Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
NCS Qualifying | Saturday, April 30, 2022

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
1st – Chris Buescher
5th – Ryan Blaney
11th – Kevin Harvick
12th – Austin Cindric
13th – Ryan Preece
20th – Brad Keselowski
22nd – Joey Logano
23rd – Chase Briscoe
27th – Aric Almirola
28th – Cody Ware
29th – Michael McDowell
30th – Cole Custer
32nd – BJ McLeod
34th – Todd Gilliland
35th – Harrison Burton

Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang — Pole Winner Press Conference

TAKE US THROUGH YOUR QUALIFYING SESSION: “That was obviously an awesome start for our Fastenal group and pretty cool for RFK to get our first pole, my first Cup Series pole. It might be my first NASCAR pole, I don’t think I ever got one in the Xfinity Series either. Man, even the media center is narrow here. This is just like being on the backstretch. It is a pretty cool start for us. Practice was very interesting and we had a lot of torn-up equipment. I was watching that with a lot of attention trying not to be one of those. I was fortunate enough that Brad (Keselowski) came over and he was seeing some things and helped me with some of the inputs from inside the car and what we were trying to achieve. He went out there and had a really good practice and good qualifying effort as well so we were able to apply some of what he was seeing and it turned out really good for us and our qualifying effort. Pretty cool to get it done on the first lap. I think the second lap had more potential. I guess it didn’t need it but I didn’t let them make the adjustments they really wanted to before we went into the second round. I thought it was going to be a little too conservative but it ended up being enough to hold onto it. A great start. We are slowly and steadily building up momentum through the season which is nice after a really tough Talladega finish for both teams, us especially. We have a lot of laps left to go, but a heck of a start and no better place to see the green flag fall.”

THIS IS YOUR FIRST NASCAR POLE. WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO CROSS THAT OFF THE LIST? “I guess it is not something that I have ever had a whole lot of emphasis on. At the end of the day it is all about that checkered flag at the end of the race. It is really cool though. I have been really close here at Dover on the Xfinity side and this is a place I have loved coming to forever. I love watching it on TV. It is cool to get it here. I still have one of the smaller Miles The Monster trophies from the Xfinity side in the office at home. It is a special place for me and it is cool to get our first pole here. It has been a long time coming. Heck of a start for us. I am really looking forward to the race tomorrow with our Fastenal Mustang.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED WITH THE SPEED YOU WERE ABLE TO PUT DOWN TODAY? “A little bit. We went through practice and I thought the handle was really good, we were just missing some speed and I think it was just some comfort that came from me and trying to get over the bumps better. I was able to watch a lot of data from the two practices. Brad came over and gave me a lot of insight that helped me realize what I needed to try to do and pretty much went out in qualifying and committed to it. After the first round I knew we laid down a pretty good lap, we were just the third car on track so I didn’t know where it would lay. We went through everything and watched everyone else make laps and it ended up being an extremely strong lap. I knew we had a really good chance at it in the second round. There were a few cars that put down good numbers on only one lap and that was on my mind. We were able to get it in our first lap which probably helped even that out. I was able to get all we needed. It is pretty cool. It is a wild ride around this place. There is no breathing. It is like Bristol in so many ways. You are just wore out. I was out there shaking trying to get a drink afterward. It is a roller coaster of a race track and a lot of fun. For us sitting here looking at the race and wondering about track position and how important it will be on this one, it is always a little sensitive here and I think with the weather we were a little worried that it might not widen out as much as we need it to to have a good race. It has put down a lot of rubber pretty quick and that is exciting. I feel like that gives me some optimism for a good, wide race track. To start off we don’t have to worry about track position. I am really proud of everybody. That is really cool and cool to cross that one off the list.”

HOW FAR DO YOU THINK THE GROOVE WILL EXPAND DURING THE RACE? “I don’t know how quickly it will move around. I am optimistic it will just by the amount of rubber that did get laid down with it being cool outside in the grand scheme of things. You always get nervous that when that happens it becomes a really narrow one-groove race track. I don’t think it will be that way. We are going to watch the Xfinity race and pay attention to that, even though it is a very different race car nowadays. We will pay attention to see if it moves around there. I am hopeful it will move around within the first stage and I think when you get all the cars on track at the same time if it is going to move it probably will pretty quickly.”

