Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Hollywood Casino 400 Post Race | Sunday, September 10, 2022

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Rheem Ford Mustang met with media members as part of playoff driver media availability at Kansas Speedway Saturday.

YOU HOPPED ON SOCIAL MEDIA THIS WEEK. DID YOU FINALLY FIND YOUR PASSWORD AFTER YEARS OR SOMETHING? “No, I had it the whole time.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Rheem Ford Mustang — WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO START GETTING ON THERE AND JUMPING INTO THE CONVERSATION?

“Yeah, well, you know, I think it’s just, you know, I think it’s just time. Right? You know, I think it’s just there needs to be some, some better leadership on just the whole safety situation. And, you know, my road is shorter than most everybody’s been here. So, you know, I think it’s just, you know, it was just after the whole fire thing at Darlington, and the reaction on Tuesday was drastic but way too late. I think, as we look at the fire problem for me, and I start digging through how that whole thing had transpired and gone down. Then you look at the car and you start asking questions, and you’re like, ‘Well, why did everything melt?’ Well, this is really not 100% fire-resistant. And, you know, here’s the coating that we presented a couple months ago after Chase’s fire and it’s been rejected. Now, this week, it’s all in there, you got a piece of stainless on there. So that reaction, as I go back and talk to my guys, and we basically had a car catch on fire at every test. So it’s not like it was a new problem. We had the 48 catch on fire at Darlington, I think the first race. And so we’ve seen a lot of these instances, and it’s just a really, really slow reaction. And, I think if the teams were in charge of stuff like that, and the proper input was put in place, we would have never had more than two fires if the teams were in charge for the whole field, because they would have collaborated and not been so slow to react. So, the whole safety thing is really kind of second fiddle right now. And I just don’t think that’s fair to the drivers. I do not think it’s fair to the drivers, and we can debate all day but debating isn’t really fixing anything. I think when I look at the car itself, it’s not rear impacts, it’s not front impacts, it’s not side impacts, it’s all impacts. No matter what they’re filtered data says it’s not what the drivers are feeling. And we need a louder voice. As I sat and thought about it this week, it really needs to have more of an independent group that makes the decisions on how to implement things and how to go through a process that’s outside of NASCAR and the teams, because NASCAR is slow to react, and the teams are always worried about money. And that doesn’t do anything for the drivers.

IS THE INFRASTRUCTURE THERE TO MAKE QUICK CHANGES ON SOME OF THESE THINGS?

“We did it in a day. Teams can still make parts. The teams can do way more than all these people that are making the parts. All the smart people live in the teams. All the problems get solved in the teams. A ll the smart people work on the race teams, and they’re the ones that fix the problems. And that’s how we got to where we are today. If it weren’t for the teams, the rules would not look anything like they did in the racing wouldn’t be as good as it is. The teams are the ones that fix the problems. We would not wait as long as we have but the drivers are the piece that’s way out of line right now. I think that the safety thing should go into a bucket that has a council of some sort, a board of sorts that handles these types of problems. When it goes into that safety bucket, NASCAR teams don’t have don’t have a say in it. Safety can’t be about money. I’ve lived this man. I’ve watched. I watched when we had all the trouble with Adam (Petty) and Kenny Irwin and then it resulted in Dale Earnhardt and then all of a sudden, it was mandatory to wear Hans devices, it was mandatory to wear the Hutchins device. We developed soft walls. It can’t be slow, the safety cannot be slow. This car is it’s screwed up as far as the way that it crashes. And whether the data says it or not, every driver in this garage will tell you that’s not right and it hurts. Feet hurt, hands hurt, head hurt. And there has to be a better solution. When we want to solve problems, we can solve them quick, super quick. I think that that plan didn’t come together in one day because there wasn’t stuff that was not already in the process, but it was just too slow to be implemented. And now, unfortunately, we’re in the spot that we’re in. But the positive that came out of it was there was a lot of progress made on a situation that shouldn’t have been there in September.

WHERE IS THE DIALOGUE NOW? HOW DO YOU WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE THINGS ARE?

“Here it is. I feel like this is the dialogue.”

SO NO DIALOGUE WITH NASCAR STILL?

“No. And look, I’ve been on both sides of this. And it’s the reason that I didn’t stay on the driver council because things were too slow. Like, if I was running it, it just happens too slow for me. I think this is playing the politically correct, you know, we got to keep our eye on the racing, we got a TV contract coming up, whatever all that is. It is still not fair to the drivers to be compromised inside of the car and have the slow reaction that we’re having, and not listening to every hit hurts, because every hit hurts.”

AND THEIR ARGUMENT WOULD BE, WELL, IF THEY PUT SHROUDS ON YOU GUYS. THEY’VE CHANGED GLUES BEING USED IN IT, THEY’VE MADE STEPS.

