Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Team Penske Media Availability | Thursday, July 15, 2021

Team Penske announced this morning that Austin Cindric will take over as driver of the No. 2 Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series for 2022 and Brad Keselowski will be leaving the organization at the end of the season to pursue other opportunities. Owner Roger Penske joined Cindric to discuss the move with members of the media.

ROGER PENSKE, Owner, Team Penske — WHAT WENT INTO THE DECISION OF CHANGING DIRECTION WITH AUSTIN FROM THE 21 TO THE 2 FOR NEXT YEAR? “I guess this really starts back with a meeting I had with Austin in my office when we talked about maybe going into the 21 car a year before he did — before this announcement — and said, ‘Let’s stay ahead and let’s go back and really do what we can do best in Xfinity.’ And what did he do? He produced a championship, turned around and came back this year and is leading the championship and there’s no question with the strength that he’s shown and also the commitment I would say is super strong, some of the best I’ve ever seen, and on the other hand the results stand for themselves. His experience. We’ve had him in the Cup car. He’s had some good rides, running well at Daytona before the accident and we were not expecting, quite honestly, we would not be able to put a deal together with Brad, but we can talk about that later probably. This gave us a chance to step back and then you have the discussion with your key sponsor. Discount Tire has been a major player with us for a number of years and with the team and Discount Tire and we felt that was a very easy move for us. Brad really opened that up for Austin and I think with that move we wanted to announce it today. There’s been lots of speculation, really, with Brad moving on and I think it helps him to take on his next stage in his career and then we can bring Austin up into the 2 car, and I think when you go back you look at Joey and you look at Blaney and you look at Brad, all these guys came up through this farm system you might call it, whether it’s Busch or Xfinity and with that I think the process is working and I couldn’t be prouder to say that he’s gonna be the driver of the No. 2 car, and I think he’s earned the respect. You come in as the son of the guy who is the president of Team Penske, you’d probably come in with a little bit of weight on your shoulders, but I can tell you one thing, as far as I’m concerned, all that’s off. He’s proven to be the driver he is, the individual he is today, so it’s a long run, it’s a big step for him, but as far as I’m concerned the team, the sponsors are fully committed.”

WHAT HAS BRAD MEANT TO THE ORGANIZATION? “We’d expected to get Brad in for another two or three years based on the term that he probably wanted to race. Unfortunately, and good for him, quite honestly, he wanted to have ownership. The way we’re structured it just wasn’t available at Team Penske. But when you think about Brad and what he’s done for us, together with Xfinity and Cup he’s got over 75 race wins. He’s the leader in the clubhouse from a team perspective. Our first Xfinity championship or Busch championship. The NASCAR champion, and then where he’s run in the playoffs here lately, there couldn’t be a better guy. His family, I have a lot to thank him for. I’ve got a picture in my office, in fact, with us in the winner’s circle for the first championship that we ever had within in NASCAR for us on the Cup side, so I can always say he was a consistent performer, a very winning operation guy with our team. He brought a lot to it. He was a student of the sport and we’re sorry to see him go, but, on the other hand, we’ve got a season to finish out. This was not a disagreement or anything else. This was a business decision that was made on both sides fairly and squarely, and, quite honestly, Brad will be a friend of the family and a friend of the team forever.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, 2022 Driver, No. 2 Ford Mustang — WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TAKE OVER THE 2 CAR AND BE A FULL-TIME CUP DRIVER FOR TEAM PENSKE NEXT YEAR? “It means a great deal and obviously running the 2 car for Roger and Team Penske certainly comes with a great responsibility and obviously great heritage. I really appreciate the kind of words Mr. Penske shared about my career and my progression, but I wouldn’t be here without Roger, without all the people at Team Penske for the last however many years I’ve been developing myself within this sport. I’ve obviously come a long way and I’m sure everyone in this room has seen a lot of that and it’s been a lot of fun, and to be able to tackle this head-on and obviously have the whole season to prepare for the opportunity to go Cup racing. A year ago, it wasn’t to drive the 2 car, it was to drive the 21 car. I’ve really valued the relationship that I’ve made with the Wood Brothers, but circumstances changed and I’m excited to tackle this head-on. Obviously, to have a partner like Discount Tire along with us and sticking with our company and with me behind the wheel of the car is pretty exciting. I’ve got a busy four months to try and put ourselves in position to win another Xfinity Series championship, but it’s a lot of fun stuff on the board here for us.”

ROGER PENSKE — DID YOU CONSIDER MOVING BLANEY TO THE 2 CAR AND ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS OF PUTTING TIM’S SON IN THE 2 RIGHT AWAY. WOULD IT BE A LITTLE EASIER IN THE 12 OR 21? “Not at all. I think when you look at it, the history that Blaney’s had in the 12 car, he’s built a brand around the 12 and the sponsors around that 12 want to see that. There’s never been, whether it’s the 12, the 22 or the 2 as far as we’re concerned, those are numbers and people are tied to those, but I think the move is the right move. Putting Austin there versus Blaney in the 2 car, I don’t think it was even a question mark for us.”

DID BRAD ASK FOR AN OWNERSHIP STAKE AND DID YOU THINK ABOUT IT? “He and I talked about this. Over the years there was discussion that long term he’d like to have ownership in the team, but the way we’re structured at Penske Corp. and the subsidiaries that we have, it wouldn’t work out and he understood that. I think we came to the end of our contract at the end of last year. Obviously, he looked to see what was there, I’m sure. We were having negotiations, but COVID obviously slowed things down. We sat down and he and John Caponigro and had good discussions and basically the final meeting that we had he said that he had an opportunity that would give him ownership, and I said at that point that we wouldn’t have that available. We’d go on. Obviously, to announce it earlier than we did today would have been difficult because we needed to get all of our ducks in a row on both sides, but it was amicable all the way, it still is. As I said earlier in my comments, Brad has done a hell of a job for us, and I think he’ll bring a lot of value to Roush Yates in the future.”

DID YOU LOOK OUTSIDE TEAM PENSKE FOR THE 2 OR WAS AUSTIN ALWAYS THE LOGICAL SUCCESSOR TO BRAD? “I think if you look at the history of Team Penske, the drivers that are driving for us have come up from the early stage, whether it’s Busch or Xfinity or ARCA, what have you, and I think that’s where we are. The other drivers, obviously there are people out there, and when the Brad news came out there were contacts within the team, but we wanted to stay on our strategy and I think it’s gonna take time. This is not gonna be an overnight success, but I think the success of the team, whether it’s here or Indy or whatever it is has been bringing people up and moving them up through the organization and that’s the plan we’re on. That’s what we’re gonna continue to try and strive for success that way.”

WHAT ARE YOUR 2022 XFINITY PLANS? “When you look at Xfinity I’m really stepping back. It’s been a great stepping stone for us. When you think about technical transfer the cars in Xfinity would really give us some good input tirewise, wheelwise., etc. for the Cup side. We’ve got to step back and look as we look at it into ‘22, along with the driver lineup we have now, what’s the best thing for the team? We might run a car and have each one of our drivers have a chance to drive some races based on what the new rules will be, but that’s gonna be a decision we’ll make later in the year. We haven’t really discussed that at the moment because Austin’s got a big job to do. Matt’s got a job to do over in the 21 and Brad is certainly in the running here as we go into the playoffs for ‘21.”

