NASCAR CUP SERIES
NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
ALLY 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-PRACTICE NOTES & QUOTES
JUNE 19, 2021

NASCAR CUP SERIES PRACTICE AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: TEAM CHEVY TOP-10
1st WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
2nd KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE
3rd CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
4th RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/NATURE VALLEY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
5th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 QUARTZ HILL RECORDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
6th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
7th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 1LE
10th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY NEON LIGHTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE

NASCAR CUP SERIES: TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 IN DRIVER STANDINGS POST-PRACTICE MEDIA AVAILABILITY HIGHLIGHTS:

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Fastest in NCS Practice
THOUGHTS AFTER PRACTICE:
“We were OK. I think, honestly, just trying to figure out the entry and exit. It’s so flat. It’s honestly similar to how Pocono was when I went there my first year in 2018. Just have to continue and progress. I think everyone is going to get better, especially with that being the first time that we had all been on the racetrack in these cars.”

WHEN DOES IT START FEELING EASIER FOR YOU AND WHEN IS IT LIKE, ‘I KNOW HOW TO MAKE THESE LAPS’?
“It felt easy for me lap one just because I was in the truck race last night. So, I had some experience around cars; had some track time. Obviously, things didn’t finish the way we wanted to with the engine issue. But I felt like we were running pretty well and learned some things there. We’re just trying to get better. I feel like the truck was just a little bit different, just because you don’t use as much brake. But you also have to get into the throttle more than the Cup car. Just having to get in the gas more in the truck was different. This thing has a lot more power and you can kind of be a little bit more patient on exit.”

YOU AND DENNY (HAMLIN), IS THAT WHAT IT’S GOING TO TAKE TO WIN TOMORROW?
“Yeah, I guess. I feel like you’re going to see a similar race to Chicago a couple of years ago with the low downforce, just because this place is low on grip. It’s hot, the rubber is really laying down, which I think has a lot to do with the resin. I personally feel like they should lay down the resin everywhere with how black as this place is right now. I feel like it’s closer to a few years ago when the track would lay rubber. The tires are sticky, the track is sticky and it’s making you have to move around a lot.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 2nd fastest in NCS Practice
INAUDIBLE
“I don’t have much experience here in the past; still trying to figure it out. It’s really easy to overdrive your corner. The shape of it seems like a 1.5-mile track and it’s almost a 1.5-mile; but once you get to the corners, they’re pretty tight. Like I said, it’s really easy to overdrive and you have to be way more patient than you think.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON JUST HAVING A WIN STREAK LIKE THIS?
“It’s been a good streak. It’s been fun to win these last few weeks and win on the dirt track stuff, too. Still have a lot of racing left this year and hopefully we can rack up a lot more wins.”

YOU SAID ON THE RADIO THE TYPE OF CONFIDENCE YOU HAVE IS WHEN YOU STRAP INTO THE RACE CAR AND EVERY WEEKEND, YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN WIN. IS THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU’VE REALLY HAD THAT SENSATION IN YOUR CUP CAREER?
“No, I mean 2017 I think I felt probably the same then, too. We were up front almost every weekend in Cup and I was having a good season in sprint cars and midgets, too. I would say this year feels close to that year; probably a little bit better on the Cup side and probably a little bit better on the dirt side, as well. But I wouldn’t say this is the first time.”

THOUGHTS ON POCONO NEXT WEEKEND:
“It will be fun to do a doubleheader; get to do two Cup races in one weekend will be new for me. I like Pocono (Raceway) a lot, too. It’s a different style race track and it takes a rhythm to get around there, even though it’s such a big place. I feel like I’ve done well there in the past. It would be good to go there and get a couple wins.”

WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY?
“It’s a cool track. You go out there and, on the straightaways, you think you can just rifle it off into the corner because it seems like a 1.5-mile track. But then you get to the corners and they’re a lot shorter than normal and it’s really easy to overdrive your entry. Just getting used to the patience I think it takes to get around here is tough, but I feel like our car was pretty decent there in practice. We’ll keep inching up on it and hope to be good on Sunday.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ROLL YOU’VE BEEN ON THE LAST MONTH?
“Yeah, it’s just been good. It’s fun to be competitive and I hope I can continue to run up front. Our team has been doing a great job; our pit crew has been doing awesome. We just have to keep working hard. This sport is tough, so we have to keep our heads down and keep digging.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 3rd fastest in NCS Practice
WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST REACTIONS TO THE TRACK?
“Really similar to what I remember from testing here. I did a number of tests here back probably five or six years ago. But it’s kind of what I remember; really similar, standard concrete racetrack for the most part.”

INAUDIBLE
“I don’t know what it would have been like without it, so that’s tough to say. But the track has taken a lot of rubber. Even at the start of the truck race last night I thought it was really dark and it had already taken a lot. That’s the best way to get the groove to move up, if it does darken up and it seems like it’s done that. How much higher we can go, I’m not sure. But the groove is wider than I thought it would be, so that’s good.”

IS IT GOOD TO HAVE EDDIE (D’HONDT) BACK?
“Yeah, it’s good to have Eddie (D’Hondt, spotter) back; the familiar voice. For him and his family to be through all of that is good for him.”

“It felt like we never missed a beat, really. So, it was good.”

DOES THINGS EVEN OUT WITH THE REST OF THE FIELD HAVING A SHOT AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS BECAUSE NOBODY HAS RACED HERE BEFORE?
“Yeah, I would say so. There are unknowns and there are things that I think we all guessed on coming here. I think it has probably been a while for everybody since we all tested here. I know this was a facility that everyone used, but things have changed since then, for sure.”

THOUGHTS ON THE TRACK AFTER GOING OUT IN PRACTICE?
“Standard, concrete oval, really for the most part. I feel like it was just how I remembered here the last time I tested; aside from the groove is a little wider and I think that’s just because there’s a lot more traffic on the track than what was ever here than when we were testing. Usually when you’re testing, there’s usually only one, two or three cars, so you never really get a lot of rubber laid down. There’s already been a race last night and there’s a lot of guys kind of moving around to try and find different parts on the track to run. Really about exactly what I thought it would be, aside from the groove being slightly wider. Everyone always migrates to the fast lane, wherever that may be.”

IS IT NICE TO HAVE THE DRIVER DYNAMIC THAT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS SEEMS TO HAVE RIGHT NOW?
“Yeah, everything has been good. I feel like, just in general, like I’ve been saying over the past couple of months – Hendrick Motorsports is just in a good place. We’re all open and honest; just trying to get better. I think we’re all pushing each other to be better, which is a good thing, and we’ll continue to try to move forward.”

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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Nashville Superspeedway Post-Practice Media Availability | Saturday, June 19, 2021

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Grave Digger Ford Mustang — HOW IS THE TRACK? “Honestly, it’s not anything like it was last time I was here because of all that crap they put on the racetrack. You’ve got to run up at the top where it’s all sticky, but I think our Monster Jam Grave Digger Ford Mustang was fairly good in race runs. We didn’t do any qualifying stuff, just tried to work on our race stuff and felt OK about it.”

RESIN VS. PJ1? “I don’t even know. It’s so confusing at this point I don’t even know. It doesn’t feel like there’s that much grip. You can’t run the bottom of the racetrack because there’s no grip down there and then you’ve got to run around the very top where the grip is left, so I don’t know. It hasn’t been very good anywhere that we’ve put it down lately.”

DID YOU PICK UP SOME THINGS FOR THE RACE TOMORROW? “I think so. I think, for me, it was really just about rhythm and where I needed to run on the racetrack and picking up visual markers and things like that. Now, we’ll go back and kind of start fine-tuning the car. Everything right there was just big ticket items, making sure the travels and picking up the markers and doing all the little things like getting on pit road and running up and down pit road. Now we’ve got to go and look through everything and try to fine-tune our race stuff.”

