ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – HOW MUCH IMPORTANCE DOES YOUR TEAM PUT ON QUALIFYING TONIGHT? “You have to put some importance in single-car speed. Everybody works really hard building the cars at the shop to put all of the speed into the car before it leaves the shop, so it’s really hard. Once you get here, you just really work on driveability. There’s not a whole lot you can do for speed, at least that I know of. The crew chief probably has a different opinion, but usually what you show up with is what you have, so at this point you get an idea of where you stack up and it’s really hard to tell in practice just where you stack up because you don’t know how much of a help guys are getting from a draft from the cars in front of them or not, and nobody has gone through tech like you do before you go to qualify. We’ll have to wait and see tonight.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang – HOW MUCH IMPORTANCE DOES YOUR TEAM PUT ON QUALIFYING TONIGHT? “I think more than anything it’s just the pride we have at the shop. They work all off-season trying to get ready and you don’t know where you stack up until you go to qualify because of all those variables in practice. I think you put a little bit of stock in it, but at the end of the day you’re racing the pack, you’re not racing by yourself, but the faster your car can be by yourself, typically the better it’s gonna be in the pack. I don’t think there’s a ton, especially on these cars, that you can do to find speed. What you’ve got is kind of what you’ve got. I know for us, we haven’t put a ton into qualifying just because you have the Duels to kind of dictate where you’re gonna start anyway.”

HOW MUCH WILL QUALIFYING TELL US ABOUT THE NEXT GEN CAR? “I don’t know if I’m the guy to answer it, but I think that it’s gonna be hard to tell. There’s gonna be some teams, I think, and manufacturers that will probably be a little bit better by themselves than others. I don’t know how much you can really read into qualifying. I think the same top teams are still gonna be fast. I think there’s still gonna be that gap throughout the field, but that difference in first to 40th with this Next Gen car will probably be a little bit smaller than it was with the old car. Outside of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see a ton of differences.”

ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED – ARE YOU OPEN TO RUNNING THE 500 AGAIN IN THE FUTURE? “Potentially. I’d have to talk to my wife and kids about it and see if I could get a hall pass to do it. I don’t know. You never know what the future holds. I came down here before thinking that it could be my last in year’s past, like when you don’t have a contract going past that year. You never really know when it is gonna be your last Daytona 500. I got my eyes open to that. When I wrecked at Kansas and broke my back I wasn’t sure if that was gonna be the end of my career there as well. Every time I come down here it’s special and you never know when it’s gonna be your last Daytona 500. For me, growing up just a couple hours down the road this is home for me. I always get goosebumps when I drive through that tunnel and it’s the start of the season and a land of opportunity when you show up down here for the first race of the year. Everybody comes down here with a lot of positive vibes and thinking that they’ve got an opportunity to be the Daytona 500 champion.”

CHASE BRISCOE CONTINUED – WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS YEAR? “I feel like last year the first half of the season we were just learning each other as a team and I felt by the end of last year we were consistently a 10th-15th place team and were able to contend for wins occasionally, but not as often as we would obviously like. I think this year, in L.A. I felt like we were one of the top three cars and had a mechanical failure, but I think as a goal we want to make the playoffs and we want to do it by winning a race and not on points. And if we win one race why can’t we win more than one? So there’s no number. We would love to just win one, but I think to be more consistently in the top 10 and more consistently battling for wins, instead of the three or four times we did last year.”

ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED – DO YOU HAVE A BUNCH OF FAMILY COMING TO THIS RACE? “I do have a lot of people coming. We have a lot of family and a lot of friends coming, just to take it in. It’s the Daytona 500. I know the next race in August is the last race of the year in Daytona, but this is the only Daytona 500 of the year and so we have a lot of family and a lot of friends coming over. I’m sure it’ll be hectic. My wife, Janice, is managing all that so I don’t really have to worry about it, but we’ve got everybody asking for passes and a parking pass and everything else, so she’s managing all of that. I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited. It’s gonna be fun. That’s one of the things, flying down here yesterday morning and then driving through the tunnel I really reminded myself to just slow down. Our lives as race car drivers and just in the industry, you get on an airplane, you fly, you hurry up and get to the next place, you hurry up and do the next meeting, you hurry up and do the next practice, the next meet-and-greet. Whatever it is, you’re always in a hurry. My life is lived on a minute-by-minute schedule. I could show you my itinerary for the Daytona 500 Speedweek this week and literally, my schedule is broken down into a minute-by-minute schedule, so I just reminded myself driving through the tunnel yesterday morning like, ‘Slow down. Take it all in. Embrace it.’ What we get to do is incredible. I get to drive a race car for a living and I’m tremendously blessed to do that. It’s one thing to say it, but it’s another thing to kind of slow down and kind of embrace it and live it, and that’s kind of my goal for this week and going into this year.”

HAS THE BEEN ANY THOUGHT THIS WEEK ABOUT WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN IN 2018? “Yeah, but only because yesterday between practices they were showing it on TV and the TV was on in our hauler, so it reminded me. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it, honestly. Would I love to be a Daytona 500 champion? Absolutely, and I would love to get it done this year. That would be fantastic, and if I never get it done that’s OK. I want to. I’m a competitor and I have a huge desire to win at any racetrack that we go to, but especially here. Winning in 2014 here I remember standing in victory lane, it was raining, and I remember looking up into the grandstands, and I know the grandstands have changed since then, but I remember being a boy and I remember sitting up there with my grandfather and my dad and my mom and my aunts and uncles. I remember watching races here, watching the Daytona 500, watching the Firecracker 400, sitting in those grandstands. I remember being in victory lane for the Duels last year. We won the Duels and, again, standing in victory lane and looking up there and just kind of in disbelief, like ‘I can’t believe it.’ I’ve won an Xfinity race here. I’ve not won a Daytona 500 here. I know where victory lane is. I’m very familiar with it, but I’ve not won a Daytona 500 and it would be very special, but at the end of the day trophies collect dust and I don’t put all my stock and all my weight in being a Daytona 500 champion.”

CHASE BRISCOE CONTINUED – WHERE DO YOU NEED TO GET BETTER? “I think looking back to last year in the Cup Series I learned really quickly that you can do everything right and still struggled to run 15th, so just trying to eliminate mistakes. I think I had more pit road penalties than anybody last year and just doing all the little things right. Maximizing green flag pit stops, getting on and off pit road, obviously on pit road doing all those things right. There’s just a lot of things that in Cup race if you’re gonna win these things, you’ve got to do everything perfect and I didn’t do a lot of those things last year. I felt like I made a lot of mistakes. In the lower series you can get away with those things and still win races. In the Cup Series, I don’t think you can do that. There are very few guys that can make mistakes and get big penalties and come back from it, so I think just doing that is kind of the biggest thing I feel I could do better, and then from a successful season this year if we can just make the playoffs I think that’s a big goal that we have. If we can be one of those top 16 teams and we went into the playoffs, I feel like that’s a big accomplishment, so that’s our goal. Like I said earlier, I’d love to get there by winning a race and not by points, so if we could do that, I would consider it a successful season.”

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GET THE ROOKIES THIS YEAR? “I think, for me, first off just enjoy it. You dream your whole career trying to get to the Cup Series and you get here and, like Aric was saying, and it gets to where you’re just in a rush. It’s minute by minute by minute and you don’t really savor the moment of being in the Cup Series and what a privilege it is. There are only 40 people that can say they’re a Cup Series driver, so, for me, I think I didn’t do the greatest job of that last year at times. You get so caught up in results and all these things and the pressure that comes with it, so just saying you’re a Cup Series driver. This is what you’ve dreamed of your whole life and really just appreciating that moment, so I think that’s the biggest thing for me to tell those guys is to just slow down at times. It’s so easy to get caught up in the lifestyle and caught up in the results and all these things and then outside of that it’s just you’re gonna get race really hard and just standing your ground to a certain extent. Racing for 20th in the Cup Series I think is the hardest racing you’ll ever do in your career and it’s so easy to let those guys push you around at times and I think you’ve got to eventually stand up for yourself to a certain extent and that goes a long way and guys start racing you differently after that. So that would be the biggest thing for me is first off just slow down and really appreciate the moment and second you’ve got to earn your respect, but at the same time you can’t just give, give, give all the time.”

ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED – “To expand on that something I think of differently and looking back to when I first got started in the Cup Series I wish somebody would have told me to be prepared to work harder than you’ve ever worked before. That’s one of the things I think about. When you make it to the Cup Series that’s not the end goal. You’ve made it, but you’re not done. The work ethic and the level of expectations and stress and everything just continues to ratchet up as you progress from series to series. When you make it to the highest level and you make it to the Cup Series, the expectations of you and of yourself need to be the highest they’ve ever been, and you’ve got to be prepared to work, whether that’s through making sure that you’re doing all the things you need to do from studying to being ready to go in the race car, being fit, making sure you pay attention to your hydration so you’re not cramping up inside the race car and all those things. I didn’t do the best of job at that as I entered into the Cup Series. I worked really hard at that through the process, but the work ethic and the guys even on the team and the crew chief and the engineers and everybody that supports you is so high that you need to have that expectation of yourself as well.”

CHASE BRISCOE CONTINUED – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR TRIP TO GET HERE? “What a couple days it’s been. Last Monday, I bought a fifth wheel. I drove it down myself on Sunday and I was going down 95 and the leaf springs fell out of it. It was sideways going down the road. Luckily, it didn’t flip over, so I sat on the side of the road for I think 10-11 hours. It’s still sitting there. They haven’t found anybody to come fix it or tow it, so it could have been really bad. It moved the axle back about 10-15 degrees and it was sideways going down the road. Luckily, it happened literally an eight-of-a-mile before an exit ramp and I was able to get off, but I had both dogs, had the baby, had the wife with me and it was eventful. We left Charlotte at 8 a.m. and we got to Daytona at 1 a.m. Still no fifth wheel, but it was quite the day, for sure.”

ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED – WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET COMING INTO THE 500 THIS YEAR? “That’s a deep question, to be honest. The car and the racing is still yet to be proven out. There’s still a lot of unknowns with the new car and how it’s gonna race and how it’s gonna be, and then to cap all that off like how aggressive are you gonna be and can you be throughout the week? There’s a limited supply of cars and parts and pieces and all those things, so that changes the dynamic for sure. It’s not like when we used to come down here and by the time we got ready to leave for Daytona we had eight race cars pretty much ready to go – two to three per car number for Daytona specifically and then your west coast cars were all but wrapped up and finished and ready to go before we left for Daytona. That’s not the case, so that changes things. I think we’ll still see the same dramatic Daytona 500 that we always see when it comes down to crunch time and the pay window opens because everybody wants to be the Daytona 500 champion and everybody wants to win the biggest race of the year and so as competitors and as race car drivers we’re going to shoot for every gap and put ourselves in whatever position we need to to try and win the race.”

CHASE BRISCOE CONTINUED – WHAT WAS IT LIKE FILMING YOUR MAHINDRA COMMERCIAL WITH TONY AND WAS THAT YOUR FIRST ONE? “Yeah, that was the first big one, for sure. It was cool. For me, everybody that knows me knows that I was a diehard Tony Stewart fan growing up, so to drive for him and now do commercials with him is cool. It’s a surreal moment every time. Any time I can be around Tony it’s crazy to think 15-20 years ago I was wearing that Home Depot uniform with helmet acting like I was him playing my video game, and now I’m doing all these things with him, so it was cool. It’s crazy how much goes into a 30-second commercial. I learned that really quickly. I think we did two full 9-10 hour days to do two 30-second commercials, so it was a lot, but it’s super cool to do and super cool to see and the fans love it so far, so it’s been a really neat thing to be a part of.”

HAS TONY GIVEN YOU ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO NAVIGATE THAT SIDE OF THE JOB? “Truthfully, no. I don’t know if you want to take his advice either way, but no, not really. Tony wasn’t even there the first one we did. They kind of had him do it at a separate time, so I was only around Tony a couple hours the one day. It was neat though to do and Mahindra, I think has proved pretty quickly how serious they are about the NASCAR thing. To be investing in the race team, my dirt racing and now also doing commercials all over the place it’s pretty special to be a part of it and be a part of that team. It’s been cool and it’s only gonna keep getting bigger and better, so it’s something to be really excited about, for sure.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang — YOU HAVE WON SIX TIMES AT TALLADEGA BUT YOU HAVEN’T CROSSED THE LINE HERE FIRST IN THE 500. IS THAT COINCIDENTAL OR ARE THE TWO TRACKS SO DIFFERENT THAT THEY DON’T RELATE IN THAT WAY? “I don’t know. I have probably won some race sat Talladega I didn’t deserve to win and probably lost some here I deserved to win. I imagine it evens itself out somehow, it just hasn’t evened itself out in the way I would like it to here. I feel like we were really close last year and trying to make the pass for the lead on the last lap and the last corner. It doesn’t get much closer than that. If I can just keep the thing with four wheels on the ground pointed the right way for a whole race I think I can have a pretty good shot at it. Then again there is a stat floating around that 75-80% of the field wrecks out of this thing. There is something about the Daytona 500 where we seem to get a lot of wrecks here late. I have a hard time missing all those. The key to me though is when you do somehow become one of the 10-20% that doesn’t wreck out that you capitalize on it and win those races. I think we are prepared for that and we have got good cars and had a great day yesterday on the track and I feel comfortable that we will be in the running. I am excited about it, not just for me but for both cars. We will have to see how the weekend plays out. If we can avoid those crashes we will be there and have a shot at it for sure.”

THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS THE SPORT HAS SEEN SIGNIFICANT CHANGES. A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THAT HAS CREATED A LOT OF MOMENTUM. AS A TEAM OWNER, THOSE CHANGES HAVE COME AS EXPENSES TO TEAMS. AS THEY HAVE TAKEN PLACE, WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE MOVING FORWARD? CAN BIG MOVES STILL BE SUSTAINED OR DO THINGS HAVE TO BE THROTTLED BACK TO HELP TEAMS AFTER WHAT THEY HAVE DONE THE LAST COUPLE YEARS? “I think the moves on the schedule have been a huge success. You could maybe argue long overdue. I am really happy to see the changes we have made and eagerly anticipating changes we will make to the schedule for years to come. I think it drives an energy into our sport that is critical for our sustainability and success. If that comes with expense to the team along the way – and I think I can say this as a team owner now – we need to just suck it up and make it work. When you look at those costs, they aren’t nothing without a doubt, but they are nowhere close to even more than 1 or 2 percent of our budget. I try not to sweat it. NASCAR has done a great job I think of some givebacks along the way and they fought really hard on the schedule stuff with everybody to get it to where it is more tolerable. I think on its face it is hard to explain the real ROI but we had gotten to a point where just being in the garage areas was a miserable experience for a lot of people. By getting it down to two-day shows for a lot of these things we are able to make it more manageable for our people nad a big giveback to cut some costs and really improve the culture of the garage area and stop burning out people so fast. I think there have been some givebacks along the way to offset some of the challenges in the schedule. There are a lot of people that are probably frustrated over racing on Easter in the garage area but that is one of the biggest TV weekends for sports so it made sense to me from that perspective. I think we have a lot of good things going on, more good than bad than I have seen in my time at the Cup level which is 12 or 13 years now. There is a lot of reason for excitement and I think we are on an upward trend and a big part of that starts with schedule variability that we really hadn’t had five or six years ago. It isn’t the only thing we have to be excited about but it is certainly one of the high tides for sure.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang — YOUR THOUGHTS ON ATLANTA MAYBE TURNING INTO A SPEEDWAY RACE? “I got to run the test down there. Obviously, it was just three of us and new asphalt is always hard to get a good read but leaving there I did not feel like you are going to have a Daytona or Talladega race. Handling was very much a factor. Yes, the throttle time was wide open but there were still some pretty big moments with very few cars. The racing surface is very narrow with the added banking. I don’t think you are going to end up with the product we have here. I don’t know what it will look like. It will be some form of a hybrid. You get more cars out there and the track rubbers up and the grip goes up then maybe it will trend more towards a Daytona-style race but I left there thinking that it is not Daytona. It is not Talladega. There is going to be a lot that we are going to be focusing on to try to have some downforce in the cars and have drivability to move around. It is not going to be to see how fast you can go single-car. You are going to be trying to get handling into the race car.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED — “I think for a long time SMI wanted a plate track and so they made one. It will be interesting to see how it plays out because the other plate tracks are 2.5 miles where Atlanta is 1.5 miles. That mile shorter distance naturally makes the turns much tighter than they would be at a track like this and the straightaways shorter as well to make moves. It will definitely look different than Daytona and Talladega. I can’t say I know exactly how since I haven’t turned a lap around the track. I know it looks different between testing and racing. A lot of question marks for sure.”

AS A NEW OWNER, HOW MUCH DO YOU LOOK AT EMERGING DEMOGRAPHICS, YOUNGER DEMOGRAPHICS AND HOW THINGS LOOK AND WHO THEY SPEAK TO? “The sport is changing and we are trying to find new fans and try to grow with the world around us. I am probably not the fashion expert in the room by any means but there are all kinds of new opportunities for us as a sport to grow into new technologies and things that resonate with a younger fan base. It always comes at the risk of alienating an older fan base and it seems like we are always kind of dancing around that, and I understand that. I think it is important to have our eyes wide open, whether it is fashion trends or NFT’s or whatever it is next – crypto currency is the hot button now. You watch the Super Bowl and you would think the world is electric cars and crypto coins. I don’t know if that is what most of the real world sees but it is probably more what the next generation is going to see and we have to be prepared for that and I think that is driving a lot of our future looking for the sport.”

10 YEARS AGO WAS YOUR FAMOUS TWEET ON THE BACKSTRETCH HERE. LOOKING BACK ON THAT, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT DID FOR THE SPORT AND FOR YOU PERSONALLY? “It was an interesting time. I can tell you that a lot of people still to this day think there was a strategy behind that and I can assure you that I had no plans for a car to run into a jet dryer. That might be a shock to some but it was an interesting night for sure. A night I will never forget. It was a great year for me, going on to win the championship. I think it was a good moment for our sport. I hesitate to take too much credit for it because I think the sport would have gotten there. Maybe not then but sooner rather than later. It kind of helped set the stage for a rebrand of the sport and new marketing campaigns and really gave those a lot of energy to lift off. I am really hesitant to take too much credit for it because I think it was going to happen anyway whether it was me or somebody else. It was nice to be a part of it and one day I will try to explain it to my kids and they will think I am crazy. It was a good beginning for our sport in the digital media age.”

WOULD YOU BE OKAY WITH SEEING THE CLASH FORMAT COME TO A POINTS RACE OF SOME KIND? “Yeah, I think it was an interesting event. I thought the LA Coliseum and The Clash was a huge success for our sport. I think sometimes we have this habit of taking something that works and then just copy and pasting it until it doesn’t work anymore so I am super hesitant – one, I would convey that I thought the event was a huge success but I would hesitate to say we should do this 10 times a year for rive straight years because I think that kind of burns off. I think there are great opportunities for our sport to learn from it and apply it forward. I don’t know how you could say it was anything less than a success. All the fears we had went great. The track didn’t tear up and the cars didn’t fall apart mostly and the fans showed up. All the things that I think we were nervous about ended up going great. So clearly there is more we can do there. I think just as a whole, I have kind of seen this with events of similar nature in the NASCAR season, whether it is the Roval or dirt races where the first year is really strong and then years two and three kind of trail off and it gets overplayed real fast. I think we just have to be careful against doing that and allowing that to happen. I am conscientious about the rhetoric around it that we acknowledge the success but not oversaturate as well.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “Yeah, I have given him some hard times about it. But he is having fun with it and doing his own thing. He has a gift for talking so you hate to see that not get used. Sometimes I think he should be in here but all of those spotters love that stuff. It is great that the fans like it too. It is a new way for them to engage. I can’t keep up with all the podcasts. I get a podcast request every day. God bless people that can listen to them and do these all day. I don’t know how you all do it but I am glad that the fans enjoy it and there is an authentic voice to it”

“He and I had a good banter back and forth on Denny Hamlin. That was probably the biggest. He said, ‘Well, I don’t know if Denny Hamlin has a Hall of Fame carer,’ and I was like, ‘C’mon man, you win the Daytona 500 twice you are going to the Hall of Fame.’ He and I bantered on that one a little bit. He and I like to get underneath each other a little bit and I think that is healthy.”

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED — IS BRAD YOUR TEAMMATE OR THE OWNER AND DO YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE MOVING HIM TO WIN THE 500? “Ha. I think this question is coming more than not. Yeah, it is both. We are teammates and we were out there working together a lot yesterday trying to learn what we can with these new cars and it is helpful too because we can trust each other. I am sympathetic to his position as an owner in the current environment of shortages and the supply chain. I understand it. It kind of brings you back to racing growing up when you knew you had to race that car the next week and you better take care of it while still racing hard. I understand there is a thin line. Going out there to work together to also find out how we can best situation ourselves to try to win races. At the end of the day, for the 500, or for any race I think I have told him that I will take a shot but I am not going to wreck my teammate and I am definitely not going to wreck my boss. I think you have to race hard, right? You want to be running 1-2 and have the opportunity to put the cars 1-2 across the line. Obviously, you want to be selfish and be number one but if you can have them both there and have a shot at it, that is what we are really trying to get to here and be in that final 20% that survives it and then you are in a good spot. There is a balance but honestly, you just don’t want to wreck anybody. You want to have a good clean race to win it and get all the way to that checkered flag. “I haven’t had a whole lot of luck coming down the last lap of these speedway races”

BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED — “There are not a whole lot of people that can say they don’t wreck a lot at Daytona, other than Denny (Hamlin).”

THE INVENTORY SITUATION FOR THIS WEEK. HOW GOOD OR BAD IS IT? “It can always be better but we are here and we have great cars to race with and we are a little bit living one week at a time, no doubt about it. I don’t think we can let that be an excuse for us to not go out and get the job done.”

HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT FOR SOMEONE WHO IS A MANUFACTURER TO NOT BE ABLE TO PROVIDE PARTS? YOU ARE SITTING THERE WITH THE CAPABILITY TO BUILD THESE PARTS AND CAN’T. HOW FRUSTRATING IS THAT FROM YOUR STANDPOINT? “The team guys are living that a lot more than I am. The guys that are on the floor are more frustrated because when a part comes in, it is now that they are working through the weekend because everything is coming just in time and we can’t lose that time. For me, it isn’t terribly frustrating, but I have a lot of empathy for the guys on all the teams when a part comes in on Friday and now they have to work through the weekend because we have to get this done now. It has really affected their lives the most and been a big challenge for our shop teams. That said, we have almost 200 people, just shy of that, and we try to use that manpower wisely to work around it but there is a lot of sacrifices they are making that aren’t sustainable. I suspect that we will get out of this by mid to late summer and get to a new normalcy and that will work its way out.”

IN YOUR NEW ROLE AS AN OWNER/DRIVER, HOW HAS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THESE STRATEGIES AND THOUGHT PROCESS OF HOW THESE NASCAR DRIVERS ARE MARKETED ON A NATIONAL LEVEL CHANGED? WHAT DO YOU THINK IS WORKING RIGHT NOW AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO IMPROVE UPON? “Well, I have made it a point to intentionally not sit in a lot of meetings of that nature because I have my hands — well I am probably more elbows deep on the competition side in turning this company around to where it can compete and win races. There is only so much I can do. When it comes to the more business nature aspects, Steve Newmark and the team are more into that world than I am. That said, there are incredible opportunities out there that are just coming at us from all directions and I think we would be foolish no to embrace them. We have a leadership team that I think is really engaged in doing just that at NASCAR. I think Steve Phelps is pushing really hard in that direction. It is going to happen. I think NASCAR does a better job than they have maybe in the last decade of integrating themselves into mainstream culture and the next big things as they come rather than kind of playing from behind we are playing from in front. I think there is good energy there and good energy in our sport. I feel good about my investment and time in being an owner because I think the sport is really on the cusp of a big upswing.”

Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DAYTONA BEACH (February 16, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media prior to the Daytona 500 this Wednesday:

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

Where do things stand on your contract after 2022?

“We haven’t talked anything about it. I just got to Daytona for race one, so we’ll go down the road here and see how things go for a while and we’ll make that decision when we’re ready.”

Do you envision that the last lap or two will have the same drama with this new car?

“I’m not sure we really know that answer yet. I think there’s going to be a lot to be learned throughout this week. I certainly have literally no experience in this car on this track other than yesterday. I think there’s going to be a lot of learning and a lot of guys trying to figure things out throughout the week. For me, I hope I can make it to the last lap. It’s been difficult in years past. I think the last time I finished this race was 2016. Hopefully we have a little better luck this week. We’re just going to have to figure it out. I honestly have no idea what it’s going to be like. Typically, you need to be at the front no matter what. It’s going to be two, three-wide so it’s hard to get through a lot of cars. But aside from that how we do it and how the draft works, what’s going to be the best position to be in and all of those things are yet to be seen.”

Can you talk about what happened last year at COTA?

“For me it was the same situation. I hit the 34 (Michael McDowell) car. I guess he couldn’t see so he slowed down, and I was wide open, and I literally seen his brake light flash and he was on the hood at the same time. That’s it. I think that’s what happened with Cole. He came up behind and we were going slow because we were crashed, and he was wide open. Very difficult to see. Basically, he couldn’t see going flat out through the gears. Pretty crazy.”

What was the impact like?

“I thought I was flipping when Cole (Custer) hit me. I really did, but luckily, I didn’t. It honestly wasn’t that bad other than that.”

How long do you think it’s going to take for you to reprogram yourself with this new car or do you think your previous experience could affect you negatively?

