Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Autotrader 500 Media Availability | Saturday, September 24, 2022

Chris Buescher, a Texas native and winner last weekend at Bristol, met with media members at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday ahead of the opening day of track activity for the series.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang — WHAT HAS YOUR WEEK BEEN LIKE? “It has been busy, for all the right reasons. It was good. We got to do a big RFK celebration on Monday and it has been neat. I have been around a lot of the employees at Roush for a really long time now, probably a little over 10 years some of them have been at RFK for a really long time and remember when I was working in the shop there. It was pretty cool to see everybody pumped up and get that excitement going and get some of that momentum in our favor. I think we have been heading in the right direction but the win is big. That was really cool. I have had some sponsors over at the shop and they are pumped up right now as well. On Thursday I was right back to mowing the grass just like every other week. So it has it’s highs and its normals.”

WE SAW BRAD (KESELOWSKI) POST ABOUT HOW THE FIRST THING HE DID WHEN HE SIGNED HIS CONTRACT WAS MAKE SURE YOU HAD A RIDE. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? “That was big when I heard about it way back when. It was neat because that was early on in that year to really be working on contract stuff. To get that tidied up and set really before I had heard the news about what all was going down even, I know some people said it was not a well-kept secret but it was well kept to me. I didn’t have a whole lot of clue of what was going on. It was really neat to have that knowledge and know that he had that confidence that we would be able to get to victory lane together. And since he has come over he has been trying to get us turned and headed in the right direction and I think there has been some good momentum over a few years now but we have been looking for those last few steps. I think we thought we would fire off this season a little bit better but there was no quit in anybody and it just took us a little bit to get traction under our feet. We got going good over the summer and feel like we are in a good place where there are more of these, potentially, this year for us between both cars. I think that was awesome to have two cars that led so many laps at Bristol. That is my favorite race track and it is pretty high up on Brad’s list as well. It helps going to those places you like. It makes it easier to run better. It was a good feeling and feels like we are headed in the right direction and it feels like it was warranted or backed up at this point now.”

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO FINALLY GET THAT BOX CHECKED AND GET THAT BEHIND YOU GUYS? “Yeah, that first one is the tough one, right? It has been a really long time since that Pocono win. I know you all threw some numbers at me that hurt my feelings last week but it has been a long time coming and it has been really cool because everybody at RFK has had some struggles through the years and I have been around through the heyday and through the very absolute highs and I have seen the lows along the way as well. To be turning that corner to get back to where we are competing for wins again and be able to pull off some wins is really special to myself and to everybody back at the company. Like I said, I have so many friends within the organization that I have known for almost my entire time I have been in North Carolina and that is something that means just a little bit more when you get to see those guys and girls that have really put in so much effort through that amount of time to be able to see some progress. Brad is a champion of our sport and has won I don’t even know how many races. I think it is really special to get it started but we are not done. This isn’t our peak. We have a lot of potential going forward and are going to stay after it. We might as well come back to my home track and keep it going right here, right?”

IS THIS THE FIRST YEAR OF YOUR CONTRACT EXTENSION OR IS THAT NEXT YEAR? “I actually don’t even know how to answer that. I honestly don’t know which is kind of embarrassing, what the extension years look like. I signed back at RFK when Brad came over on the ownership side and am signed up to go again. I am looking forward to finishing out this year strong but also being locked in for next year and ready to hit the ground running.”

OK, SO DID YOU DO THAT LAST YEAR OR THIS YEAR? “Both.”

I GUESS MY QUESTION IS, WHY NOT LOOK AROUND? RFK WASN’T RUNNING GREAT, SO IF BRAD THINKS YOU ARE ONE OF THE TOP GUYS OUT THERE, WHY NOT LOOK AROUND? “I think there are two sides to it, but the way I see it I have so much appreciation for Roush, for Jack, for Robbie Reiser and for everybody at RFK and for Brad as well. That has really helped me fire off my professional career. I came from racing legends cars to sign up with Roush to go into a developmental program and run ARCA races up in the Chicago area. I feel a lot of loyalty to RFK and I have friends here that I have known over 10 years that have watched the absolute best days in racing and seen us go through the dip and be on the return side of that as well. It gives me a little extra pride to know we are working on bringing that upswing back and seeing that those rough years and the effort not declining is yielding results. To get that first win at RFK for myself, for the organization this year and to do it in the first year with the K added on to the end, I think it just gives me a little bit more excitement and pride that we are able to get it done here. I think we will get it done here. Like I said, this isn’t our peak. We are actively getting better and I think the potential is here to do better than any of the teams out there. The confidence level is really good and has been all summer long with a few stumbles along the way, but for the most part some awesome races at all kinds of different race tracks and maybe 1.5 mile tracks are not our best at the moment but even those have been competitive. We look at this one as another opportunity. The potential is here. The people are here. The resources are here. I think we can win races and we can compete for championships here.”