DO YOU SEE DRIVERS BECOMING OWNERS AS A TREND, AND AS A BUSINESSMAN WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BRING PEOPLE UP WHILE LOSING SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN WITH YOU FOR A LONG TIME? “I’m gonna kid you a little bit, I’m gonna call Hendrick and see if he wants to buy my team since he’s had all this success (laughing). No, I think, look, the good news about the current racing environment, the industry, is we’ve got a lot of business people growing up as drivers, as crew chiefs, as team managers. Look at it — Knaus and Gordon and Keselowski now — Hamlin. There’s a changing of the guard, I think, on the athlete side. The technology is gonna change completely. As we go into the new car, we’ll run them differently. They’re almost gonna be the same. How we look at it structurally from an engineering perspective, so there’s gonna be changing and I think these drivers don’t want to drive forever. They want to have equity. They have knowledge and I think the team owners and other people do, so I think it’s a changing of the guard maybe in the industry. The racing is changing. The formats are changing, so I think COVID has driven some of this maybe, but on the other hand I see it very positive for the sport.”

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT YOUNG DRIVERS COMING UP? “I think you go back and you look at the history – Brad, Joey, Blaney, they didn’t just shoot out of the gun the first year or the second year, but I think the background that they have, and we’re going to the Next Gen car — remember it’s gonna be kind of a leveling of the playing field with the Next Gen car — and I think with that there’s gonna be a lot of learning for everybody, so I think that’ll be a positive for them, but it’s gonna take time. It’s like any business you build, even in your own context and the things you do, these people are gonna have to get together and I think working together they’re two young guys. We like that. We think that the history of Harrison and the Wood Brothers were involved in making that decision, along with the Ford Motor Company. We applaud it, and I think the fact that these two young guns will be able to work together will be fine. Joey and Blaney, I talked to them both. They’re gonna have to take leadership roles within the team supporting both of these young guys.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC — WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU WANTED THIS TO BE YOUR CAREER PATH AND DID YOU EVER THINK YOU WOULD GET HERE? “I can’t say that I ever really imagined it possible. Running the Summer Shootout, I was just trying not to get dumped every weekend (laughing). Other than that, my career has taken me in a lot of different directions, whether that’s racing open-wheel cars, sports cars, rallycross cars, I’ve never been picky, but my relationship with Ford really started in 2015 racing in IMSA and that’s really carried me into my NASCAR career. It’s important from Team Penske and it’s all happened quite quickly, to be honest. Did I ever sit here and think one day I could be the driver of the 2 car? Probably not. I didn’t think that was something that was attainable or reachable maybe at this stage in life. In my bedroom at my parent’s house I still have a picture of Brad doing a burnout at Bristol signed by Brad Keselowski sitting on my bed. As a kid, you just grow up rooting on those guys and you don’t really picture yourself being one of them, so, like we’ve talked about, there’s plenty I need to learn. I feel like I’ve had a great opportunity this year to identify strengths and weaknesses that I have that I can apply and build on for next season, and with the Next Gen car I think that adds some similarities, but also some complications to being a rookie in Cup, so I’m excited for that challenge and excited to embrace this new role.”

ROGER PENSKE — WHAT HAS MADE YOU MORE COMFORTABLE OVER THE YEARS WITH HAVING YOUNGER DRIVERS ON YOUR ROSTER? “I think it really goes back to our model in business. We bring people in at the entry level. They work up through the organization. They know our mission plan. They understand our business partners. It’s not just plugging in an athlete and saying, ‘Let’s go.’ I think it’s worked out. You can see what it’s done for our business. It’s been good on the Indy side, and certainly we see that on the Cup side, so I think it’s just part of our plan. The same thing, look at crew chiefs. We’ve got people who were polishing wheels that are car chiefs or chief mechanics on our race team, so we don’t want a lot of turnover. If you come in our shop, we’ve got a board that shows how many people have been there for 10 years. How many people for 20 years. If you look at it, more than half of the people that work for us have been on our racing team for 10 years or more, so I think it’s part of our model and I’m excited about it. Look, on the other hand, I don’t say it’s a gamble, I think what it is is it’s an opportunity.”

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU OR FOR THEM? “I think it’s an opportunity for both of us. Certainly and opportunity for the driver, but, for us, I get my great feelings when we can take a business that you need to build and you put the people around it and then you see the success. It’s not the dollars that come out at the end of the day, it’s the success of the team and the people that are involved and I think this is a perfect example. We can show a Brad Keselowski, Helio Castroneves, McLaughlin now — people like that — Rick Mears. These are all people that have come up and look at Joe Gibbs and Hendrick and all the guys that we respect around today. They’re building these teams from the ground up and I think that’s why they’re successful.”

WHEN DID THE TALKS BEGIN ABOUT EXTENDING HIS DEAL AND WERE YOU PLANNING ON SIGNING HIM TO A MULTI-YEAR DEAL THIS TIME? “Let me go back. We started talking back in ‘20 about the future. I don’t like to get up to three months before the end of the total contract, but we had COVID and it was around Christmas time and we kind of broke off and then we came back after the first of the year and got into the final, and that’s when Brad and I talked about the decision he had obviously because he was open at that point knowing that we didn’t have a deal yet. We were thinking about a three-year deal. We could extend it one year or go more. I offered a two-year deal, quite honestly, the year before and he took a one-year deal. So he had a two-year option. This wasn’t a shotgun situation. It was well planned, well managed and we came to the decision. The unfortunate thing is when you make those decisions it’s early in the season and then things leak out and there’s discussion. It doesn’t help him. It doesn’t help us. It confuses our fanbase, our sponsors and even the media, and I think that’s one of the reasons we made the decision based on the announcement of Brad that we had, and then we could work on how we were gonna structure the team in the future. I think we’ve done it as quickly as we can and hopefully with transparency for everyone.”

IT’S ASSUMED BRAD WILL BE GOING TO A COMPETITOR, ALBEIT POSSIBLY ANOTHER FORD TEAM, SO WILL HE BE EXCLUDED FROM TEAM COMPETITION MEETINGS? “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve got races to win. I want to win the championship with him. He’s in the game. We would never do that. He’s part of the team.”

WHAT WILL YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT WHAT BRAD BROUGHT TO TEAM PENSKE? “He brought some tremendous credibility. Think about it. He’s the winningest driver we’ve had in the company. He gave us a championship and the leadership on the Xfinity side early on and it really helped us build Discount Tire. I would say that’s a real byproduct of Brad’s commitment to them as a sponsor. Forget what he did on the racetrack. I look at that as key. His working with sponsors, and I think technically he really got into the details. Then he had his own team and I think he learned a little bit about being a team owner, and that even made him a better driver and things we could do to help support the team, so I see him as a broad placed brush across the whole organization — sponsorship, delivering on the racetrack. I think he’s a high integrity guy, which is very important with us and he helped us maintain a sponsor base. Look at Paul Wolfe and the people that he’s worked with, Jeremy now, over time these are guys that have really supported him and he’s supported their success too, so I look at him as a very broad based supporter and asset that we’ve had.”

