Toyota Racing – Ben Rhodes
NASCAR Truck Series Quotes

PHOENIX, Ariz. (November 3, 2022) – ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes was made available to media at Championship 4 Media Day on Thursday in Phoenix:

BEN RHODES, No. 99 Kubota Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing

How are you able to reset for this championship run after having a rocky season to get to this point?

“I believe this is a quote from Senna and I’m going to paraphrase a little bit, but the road to greatness is always rough. So it doesn’t bother me at all and I’m happy to be back in the Championship 4 and the fact that ThorSport Racing is in there with two trucks. Pretty good with 50% chance of winning to bring it back to the team. I want the 100% chance of Ben Rhodes. I’m not going to lose sleep though if my teammate wins it and I feel like just getting it back to ThorSport is going to be good. Just happy to be here honestly.”

What are your chances to win the championship tomorrow night?

“I think pretty good honestly. I’ve told people that I think Ty (Majeski) is the favorite, but I don’t count myself out at all. Our team just performs when it needs to and we’ve done that. I mean, getting here is not a small feat. There’s a lot of really good trucks that are not here today and I think that speaks to the competition of the Truck Series nowadays. It’s pretty tough, really tough actually. I would say just as tough as last year, maybe tougher. I think that getting here is a challenge and it’s almost a victory in and of itself. But now that you’re in it, it would be a total defeat not to win the championship. Getting here is one thing, but then not capitalizing on the opportunity would just suck. We’re going to do everything we can tomorrow. I’m not going to say, checkers or wreckers, but we’re going to go out and make sure we get the victory. If we don’t, it doesn’t mean the year has been a failure, but it would feel that way to me personally in some ways.”

Are you surprised as the defending champion that you’re the longshot for this title?

“I don’t care. Honestly, I think we were the longshot last year too. I guess that’s just what we do. Everybody has me being the longshot. I don’t know, I guess some of that might come from stats and I’m sure it does. I don’t care. I think we’re going to rise to the occasion just like we did last year and just like we did to get ourselves in this position. I was telling somebody earlier today that it feels like every season we’re in the Playoffs, I can think of only one season when we were able to coast through to the next round. But for the most part, it’s just fighting tooth and nail just to get ourselves into that spot to transfer. It’s like, here’s the tiebreaker, here’s one point, here’s four points and it’s not easy to do that. It’s very easy to make mistakes in high pressure situations like that so I think the fact that we’ve already had to be forged in fire has given us a little bit of an advantage so kind of like we’ve been here, done that. I’m not going to say that one year is the same as the next because it’s definitely not. You’ve got Ty (Majeski) who’s won two of the last three races and Chandler (Smith) won this race last year. I don’t know that you have to win the race, but you’re going to have to run up front. Maybe these other guys will make mistakes, but I’m counting on them not to.”

After winning the championship last year, does it make you that much hungrier to win it again this year?

“So I believe there is a cup called the Pythagoras cup, but it’s a cup from ancient times that when you would fill it up and the cup gets full, it would drain itself back out. That’s kind of what the championship felt like last year. We won it, I’ve never experienced such emotion and raw happiness in racing before. It felt like it was so long to get to this point and now I feel like I can’t live without out. And now my cup is empty again. I’ve got to fill it and it’s kind of like an addiction and I’ve got to make it happen. Once you get it, again you can’t live without it. Six years in the making to get to that championship and to go back to back would be really special. I can’t believe that my teammate, Matt Crafton, was the only one to do that. It would be nice to join him. He’s probably getting lonely.”

What is the biggest hurdle you will have to overcome to win this championship?

“Here’s the thing, I know all these guys are going to have crazy, raw speed off the hauler. We have to do that too. That’s like the first step. If we can hit that first step and not stumble, just raw speed right off the truck then we’re on our way. I really believe that, but if you don’t have the raw speed off the hauler, trying to change a package in 50 minutes worth of practice and pulling from your teammates makes it very interesting day for sure. We done that before and you can have success doing that, but it makes your odds very slim. So speed off the hauler, it sounds simple, but it’s a game changer and all these guys are going to have it so we have to have it too.”

