Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

RICHMOND, Va. (April 2, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media prior to the Richmond Raceway race this Saturday:

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

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

What one area do you think if you get it fixed you will be better?

DENNY HAMLIN: “Everywhere. That’s what we stay on Mondays. I’m not sure honestly. It’s just a little bit everywhere honestly. It just takes time learning a lot of different new things. There were some setbacks with our testing car. There was a big crash in Texas last year with it and it set us back with some data and whatnot that maybe has an effect in it, but we’re trying to get our cars driving better and going faster.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: “There is a lot that goes into it. One of the biggest things for us has been not showing up on weekends close enough. Not a lot of people I think have talked about the schedule, but 15 minutes of practice, literally impound racing, you can’t change springs and major setup components during practice, so basically what you show up with you fine tune with wedge and shock clicks and small adjustments and then you go racing. Really if you are off, you are off. I think for us that’s a big thing. We’re sim racing right now. We’ve been behind throughout testing, and I feel like that has definitely hurt us, so we are definitely searching and at this point doing some testing.”

Are you concerned where you are in the point standings?

DENNY HAMLIN: “I don’t think we’ve been through this for sure. I think you can catapult up the standings really, really quickly – the way things are. Other kind of short of Ross (Chastain) who has been really good the last three or four weeks, everyone – their finishes are bouncing around all over the place. If you have a couple solid weeks where we don’t get crashed or cause a crash, those things add up. We’re not happy with where our speed is at, for sure, but certainly we are not a 22nd-place team and am I worried about making the Playoffs, if that is what you are asking, no.”

As an owner and driver, are you concerned about the wheels?

DENNY HAMLIN: “They had – from the evidence I’ve seen – is a loose wheel from the very beginning of the race and it just kept getting worse with each set of tires that they put on. I don’t know what caused it – I don’t know how or why – but it looked like this problem probably started on lap one of the race. There is some concern – there is a lot of wheels falling off. You would think with the single lug that we wouldn’t have that. If you missed one or two lugs before, you always would have backup. When you only have one, that’s it – it’s going to come off. There is some concern, but the concern I heard earlier in the year was you would mount the wheel a few times and the next thing you would know is it’s not good anymore because it gets all mauled up, which is what they RFK guys were doing at the beginning of the year – trying to fix that. I don’t think the teams have really perfected anything that looks like the fix right now and I don’t know what the fix is – if there is any fix – if it’s just you need to wait longer and get the wheels tight to be sure.”

How do you view Richmond as the barometer for Joe Gibbs Racing with the Next Gen car?

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: “I think we have high expectations. We have a lot of people at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) that understand the track and understand what it takes to win here, but obviously this is a whole different deal now. I think for us this season – the short season it has been so far – is whatever you think you knew and the way you thought about these tracks before and the way you approach these things – just forget about it, because this is a whole new ballgame with this car and everything, we are doing this year. Forget everything you knew in the past and focus on what it takes to make this thing go, which we are still trying to figure out. Hopefully, we can make some steps in the right direction. Obviously, it’s been a great track for us, driver wise as well. You just try to use what we know about it and apply it to practice this morning and throughout the weekend.”

DENNY HAMLIN: It’s more just kind of anxious for me because I run the simulator and what not. I run this guy’s setup and that guy’s setup and they are on different planets and I’m like somebody’s right and somebody’s wrong. We will know within two laps – are we in the ballpark or not? The tough part is – like he said – is you are kind of locked in springs and whatnot, so your adjustments are somewhat limited when you get here. It’s almost like a COVID schedule, only you just get some laps with your car, and you can fine tune it or tweak it, so if you are way off you just can’t really wholesale it like you used to. For me, I’m anxious to see after lap two, did we guess right?”

Do you like the new car’s road course package?

DENNY HAMLIN: “It’s just different. No preference one way or the other. From a road course perspective, I think the car races better on road course with the independent rear suspension, the shifting. The gearing was interesting. Last week, we had five gears, and we only used four of them. We didn’t use fifth gear. We kind of mis-aligned what that was going to be, but it’s fine. Just getting used to it all.”

Looking at this season with one off-weekend, are you worried about burnout?