WE HAVE SEEN GOOD RACING AT SOME OF THE HIGHER-SPEED TRACKS. WHAT ARE YOU ANTICIPATING THE NEXT THREE WEEKS, INCLUDING THIS ONE, WITH THIS CAR? “I think we are looking at this one as maybe our last big unknown. As we came into the weekend we have hit a lot of different race tracks with a lot of different characteristics and we have some different ones coming up but we can relate most of them to other race tracks. Dover being the off-set, right? Bristol would have been one, but Bristol on dirt is obviously worthless when we come to Dover on concrete. This is one we have had circled and a lot of meetings and talk about this event coming up. I think we ended with a whole lot more questions than answers. I don’t know what to expect for this one. I think we have seen it be track position-sensitive through the years and I know that is something that this car is trying to address. I don’t know how it will work here. If the track widens out like I feel pretty optimistic about right now, I think it will be a really good race and you can see us moving all the way around from the bottom at the apron all the way up to the fence like we have in different races in the past. Then Darlington, they have had a few tests there now so there are probably more laps there than Dover. The test here was a whole long time ago at this point. I think Darlington is always a challenge. More of the unknown of that race track might be the durability of the cars. We have seen it be pretty high and you are not worried about a metal body cutting down tires if you do get into the fence. Something we have seen be very forgiving in the Xfinity Series. That is something to maybe think about for this car. We have had some weak links that were exposed early that have been addressed and beefed up and I think that is going to maybe change the way we look at how aggressive we are running the outside line that can create so much speed at Darlington. A little unknown there and a lot of questions yet, but I think this here is the biggest unknown with a lot to figure out in a fairly long race. We will have a whole lot more answers by the end of the day tomorrow.,”

DID YOU THINK YOU WERE EVER GOING TO WIN A POLE IN NASCAR? “To be fair, I never put that much thought or emphasis into poles. I guess it wasn’t something I didn’t think we would ever get. I figured we would be able to hit our game right and grab one. It is cool to get it at Dover. We have had some good speed at different times and we are learning a lot with this car. With a 15 or 230-minute practice session and all the accidents that practice goes really quick. It is all about how you unload and how close you are and how quick you can get there if you didn’t get close from the start. This is a week where everyone did a really nice job in our group across the organization. It is really special for me to grab that first pole, hopefully, the first of many.

First Pole for RFK Racing Since 2017

DOVER, Del. (April 30, 2022) – Chris Buescher shocked the field with the fastest lap in qualifying at Dover Motor Speedway Saturday morning, putting his Fastenal Ford Mustang on the pole for Sunday’s race from the Monster Mile.

“Really proud of everybody on this Fastenal team, they did a nice job getting the car dialed in throughout practice,” Buescher said. “We laid down some really good laps in qualifying obviously and are feeling really confident about the race. It’s a tough track but a fun one, and really neat to get my first NASCAR pole here at Dover.”

It marks Buescher’s first career pole in any NASCAR National Series. It is also RFK’s first pole in five seasons (2017 – Stenhouse – Talladega), and the first not on a Superspeedway since 2013 when Stenhouse earned the pole at Atlanta.

Buescher’s fast lap gives Jack Roush his eighth Cup pole at Dover all-time and first at the 1-mile track since 2008. Crew chief Scott Graves earns his third career pole in the NCS and first since 2018.

Teammate Brad Keselowski will start from the 20th position in the Kohler Generators Ford. Sunday’s race is set for 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.

About Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing
RFK Racing, in its 35th season of competition in 2022, features an ownership lineup pairing one of the sport’s most iconic names, Jack Roush, along with NASCAR Champion, Brad Keselowski, and Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry. Roush initially founded the team in 1988 and it has since become one of the most successful racing operations in the world, propelling him to be the first NASCAR owner to amass three hundred wins and capturing eight championships, including back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles in 2003 and 2004. Keselowski, a former owner himself in the NASCAR Truck Series, joins the ownership fold while piloting the iconic No. 6 Ford, and brings to the team a championship mindset himself having won the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. In 2007, Roush partnered with Henry, who also owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox and English Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., to form Roush Fenway Racing. Off the track, RFK is a leader and proven winner in NASCAR marketing solutions, having produced multiple award-winning social media, digital content and experiential marketing campaigns. Visit rfkracing.com, and follow the team on all social platforms @rfkracing.

Toyota Racing – Kyle Busch
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DOVER, Del. (April 30, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to media prior to the Dover Motor Speedway race this Saturday:

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

What expectations do you bring into this weekend at Dover?