How much do you know about the setup in Ty Majeski’s truck?

“A fair amount. At ThorSport Racing, we share everything and we do simulator together. I will say that they have worked on their own package and they’re very specialized in their own package this year. Our other teammates are not running what they have. I’ll say that each crew chief and each team really focus on what their strengths are. They’ve got a really good package and they worked on sim for a long time and they’re the best team at working on the sim and they spend the most time on it so naturally that suits them. We’re kind of on our own program, but if we don’t have the speed that we want off the hauler then we can abort mission and change to something our teammates are running. There’s a big effort there from ThorSport to make sure that we’re all running something different so we find the one thing that’s best and we’ll make that happen.”

What is your team’s strong suit?

“My strong point, I think our strong point is saving tires actually. Last year that was what came in clutch for us at the end of that race. That long green flag run, everybody else wore it out and we were able to catch back up to them and pass them. If a yellow flag would have come out, I don’t know if we had the short run speed to pull it off. We are trying to keep that strong point intact of long run speed, but fire off better. There’s some stuff we’re doing underneath the truck, suspension-wise, to try to make that happen. Not changing the package up completely, we’re similar to last year, but I think we found some improvements over the season to make that happen.”

Is having a championship already an advantage to you over the other three drivers?

“Not necessarily on the track an advantage, on the track it’s just raw speed from the race truck itself. No advantage there. Maybe there’s a mental advantage with the fact that we’ve been here, done that. Will we make mistakes? I sure hope not. We strive every race not to do that. We know the pressure, we’re performed in the pressure before so I hope the pressure catches the other guys off guard. We can just settle in and do what we do.”

How is your approach different this season?

“I think our approach this year is actually we’re bringing a very similar package from last year, but we made a lot of changes to it and we think or we know should be better. Then from that point forward, we go into practice, and we feel it out and if it’s not right, we can abort mission and rely on our teammates. We have that privilege; we have four awesome guys that are out there trying different things and we can rely on them to elevate our program if it’s not right. For the most part, the program worked out well last year so we’re going to rely on the same.”

Where would you assess where your team is currently from a performance perspective?

“Upward trajectory. It was here and then it went to here and now it’s going back up. Talladega we got a ton of points, we did everything we needed to do. Brand new truck for that track. Homestead, we went back to a similar setup that we had for Vegas, which I told my crew chief that it was one of the best trucks I’d had at Vegas before my teammate Ty was jealous and wrecked me – kidding, just joking. Duke (Thorson, team owner) told me the other day that my teammate didn’t appreciate my speed. We make fun of everything and we joke around a lot on our program. But that was a really good race for us and we pulled a lot from that. We added that back to the program for Homestead and it worked out well for us. Led a bunch of laps at the start of the race and wasn’t ideal, wasn’t the best, but we’re on an upward trajectory and that’s what matters. Phoenix went really well for us last year and we had good speed. The resin that they’re not putting down could be an advantage for us, but I don’t know until practice starts. We’ll have to see.”

Who is your biggest competition for the championship?

“The 18 (Chandler Smith) is going to be tough as long as they don’t overcomplicate things and they pull from their playbook last year, they should be fairly consistent to what they were last year and they were really, really fast. The 66 (Ty Majeski) is going to be really fast because this track is kind of in their wheelhouse. You can look at certain tracks that certain teams can hit their setups on right, this is a track that the 66 is in their wheelhouse, the 18 is in their wheelhouse. I’m not sure about the 38 (Zane Smith), I know we’re in a good spot and we’ll pulling from last year and made a lot of good adjustments. I think those two are the trucks I’m going to be watching for, but Zane Smith is an excellent driver and has experience here in this situation and I don’t think he’ll falter. He’ll rise to the situation.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 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 43 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 the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.

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.

Toyota Racing – Chandler Smith
NASCAR Truck Series Quotes

PHOENIX, Ariz. (November 3, 2022) – Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Chandler Smith was made available to media at Championship 4 Media Day on Thursday in Phoenix:

CHANDLER SMITH, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Kyle Busch Motorsports

Are you expecting help from your teammates this weekend?

