the speed. We’re a little bit off on the race-ability stuff like restarts and passing cars, but we just want to have some fun together. That’s kind of what it’s all about right now, so other times I take my Legend’s car and he takes his little outlaw kart and we go play around together. It’s fun.”

ARE YOU ASSUMING THIS IS THE SAME TRACK AS LAST YEAR? WHAT COULD THERE BE THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE? “We walked the track earlier. It looks the same to me. That being said, once you get out there and driver a race car on it you start to notice little differences and things like that. There’s no two corners created the same at any racetrack you go to. I doubt they can make it identical, but it doesn’t look much different. It looks pretty similar. In preparing for the race we went off of what we had last year, just because that’s kind of all you know. Things we fought last year, most likely, are gonna be the same issues we fight this year. The track being brand new. Going through practices. I assume the track is going to keep getting faster and picking up. It’s gonna be hard to tune on your car for that reason and how the racing is and those things you go back on what happened last year because that’s all you’ve got.”

RYAN BLANEY CONTINUED – WILL TEMPERATURES PLAY A PART IN QUALIFYING AND THE RACE LIKE LAST YEAR? “Last year in qualifying it was definitely pretty cold. I don’t know if it will be as cold as what it was last year, but that was pretty big trying to get heat in your stuff. I think as we get closer to qualifying here and similar to the start of the race time, I feel there are some things you can learn. It seems like it’ll be a little bit colder tomorrow from what I see, but when you have such a short track like this, heat is imperative of getting going. You have nowhere to build it, so it’s like Martinsville doubled. I mean, we always talk about trying to get heat in your stuff at Martinsville and this is even harder to do that. Qualifying, the start of the race, restarts, that’s huge to try and get heat in your stuff and you’re gonna see guys doing all they can – burnouts, locking tires up – just trying to get everything they can because it’s really important and it’s really hard to do.”

JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED – FROM A SPONSOR STANDPOINT IT WAS GOOD TO HAVE THEM PITCH THE OPPORTUNITY, RIGHT? “For everyone there’s an avenue for everything. There’s nothing wrong with trying to make yourself look good, right? Why do you go to the gym? Well, you want to be healthy and you want to look good. It’s the same thing here. I had the opportunity to do this and felt like it was the right move and it all kind of worked out great.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang

NOTE: Briscoe was involved in a practice incident with AJ Allmendinger and suffered damage to the right-front of his Mustang. He spoke about what happened after practice.

WHAT HAPPENED? “I just got drove through. I thought he was slowing down so much down the straightaway to get a gap and I felt like I was beside him pretty far down the straightaway. I got in there a little hot for sure, but I honestly thought he was just gonna give it to me since we were in practice. I went into three and he just drove me straight into the fence. It’s definitely frustrating. Our car is obviously really, really good. Even after the damage I think we were still the best car out of our group, so it’s unfortunate. We don’t have a single backup car out here between the four of us at SHR, so that will definitely set us behind quite a bit. We’ll just chalk it up in the memory bank.”

IS IT SOMETHING YOU WILL DISCUSS WITH HIM NOW OR WAIT UNTIL LATER? “I mean, if he wants to come and talk to me, he can talk to me. I mean, it’s pretty obvious what happened. I get his frustration. I definitely got in there a little hot, but I don’t know if it’s worth crashing cars in practice over, so it’s just unfortunate. We’ve got a really fast Mahindra Tractors Ford. We won’t even remember this if we win tomorrow, so that’s what we’ll try to do.”

WHAT KIND OF DAMAGE DO YOU HAVE? “It killed the whole nose, the right-front fender. I don’t know how it works if we have to change the nose. Do you have to go to the tail for your heat race? I don’t know how that works, but it killed it, for sure. It knocked the toe out and everything else, so we’ve got pretty significant damage even for how slow we’re going. It’s unfortunate for sure and definitely could have been avoidable.”

CAN YOU QUALIFY? “We were still the fastest car at the end there, so it will still be fine, I think. It’s obviously not optimal to race like that, so I don’t know how it works. If they’ll let us change the nose, I don’t know. I would say if you have to start in the back of your heat, you might just leave it. I don’t know. I don’t know how we’re gonna go through that. We’ll figure it out as we go. It’s kind of uncharted territory for us.”

BUT IF YOU COULDN’T FIX ANYTHING, COULD YOU STILL QUALIFY? “I could still qualify. It’s definitely not perfect by any means. There is a lot of stuff bent, but I think you could still qualify, for sure.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM
BUSCH LIGHT CLASH AT THE COLISEUM
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 4, 2023

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 BETMGM CAMARO ZL1; ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1; AND DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Press Conference Transcript:

Q. Daniel, where are your expectations for Trackhouse Racing after such a successful year that you and Ross both had in 2022?

Daniel Suarez: “The expectations are definitely higher than last year. Last year, our team was working very hard. We didn’t know where that would take us, but we were hoping it would take us somewhere good. I feel like now, it’s a little bit different because we know what we’re capable of doing. We know that we’re capable of winning and we know that we’re capable of racing with some of the teams that have been doing this for a long time.