“That is their problem. They want to argue. Why does the Kevlar burn Bob? Why does the foam melt? Do we know those answers? They’re not as fire retardant as they should be. The only reason I stopped this weekend is because the flames were coming inside the freaking car. Because this used to all be steel right there. And you look at the foam, all the foam it looks like a marshmallow. So, you know, I think now it’s all coated with the coating that we presented two months ago. That doesn’t catch on fire on the right side of the car. Like I say things have progressed. And we are here today. But it can’t be that slow. There’s just no reason. It is not fair to the drivers to be compromised like we are right now and not have at least a progress plan. And it’s not just a rear clip. It’s a front clip, a rear clip, side, every hit hurts.”

AND THE REASON WOULD BE THAT IF YOU MAKE A CHANGE, WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF A CHANGE? AND ALSO IF YOU ALLOW TEAMS TO MAKE PARTS …

“We are only making parts in emergency situations, Bob? Right now you’re in an emergency situation because the car doesn’t crash right.”

SO IS THAT THE SOLUTION BECAUSE YOU KNOW, YOU HEAR THAT MAYBE THEY COULD DO SOMETHING IN THE OFF-SEASON.

“I don’t know what the solution is but I know it needs to be way faster. And if you start in the offseason, it’s going to be a complete cluster to try to get it done before the Clash. So where are we headed here? Like, what’s the plan? Every driver in here is tired of hitting the wall and having been hurt. Tired of hitting a car at 20 miles an hour and rear ending somebody and having your Hans lock out? Your filtered data may say that it’s the same, but it’s not the same. And when you really start looking at it, and, you know, I know, Denny has talked about this before and you look at how quick the hits come up and how fast everything accelerates. You know, I think it’s very apparent that it’s not the same, the total G might be the same, but the quickness that you get there is very different. And I think the best example that I have is when I came over the hill earlier in the year at Sonoma and was going, what 60 miles an hour, full lock, just from impact with the 2 car. Just he was checked up and I checked up and it went full lock. That’s not normal. That’s not right. I can’t tell you how many guys have talked about the side impacts and how bad they hurt at low speeds. It’s just time to listen to the driver and stop worrying about the data.”

YOU TALKED ABOUT AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION OR INDEPENDENT GROUP KIND OF WORK? HOW DO YOU ENVISION IT?

“I don’t know. I just know that when it falls into safety, it has to be taken out of the hands of how much it costs. That can’t be the answer. If you have four or five guys from teams, and you know, we all have people that analyze parts and analyze the data and analyze the crashes and implement new ideas to solve problems. Every team — all the top teams have that and if you get those guys involved, and you have somebody from NASCAR and somebody from the RTA, they can listen, that’s fine but there needs to be an independent group that helps speed up this process and tells the teams and NASCAR how we’re going to implement this to fix the safety side of it. Safety has to come before cost. And it doesn’t right now.”

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT GETTING OUT OF THE CAR? WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER THAT IF YOU FELT IT WASN’T SAFE?

“I think the biggest concern right now is you have another Kurt Busch situation. If we just keep letting it go, why do we want that situation? That’s the situation that you’re in.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE THEY’VE TRADED BEING SAFE FOR THE MOST WORST ACCIDENTS AND ANOTHER PROBLEM? LIKE THEY FIXED INTRUSION AND THINGS LIKE POTENTIALLY WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO RYAN NEWMAN. SO THEY FIX THAT, AND NOW HAVE CREATED THIS PROBLEM THAT YOU’RE SEEING WITH KURT BUSCH?

“I don’t know. But if we had the right group of people talking about it together I could have some better answers on that for you. If there was open dialogue with the right people on the teams and the situations that are happening. I just know that it can’t be, ‘Well, the data doesn’t show this, the drivers don’t know what they’re talking about’. The hell it doesn’t. We’re the ones out there, banging into something every week. And I guarantee you, every one of them will tell you the same thing about the small impacts and the big impacts. Those are the facts.”

I THOUGHT IT WAS MORE OF A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT.

“Whatever we call the the new stuff is exactly where the drivers council was when it all ended. You know, it starts off great and get a couple of wins. But, you know, now we’re in a big situation.”

WHY ARE YOU COMFORTABLE PUTTING YOURSELF OUT THERE TO BE THE VOICE HERE? WHY ARE YOU COMFORTABLE IN THIS POSITION?

“Because it just feels like the right thing to do for my colleagues”

DO YOU FEEL EXTRA PRESSURE BEING KIND OF ONE OF THE LAST DRIVERS FROM THE EARLY 2000S ERA?

“I’ve watched it? I’ve watched this whole process when it’s too slow.”

IS THAT WHAT KEPT YOU FROM MAYBE BEING MORE VOCAL EARLIER? OR WERE YOU JUST DOING IT MORE BEHIND THE SCENES?

“I mean, you want to believe that it’s just gonna happen, right. The process and the way that things are gonna go. Like, this feels better. This feels right. But we’re kind of right in the same spot that we were with the last driver council.”