“I hope not. I don’t know, honestly. So far with the running that we’ve done with this car there’s been a lot of learning and a lot of changing. I think a guy in my situation I’ve been around a while and been through a lot of different changes. There’s a lot of different cars and things like that. Obviously, this day and age it’s a lot easier to learn these things because you have all of the data, you have SMT and you can see what everybody’s doing. Back in the day when I started it was all a big mystery. You didn’t know. You had to figure it out. You could kind of watch a guy and think you know what he was doing, but you may not have known exactly what it was and now you can see all of that stuff. So, I think that just brings the field closer. It’s hard to have secrets, it’s hard to not see somebody’s driving style or a guy that’s faster than you – how’s he doing it? You can go look at it and then you just have to make yourself change. We’ve done this for years with setup changes and car changes and all of these different things. You have to drive the cars different when the tires are changed, etc. So, I think you learn to adapt over time, but does he have a point? Maybe. I don’t know. I just think it depends on the guy and how willing he is to do whatever it takes and listen to his team and look at the data and make those changes.”

If your career ends without a Daytona 500, is that going to leave a hole on your resumé?

“I would certainly like to win it. I’m the closest one to winning it that hasn’t, I guess. That really doesn’t mean a whole lot. It’s a big race. It’s the biggest race in our sport. It’s on that we’ve tried every year to win and been close. I don’t know I never have really thought about it. I think we’ve got a good opportunity this weekend. We have a great team, and we will take advantage of that and a new car with a lot of unknowns. We will see who figures it out. Just watching practice yesterday, everybody was on different agendas, trying to learn as much as possible. I think we will have a great chance, just have to make it to the end. It’s been a tough luck track for us over the years. Hopefully, we can change that this weekend.”

How big is the issue for all teams when it comes to part shortages?

“I think right now, it’s a problem for everyone. Everybody is probably planning on trying to make it through the Duels with this car that we showed up with. We’re in a little better shape than we were about a week ago. I think we have another car or two this week. James (Small, crew chief) thinks we are in a really good spot. If we can just make it through the Duels with this car, we will be in good shape for a while. It’s getting better, just going to take a little bit of time.”

How do you orchestrate the pit stops at this point?

“It’s going to – I’m sure – bite some people. I really have no ideas. Pit stops are all about timing. You kind of know when you stop, and the jack goes up how much time it will be. You kind of have a little bit of a routine with the gearing and the clutch and wear your feet are on the pedals trying to leave the box, so definitely a little bit different here. It’s just something we have to get used to. It’s going to be weird the first time I’m sure – the first couple times – just figuring it all out. Pedals are different, shifters are different. The timing is going to be all different for us.”

What do you expect out of the Duels?

“I don’t really know. I feel like it’s going to be long green flag runs – I think there is a chance that we go green the whole way, and that’s going to separate the fast cars from guys that are maybe a little bit slower, but I don’t even know if we know who those are going to be. I think the field is going to get separated some. There is going to be a big pack. There is going to be a fast pack and a slower pack. We are going to be separated. Hopefully, we are in the front where we are going to be safe and get through the race and get a good starting spot.”

How significant has it been to add Kurt Busch to the Toyota team?

“I think it’s going to be a good thing with his experience driving different teams and cars. He’s got a lot of insight about what goes on. Having another experienced guy is always good. He’s a champion and has won a lot of races. We’ve got a strong lineup, and everything is equal. The better we all run, the better it elevates all of us. We will have that internal competition as always. Everyone wants to be the top guy, right? But we all work really well together during the week, and I think we all have a lot of respect for Kurt (Busch) and what he brings to the table.”

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About Toyota

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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
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2022

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING CAMARO ZL1; and TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING CAMARO ZL1 – Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:

BEFORE WE BEGIN, AUSTIN, WE KNOW YOU HAVE TEAMED UP WITH GM AND MARCUS BY GOLDMAN SACHS TO LAUNCH THE ALL-NEW GM MY REWARDS CARD. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THAT?

“Really pumped to be working with Marcus by Goldman Sachs and the GM My Rewards Card and I am a big Chevrolet fan and GM in general and to be able to be partnered with them this year is very cool and I am excited to push the card.”

AUSTIN, IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS AND CHANGE SINCE YOU WERE ONE OF THE FIRST DRIVERS TO TAKE THE NEXT GEN CAR ON TRACK AT RICHMOND. TWO YEARS AND CHANGE LATER, HOW FAR HAS THIS CAR COME FROM WHAT YOU EXPERIENCED AND WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL SENSE OF WHAT IT CAN DO AS A CAR AT THIS POINT?

“Well, I think since two years ago the car has really developed to something that you guys have been seeing this weekend. I think it’s a good piece and we are still developing it as we go. These guys in the garage are so good at what they do as far as the engineers and the mechanics, it’s hard to build things and take it to the track like we have been able to and not find big things wrong, and I feel like we are finding little things and making those better each and every week. NASCAR has done a good job of working with the teams and I feel like the ability that this car has that the old car didn’t are a lot different. I can turn in a circle a lot faster I feel like. (It has) the ability to take away the wheel hop and the things an independent rear suspension can do that we couldn’t get away with in the old car. It’s got a lot more ability than the old car.”

TYLER, I AM DOING A FEATURE ON THE RACE AT COTA AND YOU FINISHED EIGHTH IN THE COLD AND THE RAIN. HOW CRAZY WAS IT TO GET THROUGH THAT RACE AND DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU WERE LUCKY OR GRATEFUL TO SURVIVE IT?

“Yeah, there were some pretty wild moments in that race certainly. For me it kind of falls in line with a number of races we had last year where we were kind of defeating ourselves. In that particular race multiple times getting to the top ten and making mistakes, spinning out and going back to the mid-20s and then do it all over again. That was just one of those type of days. But certainly some of the chaos that was developing between turn 11 and turn 12 on that long back straightaway was some of the scariest stuff I have ever done in my life. I remember being wide open and seeing a car crash, stop and getting out and before I realized what had happened, I had already passed him. And I was like, ‘he was getting out of his race car’. And I am wide open and I can’t even see where I am going. So, it was a bit chaotic. We were in control of our cars for the most part, but the big issue was just seeing where we were going. Mostly with how the air came out from under the Gen 6 car, but hopefully with the diffuser on this car it’s a lot better, but we don’t know yet.”

TYLER, ANY LEFTOVER CONCERNS FROM THE CLASH? DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT THE CAR GOING INTO THIS WEEK?

“Yeah, it’s definitely something that when we get to bigger tracks, like speedways, where we run on harder tires. Just that alone is enough to really kind of ward off some of the concerns that were from the Clash. But NASCAR did a really good job right away from taking information from my car, (Chase) Briscoe’s car, and some of the other cars that had issues and going to work right away and kind of recreating the loads and situations in general. And then coming up with an updated part to beef it up a little bit. It seems like they were able to make it a lot better, so I was really happy to see how quick they were in getting something out there and getting something back to the teams. Us, I saw a cars and teams putting in the pieces here at the track before we got underway for practice. They did a really good job of tackling that issue and having it what they think is resolved and hopefully it is.”

WAS THERE ANY CONVERSATION BETWEEN YOU GUYS IN THE CAR SHORTAGE AND HOW YOU WANTED TO HANDLE PUTTING YOURSELVES IN PRECARIOUS SITUATIONS AND HAS THERE BEEN ANY DISCUSSION ON HOW YOU ARE GOING TO APPROACH THE DUELS?

TYLER “Yeah, we have, right? (laughs)”

AUSTIN “We have had some pretty extensive conversations between our teams and for myself and Tyler, we were talking last night. It’s very hard because you want to pick and approach and attack that approach, but for the situation we are in, what is right? You know what I mean? So when it comes to when the green flag drops, it’s a feel thing, but you are still going to have this mentality built into your head that, ‘okay, you really would like to get this car to the 500’. Because if you don’t, it definitely sets you back for the next three races after this and going to the west coast. I think it will be interesting to see how the Duels play out because I think there are definitely some guys that are going to go for it and there are some that aren’t. Then there are going to be some guys in the middle, and does the middle get you in trouble. It’s one of those things and our goal is to take these cars to the 500 and try and get there.”

AUSTIN, RCR HAS MADE SOME GREAT PERFORMANCE PROGRESS OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS. AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE THE NEW CAR, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CAR BEING RE-SET?

“Well, I think it’s good. I think change is good and everyone is on the same playing field right now and we are learning as fast as we can. I like the situation that RCR is in as a whole and truthfully, I think Tyler and I work really well together, and our teammate growth is growing. I think that is a great position to be in. He drives a certain way and I drive a certain way and we can kind of build off of that to elevate our team fast. So, I think it’s been, since I have been here, in the best position RCR has been in from our standpoint.”

AUSTIN, YOU AS MUCH AS ANYONE HAS EXPERIENCED THE HIGHS AND THE LOWS OF THE DAYTONA 500. WITH THAT SAID, WHAT HAS YOUR MINDSET COMING INTO THE RACE THIS WEEK?

“I try to take advantage of every Daytona 500 that you get to drive in. I have approached them a couple of different ways throughout my career and kind of feel like I have found a happy place that I feel after practice, qualifying, and going into the Duels, that if I have this car, then the ability is this and I know what my approach is going to be in the race. Obviously, there are a lot of things that happen during that timeframe, but I just try to control what I can control going into it. Then hopefully that leads to a solid finish and like you said we have had some solid ones and had some wild ones too. Its Daytona man, you just have to kind of live in it this week and take it all in because there is a different atmosphere when you get here for the 500.”

AUSTIN, WHY ARE YOU PART OF THE DRIVER’S ADVISORY COUNCIL?

“Well, I think Jeff Burton kind of reached out to me and felt that they could use me on the board, and I felt like I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t. I feel like the driver’s opinion is very important in this sport and trying to establish a relationship with NASCAR and the owners and connect it altogether. You know what I mean? You have seen what the owners have been able to do with the RTA and seeing other players associations around the different leagues, I think it could build into something great that all the drivers that put their lives on the line each and every weekend, that their voices should be heard as much as anyone’s. I think Jeff is the perfect person for that I feel. And he has built a good board around that in trying to get the drivers together as much as we can. There are small things that we have opinions on, and they don’t get expressed because we are all doing our own things throughout the week. I think that Jeff Burton is a great person for that, and he has already proven it with his ability to talk with TV, with NASCAR, and having a great relationship with a lot of people. He comes across well and I think it is a good start for the driver advisory board.”

TYLER, BASED OFF OF BEING ABLE TO DO THE TEST, DOES THAT FACTOR IN TO WHAT YOU MIGHT DO IN THE DUELS? OR IS THAT LIKE IT WAS A MONTH AGO AND YOU HAVE TO LEARN AS YOU GO?

“Well, unfortunately I didn’t get to do any drafting while we were here. So, it’s really kind of opposite and I really want to learn what the car is capable of. I had Randall (Burnett, Crew Chief) all pissed off last night because I was dragging the brake and laying back into (Kevin) Harvick so he could push me around the racetrack. So, I am already being a little bit more aggressive than I should be, but what’s new. But kind of the same as Austin, we really want to get this car into the 500. I would really like to get this car through the whole 500 and maybe just replace a body panel or two and then go race on the west coast. So, it’s a weird spot to be in for our biggest race of the year but I am trying to navigate it as smart as possible.”

AUSTIN, GOING BACK TO THE DRIVER’S COUNCIL, DO YOU FEEL YOU ALSO BRING A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE BECAUSE YOU ARE ONE OF THE THIRD GENERATION DRIVERS IN THE SPORT AND YOU HAVE SEEN IT FROM EVERY SIDE?

“Yeah, I think so. I think that is why Jeff talked to me from racing different, multiple ways around time. I have been around him when he was a teammate at RCR when I was in the Truck and Xfinity Series. I think he sees my perspective from driver, owner, and just being around the sport since I was a kid. So, hopefully I bring just and unbiased opinion to the group and hopefully try to bring some information to them that as drivers sometimes we don’t always see.”

AUSTIN, HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE MULTIPLE SATELLITE TEAMS ON YOUR CAMPUS? DO YOU SEE THEM AS HELPING, OR CUSTOMERS, AND HOW DO THEY EFFECT RCR AS A WHOLE?

“Well, I think there are multiple ways to look at it. From a driving standpoint, I think that we get to bring in more minds to think about this new car. With Kaulig Racing and Petty GMS, I think it does elevate us as a whole. We are just bigger and better together, I think. I think that is the approach we have to take, especially with the new car and trying to learn as much as we can, as fast as we can. But Chevrolet as a whole is doing a lot right now. I think Chevrolet is where a lot of the focus should be, they are putting a huge campus together near Hendrick Motorsports and the ability to bring a lot of simulators in there and get us more time on the simulators. I know that Tyler and I are constantly fighting for time to get on the simulators and learn. And I feel like they are doing a really good job with that. That is an advantage where Chevrolet is taking the next step and I feel like in investing in our teams.”

NASCAR HAS PARTNERED WITH SEVERAL SPORTS BOOKS AND NOW THERE ARE ODDS AND SEVERAL THINGS BEING PLAYED OUT. AUSTIN YOU ARE 18 TO 1 ODDS AND TYLER YOU HAVE DROPPED FROM A 40 TO 1 TO 30 TO 1 ODDS TO WIN THE DAYTONA 500. HOW DO YOU GUYS LOOK AT THOSE AND HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT WHEN YOU HAVE FANS OUT THERE THAT ARE TAKING SOME OF THESE NEW SPORTS BETTING OPTIONS?