DID YOU HAVE ANY HAND IN WHAT MIGHT BE THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN BRAD AND ROUSH? “I had nothing to do with that. All that conversation took place with Brad. In fact, in the early stages, I’ll be honest with you, we never even talked about who it might be, so I wasn’t privy to that and then we came to a point where he said he had an opportunity that he could move on and have ownership and then over time who it was came out. You’ve read some of the same things that probably I know, but I had no conversation at all with anybody at any time with Roush Fenway.”

OR FORD? “Or Ford.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC — HOW DIFFICULT WILL IT BE TO BE REPORTING TO YOUR DAD? “It’s funny. Since we’ve had COVID all of our debriefs have been virtual and we’ve just now started rolling back into in-person debriefs and getting back into things. I’ve sat in all of the Cup debriefs since the beginning of the year and it was funny just walking in the boardroom and sitting across from the table from my dad, which turned into him giving me a hard time about something in front of everybody, but he’s definitely the one to step out of the room when my name comes up, but, at the same time, look, we’re just as competitive. I don’t think we see it any differently if I was a driver with a different team or if it was a different driver sitting across from a table, so we’re here to win races and, past that, it’s how do we accomplish that?”

ROGER PENSKE — YOUR ALLIANCE WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS GOES THROUGH 2022. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO KEEP THAT GOING BEYOND NEXT SEASON? “I would say that, for us, Leonard and Len and Eddie and Jon and the whole family, I’ve been associated with them back when Bobby Allison was driving the Wood Brothers car when we hit Bobby. We have a long-term relationship and I think that there should be no misnomer that the equipment that the Wood’s have is as good or better than anything that the 2 or the 12 or the 22 are running, and I think the key thing here is that technical alliance that keeps a family and business that’s been historically one of the key stakeholders in NASCAR together. We think the same. The Ford Motor Company relationship is very important. Obviously, Edsel was a big sponsor of the Wood Brothers and really helped us when I would say connecting with Ford early on, and I think we’ve lived up to our commitments to the Wood Brothers and they to us. We’ll have a long-term relationship. It might say ‘22 right now, but mentally I see it longer than that.”

IS THIS AS BRIGHT OF A FUTURE AS YOU’VE HAD ON THE NASCAR SIDE AT TEAM PENSKE? JOEY WILL BE YOUR ONLY DRIVER OVER 30. “I don’t talk about age anymore myself, so I haven’t added up everybody’s age over there at the moment, but we’re bringing young people in. I mentioned that earlier in one of my comments.”

HOW DOES THIS CHANGE THE OUTLOOK YOU’VE HAD FOR TEAM PENSKE, IF AT ALL? “You get surprises all along in your business and athletic career. Brad had talked about ownership before. We’re at a juncture here where you have a changing of the cars. It was a good time for him to decide, does he stay or does he go? I think at the point that we came to the decision he was gonna move on, it gave us a chance then to take a real step back and look and see do we start with new blood that really hadn’t been there at all — that didn’t have a lot of history other than maybe driving in the lower series? And we decided to take that route.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC — ANY CHANCE BRIAN WILSON MOVES UP WITH YOU TO CUP? “That’s a broader question than I can probably answer, but I think the goal for us is to give Brian and everybody on the 22 team the best shot at winning another championship. That’s where my head’s at and that’s where my focus is for the next couple of months, so I feel like those guys have done a really great job. Brian has been with me since ARCA, so I feel like those guys on that car and that team have done a great job developing me and I hope they considered as far as moving forward within our company. Brian has been with the team for a really long time, actually, so I’m really appreciative of what he’s done for me as well as a lot of those guys on the Xfinity program. I think they deserve a good look and I think their hard work has definitely paid off in my progression.”

ROGER PENSKE — WHAT DO SPONSORSHIP TALKS LOOK LIKE FOR NEXT YEAR? “We’re gonna make our official announcements on sponsorships across all the cars. We’ll do that as we get towards the end of the playoffs as we look into next year. A lot of this is a moving target, but Discount Tire, because of the 2 car situation, was very very important that we were aligned with Discount. They obviously have applauded this move and I think the Ford Motor Company, from what I understand from the Wood Brothers, is Quick Lane and those folks are well supportive of the move with Harrison into the 21.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC — HOW MUCH HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM BEING IN THE CUP ENVIRONMENT THIS YEAR FOR SOME SELECT RACES? “WIth the Next Gen car it’s certainly going to be different, but it’s still the same drivers, the same teams, the same level of professionalism that’s at the highest level and, for me, it’s like I said earlier, about identifying strengths and weaknesses. I feel like I’ve been able to really effectively do that with the schedule that we’ve put together this year in the 33 car, and I’m very grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to do that because I think it gets me jump started. I’m either going to be challenged with in the coming season or some of the things that might go well and I think a lot of that still has to depend on what the new car is like and how we’re able to kind of sink our teeth into that, but there’s never been a rookie to drive the 2 car in the Cup Series. I wouldn’t say there’s pressure with that, but I think there’s definitely an expectation within the shop and I’m excited to embrace that role and be able to go out there and obviously try to win races for Team Penske.”

ROGER PENSKE — WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CONTINUE TO BUILD A GREAT FUTURE FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION? “That’s what I get my satisfaction from is as I said earlier was one of our businesses or on the race team. Racing has been the common thread to build our brand now for 50 years and I would say this is just a continuation of the mission plan. I think you take people, put them together and they meld and you don’t want a lot of turnover. You want continuity that gives you the strength and, to me, it’s exactly where we want to be. Look, there’s never been more competition in all racing today as you see it both on the NASCAR side and certainly on the Indy side. I think that’s very healthy for us because this sport is exciting and, to me, I think we’re in the right place with Harrison being a partner with the Wood Brothers and his background, his family background, his relationship with the Wood’s, and then also with Austin. But he earned it. I can tell you that as we went through this one of the questions, this wasn’t just automatic, when we sat down here and decided what to do he hadn’t won the championship in ‘20. Remember that. And he had to take it that maybe he might not get in the 21 car, but we sat down at that point and made the commitment. ‘You go and finish the job that you have.’ Take another year, which he did, obviously, won the championship, showing his strengths this year and he’s got a lot more to learn there’s no question, but why don’t you take someone like that, that’s already proven he’s a young gun and I think as you’ve seen these other teams and the things that are evolving that it’s a perfect chance for him.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Wood Brothers Racing Media Availability | Thursday, July 15, 2021

Wood Brothers Racing announced this morning that Harrison Burton will take over as driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series next season. Co-owner Eddie Wood, along with Burton and Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports, participated in a conference call with media members to discuss the announcement.