Have they come to you and asked what you think about this?

“No. No.”

WOULD YOU BE OPEN TO THAT?

“I’m open to anything if it has a progression to resolution.”

WHO’S YOUR GO-TO PERSON AT NASCAR RIGHT NOW?

“You.”

SO YOU DON’T EVEN GET A CALL ON THE OTHER SIDE, LIKE AN ANGRY CALL, LIKE, YOU KNOW, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS IN THE MEDIA? WHY DON’T YOU TALK TO US BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

“I’ve asked. I’ve asked enough questions. So we’re here.”

Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY (September 10, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to media prior to the Kansas Speedway race this Sunday:

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Acumatica Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

What is it about this race track that suits you?

“We really kind of have a great baseline for a setup. Even though we switched cars, it seems like we kind of figured out what I like at this track and the team has brought fast cars each time. It should be in our wheelhouse this weekend.”

Do you feel 23XI Racing still has any chance of getting Kyle Busch?

“I’m not really sure.”

How would you evaluate Ty Gibbs’ performance in the Cup car?

“He’s been good, he’s done what we’ve asked him to do. It’s a learning process and he’s still 19. He’s still learning as he goes. Certainly, he realizes the fence between the Cup garage and the Xfinity garage is a very tall one and these guys are really, really good. He’s learning and he’s not tearing up equipment. He’s getting us in the top-20 so it’s good.”

What are your thoughts on racing the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro next season?

“I think it’s a great thing for our sport. It’s good news that the state is pitching in to help. I think it’s great for short track racing and grassroots racing. I think there’s certainly a place in our schedule for those sweetheart-type race tracks like there and Martinsville and whatnot. They don’t always have to have fancy suites and whatnot. You’ve got to have that in certain markets, but I would say North Wilkesboro is probably not that market. So I think it’s really nice and sounds like they’re going to keep the pavement the same. It’s just traffic, traffic, traffic. Can they work on the traffic and get that quite a bit better as I think that was a major problem in the past and even last week sounds like it was pretty bad.”

How precarious is Bristol as a Playoff cutoff race?

“It really depends on your situation. I think there’s going to be seven or eight guys that are going to be on edge going into Bristol as a cutoff race. There’s probably going to be four or five going to feel pretty good about it and won’t let it concern them and how they drive then you have the rest of the field who’s out of the Playoffs anyway so it’s really a small portion of the field that I think is going to be worried about the result or making sure they’re not making mistakes on a track like that.”

Can you bring everyone up to speed on what the NASCAR charter market looks like currently?

“There’s a lot of factors with Dale (Earnhardt) Jr.’s (decision on a charter), I think he wants to see the business model change also. It doesn’t matter the price of the charter, it’s an asset, but it’s really what it costs you to run your business. That’s probably what’s kept him on the sidelines more than anything. As far as the market, I don’t know what it is. We haven’t dug too deep into that. I think there’s too many unknowns that the teams need to know between now and 2025 to figure out what can we afford, one car, two cars or three cars. We don’t know.”

What has it been like being a two-car team and what is the latest update on Kurt Busch?

“I think it’s been good going to two. Certainly Kurt (Busch) did what we asked him to do coming into this year and he’s been a great teammate with Bubba (Wallace) and I think it helped us share some resources. Certainly, there has been some efficiencies gained from one to two with personnel. We would probably gain a little more with three, but four is just like adding another team. So I think that certainly there’s positives to it, I don’t see any negatives going to two from one, but we really like the addition of Kurt and that was really the catalyst for us starting a second is having someone like Kurt as a great veteran and mentor and really evaluate how is our team. He’s been part of successful teams before and I don’t see the road crew and the personnel that much on the weekend. I’m so focused on the 11 car and what I need to do to make my team better that I can’t really take time off to see how they’re operating over there so Kurt’s really been the person that’s really helped with that. I think it’s been really good and obviously, we really hope to have him back in the 45 car this year and next year and we plan on Kurt running unless he tells you all otherwise.”

Is there any chance the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown could come back?

“Certainly we would like to. We stopped during COVID for obvious reasons. No one could even go to a race during that time where we had it in ’18 or ’19 and then in ’20 it stopped. It’s got to be the right situation for sure. We did it to kind of bring people back to local short tracks. North Wilkesboro isn’t a track that has a weekly show so does that fit our mold or not, I’m not really sure. We did it at Richmond too and that wasn’t a weekly show. I would like to do it and I’ve reached out to Marcus (Smith) about doing it during the All-Star weekend. I think that I could probably get a bunch of my Cup drivers and Xfinity drivers out there to do it as well and I think it would be cool to see us race something other than what they see us in every week.”

What does it mean for the short track community to have tracks like North Wilkesboro coming back to the schedule?