AUSTIN “I am not allowed to look at those odds. No, I mean if you see them its cool to see and you want to see that you are the favorite going into these races like some guys have been able to accomplish in their career. I feel like in other sports, I know how good Vegas is, so when your line gets lower, they must think pretty good of you. And that is cool and all, but I do wonder how in NASCAR that there are more ways that betting should be used in NASCAR than other sports positions. I feel like there is only certain bets you can make in NASCAR, and I feel like Vegas needs to open that up to more competitive bets.”

TYLER “It is pretty cool. You will see it on your Twitter feed. Like, ‘hey, I got my money on Tyler, or I got my money on Austin’. It is kind of fun to see pick you for certain things. I have been the underdog or the dark horse or whatever for that race. So, it is kind of cool to see it, but it doesn’t really change anything for me. I am already going into the race wanting to do everything I can anyways. But it is fun to see fans engaging in it and taking part in it in a lot of different ways.”

YOU WILL HAVE SOME TEAMMATES POTENTIALLY THAT WILL BE TRYING TO GET INTO THE FIELD. ARE YOU MINDFUL OF THAT WITH SOME OF THE ECR ENGINES THAT ARE OUT THERE AND DO YOU GUYS TRY TO GET THOSE GUYS INTO THE FIELD FOR SUNDAY?

TYLER “Absolutely, but like what we were just talking about, at what cost to ourselves. That is where it gets challenging. We’d love for every car that has an ECR engine under the hood to make it, but again, it becomes a very difficult situation. Do we want to risk tearing our car up in going back there and helping or they may not be battling at the back, they may be one of the cars up near the front. So, it’s just a risk reward situation, but anything we can do to get more of our engines in the field is going to be a great thing for us. But again, helping get someone in and wrecking one of our own cars does us no good. So, just got to manage it.”

AUSTIN “I would say one of the best positions to be in is one of those guys trying to make it in for the Duel. They have the best Duel position as far as aggression goes. Because they have one speed. So they have less to think about than us, but it’s still not great, and I like that we are locked in. But as far as just the Duel, their mind is already set as far as what they have got to do.”

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 – Bubba Wallace
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DAYTONA BEACH (February 16, 2022) – 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace was made available to media prior to the Daytona 500 this Wednesday:

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 McDonalds Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing

How would you grade NASCAR’s diversity efforts from when you started to now?

“It’s kind of hard to say because I wasn’t really involved. I was just trying to get my feet under me when I first started in this sport in 2010. It’s just apples to oranges. I feel like we are trending upwards. There’s a lot of cool and exciting things happening in our sport. Go back to the Clash two weeks ago to see that demographic and environment – having some new faces out, having minorities out to experience this sport was super cool and just getting them to experience what race day is all about and what NASCAR is about is trending upwards. Representation matters. People at home watching on TV motivates them to come out and buy a ticket and watch.”

What are your thoughts on the new McDonald’s merchandise line?

“Did you see the pictures? Did you see the fiancé (Amanda Carter)? Dang, she was fine. She posted the photos, and I had some downtime on the way over here and I was like damn, who is that (to her). Hopefully it does well. McDonalds has done a lot for my career, and to have some fun away from the race track incorporating the racing line and that apparel line is super dope and super cool. We all had a lot of fun being involved. It was pretty cool.”

When are we going to stop hearing about the black drivers in NASCAR?

“It’s always the media asking that question. I’m never walking in and saying that. That’s always been my take. When will you stop hearing about me being the black driver? Whenever y’all stop saying it. Simple as that.”

Have your experiences changed the way you view that question?

“Where I’m at with the sport I’m in – I’m the only one at the top level right now so it’s fun walking that line and being confident in that and being comfortable. I’ve gotten here because of my talents and what I’ve been able to do. It creates a lot of excitement especially for Speedweeks this year just because of our superspeedway resume and what we’ve been able to do. But as far as a driver and going out there and competing, you get a new shot out there every weekend and I try to make the most of those opportunities every weekend.”

How is your growth with comfort talking about mental health?

“Just the mental health side of things – if things are not right at the top, it’s hard to carry on in life. Making sure your mentals are in check is very beneficial and very crucial to whatever you do. Being able to share my experiences and what I go through – what my mental mindset is – just that’s me being me. I had no idea it would reach such a new volume of people. I’m going to continue to help anyway that I can. That’s what it is about. Helping people understand themselves, be more comfortable with what they are saying. There is a stigma. I’m sure there is someone in this room that is struggling with depression or not in the right mental space, but I’m here to tell you that it is alright. It’s actually a strength that you can go out and voice your opinion and tell someone how you feel, so do it.”

Do you ever give Freddie Kraft a hard time about his podcast participation?

“As long as he can make sure I’m clear when I’m actually clear we’re good with it. Anything else he says, I don’t give a damn (laughter). That’s for him. I know he’s got calls to the NASCAR hauler and whatnot. As long as I’m not in the headlines, I’m good with it. Continue to be Freddie Kraft. He’s been enjoying that podcast too. He’s finally on full time. He was just part-time, start-and-park on the podcast and he’s full-time now – they got some funding, so he’s doing good. Proud of him.”

What are your thoughts on racing at Daytona and what do you think the racing in the Duels will be like?

“It’s an unknown. Erik (Jones) was talking about the limited number of resources we all have, so you have to kind of be smart. Things are kind of at a different pace, but our superspeedway resume, our Daytona resume has been really solid, so I don’t plan to change up much because when you start to change things that is when you get problems, so for us, we treat it as any other Speedweeks. Our Duel resume has been solid. Let’s keep that going and by our time in the race, just manage our race well on Sunday and just make sure we are there for the last two laps.”

Did you ever expect to be in this position when you came out with your thoughts on the confederate flag?

“I just thought it would be like starting out – where are we racing this week. We are going to show up and give it our all. If we win, we win. If we wreck, we wreck. We are going to come back again next week. There’s so much more obligations now that you are at the top level. It’s not just showing up and racing and having fun or whatnot. You still get to do that, but there are other things you have to fulfill first. It’s just different. It’s not something you can really go practice for or prepare yourself for because you don’t know until you get here. Even starting out 2013, I was racing and doing all of that and trying to be successful and with success comes a brand, comes then that pedestal that you’re on so you kind of have to navigate the way you want to, to be comfortable with that. It’s one of those things that whatever happens you deal with at that time and try to set yourself up for the future.”

Have there been internal discussions about goals at 23XI for this season?

“Obviously, we want to make the Playoffs and compete for a championship. That’s a given. For us, it’s just trying to be consistent. We had a lot of finishes where it was – win at Talladega, I think after that was the Roval next, so you were kind of back-and-forth. It’s smoothing out the graph on the result chart is important to us to bring that graph lower and lower. It’s something we are just going to fight for each and every week – be more competitive, be more consistent to get that speed up and figure out this new car. Everybody is figuring out this new car but making sure we are on the upper tier of those who figure it out first so we can have that advantage. It will take a lot of hard work from myself and my team, but Bootie (Barker, crew chief) and I know that what we have to do is go out and win races and be the best that we can be. Somedays we can go and show up and be a fifth-place car, sometimes we might show up and be a 15th-place car. We just have to take what we can give us and make the most of those days.”

What gives you that confidence that you can do that being a young team?

“I think Bootie (Barker, crew chief) brings a lot out in me that I appreciate him for. He may not even know it, but it’s just having that relationship. It’s not really the crew chief and driver relationship, talking about what springs and shocks we are going to run, what size steering wheel – it’s just about life. He’s a big bourbon collector, so we talk about that. It’s super cool and to have that personal relationship – he’s started me pretty slow with bourbon collecting. It’s ridiculous. It’s fun. It gets you away from the obvious, which is our job here and what we are doing this weekend, so anytime you can break that up and create a sense of a whole life – that trends upwards to me.”

How important is it for you to push into new fan base and how does this clothing line released this morning help with that?

“I think it takes it back – I think there are a lot of African American fans that are looking for like firesuits to wear on street wear. They are all about the fashion – they want the bomber jackets. It takes them back. I remember my sister – she may have had an M&M’s jacket in high school. I was in middle school at the time. I didn’t really follow that trend, because I had my own firesuit to wear on the weekends. That was so big to her and that generation, so to see them where they are at now – they are like we need that stuff back. I’m like if y’all want to rock a racing jacket in the middle of the summer, have at it. We will sell it for you guys. It’s important to them. They are big into fashion. That group is big into fashion. I think that generation, I should say. They want to see that new swag, that vintage hip swag stuff get back on the shelves, so we are doing it with McDonalds. Creating a lot of fun. I actually brought that bomber jacket that I was wearing in the photo shoot this weekend. I might pull it out for race day, because it is going to be a little bit chilly.”

Is it stressful dealing with wedding planning with the start of the season?

“Amanda (Carter) is handling that like a champ. We actually hired an everyday wedding planner that has been rock solid for us, but I’m just looking at the dollar signs continue to go up and up.”

What’s it been like working with Kurt Busch?

“Kurt (Busch) is fun. He has a lot of one-liners that he will throw out that will catch you off guard, but it is fun – it is cool in the heat of battle to try to figure out what it takes for our team to be successful. He’s providing a lot of insight and new perspective on how to look at things in a different angle to make sure we are crossing everything off of the list. I think it’s been good. It’s been fun to have Kurt, so now that we are diving into the start of the season, we are going to push each other to be the best that I can be.”

Can you lean on any of your past experience with this new car to make a run on Sunday?

“We will find out. The aero platform of this new car is a little bit different. There will be a lot to figure out. Hopefully, we will do a lot of that in the Duel to see what we can really do with this car and for what we need to work on when we go to Talladega and back here to Daytona. It’s a world of unknown that takes a lot of digesting and dissecting that makes us better than we were with last year’s car. We had a two-hour long aero meeting before we got on track to try to figure out where to position our car. Things are a little different, but at the end of the day it’s driving racecars. When you’ve got the run, make the most of it and utilize that. Put yourself in the right position.”

Did you feel like you learned enough in yesterday’s practice?

“We have. It was good to get our feet wet with the 23 team and our whole deal there together rolling – get the communication going. With the new car, I didn’t feel like it was too much different. Steering was a little bit different, the feel of the tires was a little bit different, but I think that is going to come for everybody. Just something to get used to. It will be fun.”

What has it been like experiencing that shift in losing rides due sponsorship to having brands want to grow with you?

“It’s never easy. You go through a lot of these times where you lose a ride, and you feel like everything is gone. To me, the on-track performance is what is important, but when the on-track performance is the best at the time – we still lost our ride. We were fourth in the points there – stringing together 36th-place finishes or sixth-place finishes – that was all we had that season. It was a tough time, and now you realize and appreciate where you are at in the sport and then when it kind of comes back around in a different way – it makes you appreciate it even more. It makes you appreciate those hard times because you have to do a lot of learning and self-understanding on what it takes for you to be successful as a human being. Take yourself out of the racing world. To have those hard times, it makes you grow – grow some gray hairs, but teaching a lot about self. A lot about life. Sometimes you may think it is unfair, but life doesn’t owe you anything. You have to go out and get it. You have to work at it each and every day.”

How different is the relationship dynamic between you and Kurt Busch versus your relationship with Denny Hamlin?

“For me, I’m not big on oh, that’s the boss. That’s just my teammate. That’s Denny (Hamlin) and that’s Kurt (Busch). I’m Bubba. We are all the same. Denny has a vision for our team, and we are trying to do our best to exceed that and push the boundaries and the limits each and every weekend. Be competitive and be successful. It’s fun navigating those avenues. You just have to continue to do what you do. You and I are the same. Me and Denny are the same. We are all the same.”

Do you feel any pressure on getting any deals done from the team?

“No, we just keep doing what we do. It seems like deals are coming in and money is flowing. We just have to not change a thing. Do better on the race track. I think the more on-track success, people will latch on more and make those deals longer and spend more money, because the TV side of things are getting their ROI’s and everything back for them. We start this year with a win at the 500, it would be pretty good. Watches will be coming in.”

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RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Peak Blue DEF Ford Mustang – HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED GOLF THE SAME DAY THAT YOU QUALIFY FOR THE DAYTONA 500? “Yeah, I think I played last year. You’ve only got to make one lap tonight. That will limber you up for tonight, for the hard work I’ve got to do at 8 o’clock tonight.”

ERIK JONES SAID YOU HADN’T REACHED OUT TO HIM. IS THERE ANYTHING TO RESOLVE? “No, I haven’t talked to Erik. I don’t have anything to really talk to him about. I’m over it. It’s funny, he thought I was supposed to apologize after I got fenced, but two people are gonna think differently. I haven’t talked to him, but I’m over it. It’s in the past and we’ll move on from it.”