WHAT DOES IT SAY THAT THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY DIFFERENT WINNERS AND THAT THE FIRST THREE RACES OF THE PLAYOFFS HAVE BEEN WON BY NON-PLAYOFF DRIVERS? “It is a pretty wild first round of playoffs and you are a huge fan if you are not in the playoffs right now of how it went. I know there are a lot of playoff drivers that didn’t see that going that way. I think it shows that there was a really high potential for race winners to not make the playoffs this year and it didn’t quite happen in the timeline before the cut. Could you imagine if we got down to it and we had two drivers that had won races that were kicked out of competing for the championship? They would be thinking they had a breakout year and don’t even get to try. We were close to that. It wouldn’t have taken but two or three different races along the way and just a small different moment along the way. A little luck here and there. We had moments where I thought we definitely could have added our name into that playoff potential box. It is cool to see that many different winners across so many different teams. It is really neat to see it across a bunch of two-car teams. It isn’t just the four-car operations and I think that really goes to show the potential with this car is there for everybody and it has been a big deal for everybody in the garage. It has been a large learning curve and without the majority of the testing that we typically would have and with basically zero practice .. I know it is still here but it is hard to get this right off the truck and we had teams that hit it early on the west coast swing and racked up wins early. We had teams that came on during the summer and we have two or three of us that hit it after that cut. So it is cool to see. There was the potential for a heck of a storyline going into the playoffs with people missing. We just needed a few more races to get that accomplished.”

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON WHY YOUR 17 CAR HAS BEEN BETTER ALL SEASON THAN THE 6 CAR? “I would like to think that I have had some help along the way. I definitely have gotten things out of Brad that have contributed to our success at tracks like Phoenix or Richmond that are not historically my best. He has been helping;ing me a lot this year. I don’t know how much he knows it but there have been some pretty key moments from that side of things. As far as coming in, I think about my first year at Front Row and I think about my first year at JTG, my first year even on the Xfinity side with Seth Barbour on top of the box and then our first year with Graves on top of the box. That first year between a driver and crew chief has never been instant success for me. I don’t know if that is what it is but I do realize how hard it is to find that chemistry and understanding. Then you tack on the fact that our testing is almost gone and our practices are so short and you really don’t have the opportunity to change anything on the car when you are looking for a feel out of it. We have those small boxes that we can go to, but even then if you don’t have that understanding ahead of time it is hard to get there on a Saturday practice day. I have been a part of the struggles for many years. It feels like we were bouncing around for a while and it is tough to get it right that first year. Then you stack on the fact that it is to a new organization on top of that and that is even harder. It is a new organization for Brad and for Matt (McCall) and trying to get used to different methods, different cars, different manufacturers it all adds up pretty quickly to make it harder to get there. I think Bristol was a good show that we can get there and I won’t say it was easier but being that Scott and I had been at RFK for several years beforehand it made it flow into it easier to where we were able to find our way a little quicker. I don’t have any doubt that they will get there. There have been several weeks prior to Bristol. It is just hard and it is supposed to be at this level. This is the top level of motorsports in the country and getting everything to really flow off the truck is a big deal and takes a lot of effort. They are getting there. Don’t sleep on anybody yet. We are still making progress, it just took us deeper into the season than we had hoped.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
AUTOTRADER ECHOPARK AUTOMOTIVE 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 24, 2022

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:

COMING INTO TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW YOU GO ABOUT ATTACKING THIS TRACK AND LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT WEEKEND AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY AND THE ROVAL? IT’S A REALLY DIVERSE SECOND ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS.

“I think we probably all look at Texas (Motor Speedway) as a good opportunity to hopefully get a win, get locked-in and not have to worry about the next two races. Texas, I feel like it’s a very strategy-driven type of race track. It’s really difficult to pass, so you’ll see some different varying pit strategies going on, whether it be staying out, fuel only, two tires, four tires. So just trying to have a good enough car to play that the right way and keep your track position. Having good pit stops and good restarts I think is important. It seems like all of that has been more important this year with just how difficult it’s been to pass.

Hopefully our car is good. I felt good in the All-Star Race. Just blew a right-front tire pretty early on, so I didn’t really get a fair judge of how we were then to how we’ll be now. It’s much warmer conditions this week too, so I think that will change things a little bit. But yeah, hopefully it goes well.”

