NASCAR CUP SERIES
CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS
ECHOPARK AUTOMOTIVE GRAND PRIX
TEAM CHEVY TELECONFERENCE TRANSRIPT
MARCH 23, 2022
A.J. ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series weekend at Circuit of The Americas. Teleconference Transcript:
WITH THE NEW CAR IT’S WITH THE COMPOSITE BODY FOR THE CUP SERIES AND THAT’S EXPERIENCE YOU HAVE IN THE XFINITY SERIES AND I’M CURIOUS, HOW MIGHT THAT CHANGE THE RACING THAT WE’LL SEE IN CUP IN TERMS OF WHAT THEY WILL DO ON A ROAD COURSE AND PARTICUARLY WITH THE SHORT-TRACKS COMING UP?
“I think it’s not so much about the body on the road courses. It’s the brakes. Much bigger brakes. That’s a thing that really stood out to me at the ROVAL test was just how much later we could be on the brakes and with the sequential box you don’t wheel hop that easy, so that’s another reason you can brake later. That is the biggest difference. The cars are a little more nimble as well, so you can kind of throw them around and lap times were a ton quicker at the ROVAL it seemed like. Speeds will be up, I think physicality of the racecar will be up even more and I think that in a way could make passing a little easier could make it a little harder because you know we’re all that much deeper on the brakes. It’ll be interesting to see. You know COTA’s going to be one of those races that if the weather looks like it the way it is it’s going to be so hard to judge off of last year just because of how wet the race is. Yeah, I think that’s going to be the biggest difference on that. You know the short-tracks remain to be seen. It’s looked like at these races if you do kind of get into the wall the car takes it in one way on the body side of it but with the suspension, I think it’s a little more sensitive. You can’t just beat and bang off of each other and know it’s going to be ok because it seems like it’s a lot easier to have contact and do some suspension damage. I think we’ll kind of see how that plays out, but definitely with COTA braking is going to be the biggest difference to me than what it was last year.”
CERTAINLY, GOING TO BE A LOT WARMER, MID-80S. SO THIS WILL BE THE FIRST HOT RACE OF THE SEASON FOR YOU GUYS. I KNOW THAT OFTEN CAN BE A CHALLENGE, JUST THAT FIRST RACE. WHAT MIGHT THAT BE LIKE AND HOW MUCH OF A TEST WILL THAT BE OF THIS CAR? OBVIOUSLY, THERE WERE THE HEATING ISSUES IN THE COCKPIT EARLIER THAT CERTAINLY CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE, BUT WHAT KIND OF A CHALLENGE WILL THIS WEEKEND BE FOR YOU GUYS JUST TO STAY COOL?
“Yeah, I mean I’ve only been able to really do one full Cup race so far at Phoenix. It wasn’t overly warm. It wasn’t really cool at that race, so I felt like the cooling was a lot better than the test at the ROVAL. I just remember running three or four laps and thinking wow this is really hot. On that day at the ROVAL it was real overcast. It was kind of cool, so I thought to myself this is going to be tough during the summer. You know that first race that’s warm is always a challenge to the drivers. It being on a road course with all the brake heat and motor heat and things like that makes it a little more extreme. I think everybody’s probably noticing that and seeing the weather and probably trying to hydrate as much as possible to get ready for the race.”
THE LAST 11 RACES HAVE BEEN WON BY DRIVERS UNDER 30. A LOT OF THOSE GUYS YOU’VE RACED IN THE XFINITY SERIES AS WELL, SO I AM KIND OF CURIOUS DO YOU SEE ANYTHING THAT YOUNG DRIVERS ARE DOING OR DO THAT MAY LEND THEMSELVES TO HAVE MORE SUCCESS IN THIS NEW CAR?
“I mean that’s a tough question Bob. I’m not really sure. I think it more shows the talent that is coming into NASCAR. From a young age the opportunities, I think these drivers a lot of them getting it right away whether it’s talent, sponsorship, both. It allows them to develop a lot faster and then you get in the Cup Series and they’re able to stick with those organizations that they come through Xfinity or more importantly get into a really good Cup ride, and it just shows that they got talent. That’s great for the sport to have such a pool of talent coming in, whether it’s through trucks and Xfinity and into Cup. You see guys like Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson that come from the dirt side of it. They’re just so good at anything that they get in. That’s what makes it fun, especially in the Cup side of it, but even on the Xfinity side of it now. When you show up and strap in, you know on the Xfinity side of it just to be at your best, run top-10 let alone go out and win the race. On the Cup side of it looks like it’s 20 to 25 deep at least, so it’s a lot of fun as a driver to show up and know that you have to be at your best just to run inside or even be somewhat competitive.”