“It’s hard to exactly decipher that. You try to think of the right setup and the things you’ve done here in the past with loads and simulation and put it towards what the new car is and how you can apply that. I think everybody does that every week, so I don’t know if that is any different, but trying to fill out those philosophies to what has made us successful here in the past.”

Is this the last race that doesn’t compare to a track you have been at this season?

“No, I don’t think so. I would say this sister place to this, being Nashville, is going to be another place where you haven’t had somewhere that you’ve run before. Then I look to Michigan as well too for some place that you haven’t run before. Even though California is a two-mile, I don’t think they are at all close. I think you’ve still got to play that some of these places are different than ones that we’ve been to.”

Was there any discussion with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota this week after your comments last weekend?

“Yeah, there were some discussions and such.”

Do you think you’re in a better place?

“There is nothing to elaborate on. It’s all good.”

What criteria makes you a Hall of Famer and do you think you have achieved that?

“We’re all drivers and when you get voted in the Hall of Fame, you are a Hall of Famer, right? That’s the way it happens. Am I one? How many years do you have to wait once you retire? Is it three or five? (Two). It’s two. Thank you. I guess I will know in about 12 years.”

Does it benefit John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith to run races at Sam Hunt Racing when they return to your trucks?

“Thanks to Toyota that’s an opportunity that those guys have to be able to get more seat time. Whether or not there is seats available at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), I know that John Hunter (Nemechek) has been running some races at JGR as well too, but it’s just an opportunity to get in the series. With less Cup guys running over there, it kind of opens up the playing field more for guys of that and teams of Sam Hunt’s stature to go out there and compete. I think the team is getting better and that’s allowing the drivers to get that seat time in maybe not the best equipment to show their skill and get a good assessment of how good they are versus just being able to go jump in the best stuff and go contend for a win. I feel like it shines a light on what they have at my place, in my opinion, that it’s better than we think it is, hopefully.”

Do you think you are starting to make some gains?

“Yes, short answer. COTA, we were probably poised for a third or a fourth there and got crossed up with Christopher (Bell) there on the final lap, so that kind of ruined that and then somewhere else, we were running decent and thought we had a decent finish rolling and something happened. I can’t remember what it was. It’s not due to lack of effort. That is for sure. We’re still not the dominate force of being able to go out and lead laps and beat the competition into the ground, like we would like to do. It would be nice to get back to that footprint, but I don’t know that I’ve seen somebody that necessarily is doing that. There are a couple of guys that are running a little bit more consistent, little bit better average running position during a race than us, but we are able to claw our way to get finishes.”

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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
DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY
DURAMAX DRYDENE 400
PRESENTED BY RELADYNE
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 30, 2022

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 PITBULL TOUR 2022 CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:

COMING INTO DOVER, FIRST LAPS, NEW CAR, JUST WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND AS YOU GET READY TO PRACTICE AND QUALIFY HERE?

“Nerves. This place is intimidating. Walking in across the crossover bridge is a good reminder for how hard this place is, especially with this new car. I’m nervous. That’s what I feel right now. I feel prepared, but just the unknowns of it has the potential to be really volatile behind the wheel with the set up.”

I TALKED TO JUSTIN MARKS, YOUR BOSS, LAST WEEK. HE SAID THE FIRST JOB HE’S HAD IS TO CONVINCE YOU THAT YOU’RE NOT RACING FOR YOUR JOB ANYMORE, THAT YOU ARE SECURE AND DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT EVERY LAP BEING YOUR LAST. HE SAID HE THINKS HE HAS MADE PROGRESS THERE. HE SAID HIS NEXT JOB IS TO CONVINCE YOU THAT YOU ARE AN ELITE DRIVER IN THIS SERIES AND ARE GOING TO BE RUNNING UP FRONT FROM NOW ON. HOW FAR ALONG IN THAT PROCESS IS HE?

“I heard that interview and I realize some of the things I say or really what I think don’t come across as the most confidence building. I walk in here as the guy who would be here all week and the last time I sat up here was with the Delaware Office of Highway Safety and our Buckle Up, Protect your Melon campaign. That’s the kind of thoughts I have walking in here. Being up here all week, like Delaware people think I live here. I’d be here for the state fair, I’d be here for the week leading up to the race and that’s not just the normal NASCAR schedule. I’ll be honest, there is more work to be done and when I pull on track, I still feel like I am the same guy that was in Johnny’s (Davis) four car and this weekend funded most of our season just with that sponsorship. I would say that point blank there is still a lot of work to be done and Justin (Marks) is helping me with that. The group that I have around me is helping me with that and it’s not something that is going to get fixed overnight. I don’t know that it necessarily has to. I think keeping some of that natural feeling that every part of this is really cool. I know I should expect somethings, but also, it’s ok to not expect all the stuff either.”

IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BEING A TWO TIME WINNER VERSUS BEING A ONE TIME WINNER?

“Oh yeah (laughing). Everything. It’s twice as sweet, right? That was the phrase we ran with. It’s just unbelievable because Talladega was just not expected. COTA, yes, we felt like we had a good car, and we did everything right. Got wild at the end, but Talladega we took the white flag, and I unwrapped my thumbs from the wheel ready to crash. Just hold your thumbs up and ready to plug the wall or be backwards in the grass. The unexpectedness of it caught me off guard and a lot of us off guard, but winning in the Cup Series I had no idea now when my last one will be and a month ago, I didn’t know if I would ever win. The grind doesn’t stop with two wins. We come to Dover and put ourselves in position to do it again.”

WHAT, IF ANYTHING, ARE YOU DOING OR NOTICING THAT YOU ARE DOING BEHIND THE WHEEL THAT MIGHT BE DIFFERENT THIS YEAR WITH THE EQUIPMENT THAT YOU’RE IN THAN WHAT YOU FELT ANY OTHER TIME IN YOUR CAREER?

“Driving this car is totally different. I mean I’ve had to re-learn so many things. I mean down to shifting and how the sequential works versus the H pattern. The only thing that is the same for me in the car is my seat, my bucket, my insert, and my steering wheel. Literally, everything else is different. So, all the inputs are different. Everything that the car tells me comes through in a different way. The chassis’ completely different. It’s just everything about my driving is evolving. It’s always evolving as a racecar driver. Every racecar driver evolves every lap around the track and for me I’ve never ran the perfect lap, and I don’t think that I ever will. I will keep working to be as close as I can to that. It’s evolving and this car I don’t know what it requires, but I know that I don’t hustle the car like I used to. I don’t expect to go out here at Dover and that to be any different.”

ROSS, YOU’VE GOT PITBULL ON THE CAR THIS WEEK. CURIOUS HOW MUCH MORE PRESSURE IS THERE TO PERFORM WITH YOUR BOSS ON THE CAR?

“Mr. Worldwide. From the outside I saw Trackhouse last year and knew Justin (Marks) but didn’t really know anything else about it. To get fully involved in it and to be on calls with Armando (Pitbull) it’s wild. I mean he’s got so much going on in his life, in his career and his tours. He loves NASCAR. He loves what Trackhouse is doing and how he can tie together his fanbase with ours and there’s a lot of overlap. There’s also a lot of overlap that people don’t even know. Fans on both sides of him or us, we share a lot of the same stuff. Now, with this Can’t Stop Us Now tour that’s going to help tie all of this together. It’s going to really line up with a lot of race markets and people can see both sides. My memaw wants to go to the concert whenever it comes to Estero, Florida, like in Ft. Myers. She is on me this week like I want to go. I got to either get them some tickets or something. End of the year in October, she calls me like I saw this on Facebook, and I want to go. That’s the perfect example of my grandmother doesn’t even know one of his songs and I asked here are you sure. She’s like no, but he’s your owner and I want to support him, and I want to learn about him. Now, we will see after the concert what our thoughts are, but she is going to go experience it. I think that’s awesome and if you’ve ever been to one of his concerts, the music is one thing but for me between songs his messaging and his delivery of motivation one and the way he excites a crowd, but then spins in how great this country is and the messaging he has for tens of thousands of people it just makes you want to run through a brick wall. Having him on the car makes me want to go fight Miles the Monster. You want to do good.”

BOTH OF YOUR WINS THIS YEAR HAVE CAME WITH LAST LAP PASSES. HOW IMPORTANT HAS IT BEEN TO KIND OF MAINTAIN BEING THERE AT THE END AND MAINTAINING CONFIDENCE?

“Two years ago, I did not win either of those races, because I made aggressive moves and either cycled myself at Talladega back to 15th or at COTA I wheel hopped and went off the track or crashed into somebody or spun myself. Two years ago, driving the 10 car in Xfinity and I don’t win either one of those races. It’s all about being there at the end. There were opportunities in both of those races to take ourselves out and it didn’t happen. Now there have been other races this year that small mistakes added up to us not winning and we had the same opportunity to. I’m not perfect. I’m human. There’s mistakes and we’ve had a great start to the season and stats look great, but there’s mistakes in there that I’ve also learned from this year. Continuing to evolve that is tough. I mean this is the best group of racecar drivers in the world, in my opinion. Any mistake and they exploit that.”