WITH THE C-BELL MICRO MANIA, YOU WERE OUT THERE ON THE TRACK THE OTHER NIGHT GIVING KYLE BUSCH SOME POINTERS ON HOW TO DRIVE. YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS AND HOW IT BUILDS FOR THE YOUNGER DRIVERS, OBVIOUSLY OWEN (LARSON), BREXTON (BUSCH) AND OTHERS OUT THERE?

“It’s a cool event that they put on our there. There were a lot of cars. The race track is really nice, too. They did a great job with it; the grandstands, the dirt, the banking, the shape of the track is all good. There’s like 140 micros racing just in the main division. There’s a lot of great talent out there.. young talent. Guys that have also been racing micros their whole lives too. A lot of experience out there. It’s cool to see Kyle Busch run out there. He’s doing a really good job of it. I feel like he’s got a little bit of tinkeritus and works on his car too much. I told him just focus on driving instead of working on it, but he’s doing a good job. I think he missed the lock-in spot by one, so he should be on the pole of the B-main I would think tonight.

I had fun last night racing myself and we should have a good shot of winning tonight.”

YOU HAD YOUR BATTLE WITH CHRISTOPHER BELL OVER THE YEARS, BUT THIS YEAR IS THE FIRST YEAR THAT HE’S REALLY BEEN A THREAT HERE IN THE CUP SERIES, ESPECIALLY THE LAST FEW MONTHS. WHAT IS HE DOING DIFFERENT?

“I don’t know. I’ve always known his talent and abilities. I’ve been surprised that it’s taken him as long as it has to be consistently in the top three to five because, like I said, I’ve raced with him longer than anybody else has in the field and I know the potential that he’s had. It’s neat to see him run up front; another dirt guy contending for a championship. It’ll be fun going to battle with, not only him, but everybody. I always enjoy seeing dirt guys win, especially from my neck of the woods in dirt racing.”

THERE’S BEEN SOME RUMBLINGS OF A TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY REPAVE UPCOMING. IF IT WERE TO BE REPAVED, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?

“I would like to see them change it from a 1.5-mile track to something shorter. I don’t know if that means bringing the backstretch in or whatever. If I could build a track, it would probably be a three-quarter mile Bristol, basically; pavement, progressive banking, all of that. But I don’t know if that’s even possible here.

I’m not sure what they have in mind, but anything would be better than what they did.”

THREE RACES IN NOW AND THREE NON-PLAYOFF DRIVERS HAVE WON THOSE RACES. THE STANDINGS ARE STILL SO TIGHT. HAVE WE ESTABLISHED A CHAMPIONSHIP FAVORITE YET AFTER THE FIRST ROUND? WHERE DO YOU SEE THINGS SHAKING OUT?

“I don’t think that there’s a championship favorite. Chase (Elliott) getting through the first round, it wasn’t a great first round for his standards, his team’s and what they had for points going in. So I feel like for him, making it through the round and resetting; as long as he can get through this round, I think he’s probably still the favorite. I think (Christopher) Bell has shown so far in the playoffs that he’s really strong. But I don’t think you can pick a favorite until you get through this round because whoever the favorite is right now could easily not make it into the next round just because how wild this round is. I think three weeks from now, you’ll be able to pick a better favorite. But right now, there’s so many unknowns, as far as craziness that’s going to happen.”

DO YOU THINK ANY OF THE PLAYOFF DRIVERS WILL NOT EVEN WANT TO RACE HARD AT TALLADEGA UNTIL THE FINAL STAGE, GIVEN ALL OF THE WRECKS WE’VE SEEN AT THE SUPERSPEEDWAYS?

“I don’t think so.. just because there’s so many stage points on the line, so I just don’t foresee that. Yes, there might be a couple that do that, but I feel like you typically don’t see that anyways.

I don’t know, we’ll see. I don’t think so. I think there’s so many stage points on the line and if you can get those stage points, then even if you do wreck, you’ll have a decent points day out of it. I foresee everybody racing pretty hard.”

IN TERMS OF TALKING ABOUT THE PLAYOFF POINTS, YOU GUYS GOT VERY FEW PLAYOFF POINTS WITH ALL OF THE NON-PLAYOFF WINNERS TAKING ALL THOSE POINTS AWAY. HOW MUCH OF A CONCERN IS IT THAT SO MANY POINTS WERE LEFT OFF THE TABLE AND HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THINGS GOING INTO THIS ROUND?