“I think that for the longest time, short track racing has been the best type of racing that we have in NASCAR, especially those with old pavement and you have ones that have lap time variation. I’ve never gotten to race at that race track before. I think there’s a lot of excitement around it because it’s new and it happens. We have to temper our expectations that from now until the end of time, people are going to go to that race track and sell it out. They stopped going for a reason so we have to identify what are those reason and try to fix that so we can have a long term future at a track like North Wilkesboro. I think there’s a time and a place to have those types of tracks, but we also need to make sure that we continue to push towards the future as well and create nice amenities for our race fans and our teams that really take us to the next level. But certainly there’s a place in our schedule for tracks like that.”

What is the biggest difference between the spring race here and the race here tomorrow?

“I’m really not sure. I think the conditions are different. I’m thinking he (Daniel Suarez) means the setup. You can’t or not supposed to change anything on the overall body. I don’t know and I’m not really sure about that part of it. I do think the teams have gotten better over time. Kansas race wasn’t that long ago, but I think we continue to evolve, but it just seems that there’s certain manufacturers that run good on certain types of race tracks. This is one of the good ones for Toyota. I think that no matter what, whether it was three months ago or not that the 45 car will be strong this weekend. We continue to evolve, but we’re not continuing to make those big jumps that we were when we were building our own cars. Usually around Coke 600 weekend we would bring a new chassis and run it for the summer months, play with it and try to fine tune it for the Playoffs. Then we would come with our biggest and baddest wind tunnel number for the Playoffs. There’s no secret that the final four would always been the fastest four cars on the race track. I think this year probably it won’t be that way. I think those cars probably got through tech fairly easily compared to others. Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but they were the fastest four cars for a reason. I just don’t think with this car you have the ability to do that so I think this year it could potentially be the first time where the champion does not win the race. Potentially.”

How are you? Are you fully healed from Daytona?

“Yeah, I feel pretty good. Right shoulder stuff, but I’m okay.”

Is there any chance Tyler Reddick could be at 23XI Racing before 2024?

“I don’t think so. I think Tyler (Reddick) would like to play out his contract at RCR and that’s what he’s always intended. We’ve not planned for anything otherwise. Kurt’s (Busch) going to drive the 45 as far as we understand and unless he says differently and if he does say differently, then we have a couple options that we’re looking at. But we never intended on getting Tyler before 2024.”

Is the dialogue with NASCAR changing with regard to the safety of the race car or are the drivers more focused on the Playoffs?

“We met with NASCAR this week about it. And I think that they’re being proactive right now. Obviously, they made a bunch of changes this week. I think what the drivers and the teams are saying is that it shouldn’t take us yelling through the media to get it done. That doesn’t help anybody and it certainly doesn’t help them, but the proof has been that yelling through the media typically gets results. That’s just kind of the way that it’s been. This is the most powerful tool you can have and sometimes you have to use it to force change and I think that’s what (Kevin) Harvick did this week. He’s had enough of them saying they would get to it, they would get to it and we’re working on it. Instead, they made an immediate change. But we want to see it coming after the second fire, the first fire. There’s been many, many fires before that one.”

Do you feel better about the conversations you all had with NASCAR this week with regard to safety?

“Yes, I do feel better about it. I certainly feel that they’re working to help us with the hits on the chassis. All that stuff does take time. They can’t just knee-jerk reaction and start cutting bars out of the chassis, that’s very irresponsible. I think they’re doing things methodically to make sure that the next revision of car that comes out is one that is improved in the areas that we need improving on, but that does take time through design and testing.”

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.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 10, 2022

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Kansas Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:

YOU’VE GOT ONE TOP-10 HERE IN 11 STARTS AT THE CUP LEVEL. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS TRACK THAT’S DIFFICULT TO GET A HANDLE?

“I don’t know.. I wish I knew. It has been a difficult place for me in the past, but this year has been different. Last time here, we were running top-five when I had a flat tire. I felt like we were going to have a shot to fight Toyota for the win, but we didn’t make it to that point.

I feel like the Next Gen car has changed a lot; the history in previous races, results and stuff like that. In the past, it hasn’t been a great place for me. But I truly believe that right now is quite different. I feel like we are going to be contending for the win this weekend.”

WITH BEING A FORMER CHAMPION, YOU’VE GOT POST-SEASON EXPERIENCE. WHAT’S THE EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE SO FAR IN THE CUP SERIES AND WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING ON THE BUBBLE OR HOW DO YOU AVOID THINKING ABOUT THAT ASPECT AT THIS POINT?

“Really, I think the secret is not to think about it. At the end of the day, there is a lot of stuff going on around the playoffs; a lot of pressure, a lot of media obligations, a lot of stuff going on. But at the end of the day, when we put the helmets on and we go to race, it’s exactly the same thing. It’s no different than the first Kansas race in the spring to the Kansas race right now in the playoffs. You have to try to be smart; try to control what you can control. At the end of the day, I can only control one car and that is the No. 99 team. I cannot control what everyone else does or doesn’t do. I have to be smart, control what I can control and put all of my energy and effort into maximizing the results for the No. 99.”