TOP OF THE SPEED CHART LAST NIGHT. DOES IT MEAN ANYTHING BECAUSE OF THE SITUATION WITH LACK OF INVENTORY? “It’s kind of hard to look at speeds in practice. We just had a big draft in that second practice and put a big lap up there, but I kind of looked at how our car drove in that little pack we had with four cars and how it took a push, how it reacted to get to someone else’s bumper. Single car speed, I would have liked to been a little bit quicker, but I’ve always kind of put a bigger emphasis on, ‘OK, how does my car handle in the draft?’ Can it take a big push because you’re gonna be getting bounced around out there all day. I mean, if your car can’t take a push, and it’s unstable, no one is gonna want to push you if they see that, so we’ve always put a big emphasis on driveability of our race cars and I thought I had that last night. I’ll get a better idea for that in the Duels, but to an extent you don’t want to go out there and wreck your 500 car in the Duels. It’s a fine line of seeing what you’ve got and what you maybe need to work on, but not putting yourself in a bad spot. I liked our car last night and we’ll see how it transfers over to tomorrow night.”

YOU WON THE LAST RACE AT DAYTONA BUT EXITED THE 500 ON LAP 14. HOW DO YOU APPROACH THIS WEEK? “Yeah, definitely very different results between the races here. It was no fun watching the end of the 500 last year on my couch at home, but coming to these tracks you have to understand that sometimes you don’t control your own destiny and that’s just what it is here, or at Talladega or any other speedway. The only thing that you can do is control the things that you and your team can control, and try to put yourself in the best spots to try to be there at the end of these things. So, you never know how it’s gonna go. I never planned on getting wiped out on lap 14, but someone makes a mistake and you find yourself in the middle of someone’s mess and your day is done. But then in the August race we missed two or three of the big wrecks and put ourselves in a spot to win the race, so you never know how it’s gonna go. You just try to do your best job and your team’s best job of staying in there all day and you hope to find yourself still running at the end of these things and you usually have a pretty good shot to win if you are still running towards the end of these races.”

DO YOU HAVE A BACKUP CAR THIS WEEKEND? “We have a couple for the four of us. It is a tough thing. Our inventory is not very big currently – no one’s is. It’s been difficult to get parts and pieces, honestly, for the teams to kind of put full things together. We used to come down here with one or two backups for each team just in case things happened and now we’re sitting on a couple for your whole organization, so that’s been difficult. You have to have that in the back of your head. From practice last night, ‘OK, how hard do I push my teammate to see what my car will do and what his car will do without possibly wrecking him?’ And the Duels tomorrow night it’s gonna be the same thing. I feel like guys are gonna be pretty smart on how they race, you would hope so because everyone is kind of sitting in the same boat. But, at the same time, you have teams that need to get in the 500 too that are gonna be racing pretty hard at the end of the Duels to try to get in, so you just have to be aware and observant, but you don’t ever want to wreck your 500 car, let alone when we don’t have many things to spare.”

HOW MANY TIMES HAS ‘AT THE PUMP’ BEEN YELLED AT YOUR THE LAST TWO WEEKS? “Yeah, more on social media. Somebody yelled ‘at the pump’ yesterday from the fan walk above the garage, so maybe they saved at the pump. I hope they did. I know I am. Are you?”

HOW WAS THE COMMERCIAL PITCHED TO YOU AND WHAT MAKES YOU AGREE TO AN IDEA? “I thought that was a great idea and a great partnership between Advance Auto Parts and Shell and Pennzoil to kind of come up with that. I mean, you have all these amazing partners that are a part of your organization and why not combine them to have these promotional things and promote not only their brands, but the team as well and yourself and help other people save money. That was a great idea because I loved the tie-in it had between Advance and Shell, and, honestly, if a sponsor comes to me with an idea on how to have a commercial or a spot or a social media thing on how to promote their company, I’m gonna be all for it because I love that they support me, so I’m gonna support them when I can as well. I don’t really say no if a partner has an idea on a spot they want, but I always just try to help them out as much because on the back end they help us out so much, and it’s not taking too much time out of my day to go film a little something for their company, but that was a good spot. That was one of the better ones I did, the Advance and Shell. That was a pretty funny one and it’s a cool promotion they’re doing.”

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE A RACE FAVORITE WHEN YOU COME TO THE 500? “I don’t really ever think, and I don’t sit around and be like, ‘Man, I’m a race favorite.’ But, you have confidence in yourself. It builds confidence when you are successful at speedways. We won the August race here, so you build confidence and I think I have a decent idea of what to do to try to get to victory lane here, so I don’t know. I think a lot of people can be favorites. I mean, a lot of teams and drivers that have great opportunities to win this race, so, like I said, I just think you’ve got to do the things you can to the best of your ability and try to put yourself in a really good spot. You always see the same people usually up front at the end of these things. Denny has done a great job and he’s won three of these things and Joey’s a great plate race, Brad, you always kind of see the same guys up at the front at the end of these things, if they make it, and that’s for a reason – it’s because they’re really smart at what they do and they kind of understand it. I’ve learned a lot from Joey and Brad and I try to apply it and it’s worked out for us a little bit, but it’s nice they say I’m a race favorite, but you’ve just got to make it to the end and anyone can be.”

HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU WITH JONATHAN BEING YOUR CREW CHIEF NOW? “It’s been going really good. Jonathan has been part of the Penske group for a long time and I was really excited to see him get a crew chief role with the 21 the summer of last year, and he did a great job. At that time, I knew Todd was retiring and kind of started figuring who we wanted and luckily it worked out that Jonathan wanted to do it and we get along really well. He and Todd have kind of the same demeanor and personality and he and I have the same pretty much personality, too. It’s been nice to get some testing in with Jonathan in the offseason to just kind of learn each other and talk to each other on the radio and see how we both go about things. That just gives you such a better jump start to the season, but I’m looking forward to working with him. He’s very smart and well deserving and I’m lucky to have him.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL BUBBA HAS HANDLED EVERYTHING THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS AND DO YOU THINK IT WOULD BE FATIGUING TO BE IN HIS POSITION? “I think he’s handled it great. I’ve been very proud of the job that he’s done, whether it’s standing up for himself or standing up for the sport. When that deal happened a couple of years ago, the stand that he took behind it and not shying away from it, I think he faced it head-on, which was the right thing to do in my opinion. I look at his schedule and the things he does, I’d be exhausted if I was him. He’s off doing all these kinds of things that are fun for him, but I would be exhausted. He does so many things, but it’s really great and it’s grown the sport to a new level. Yes, it has to be exhausting on him, but I’m proud of the job he has done of not just rolling over on these things and wanting to do them. He’s embraced them and been wanting to do these things because it not only helps him, but it helps the sport and it helps everyone around it. It’s been cool to watch that kind of grow.”

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WIN A RACE LIKE ATLANTA WHERE YOU WEREN’T EXPECTED TO? IS THERE SOME SPECIAL SATISFACTION IN DOING THAT? “Yeah, it is, especially when I re-watch the race and heard how much everyone was writing us off, like Gordon and Bowyer, so, yeah, it made me feel a lot better to win that race after I re-watched the commentary, but that race is special because Atlanta was such a hard racetrack. You put in so much work there and 500 miles is a long time around that place and you’re driving your tail off. In that case, we were second-best car most of the day and we just kept working on it and working on it and getting it a little better and a little better. We had a long run at the end and we saved our stuff and was able to go up and pass the 5 car. It does make it better when you continuously work on your car all day and just get a little bit better and able to run the dominant car of the day down on a long green flag run and pass him. I don’t know about a thief in the night, but I guess you could call it that. I don’t think we stole one, we just did a good job of working our way up to compete with the best car and we were the best car when it counted.”

WAS YESTERDAY’S PRACTICE BY DESIGN IN TERMS OF DRAFTING THE WAY YOU GUYS DID? “Really, our plan was to just go out there with our four cars and go draft, and then we got to see what our cars were capable of. Can you connect? Can you push? What do you have to do to lay back to get to the lead car to push him? So, I think you have to learn all those things. You have to understand that stuff in those moments to kind of see what you have to work on or just what your car can do, and it is different from the Gen 6 car. It might look similar on TV or watching it, but in the draft it feels way different. The lead car feels a lot different. It feels like you’re draggier. It’s harder to block runs. Your timing is off. I say that as your timing is gonna be off from the driver and the spotter perspective of when you have to move up to get in a lane and block a lane. I feel like the runs come faster with this car than the previous car, so you have to make those decisions quicker than you would, and I feel like it’s gonna take drivers and spotters a little bit of time to get used to that. You have to understand that the rear bumpers of these cars have a lot more curve in them. They’re not nearly as flat as our other cars. You see the Gen 6 car take huge shots in the rear bumper to get a lane going. You’re not gonna be able to do that in this car. If you do, you’re gonna wreck somebody, so that’s gonna be interesting to see how people approach that on making late blocks and not being able to take a shot in the bumper as hard as before, and these cars are gonna get turned to the right easier. Learning all that stuff is really important and we’ve learned that in the test and some practices and you’ll learn it in the Duels and the 500, but it is a good bit different and takes everyone a little while to kind of get comfortable and just understand what the limits are.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF WINNIE HARLOW WEARING YOUR SHIRT TO THE SUPER BOWL? “A friend of mine sent that to me and that was pretty cool. I thought she kind of made it her own – crop top, tank top kind of thing. I don’t think she knows who I am, she just liked the colors of the PPG shirt, so I can’t blame her. It’s cool colors, but that was neat. It’s one of those things that you see someone wearing it, whether it’s an athlete or celebrity and they wear your stuff. It’s like, ‘That’s cool.’ It’s just something you never know. There was an Alabama basketball player that was wearing my shirt in warm ups the other day. That’s so cool. Like you would never think that someone would maybe be a fan of you or just like your shirt and wear your shirt, but it’s still cool to see and makes you feel good because it’s like you would never think that they would care about it, but you turn around and you see them wearing that stuff and it makes you feel good as a driver.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE RACE CAR BEING PRETTY WELL STOCK AND THE FLEXIBILITY IT GIVES YOU? “I have mixed feelings about that, just as far as the mass production of these parts and pieces that all these teams are required to run. I say that from a perspective of someone who has seen the amazing work that the engineers that we have at Penske, who build these parts that we used to manufacture ourselves in-house, incredible designs that they come up of lighter pieces, different way it bolts on. We had a whole department of people doing that, that were incredibly talented men and women, and then we go machine shop it in-house and run it, and that’s gone. All the talent of those people, that’s a big part that isn’t used anymore. But on the other side of it, you’ll have smaller teams that don’t have that resource that will be running the same thing that the bigger teams run, and make them closer, but that’s good for the sport. It’s a weird mixture of emotions that I feel on that side, of talented people not being able to do their jobs anymore like they used to be able to, but at the same time it seems like it helps the sport as far as smaller teams being able to run what the bigger teams run. It’s just a matter of getting all those parts and pieces from whoever is making them in time.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang – THE FORDS WERE PRETTY AGGRESSIVE IN PRACTICE YESTERDAY. WHAT DID YOU LEARN? AND HOW DO THESE CARS REACT DIFFERENTLY WITH THE CURVED BACK BUMPER? “Blaney is 100% right. That was something that we went out there and tried to mess around and see what we can and can’t do and what the balance of the car is like when we get pushed and how we can improve that. The round bumpers is probably the biggest difference with this thing. Obviously, the air around the cars and how you draft is very different but the round bumpers – I don’t know why we put round bumpers on a race car but we did. It is like pushing two marbles against each other. You don’t know which way it is going to go. It really can upset the cars. My thought is that at the end of this thing when everyone starts pushing each other like normal and nobody lifts and is shoving each other through the next car, those round bumpers are going to send the car to the left or the right pretty big and probably door the next car and cause a big crash. That is going to be in our minds. We are trying to understand that and trying to get our cars to accept a push as best as possible so that we can work on that. Really the whole industry probably can. That will definitely be a lot different and that will change things up as much as a lot of other things will. There are still plenty of other questions we have, whether it is pit stops and strategy or mileage and how the draft works in general without thinking of the pushing part. Lots of questions still.”

WITH SPORTS GAMBLING BECOMING SO PREVALENT, THE VEGAS ODDS ON YOU GUYS ARE AT THE FOREFRONT WITH FANS. YOU ARE A 12 TO 1 FAVORITE TO WIN THIS RACE. DOES THAT PLAY INTO ANYTHING WHEN YOU ARE INTERACTING WITH YOUR FANS AND WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THESE NEW PARTNERSHIPS THAT WERE ONCE TABOO? “I can’t honestly say I have been submersed into it on knowing all the things about it. I did the thing for our industry and know that I don’t touch any of it. That is the one thing I do know. I do believe whether it is fantasy sports or sports betting, it is good for sports. It puts some skin in the game and makes you want to watch for a different reason. You look at football, there are a lot of people who watch football games that don’t even cheer for that team but they have that player lined up that day and it gives them something that tunes them into it. Where our sport has the ability to do the same thing and give someone a vested interest into what is going on out on the track. I think it is great and super healthy for our sport to have those avenues to try to accomplish those goals. That is a good step for us. I think there are so many good steps that are happening right now in our sport and so much momentum in our sport right now. It is great. Look what we did last week. We proved we can race in the city. We can race in a stadium. I never thought we could do that but it is great. We can go to the fans. That is a huge win. Having 70% new fans at the racetrack last week and having a sellout here for the 500, we have so much momentum behind us and so many great things going on in our sport right now coming out of COVID here and everything we have done is really starting to really show up and starting to reap those rewards.”