DO YOU HAVE A FEELING ABOUT THE TRACKS COMING UP WHERE YOU MIGHT HAVE A GOOD SHOT TO WIN? “I think we’re having different conversations.”

AS FAR AS GETTING THE POINT OF WINNING WEEKLY? “We’re not to that point.”

ARE YOU CONFIDENT YOU WANT TO STAY WITH THIS ORGANIZATION NEXT YEAR? “Why would I not. I’ve spent eight years here and have two more years on my contract, so that will be where I drive for the rest of my career.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU’RE ANYWHERE CLOSE TO TURNING THINGS AROUND? “We haven’t run as well as we’d like, but our team has done a great job and put us in position to have a chance of winning a couple races. We just keep grinding away. You just never know week to week when you’re gonna be in position and when you’re not gonna be in position.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang — “It’s tough. It’s very inviting to drive into the corner pretty deep and you get down in the middle and you’re like, ‘Oh, wow. You can’t do that.’ So you’ve got to be very disciplined getting into the corner and that was kind of neat to find out today. I thought we made really good gains, so I was pretty happy with our car at the end of the day, but it’s a very neat place. It’s nice we were able to widen it out a good bit and it might just keep getting wider as the weekend goes on, so that would be nice.”

HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO OTHER INTERMEDIATE TRACKS? “It’s hard to compare. Obviously, the surface reminds you the most of Dover, being concrete, and it’s not as banked so there’s not as much to hold you. I was surprised how little grip it had, honestly. I was pretty surprised by that, but it’s hard to compare. It’s a pretty unique place, but I think it’ll be a fun race to put on, especially as we keep moving the groove up and up. I think the XFINITY guys will do that. It’s taking rubber really well, so I’m very happy about that and it’s not gonna be just running the bottom.

HOW DO YOU BEAT HENDRICK? “Wreck ‘em, I guess (laughing). They’re on top of their game right now, obviously. I thought we got closer at Texas in the All-Star Race. I thought our three cars could run with them at the end, so we’ll see how our 750 package is, but they’re on top of it and we’re working hard to catch up. I think we’re making gains, but it’s just about you want to make big gains every week but it’s all about little things and hopefully we’ll have a pretty good idea after tomorrow where we stack up and if we kind of kept closing the gap.”

NO MORE PLAYOFF TRACKS LEFT IN THE REGULAR SEASON, SO HOW DO YOU BUILD TOWARD THE PLAYOFFS? “The biggest thing is you’ve got to have good notes from those tracks we’ve run at before earlier this year, but, honestly, even though we don’t run on anymore playoff tracks before we get there for the playoffs, you can still kind of judge how your cars are on mile-and-a-halves, on short tracks. That all can kind of formulate into one, so you can get a run on those places, but you can get an idea like, ‘Our 500 package is pretty competitive right now, or our 750 package, road course stuff.’ So, that’s kind of how I compare it, but it’s just a combination of good notes at the places you’ve been to already and still learning as you close in on the playoffs.”

WHAT WILL YOU WATCH FOR IN THE NXS RACE? “Seeing how they move around, where they’re gonna go. The truck race was good to watch, but the XFINITY cars are more like our cars this weekend with the low downforce, and then we have more power, but they still race like our cars with not a lot of downforce and grip, so just kind of seeing where they’re gonna be running. I’m sure they’ve watched our practice and pretty much everyone by the end was running up at the top of that black rubber, so that was pretty curious to see. The biggest thing I’m curious about too is if that kind of wears out. You see at Dover sometimes you can run up the racetrack a good bit and get speed for a little bit, but it kind of wears up and it heats your stuff up a lot and you go back to the bottom and it has that look, like where the left sides run at Dover there’s no rubber laid down. It kind of has the same look here, so I’ll be curious if that top kind of wears out and you move back down and just kind of seeing how cars react to that.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT POCONO NEXT WEEK? “It’s always special to me. I enjoy going back there every year. It will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s nice to have a double-header. I think that’s a cool deal they’ve done there at Pocono the last couple years with the double-header, but it’s always special to go back to the first place you won your Cup race at and I think I’ve got some family going too, so that will be even better. I’m looking forward to a couple nice days at Pocono. Hopefully we can win another one there, it would be pretty neat.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — “It’s an interesting feel for sure to head back around it and start working on our race car, so it was a fun practice. We made some gains. We’ve got some work to do as well and we’ll figure it out as we go.”