DOES HAVING WON THE BRICKYARD LAST YEAR MAKE THE THOUGHT OF WINNING ON SUNDAY ANYMORE BELIEVEABLE? DO YOU GUYS GO INTO THIS RACE NOW SUNDAY WITH MORE CONFIDENCE BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU WERE ABLE TO DO AT THE BRICKYARD LAST YEAR?
“I wouldn’t say it gives us more confidence. I mean it’s a completely different year, different racecar, right? I feel like with what Kaulig Racing has done so far in the Cup side of it, we’ve had decent amount of speed at these racetracks. I felt like the ROVAL test, although a long time ago it seems like back in October and these cars have developed a lot from that, but we had a good amount of speed the first day there. I think that’s where the confidence comes from. It’s trying to have the same mentality. I mean, on the Cup side of it you know to go out there and try to run inside the top 10 all day and if that gives us an opportunity to win the race then that’s great. Try to make the best of it and you really kind of change your expectations I think based off of practice and qualifying. If you feel like you got speed to go out and win the race, then you go try to do it and if not that’s something that you just try to make the best of the day. I think with the win at Indy, in a strange way kind of takes a little pressure off because we’ve won in the Cup Series, we’ve won one of the best places in the world that you could win at, so for me at least mentally takes a little pressure off because we have done that and it’s just a bonus from here on out. I always have confidence at these racetracks and feel if we’re at our best we can go contend with the best teams out there.”
WHAT SORT OF OPPORTUNITY DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS CAR PROVIDES YOU SPECIFICALLY ON THE ROAD COURSES? WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO SHOWCASE BETTER IN THE NEXT GEN CAR THAN PREVIOUS GENERATION CARS?
“Everybody’s so good on the Cup side of it, so I wouldn’t say that this car lends more of an opportunity for myself. I do like how aggressive you can be with it. Braking you can really push the brakes extremely late compared to the old generation car and that’s something that I really enjoy is to kind of peak brake pressure or peak brake distance getting into a corner and try to maximize that. You can kind of toss the car around a bit more, just a little bit more nimble, the steering is quicker, the car reacts quicker. So that’s something that I always enjoy about a racecar. It makes it enjoyable to go out there and attack a race car, especially at a place like COTA where there’s so many corners, so many different types of corners that whether it’s high speed or late on the brakes. You know with that said, somebody like Kyle Larson or Chase Elliott I mean they are so good. They figure it out as well. I think more than anything it just makes it a little bit more enjoyable to go out there and drive.”
BEING A REALLY EXPERIENCED RACECAR DRIVER, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO GO TO A PLACE LIKE AUSTIN AND KIND OF EXPOSE NASCAR TO AN AUDIENCE THAT MAY NOT BE SO MOTORSPORTS SAVY OUTSIDE OF F1?
“I felt like last year the point that we showed up to Austin we were kind of just coming out of what we you know over the past couple years of what we all had to deal with with COVID. The crowd for as bad as the weather was, I couldn’t believe on Sunday how packed the racetrack was for just the monsoon that we all sat in and had to deal with. I feel like the first couple of races of a new market or a new racetrack you get a really good crowd, so I think it’s about trying to keep that crowd there or keep growing the crowd. Austin has shown with the IndyCar race and the F1 races there that motorsports side of Austin, Texas is very savvy. It’s very popular. I hope that this weekend you know good weather, we get a huge crowd again and we go put on a great show for three different races there. That’s what I think is unique about NASCAR is you know you have three great series that show up and go put on a show at a place like this and you get a lot of bang for your buck. Hopefully that crowd shows up and we put on a great show and keep growing what is just an amazing city. I think that’s what it’s about is we’ve got great racetracks that we go to, but you go to new cities, and you know you bring out a new crowd and Austin, Texas for sure is a fantastic city to be a part of. Hopefully we show that again.”
PARKER KLIGERMAN SAID THAT THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A NASCAR FAN OR F1 FAN, YOU’RE JUST MOTOSPORTS FANS WHETHER YOU KNOW IT OR NOT. HOW HELPFUL WOULD IT BE FOR NASCAR TO HAVE AN F1 TYPE OF DOCUMENTARY LIKE DRIVE TO SURVIVE BUT WITH NASCAR?
