Toyota Racing – Pre-Race Media Availability
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
ATLANTA (July 11, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell were made available to media prior to the Atlanta race today:
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Offerpad “Awesome Different” Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are you concerned about the safety of the Next Gen car with the rumors that seem to be going around?
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Yeah, it’s definitely worrying. We had a good meeting with NASCAR again a few weeks ago and it was documented about the meeting. I think a lot of the meeting was spurred on the drivers getting together and saying anything that’s stiffer, the softest object is going to take the biggest brunt. So I told the drivers, you better get together, you better gather some questions that you want to ask and we submitted our questions and they (NASCAR) had some time to prepare their answers for those questions. Some of them, they still had to get answers to. A lot of it was what does a real crash test look like. Everything had been done in simulation. Simulation, while very, very good is still not the real thing. We were eagerly awaiting what the results were going to be from the June 30 test. I guess it was the 23rd and then it got moved to the 30th, but ultimately we haven’t gotten the results back. I guess there’s rumors that start from people that are kind of close to it and it doesn’t sound great, but again there’s no hard data. I would assume if things went fantastic, we would have heard about it pretty soon.”
How comfortable are you currently with the safety aspects within the car?
“I feel like the car we’ve got, we’ve escaped some pretty good injuries from 99-percentile crashes. While we definitely need to still work on some roof caving ins on the superspeedway stuff, generally when we blow a tire we know what we’re going to get. We’re going to get our bell rung a little bit, a little soreness here and there. I don’t think anyone wants the cars to be less safe. We had a chance to build this car from scratch, I said to NASCAR, in no aspect, in no angle should it ever be worse than what we’re currently racing because we don’t want injuries to be part of our sport. Ultimately, you really want to mess this thing up, start having a bunch of concussion injuries and broken bones, this thing can go downhill pretty quick. I think they’ll be pretty smart in making sure that the data supports and it’s a car they feel comfortable putting themselves in for the drivers. They deserve to know what they’re getting strapped into and hopefully we don’t race it until it’s at least better than what we’ve got.”
If the reports come back good from NASCAR’s doctors, then are you good with it?
“Sure. There’s just too much liability out there for them to fudge numbers right? The numbers will come back when we crash at Daytona. The moment we crash and everyone is like, man, that’s worse. That will confirm or deny the results that are proven. You’re not going to be able to fudge numbers, but I do trust them and I trust the doctors and whatever they recommend.”
Would you like this process to be farther along than it is currently?
“You would, but as anyone that’s building a home right now or doing anything, it’s hard to get supplies and steel is a tough commodity right now. I don’t blame anyone for it being this far down the road. Yeah, we wish there would have been testing well before now, but also, really other than these showcars, we really haven’t had a car built other than the wheelforce cars. It’s been pushed back because of COVID and there’s just a lot of obstacles that has come in the way of getting this thing down the road quicker.”
Why did the drivers not have a voice in the changes coming to Atlanta?
“Just a broken down process and that’s what is so frustrating. The process is just broken. I look at a lot of the responses and people are like, ‘why should they listen to you all because you’re always going to look at what’s in your best interest and agenda is.’ The thing is, as drivers, just tell us the agenda. Do you want speedway racing here? Okay. We don’t like it, but here’s what you need to do to get there. We’ll help you accomplish that, just tell us the goal. Don’t mix the message by saying you’re going to see something you’ve never seen and they show a clip of iRacing cars racing in a pack, but yet you want your surface to match the old. That’s counter-intuitive, you can’t make it narrower and a superspeedway. Those two things don’t match up. Again, I think we can help, we’re an asset. We are the biggest asset that NASCAR and these tracks can have, just tell us your goals. We may not agree with the goal, but we can help them get to where they want to go.”
Don’t they usually consult with you?
“ISC usually does. When they were talking about reconfiguring California, iRacing built the track and they sent out the beta version for I think six or seven of us to try. Run it, send us your feedback, send us an email of what you think, what we need to change and we’ll re-CAD it and try to do something different. That is the kind of input, again, we know what they’re trying to accomplish there. They want almost a banked Martinsville where you have fast speeds and then you slow down so that gives an opportunity for a guy to run into someone. That’s what they want so we’re going to try to help them get that accomplished. That’s where you can work together as a team and try to make it better. I just think that the drivers fell super disconnected that our input is not asked. Not because we’re looking out for ourselves, but I think what they’re trying to accomplish is not feasible under what the current configuration is that they’re going with.”