DOES BEING WIDER MAKE IT EASIER TO PASS? “Absolutely. Yeah, it should. It’s surprising that the resin doesn’t have grip. It’s the opposite. It’s actually slicker, so you see guys going to the way top side of it or try to creep around the very very bottom around it. It might be a little bit different than what we all expected and understand about that stuff, but I think we’re all still probably learning about it. The way I look at it is the track is wider, so it’s doing its job, but maybe not in the way we thought it would.”

WILL YOU BE INTERESTED TO SEE HOW WELL THE RESIN WORKS AND WHETHER TO USE IT AT DIFFERENT PLACES? “Everyone is gonna have an opinion about it, right? It’s just like PJ1. When you put it on the racetrack everyone has an opinion on whether it’s better or worse for the racing. Everyone will have an opinion again tomorrow. We’ll have plenty to talk about all week long when it comes to coming back to Nashville, which is great. I sat up in a suite last night to watch the truck race and the first thing I said was, ‘I can’t believe this place is this pretty and been sitting here for 10 years.’ It’s beautiful, so I think that part is great and we’ll be the judge of how the racing is. Every race is gonna be different this weekend. The trucks were a lot different than the Cup cars and the XFINITY cars are similar, so we’ll learn a lot here from this race in a few minutes.”

IS IT FUN COMING BACK TO A PLACE LIKE THIS? “It’s been fun this whole year because we’re going to new racetracks and you kind of challenge yourself, your skill set and how quick you can figure things out in these 50-minute practices. It’s not much to tune your car in, so you’ve got to have a gameplan no matter what your car is doing and try to sling some stuff at it real quick. It’s fun to get back out there and start practicing and, like I said, seeing what you’ve got and all that. It’s a lot different than what I remember and it’s a lot slower than what I remember. Maybe when I was 18 everything felt really fast as I was doing everything, I don’t know. I think I missed a gear a little bit. They’re not turning much RPM.”

YOU HAVE THE RECORD FOR BEING THE YOUNGEST WINNER IN THE XFINITY SERIES. HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT RECORD TO YOU? “It’s special to be able to hold it, but you want to see progression in this sport, so in ways you hope it gets beat. In ways it’s nice to hold it. It’s kind of nice, but records are meant to be broken and not many records hold forever because everyone is evolving and getting better, so I expect that record to get beat some day. It’s been 13-14 years. It’s been a long time. It would be cool to see it. It would be a huge accomplishment for someone. It happened so quickly for me, jumping into both series really quick, so it can happen like that. In these races you never know what’s gonna happen, so it happens quick, especially now in the XFINITY Series even more so because it’s kind of like the non-companion races were years ago. Non-companions didn’t have Carl Edwards and Harvick and Burton and all the guys, so every race is a little bit different now considering all you have is Kyle out there today.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang — WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE TRACK? “I’m really impressed. The track is in amazing condition for having sat 10 years. I feel like it’s in better condition than when I was last here. I don’t know how that’s possible. It’s like it has reversed age. They’ve got the Fountain of Youth in here somewhere, but the concrete is really good. The last time I was here was really bumpy and it doesn’t seem to be nearly as bumpy as it used to be. The asphalt on the track where you blend down looks like it’s brand new, so somebody has been doing a lot of work around here and they’ve done an excellent job. It’s far surpassed my expectations coming here to Nashville.”

YOU’RE NOT AS FAST AS YOU WERE THE LAST TIME YOU WERE HERE. “No. Well, the last time I was here I blew up, so I’m faster than that. I was in the garage here the last time.”

BEFORE YOU WERE IN THE GARAGE YOU WERE IN THE TOP 20 IN SPEED. “In the XFINITY car I was running second, I think, but we haven’t been very fast. I’m glad we had a practice because we didn’t start anywhere near where we need to be to have a shot at this thing on Sunday. We’re gonna take some big swings at it.”