DENNY HAMLIN: “I’m not sure what we can do about it. We have to work extreme hours. We have to wait on parts, like my crew chief told me on the plane this morning – don’t tear the splitter up. We have legitimate concerns that we won’t have a splitter for Martinsville. Just be gentle, but how do you do that and race too. The short supply is causing extended hours and eventually people – I think I saw some stuff on Twitter yesterday – teams are losing a lot of people just because of workload and eventually it becomes a problem. You can’t afford to just pay them more – we’re trying to do everything we can to tread water right now. It’s just a tough position that we are in. The supply chain is just not coming through to us as good as it needs to, but we’ve designated one supplier to do all the work and when that one supplier doesn’t get the stuff we need, we are stuck because we told everyone else to pound sand. It’s just a tough spot to be in right now and the teams don’t know what else to do. It’s tough to retain your workforce right now and all of the teams are losing people.”

Are there any consequences to the rough racing that you referenced on social media?
DENNY HAMLIN: “Not really. I don’t think there is any consequences to it. We’ve seen you can kind of do whatever. You might be worried about getting wrecked here and there in the future, but I think it’s just become accepted. The art of passing is just something that isn’t quite used as much now-a-days. The easier route is getting them out of your way as quick as possible by moving them. I’ve done it – every time I’ve done it, it has been unintentional, but I think it’s become more of an intentional move in the years lately.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: “I think it’s part of the way kids come up racing. It’s funny I flew with (Kevin) Harvick a few weeks ago and we had a conversation. He goes and watches his kid go race go-karts and it’s crazy. They all go out there and drive through each other from lap one of practice. It’s just a normal occurrence. Everybody comes up through racing a certain way. I learned a certain way. Denny (Hamlin) learned a certain way. Kids now-a-days maybe it’s different. I know when I was making my way through the ranks I was working, I was building my cars. I didn’t want to tear the nose off of the thing because I knew I had to fix it on Monday. I had to keep the car in one piece. We had to keep our stuff – we couldn’t just go out and buy new stuff. We didn’t have the money when I was doing it. Maybe that’s it – I think it’s different. You see racing, you see short track racing, it’s every race there. They race for the win. It’s exciting because they are knocking the hell out each other. That’s what everybody wants to see these days. There is a lot of things from different angles that’s different in all of those things. It’s different and it’s made its way here. That’s the way it goes. The field gets younger, new guys come in and what used to fly or didn’t used to fly maybe can now. I think it’s a lot different than when I started here.”

Do you feel a lot closer with this car every week?

DENNY HAMLIN: “We’re starting over from our perspective. We’re trying to find a point where we are good. We are decent. We’re not shit. We are decent, but we are not where we have been for the last three years. We are trying to find that point where we are good, and we can build off of that.”

Do you think anything should be done to speed up these caution periods?

DENNY HAMLIN: “I told y’all before the season started that these races are going to be really long. There’s going to be more cautions and cautions are going to take longer. As far as that particular track and Road America, caution laps are I think 10 minutes. It’s huge, but I don’t know how you really fix it. It’s kind of what we got. I don’t know how you fix it. I don’t know that it’s broken either. Maybe we like sitting around for four and a half hours.”

#

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 43 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

RICHMOND, Va. (April 2, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media prior to the Richmond Raceway race this Saturday:

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

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

What one area do you think if you get it fixed you will be better?

DENNY HAMLIN: “Everywhere. That’s what we stay on Mondays. I’m not sure honestly. It’s just a little bit everywhere honestly. It just takes time learning a lot of different new things. There were some setbacks with our testing car. There was a big crash in Texas last year with it and it set us back with some data and whatnot that maybe has an effect in it, but we’re trying to get our cars driving better and going faster.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: “There is a lot that goes into it. One of the biggest things for us has been not showing up on weekends close enough. Not a lot of people I think have talked about the schedule, but 15 minutes of practice, literally impound racing, you can’t change springs and major setup components during practice, so basically what you show up with you fine tune with wedge and shock clicks and small adjustments and then you go racing. Really if you are off, you are off. I think for us that’s a big thing. We’re sim racing right now. We’ve been behind throughout testing, and I feel like that has definitely hurt us, so we are definitely searching and at this point doing some testing.”

Are you concerned where you are in the point standings?