Is the communication different with Speedway Motorsports from ISC?
“It is. Each track operator has their own agenda. ISC and SMI, they do things a little bit differently. SMI is very fan, what do the fans want, we just want to do whatever it takes to make the fans happy and put on a great show for them. ISC is a little mix of competition. Where the disconnect is, is we just have to stop with the novelties. Be what we’re good at and let’s just do that. Why are we trying to reach outside of what NASCAR has always been about for a long time. Trans-Am is not as popular as us for a reason. We are big, heavy stock cars on ovals and we’re full contact, that’s why people strive and want to be in NASCAR. I hate that we’re going away from that through novelties.”
What are you told when you ask to be more involved in the process and why is that not happening?
“We just don’t get an answer. There’s just a disconnect. You just don’t get a whole lot of response. When it comes to the crash stuff, I’ve asked questions to different NASCAR people, executives and I can’t get a response. That to me makes it even scarier. The disconnect right now between all the parties, NASCAR, the tracks and the drivers, it’s tough right now. It’s not in a good place.”
Do we need to bring back the driver’s council?
“I’m not sure. In seven years, I’ll be a team owner only, but these drivers, they need to get organized. Their safety is at risk. They need to know what they’re getting strapped into so they need to get organized and they need to have a voice. They deserve to have a seat at the table, whatever that table is.”
Wasn’t the communication going well for a while?
“It just stops. When we were very close to having a driver’s association, we got the talk from the France’s – anti-trust, anti-trust and they were like, let’s just start a driver’s council. They react based off of your reaction instead of just really being proactive with it. It’s just not in a good place right now. There’s a lot of miscommunication, no communication. It’s just discouraging right now.”
Were things better when the driver council was eliminated and that’s why it lapsed?
“Maybe in a better place for sure, but I think everyone just gets lax and there’s no structure or organization. There’s just no structure or organization to any of this. It’s all just, ‘Oh, you’re upset, we’ll have a meeting.’ Then we’ll be silent for six months and nothing will be going crazy and then some crazy announcement will get made and why weren’t we included? ‘Okay, let’s have another meeting.’ These things should be scheduled and we should be way more structured like other sports because right now everyone is just pointing at everyone else.”
How close were you to forming an association or union for the drivers?
“Close enough. Drivers need to get organized. They just need to get together. Again, this is their future. This is their health and they deserve to understand and have a voice whether it be on safety, competition or whatever. Drivers deserve to have that. They are a big part of this sport, they are why people tune in every single week. We can make arguments about anything else, but ultimately if people want to watch stock cars, they would tune into MAV TV every single week. They don’t, they come to watch Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and those guys. They are the reason people tune in every week. They should have the voice.”
What do you mean when you say to avoid novelties? Should Atlanta look more at becoming a short track?
“I just think that without social media, NASCAR would stay in its roots, but I think they get fed so much stuff through social media that they want to appease the very small minority that want more of this or more of that or more of this. More Game Seven moments. We used to decide a championship over 30-plus races and then it was 10 races. Now it’s one race. You’re trying to fabricate a Game Seven, those do not always happen. That’s what makes Game Sevens special. They don’t happen that often. Trying to fabricate that through novelties, which is kind of where we’ve gone, I just think it’s a slope we don’t want to go down. That’s my opinion and it might not be right.”
Are you saying there are other options?
“The Roval is great right. And it sold a bunch of tickets and now it’s just a race we have. It’s no different, it doesn’t have bigger ratings, it doesn’t have more people in attendance. Everything is exciting one time, but after you do it enough, people just get tired of it because you just keep feeding them the same stuff that they want. Eventually, you give your kid chocolate every single day, they don’t appreciate it as much and they keep asking for it and you’re like, here, I’ll make you happy. But it creates bad habits. You have to stop feeding them chocolate.”
What is your interaction like in the ownership meetings?