PENSKE HAS BEEN STRONGER ON 750 RACES AS OPPOSED TO 550. DOES THAT GIVE YOU SOME CONFIDENCE? “It did and then we unloaded and got on track. We just haven’t been strong so far. Most of the 750 tracks are short tracks. This is one of the few, maybe here and Darlington that’s a 750 track that’s not a short track and I didn’t think we were particularly strong at Darlington with any of our cars, so we’ve got some work to don on the aero side for sure.”

Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

NASHVILLE (June 19, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media prior to the Nashville race weekend earlier today:

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

First impressions of the track today in practice?

“It’s a racetrack, you know. It’s fun to be back in Nashville. It’s been fun so far. The car wasn’t very good. We were struggling out there a bit so definitely different than I anticipated and different than what I remember here. It feels really slow, really greasy, just really slick and hard to find any grip. I don’t know, it’s been a long time since I’ve been here, not surprised that it’s that different.”

Are you concerned as a group with only two Toyota’s in the top 10 and two in the top 20?

“I don’t know yet. I haven’t talked to the other guys so far, so it’s hard to say. For us, we’re a little worried. We’re about to do some wholesale changes, so we’ll see. Definitely not a good practice.”

Any consolation that this track really doesn’t translate to other tracks?

“Yes and no. I think every race is important points wise, especially within the playoffs, bonus points, points position, all of that, so they are all important, they all matter. We obviously don’t want to throw any of them away.”

You have success at the playoff tracks, but the performance, and there could be other reasons for the performance, hasn’t been there the last few weeks. How much of a concern is that or is there a need to try some different things because you know what you guys can do at the playoff tracks?

“That’s kind of a loaded question. There’s so many different ways to look at it. Obviously, we are happy we’ve had success at the playoff tracks this year, but we aren’t happy that lately things haven’t been going well. Aside from Sonoma, it’s been a bit of a struggle. At the same time, it’s really hard to try a lot of things to find a lot of things. You look at this 50-minute practice. It’s not a whole lot of time. We are running out of time just trying to change things before tech. The trying stuff is really difficult to do without potentially throwing away a whole weekend. We’re trying our best. Sometimes you hit it, sometimes you miss it. That’s kind of the way it goes. As a company, we obviously know we need to find more speed and I know we’re always working on that.”

How do you find more speed with limited practice, two laps of qualifying and no changes after qualifying?

“It’s difficult. I think we need to find more speed during the week before we show up at the racetrack. Lately here we’ve been off a little bit there, so some free speed during the week with aero stuff and engine stuff would be great. The set-up stuff is hard to figure out when you only have an hour, or no practice. You kind of go with what you know there.”

About Toyota

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

Toyota has created a tremendous value chain and directly employs more than 47,000 in North America. The company has contributed world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama that begins production in 2021.

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

Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

NASHVILLE (June 19, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to media prior to the Nashville race weekend earlier today:

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

How does the track feel?

“It feels like a new track. I don’t know if I remember a whole lot from 14 years ago or when I last drove here. It’s a difference experience. I’m learning as I go. It’s definitely driving differently. Obviously, the groove is a lot wider. Just figuring it out.”

What’s your overall impression of seeing this place 10 years later?

“I know the staff that the Dover people hired to clean this place up – they did a great job doing that. The amenities, I think, they really updated good and there looks like there is a lot of fan stuff out there. It’s really good. They did a good job at getting this place caught up to speed.

It looks like you were the only Toyota in the top-10. What are you lacking?

“Just speed to the Chevys. We are off a ways for sure. My objective is to just get my car as good as I can get it. If I can’t run with them, I can’t run with them. If there are four cars in particular that are faster than us, then it’s my job to finish fifth.”

They put a resin down on the track to widen the groove. How much effect has that resin had on the track?