“That’s a really good question, because you know on the F1 side of it it’s relatively to say NASCAR or other motorsports maybe it’s not quite as popular because I think the biggest reason why is we haven’t had American in there full-time since I think Scott Speed. Formula One being around the world you get drawn to it whether you have a favorite driver or it’s a driver from your country that you love and you follow. So, I think with Netflix has shown just all parts of the sport in a relative short amount of time. Our attention spans aren’t very long, so you watch a 45-minute documentary of that week of whatever they’re covering and then you go to the next one and the next one. That’s really grown to allow people that maybe have never been a part of Formula One or never truly watched it, to all of a sudden say well hell I want to watch this race now because look what’s going on. You know, here in the U.S. would it be as popular for NASCAR I don’t know. Maybe it might be, but I think it’s a little bit different just because NASCAR is more implemented here in the U.S. than say around the world like Formula One. I look at it, anything you can do you know the Bubba Wallace documentary; I think is going to help bring some fans to the sport. Anything you can do to get NASCAR mainstream is only going to help grow the sport. By how much, we don’t know but it’s only going to help all the people, the sponsors, the sport itself.”
AS SOMEONE THAT’S BEEN WITH KAULIG RACING FOR A LITTLE BIT OF TIME NOW, HOW DO YOU FEEL THE TEAM HAS HANDLED THEIR MAJOR EXPANSION TO CUP SO FAR?
“It’s been a challenge for sure. All the men and women here at Kaulig Racing, the amount of hours that they’ve had to put in and I’m sure every organization is like that to a certain extent with this new car and the biggest challenge is there’s just not a lot of parts for these cars. It’s hard to get part for the Xfinity cars right now as well. I think as an organization we’ve done it at one of the most difficult times with this new car and with everything that we face right now just to try to get these cars built every week, I know the Cup side of it I think they are going to load the cars at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning to get ready. It’s been tough and all we can do, especially us drivers, is try to show our appreciation for what all the men and women are doing right now, because they’re putting in so many hours that it’s in a way unfair but it’s what has to be done just to get these cars ready to go. With that said, I think we’ve done a great job to put on two new Cup cars, to bring in all the people. I’m sitting in our brand new race shop right now that just got done at the beginning of the season, so moving shops and trying to see how that coordinates between the Xfinity side of it and the Cup side of it, we’re doing the best that we can. I think the results have been pretty decent. Justin (Haley) is definitely moving up through each race. You can see the improvement with him and Trent (Owens). Daniel has been really good at the races that he’s been in it. Phoenix, you know we got a top 20. We managed what we could out of it, so with all that said I think on the Xfinity and the Cup side of it we’re doing a really good job.”
WHAT STANDS OUT WITH COTA COMPARED TO OTHER ROAD COURSES THAT NASCAR GOES TO?
“I think it’s the length of the lap first of all. It’s very long. It’s unique in the sense of, so you take like a Sonoma that is pretty low speed corners all the way around the racetrack. Even take Road America and the length is probably longer than COTA, the lap times are probably a little bit quicker which means that racetrack is more high speed. A lot of the corners are mid-speed corners to high-speed corners. COTA is probably unique in the sense that the flow of the racetrack. Very high speed in certain sections. Long straightaways, but into very tight brake zones. The esses you kind of flow a lot of speed through them, so that is what is probably different than every other racetrack that we go to. Those road courses are kind of just one type of racetrack. They’re either pretty high speed, low speed. COTA’s got a little bit of everything there and you know I felt like on the Xfinity race because that was the dry race that I ran in, passing was more difficult than I expected. Track position is even more critical there than I would say at the other racetracks, but that’s probably what is most different out of that racetrack compared to the other ones that we go to.”
EACH WEEK THIS YEAR YOU’VE HAD A TOP-10 FINISH. HOW MUCH HAS THAT HELPED YOUR CONFIDENCE THIS EARLY IN THE SEASON?
“I feel like on the Xfinity side of it, this was a race that we learned a lot. We finished second, which was a great run, but we got our butts kicked by Kyle Busch that day and it really made us go back to the drawing board with our road course set ups and say ok we need to do something different, because you know Kyle got in and it wasn’t close really. We could match him on lap times early in a run but by the end of the run he was gone. Felt like this race last year really propelled our road course program on the Xfinity side, made us make a lot of changes. So, I’m really excited to go back to it just to see if it works there. On the Cup side of it, I just love road course racing. I’m looking forward to the challenge of this new car at a road course for all the reasons that I’ve talked about. Even though we finished fifth there in the wet, that does nothing to translate to the new car, but I just love road course racing. I think this car, especially, is going to be a lot of fun on the road courses. Can’t wait to go attack it.”
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