AFTER LAST WEEKEND’S RACE, YOU WERE A BIT OUTSPOKEN ABOUT THE NO. 20 CAR.. SAYING YOU OWE HIM ONE FOR WHAT HAPPENED DURING THAT RACE. A WEEK LATER, HAS ANYTHING CHANGED IN TERMS OF YOUR MINDSET OR DO YOU STILL STAND BY WHAT YOU SAID AFTER THE RACE?

“No, nothing has changed. But once again, that’s a perfect example of I have to control what I can control. Last week, I couldn’t control what the No. 20 was going to do. I feel like we were very, very lucky that we were able to finish the stage and continue with minor damage. The car wasn’t the same.. the toe and the right rear tire was messed up after that.

But you make decisions as a racecar driver. You have to live with those and that’s the way he races. Something that is very, very general in the Cup garage is that you’re going to race people and you have to expect those people to race you the same way back. If that’s 100 percent clean, with a little bit of respect but aggressive, that’s the rule of the game and I feel like it’s going to be no different this time. I’m not thinking about it too much, but I definitely won’t forget what happened last week because it could have been way, way worse. I feel like I got very lucky.”

YOU HAD A LOT OF SPEED AT DARLINGTON LAST WEEKEND. HOW DOES THAT TRANSITION TO HERE AT KANSAS BECAUSE THERE ARE SIMILARITIES.. UP AGAINST THE FENCE, THAT SORT OF THING. HOW DOES THAT TRANSITION TO HERE AND YOUR DEGREE OF OPTIMISM WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS RACE THIS WEEKEND?

“I’m very excited. Nobody pays attention to the No. 99 team like I do or my team does. But we’ve been extremely strong. At Daytona, we were in the position to win it before the rain. We probably should have won that race.

In Darlington, whatever happened, happened. I made a mistake (on pit road) and that cost us a lot, but we were in contention to fight for the win once again. This weekend, honestly, is going to be no different. I think the No. 99 team right now is in a very, very good place. We’re just continuing to get better. At the beginning of the year, we were a very young, new team; new people working together. Right now, we are just jelling more and more. I’m excited for everything that we’re doing. The results on paper, they don’t look that great right now. But I’ve been extremely pleased with the speed that we’ve had. I’m really looking forward to continuing that.”

WHAT’S GOING TO BE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE RACE HERE IN THE SPRING AND THE RACE TOMORROW?

“That’s a good question. I think that the biggest difference will be all of the developing that the teams have done. If you think about it, in the spring, the No. 45 team won the race in a very, very strong way in the final stage; and I don’t think there was a better car than the No. 45 in the final stage. If that team brought the exact same car to this race, I don’t think he’d be able to run in the top-20. The teams have gotten so much smarter and they’ve done so much developing in just a few months. It’s crazy to me and that just continues to grow.

I feel like the biggest difference would be the development that we’ve done in the last few months. I was expecting the race to be hot, but it probably won’t be that way. It’s actually a little chilly. With that being said, we may be racing with the same temperatures as we did a few months ago in the spring. So I think the biggest difference would be all the developing that the teams have done throughout the last few months.”

NEXT WEEK AT BRISTOL.. OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS HAVE RAN THERE, BUT ON DIRT, SO IT’S A BRAND NEW RACETRACK IN A WAY. WHAT KIND OF CHALLENGES OR UNKNOWNS ARE THERE WITH THIS CAR BEING ON THE CONCRETE THERE?

“That’s a very good question. The only racetrack that we’ve been that is similar to Bristol – but not the same by any means – is Dover. Nobody really knows what to exact at Bristol. It’s a racetrack that is by itself. It’s completely different than anything else and it’s a tough place. With 20 minutes of practice; if you miss it during the week, you’re going to have a long weekend and a long 500 laps.

I love Bristol. It’s actually one of my favorite racetracks and I’m really looking forward to the challenge. It would be nice to have a strong weekend here in Kansas and go to Bristol a little bit more relaxed when it comes to points. Like I said, I’m not really thinking about it too much once I’m in the race. But during the week, there are a lot of conversations about that. I think the preparation we do during the week is going to be important because nobody really knows what is going to work in Bristol, just because it’s so different than everything else that we’ve done.”

FROM A COMPETITOR’S POINT OF VIEW, WHAT’S YOUR PERSPECTIVE TO SEE WHAT THE UNCERTAINTY THAT KYLE BUSCH HAS GONE THROUGH THIS SUMMER AND TO SEE SOMEONE OF HIS CALIBER TO HAVE THAT UNCERTAINTY FOR SUCH A LONG TIME? YOU’VE GONE THROUGH SOME DIFFERENT THINGS – NOT SAYING THEY ARE THE SAME THINGS AT ALL – BUT I’M GUESSING YOU PROBABLY HAVE A MORE UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE THAN I WOULD OR ANYBODY ELSE WOULD?