“It really rubbered in the track pretty early. It was black before cars even hit the track. The resin that they put down with the tires that they drug blackened the track to allow it to get wider. It seems like the wider the track is getting the faster it’s getting. That will eventually even out, where you will be running multiple grooves all over the place, but concrete in general is very, very tough to race on, so I think they did a good job getting this track where it’s wide enough that it’s not going to be single groove.”

How much has the charter market changed this week?

“It’s tough to say. I don’t think it really changed a whole lot, to be honest with you. I think it’s in the realm of what everyone thought that would happen. I heard rumblings of which team was going to purchase what. The buyers and the sellers are all still in play. I don’t think yesterday changed a whole lot.”

Did it set the price point?
“Maybe. It’s tough to say. If it is, we made a hell of an investment last year. It’s tough to say if that is case or not. You still have the certain group of guys that come in to the sport. We want to be a part of expanding, whether or not, depends on if we have a guaranteed spot in the field.”

You wouldn’t run as an open car?

“We would entertain it. A lot depends on what we see the charter future going. The model still requires you to put significant sponsor dollars on the car if you want to compete. If you just want to ride around, then that’s a whole different business model. If you want to compete, it still requires you to get eight-figure plus, plus, plus sponsor money in order to compete with the guys that have businesses that can put their thumb on you at any time.”

Is that a different mindset than you had in Charlotte?

“I mean, I think that we are weighing all of the options and obviously the charter agreement goes to ’24, so we have to make sure we are making a sound investment for the next three years, because we cannot predict what happens beyond that, whether it gets renewed or the model changes or if they shift money around from the middle to the bottom or the top, who knows. So, we have to weigh all of those options. I’ve spent a decent amount of time in this sport making a decent amount of money. I don’t want to piss it all away right away.”

Do you have a timeline?

“In our head. I wouldn’t say what that is, though. Again, I think if I put all of the pieces together before the charter – and they all come together nicely, than I don’t think that I absolutely, positively have to have one. I think we are in a little bit of a bubble, so they are many people with their hand on the panic button, but theirs is much closer than mine is to it.”

Do you think NASCAR would take the 51 charter away?
“It depends whether you enforce the rule or not. The rule is put in there.”

Do you expect them to enforce the rule?

“They enforce all of the other rules. I wouldn’t see why they wouldn’t that one. As I see it, if you are in the bottom three for consecutive years and you haven’t worked yourself out of it, if there are new teams that want to come into the sport, maybe that gets put up for auction.”

Is that what happens?

“Yeah.”

So, then it becomes a bidding war?

“Yep.”

Creative bidding war or straight cash?

“I don’t know about all of that. I don’t know. I haven’t had those conversations to figure out how it works, but I certainly know there is a rule in place. You would think they would enforce it, especially with the demand to come into the sport. It would seem like they would want that, especially if the competitive teams that want to come into the sport, teams that are going to bring something into the sport, possibly new sponsors into the sport, it would seem like they would want that. I wouldn’t see why they wouldn’t enforce that.”

But you don’t want it to get it to that point, to have your fate put in someone else’s hands?
“Exactly, you are just in a bidding war at that point, you won’t know where it all stacks up. By the way, who gets all of that money. That’s my next question.”

Isn’t already a bidding war?

“Maybe. I don’t know that multiple teams have put in bids on one charter yet. I don’t know – maybe they have, I’m not sure. But we haven’t.”

Did you talk to Spire?

“I had initial conversations with Spire, but it didn’t really go too far, but they voiced interest in selling, so somebody with interest was going to come in there and offer them something.”

Do you worry about being slower this week, since this track isn’t in the Playoffs?

“It always matters if you are slow, but it’s my job to get all that it’s capable of. If it’s capable of running fifth, then I need to make sure it needs to run fifth. I need to beat my teammates and everybody else in the field. It’s a tough ask, but right now it appears that there’s a few cars that are a couple tenths faster than everyone else. It’s not by accident. These four didn’t all just learn how to be the fastest drivers in the sport, although they deserve their due credit for that. They’ve got an advancement, whatever it may be, it’s beating all of us right now.”