We have to go out there and just continue to work because in my opinion, if we do exactly the same thing that we did last year, it won’t be enough. Everyone is always evolving, so we have to continue to work and show up every weekend with the best that we can do.”

Q. What was your personal experience with this event last year and the atmosphere that comes along with it?

Suarez: “Last year was probably one of the most amazing events I have ever been a part of. NASCAR, you guys the media, and the teams knocked it out of the park. The event was unbelievable. The fans were super amazing. The energy was unbelievable, as well. I have never felt so much excitement from the fans during driver introductions like we did last year. It was quite special.

For me, racing here in L.A. is similar to racing at home. There are a lot of Hispanics here, so it’s extra exciting for me to race here, where I can call it almost home.”

Q. For Daniel and Ross, are you guys ready to start the season? The off-season is over. Are you glad to be getting back in the race car?

Ross Chastain: “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Suarez: “I personally, honestly, I had the best off-season I’ve ever had. Normally in the past, I would be dealing with moving from one team to another. This off-season was the first time ever that I was really able to disconnect from racing for a few weeks, and that really made me recharge my batteries 110 percent. It was very, very good for me to have some time off. We came back excited and ready to go race again. Everyone in November is tired, very exhausted. So for me, it was very important to be able to take that time.”

Q. Ross, earlier this week, the official rule came out on your move last season at Martinsville Speedway. Any thoughts on that?

Chastain: “I’m glad I don’t have to do it again. That was the longest wreck of my life. It was successful, but I have no desire to ever do that again. Selfishly, I’m glad I get to be the only one that goes down in history as the only driver to successfully do it. It really mattered and it really paid off.”

Q. Kyle, this event and the format – the eliminations, smaller field, this track – could this be a points race?

Kyle Busch: “I mean, it can, sure. We do it at Bristol (Motor Speedway). You’ve got heat races there and then you have a feature and things like that. It certainly could, but I feel like what it is – the way the format is designed initially when we came here last year and the way the show was – was super enticing for the fans. I felt like it was really good for the drivers that hit it and that were up front most of the time, like myself, (Joey) Logano, (Tyler) Reddick. We did a good job early on in the weekend with practice, qualifying, everything to set yourself up and we were able to stay up front. I don’t know that it needs to be a points race, but it certainly could be.”

Q. Ross, is there any sense of pride that NASCAR made a rule on a move that you did?

Chastain: “(laughs) Yeah, there is. I am proud. Proud that I was able to take advantage of it like I did. Looking back, neither one of them were planned. Yes, I’m proud of it, but I never want to do it again though.”

Q. Daniel, following up on a comment made earlier. I know this is an important race to get some laps in before the season starts, but how important is it to have that party atmosphere for the fans and the sport?

Suarez: “It’s definitely very important. This is a venue like no other. We are racing at such a historical place and we get to put a show on. Walking into this facility, all you see is history. All of the major events that have taken place here. It’s quite special. I, personally, feel that the first time was a tremendous success and the expectations this year are higher. I think we are going to see another amazing event by NASCAR, you guys and all of the racers out there. I’m excited to start the season at a place like the L.A. Coliseum.”

Q. Kyle, was this off-season any different for you than prior off-seasons? Obviously having to change teams from JGR to RCR, but also converting KBM to a Chevrolet team, as well.

Busch: “Yeah, it was very busy. I heard Suarez when I walked in talking about how he got a chance to be off and not have to worry about much and recharge his batteries. Not quite the same here. Obviously, just changing teams; getting into the system and working with all of the RCR guys, and kind of understanding how they do it and what they do as the Chevy-way. As well as just what I’ve been accustomed to and try to implement some of the stuff that I’ve been doing the last 15 to 18 years. Just try to help the overall program. It’s been really good. We’ve had some really good discussions. There have been some things that have come out of it that I’ve learned and they’ve learned. Obviously, too, the swap over to Chevy at KBM. That’s been pretty seamless. The guys over there have been really great to work with and help us through some of that stuff. All of the hardware of the trucks and all of that is kind of the easy part. The software with the simulator, the data and all that, that’s going to be a bit more challenging and trying to get that where we want it.”

Q. Kyle, who do you think the G.O.A.T. in NASCAR?

Busch: “I’d say there’s probably a toss up between five guys at the top, in my opinion.”

Q. How do you think that gets sorted out.. era? Car?

Busch: “It’s tough. I think with the different eras, you always have the career statistics that particular driver may have over another driver because of X, Y and Z. Like Richard, many of his earlier years prior to probably ’80 was 90 percent of his success, right? But he still raced into the ‘90s. There were 12 or 13 years there where you could argue success wasn’t great. You look at (Jimmie) Johnson who obviously was great all the way through.. his last few years were maybe a little slower. (Dale) Earnhardt’s was short-lived, not quite able to fully execute his career.

I also look at guys like David Pearson, who I would put at the top of that list. He never won a championship, but yet he could win every single weekend that he was out there on the race track. He was always fast. A lot of times, he never ran a full season. I think it’s always up for debate. I think in other sports, you can kind of say in my opinion, there is one guy that’s the G.O.A.T. But ours, to me, it’s hard to pick just one in NASCAR.”