DENNY HAMLIN: “I don’t think we’ve been through this for sure. I think you can catapult up the standings really, really quickly – the way things are. Other kind of short of Ross (Chastain) who has been really good the last three or four weeks, everyone – their finishes are bouncing around all over the place. If you have a couple solid weeks where we don’t get crashed or cause a crash, those things add up. We’re not happy with where our speed is at, for sure, but certainly we are not a 22nd-place team and am I worried about making the Playoffs, if that is what you are asking, no.”

As an owner and driver, are you concerned about the wheels?

DENNY HAMLIN: “They had – from the evidence I’ve seen – is a loose wheel from the very beginning of the race and it just kept getting worse with each set of tires that they put on. I don’t know what caused it – I don’t know how or why – but it looked like this problem probably started on lap one of the race. There is some concern – there is a lot of wheels falling off. You would think with the single lug that we wouldn’t have that. If you missed one or two lugs before, you always would have backup. When you only have one, that’s it – it’s going to come off. There is some concern, but the concern I heard earlier in the year was you would mount the wheel a few times and the next thing you would know is it’s not good anymore because it gets all mauled up, which is what they RFK guys were doing at the beginning of the year – trying to fix that. I don’t think the teams have really perfected anything that looks like the fix right now and I don’t know what the fix is – if there is any fix – if it’s just you need to wait longer and get the wheels tight to be sure.”

How do you view Richmond as the barometer for Joe Gibbs Racing with the Next Gen car?

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: “I think we have high expectations. We have a lot of people at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) that understand the track and understand what it takes to win here, but obviously this is a whole different deal now. I think for us this season – the short season it has been so far – is whatever you think you knew and the way you thought about these tracks before and the way you approach these things – just forget about it, because this is a whole new ballgame with this car and everything, we are doing this year. Forget everything you knew in the past and focus on what it takes to make this thing go, which we are still trying to figure out. Hopefully, we can make some steps in the right direction. Obviously, it’s been a great track for us, driver wise as well. You just try to use what we know about it and apply it to practice this morning and throughout the weekend.”

DENNY HAMLIN: It’s more just kind of anxious for me because I run the simulator and what not. I run this guy’s setup and that guy’s setup and they are on different planets and I’m like somebody’s right and somebody’s wrong. We will know within two laps – are we in the ballpark or not? The tough part is – like he said – is you are kind of locked in springs and whatnot, so your adjustments are somewhat limited when you get here. It’s almost like a COVID schedule, only you just get some laps with your car, and you can fine tune it or tweak it, so if you are way off you just can’t really wholesale it like you used to. For me, I’m anxious to see after lap two, did we guess right?”

Do you like the new car’s road course package?

DENNY HAMLIN: “It’s just different. No preference one way or the other. From a road course perspective, I think the car races better on road course with the independent rear suspension, the shifting. The gearing was interesting. Last week, we had five gears, and we only used four of them. We didn’t use fifth gear. We kind of mis-aligned what that was going to be, but it’s fine. Just getting used to it all.”

Looking at this season with one off-weekend, are you worried about burnout?

DENNY HAMLIN: “I’m not sure what we can do about it. We have to work extreme hours. We have to wait on parts, like my crew chief told me on the plane this morning – don’t tear the splitter up. We have legitimate concerns that we won’t have a splitter for Martinsville. Just be gentle, but how do you do that and race too. The short supply is causing extended hours and eventually people – I think I saw some stuff on Twitter yesterday – teams are losing a lot of people just because of workload and eventually it becomes a problem. You can’t afford to just pay them more – we’re trying to do everything we can to tread water right now. It’s just a tough position that we are in. The supply chain is just not coming through to us as good as it needs to, but we’ve designated one supplier to do all the work and when that one supplier doesn’t get the stuff we need, we are stuck because we told everyone else to pound sand. It’s just a tough spot to be in right now and the teams don’t know what else to do. It’s tough to retain your workforce right now and all of the teams are losing people.”