“I’ve unfortunately been in those situations in the past. Racing at this level is very consuming. You have to work 24/7 to be competitive; with your team, preparation both physically and mentally, looking at data. When you’re in a situation where you don’t really know where you’re going to land next year – team, contracts, all that kind of stuff – at the end of the day, in my mind with my experience, were distractions. Once you get to a race, you put the helmet on and you forget everything else and you get to drive. But everything else that happens during the week is not as good.. the preparation, the meetings, all those things. There is ‘X’ amount of time a day that you have to put into all of these discussions and negotiations that you aren’t putting into the competition. So, it’s never a good thing, especially for Kyle (Busch). He hasn’t had to experience that in many years. It’s definitely not the best situation, but you learn to deal with it.”

IN THE TWO 1.5-MILE RACES – CHARLOTTE AND HERE – THE TOYOTA’S WERE PRETTY DOMINANT.. FIVE OF THE TOP-SIX, TOP-TWO AND THREE OF THE TOP-FIVE AT CHARLOTTE. SINCE YOU GUYS HAVEN’T BEEN ON A 1.5-MILE TRACK SINCE THE COCA-COLA 600, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO TRY AND MAKE UP THAT GAP AND HAVE YOU BEEN SPENDING A LOT OF TIME ON THE SIMULATOR?

“Do you remember who was the best car in the Coca-Cola 600 (laughs)?

I think everyone has worked really hard. What Toyota has been able to do in the last few months has been very good. They weren’t as good a few months ago and now they have a pretty good package with whatever they were able to figure out.

Everyone at the Chevy camp has done a very, very good job just continuing to develop. I feel like we started the year as, I would say, the leader group in some of the racetracks. Some of these guys were playing catch-up, like Toyota, they are right there with us.. and at times, even a little bit better. But I feel like we continue to get better. I think that in Darlington, we showed some pretty good speed. We showed that we can fight with them. I personally felt like I was going to give them a fight. It was going to be a track position race, but I don’t feel like they were much better than me. And I feel like hopefully, here in Kansas, is going to be similar. We can fight in a level field. I guess time will tell.

I feel very confident. Everyone at Chevrolet and GM have done an amazing job. Trackhouse Racing with the No. 99 and No. 1 teams, we’ve been working together very, very hard to continue to move forward. I feel confident in where we are right now to continue to fight.”

YOU KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO FIGHT FOR AND WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP IN A NASCAR NATIONAL SERIES. CAN YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST WHAT YOU’RE GOING THROUGH NOW TO WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO THEN? HOW MUCH MORE STRESSFUL, IF IT IS? ALSO, DOES HAVING WON THE XFINITY TITLE GIVE YOU A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT YOU’RE IN FOR DURING THE NEXT EIGHT OR NINE WEEKS?

“That’s a good question. If you really think about it, it’s the same thing. It’s exactly the same thing. The process is the same, the system is the same, what you have to go through is the same. The only part that is very different is the level of competition. Everyone is better and everything is more difficult. But the system – the pressure and the stuff that you have to do, how you have to be smart and how you have to pick and choose your battles – is the same thing. I feel fortunate that I have that experience in the past.. to live, experience and learn from that championship battle in 2016. It’s been fun. If it wasn’t because of that, right now would probably feel a little bit more like ‘OK, what is next.. what is going to happen next’. At least I’ve been there before.

But like I said, it’s quite different when it comes to the competition. I’m really looking forward to continue doing what we’ve been doing. We have to control what we can control. The No. 99 team has been doing an incredible job. Everybody is very calm; everybody is very relaxed. We are taking one day at a time and I feel like we’re going to be in good shape. I truly believe that. I feel like the playoffs are coming at a very, very good time for Trackhouse Racing.”

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

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
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY (September 10, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to media prior to the Kansas Speedway race this Sunday:

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

What are you looking forward to with tomorrow’s race?

“Just an important race for us. We performed well at Darlington and got ourselves in a nice points position. Hopefully we can execute this weekend and capitalize on some more points and be able to breathe easy going into Bristol.”

Are you the sleeper of the Playoffs?

“I don’t really think that’s for me to decide. In my head, I know where I think I rank up. Just trying to showcase what we’re capable of on the race track.”

Were you aware that Daniel Suarez was upset with you after the Darlington race?

“Just a non-intentional mistake from me to slide up and crowd him into the wall. Honestly, I didn’t think anything of it at the time and had no idea that he was upset until he spoke out. Once I learned he was upset, I did reach out and texted him. I apologized for getting into him and he let me know that he was going to race me the same way I raced him going forward. I’ll just have to make sure to watch my back whenever he’s around me.”

How do you feel this new car will react at Bristol on pavement next weekend?