“I mean it helps. It’s not easy racing your teammates for a championship. It’s never easy. I’ve never been in this position, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out – if you have to go wreck your best friend for a championship, is that going to be an easy conversation after? It definitely helps myself, but as an organization, we would want the 4 truck to make it, but he didn’t, and I feel for those guys. We were in that same role last year, but I know I could rely on him if I needed to.”

What will you take away most from your time at Kyle Busch Motorsports?

“Just the people here. I’ve made so many good memories with these people and learned so much. I’ve made so many good lifetime long friends in this organization. They have taught me so much. They are the ones that introduced me to the NASCAR world and helped me learn the ropes. I’ll forever be grateful for all of the opportunities that were available for me.”

What would it mean for you to win this final race for Kyle Busch Motorsports?

“It would be amazing. Trusting the process – a whole two years from being at the bottom and kind of stairsteps to the top a little bit and that was just by faith. If that is what the case is tomorrow, what a testimony. That’s what having faith in the Lord – that’s the outcome. That alone would mean more to me than winning the championship – being a testimony and an example.”

Any extra pressure to deliver a championship this weekend?

“No.”

What are your expectations for this weekend?

“Whatever the books are saying I guess are my chances. I don’t know. We are just going and treating it like every other race. It’s just another weekend where we have to go and perform.”

What are some of your favorite moments as a Kyle Busch Motorsports driver?

“All of the memories and the great people that I have met that have come and gone. I’ve learned so much from all of these great people at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports). They’ve taught me a lot about life lessons, racing lessons, whatever it may be. I think that is the biggest thing that will stick out to me.”

What do you think is the biggest hurdle for you to overcome this weekend?

“It’s just another race. I don’t see the pressure being added because I’m just treating this like any other weekend and there is a bigger prize to be had in victory lane if we were to get it.”

How do you decompress away from the Playoffs?

“At the end of the day, I was hired to go race cars for a living for them and that is what I do week-in and week-out.”

How do you balance being a new father with everything that you have going on right now?

“I focus more on being a good father and husband than I do everything else, and then everything else falls in line after that.”

How have you had to adjust to fatherhood?

“There is a little more work around the house. It’s just another individual that you have to tend to and that’s not bad at all. I’m just being honest with you – there is another person in the house now, that rely on you and all of that. There’s really not much adjusting. There is a lot that comes with – but it’s not like it was a really big swing and I wouldn’t recommend it.”

What would you say is a defining moment for you this season?
“I’ve got three wins. We probably should have five or six. Should’ve been our count, but circumstances did line up or whatever it may have been, but I feel just like the raw speed week-in and week-out. We have the consistency. I don’t know if I would say we are a championship caliber team – I don’t know what defines a championship caliber team. It is being mistake-less. We are human, we are going to make mistakes. I would just say that we have been consistent, and it has paid us dividends.”

Are you excited that the championship race is at Phoenix knowing your previous success here?

“Yes and no. As crazy as this sounds, but it is reality, these trucks – I can’t control what goes on other than I drive race cars. I drive them. I can’t control if bolt gets less loose leaving the race shop and we go into turn one at Phoenix and we stuff it in the fence. I can’t control that and that can dictate the rest of the weekend. I know we should have a fast truck, but I wouldn’t say it necessarily – if we get to Phoenix, we are going to win. Definitely not. There are way too many variables in making everything go full circle than just that.”

What are the emotions having your last race with Toyota?

“Bittersweet, because they have done so much for me. I’ve been a TRD driver for six plus years now. They have gotten me to where I am and have supported me in everything – my highs and lows, for sure. They have been really supportive, but I got the opportunity of a lifetime that I couldn’t turn down. They said we will support you in that and that gives me even more respect for them. At the end of the day, they are always going to be family regardless of if they are Toyota, Chevy and Ford. They are always going to be family to me all of those individuals.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 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 43 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 the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.

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.