Are there any consequences to the rough racing that you referenced on social media?
DENNY HAMLIN: “Not really. I don’t think there is any consequences to it. We’ve seen you can kind of do whatever. You might be worried about getting wrecked here and there in the future, but I think it’s just become accepted. The art of passing is just something that isn’t quite used as much now-a-days. The easier route is getting them out of your way as quick as possible by moving them. I’ve done it – every time I’ve done it, it has been unintentional, but I think it’s become more of an intentional move in the years lately.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: “I think it’s part of the way kids come up racing. It’s funny I flew with (Kevin) Harvick a few weeks ago and we had a conversation. He goes and watches his kid go race go-karts and it’s crazy. They all go out there and drive through each other from lap one of practice. It’s just a normal occurrence. Everybody comes up through racing a certain way. I learned a certain way. Denny (Hamlin) learned a certain way. Kids now-a-days maybe it’s different. I know when I was making my way through the ranks I was working, I was building my cars. I didn’t want to tear the nose off of the thing because I knew I had to fix it on Monday. I had to keep the car in one piece. We had to keep our stuff – we couldn’t just go out and buy new stuff. We didn’t have the money when I was doing it. Maybe that’s it – I think it’s different. You see racing, you see short track racing, it’s every race there. They race for the win. It’s exciting because they are knocking the hell out each other. That’s what everybody wants to see these days. There is a lot of things from different angles that’s different in all of those things. It’s different and it’s made its way here. That’s the way it goes. The field gets younger, new guys come in and what used to fly or didn’t used to fly maybe can now. I think it’s a lot different than when I started here.”

Do you feel a lot closer with this car every week?

DENNY HAMLIN: “We’re starting over from our perspective. We’re trying to find a point where we are good. We are decent. We’re not shit. We are decent, but we are not where we have been for the last three years. We are trying to find that point where we are good, and we can build off of that.”

Do you think anything should be done to speed up these caution periods?

DENNY HAMLIN: “I told y’all before the season started that these races are going to be really long. There’s going to be more cautions and cautions are going to take longer. As far as that particular track and Road America, caution laps are I think 10 minutes. It’s huge, but I don’t know how you really fix it. It’s kind of what we got. I don’t know how you fix it. I don’t know that it’s broken either. Maybe we like sitting around for four and a half hours.”

#

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 43 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
RICHMOND RACEWAY
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 2, 2022

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ONX HOMES / iFLY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Richmond Raceway. Press Conference Transcript:

ROSS, TELL US HOW YOUR WEEK HAS BEEN SINCE YOU GOT YOUR FIRST WIN.
“It’s been busy. Not enough sleep until yesterday. We tried to do as much as we could and take advantage of this opportunity. I don’t think we said ‘no’ to anybody. They claimed they did turn some stuff down, some requests. But it was a full couple of days. We fit a production day for the Moose Fraternity in there, a full day at the shop and a race at Millbridge to just keep learning dirt for Daniel (Suarez) and I. We both made the feature, which was the goal.

I slept in yesterday. Flew in and went straight to the hotel. I was in bed at three in the afternoon; woke up at about 9:00 p.m. and back to sleep at about 11:00 p.m. I feel a lot better this morning.”

I KNOW A LOT OF THOSE GUYS HAVE WON RACES BEFORE IN THEIR CAREERS, BUT IS THERE ANY DIFFERENT VIBE IN THE SHOP THIS WEEK COMPARED TO PAST WEEKS?
“Once we got to the shop – I did make it to the shop Monday. Our road crew, most of them came in Tuesday. For the people in the shop, there were smiles. But there have been smiles this year. You’ve probably heard some of us talk about it, but it is different. For the same building and most of the same employees, it’s different. This car gives us a lot of things to smile about and we’ve been fast.

Some of us though, it was our first win, and the people that have won before made sure to make it a point to give us some tips on how to remember it and to enjoy these little moments. We were there for the win breakfast and win lunch. I told Justin (Marks), that was probably the most awkward part for me. It’s what we’ve always worked for and now we’re celebrating it and I almost feel like I’m in an out-of-body experience. There were a lot of high-five’s. My hand is still sore; a lot of high-fives.”

YOU MENTIONED IT’S BEEN A BUSY WEEK. WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS?
“The highlights have been talking to people back home. In Charlotte and Mooresville, there are a lot of people that have helped get me here that have been a part of this journey. But when you look at the people back home, they weren’t paid to do it. They had no real reason other than they liked racing or they were my family. Talking to them – hearing the stories of where they were at towards the end of the race, seeing a couple of videos of them reacting to the race – that’s when it really sunk in. That’s when it felt real.