HARRISON BURTON, 2022 Driver, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang — WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO GO FULL-TIME CUP RACING NEXT YEAR? “For me, it’s humbling, it’s exciting. How can you not be excited? I’ve worked for this my whole life. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in my career. I’ve enjoyed some success in the Xfinity Series and I’ve really worked hard to get here and I’m just really proud of the fact I was able to get to a spot like the Wood Brothers with the alliance with Team Penske. Those two organizations together is such a strong combination and you add Ford Performance on top of that, it’s gonna be an exciting opportunity for me. The Next Gen car adds an element of unknown and some fun to it and I couldn’t have thought of a better group of people to make my first jump into Cup racing with and I’m just really, really excited to kind of live out my childhood dreams and go try and beat the best in the world.”

EDDIE WOOD, Co-Owner, Wood Brothers Racing — HOW NICE IS IT TO HAVE ANOTHER FAMILY-FOCUSED DRIVER LIKE HARRISON JOIN YOUR ORGANIZATION? “That’s really a cool part of this. Obviously, we come from a racing family that goes back generations and the Burton family as well. Harrison has got a lot of people to pull from in his family. He’s got his dad, Jeff, and his uncle Ward raced. Jeff and Ward won a number of races and then there’s Jeb, his cousin, so the family part of it I think is really important because there’s more downs in this business than there are ups, and the ups are so good when you get them that it kind of weighs itself out that you forget about the bad, but it takes a strong family to get through life. As owners, I’ve worked on race cars, my brother and got kids that raced and our dad raced, so I know that side of it, but the driver side is really, really hard and drivers need a lot of support and I think the family, I know Jeff and Kim, all of those just a really strong bond and then you through in Ward and Jeb and just a whole group of people and I think it’s really gonna be good.”

MARK RUSHBROOK, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports — WHAT IS IT LIKE TO HAVE HARRISON AND AUSTIN JOINING THE FORD CUP PROGRAM NEXT YEAR TOGETHER? “We’re excited about the future that this brings. As you know, Ford Motor Company is still a family company with involvement from the Ford family, and it feels like you’re working for a family when you’re here at Ford. The Wood Brothers and the association they’ve had with us racing, they’re part of our family. Harrison and his racing family with the Burton family, it’s just bringing all these families together and that’s how we go racing with our teams, and especially with the Wood Brothers and Penske alliance. To have Austin and Harrison coming together into that alliance program with the relationship that they already have and the opportunity to build that for the future, we’re really excited about it. It’s great talent, great people and families working together to go racing and do great things together.”

EDDIE WOOD — WHY NOT KEEP MATT, IF THAT WAS AN OPTION? “If you go back nine months, back in the fall of October, it was announced that Austin Cindric was going in our car. Matt was gonna move onto whatever his next step is, and then you fast forward with Brad obviously making a move, that kind of changed things. So we all got together with Team Penske, Ford Performance, all our partners, and we decided — keep in mind the Next Gen car is coming and that’s a white sheet of paper so far as drivers. It’s a white sheet of paper for everybody, but driver’s in particular, so we felt that was a good time to bring in a young rookie, so we just made the decision to figure out what we wanted to do. We could bring a young rookie in to kind of team up with Austin, who is obviously now going into the 2, and those two guys could work together and develop themselves into a great race car drivers. Being rookies, they’re both on the same level and this new car, like I said, is such a white sheet of paper that even if you’re a veteran, if you’re a 20-year veteran, you’re really not gonna have a lot on a rookie. Everybody is kind of starting in the same place, and one thing I’d like to say is some people have asked why we didn’t say thank you to Matt in our release. Well, in our eyes, we’re not done. There are five races left before the playoffs. We’re gonna try to win a race and get in the playoffs. We obviously have to win a race, and then there are 10 races after that, so it just didn’t feel right. I’m not ready to say goodbye. Everybody who has ever driven our car becomes family and we view Matt as family. Everybody knows Matt. Everybody loves Matt. Matt’s a great driver. He’s a great person, got a great big heart — got big arms, too — but it’s just a thing that we viewed that as we get through the year. We give our best effort. He’s gonna give his best effort and that way when it comes time to say goodbye and thank you, that’ll happen, but Matt will always be a part of our family. I’m in the museum now. You can go look on our walls. Every driver who has ever driven for us is in here and, like I said, he’ll always be family.”

HARRISON BURTON — A LOT OF QUESTIONS ON WHETHER YOU’RE READY OR NOT, BUT HOW MUCH DID NEXT GEN COMING IN MOVE THE DECISION? “Yeah, I don’t know if you’re ever ready for the Cup Series. It’s a grueling season with amazing drivers and amazing race teams that you have to find a way to get an edge on and the edges that you find are tiny, so your margin for error is tiny. When you’re a young guy and the opportunity arises to align yourself with a group like these people and you have a chance to kind of get into this sport at a time when the sport is going through a lot of change, I think there’s an opportunity in that. You can look at it the other way and say there’s gonna be a lot of craziness, a lot of change, it’s gonna be tough, but it’s never not gonna be a challenge going from Xfinity to Cup. There’s always gonna be growing periods. There’s always gonna be a spot where you’re trying to learn against guys that are 20-year veterans. That gap of experience will still be there, but this is an opportunity for me to get hands-on, learn how to be a Cup driver, learn how to race at the level these guys race at each weekend and do it with a group of people that understand that. They understand that I’m a young driver. They understand that I’m gonna have my good days and my bad days, and they’re gonna help me and give me all the resources in the world I could ever need to be great. When you put those things together and you lay down in bed at night, you try to figure out what the right decision is, that’s a powerful combination is a team like the Wood Brothers and with the help from Penske and Ford Performance to help me become the best driver I can be, that’s all I can ask for.”

HOW BIG IS THE JUMP FROM WHERE YOU ARE NOW TO THE CUP SERIES? HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT? “Not really. I don’t know yet. I’ve got an opportunity to run in the Cup Series at Talladega, got to have an opportunity with Gaunt Brothers Racing to run that race and had a lot of fun and learned a lot, and, yeah, there’s a jump. You go from the Xfinity race to the Cup race and there’s a difference and the intensity is higher and the amount of drivers that are just amazing drivers is higher, and you have to find a way to bring yourself up to that level and, for sure, it’s a jump. I don’t really know what the jump is gonna be like. I know it’s gonna be a challenge, but anything that’s worth doing is normally a challenge and that’s what excites me. Those are the things that motivate me, big challenges and how do you overcome them. I’m a really competitive guy by nature, so those opportunities to put myself in a spot where I have to great, I have to find a way to give these people what they deserve and that’s race wins. I think if I put the work in, I can do it. I believe that. If I look back on my career, there have been times where I’ve had great stretches and won plenty of races and there are times you go through spots that are tougher. All of those made me who I am today and prepared me for the amount of work I’m gonna have to put in to race with these guys every weekend.”

MARK RUSHBROOK — DID YOU LOOK AT HOW HENDRICK HAD YOUNG DRIVERS AT ONE TIME AND THEY’VE BECOME SUCCESSFUL? “For us that’s certainly a consideration because the drivers, the teams within an organization or within an alliance like this, they need to get together to optimize the performance across all four cars, so that’s definitely a consideration in the selection for this. But, I don’t know whether we necessarily looked at Hendrick and said, ‘Oh, let’s copy that,’ but, certainly, yes, that is in some ways what they did two, three, four years ago was they reset their driver lineup with a younger lineup and brought them up together, and it’s clearly, with other things, worked well for them. I definitely like the model with teamwork potential between Harrison and Austin to be able to lean on Joey and Ryan and that combination to have great performance across all four cars.”