“I expect Bristol to be a really big momentum race track with these cars. I did get to do the tire test about a year ago. What I learned is this a very big momentum car and not much acceleration or deceleration either. I expect the top to be fast under those conditions and I think that lapped traffic is going to play a really big role in the race like it always does. I would expect the top to be very dominant at the Bristol race.”

How do you think the car will react or how has it progressed on intermediate tracks?

“That’s tough for me to say. It seems like these cars have excelled at the mile-and-a-halves. We’ve seen great races at the beginning of the season when we went to these style race tracks. I would expect that to continue. I think that everybody, like you mentioned, has evolved and got their stuff driving a lot better so maybe a little less yellow flags and a little less self-spins, but I would expect the great racing to continue.”

How much of a relief is it to be the driver in the Playoffs at Joe Gibbs Racing with the least drama around you so you can focus on the Playoffs?

“It’s exactly how I like it for sure. It’s nice to be able to focus on the task at hand and not have a bunch of distractions floating around. Hopefully we can keep it that way.”

Can you talk about qualifying at Kansas?

“I love qualifying, and I love these conditions, especially mile-and-a-halves. Cooler temperatures means we’re going to be carrying higher speeds so it’s right in my wheelhouse for sure. I’m excited about it and I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that the rain doesn’t come.”

How much of a difference would it make if the sun pops out?

“So the biggest thing is just a lack of grip. When you have lack of grip, the speeds slow down and you have to be more patient on the throttle and you can’t attack like you can when it’s cloudy and the grip levels are up. Either way, it’s the same for all of us and we all have to adapt. I love the faster we go, the better it seems I go. I’m excited about this qualifying session.”

Does this track have any additional significance since your first Xfinity win came here?

“It probably just helps me enjoy this place a little bit more. I’ve always enjoyed coming to Kansas and especially after that Xfinity win, it made it one of my favorites. On top of that, it’s one of my home tracks too. Between here and Texas, those are my home tracks and have a lot of great memories here at Kansas with that Xfinity win and would love to add a Cup win.”

What do you have to work on to be as fast as your Toyota teammates from the spring race?

“That’s a great question. My answer to that is performance-related from me and the equipment from the car side, it was there and I was able to win the pole in qualifying and throughout practice I think we were extremely strong too. When they dropped the green flag I was able to lead laps at the start of the race. Then we had a flat tire that brought us back and we just weren’t able to recover from that. I think that the performance was there all weekend and we just weren’t able to overcome our issues in the race to get back to the front with our teammates, but I believe if we can bring that same performance, we can make gains on pit road and hopefully no unfortunate circumstances and we can be competing.”

Is there an added sense of calm entering your second Playoffs this year?

“So I don’t really think my being a second year versus a first year really has an effect on my outlook, but just my performance over the regular season this year definitely makes me feel more comfortable in my position than I was a year ago at this time. Last year, I didn’t feel like we performed like a team capable of racing for a championship and this year I feel like we’re able to do that. It makes me more confident in what we’ve got going on.”

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 – Kyle Busch
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY (September 10, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to media prior to the Kansas Speedway race this Sunday:

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

Are you going to Richard Childress Racing next season?

“I do not have any new news to share. If I did, I guarantee there would be some sort of big announcement. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been one of those yet Bob (Pockrass, Fox Sports). We’re still working on it behind the scenes trying to put it all together. It’s not done.”

How is your mood as it relates to everything going on behind the scenes?

“I’m in a really bad one right now in case anyone is wondering. Just same as it’s been, just stressful. There’s light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not a train. It is sunshine so that’s a positive thing and trying to keep the train on the tracks right now for a little bit longer.”

Is it fair to say that you know what direction you want to go in next season?

“No. I woke up at six in the morning, that’s probably not too early, but it’s really early for me two days ago and I woke up in the middle of the night and I was worried about Brexton (Busch). What are we going to do with Brexton if this happens or if that happens? If this goes, if that goes or if we do that or if we do this? Now I’ve got him thrown in the whole mix. It’s crazy. A clearer picture is developing during the day. Pixels are being worked on.”

What was it like to see Kyle Busch Motorsports win last night?

“I’m proud of the effort, super proud of John Hunter (Nemechek), Eric Phillips and everybody over there at KBM, everybody that has continued to put forth the effort to make us the winningest truck program in history and continue to excel and elevate those numbers. Super cool to see that. There’s three trucks, all three of our trucks moved on last night to the next round of the Playoffs respectively for their own situation. I like what’s coming up next. First of all, Chandler (Smith) has been super fast there as of late and John Hunter is no slouch there either. He should have won last year as well. Good stuff coming from the KBM bunch.”

Do you feel there may be more clarity with where things are with Kyle Busch Motorsports?

“No, I’m definitely not comfortable with where that’s at yet. Trying to put all the right things in the right places simultaneously was the objective and the goal. It’s not going to happen that way, but we will certainly keep fighting for that to make sure that KBM is at the forefront and we have a place to go race trucks next year.”

Do you feel things are moving in a better direction with safety and the dialogue with NASCAR?