 

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.

Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick & Bubba Wallace
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LOS ANGELES (February 4, 2023) – Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin along with 23XI Racing drivers Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace were made available to media prior to practice for to the LA Clash event today:

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What has it been like to process the news that you may not be able to do a lot of outside racing moving forward, specifically dirt races?

“I feel like I need to clear the air a little bit. My comments definitely didn’t reflect my situation, my relationship with Joe Gibbs and you know, my standing with the team. Joe, himself, the entire Gibbs family has been nothing but helpful for me and inspiring for me. Joe has not mentioned any dislike for dirt track racing. The only thing was his wanting to keep me healthy whether that was racing or being out on the lake or anything. He just had my best interest in mind. I did a bad job of portraying that. I don’t know what the future holds for me dirt track racing, but my comments were not well put.”

How have your expectations for this season changed after your success of 2022?

“Last year was just such a learning curve and I keep harping on the fact that last year we didn’t have practice and qualifying in 2021 and then in 2022 it really allowed myself and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) to hone in on what I needed in the car to be successful. I hope that continues to get better and better. I think everyone will say that this weekend at the Clash, their car will be incredibly different than what they had here a year ago. I expect us to continue to gel and hopefully. Have more pace and more results. At the end of the year, our performance on track was matching our results a little bit better and hopefully we can continue that.”

TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How does it feel taking on this unique event and have you leaned on your teammates for advice?

“For sure, it’s really cool to be a part of that. I feel like most of my family grew up in Southern California so it’s cool to be out here. My cousins went to school right down the street. Pretty cool to be here and experience that. Definitely been leaning on these guys for advice and feel this will be a good weekend for our Toyotas.”

How did you feel you improved from your first start at Pocono through the rest of the season?

“Definitely a big jump there for sure and just getting more time in this car that’s so different. And the more times I was in it, I feel like I was learning and getting more used to how it handles and how it is. I think all the time was progression and just keep moving forward.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 SportClips Haircuts Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What are your expectations for 23XI for this season and what gains have you seen from the first season to today?

“As far as expectations, both making the Playoffs is a reasonable goal. Bubba (Wallace) will have to take a little bit of a jump to do that, but certainly the performance he had at the end of last year kind of showed what his potential is so I think both making the Playoffs. Then if they can make it into the Round of 12 and keep going then that’s going to be a pretty successful year for us. The difference in year one to now is just more employees, and certainly in the growing and building stage. Just a lot more team chemistry. We did have a very small group in year one and year two. We’ve continued to build on that each year, but really it’s just continuing to get better. I know it’s a cliché thing, but want to continue to see us move up in the standings and our drivers win more races. We won one in year one, two in year two so want to keep seeing that growth.”

As a team owner, what is the benefit to an event like this?

“The value is the location is the biggest thing. A lot of team sponsors are probably headquartered somewhere near here so there’s a value in activation that comes with that and it’s also valuable to introduce new fans to the sport. I think that with roughly 40 percent of the audience members that show up this weekend will be new to our sport. Just helps grow the sport in general. Pretty positive thing from that standpoint.”

How did you see Ty Gibbs grow in the NASCAR Cup Series last season while he was filling in driving the No. 45 Camry TRD?

“It really was a great advantage for him (Ty Gibbs) to get some seat time before his rookie season. Some of these tracks, he’s going to get to see for the second time and Chris Gayle (crew chief) has the notebook from our team that he’s going to be able to lean on and that feedback to make his cars better right from the get-go. So for me, from my standpoint in what I saw from him it was just steady progression of getting better and it doesn’t necessarily have to come with finishes, but with competitiveness. These guys are going to be fast. Something that’s important to me is having teammates that are very good and competitive because that’s more information that my team can use and with the giant jump that Christopher (Bell) took last year, that’s really helped all of our teams be better. Ty (Gibbs) will take time and it will take some patience there, but these guys have some speed and that’s certainly something I’m going to lean on to try to find out how I can be better myself.”

How do you feel about the changes made to the rear clip of the race car for this season and do you feel the teams had to give something up to have that change implemented?

“You’re always going to sacrifice something. Nothing comes for free. When you soften something, something else takes more load. The load is what it is so if something takes away from that, then something else gets it. I don’t think we really know exactly yet. I know through the test at COTA (Circuit of the Americas), there were some things shook loose in the back of the car that we didn’t necessarily plan for, but at the same time, this car is still really early in its stages that we’re just going to have to learn as we go. I don’t really have the answer of what it is that’s going to cause and effect because there will be some effect.”

Have you spoken with Kurt Busch about his health and if there are events he plans to participate in moving forward?

“Honestly, I haven’t asked him (Kurt Busch). He’s been traveling all over the place. He’s here this weekend helping our drivers out, but obviously we’re doing a third car in Daytona simply because we want to be prepared and want to be competitive if the day comes where he says he wants to race again.”

Could this race go from being an exhibition race to a points race?