EDDIE WOOD — “I agree with what Mark said. The biggest thing, when you’re a young driver like that, a rookie, like I said I’ve never been a driver, but I’ve been around a lot of them and I know they always feel like the world is like way, way big and I’m by myself, I’m alone, and I’ve gotten to know Austin through the last nine months because we thought that’s the way it was gonna be and we got to know him really well and he just seems to fit Harrison. They’re both young and they’re both ready to go and both come from racing families, and it just feels like they would stick together. Race car drivers don’t have a particularly good habit of sticking together. They stick together until they don’t, and that’s OK. That’s why they’re race car drivers and I’m not, but I just feel like those two will have a really good chemistry together, just because they’re both in the same spot and I think it will help their growing pattern, like maybe not double it, but I think it’ll be close.”

HARRISON BURTON — WERE YOU LOOKING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY AWAY FROM TOYOTA? “My years that I spent with Toyota have all been amazing ones and I really am thankful for the opportunities they’ve given me. We’re gonna finish this year out strong with them and try and win championships with them. Really, I think what it all comes down to is kind of what I spoke on a little bit earlier is when these conversations first started, just the amount of support and the amount of stability that was in the organization that I’m going to now, and the belief in me as a driver is really hard to say no to. I’ve got such a great opportunity now to learn in a really tough environment, but a great environment, and I don’t really think that anything Toyota did or didn’t do influenced my decision. I think that it’s just the decision that was best for me. Obviously, Toyota has a lot of great drivers and those seats are filled, but, to be honest with you, I think this is as good of an opportunity as a rookie going into the Cup Series could ever hope for and my hope is that my career with Toyota can finish with a championship in the Xfinity Series, and I can go on to do great things with Ford and Wood Brothers and try and bring some great success to them as well. It’s really not having anything to do with that, it’s more that this is an opportunity that I’m really excited for and fires me up, for sure.”

EDDIE WOOD — IS THERE A PLAN OR IS THERE A HOPE HE WILL BE A LONG-TERM DRIVER FOR THE WOOD BROTHERS GOING FORWARD? “Yeah. You start where you start and that’s certainly the plan. Like I said, the Next Gen car, I keep bringing that up, but that kind of changed the ball game to make it easy. Everybody is starting in the same place. WIth him being a rookie, and Austin, I go back to that and those two guys working together. Hopefully, he’ll be in our car a long, long time and we’re just excited to get going and it’s just one of those deals that I think he’s gonna have a learning curve as both of them will, as everyone that gets in a Cup car, because the competition is so stiff in a Cup car. I mean, it’s nuts to think how close these cars are compared to things I grew up with when guys won races by a lap and stuff like that. Now, if you win them by an inch you’ve done something. Again, to answer your question, we hope he’s in here to stay.”

MARK RUSHBROOK — FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE HOW HAS THE FOUNDATIONAL SUPPORT HELPED YOUR YOUNG DRIVERS GET TO THE LEVEL WHERE YOU CAN WORK WITH THEM AND BE COMFORTABLE WORKING WITH THEM WHEN THEY’RE SO YOUNG? “We put a lot of focus on our own development program and bringing drivers up through that as you saw with Chase Briscoe, but the way the sport works the timing of bringing drivers up and having them ready when seats are open you can’t always plan on that or be ready for that, so when drivers are available that have come up through different systems, you need to take advantage of that and bring them into the overall Ford program or with the team in the right way with the right support, and we’ve already been talking about that with Len and Eddie and Jon and Harrison to make sure that we’ve got the right plan to bring him in — not just to the Wood Brothers, but the Wood Brothers/Penske alliance and Ford, using our resources to make him feel at home as part of the family and ready to be successful.”

EDDIE WOOD — WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM WORKING WITH YOUNG DRIVERS BEFORE AND HOW WILL THAT HELP WITH HARRISON? “We’ve had quite a few young drivers. A lot of drivers have won their first race in our car going back all the way for years and it’s really exciting to watch them. It’s just like watching your kids grow up. They go to the first race and it is what it is and things start to develop and they start to run better and they learn how to race, and when I say that I mean just how to race the people they’re racing against because this is new ball game for Harrison and I’m sure he’ll adapt very well, but we’ve got a lot of patience and Ford Motor Company has a lot of patience. When we had Blaney, we ran a limited schedule for the first year and then we ran full time and then the third year together we won a race, so it takes a little while. Sometimes it doesn’t, but I look forward to that because it’s just like watching your kids grow if you can imagine it like that.”

MARK RUSHBROOK — WHAT WILL FORD’S PRESENCE IN THE XFINITY SERIES BE NEXT YEAR? “The way we use the Truck Series and Xfinity Series, they’re important as series, but they’re also important as developing drivers, crew chiefs, race engineers, everything that’s important for the race teams. That’s the way we continue to look at it. We’ve got a lot going on certainly in the trucks with DGR and Front Row, and the drivers that they have and the potential for them to move up to Xfinity, through Xfinity and to Cup, so still very important to us.”

DO YOU SEE MORE OF AN ALLIANCE BETWEEN ALL OF THE FORD TEAMS AS OPPOSED TO JUST THE PENSKE/WOOD BROTHERS ALLIANCE? “The way we go racing is as a family. We call it One Ford or Ford Plus across the teams and the drivers, and I think you’ve seen that play out, especially at the superspeedway races, but it also happens off the track in terms of preparing and adjusting to the rules, or, in this case, for 2022 preparing to race the Next Gen car, so instead of having independent silos, we look across the teams of how can we prepare together so that all the Ford teams are the most successful across all of our teams.”

ULTIMATELY AREN’T YOU SEEING THIS BECOMING A MORE FACTORY-BACKED SPORT WITH A FACTORY-BACKED ALLIANCE? “To maximize return on investment, that’s absolutely the best way to do that. We did it a long time ago as a program in the engine shop with one engine shop to support all the Ford cars, and especially when there is a new car like this there is no reason for paying three times over to have separate aero development or chassis development programs when you can learn together to understand the basics and the fundamentals and then the teams continue to compete against each other on track as they need to win as drivers and teams.”

EDDIE WOOD — WAS HARRISON ON YOUR RADAR FOR NEXT YEAR OR DID IT COME ABOUT RECENTLY, AND DID HIS FAMILY BACKGROUND PLAY A ROLE? “We get back to the family part of it and racing families, but, like I said, nine months ago Austin was gonna be our driver and then things changes as you guys are seeing today, so when that started to happen, that’s when we got together and figured out what the next step was and here we are.”