I talked to a guy this morning on the way in that. He raced late models and he was the one that taught my dad and I how to adjust wedge and heights on a coil-over car. My dad knew bucket springs and knew a metric chassis; that’s what I started with. But when we went into late models, we didn’t know. We looked at hiring or paying for shocks and bump stops, but the cost seemed like a lot. So, we never did that. We just ran whatever coil-overs came on the car. I was talking to him and he was the one there a couple nights a week for years helping to scale it because we didn’t know how to make adjustments. We definitely never took the shocks apart the whole time we had them. Just talking to him – he’s retired from the sheriff’s department and does some part-time work now, and just loves racing. He helped us a lot, Rusty did. That’s been the coolest part though, talking to people back home.”

YOU SAID THIS WEEK THAT THE WIN WON’T CHANGE ANYTHING, AS FAR AS THE TEAM’S APPROACH AND THE WAY YOU’RE GOING TO GO ABOUT BUSINESS AND YOUR MINDSET. FOR YOU, HAS A WEIGHT BEEN LIFTED AT ALL? DOES IT FEEL LIKE A RELIEF TO SHOW PEOPLE WHAT YOU’VE BEEN FIGHTING TO ACHIEVE FOR SO LONG?
“I want to say no, but yes. I’m human so yeah – I’ve went to bed every night this week, some nights were in the morning, but it does. That’s what I was talking about with Justin (Marks) at the shop. We’re here and we’re eating as a company, and as a family, because we won. It’s hard to really realize that. I realize it, but the adrenaline had worn off by Tuesday or whenever we did it. Now, it’s like I’m here doing this, but it just felt odd. It was different. I had never done that.

We don’t do anything different. We rolled through tech just like everybody else yesterday. They were through tech in an hour and a half; passed on the first time, fifth car through. Off to machining wheels to get them ready for the weekend. I was busy sleeping at the hotel. That did change for me, I had never done that. I have never flown in and went straight to bed. But I needed to catch-up to be ready for this morning.”

ONE OF THE THINGS, AT LEAST FRON THE OUTSIDE IN THAT LOOKS LIKE IT FUELS YOU, IS KIND OF HAVING A CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDER BECAUSE OF THE PATH UP. HOW DO YOU MANAGE OR HOW DO YOU KEEP THAT CHIP AS YOU MOVE TO ANOTHER LEVEL FROM TRYING TO WIN TO NOW A WINNER IN THIS SERIES?
“It might not seem like it with the finish last week, but I made a real effort going into 2021. I joked with my group that the only chip that I have is Chip Ganassi. I don’t want that old Ross. I want to Ross 3.0. I had already had 2.0 at that point and I need 3.0. I just want to be better. Yeah, it got me here and I’m proud of that, and I wouldn’t trade any of that. To stay here now, I’ve realized that I can’t be that way.

Of course then, our first Cup win comes the way it does with controversary. It’s not how I drew it up in my head, but I’ve made a real effort. It doesn’t show from the finish. I tried last year and it was really halfway through the year before I could really put it together. And then this year, through the off season, I tried to not have that chip. Now, that chip is gone and Chip Ganassi has stepped out of the sport. So, I don’t want any chips. No chips on the hauler (laughs).”
HAVE YOU RE-SHIFTED YOUR FOCUS AT ALL TO PLAYOFFS AND HOW DOES THE WIN CHANGE THE DYNAMIC OF THE APPROACH NOW FOR THE REST OF THE REGULAR SEASON?
“It doesn’t. I was texting with Jeff Haden this week. I wanted to get him down to Concord before the season, but I dropped the ball and didn’t do it. I was like I want to get you before the Playoffs and he was like, ‘that’s wild that you’re talking about the Playoffs already’. Nothing else has changed, but I want to be mindful of that. What I’ve learned through Trucks and Xfinity is that – when I got there – a lot of times I would try to do more and I don’t want to do that again. I want to just do what got us there. It’s easy to sit here on April 2nd and say that. Doing that at the end of the season with 10 races to go is going to be a whole other level.

For me, probably the mental struggle will constantly come back and forth. For having a good grasp on it and then getting caught up on – ok, we need a stage point here to keep adding – when all we really need to do is go race. Fighting that will be tough; I’m not saying it won’t be. But really that mental struggle will be just as important as being a little bit physically stronger by the time we get there too.”