“Sure. I think NASCAR whatever deems is important to them. I’m sure having a race in this area is very important with the talk of the two-mile oval in Fontana, you would have no more and they may be taking a year off while it rebuilds. Certainly I think they’re going to be open to options and maybe this does fall in that slot or we go somewhere else.”

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry, 23XI Racing

Where is your confidence after your performance at the end of 2022 and being in the battle for the owner’s championship?

“I would say this is the most excited I’ve been for a season to start just because of the momentum we have and all the changes we’ve made in the offseason. It’s shaping up to be hopefully our best year yet. We’ve been able to win the last two seasons, but at the wrong time. We didn’t win for the Playoffs and getting into the Playoffs, which our team is totally capable of doing now with people in the right place and mentalities now. The work efforts are there and I just need to go out and do my job and start this year off right. As much as this race is about bragging rights, the season starts today with practice and qualifying which shapes up everything. We can only hope now with the way that everything is structured with no practice or get practice, but it’s not like before where you could wholesale the car if you needed to. You hope to unload the car off the truck and it’s somewhat close so you can tinker with. It’s been fun working with Bootie and continue to grow with them and just push that leadership throughout our team.”

How big is it to have this race in Los Angeles and perform in front of a more diverse audience?

“I think it’s big and I think I said it at this time last year, but getting into a market where it’s so diverse and exposing our sport to eyeballs is important. We have to continue this trend whether it’s here in LA or we move it somewhere else, whatever it may be. I think this is a start of changing the face of NASCAR and it’s fun to be a part of. For me to just go out and compete and represent our sponsors and our team and we have MJ (Michael Jordan) watching and everybody knows who MJ is so have to do it right.”

Are you ready to get back to racing after the off-season?

“My wife and I had a great off-season, but there was no off-season because we were too busy getting married and then we went on our honeymoon. Then after we got back from our honeymoon, it was two weeks before this weekend. I felt like there was no time off and that Phoenix was just yesterday. I was busy for all the right reasons and we had a great time and now I’m a married man.”

TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota Camry, 23XI Racing

What has this transition to 23XI Racing been like for you?

“It’s been a huge one, but for everyone on the team side, everyone at Toyota has been really welcoming and inviting and really has made it feel like home very early on. Certainly as it all is shaping out, this is earlier than we thought it was going to happen, but really glad the switch happened when it did. The team’s got a lot of exciting things and we’re growing at a great pace. The vision that the ownership group has, that Denny (Hamlin) has, from the driver’s point of view and everyone they have put into place around the team. I’m really excited about this year and what this year is going to mean for me and for Bubba (Wallace) and really everybody that’s a part of the organization.”

Are you ready to get back to racing after the off-season?
“Yeah, it’s been a really good off-season. I stayed really busy and Bubba (Wallace) had a lot going on too on the personal side of things that he had to take care of. A lot of preparation so time really flew by from my perspective and we got a lot of things done. The team really got to spend time the right way working on things. Certainly, all of us as we were coming in here were beyond ready and chomping at the bit to get back on the race track. Really excited about it and where the gains were made. Felt like what we had in the simulator was really, really close so we’ll see.”

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 20 electrified options, with more in showrooms later this year.

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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Clash at the Coliseum Media Availability | Saturday, February 4, 2023

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang – WOULD YOU BE IN FAVOR OF THIS EVENT BECOMING A POINTS RACE? “I don’t think there’s a good way to answer that. I think that, to me, as I look at this, there are a lot of possibilities of things that you could do with other venues. I like it as something that could move around and go to different spots and I think when you look at the stadium aspect of things, it opens up possibilities to take this event to different countries and different parts of the world to expose our sport, or you could have a Stadium Series. I don’t know. I think there are a lot of options. I think this has opened a lot of doors that probably in the past weren’t really expected to be opened because when I came here last year I really thought this was gonna be a joke, personally. And it was probably one of the races that I had the most fun at last year. You look at the atmosphere and everything that happened, it was a great event and I think coming back this year everybody is looking forward to it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Kings Hawaiian Ford Mustang – “I think it’s a great venue. They did a heck of a job. Similar to Kevin, I had some pretty big concerns coming into it last year and I was blown out of the water by what I saw here. I thought they did an amazing job. The potential is here to do so many different things – points races or carry the idea to other venues that I think it’s certainly in one year’s time earned a lot of respect within the industry that opens up numerous doors and opportunities. How that plays forward, I know I’m pretty open-minded to it as both a driver and an owner and look forward to see it do just that – play out.”

KEVIN HARVICK CONTINUED – HOW HAS YOUR MINDSET CHANGED WITH THIS BEING YOUR FINAL YEAR? “I think when you look at events now I think it allows you to look back at the things that you’ve been a part of and be in the moment at these particular events and really every event as you go to in different parts of the country. You have your spots that you like to eat or things you like about the track or people that you know in that area, so I’m fortunate to have done this for a long time. I feel like the timing of everything is really good. I go into events and I feel like we’re prepared and we go to the event and we do what we’re supposed to do and we go home, so I’m definitely going to try to enjoy the moments that you have at the racetrack, but in the end I feel really good about the timing of stepping out of the car at the end of the year. I am looking forward to going to all these places for the last time, but I think as you go through the moments and different things you’ll start to remember and celebrate things as we go along the way.”