What’s the motivation in chasing speed at these tracks that are not in the Playoffs?

“We are going to get better. We always play the game to try to get better at the right time, so I’m not worried. Again, there is a panic button. I’m not really there yet. Frustrated, yeah, because you want to go to the racetrack and know that you’ve got a car capable of being the fastest, but again, we’ve got a few weeks to really start looking at that and say okay, we really have to catch up here.”

About Toyota

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Toyota has created a tremendous value chain and directly employs more than 47,000 in North America. The company has contributed world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama that begins production in 2021.

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NASCAR CUP SERIES
NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
ALLY 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 19, 2021

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY NEON LIGHTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media to discuss the recent announcement of his two-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports, his anticipation going into the NASCAR Cup Series debut at Nashville Superspeedway and more. Press Conference Highlights:

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS BEEN STEALING A LOT OF HEADLINES LATELY; FOUR-STRAIGHT WINS COMING INTO HERE THIS WEEKEND. THAT STREAK STARTED WITH ALEX (BOWMAN)’S WIN AT DOVER WHEN HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS WENT 1-2-3-4. CAN YOU GIVE US A LITTLE OVERVIEW OF WHAT LIFE IS LIKE OVER AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND THE NO. 48 TEAM RIGHT NOW?
“It’s been a great time to be a part of Hendrick Motorsports. We’ve come so far the last couple of years. Obviously, a couple of years, we struggled more than we would have liked. Nobody gave up – everybody in the entire organization, from top to bottom, has continued to improve each and every week. This year has been phenomenal. We started the year strong and we’ve continued to up our game and build really fast racecars each and every week. To have two wins already on the 48 side, a bunch of wins overall and to take the lead on the all-time wins list – it’s been a phenomenal year and a lot of fun.”

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WORK WITH A GREAT PARTNER LIKE ALLY?
“It’s been great. Honestly, when you get the phone call from the boss that you’re going to go drive the No. 48 car and work with Ally, there’s a little bit of nervousness. It’s big pressure working with a company like Ally. I didn’t know anybody yet. I hadn’t met people and it was so relieving to start working with Ally and to meet everybody there. It’s been so much fun – the things we’ve done with Best Friends, the stuff we did for the paint scheme here. All the sponsor requirements that you have as a driver are things that have been really fun, natural and enjoyable. That’s been really cool and something that I’ve really enjoyed, and I look forward to continuing doing for at least the next couple of years.”

FROM A DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE, ARE THERE ANY NERVES FOR YOU THIS WEEKEND RACING ON A NEW TRACK?
“Yeah, definitely. To expand on your first question, I walked in and was shocked. I had tested here, I think in 2014, a little bit. To see where this place is at now is amazing. Hats off to everybody that was a part of that. Coming into a place you haven’t been to, haven’t ever been to with the Cup cars for racing, I’ve only tested here twice, and it’s such an interesting race track – there are a lot of unknowns. It kind of looks like a 1.5-mile track, but doesn’t really race like a 1.5-mile. It’s concrete. There are so many variables. It’s not as simple as going to the simulator and plugging it in because you can’t correlate from your past notes. You can’t dial the simulator into what’s real because you don’t know what is real yet. There’s a lot of question marks until we get on-track for practice later today, but I’m looking forward to it. Little extra pressure being the Ally 400, but going to do all we can to park the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet into victory lane.”

RICK (HENDRICK) HAD SAID THIS WAS GOING TO BE A FORMALITY, BUT WAS THERE ANY EMOTION IN ACTUALLY SIGNING THE DEAL? WERE YOU HOPEFUL FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS, BUT AS A DRIVER RIGHT NOW, IS TWO YEARS ABOUT THE MAX YOU CAN GET?
“It’s still twice the length of anything else I’ve ever had, so I can’t complain too much (laughs). It’s really cool to know that Ally has faith in me and Mr. H has faith in me. I think matching the length of my contract up to Ally’s was kind of the goal all around, and what was kind of expected and normal.”
“The way the industry is today, there aren’t five-year contracts out there like there used to be. I’m not going to complain too much. I’m driving the 48 for Hendrick Motorsports – it’s not so bad.”