WILL THE CLASH CREATE MOMENTUM FOR FONTANA AND THAT MARKET? AND HOW DO YOU THINK THIS CAR WILL REACT TO A TRACK THAT IS WORN OUT AND BUMPY? “I would definitely think that the Clash had to have generated some kind of hype in the LA market. There were a lot of new fans there and you might have had some that were already planning to go to Fontana that didn’t go to LA but maybe some new fans loved the Coliseum so much that they feel they have to go see another one of these things and it is right up the road. I gotta think it is gonna help. I don’t see any way it can hurt. It should be good. I look at the Fontana market and the camping is what always stands out to me when we race there. Everyone is on bikes and it is very family-oriented out there. It is really cool. I think that is probably a different crowd than what was at LA but I think that all kind of plays together which will be great. How the Next Gen cars will be there, I don’t know. We won’t know until we get there and we will have 15-minutes to figure it out. We don’t really have any time. There is no time, by the way. We will have to kind of figure it out as we are racing out there. Where the track goes, top or bottom, it still should be pretty open to moving around the race track. I don’t see that part changing. Having the independent rear suspension may absorb some of the bumps a little smoother and those types of things that we have seen so far.”

CONSIDERING THE INVENTORY ISSUES AND WHERE YOU FINISH IN THE DUEL RACES DOESN’T MEAN A WHOLE LOT, DO YOU EXPECT GUYS TO SHOW THEIR FULL HAND OR WILL THAT NOT COME UNTIL SUNDAY? “I can’t speak for the whole field on what they are thinking but I don’t see myself racing any different in the Duel than I will in the 500. I am planning to go race. I think as soon as you get scared of crashing and those type of things you are never going to win. So, I am going to go race and if we crash, so be it, we will figure it out. I feel like going out there to race to win and try to get those points. There are still points out there to try to get. It is one step at a time. The Duels are typically a little more tame and it is usually not that crazy. But there have been crashes in them before and I think with the new car there could — like we said with the round bumper it could cause more crashes. At the same time you may have some drivers and teams that are telling them to chill out because we don’t have a whole bunch of inventory. I don’t really know exactly how the Duels are going to look. All I can control is what I am going to do.”

HOW DO YOU THINK THE SPORT CAN CAPITALIZE ON THE MOMENTUM AND CONTINUE TO MOVE FORWARD? “Obviously there have been a lot of changes, great changes, and I think that is due to a lot of different things. You guys can imagine where that all comes from. I think the way the teams are working with NASCAR and the owners and their group and the driver alliance group can help a lot with some of the stuff moving forward as well. I think change is probably the biggest thing. If you sit still, you get passed. It is like that on the race track and in life. If you get comfortable because it worked in the past, someone is figuring out how to get better. On top of that, society is just changing and everything is moving along and technology changes and if you don’t try to keep up with it you get old and slow. We can’t let that happen. We have to keep moving forward and finding the next thing. I think we have done that over the last few years. Honestly, since COVID started. We were the first sport back. That was a huge risk but a huge reward. It world well and we changed a lot of things because of it. We didn’t know we could race without practice. We didn’t know we can race with less people. We didn’t know all these things we can do and now we take what we learned there and now we add the people back, finally, which is my favorite part. Having a sold out grandstands and we try different things. We have this whole new car that lord knows what that will bring for us with what we can do with that and having an open mind there. I think honestly that NASCAR has done a great job at recognizing weaknesses and doing something about it. The whole industry has really jumped on board with that. Like I said earlier, now we are finally reaping the rewards of a lot of the work that happened behind the doors during COVID and now you see it all coming back and doing good. Like you said, one of the biggest things is going to new venues. We saw what Road America was, what Nashville was, whas COTA was, what the Coliseum was. There was so much hype around the unknown and bringing the race to the race fans. We are going to them now and that is pretty special. We have to keep doing that.”

HOW DO YOU COUNTERBALANCE THE NEW CAR WITH THE FACT THAT IT MAY HINDER YOU BECAUSE PENSKE RACING WAS SEEMINGLY ALWAYS ABLE TO COME UP WITH A WAY TO MAKE A BETTER PART OF THE CARS? “That is a great question. Yeah, it definitely is different. There are probably pros and cons to that. The question I would ask back was did any of that make the racing better? Did it make the product on the race track better? Probably not. The average race fan probably doesn’t care that much about how we build the race car, they just want to watch a good race. That is the kind of race fan I am. I just want to see cars running side by side and racing. I don’t care how you get there. Don’t tell me how you built the clock, just tell me the time. That is what this kind of is. As much as all of the parts are the same now and you can buy the same parts as Roger Penske does, that part feels a little different because it isn’t just the fact it is Roger Penske it is the fact he has been in the sport 50 years and someone can come in as a new team and compete against somebody like that. But the people and the infrastructure is something that will set us apart. People win races, not parts. The way you put these cars together there is still a lot of adjustment in it. I even look at the Clash last week. We were 26th on the board in practice and we made adjustments and became the fastest car. There is a lot to how you put these things together still that will make an adjustment. There is still a lot of garage racing or whatever you want to call it. Behind closed doors racing as you develop these cars. There is no doubt that the field will be closer than it was in the past.”

ARE YOUR WIFE AND NEW BABY TRAVELING WITH YOU THIS WEEK? “No, they stayed back. I took little man with me, Hudson, he is my big man now. He came along with me to try to help momma out. It has been an adjustment for us. We are doing good. Going from two to three is a change but I felt like going from one to two was a big change. We are trying to get our heads wrapped around it. It hasn’t even been a week yet so give us a chance. Everything went great. It was a pretty special 36 hours when you think about winning the Clash and then coming home and going to the hospital Monday night and then Tuesday morning we have our first little girl. It is a pretty special few hours. An exhausting few hours but pretty special and fun. I thought everything was going to go wrong. I thought I was going to go to LA and she would have the baby Sunday morning and I would miss that or if I tried to go home I would miss the race and the baby. All those things were going through my mind but everything went perfectly as planned. God has a way so it was pretty special.”

AS NOW THE SENIOR ON TRACK MEMBER OF TEAM PENSKE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT HAS ADDED AN EXTRA WEIGHT TO YOUR SHOULDERS? “I don’t know that it has added any extra weight but it has helped me prioritize time in different ways. I have this whole motto this year to do less better. It is just something that came to my mind. Try to do less things but do better at the things you do and try to prioritize my time better. Part of that is being a better leader at Team Penske and taking that ball and running with it. That is a piece of it. Blaney has stepped up a lot already too. Nothing against our two other teammates in Austin and Harrison but they are rookies and are new to it and we have to help get them going so that we can really share information back and forth, not just one way. That takes time. It took time for me as a rookie to get my head wrapped around things and it took time for Blaney. It takes time for everyone to understand how things work and why we want to do certain things a certain way. I think they both have a great talent and are willing to put the work in. Austin works really hard. He was in the garage last night until 10 o’clock. He is willing to put the time in. Harrison is an amazing listener and his ears are open. Jeff has done a good job with him for sure. I always say you have to be patient with rookies. It isn’t fair to have huge expectations. I have been through it. It is not fair. It takes too long. I think we can really help them along with their progression quicker and ultimately make Team Penske stronger and eventually be able to learn from them. That is what I want. I want a teammate that will push me and I can learn from and they will get there for sure.”

YOU, KURT BUSCH AND DENNY HAMLIN WERE PARTICULARLY RACEY DURING THE TEST IN JANUARY. WHAT DID YOU LEARN? ARE YOU CONFIDENT THAT IT IS TRANSLATING TO WHAT YOU ARE SEEING THIS WEEK? “I think so. We didn’t really draft a whole bunch yesterday. That was the biggest pack and most aggressive racing we have seen with the Next Gen car on a superspeedway, Daytona particularly. I assume a lot of that stuff will transfer over into the Duel but that was us trying to figure out what we can do with this thing. A lot of the moves we used to pull off it was like, ‘Nope, that ain’t it!’ You have to adjust and try something different. We were having fun out there. There were a few close calls especially during the test on the first day of the test. But that is just – that is what happens when you put racers in what we thought was a race that paid nothing at all. You put more than one car on the race track and it becomes a race and we started going at it. I kinda thought it was funny. There were moments in my mind I was saying, ‘What are we doing? Why are we doing this?’ but you can’t get yourself to stop. You want to win it. I won that one by the way.”

FEW PEOPLE HAVE EVER WON THE DAYTONA 500 AND EVEN FEWER HAVE WON IT MULTIPLE TIMES. WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE FOR YOU TO WIN IT AGAIN? “It would mean a lot. I don’t really know how to answer that. It is the Daytona 500. It is everything. You come down here and it is a sold-out grandstand and everyone is here. So many key decision-makers are here. You want to be the one hoisting the Harley J Earl and when you don’t it hurts. It hurts a lot. It feels special to win it for sure. Being so close the last few years and ending up in a ball of fire at the end of it hurts. Hopefully, we can get past that point and be in victory lane again this time. Like you said, we are fast, we have been close. We have been making the right moves and doing the right things, it just hasn’t quite worked out yet.”

HOW MANY TIMES HAS ‘AT THE PUMP’ BEEN YELLED AT YOU THE LAST TWO WEEKS? “Quite a bit. That is a great partnership with Shell Fuel Rewards and they do a lot of great things and we have done a lot of great partnership whether it is with Advance Auto or Planet Fitness. It is a huge piece to our business to get the B2B relationships and getting businesses to work with others. That is a big piece for race teams that we do. Nobody does it better than Roger Penske because of his businesses outside of it. Everyone can really work together. YOu think about the amount of trucks that Penske Truck Leasing has and the hundred other companies that guy has got. Everyone can work together really well and Fuel Rewards fits right into that and everyone kind of fits there. It is a great partnership and pretty cool to see it. I went to Advance the other day and my picture was everywhere. It was kind of funny. Think about walking into a store and your picture is there and then the person working behind the desk is looking at you trying to put it all together. It was funny.”

HOW HAS THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN THE COMPANIES THAT SPONSOR YOU AND WHERE AND WHEN THEY WANT TO UTILIZE YOU AWAY FROM THE RACE TRACK IN THEIR MARKETING AND COMMERCIALS CHANGED OVER YOUR TIME IN THE SERIES? “The industry has changed a lot from when I first started and was with Home Depot and we did national spots. There were a lot of them. I think a lot of businesses have realized since then that social media has become a thing. Social media wasn’t anything when I started. There wasn’t Twitter or Instagram or TikTok or keep going, there are a million of them. There wasn’t those platforms to advertise on. Now, it has changed the landscape of media too for you guys and how people consume what we are talking about here today. So it is definitely been an adjustment. Part of that is why we started Clutch Studios in Charlotte. We saw the opportunity here to do different types of shoots. I would say I probably do more shoots now than I used to, they are just different scale and different things we are doing with them. It has definitely changed. There are not as many national spots but there are far more videos for social media that people want to grow their following, whether it is a driver or team or the sponsors trying to get their initiatives out. It has changed a lot in that way. To the point of keeping up with the times or you will get slow and old, you have to keep finding the next thing and social media changed the game for everybody.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2022

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:

WINNING THE POLE AT DAYTONA IS SORT OF A HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS TRADITION AND EVEN MORE SO FOR CHEVROLET, WHICH I THINK GOES BACK TO 2013 AND DANICA PATRICK’S POLE. IT LOOKED LIKE YOU GUYS HAD REALLY GOOD SINGLE-CAR SPEED YESTERDAY, AS WELL. IS THAT A REALLY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUR TRIP TO DAYTONA – THE EMPHASIS ON THE POLE?
“I would much rather win on Sunday, personally. I think anybody on our team would tell you the same. I feel like we’ve always had fast cars down here. Speedway racing has never been overlooked at HMS; and Alan (Gustafson, Crew Chief) does a really good job of massaging and really paying attention to all the details that I feel like it takes to be good here. I feel like that’s shown over the course of my time with him and even going back before me. There’s been a lot of success there. I do think it’s an area where they put a lot of emphasis and put a lot of work into the cars, but we all want to win on Sunday more than anything.”

TOMORROW NIGHT IS GOING TO BE THE FIRST REAL, HIGH-SPEED COMPETITION FOR THIS CAR. HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT IN THAT CONTEXT AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THAT WE HAVEN’T SEEN YET, IF ANYTHING?
“Yeah to me, that’s probably the question that hasn’t really been answered and until we get into that environment, it probably won’t be. The little bit of drafting that has gone on, there’s just not really been enough – at least of what I’ve been a part of – there hasn’t been enough cars to really create the energy, the things that are real and that you’re going to see on Sunday. I have even often – in my experience – have noticed that in the Duels, there’s really not enough cars in that event and enough sense of urgency in the runs that happen on Thursday night as they do on Sunday. Until we get in that environment, it’s really honestly hard to say.”

I ASKED SOMEBODY EARLIER IF THE NEW CAR – I DON’T WANT TO SAY LEVEL THE FIELD – BUT MAYBE BRINGS THE GAP CLOSER TOGETHER. OR DO YOU SEE THAT IT’S STILL THE GOOD TEAMS ARE STILL GOING TO BE THE GOOD TEAMS AND WILL ALWAYS HAVE AN EDGE.
“That’s my opinion. I think that’s going to be tough to ever debunk that, in my opinion. Hopefully it opens the opportunity for people to come in and get up to speed a little quicker. But I definitely think that the teams that have the experience and have the resources to study, R&D and do all the things that you need to do are likely going to have the edge.”