YOU WERE THE FIRST TO DECLARE THIS A SUCCESS. IN YEAR TWO DOES IT CHANGE? “I think all of our races need to be great events and I think when you go and you watch a Super Bowl the event is great no matter what happens in the game because it’s the Super Bowl and everything it leads up to and builds up to, so I think that’s one thing that as we go along to all the races need to be. We need more events. When we go to Chicago this year it’s gonna be a great event before we even get there and who knows how the race will go. I think as you look at the atmosphere and everything that has come with this particular event, it will probably be better than it was last year just because of the fact that everybody knows how it works and all the lead up and hype and anticipation is still there for everything as we’ve come in here this year. So, I don’t think it’ll be worse.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED – WHAT ARE YOUR TAKES ON KEVIN’S CAREER AND WHAT HE HAS MEANT TO THE SPORT? “I look at Kevin and think of the opportunity that he had 23 years ago and I can’t imagine having to go through that set of circumstances and the weight that would come with that and trying to take that forward and to be able to do that and to overcome that weight and to win races at all three levels and championships as owner/driver at all three levels, I can’t think of anyone else that’s done that – at least not in this era to the regard that he’s done, so I think that’s a tremendous accomplishment. It’s easy to lose sight of. We get so focused on what have you done last week that I think sometimes we lose sight on what people have done over their career and certainly sometimes even over just a few years. So to take over that and then have a new Cup team and an opportunity eight or nine years ago with Stewart-Haas and to build that into a winner, in itself those are incredible accomplishments, and then you think of all the different partners he’s brought into the sport. You’ve got the business side and the competitive side and it’s kind of wins across both boards, which is really hard to do. I think there are a lot of people in this sport who are successful in one piece of the environment, but to be successful in multiple pieces of the environment is that much more challenging, so to be able to have that legacy is one that I’m sure Kevin is proud of and as the industry reflects back over the course of the year, I hope it takes the time to remember as well.”

FROM AN OWNER’S VIEW, WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THIS EVENT? “It’s an interesting event. When you look at the revenues of the race teams, the majority of the revenues are coming from the sponsors, so it does OK for that. But when you look at it for the value to the industry, it’s probably, in my opinion, the second-most valuable event that we have all year to the Daytona 500. To be in Los Angeles, which is certainly a huge market, I read some graphic the other day from NASCAR that we have more fans in L.A. than any other area, which is hard to think of, but of all the regions we go to, there are more NASCAR fans than anywhere else, so I think we lose sight of that sometimes. But to be able to be in their backyard and to engage them for a key event, I think that’s really important. Of course, for our TV partners this is a tremendous event as well. They’re the lifeblood of our sport in so many different ways as probably the primary revenue generator, so from the team perspective it’s probably more neutral, but from an industry perspective this is a significant event for us.”

KEVIN HARVICK CONTINUED – WITH THIS CAR HOW ARE YOU SEEING THE IMPACT THE DRIVER CAN HAVE? “When you step into a car that the team has scienced out it’s particularly easy because of the fact that the driver can get in and they can tell them what to do. Where it becomes difficult, and Brad can speak to this as well with what he stepped into, it’s incredibly important to be a part of the conversation and a part of the progression of the race team because the things that you say and the things that you do and how you communicate those things and how you follow through on those things. The things you push for. The things you give for are extremely important to the direction of the race team and the decisions that are made in the development of setups and really whatever else you’re trying to develop, whether it’s simulator, whether it’s setups, whether it’s at the track, you’re a piece of that puzzle and a piece of that puzzle that has the biggest feel of the car and the things that they’re changing and the things that are happening and whether they work or don’t work and whether that relates to simulation or the simulator and how all of those programs proceed forward whether it’s positive or negative can be detrimental to have to take 8, 10 steps backwards to try to unwind things as you make a wrong move in the development. An experienced driver and learning how to test and develop is not a quality that a lot of our younger guys have because they’ve never had to run a test or be responsible for the decisions that are being made from the engineering staff and a lot of them are very agreeable to what people say and deep down they know that’s probably not what they felt, but they just don’t want to rock the boat. So, you have to have that franchise leader to be able to make those decisions and the staff and everybody believe, ‘OK, what I said as a driver is what they’re going to do and we’re a blend of the engineering staff and the crew chiefs and the people making the decisions on what we’re gonna do with the car.’ There’s always something to develop. They can keep simplifying everything and it’s just gonna make it harder to kick the crumbs out that are better to make the car go faster, so it’s a never ending progression and the driver is a key part of that to keep the organization on par from a competition standpoint to keep the cars progressing forward.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED – WHAT DO YOU FEEL MOST OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THIS SEASON? “To piggyback off of some of Kevin’s comments. Your responsibility as a driver, in a lot of ways, is to kind of find the last 5-10 percent of a car and optimize the performance around that. What’s really tough is when you start at 60 percent, even if you get 5 or 10 percent, you’re still at 70 percent. We started the year last year so far behind that I didn’t feel like I could even really help, so getting halfway through the year it started to get to where I think my feedback and input was valuable and we started to make the right moves and then you kind of naturally run into this trap that the things you need to fix you either don’t have the time to fix or you’re contractually limited with people or tools and contracts and so forth, and you literally just have to endure the pain until you get to an offseason. This was a really important offseason for us at RFK to really apply a lot of the super painful lessons of last year and I think we’ve done a lot of that. We’ve said, ‘All right, we know what we don’t know and now we’ve got to fix it.’ And then we got through the offseason and we want to work and really dug down deep on a number of projects – some internal, some external, some people related and some resource related. I can’t say that we’ve got all of them checked off, but we made a lot of progress this offseason, so I’m super optimistic to see that play out on the racetrack.”