HARRISON BURTON — DID YOU KNOW LEAVING THE TOYOTA PIPELINE WAS GOING TO BE A FACTOR FOR YOU AND HOW HARD WAS IT TO TELL THEM YOU WERE LEAVING? “It’s obviously an easy conversation. The Toyota family has been really supportive of me and even though I’m moving to the Ford Performance group, which I’m obviously super ecstatic about, they’ve also supported me in that move. They understand it’s a great move for me and they understand and are just happy for me as a person. Obviously, it’s a little bit sad. I’ve been with them since I was 13, so I’ve kind of grown up around a lot of those people and to race for another team is exciting. I have no regrets about that decision at all. It’s gonna be an amazing group of people. I’m more than excited to work with Ford and to work with the Wood Brothers and to work with Team Penske — all of those things put together is just amazing, but when you leave people that you’ve worked around for a long time it’s obviously a little emotional. At the end of the day it’s the racing business and the people at Toyota are happy for me and that’s really all I can ask for is a group of people that’s there for me and Toyota and now Ford have both done that.”

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR? “I don’t really know if I’ve thought that far ahead. I’m still so focused on trying to be an Xfinity Series champion, trying to kind of excel at the level I’m at right now, and I feel the more effort I put into this season, the more results I get out of this season, the better I’ll be next season. So, I haven’t written down any goals or anything yet. That’s something I normally like to do before a season starts in the off-season is look at things and look at where I am as a driver and where I need to improve, but, right now, I’ve still got my Xfinity goals I need to accomplish and that’s an exciting thing for me. It’s so fun in this sport to be a race car driver and to do it in an opportunity like I have now, where I know what’s going on for next year and I know what I have to prepare for, but I have that security of I have a little bit of time to get ready for it and the Xfinity Series is obviously a great proving ground for that, so I have a lot of time to work on it and get better, but my expectations are always high. I want to perform well and put the 21 in victory lane as much as possible.”

WHEN DID THE PROSPECT OF JOINING THE WOOD BROTHERS FIRST PRESENTED? “It’s been a bit of a process to get it all done. It’s been really awesome working with everyone to make it happen. It was presented to me, my dad is kind of my acting general manager. He’s got so many relationships with people in the sport and the introduction to the prospect was made to me by him, so he’d be a good guy to ask about all that stuff. For me, it was going up and meeting everybody and putting it together was a process and it took some time, but over the time that we went the more and more I thought about it the better the decision made sense, so I was really, really excited about that.”

HOW LONG AGO WAS THAT? “It’s hard to say. I’m horrible with dates. Like I said, my dad is probably more organized with that kind of thing. I’ve got a lot to juggle with racing Xfinity and working on this. I’m just trying to be the best I can be and thankfully I’ve got an amazing support system around me now with the Ford racing family and the Wood Brothers and Team Penske, and the people that help me every day to where I can just focus on being a race car driver and that’s all I have to worry about.”

HOW DOES THIS CHANGE YOUR DYNAMIC WITH TOYOTA? “I don’t think it does. For me, I think the dynamic obviously you know you’re not gonna be there next year, so there’s that in the room, but the goal is still the same for me as it was before this happened — the goal is to win races in my Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 car, and so when I wake up every morning, that’s gonna be the first thing I think about is, ‘What do I have to do to be a better race car driver to do that,’ and the same feeling is said on their side as well. When this whole announcement was going on I was working out. When it first went live I was working out in the gym and thinking about Loudon. That was a good thing for me to do to just keep my head rolling in that direction because staying focused through times like this is obviously a challenge.”

EDDIE WOOD — WHAT WILL STATUS WITH MENARDS BE LIKE GOING FORWARD? “We haven’t got into the specifics of how that’s gonna break out. One thing for sure is our relationship with the Ford Motor Company, Motorcraft, Quick Lane and Ford Performance won’t change. Red and white will still have a presence on our car as always with the Motorcraft colors and we’ll get into all the rest of it as things kind of settle down. Right now, we’re just concentrating on we’ve got five races to try to get in the playoffs and we’re gonna do everything we can to do that.”

HARRISON BURTON — DID YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH DEX IMAGING HELP WITH THIS RELATIONSHIP? “You look at Dex Imaging and they’ve been with me since I was 13 years old racing late models at local short tracks and they’ve had my back all the way up to this point in time, and it’s been an awesome ride to get here. And then you look at Team Penske and they’re pretty deeply embedded, Dex is, with Penske. They do work on their Indy Car side, obviously, they work with Blaney as well and they’re actually involved in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well, so you look at all those things and Dex is deeply embedded, but, to be honest, I don’t really have, like Eddie said, we don’t really have much to talk about on that side because this is such a fresh deal and we’ve figured out that I’m driving for them and the details of all of that stuff is still kind of up in the air, but the Dex relationship with Team Penske is obviously strong and I’m excited to hopefully try and grow that.”

EDDIE WOOD — “Dex has relationships with Gibbs as well as Penske, so all of that kind of stuff has yet to be determined. I don’t know. Like I said, from what I know about that company they’re a great company and they’re deeply embedded in both racing organizations, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO 301
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE
JULY 18, 2021

RACE #22 – NEW HAMPSHIRE
Chevrolet, which has won eight of the past nine NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) races, looks to keep momentum flowing in the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 18, before a two-week break that coincides with the Tokyo Olympic Games. Through 21 of 26 regular-season races, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 11 wins and sits atop the Manufacturer Standings.

Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 19 victories at the “Magic Mile,” which will host its 50th race featuring NASCAR’s premier division. Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd claimed top-five finishes in their Chevrolet Luminas in the inaugural NCS race at the flat 1.058-mile racetrack on July 11, 1993. Rusty Wallace, driving GM brand Pontiac for team owner Roger Penske, won the 300-lap race.

In the last visit to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the NCS in August 2020, Chase Elliott scored a ninth-place finish in his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE to lead seven Team Chevy drivers in the top-15. Kyle Larson, a four-time winner this season in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE, has three runner-up finishes in 10 starts at the track as he continues his drive to the regular-season title.

Chevrolet NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) drivers will also compete at New Hampshire in the Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200 on Saturday, July 17. Jeb Burton’s runner-up finish in his Camaro SS paced eight Team Chevy drivers in the top-10 in the NXS race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He will start on the pole at New Hampshire, joined on the front row by Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley. AJ Allmendinger is second and Justin Allgaier is third in the Driver Standings. Chevrolet continues atop the Manufacturer Standings.

Chevrolet NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) drivers will race next on Saturday, Aug. 7, at Watkins Glen International. Team Chevy’s Zane Smith is fifth in the Driver Standings.

CHEVROLET STRENGTHENS LEAD
Chevrolet increased its points lead in the Manufacturer Standings in the run to its 40th NASCAR Cup Series title and has three drivers in the top-five of the Driver Standings with five regular-season races left. Kyle Larson is second, while Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron is fourth; and reigning NCS champion Chase Elliott moved up one spot to fifth.

SIX TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS AND COUNTING IN PLAYOFFS
With his stirring victory in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Camaro ZL1 1LE at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch became the 12th driver to clinch a spot in the NCS Playoff field of 16 and the sixth Chevrolet driver to qualify. Busch, who has three wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, is on a roll with back-to-back top-five’s and five top-10 finishes in the past six races. Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick, who has three consecutive top-10 finishes, are currently in the provisional field with five regular-season races left.