YOU WON THE RACE AT COTA LAST YEAR. HOW GRATEFUL WERE YOU THAT IT WAS OVER AND YOU HAD WON? JUST TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU HAD TO DO TO SURVIVE THAT RACE.
“Yeah, that was a crazy race. Definitely the hardest rain that I’ve ever raced in. I actually thought it was kind of fun. You couldn’t see much. That back straightaway, it was pretty crazy how little you could see. But I thought it was good. It was different. Why not? I enjoyed it.”

“Obviously, we got fortunate with them calling the race early. We were in a situation where we probably weren’t going to make it on fuel. We had plenty enough pace, I feel like, to compete with those guys. But just the way our strategy worked out; we were probably going to be in trouble. So, kind of just took a gamble at staying out as long as we could. Fortunately, it went in our favor. I can’t complain.”

ANY CLOSE CALLS? ONE OF THE DRIVERS THAT WERE IN HERE EARLIER SAID HE BLEW BY A GUY THAT WAS LITERALLY GETTING OUT OF HIS CAR. HE HAD WRECKED AND NEVER EVEN SAW HIM. DID YOU HAVE ANY SCENARIOS WHERE YOU FLASHED BY SOMETHING AND DIDN’T SEE IT?
“That’s scary. Fortunately, I didn’t have one like that.”

A LOT OF TIMES, QUALIFYING ISN’T A BIG DEAL HERE. WE WERE TALKING TO CHRISTOPHER BELL AND HE SAID A LOT OF THE TIMES, IT DOESN’T MEAN A WHOLE LOT, BUT TEAMS LIKE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS PUT A LOT OF ATTENTION INTO QUALIFYING. YOU’VE DONE REALLY WELL AT QUALIFYING HERE. WITH THE NEW CAR, IS THERE THE SAME AMOUNT OF ATTENTION ON QUALIFYING? HOW DO YOU LOOK AT QUALIFYING? HOW WILL IT BE DIFFERENT WITH THE NEW CAR?
“I don’t think qualifying will likely be a ton different. And it probably doesn’t matter any more this week than it does typically. I don’t think you have to qualify well to be really good on Sunday or even to have a shot to win. But like I said earlier, HMS has always done a really nice job on putting emphasis on qualifying.”

“I think it’s easy to kind of overlook the speedways, just because there’s so few of them. I think across the garage, that probably does happen some amongst some of the other teams. But I think for us, it’s been a great opportunity to give our sponsors some great exposure and to me, that’s probably the biggest piece of value of qualifying well here. For NAPA, they’ve had the chance twice now to be on the front page of the paper down here and kind of be the headline leading into the Daytona 500, which I think has value and I don’t see how they couldn’t see that as value, too. So our team does a good job of putting themselves in a position where our partners can take advantage of the start of our year.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE WITH THIS BEING A NEW CAR AND EVERYBODY SO FOCUSED ON THE ATTENTION THAT TAKES, THE PARTS, ETC. – SAME AMOUNT OF ENERY AND EMPHASIS ON QUALIFYING HERE FOR YOU GUYS AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS?
“Yeah, I feel like a lot of emphasis has been put into our speedway cars for this race and we want to race the car that we unloaded with on Sunday, too. We’re excited and prepared. I feel like we’ve put as much effort and energy into it as we always have.”

WE’VE HEARD A LOT ABOUT DRIVERS LOOKING OUTSIDE THEIR COMFORT ZONE. WHAT MIGHT BE NEXT ON YOUR ‘WISH LIST’?
“Yeah, I enjoyed all the stuff I did over the winter. I enjoyed the rally cross thing. I enjoyed the Chili Bowl. I know it didn’t go well, but enjoyed the Chili Bowl. I feel like I made gains on that stuff through the winter, which I was excited about. I don’t know what I’m going to do this year just yet. We’ll see how it kind of unfolds, but I don’t really have anything locked down right now to go and run. Just currently focused on this deal – wanting to get into a good place here and try to have a really strong season. We’ll see – I’m certainly not ruling anything out. If something comes along that I like and feel like is a good opportunity, I’ll likely take it.”

JEFF GORDON HAD SOME QUOTES THIS WEEK ABOUT PUSHING YOU TO GET OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?
“I think Jeff (Gordon) wants us to broaden our horizons. And, like I said a second ago about getting sponsors exposure and things, I think that’s really the root of what he was probably getting at. And he wants us to grow – grow not only ourselves individually, but our sport as a whole. If the drivers are growing their following, then likely the sport is benefiting from it too. I think he’s just trying to help everybody win. At the end of the day, if we’re all gaining a following or popularity in a different area that we typically wouldn’t be in, you’re likely going to benefit. And likely, we’re all going to benefit.”

DO YOU HAVE A COMFORT ZONE? DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S OUTSIDE OF IT?
“Yeah, I mean we all have a comfort zone, for sure. I think for me, I don’t mind stepping outside my comfort zone. Where I sometimes struggle with wanting to go do things is I want to feel like those people want me there too. You want to feel like somebody cares about having you as a part of their show or whatever it may be; not just to check a box for them. When I feel appreciated and respect, I’m all in and I’ll go as far outside of my comfort zone as they want to get.”

WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT THE DUELS AS A PLACEMENT RACE OF THE DAYTONA 500 AND WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT PROTECTING THAT CAR BECAUSE YOU CAN’T WRECK YOUR CAR IN THE DUELS. BUT THE FANS ALSO WANT TO SEE A RACE. HAS THERE BEEN A LOT OF TALK AMONG THE DRIVERS ON HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF, BUT ALSO GIVE THE FANS A RACE?
“Yeah, well that is the race. That’s part of racing somedays and you either like that or you don’t. I hate to be that way; but at the end of the day, we’re going to do what we feel like is going to give us the best shot to win at the end of the day on Sunday. What that looks like sometimes might not be what people want to see all the time. But that’s just the way it unfolds. Would I love to mix it up for 500 miles? Absolutely I would love to put on the most exciting thing ever for four hours. But I also want to win; I want to win worse than I want to just make sure it’s super entertaining. That keeps integrity in our sport and as long as we have integrity in what we do and we all want to win, then I think the fans and the people are going to appreciate it. I think that’s an important piece; just keeping the integrity in what we have going on and making sure everybody still wants to win and make all of those right decisions to put themselves in the right position to do that.”

THE LAST TIME A HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DRIVER MADE IT TO VICTORY LANE DURING THE DAYTONA 500 WAS DALE EARNHARDT JR. BACK IN 2014. YOU GUYS HAVE WON EVERY SINGLE POLE SINCE THEN, EXCEPT FOR 2020. DO YOU FEEL LIKE YU GUYS ARE FOCUSING TOO MUCH ON QUALIFYING DAY AND NOT SO MUCH ON RACE DAY? HOW DO YOU GUYS GO ABOUT TRYING TO FIX THAT FOR THIS YEAR’S DAYTONA 500?
“No – I don’t think we’ve put too much emphasis on that. Qualifying day is really just kind of a testament of how much speed your car has. I would rather have that than not. I feel like we have – on more than one occasion down here – I’ve probably crashed one of the fastest cars during the Daytona 500 and I was driving it. I think we’ve had plenty of opportunities, we just have to be smart about our decisions and do better jobs behind the wheel.”

BEFORE THIS EVENT TWO YEARS, THERE WASN’T A DIRT RACE ON THE SCHEDULE. THERE WEREN’T SOME OF THE ROAD COURSES ON THE SCHEDULE. WE’VE SEEN CHANGES TO THE SCHEDULE, THE CAR AND THINGS LIKE THAT. CAN YOU GIVE ME A SENSE FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE HOW MUCH YOU’VE SEEN THE SPORT EVOLVE JUST IN THE LAST TWO YEARS? BUT ALSO WITH ALL THESE BIG CHANGES, HOW MUCH MORE CAN THINGS HANDLE? IS IT GOOD TO STILL CONTINUE TO BE AGGRESSIVE OR WHERE IS THAT LINE FROM WHAT YOU’VE EXPERIENCED?
“Yeah, that’s tough. I don’t make those decisions, so I don’t have to worry about it too much. I’ve been supportive of the leadership group at NASCAR here currently. I feel like they’ve changed more in the past two or three years than they’ve changed in the prior 25 the way it feels; just kind of looking back at history. But I don’t know where that line is. We have a sold out crowd on Sunday for the Daytona 500 and this place is expected to be packed in the infield and out there. So, I guess they’re doing it right. It seemed like everyone liked the Clash, which was definitely outside the norm. It seems fine to me from my end, but it’s hard to know where that line is. I’m not sure. That’s a great question.”

WHEN IT COMES TO SPONSORS AND STUFF, HAS THERE BEEN ANYTHING IN THE LAST FEW YEARS IN YOUR CUP CAREER WHERE A SPONSOR CAME TO YOU WITH AN IDEA FOR HOW TO UTILIZE YOU THAT MAYBE YOU SAID ‘NO’ TO BECAUSE IT CLASHED WITH YOUR PERSONALITY OR WHAT YOU WANT. ARE THERE ANY BOXES YOU CHECK OFF BEFORE YOU SAY ‘YES’ TO SOMETHING?
“Yeah, I’m sure there have been things I’ve said ‘no’ to at some point. But it doesn’t just mean it doesn’t happen; there might just be a little different way of getting there or achieving what the partner wanted. I feel like we typically try to make it work. If they have an idea of something that’s going to give you some exposure or whatever it may be, I feel like nine times out of ten, I find a way to make that happen. I don’t know how to answer that, but we pretty much do what we can to please our partners. And also too, it is sometimes super useful on our end too. When a partner activates with you, it’s not just them that’s benefiting. If you’re being activated on a national level, you’re benefiting too just by being there. It goes both ways. Also, I’m appreciative of the opportunities that I’ve had – to get on that stage and be able to do that; and that’s all because of a partner likely.”

WE’VE HEARD A LOT ABOUT MERCHANDISING AND MARKETING TODAY. DO YOU HAVE ANY MEMORIES AS A CHILD, OR HAVE YOU DISCUSSED WITH YOUR DAD, HOW DIFFERENT A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A NASCAR DRIVER IS NOW COMPARED TO HIS DAYS OF MORE HANDS-ON IN THE SHOP?
“Yeah, a little bit. His days of racing in the 80’s was much different than his days of racing were in the early-2000’s. 2002 was 20 years ago, right? So, that’s still a long time ago, if you think about it. And at that point, I feel like the model of how things work is really similar from jobs being more individualized at the shop. Guys starting to be hired to do specific things and then the drivers being hired to do their specific things too; as it pertains to driving, taking care of partners and making sure we’re doing the things we need to be doing. I feel like the model has been pretty similar for a number of years now. I think people will think about the heyday; what they think is the heyday. And yeah, it was different in the 80’s and 90’s. But I feel like when we got to the early to mid-2000’s, I feel like we were well on the path to what we have now and not far from it.”

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.

Louisiana Hot Sauce to sponsor No. 47 Camaro ZL1 in multiple races, and kicks off the NASCAR Cup Series season with “Drive a Winner” Sweepstakes at DRIVELIKEAWINNER.COM

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 16, 2022) – – Hot off the press The ORIGINAL “Louisiana” Brand Hot Sauce™ is returning to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47 Kroger Racing Camaro ZL1 at both Martinsville Speedway (4/9 and 10/30) races and Kansas Speedway (5/15). Today, they kicked off the “Drive a Winner” sweepstakes and will have visibility inside Stenhouse’s race car thanks to an in-car camera for the Daytona 500 on FOX and more.

“Louisiana Hot Sauce is a longstanding partner and it’s neat they’ll have visibility inside our No. 47 Kroger/Irish Spring Camaro for our biggest race of the year,” Stenhouse said. “I was able to spend some quality time with their Vice President of Marketing Brad Olsen and their pro golfer James Hahn at Cabarrus Golf Club when we shot videos for the ‘Drive a Winner’ sweepstakes promotion during the offseason. I do enjoy it when our brands get the most out of the partnership because we all win.”

Louisiana Hot Sauce is indeed taking advantage of their partnership with the race team to engage with NASCAR consumers. Today, they launched the “Drive a Winner Sweepstakes.” Fans can visit DRIVELIKEAWINNER.com to enter now for a chance to win a fiery Louisiana Hot Sauce E-Z-GO golf cart and a round of golf with Stenhouse and professional golfer James Hahn along with other fun prizes.

“NASCAR has positive momentum with 70MM excited, engaged, brand loyal fans and we have the opportunity to continue activating in the sport to grow our relationship with our consumers while adding new Louisiana Hot Sauce fans,” said Brad Olsen, Vice President of Marketing at Summit Hill Foods. “We announced the ‘Drive A Winner’ sweepstakes today that we’re promoting with Louisiana Hot Sauce pro golfer James Hahn and NASCAR Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., which made it the perfect time to announce our continued sponsorship plans with JTG Daugherty Racing. We’re always looking for interesting ways to connect with our consumers that leads to incremental opportunities and drive sales for our retail partners. We’re excited to have increased visibility for the Daytona 500 and launch “Drive a Winner” sweepstakes today.”