YOU MISSED THE MAIN EVENT LAST YEAR, BUT DO YOU LIKE A FORMAT THAT SENDS PEOPLE HOME? IS THAT A GOOD STORYLINE FOR NASCAR? “I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. I mean, there’s only one winner at the end of the day, so whether you go home early or late, it’s kind of all the same in some regard. There’s always the pressures of partners and getting them on the racetrack and the business model and the economics of that, but, in the end, we have to do what’s best for the fans and from that perspective I think to put on an event like this it’s difficult to put 36 cars on the track and make something that is the best product possible for the fans, so I would look at it always through the lens of what is best for the fans and in this event I think a few cars have to go home to make it the best it can be.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – YOU POSTED ABOUT YOUR HAIR IN THE OFFSEASON. WHAT DID YOU DO AND WHY? “I’ve been battling with Alopecia for quite some time, where it just kind of comes and goes, along with pattern balding at the same time and Hairclub reached out and said, ‘We’ve got a great fix for you,’ and I said, ‘Great, let me hear about it.’ And they’ve got a lot of different avenues you can go, a lot of different things for people that are going through stuff. It was a lot of really cool pieces along with it, ways that we can tie into the foundation as well moving forward, so they had a fix for me and probably have a fix for about everybody, so I went with that and now I look 10 years younger. It’s like the old days. I’m back. It’s good.”

WHAT HAS THE REACTION BEEN? ARE YOU FEELING MORE CONFIDENT? “Yeah. I look better than I feel, which is good, but, like I said, it was a good opportunity. For one, I do a lot of things on TV and things I noticed and this isn’t really uncommon for people to do. It’s probably uncommon for people to talk about it, for whatever reason. People don’t really talk about this stuff or try to keep it secretive, but I’m pretty much an open book at this point and don’t mind talking about things like that.”

THE REACTION ON SOCIAL HAS BEEN MIXED. HAVE YOU READ MUCH ABOUT IT AND WHAT IS YOUR REACTION? “I’ve read through some of it. Honestly, it only matters what I think about it and, honestly, the only person it really matters to is my wife. You guys will probably understand that, but she likes it, so we’re good to go.”

ANY OF THE OTHER DRIVERS HIT YOU UP FOR YOUR CONTACT? “Yes. I got many text messages from a lot of people I know wondering what to do and who to call, so I’ve hooked up quite a few people already.”

ARE YOU READY TO GET BACK IN THE CAR AND THE OFFSEASON TO BE OVER WITH? “Absolutely. I know I’m not anywhere near the end of my career because I can’t wait to get back in a race car. That’s kind of, to me, the telltale sign of where you’re at and I was very excited about just getting back out here and racing again. Coming back to the L.A. Coliseum and seeing the track again. The excitement is the same as it was last year. Maybe you feel a little bit more comfortable this year because we know a little bit more about what we’re about to get into, but it’s definitely very exciting.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Great Lakes Ford Mustang – YOU’LL BE BACK IN THE BOOTH AT DAYTONA. WHAT KEEPS BRINGING YOU BACK? “I’m doing a handful of races for them (FOX) this year. It’s something I have been doing more and more, whether it’s the booth or the Hubs and I really just enjoy the booth. I mean, it gives you a neat perspective on the race. It’s different watching up there than watching from the bus or anywhere else, and I feel like the more current driver insight you can give to the fan watching at home is great. The people they have working up in the booth are really talented, who work up there week to week, but I think if you can get some drivers in there like they have been doing, whether it’s FOX or NBC, it’s just really good. You can kind of say, ‘Hey, I felt this today in practice today and maybe look for this and this in the race.’ Or can explain a situation maybe a little bit more just because you’re more experienced on that side. It’s something I really enjoy doing. A handful is enough for me. I don’t want to be up there every single week, but I think some of the knowledge a current driver can give is helpful for the person watching at home.”

ANYTHING WEIRDER THAN DEALING WITH THE SNOW DELAY IN VEGAS? “I was on a streak there for a while where it was raining or snowing in weird places. It snowed in Vegas. It rained in Phoenix and it was whenever I was in the booth, so I didn’t know what was going on, but the delays do stink. You make the best of it, but hopefully we’re over that hump.”