ON THE WAY TO THE GREEN
With no practice or qualifying for the 301-lap race, the starting lineup is determined by NASCAR’s metrics system that was introduced to the series last year and incorporates results from both individual races and season-long results.

Team Chevy’s top-20 starters:
3rd Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE
4th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Chevy Accessories Camaro ZL1 1LE
5th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE
8th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 CAT #WeDigLandscaping Camaro ZL1 1LE
10th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro CL1 1LE
13th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
16th William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE
20th Ross Chastain, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1 1LE

BOWTIE BULLETS
· Chevrolet has already surpassed its win total from the 36-race 2020 season.
· The Camaro ZL1 1LE has totaled 20 NCS wins since its introduction in the 2020 season.
· Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 95 top-10 finishes and 2,384 laps led of 5,183 total.
· In addition to its 19 wins at New Hampshire, Chevrolet has accrued 100 top-five and 192 top-10 finishes.
· Kurt Busch is tied with Fireball Roberts for 25th on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list with 33 victories.
· Busch is tied for most starts at New Hampshire among active drivers with 37.
· Kyle Larson paces all drivers with 1,441 laps led thus far this season.
· Larson has recorded runner-up finishes at New Hampshire in July and September 2017 and September 2014.
· Austin Dillon is tied for the lead with 99.92% of laps completed (5,179 of 5,183).
· Five Team Chevy drivers have combined for 20 stage wins: Chase Elliott (Daytona RC); William Byron (Homestead, Pocono2, Road America); Tyler Reddick (Road America); Kurt Busch (Nashville Superspeedway, Pocono1, Atlanta2); Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Atlanta x2, Kansas, Dover x2, Charlotte x3, Sonoma x2, Nashville).

TUNE IN
NBCSN will telecast both the 301-lap/318.5-mile NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, July 18, and the 200-lap/211.6-mile NASCAR Xfinity Series Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200 at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, July 17. Live coverage can also be found on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

QUOTABLE QUOTES
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 2nd IN STANDINGS
LARSON ON RACING AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
“I’ve always enjoyed going to Loudon. I wouldn’t say it’s one of my best tracks, but I do enjoy going there because it’s different. It reminds me of a longer, bigger Indianapolis Raceway Park the way you race it. With the traction compound application there, it seems to wear out for the last couple runs so you have to adapt and search and find where there’s more grip.”

LARSON ON HIS CONTRACT EXTENSION AND ANNOUNCEMENT WITH HENDRICKCARS.COM:
“The chance to extend my contract with Hendrick Motorsports and have such an awesome sponsor in HendrickCars.com are things I don’t take for granted. I feel like I’m driving for the best team and the best sponsors in the sport. To know that our on-track performance is having positive business influence off the track is very important because I want to return the incredible support they’ve given me. Everyone at Hendrick Automotive Group has made me feel like part of their team, and it’s exciting to be able to represent a company that loves racing like I do. I feel like we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible.”

CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
DANIELS ON THE CHALLENGES OF SETTING THE CAR UP ON A FLATTER TRACK:
“New Hampshire is definitely a challenging track – high importance on stopping and going while also having your car turn properly in the center of the corner. It’s a tough place to figure out, but a great race track with great fans in a great area.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 4th IN STANDINGS
BYRON ON RETURNING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE:
“New Hampshire is fairly difficult. I feel like it’s a track that, historically, the veteran drivers do really well at with their experience there. It’s just a tough racetrack. You have to have a lot of grip in your car to run well. And honestly, this is one of the tracks that Rudy (Fugle) and I have done the best at in our careers. We have some testing notes there and know what works well and what the car needs to do. I’m honestly pretty excited about going to New Hampshire this weekend. It’s a track that Rudy and I have been looking forward to going to all season long.”

RUDY FUGLE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FUGLE ON HEADING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE:
“This race at New Hampshire has been circled on my calendar since I started the job at Hendrick Motorsports. That’s how much I enjoy going there. It’s a track that I’ve just taken to, honestly, and I don’t know exactly why that’s the case, but I’ve been able to figure it out early on. I enjoy the challenge it brings with how crucial grip is, and like most short tracks, how important it is to have drive off to set yourself up on entry for the next set of corners. It’s a fine line. I feel like we have a good idea what want to have in the car when we unload. Plus, I feel like Hendrick Motorsports has made quite a few gains with its short track program which only helps heading to a track like this.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 5th IN STANDINGS
ELLIOTT ON RACING AT NEW HAMPSHIRE:
“New Hampshire has been a really hit-or-miss place for us; it’s just a different track. It takes a different driving style, I feel like, than some of the other places. I look at Loudon at being more of its own animal. We’ve had a couple solid runs there, but never a dominating performance.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 11th IN STANDINGS
BOWMAN ON TAKING ON NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
“We’ve really improved our short-track program for the No. 48 Ally team. We struggled at Richmond Raceway for a long time and this year we went and won there. Hopefully, we can take some of what we learned there to be good at New Hampshire.”

GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
IVES ON PREPARING FOR SUNDAY’S RACE AT LOUDON:
“New Hampshire is just like any other racetrack. When you run well, it is a lot of fun to drive and when you struggle, it is not a lot of fun to drive. Coming off of a Richmond (Raceway) win and some of our road course success, I feel like we can go into this weekend’s race at New Hampshire with some positive confidence and compete for a top five, if not a win. As a team, we have to stay focused and positive on Sunday.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 12th IN STANDINGS
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY?
“New Hampshire Motor Speedway has always been a really fun track. I love going there. It’s a flat track. Entry is fun there. It’s different. It’s a different type of feel than what we have anywhere. You slide the left rear into the corner and you pick up the right front and the first person to get back to the gas is going to be good.”

IF YOU WERE TO WIN LOUDON THE LOBSTER, THE MONSTER TROPHY THAT’S GIVEN OUT TO DRIVERS WHEN THEY WIN AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?
“Oh man. I’d probably get a fish tank and keep him in it. I’d give him a good home so that he could live out his days comfortably as a trophy.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CAT #WEDIGLANDSCAPING CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 13th IN STANDINGS
“New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a track that I’ve had to work really hard at to understand how to run better and get around there properly. I put a lot of work in over the off-season to be better at places like short tracks and road courses where you use a lot of brake, and New Hampshire is a track where you definitely need to manage your brakes well. We’ve done a really good job this year improving at tracks I found challenging before, so I’m excited to see what that means for New Hampshire this Sunday. I’m looking forward to the race, but I also know it’ll take a solid day from start to finish to remain in contention. Track position is important this weekend and executing all the little details perfectly when you have good track position is what it takes to run well and potentially win at Loudon, which is what we’re striving for with the No. 8 Cat #WeDigLandscaping Chevrolet.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 GOOD SAM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 22nd IN STANDINGS
THOUGHTS ON NEW HAMPSHIRE?
“New Hampshire actually is a pretty good racetrack for me. I have done extremely well there in the past and it’s a racetrack that you need a little bit of both aero and mechanical grip.”