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE THAT GIVES YOU ANY SORTS OF CHALLENGES AND WHAT’S GOING TO BE KEY FOR YOU TOMORROW IN MAKING SURE YOU GUYS ARE CONTINUING THAT STREAK OF CONSISTENT QUALITY FINISHES?
“I mean the key is having all sticker tires. It wasn’t that long ago – probably 2016 or ’15, somewhere in there – that I was here in Johnny’s No. 4 car and we drove up into the top-10 on like an 80-something lap run. A caution came out with 15 to go and the only tires we had left were scuffs because we didn’t buy the full allotment. So, we just stayed out and just hung on for 15th place; when, with stickers, maybe we could have stayed in the top-10. I think at that point, we probably hadn’t done that before. It’s not lost on me that I’ve walked into Richmond (Raceway) before knowing how much tire falloff happens; knowing how slick the track is. I’ve got two sets of stickers – one for practice that we brought from home that are old, and one for qualifying that you have to qualify on stickers. And then, you start the race on those and after that, it’s all scuffs. So, maybe one more set of stickers.

Those days are still in my head. How I had to drive and how I had to try and fight off guys when I had scuffs. That’s just the way you do it back there and that’s how you do it on those programs, and that’s how you stay around. Those days aren’t lost on me.”

AS THIS NEW CAR WAS GENERATED, I THINK WE ALL ASSUMED THERE WOULD BE THAT ONE TEAM THAT TOOK A BIG JUMP. YOURSELF AND DANIEL (SUAREZ) HAVE HAD GREAT RUNS, AS WELL. WHAT’S IT BEEN LIKE OVER THE COURSE OF THIS SEASON TO KIND OF BE THAT TEAM THAT HAS MADE THAT JUMP?
“I’ve been grateful and I keep telling the boys and girls that at Trackhouse (Racing). Thank you for giving me fast cars because nobody’s car is comfortable to drive right now. We’re spinning out; I’ve wrecked. I’ve over-corrected. But as we’ve went through each race, they’ve made it tolerable. Just that extra little bit where I can start to hustle it. I have to keep reminding myself – come off of 100 percent because they are hard to drive. You see guys, we’re all spinning out and bottoming out. It’s been a grateful feeling for me that they’re giving me cars with speed. Our car at Auto Club was fast and I plugged it in the wall, head-on, off turn four. I can’t be doing that.”

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.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
RICHMOND RACEWAY
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 2, 2022

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

AS THE MOST RECENT WINNER AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE IMPENDING FUTURE OF THAT TRACK?
“That’s not what I expected to get asked about first thing here at Richmond (laughs).

I like Chicagoland a lot. It’s a really technical, fun racetrack; super slick and extremely rough. I don’t really know what’s happening with it, but bummed it’s not on the schedule. It’s definitely a special place.”

FOUR OF THE NEXT FIVE RACES ARE AT TRACKS ONE-MILE OR SHORTER. THREE OF THOSE RACES YOU WON LAST YEAR. DOES THAT GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THIS NEXT LITTLE STRETCH?
“Yeah, for sure. They are all racetracks that I really enjoy. I think if we still had last year’s car, I’d be super confident. But a lot has changed this year with this racecar and I don’t really know what to expect at a lot of these places with the Next Gen car. So, at least kind of knowing that I know what to look for and know what I need in the racecar to be successful at these places is good. But trying to find that with a completely new racecar is definitely going to be tough.”

CHEVROLET AS A WHOLE HAS WON FOUR OF THE LAST FIVE RACES. WHY DO YOU THINK THE MANUFACTURER HAS HAD SO MUCH SPEED EARLY ON?
“I think we’ve definitely had really fast racecars each and every week, and it’s cool to see Chevrolet have so much success. There were races that things went our way too. We have a lot of really smart people that have worked really hard. I feel like the playing field is pretty even right now.”