HOW IS YOUR MINDSET COMING INTO THIS SEASON? “Yeah, definitely after the year we had last year of kind of missed opportunities and not having the best of years and things like that, not winning, it feels like it makes you more motivated than ever. Really, how our season ended I would say motivates me the most, even without the wins in the regular season or things like that, I messed up two of the races in the Round of 8 and it kept us from getting to Phoenix and we had a car that could contend at Phoenix, for sure. That kind of stinks and you look back at that and you’re disappointed in yourself when you’re the one who kind of inflicts both of those mistakes. I think everyone is motivated and I feel like, as a driver, as you get older you’re mindset is trying not to dwell on those things too hard and just learn from them and move on and realize you’re gonna have good years and bad years and try to figure out a way to come off the bad years and turn them into good years and take the positives out of it and apply it. I think that’s kind of what fuels our team. I’ve got a great group. They’re very deserving to race at Phoenix and win races and I think what we’ve learned last year and hopefully be applied to this one.”

JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED – HOW IMPORTANT IS IT WE’RE HERE FOR A SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR TO BUILD ON THE MOMENTUM FROM LAST YEAR? “Last year, this was one of the biggest risks, if not the biggest risk, our sport has ever taken. When you think of the track we’re racing at, brand new. Brand new cars that had never been raced before in front of a lot of new fans that have never seen a race before, this could have been really bad. I was very nervous. This could be really bad for the sport and it was great. You think about it. The race was really good. The heat races. The last chance qualifiers. Each race kind of had its own feel and personality and the feature was good. There was good racing. There was a concert in between. It was a spectacular week, I thought, out here to pull this one off. It seems crazy. When they told us the first time it was like, ‘What? Where? How? With brand new cars? OK.’ But it worked out great and obviously that’s why we’re back again and not really many things have changed and the things that have make it even better for the fan experience. This is great. I think it’s added something to the Clash in general. It was special when it was in Daytona, to win at Daytona is special, but I think last year after going through the whole weekend and being able to win the race the excitement and the amount of eyeballs that were watching were far more than what it would have been at the Clash, to where I would almost look at winning the Clash last year as one of my biggest victories, and I don’t think there’s many non-points paying races that you’d ever say that about, but just the fact that it was an inaugural event at a place like this was just really cool.”

YOU TOOK HUDSON TO MILLBRIDGE. HOW SPECIAL WAS THAT TO GET HIM ON THE TRACK? “We had fun. His crew chief, which is men, is lost as last year’s Easter egg. I can tell you that much. I have no idea what the heck we’re doing. No idea what gear to put in the car. How much air to put in the tires. I need someone to help me unload the cart from the truck. I just had a pickup truck and I was like, ‘What do I need for a go kart?’ But we had a lot of fun. He’s decent on the speed. We’re a little bit off on the race-ability stuff like restarts and passing cars, but we just want to have some fun together. That’s kind of what it’s all about right now, so other times I take my Legend’s car and he takes his little outlaw kart and we go play around together. It’s fun.”

ARE YOU ASSUMING THIS IS THE SAME TRACK AS LAST YEAR? WHAT COULD THERE BE THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE? “We walked the track earlier. It looks the same to me. That being said, once you get out there and driver a race car on it you start to notice little differences and things like that. There’s no two corners created the same at any racetrack you go to. I doubt they can make it identical, but it doesn’t look much different. It looks pretty similar. In preparing for the race we went off of what we had last year, just because that’s kind of all you know. Things we fought last year, most likely, are gonna be the same issues we fight this year. The track being brand new. Going through practices. I assume the track is going to keep getting faster and picking up. It’s gonna be hard to tune on your car for that reason and how the racing is and those things you go back on what happened last year because that’s all you’ve got.”

RYAN BLANEY CONTINUED – WILL TEMPERATURES PLAY A PART IN QUALIFYING AND THE RACE LIKE LAST YEAR? “Last year in qualifying it was definitely pretty cold. I don’t know if it will be as cold as what it was last year, but that was pretty big trying to get heat in your stuff. I think as we get closer to qualifying here and similar to the start of the race time, I feel there are some things you can learn. It seems like it’ll be a little bit colder tomorrow from what I see, but when you have such a short track like this, heat is imperative of getting going. You have nowhere to build it, so it’s like Martinsville doubled. I mean, we always talk about trying to get heat in your stuff at Martinsville and this is even harder to do that. Qualifying, the start of the race, restarts, that’s huge to try and get heat in your stuff and you’re gonna see guys doing all they can – burnouts, locking tires up – just trying to get everything they can because it’s really important and it’s really hard to do.”

JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED – FROM A SPONSOR STANDPOINT IT WAS GOOD TO HAVE THEM PITCH THE OPPORTUNITY, RIGHT? “For everyone there’s an avenue for everything. There’s nothing wrong with trying to make yourself look good, right? Why do you go to the gym? Well, you want to be healthy and you want to look good. It’s the same thing here. I had the opportunity to do this and felt like it was the right move and it all kind of worked out great.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL COLISEUM
BUSCH LIGHT CLASH AT THE COLISEUM
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 4, 2023

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1, and CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Press Conference Transcript:

Q: With the backdrop here, looking as strong as it did last year and coming back a second year, how important is it for this event to be back a second consecutive, and with everything you’ve learned over the past year with this car?