To spotlight “Drive a Winner” and drive fans to DRIVELIKEAWINNER.com, Stenhouse will have an in-car camera aboard his No. 47 Kroger/Irish Spring Camaro ZL1 featuring the sweepstakes, and two-time Daytona 500 Champion Michael Waltrip (MW) will have something to say about it during the FOX broadcast.

“The Louisiana Hot Sauce E-Z-GO golf cart is fire, and you will get to see it when FOX features it with MW,” Stenhouse said. “If you are at Daytona International Speedway, you’ll be able to see the golf cart on display in Daytona’s infield at the Boardwalk Club on Lake Lloyd. I’d like to have it for myself to be honest. Also, it will be fun to golf with James and our sweepstakes winner.”

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 takes place tonight at 8:15 PM ET on FS1. Then on Thursday catch the Bluegreen Vacations Duels starting at 7 PM ET on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Ch. 90). The Daytona 500 airs Sunday, February 20th on FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) at 2:30 PM ET.

About Summit Hill Foods

Summit Hill Foods is a fourth-generation, family-owned food company headquartered in Rome, Georgia. Founded in 1941, the company’s core strength is the development and manufacture of ingredient systems used to deliver texture and superior flavor. Summit Hill Foods is an ingredient supplier to food service manufacturers and restaurants. The company also markets nationally distributed brands including Better Than Bouillon®, Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce™, Southeastern Mills®, Shore Lunch® and Better Than Gravy®. Southeastern Mills operates six manufacturing facilities located in Rome, Georgia; New Iberia, Louisiana; and Salt Lake City, Utah. To learn more, visit www.SHFoods.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 16, 2022

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 PETTY GMS MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:

AFTER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH, HAS RYAN BLANEY REACHED OUT TO YOU?
“No, he hasn’t reached out to me. So I guess it’s resolved. I don’t know… if I had a problem with someone I would talk to them. So I guess it’s over.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE LAST YEAR NOT HAVING A TEAMMATE AND HOW HAS THAT CHANGED THIS YEAR?
“It’s good. Last year was a totally different year for me, going from a four-car team to a single-car team; plus with a new organization, a new manufacturer and everything. We kind of worked through that and learned every side of it. Working through the year on our own was a good experience. I felt like we learned a lot. We had some good runs, but we just didn’t have the consistency. We went to Las Vegas early in the year and ran ninth or 10th; then we went back to Vegas later in the year and ran 20th or whatever. We just struggled with that consistency and keeping things where they needed to be.”

“GMS coming on board is going to be good for us. So far it’s been good; merging with them. Ty (Dillon) coming on board on that side, it’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of. For me, it’s nice in some ways being a single-car team. You can kind of do what you want and lead your own direction, but there’s no one there to have a stop-check for you. You can go down the wrong path pretty easily. Having someone there, especially with a new car, to try different stuff and see what works and what doesn’t work – and maybe you can go in a different direction – is pretty helpful. Hopefully it pays off.”

LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD TO PHOENIX WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR, SOME DRIVERS SAID THE CAR IS MORE NIMBLE AND MORE SHORT-TRACK FRIENDLY. DO YOU SEE THAT, AND WILL IT CHANGE THE RACE AT PHOENIX?
“I see it, for sure. I look at the Coliseum specifically – and obviously that is the shortest of short tracks we’ve been to – and I think about what the old car would have been like there. I don’t think the race would have been nearly as entertaining as what it was. Number one, it wouldn’t have raced very well in general around that track. Number two, the durability and body and stuff, it wouldn’t have held up nearly as well through that track. I think the short-track stuff is going to change a lot. You’re going to be able to push the car way harder. Drivers are going to be able to drive a lot harder and get there around a lot quicker. I watched the Phoenix test – I didn’t get out there to run it but watched it from afar – and I was encouraged. I think it’s fun. I enjoyed the way the car drove the way at the Coliseum. If it drives anything at Phoenix like it did there, it’s going to be a fun race.”

YOU AND TY HAD GOOD RUNS AT L.A. IS THAT A RESULT OF A LITTLE MORE FREEDOM WITH A NEW OWNERSHIP GROUP, AND ARE YOU ABLE TO APPROACH THINGS A LITTLE MORE AGGRESSIVELY?
“I don’t think so. There was nothing last year that was holding me back or saying I couldn’t be aggressive. I think it was the nature of the track – the quarter-mile Coliseum and the way the track was laid out. Tempers were high, guys were getting frustrated and things were happening quick. It reminded me a lot of growing up racing. I did a lot of Super Late Model racing growing up, and a lot of those were quarter-miles or three-eighths miles. The racing we saw at the Clash at the Coliseum, I immediately thought of all those nights of that racing… jack handles flying after the race and angry people. That’s what I thought of. I thought it was great. When I think of short-track racing, that’s what I think of and that’s how I remember it growing up. I think that’s kind of what it was.”

HOW DO YOU ANTICIPATING THE DUELS BEING? YOU’RE BALANCING KEEPING THE CAR IN ONE PIECE BUT GETTING A GOOD STARTING SPOT. DO YOU EXPECT THINGS TO BE A LITTLE MORE CHILL THAN PAST YEARS?
“I hope so. I feel like we’re in a spot where we need to race this car in the 500. I think most people are in that spot, but I think we’re a little more than some with the parts and pieces and the cars we have lined up going forward from here onto Fontana and on from there. We’ll have to race a little bit in the (Duels). From what we’ve talked about, we’re not too concerned where we start in the 500. You can race your way to the front in the 500 if you need to, especially with seeing how these cars draft, the way you can move through the field and things you can do to pick up a lot of speed. I honestly don’t know totally what my approach is going to be yet. It’s going to depend on where we start and where we qualify. There are some pretty fast guys in single-car runs that are going to have a shot for the pole. I don’t know if we’re quite in that mix. We’ll see where we stack up. I think we’re going to be timid for sure.”

YOU’VE RACED WITH TY A LOT OVER THE YEARS AS A COMPETITOR. AS A TEAMMATE, WHAT’S THAT RELATIONSHIP LIKE?
“I didn’t really know Ty. I knew Ty as a competitor but I never talked to him too much or worked with him obviously on the competition side of things. We came up at a similar time and raced together a lot. We just never worked together. I’m kind of learning him right now… going into the simulator and seeing what his driving style is like and him going in and vice-versa. That’s a big thing as teammates – seeing what each guy needs out of the car, respectful of each other and working through that. That helps too with feedback and the comments on the racecar of what you’re looking for. If the driving styles are a bit different, guys are going to want different stuff. So that helps working through the competition side of things. That’s a big thing now that I’m trying to learn. I’ve been talking with him a lot about what he’s looking for in his racecar and how he’s looking to approach the year.”

DOES HAVING PARTNERSHIPS WITH TEAMS ON THE RCR CAMPUS GET A LOT OF FEEDBACK FROM A LOT OF DIFFERENT TEAMS RATHER THAN BEING OUT ON ISLAND?
“It does. This year, we’ve actually moved off campus. We’re in the GMS shop now but we still have our alliance with RCR. That communication always helps, right? We just don’t have the engineering power that a team like that does. We don’t have the people working consistently on one piece of the car at a time to try and develop it to make it better. That’s where the alliance with RCR is just huge for us. It’s important. I don’t think without it that we could do nearly the things we could do so far with the racecar and learn about the Next Gen car as much as we have. We have great people at GMS. Dave (Elenz) our new crew chief and Danny (Efland) our engineer do a really good job, but they still need the information to put the pieces together. Having that to go back on and look at is pretty big for us.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT RYAN BLANEY GOT TICKED OFF ENOUGH TO THROW HIS HANS DEVICE AT YOU?
“I don’t know. The way I look at it, if I’m racing somebody and I brake-checked them then I guess I’d expect to get wrecked. It’s not like I meant to take the guy out of the race. I didn’t just intentionally right-rear him into the wall. Moving up the track, he got into the wall and broke a piece unfortunately that took him further out of the race. He was probably upset about that, for sure. He was having a solid run and we were moving forward together. I wasn’t shocked to see it at all. I knew he’d probably be mad about it. I was just kind of waiting on it.”

YOU’VE GONE FROM HAVING MULTIPLE TEAMMATES TO NO TEAMMATES AND NOW TO ONE TEAMMATE. HOW DOES THAT ROUTINE PREPARING FOR A RACE CHANGE?
“It changes it. Last year, we kind of had our own program. It was just us so I’d go into the shop Mondays or Tuesdays and meet with the guys, then go up and run the simulator and go through our week-long preparation with what we were looking for on the racecar. We’d run through our setup and run through some changes and figure it out. It’s changed a bit now. Ty and I both have to split the sim time and get on there to run different packages and different stuff. It’s like I said earlier about learning each other’s styles and what we want from the racecar. Eventually it would be great to get to the points where we could run setups for each other and know either he’s going to like that or he’s not going to like that change. That’s the goal to get to. It’s nice having two people working out what we need from a racecar. Every driver wants something different, right? Even something that I don’t think I need in a racecar that Ty is calling for could probably help me at the end of the day. That’s the nice part about it. You can work through a lot of different stuff and probably end up with a stronger racecar than you would have with one person working on it or developing it while asking for changes. I’m excited about it. Ty’s a good driver. He’s shown that and he’s worked through a lot of different organizations through his career. I think this is one of the better opportunities he’s had at the Cup level.”

WHAT’S BEEN THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE RCR DRIVERS AND THE ENGINES YOU HAVE WITH THIS ALLIANCE?
“We’ve talked about and what our plan is for the 500… not so much the Duels or just practice. I think you’ll see us probably trying to work together in the 500. It’s always tough. I’ve done it with two different manufacturers trying to work together in the race and what you do there and what the plan is. It’s hard. It’s never easy to actually work together once you get in the heat of the battle, trying to stay connected and stay with each other and work your way to the front. If it does work, then it works great. I’ve seen it work great and been part of it working great. It’s just hard to get everyone together. We have talked about it and what we want to do for the 500.”

HAVE YOU TALKED ABOUT SOME OF THE OPEN TEAMS IN THE RCR ALLIANCE AND HELPING THEM MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE 500 ON THURSDAY NIGHT?
“We haven’t specifically talked about that in our group. For us, we’re just really focusing on racing this car in the 500. Unfortunately we’re in a spot where we cannot wreck this car before the 500. We have to get it into the race and start it. As much as it would be nice to help those guys out and get some more help in the 500 from those guys – because obviously they would be on our side – I don’t think we’re going to be able to do much for them.”

WITH ALL THAT SAID FOR THE DUELS, DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO RIDE IN THE BACK? WHERE’S THE LINE BETWEEN BEING SAFE BUT PICKING UP AND LEARNING THINGS FOR SUNDAY?
“It’s a fine balance. From what we’ve talked about, you obviously have to race in the Duels a bit. You like to learn, like you said. We just haven’t been in a big enough pack even at the test to know what these cars are going to do and how they’re going to drive in the draft. There is going to be some point where we have to race in the Duel, learn about the car and go from there. It’ll be an eyes-wide-open type of deal. If anything gets really dicey or out of hand, we’re going to have to be extra cautious. I don’t think us riding around by ourselves is going to be an option just because we do have to learn a little bit. But we definitely are going to err on the heavy side of caution.”

YOU HAVE SOMETHING LIKE HALF THE FIELD IN CHEVROLETS THAT YOU COULD WORK WITH. HOW DOES THAT AFFECT YOU AS A DRIVER KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE MORE POSSIBILITIES WHEN IT COMES TO LATE IN THE RACE?
“When it was only a few cars, we’d always complain that we didn’t have enough people. That was always the issue of pitting by ourselves or doing that kind of thing where we don’t have enough cars and we couldn’t maintain the speed we need to. Now over here it’s almost the opposite issue. You’ve got so many cars, how is everyone going to work together? It’s just not possible. It’s a struggle either way. You have to find the right balance and settle in with the group you’re going to really work with and what you’re going to do to make that work. There’s just no way you can have that many cars working together. You have to keep your eyes open. If there’s a time where you can help a guy out that’s with your manufacturer, you kind of have to do that depending on the point in the race. It just goes both ways. It’s funny when you’re on both sides of it that there is such a different mentality each way. You have to do what you can do help out.”

SEVERAL DRIVERS HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE LACK OF PARTS FOR THE CAR. IF THERE ARE A COUPLE THAT ARE WRECKED, CAN YOU SEE A TEAM LENDING PARTS OVER TO ANOTHER OPERATION TO HELP GET THEM PUT BACK TOGETHER?
“Depending on what it is, yes. Some parts and pieces are harder to get than others right now. I’d say we have a good chunk of parts and pieces here to put a bit of a car back together. If we were to completely destroy a car, it’s not possible. We’d have to go back home, get a car and bring it back down, which would be very unfortunate. I could probably see that in an alliance situation depending on the part and piece. I don’t think the chassis is necessarily the struggle as much. It’s the parts and pieces to put it together. Depending on what it is, you could probably see that happen.”

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