“You can probably ask the other owners, they’re always like, ‘Man, it’s great having fresh blood in here calling out this and that.’ I told them, I don’t understand why you guys aren’t saying more. You have such a big stake in this sport. How can you guys see something that’s not right and not say anything? I’m probably a little more aggressive and abrasive in that sense, but to me, what’s everyone scared of losing? We’re all fighting for our lives here to try to keep these businesses afloat. We’re risking so much money just to try to break even.”
Do you see yourself becoming more vocal in the industry-wide issues?
“I don’t know. It’s tough for me to just not say something when I don’t think it’s right. It’s different for me. I see where the sport was 10 years ago, I see where it is now and when you look at the progression and whose struggling, whose doing well. We have to get this thing back on track. I just try to give the best advice or opinions that I can. Again, I’m not sure that they’re always right, but I have enough of a stake in each thing to think that I have a good idea of where we need to go. Whether we can do it or not, I don’t know, but certainly I hope that my voice is heard and I think there’s other younger owners that believe in the same things that I do to make the sport grow. If the teams were healthier, this whole sport would get better, but right now this is a big flow of everyone just treading water right now to try to stay alive.”
Do race fans truly understand the impact of various decisions on the sport?
“A lot of the casual race fans, all they see is the cars go around the race track in circles every Sunday. They don’t understand what goes into it. Now, you have the avid ones that do understand it. But again, I don’t know how much other sports and they do a little bit, but how much do other sports really say, okay this is what the fans want. They got rid of the kickoff for football because of safety. If you ask the fans, they were probably like, we want each of you guys to lineup at the 40-yard line and run as fast as you can and crash into each other. That’s what they love about football is the contact. But, they had to step in and say that safety-wise, this is not the right thing. I’m sorry, we can’t do that. If you ask NBA fans, maybe they want the basket at seven foot so everyone can dunk and you can do windmills and behind the backs and just post-rise each other on every play. But that’s not true to what basketball is. Again, I just, as a sport, we really need to think about where we want to go in the future. What has made us strong in the past and hopefully we dig our feet into those roots of who we really are.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Skittles Gummies Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How much practice would you like to see next year?
“I think it could be different for different places. Go to a short track, Bristol, you get 50 minutes, and hour – something. You go to a road course, maybe 70, 80 minutes, something like that because it’s just so long. Something would be nice. On the qualifying deal – however that looks – I don’t know how that looks yet. Short tracks are obviously different. We’ve done the mile-and-a-half thing where they want drafting and group cars in qualifying and that didn’t work, but group qualifying for road courses certainly makes sense. There is a lot to look at and I don’t think there is a menu that is going to work for every place. It’s going to have to be ala carte.”
You didn’t do a bow yesterday, is that because of how that race ended?
“Yeah, exactly. When you do a bow, you do a bow for a great performance and putting on a good show, and I didn’t do a good job, so no bow.”
What would you like to see for qualifying next year?
“There is so much on the table from what I understand, but to me, the single car qualifying needs to be what that is, but then do you reline up the top 12 guys and kind of have them do a knockout thing or a race for the pole, just so many options, but like I said, the group session thing does not need to be brought back into play. Single car stuff is more than likely where it is.”
Does the multi-lap thing where they take your average speed appeal to you at all?
“Yes and no. I guess you could look at that – I guess it’s only three laps, four laps, whatever they decide to do. We are not building qualifying setups into these race cars; we are going to race them right afterwards. Three laps are more how you can hit your laps in three versus one.”
How much have you heard about the Next Gen crash test and how involved do you want to be when it comes to safety of those cars?
“I haven’t heard anything. I’ve just heard that the test happened and got the same sheet of paper that you guys got that the data was being sent off to the experts to kind of review it and look at it, so that’s all I know.”
Would you like to more dialogue with NASCAR with that or are you comfortable with it?
“I don’t know. I don’t know how their process is. They are talking to the experts and stuff like that to get a figure of what those results are. They’ve showed us a little data on the crash stuff they’ve done on simulation, but nothing as it pertains to real life.”
Going into New Hampshire, how do you feel about your program there?
“New Hampshire has been a pretty decent place for us over the years. The last few years it is really hard to pass there. Last year, I think I ran three laps and boom, and went home. I had a tire failure. It’s been two years since I’ve run a full race there. Typically, we do run well there. We’ve got strong package for there. It’s a 750 race. It’s a mile race. It’s kind of what Phoenix is so we need to kind of get a good baseline for what we need at the end of the year.”