“I don’t know.. I mean I’d rather see them win than somebody else win, honestly. If I can’t win, I’d rather see a non-playoff driver win. So I don’t know, I haven’t really looked at it and thought about it much. But I know for us and our team, we didn’t get hardly any stage points at all in the first round, so I feel like that needs to change. We have to do a better job throughout the first two stages to get some points to benefit us through each race and help us transfer into the next round. Stage points are super important and we’re going to try hard to do a better job in the first two stages to get some points.”

ARE YOU STILL GOING TO MEET WITH JOHNNY RUTHERFORD THIS WEEKEND OR DID THAT ALREADY HAPPEN?

“I haven’t yet. He called me yesterday while I was getting ready to race over there, so I’ve got to call him back. Thank you for reminding me (laughs).

But yes, I want to. He wanted me to take a picture with him and sign the picture that we had taken together at the Chili Bowl a long time ago. So, yes thank you for the reminder. Definitely going to hit him up here.”

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THE FIRST TIME YOU MET HIM?

“I don’t remember what year it was.. I had to be pretty young. I’m sure my mom set it up. I think they were all sitting around Keith Kunz’s trailer. Like she always is, she probably set the photo up. I’m glad that she did. When he called me, I didn’t have his number at first. This was a few weeks ago. He left me a voicemail and the first thing I did was I copied the voicemail and sent it to my dad and Jon Edwards. It was super cool that Johnny Rutherford had gotten my number and wanted my autograph. So, that was pretty neat and I look forward to meeting up with him here this weekend and getting another photo op.”

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.

Richard Childress Racing at Texas Motor Speedway … Richard Childress Racing has two wins at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series: Jeff Burton (2007) and Austin Dillon (2020). Burton led just the final lap to grab his 19th career Cup victory. In 2020, Austin Dillon led the final 10 laps and edged teammate Tyler Reddick by just .149 seconds to score the win. The victory was Dillon’s first at Texas and the 109th all-time by RCR.

Xfinity Series Stats at Texas … RCR has five NASCAR Xfinity Series victories at Texas Motor Speedway, all by Kevin Harvick (2001, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2012). Earlier this season Austin Hill led RCR with a fifth-place finish at Texas after leading the race once for 16 laps.

Introducing the Carolina Cowboys … Driven by the same passion for performance that guides his race team, Richard Childress’ latest endeavor brings Professional Bull Riding to the Carolinas. The Carolina Cowboys represent Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the PBR Team Series, an elite new league featuring the world’s top bull riders in games that began in July 2022. The team is operated by Richard Childress Racing with 2018 Daytona 500 Champion Austin Dillon serving as General Manager.

Catch the Action … The NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway will be televised live Saturday, September 24, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. The race will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Follow Sunday’s Action at Texas … The NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway will be televised live on Sunday, September 25 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. The race will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

This Week’s True Velocity Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Texas Motor Speedway … Austin Dillon enters this weekend’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway with 17 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile track with one pole in 2016 and one win in 2020. Dillion has made 11 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track with a career-best finish of third in 2015 after starting on the pole for the 300-mile race. Dillon, the 2011 NASCAR Truck Series Champion, has five Truck Series starts at Texas with a career-best finish of second in 2011 and one pole in 2010.

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AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:

What are your thoughts on Texas Motor Speedway?

“Texas Motor Speedway has always been a strong track for me. I think as the surface wears out, Texas could become a better race. It just needs to lose some more grip in order to make the racing more exciting. The track has so much grip now. The banking has changed a lot from the old track to the new track. The track is fun to race because it’s so different on both ends. You have one end that’s very banked and has high speeds, and then you have a hard end where you have to get turned and get back on the gas. I’m looking forward to going there and trying to get a win with our True Velocity Chevy.”

This Week’s Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Texas Motor Speedway … Tyler Reddick will be making his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The driver of the Lenovo Chevrolet has three previous Cup Series starts at Texas earning two top-10 finishes, highlighted by a second-place finish behind teammate Austin Dillion in 2020, giving Richard Childress Racing a one-two finish. He grabbed a ninth-place finish in the 2021 fall event at the 1.5-mile speedway. Earlier this season, Reddick won the pole for the NASCAR All-Star Open at Texas. In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Reddick has three top-five finishes in six starts. Earlier this season he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series event Texas, his 10th career victory in the series. Reddick has made six Truck Series starts at Texas, winning the pole for the 2014 fall event and racking up four top-five finishes. Reddick enters Texas 13th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings.

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TYLER REDDICK QUOTES:

What did you learn at the All-Star Race that you know you have to be better at when you return to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend?