AFTER THE LAST TWO RACES, ARE YOU FRUSTRATED?
“I am frustrated with the results because I know we had fast cars at both tracks and what happened really wasn’t in our control. But that is part of racing and if we keep doing what we are doing, bringing fast cars to the track, we will be OK. We are learning and getting better each week and that’s what’s important.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 MEDALLION BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 25th IN STANDINGS
THOUGHTS GOING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE AT THE TRACK.
“I like New Hampshire (Motor Speedway). It is a challenging track just because it is so flat, and the straightaways are so long and it seems to get a lot rougher over the last few years in a lot of different places. It really changed the game when they put the PJ-1 down. It changed how you approach and run that the track. You enter in the upper groove and then cross a little bit to the bottom groove for the exit. You are really asking your Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to do a lot of different things there.”

“It is a fun place. I think it has been pretty racy the last few years with what they have done with the PJ-1. Going back to the low downforce package has made it a pretty cool race track. I am looking forward to that one and being able to keep evaluating our short track program to see where it stands.”

Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics

Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2020): 39
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)

Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Drivers Championships:
Total (1949-2020): 32
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)
Most Recent: Chase Elliott (2020)

Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020

Event Victories:
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)

2021 STATISTICS:
Wins: 11
Poles: 4
Laps Led: 2,384
Top-five finishes: 44
Top-10 finishes: 95

CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 806 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 721
Laps led to date: 239,089
Top-five finishes to date: 4,109
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,497
Stage wins: 20 – Chase Elliott (Daytona RC), William Byron (Homestead, Pocono 2, Road America), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Atlanta x2, Kansas, Dover x2, Charlotte x3, Sonoma x2, Nashville), Kurt Busch (Nashville, Pocono 1, Atlanta 2), Tyler Reddick (Road America)

Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date

       General Motors: 1,140
       Chevrolet: 806
       Pontiac: 154
       Oldsmobile: 115
       Buick: 65

       Ford: 808                                                         
       Ford: 708
       Mercury: 96
       Lincoln: 4

       Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
       Dodge: 217
       Plymouth: 191
       Chrysler: 59

       Toyota: 158

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.

Richard Childress Racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway… In 130 NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Richard Childress Racing has recorded four wins with drivers Robby Gordon (2001), Kevin Harvick (2006), and Clint Bowyer (2007 & 2010) and secured 16 top-five and 42 top-10 finishes. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the the “Magic Mile”, the Welcome, N.C. organization has earned one win, 15 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes over 50 starts.

Catch the Action… The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Loudon 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be televised live Saturday, July 17, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

The NASCAR Cup Series’ Loudon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be televised live Sunday, July 18, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at New Hampshire Motor Speedway… Dillon has made 11 previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, earning his best finish of eighth in July 2015. In six NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track, Dillon has earned four top-five and five top-10 finishes. Dillon is a former winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series, winning the race from the pole position in 2015.

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.

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTES:
What are your thoughts on New Hampshire Motor Speedway?
“New Hampshire Motor Speedway has always been a really fun track. I love going there. It’s a flat track. Entry is fun there. It’s different. It’s a different type of feel than what we have anywhere. You slide the left rear into the corner and you pick up the right front and the first person to get back to the gas is going to be good.”

If you were to win Loudon the Lobster, the monster trophy that’s given out to drivers when they win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, what would you do with it?
“Oh man. I’d probably get a fish tank and keep him in it. I’d give him a good home so that he could live out his days comfortably as a trophy.”

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Cat #WeDigLandscaping Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at New Hampshire Motor Speedway… Reddick has one previous NASCAR Cup Series start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, finishing 10th at the “Magic Mile” last year. Reddick also has one top-five finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at New Hampshire (2019), as well as one top-five and two top-10 finishes (2016, 2014) in the NASCAR Truck Series.

About Cat Next Gen Mini Hydraulic Excavators and NALP… The 302.7 CR, 303 CR and 303.5 CR featured on RCR’s No. 8 Chevrolet represent the just launched 2.7-3.5 ton class machines and are built on the Next Generation platform offering a consistent operator experience throughout the Cat 1.5-10 ton mini excavator range. Each new model offers industry-first features as standard including stick steer, cruise control, operator adjustable settings and easy serviceability with a tilt-up canopy or sealed and pressurized cab – all design enhancements made with the operator in mind to increase efficiency, serviceability and comfort and lower costs. Additionally, the car features customer names from National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) and Milton Cat to recognize key landscaping companies who work in the field each and every day and rely on mini excavators to get their work done. We thank these customers, NALP and Milton Cat who are vital to the growth and development of our products.

TYLER REDDICK QUOTE:
You earned a top-10 finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in your rookie Cup season without any practice beforehand. What do you make of going back to the “Magic Mile” this weekend with one Cup race there under your belt?
“New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a track that I’ve had to work really hard at to understand how to run better and get around there properly. I put a lot of work in over the off-season to be better at places like short tracks and road courses where you use a lot of brake, and New Hampshire is a track where you definitely need to manage your brakes well. We’ve done a really good job this year improving at tracks I found challenging before, so I’m excited to see what that means for New Hampshire this Sunday. I’m looking forward to the race, but I also know it’ll take a solid day from start to finish to remain in contention. Track position is important this weekend and executing all the little details perfectly when you have good track position is what it takes to run well and potentially win at Loudon, which is what we’re striving for with the No. 8 Cat #WeDigLandscaping Chevrolet.”

Myatt Snider and the No. 2 Crosley Furniture Chevrolet Camaro at New Hampshire Motor Speedway… Snider will make his first career start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this Saturday. The 26-year-old driver has never competed on the 1.058-mile oval in any series, but has spent time with both Richard Childress Racing Cup Series drivers – Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick – to prepare for his track debut.

About Crosley Brands… For over 30 years, Crosley Brands has been a leader in the nostalgic electronics category. From their beginning in the premium incentive industry, Crosley Brands developed their own exclusive product lines and built solid relationships with some of the most well-known catalogers and retailers in the business. Today, Crosley Brands is known for two brands – Crosley Radio and Crosley Furniture. At the front lines of the Vinyl Revolution, Crosley Radio seeks to bring new life to a classic medium, with its revolutionary line of turntables to its new series of high-fidelity units. Building on a legacy of entrepreneurship, Crosley Furniture delivers quality products at competitive prices, without sacrificing style. From the patio to the kitchen, bath, entryway and beyond, Crosley Furniture offers over 1,800 indoor and outdoor furniture items in a variety of categories and designs. For more information, please visit www.crosleybrands.com.

MYATT SNIDER QUOTE:
You have never raced previously raced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. What have your preparations looked like leading into this race?
“The good thing is that Richard Childress Racing is a very experienced organization when it comes to running Xfinity Series cars at New Hampshire. I have been leaning on both of our Cup guys – Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick – to get their advice on how to approach the track. It has been extremely helpful to understand what to expect at a flat track like Loudon and how to get faster throughout the race. My crew has a lot of experience at New Hampshire as well, so there is a wealth of experience that I’m able to pull from.”

“I also think this weekend should play into some of my strengths as a short track racer. I grew up racing at Martinsville Speedway, so I think that will play into our speed on Saturday and it should be a good result for our Crosley Furniture team.”