“I believe I have an email from the driver counsel lade, but I have yet to read it so it wouldn’t be fair for me to assess my comments on that right now.”

What has Eric Phillips meant to Kyle Busch Motorsports and how would you evaluate his contribution?

“It’s invaluable. I can’t put it into words really, especially the way I speak on things. I’m not very good. Eric is a huge part of and is what Kyle Busch Motorsports history has been about. First guy I probably got was Greg Passen, a buddy of mine who worked with me at Billy Ballew. But past him was Rick Ren and then Eric Phillips was number two or three if you look at it that way. He’s been a huge inspiration to everything that we’ve done there and he’s a racer’s racer. In the truck series you can do that and be successful at that. You don’t have to have the huge engineering influx of the Cup teams and Xfinity teams and all that stuff. When we did go Xfinity racing, we brought on experienced guys from another team and we weren’t as great as I thought we coulda, shoulda won. Kurt (Busch) won and I finished second like six times that year. Eric then took over the reigns of that the next year and I thought they ran very respectful for what they had to endure and deal with. Then he went on to go do his own things at JGR for a few years and then came back for a two-year stint with John Hunter. That was always kind of the understanding between he and I was the John Hunter piece and not knowing what our driver line-up looks like at all right now, I think he sees a clearer picture right now than I do. He got a really good offer to go somewhere else so I told him that I can’t hold you back, go take it, go do it.”

What would it mean to get a championship for Kyle Busch Motorsports?

“That’s not what we want, we want to win a championship this year sure, but we don’t want to be done. We want to keep fighting and race into next year. That’s the intent and that’s everybody’s intentions that we have and the 50 employees that we have at KBM, I’m fighting every damn day for all that stuff and to make sure that we go forward.”

How would you assess Corey Heim’s performance this season?

“Corey’s (Heim) done a really good job. He won early and was fast and had a lot of good results, better results arguably better than I did in the 51. I would say maybe the last couple not as good as we would have hoped, but I think that him carrying on and being smart and being smooth and just doing the job he needs to do for us with the 51 to keep it eligible all the way to Phoenix. If we have three trucks eligible for the owners championship at Phoenix, I’ll feel a lot like Joe (Gibbs) did in 2019, it’s ours to lose. Looking forward to those guys carrying it on with good momentum.”

How do you feel about racing at the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro?

“I think it’s cool. I think a lot of drivers made note of that or made mention of that, but careful, there’s aliens around there. Space ships come in the middle of the night so don’t be there with the lights off. Overall, I think it’s going to be really fun. I think they saw a packed house there last week and they saw great racing Tuesday night and Wednesday night. Real proud of SMI’s involvement and Dale Jr.’s involvement and all those guys that made that come to life and so I think it’s pretty cool. Looking forward to getting there. I’ve never been there so I guess I need to go test.”

Have you had a lot of people supporting you around this process you’re going through?

“A little bit. Yeah, not anything too crazy I would say. There’s been a lot of support and you know, from a few individuals that maybe I thought wouldn’t reach out. It was nice, but other than that, it’s business as usual. Some people are almost leery to say, ‘Hey man, how is it going today?’ Because they know that it ain’t good. They don’t even bring it up. They’re like, ‘Oh, Kyle’s here.”

How did you even get to the moment to talk to Richard Childress about possibly driving for him after the incident here at Kansas 11 years ago?

“Who’s to say he hasn’t punched me again in any of these conversations. Whenever you go into negotiations, it’s never fun so you’re duking the whole time. I think you grow up and you work through things and you talk it over. Really it was fine the first time I sat down with him and everything was okay. The biggest thing about it was just having an opportunity to kind of put that behind us. It was no different than going on the Dale Jr. Download and talking about 2008 and crashing at Richmond, you know what I mean. You get through it and you talk about it and life moves on.”

Do you know what happened with the engine last week and are you concerned it could happen again?

“The best I know is that the issue that happened at Richmond with the 45 car, the issue that happened with the 20 at Watkins Glen and happened with me in practice at Watkins Glen and I think Denny (Hamlin) had one happen somewhere in practice, I’m not sure. Then mine last weekend, they were all the same issue so they keep seeing it over and over and what’s interesting is that the road course package isn’t necessarily the intermediate package. They didn’t think that would transfer over, but it did so they made some adjustments to some internals and hopefully we don’t see it going forward.”

What has been the biggest change in the industry you’ve seen while going through this free agency portion of your career?

“Drivers ain’t making what they used to anymore. It’s fact. I was fortunate to be in a really, really good spot for a long time and had good leverage there to get paid very well. Anytime you look at other opportunities out there, they can only go so far and they can only do so much. They don’t know you and you haven’t spent the time there, but fast forward 15 years from now, wherever the hell I go, will I have a better chance of negotiating a better deal than my current one or whatnot, then I would agree that’s probably a good assessment.”

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.