How special would it be to sweep the weekend?
“It would be cool. Anytime you are able to win, you want to win and to have a Cup race today and to be able to win that would be really awesome. I remember winning the last one on Bristol and I won the last one at Michigan. Those were pretty cool races to score those wins and I would love to be able to do some of the same things today.”
Have you thought about expanding KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) to the Xfinity or Cup Series?
“No, if I’m done racing Xfinity, why own a car in Xfinity and not be able to race it. That wouldn’t happen. We are fortunate to be with Toyota and the support system that we have with the driver development program in the Truck Series. That has been really good for us, and we will stay focused on that for the foreseeable future.”
Now that you are done with the Xfinity Series, is there a mark you are trying to hit in the Truck Series?
“No, being a Truck owner for me, as long as I can keep that going and keep that ownership flourishing, I would assume to keep racing as much as I can in that for the time being.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What are your thoughts on the new proposal for the track surface at Atlanta?
“I really don’t know. It’s hard to say what it’s going to be like without driving on it. We’ll just have to wait and see what it turns out to be.”
Do you feel it will be a better show or worse show with the changes?
“I don’t know. It’s going to be hard to make this place better in my opinion. I guess I’m a little biased, it’s always been one of my favorite tracks. Changing it is kind of hard to think about, but we’ll see. It is what it is.”
What has kept you from winning at Atlanta?
“It’s crazy, I feel like it’s one of my best tracks. It is one of my favorite and I feel like it’s been one of my best over the years. We’ve led a lot of laps here over the years and just run second, run third or whatever. Just hasn’t worked out. Always enjoy coming here and feel like we’re going to have a shot at it. Hopefully today is no different.”
How do you feel about starting in the rear of the field for today’s race?
“Coming from the back is never easy, but a place like this, if you have to go to the back, you want it to be a place where it’s multiple grooves and it’s a wide race track where you can move around. I think if we hit it right, if our car is good, we should be able to do it. It might take a little while, but we should be able to get there.”
Do you care about any of the findings from the Talladega crash test?
“I care of course, I have to race the car. You’re always worried about safety especially on the big tracks. Hopefully they’re (NASCAR) doing everything they can, but I haven’t seen anything yet.”
Do you start asking for data or are you confident NASCAR will share the data with you?
“I think in this situation and at this point in time, there’s a lot of people asking questions. I don’t want to add to the confusion, but I hope you get the answers you’re looking for.”
How do you feel Joe Gibbs Racing compares to Hendrick Motorsports currently?
“It’s really hard to just say, ‘Yes, we’re there’ or how far we are. Every week is different. We don’t have practice a lot of times, but I think across the board they (Henrick) seem to still have the most speed. You see all four of their cars seem to be fast every week. We’ve been a little bit hit or miss with our group I would say. We definitely have work to do. I don’t think we feel like we’re where we need to be, but everybody is working their tails off at the shop and putting everything we have into it. We just have to keep searching and at a race like today, if we weren’t where we need to be in the spring race then hopefully, we made the right adjustments and hopefully our cars are faster in general, and we can be near the front all day.”
Do you consider New Hampshire a home track similar to Dover?
“Yeah, I’ve been going there a long time. The first big track I ever raced on. The first Cup Series track I ever raced on. A lot of memories there. I really enjoy the area obviously and that place was really a big part of me getting the opportunity to move down south and race in the Busch Serie back in the day. I haven’t been able to win there yet, been close a bunch of times and hopefully we can get it done. I enjoy going up there a lot for sure.”
How do you feel about the Next Gen cars, and will you continue in the series?
“I enjoy racing and I love racing; I want to be here for a while. Just play it by ear and see how it goes honestly. I don’t have a long-term contract at this point. I feel like I’m at the point in my career where if things are going well and I’m still enjoying it, I’m going to keep going. Hopefully, I guess what I was saying was I hope it’s as fun as what we have today and what we’ve been having the last couple years so we can keep it rolling.”
Have you thought about what’s next when you do retire from racing?
“I have no idea. I honestly have not put any thought into it at all yet. That’s too far out I think.”
Do you enjoy visiting new race tracks on the circuit this season?