Kyle Larson: “I think this is a great location for a race. It’s good to introduce our sport to [fans], and hopefully get some fans out of it. I thought last year’s event was amazing. I thought NASCAR and everybody did a great job pulling it off. The show aspect of it, too, was really good. Glad to have it back again for a second year. There’s a lot of things I’m sure NASCAR could learn from and apply to this year. I’m excited to get on track in a little bit and see a good show.”

Q: With stage breaks being eliminated, races will stay green at road courses, what are your reactions for later in the year?

Chase Elliott: “I would say I don’t have a problem with that. I feel like the strategy of the race is already pretty much done based on when the stage breaks were. We’ll have to kind of see. I haven’t really looked at what it’s kind of going to look like when you have to stop and things. I know that the stages really dictate a lot of the strategy. I don’t think it will be bad.”

Q: How important is it going into this season to have that strong start, build momentum, and start strong?

Larson: “I think it’s always important to start the year off strong. There’s been years where I’ve struggled the first year, and kind of like you’re digging yourself out of a hole from the very beginning. Although it’s a long season, it’s definitely important to get off to a good start and shape the scope of your season and how you prepare for each race, and how you call each race. The goal is to win every race, but early in the year, you want to finish to get off on the right foot.”

Q: At the Cup level, the concept of sending people home and having guys not make the show for a race like this is still kind of new. What do you guys think of that? Could that be something that sticks around in other races at some point? Not every week, but, you know, for, for certain occasions.”

Elliott: “I think it’s a good thing. I don’t see where it hurts anything at all. I’m fine with that, and I feel like, like Kyle {Larson] said, I thought the event last year was good and he ended up figuring it out itself out at the end, and I feel like most of the time it’s going to do that.”

Larson: “I come from the land of B-Mains and stuff where people will miss the show. It makes those consolation races really intense, and as we saw last year, I think it adds a storyline. Even though it’s not nearly as intense as at Daytona, you see it every year in the Duels, and that’s really the coolest part about the Duels.. seeing those guys race and follow their pit strategy and pits stops. And if they keep up with the draft, it makes the Daytona 500 for those teams, and any team really, mean more and much more special to make it. You had to earn your way in. When you’re getting rid of cars, you see your fields big. That shows the sport is healthy. I think it’s good. And if we introduce those car counts where we send someone home every week, I think it’s something exciting.”

Q: You won at Auto Club last year. What are your thoughts about the track being converted and also off the schedule for a year, maybe two years, before it returns after being converted to a short track?

Larson: “It’s definitely a long process for them to reconfigure not only the track but a lot of the facilities. It’s pretty intense. I know with California and all the codes that you have to go through, it’s probably hard to have everything stay on schedule. I don’t know exactly the extent of what they’re doing with the track and how big it’s going be, the shape and banking and all that. I love the two-mile track. But I think the more shift tracks we can have, the better off our sports going to be. It’s neat that they’re investing that money to try and grow the growth racing in California, but also help NASCAR.”

Q: For so many years, you’ve been around long enough. The debate is: how much is the driver? How much is the car for? You guys often say, probably like 80-90% of the car with this new car. How much more is does the driver have control of things? How much more is the driver playing a factor. Are you sensing or getting a feel of having more of input than when maybe when you first came in or early years with, with that crop?

Elliott: “That’s a really tough debate. I’m not sure you’ve ever heard me say those exact numbers, but, nonetheless, I think everyone has to have something good to drive no matter how good or bad of a race car driver you are. You can be in a really good car and not necessarily be putting yourself in positions to have as much success as you need to be doing too. I think you still have to have a horse to ride my opinion.”

Q: With both of you being really successful in road courses in the past, what were your thoughts on elimination of stage breaks and how much of the difference is it going to make when you go there?

Larson: “I think it’s good. I always thought it was odd in a road course that you would pit early before a stage. That’s just not like racing to me. Being able to race from start to finish is good. I honestly haven’t even followed along with the rules updates. I don’t know the exact rules or whatnot, but I think that’s been something teams and drivers have been trying to get NASCAR to do the last few years. It’s nice that they listen, and I think it’s going to be better overall for the race.”

Q: Who is the G.O.A.T. [greatest of all time] in NASCAR?

Larson: “I think my goat would be Jimmie [Johnson]. I guess the way I look at it, and I’m probably biased because I got to compete with him, but just the quality of competition and car. His era was, in my opinion, much more difficult. That’s why he would be. Anyone goes five in a row, that’s crazy.”

Elliott: “I would agree. And I was going to mention the five in a row. I know the seven he’s talked about a lot, but that five in a row thing doesn’t get talked about enough, in my opinion. I know the format was different, but it makes it a little more possible to do. But still, that’s a tall order. That’s pretty impressive.”

 

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