YOU SAID LAST WEEK THAT YOUR WATERMELONS WERE ON THEIR LAST LEGS, RIGHT? HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE THIS WEEK AND DO YOU GO TO THE GROCERY STORE AND DO YOU FEEL ONE FOR THE PERFECT THROW? IS THERE A CERTAIN ONE THAT SMASHES BETTER THAN THE OTHER?

“Well, yeah. The one we were able to bust at Talladega we bought the week after COTA. It was on its last, we knew we saw it. Roy, our truck driver, who gets them; him and his wife go out and it’s tough sometimes but there’s watermelons in the stores year round now. That’s what is so great about America and agriculture right now, is no matter where you live there’s no watermelons grown and being harvested in Alabama last week, but there’s watermelons in the grocery stores. That’s not always been the case. Some of us in the room maybe remember those days, back in the day. That’s an old joke (laughing), I’m sorry. Roy’s learned to pick a good one and it’s three easy things; look, lift and turn. You look at it, it should be symmetrical. Lift, it should be heavy for it’s weight. They’re 92 percent water and the bottom should be yellow. He’s done a great job, but it’s been a bit of inexact science and I hope that soon we’ll have a better way to have better product. We’re working on that.”

INAUDIBLE

“We have one in the hauler. That’s more of a motivational piece and that’s the one that we bust. They bring that one out. Other times my dad had brought two from our farm. We are harvesting south Florida, Florida watermelons. Our farm is actively harvesting right now, so he had two. He brought his motorhome up and had them. We ended up not even busting them. He sent one home with a buddy, and we ate one after the race. We didn’t even bust them, we just cut them open. We won the Xfinity race at Daytona a few years ago, I think we busted probably 30. I mean, all night after that race just busting them all over the infield with people. I try to, if we have extras, let other people bust them because that’s cool. Everybody knows what the means. That means that we won. Sunday night, early into Monday morning, there is a video of some of my buddies busting one open that I’m just watching. That’s really cool.”

INAUDIBLE

“I’ve autographed my fair share of watermelons!”

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 – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DOVER, Del. (April 30, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media prior to the Dover Motor Speedway race this Saturday:

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

With your previous success, can you take anything from that to this new car?
“I don’t know yet. I think probably not a whole lot. I think it’s going to come down to who can make their car work the best around here. I think it’s going to be a big challenge. Having experience around this track brings confidence to know what you might want is important, but we only have 20 minutes to figure that out – figure out how to get that in the car and not a lot of ability to change big things. I think most of our speed was found between Monday and yesterday.”

In a couple weeks, you will make your 600th career Cup start. Is that surreal to you?

“It’s a lot of races, but pretty cool though to be around as long as we have. My career has not been easy. We have had a lot of tough years – been through a lot of stuff and to still be here battling, fighting for wins is pretty cool.”

What criteria makes you a Hall of Famer and do you think you have achieved that?

“I don’t know. I can’t really answer that. I see guys in the Hall of Fame and what they have done, and stat-wise it’s there, but I don’t know. I’ve not really given it much thought.”

Have you enjoyed the challenge of the new car?

“I’ve enjoyed it. I love racing. I love working with my team. Working with my guys has always been the most satisfying part of this job. Working with a group to try to be successful together, that’s been a lot of fun. It’s not different now. I don’t think too much about what I like better or worse about the car. It is what it is, and you’ve got to deal with it. I just try to focus on working with the team and doing the best job I can do for them. So far it has been fine. Hopefully, we can win soon. It’s been a decent year so far. We’ve been okay. We’ve had a couple tough races, but that is to be expected with this. We’ve got some good tracks coming up, so if we can do our jobs well, hopefully we can put ourselves in a good position. I don’t know that we’re the fastest car out there right now, but maybe we can find some stuff.”