“I do, I do. I love new tracks. I feel like this year with the new tracks I wish we had a little more practice, but aside from that it’s been really fun and it’s always good to go to new places.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Craftsman “Racing for a Miracle” Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you wish the drivers had been consulted on the decision to repave Atlanta?
“I mean ultimately we’re the ones out there on the race track. They talked about repaving it for a long time. I remember whenever I ran my first truck race here in 2016, they said they were going to repave it after that. They got a lot of years out of it and I’m really thankful for that. I don’t know what to think. It’s going to be superfast. I’m just imagining a mile-and-a-half Daytona, Talladega pack-style racing. It’s not really what I want, but I guess that’s what the fans want and that’s why they’re going that direction.”
Were you told before the announcement about the repave?
“(Showing small amount) This much, which sounds like the rest of them were too.”
Is it frustrating as drivers to feel you have not input?
“I can’t really speak from my standpoint only because I only have like 50 Cup starts. But the guys sitting beside me or Martin (Truex Jr.) who just walked out, the guys that are veterans of the sport, I would have expected them to have a little bit more input. From my standpoint, probably not, I’m too young.”
Is there a level of concern about the safety of the Next Gen car?
“Probably not the right guy to ask. I came from Sprint Car racing so anything we’re doing is a lot safer than what I used to do growing up. Obviously, it’s very important and I’m very thankful that NASCAR takes it as serious as they do, and I think they do a great job with it and I believe that they’re not going to put us out there in something that’s no safe. That’s not really a concern of mine.”
Is any seat time good for a racer like yourself?
“I think so. I’m a firm believer that racing more will help me. I haven’t really been able to race as much as I would like to over the beginning part of the year so hopefully, I’ll be able to start racing a little bit more.”
What did you think of the Truck race at Knoxville?
“I thought the first 30 laps were amazing. The track was really good and even the heat races I thought were pretty good. Then it all boils down to track preparation and what they’re allowed to do to the race track. NASCAR puts any dirt track they go to into a really, really small box by not taking the windshields out and not allowing mud to be caked onto the front of the cars. Any dirt track that you go to in the United States has to have water for it to be a good show. We can’t have water because of the windshields. Ultimately, that’s kind of the product that we’re going to have until we make a change to the cars.”
Do you have any emotional attachment to the surface at Atlanta?
“Yeah definitely. Atlanta was always one of my favorite race tracks to go to. I’ve tested here once in the truck and once in the Xfinity car and was able to win here once in the truck and once in the Xfinity car. It’s one of my favorites and I’m going to be really, really sad to see it go, but I’m very thankful that I had time to go out and experience the surface between the Truck Series, the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series. I remember after I ran my first truck race back in 2016, there were rumors of it getting repaved then. I’m glad I got a couple more years out of it.”
What do you think of simulation building tracks now?
“It’s going to be different and I think we’ve learned that. None of the iRacing races look like they do in real life. I don’t really think there’s too much stock you can put into it.”
How much practice would you like to see next year?
“50 minutes, what we’ve been getting is just one 50-minute session and only at the new tracks. I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s not a lot of time if you’re off. 50 minutes if you go on track is a lot of laps, but the problem is whenever you come in and work on your car, it doesn’t turn into a lot of time. A 50-minute session on a mile-and-a-half race track is roughly three or four runs and then all of the sudden you go to Road America and it’s maybe two runs. I think maybe two 25-minute sessions with a break in between might be more beneficial than just one 50-minute session straight through. Just to give time to the teams to diagnose their car and work on their car and not lose track time.”
Would that be every week or on a track-by-track basis?
“Going to the race track for the first time and then on the second visit if they don’t want to do practice then don’t do practice.”
What would you like to see for qualifying?
“Qualifying I think is pretty important. I don’t care for the way they line the races up now. I do think qualifying is important.”
How much of a contender do you feel your team can be in the Playoffs?
“I think it’s a toss-up. If you look at our last two months, we would pretty much be a non-factor. But at the beginning of the year, we had a lot of really solid runs at Playoff tracks. Whenever we start the Playoffs, we have Darlington as race one and that was a great race for us so I think we can have a great showing there. We have Richmond, Bristol, Charlotte Roval, Las Vegas so all the races in the Playoffs are places that we’ve had our best races at. I’m looking forward to it.”
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