“We just can’t be bottoming out on the internal stops on the Next Gen car. The last time we were at Texas we had a really fast Lenovo Chevrolet but I couldn’t run the second lane through Turns 3 and 4. And when it came down to it in that final segment of the All-Star Open, I told myself I have to get through Turns 3 and 4 wide open to have a run at Daniel Suarez and unfortunately we crashed. It really limits our options on how we race other cars throughout the day if we’re only able to go through the bottom of 3 and 4 and not in the second and third lanes. We’re working on ways to get around those issues and see what we can find and what we can make better. Our car had speed so we just have to figure out a way to make it through that part of the racetrack.”

Any reason non-playoff drivers won all three races in the opening round of the Playoffs and do you think the trend might continue?

“This Next Gen car has shown that you have to execute all race long. It always seemed like the Playoff drivers and teams get locked-in this time of year and they can just take it to a different level and really make things happen. This is a new car, so we’re all trying to squeeze out every last detail. I think drivers and teams that aren’t in the Playoffs are trying to show they deserve to stay where they’re at in their respective organizations. You have to be perfect all race long and that’s truly a difficult thing, especially at a track like Bristol. I’m not surprised by so many different winners but I thought by this time of year it would be trending back in the direction that it always has been. I certainly think Texas could be another race where we have a non-playoff driver win.”

This Week’s Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Camaro SS at Texas Motor Speedway … Sheldon Creed will be making his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Texas this weekend. The driver of the Whelen Chevrolet made his first start in May at the 1.5-mile speedway, where he was credited with a 21st-place finish. Creed has six starts at Texas in the NASCAR Truck Series including a dominating victory in October of 2020. Creed won after starting on the pole and led 131 of 152 laps and finished with an average running position of 1.18. His other top 10 was a sixth-place finish in 2019. He enters the Texas race 14th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings with three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes.

Whelen Celebrates 70 Years … From a small garage workshop in Connecticut in 1952 to a worldwide leader in emergency warning equipment today, Whelen Engineering continues to push the boundaries of innovation. As we mark our 70th anniversary, we’re proud to continue our founder’s mission of making it safer for those who serve and protect. Whelen has been manufacturing in America for 70 years—we never left, and we’re here to stay.

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SHELDON CREED QUOTE:

We’re heading to Texas Motor Speedway for the second time this season. What’s your mindset for the race?

“My mindset hasn’t really changed since the beginning of the season. It’s always been to go out there, put together a good race and win. It was a bummer last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway to be running as well as we were and not making the Playoffs, but I’m so proud of how hard we ran during that race. We were fighting so hard to be up front and it really showed. People know we’re here and Playoffs or not, we’re going out there to win. Once this team puts together a whole race from start to finish, we’re going to get that first win and more after that. I’m just going into Texas knowing that I need to take as many notes as possible during practice, I need to qualify well and once the race starts, just give it everything we’ve got.”

This Week’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet Camaro SS at Texas Motor Speedway … Austin Hill will make his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series start Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway. The driver of the Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet started third and finished fifth in May at Texas, his best finish of three career starts at the track. Hill made 10 starts in NASCAR Truck Series competition at Texas, claiming a best finish of second-place in 2020 among four top-10s. He punched his ticket to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs with his win in the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway and added another win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July. Hill enters the first round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs as the sixth seed with 10 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes.

Sunoco Rookie of the Year … Austin Hill officially clinched NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors after last weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hill joins a long list of prestigious winners including fellow RCR drivers Kevin Harvick (2000) and Austin Dillon (2012).

About Bennett Family of Companies … McDonough, Ga.-based Bennett Family of Companies is a woman-owned, Women’s Enterprise Business Council (WBENC) certified, diversified transportation and logistics company. Through its 12 affiliated operating companies, the Bennett Family of Companies delivers integrated transportation and supply chain management solutions worldwide. The company will use race experiences to recruit and retain hundreds of truck drivers for their organization in 2022. For more information, visit www.Drive4Bennett.com.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTE:

Welcome to the Playoffs! It’s the frst race of the Round of 12 and we’re heading to Texas, a track that you’ve seen success at before. What are your thoughts on Saturday’s race?

“Yeah, I’m really pumped about the Playoffs and starting out at Texas. Honestly, we’ve got some really good tracks coming up for our team. Texas will be a good one and we’ve run really well on road courses and superspeedways so I think this round will be pretty good for us. We’ve just got to focus on our race and stay out of other people’s messes. We had a really solid day in Bristol; I wish we got the win, but now we have a lot of momentum on our side for this weekend. My team has been bringing me fast racecars every weekend so we’ll have that on our side and will go out there and strategize as much as we can. I’m excited and really looking forward to putting up a fight in these Playoff races.”