WITH SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS CAR, I KNOW AERODYNAMICALLY, IT’S SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT, PARTICULARLY ON THE RIGHT SIDE. THE COMPOSITE BODY LENDS ITSELF TO LESS TIRE RUBS. IS THERE A DIFFERENT LEVEL OF INTENSITY IN THE RACE THAT WE MIGHT HAVE SEEN AT A ROAD COURSE THAT WE’RE LIKELY TO SEE AT A SHORT TRACK?
“Yeah, for sure. I think you can definitely run into stuff that would have ended your day in the past. We kind of got sandwiched in between a bunch of cars on a restart last week; drove straight into somebody and it would have completely ended our day last year. Probably would have ended up knocking the radiator out of it and just been done. It’s cool to not have any damage after that. I think there’s a fine balance between that, right? You don’t want to be able to just bounce off stuff and I don’t think you are. But the old car was super fragile. I think it’s definitely going to change the racing a little bit. I don’t know that it’ll change the racing here a ton. Going to Homestead, it’s going to make running the fence way easier and way less stressful, I think, just because if you hit it once, you’re not going to instantly get a flat tire. It’s definitely different and I’m excited to see how it all plays out.”

MY HOME TRACK, MOBILE (SPEEWAY), IS KIND OF COMING BACK TO LIFE THIS YEAR. I KNOW YOU MADE A COUPLE OF ARCA STARTS THERE. DO YOU HAVE ANY MEMORIES OF RUNNING MOBILE OR RACING THERE?
“Yes, I ran there once in an ARCA car. I remember being there to test and it rained, and we sat around and did nothing because we didn’t have a jet dryer or anything. It was a fantastic time (laughs). I think we sat fast time and ran third or something.

It’s a cool place. The Mobile memory for me is the video of Will Kimmel flying off the end of the racetrack. That’s the one that sticks out in my head. It’s a cool racetrack, for sure.”

YOU’VE BEEN INVOLVED IN SOME CHAOTIC, WILD FINISHES THIS YEAR. DENNY (HAMLIN) HAD KIND OF INSINUATED ON TWITTER EARLIER THIS WEEK THAT THE ETHICS OF LATE RACE RACING HAVE CHANGED OVER THE LAST FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS. DO YOU SEE THAT AND WHY ARE THINGS MORE CUT-THROAT OR WIN-AT-ALL-COST NOW?
“I think the Playoff format has a lot to do with that. But I think we’ve seen that over the course of the years. You’ve seen people spin people out at the end of races and get pretty physical at the end of the races for a long time. I think there’s some new guys in the series that are extremely aggressive. Like everyone knows how aggressive Ross (Chastain) is at all times. AJ (Allmendinger) is an aggressive driver, too. I don’t necessarily think it has changed as much as Denny (Hamlin) thinks maybe. But I think if there’s a reason and you have to put your finger on it, it would be the Playoff format. How much winning matters and sometimes you can overcome those guys hating you for that trophy.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO BRISTOL, YOU’RE A DIRT GUY. YOU’VE BUILT CARS FOR DIRT RACING. LOOKING AT GOING BACK TO BRISTOL AND TAKING THE NEXT GEN CAR THERE, WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU ANTICIPATE THAT CAR MIGHT HAVE RUNNING ON DIRT?
“Similar challenges to what we had last year. I think the cars last year adapted pretty well to the dirt stuff. Obviously, independent rear suspension is way different. I’ve never driven anything on dirt with independent rear suspension, so it’s going to be interesting to kind of learn about that and see how the steering rack is and all that. I think your main challenges are still going to be visibility and keeping the grill open. The things we fought with last year.

I’m excited it’s a night race. I think that’s going to help everybody. I’m looking forward to it. I love dirt racing. While I couldn’t see an inch from my windshield last year, I still had a blast when I could see. Bristol is a really fun time.”

I’VE HEARD IN THE PAST THAT THERE HAVE BEEN SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PHOENIX (RACEWAY) AND RICHMOND (RACEWAY). WITH THIS NEW CAR, IS THAT A SIMILAR SITUATION WHERE SOME OF THE DATA FROM PHOENIX CAN LEND ITSELF TO HOW YOU GUYS SETUP THE CAR HERE AT RICHMOND. IF NOT, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THAT YOU GUYS FACE WITH THE NEW CAR COMING HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME?
“Yeah, I think they’re definitely similar. They are two places where I’m pretty awful at (laughs), so they kind of lend themselves to each other there. (Turns) one and two at Phoenix (Raceway) is somewhat similar to here. Just trying to take the data from that and know what we fought with our racecar there. Obviously it’s different. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s at least close.

We struggled at Phoenix this year. We were better than where we finished, but still wasn’t great. So, just trying to learn from that and use the parts and pieces that we can. And also, use all the engineering stuff to be better here.”

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.