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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
DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY
DURAMAX DRYDENE 400
PRESENTED BY RELADYNE
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 30, 2022

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:

ONE OF THE CRITICISMS TOWARDS YOUR TEAM IN PAST YEARS HAS BEEN THE LACK OF CONSISTENCY. BUT IN THESE LAST FEW WEEKS, YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO STRING TOGETHER A PRETTY CONSISTENT RUN OF GOOD FINISHES. WHAT ARE YOU FEELING WITH THIS NO. 48 TEAM THIS YEAR AND HOW HAS THE TEAM ADAPTED TO THIS NEXT GEN CAR?
“I feel like that’s been a knock on us; but at times, we’ve been really consistent. Like the end of 2020, we were really, really strong. Last year, we were definitely less consistent than we wanted to be. I feel like we’ve been good so far this year. We’ve had some races – like Martinsville, we struggled, and that’s probably the worst we’ve been. Other than that, we’ve just had some things that were out of our control at a couple.

But yeah, I think we’ve done a good job of adapting to the Next Gen car. We’re in a good place right now. It’s really interesting coming to a lot of these race tracks not really knowing what to expect. The setups are almost a guess. It’s completely based off of simulation and hoping that we get it right; and you really can’t change much once you’re here. It’ll be interesting to see how we are today, but I think we’re in a good place. My guys have been doing a really good job with the Next Gen car.”

ARE THERE SPECIFIC THINGS THAT YOU’RE MOST CONCERNED ABOUT HERE AT DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY, WHEN WE LOOK AT THE CHALLENGES OF THIS RACE TRACK?
“I just feel like the loads are really high. Entry and exit is never comfortable here, just with falling down into the corner. And then as you unload the car up off the corner, typically you’re really, really, really loose in both situations. With this car, you can be a little loose; but if you’re really loose, you really can’t catch it and you kind of just don’t have the feel and end up backwards most of the time. Hopefully we can avoid that.

I don’t really know how the race is going to play out. I keep getting asked how it’s going to play out all week and I don’t know. I think a lot of it is going to be dependent on the tire. But I think this Next Gen car – it might drive better than the old car did here and it might drive worse, but we won’t know for the next hour and a half or so.”

IS IT A LITTLE UNNERVING WHEN YOU, YOUR CREW CHIEF AND ENGINEERS ARE USED TO BEING ABLE TO PREDICT STUFF; AND YOU COME HERE AND IT IS SO HARD TO PREDICT AND HAVE SO LITTLE TIME?
“A little bit. Just finding the grip level the first couple of laps is probably the biggest part. Dover (Motor Speedway) is pretty high commitment. Like once your off into the corner, you have to drive in pretty far; and if it doesn’t stick that first time, it’s going to be a bad time. So, just trying to figure out how committed to be the first couple of laps and trying to get up to speed quickly, but also smartly, is probably the hardest part.”

I TALKED TO SOME XFINITY DRIVERS YESTERDAY AROUND THE QUALIFYING EFFORT AND THEY WERE ACTUALLY GETTING STOMACH ACHES AS THEY GOT READY TO TAKE THAT DROP. IS IT THAT WAY FOR YOU TOO?
“Yeah, that’s kind of typical Dover (Motor Speedway). The first couple of laps here feels like a rollercoaster more than anything. But I think as you’ve ran here for 10 years or whatever, it feels normal. But I remember my first couple of times here, it’s really aggressive and I’m sure for a couple of laps today it’ll feel that way, as well.”

THE 1-2-3-4 FINISH FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS – A YEAR LATER. REFLECT ON THAT MOMENT, THE CELEBRATION AFTERWARD AND THE PICTURE THAT’S STILL ON THE COVER OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES.
“Yeah, it was really cool. I’m glad I was on the right side of it; got some bragging rights there. I don’t have many bragging rights over guys like Kyle Larson, but I’ll take that one. It was a really special day, for sure. Pretty unbelievable that Hendrick Motorsports had never done that before. So, to be a small part of that was really cool. It was a good celebration, for sure. Definitely was the only guy in sunglasses there the next day to take that picture for a reason (laughs).

But it was fun. Really enjoyed celebrating that with my team. This is a race track that I really wanted to win at, so it’s really cool.”

THE NO. 48 HAS A LOT OF HISTORY HERE AND COMING BACK HERE AS THE DEFENDING WINNER, IS THERE ANY ADDED PRESSURE IN THAT REGARD?
“I don’t think so. It’s hard to have a ton of pressure when you don’t know what to expect. I don’t know how the car is going to drive. There are so many unknowns and I’m just trying to figure those things out. So the pressure to run well is there, but I don’t think there is any added pressure coming back as the previous winner or driving the No. 48.”

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