FOLLOWING UP ON THE LENGTH OF THE CONTRACT – LAST YEAR, YOU SIGNED AN ONE-YEAR EXTENSION AND NOW THIS YEAR, IT’S TWO. WHY WAS IT ONE LAST YEAR AND WHY WAS IT TWO THIS YEAR? IS IT A VALIDATION OF YOUR PERFORMANCE TO GIVE YOU THE EXTRA YEAR?
“Yeah, I don’t know. I feel like somebody way smarter than me has the answer to that. Yeah, I think definitely a validation of how we’ve run this year. I feel like as a team owner with Mr. Hendrick – if I got into the car, things weren’t going well and Ally didn’t like me and all that, they would have needed a change. So, that’s probably why it was one year, if I had to put my team owner hat on.”
“It’s just an honor to get to keep driving for Hendrick Motorsports. It’s a dream come true for me everyday that I walk into that place, especially from where I started. It’s just really cool to get to keep doing it.”

HAVING THE SECURITY OF A MULTI-YEAR DEAL IN CUP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A CHAMPIONSHIP-CALIBER RIDE LIKE THIS ONE, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL ABOUT NEXT YEAR WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR AND ALL THE CHANGES THAT YOU HAVE THAT SECURITY THROUGH 2023?
“I think you’re still going to have to do all you can to figure that Next Gen car out. It’s nice to know that I do have that security, but still doing all I can to be as ready as I can be when that car comes along. I’ve driven it once and its vastly different than what we have now. It’s going to be really interesting to see how everybody adapts; but I love new challenges, new things and new race tracks like this weekend. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

WHEN WE SPOKE TO YOU GUYS BACK AT THE 2019 BANQUET, IT WAS JUST THE BUZZ OF GETTING A RACE BACK HERE WOULD BE SO EXCITING. TWO YEARS LATER, IT’S HERE. IS IT KIND OF HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THEY MADE IT HAPPEN THAT FAST AND WHAT ARE THE EMOTIONS AND EXCITEMENT FROM ALL OF YOU GUYS GETTING A RACE BACK TO NASHVILLE?
“Yeah, it’s really cool. That banquet was a blast. All of us probably had quite a bit too much fun. But definitely enjoyed it and to get to come back here – we’re probably going to have a different type of fun than we had at the banquet, but it’s cool to be back. To see the transformation this place has gone through is so cool and I think we’re all excited to be here in a new market and at a new race track. Hopefully it puts on a great show for the fans and hopefully we’re up front of the show.”

AS A GUY WHO NOT TOO MANY YEARS AGO, WHO’S CLAIM TO FAME WAS BEING THE OFFICIAL SIMULATOR DRIVER FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, ADMIST ALL THE COMPETITION AND NEXT WEEK’S RACE BEING THE MOST IMPORTANT RACE IN THE WORLD – DO YOU HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO LOOK AROUND AND SMELL THE ROSES AND SEE WHERE YOU’VE COME FROM IN A FAIRLY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME?
“Yeah, absolutely. It’s been amazing to go from where 2016 started to ending up here has been pretty incredible. I joke about the Twitter thing, but getting fired on Twitter and taking a job driving a simulator was shocking for me. I think it’s really cool to end up here and to have the support of Ally, driving for a team that I never thought I’d get a chance driving for. It’s really cool. I think I definitely get chances to appreciate everything. I think the things that I went through probably make me appreciate this situation way more than I would have if it would have been easy the whole way.”

“It’s been really cool. Hendrick Motorsports is a great place right now. They are letting us race whatever we want to race pretty much; have all kinds of fun. Like this week, I was in Indianapolis at (Indianapolis) Raceway Park. I was the crew chief for Josh Wise, who was driving a midget for me, which is a childhood hero driving a race car for me. So, I get to do all kinds of cool stuff. My day job kind of allows me to do that and it’s really cool.”

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

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