Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Roush Fenway Zoom Media Availability | Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Earlier today, Roush Fenway Racing announced a multi-year extension with sponsor Fastenal. Following is a transcript of the Q&A portion of the press conference, which featured driver Chris Buescher, Roush Fenway president Steve Newmark and Fastenal president and CEO Dan Florness.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang — IS THE PJ1 LIKE WALKING ON ICE? “That’s pretty accurate at certain times. I know the Indy cars are running a lot faster. The downforce is obviously way through the roof, a different tire. The PJ1 takes a certain amount of activation and I think it’s something that we’ve come to understand better, the formula. NASCAR has done a more consistent job of applying it, so that we have a little bit better idea of what’s coming. I say all that and when we ran the race there last year in the mist it was extremely slick and I unfortunately found out the hard way that it was very much like ice when it’s wet, so when it’s dry that’s definitely preferable. I think it’s something that has been scienced out for a larger part on our side, but I would say for Indy Car it’s just gonna take more repetition for them to understand it and know how it has to come in for them going forward, so, yes, at the very beginning of runs it can be extremely slick and be the exact opposite of what they’re trying to achieve, but it typically comes in pretty quick nowadays.”

STEVE NEWMARK, President, Roush Fenway Racing — WHAT DOES THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MEAN FOR YOU IN TERMS OF STABILITY AND IS THERE A CONTRACT EXTENSION WITH CHRIS? “I think the word that you just used is kind of how I would describe our relationship with Fastenal as kind of stability has been the key. Our intent is to have Fastenal as a partner for as long as we’re fielding race cars and I think we’ve found that this relationship has worked on so many different levels and it’s obviously comforting to have an anchor partner of Fastenal’s nature and the 20,000-plus employees that they have supporting us, and I think it’s also rare to see in this day and age a partner that has the continuity and is active at more than 20-plus races as a primary, so we’re very appreciative. As far as Chris’ situation, I think we generally try to keep all of our contract discussions outside of the four walls of Roush, but Chris and our arrangement is one that we expect it to continue not only through the next three years of the Fastenal relationship, but well beyond that as well.”

DO YOU HAVE A CONTRACT WITH BRAD KESELOWSKI FOR NEXT YEAR AND CAN YOU COMMENT ON HIS POTENTIAL TEAM OWNERSHIP? “It’s a fair question, and I appreciate it’s kind of front of mind based on some of the rumors that have been floating around and it’s necessary for each of you to do your job to be probing on this, but for today we’re gonna keep the focus on Fastenal and our partnership, and I will attempt to deflect politely any questions around any of those rumors at this time.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL THIS ADDS TO YOUR SPONSORSHIP PORTFOLIO? “I think quite frankly we hold the Fastenal relationship up as the gold standard and we use it in all of our discussions when we’re talking with new prospects about what can be done and how you can fully integrate, and I do have to thank Brooke and her team because they’ve served as resources, they’ve talked to prospects for us and talked to existing partners and I think that’s been really helpful because you can see how we’ve activated with Fastenal across all sorts of different platforms over the years, and, quite frankly, on the sponsorship front we’re pretty excited and positive about not only where we are, but where the sport is, I think the narrative about NASCAR coming out of 2020 with all the successes that we had amidst a very trying time for everyone, I think, really has played well as we’ve been telling our story and even where we’re going with Next Gen, with new tracks like we’re going to COTA. I think the excitement has been really palpable and we’ve seen a ton of interest among new brands that have never been in the sport before and even our existing brands have continued to expand how they activate and use the asset, so I think we’ve added several new partners in the last couple months and our hope is that we can continue building that group.”

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED — DOES THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RAISE YOUR CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THE MIDDLE PART OF THE SEASON? “We’ve had a really solid start to our season and this definitely helps us have that security knowing that we will continue to be with Fastenal moving forward, but ultimately we’ve had our goals set before the season started and so we have been working towards making the playoffs and winning races from the beginning, so we will keep after that in the exact same way. We are in the playoffs currently. I know it’s pretty early to talk about it. Now, I will say that if it had been any other year right now, we would be feeling pretty good about it at this point, but with as many different new winners we’ve had this season it is definitely gonna be a challenge on the points side. We’ll definitely look to get that win and get that Cup win for Fastenal as well, so we’re still working hard on that. We’ve had some really strong showings this year at a lot of different types of racetracks, and I felt like we’ve improved at every racetrack — some less than others, but every racetrack we have gotten better than where we were the previous year, so we feel very confident that we’re heading in the right direction, that a lot of work went the right way through the off-season, that a lot of goals were correct in heading us down a path that we feel like is making us more competitive every week, so, yeah, it’s definitely exciting news. Everyone got together and surprised me on this last week doing a preview, so it was something I didn’t even know about until we got together and did our previews for last weekend. It was definitely exciting news for me, knowing Fastenal is back on board. It’s been awesome working with Fastenal, not just as a sponsor on the car side, but as Steve has mentioned, as a partner throughout the entire business and throughout the entire organization and how they really help us operate more efficiently in so many different ways. It’s all good news. It’s all exciting and it’s all helpful as we continue to fight our way into the playoffs for this season and head towards victory lane.”

WHAT POSITIVES HAVE YOU TAKEN AWAY FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON? “It’s definitely our most competitive season to date, which is really exciting because I’ve talked about it a lot this year, especially at the beginning. I felt like last season was more difficult than my rookie season in Cup without practice, with coming back to Roush and really starting fresh in so many different ways. It was a very difficult season and my hopes and expectation at the beginning were not met — not to make excuses, but largely due to the fact that we weren’t able to practice and build our notebook up and find our starting point week in and week out. It was our reality as well as a handful of others. We weren’t the only one in that situation. I should go back to the off-season. It was nice to see a very specific game plan put into motion, a lot of strong goals set to accomplish that we felt like as a company would make our race cars faster, and to see those goals accomplished and stretched further. I think all of that has come into play and has led us to a stronger start to the season. We felt like our mile-and-a-half stuff made good progress, our short tracks have made some progress, our road courses have gotten much better, our superspeedway cars are always strong. Of course, Daytona we ended up in that first melee and don’t have anything to show for that one, so at the end of the day we have improved every race that we’ve gone to this season over the previous, so we know we’re heading in the right direction. We know we’ve had a strong season. We’re racking up ample top 10s now and ultimately it takes top 10s to run in the top five to win races, so it’s just about stepping it up consistently over the next handful of weeks and stepping it up even more than we did through the off-season, so definitely an exciting year and from that front we’re greedy. We’ve grown up racing and winning anywhere that you’ve run and trying to elevate yourself so you want more every week, but there’s measurable progress we’ve seen since the beginning of the season that it’s easy for me to overlook as I’m trying to, again, be greedy and grab as much as we can, but it’s definitely been a very solid progression.”

WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOUR LOOKING FOR THIS WEEKEND AT COTA IN PRACTICE? “A 50-minute practice, you’re looking at two runs, maybe three, and at that that’s going to be three or four-lap runs. There’s very limited track time. It sounds good, but the track is so massive, over two minutes to make a lap, it’s gonna go quick — the time is, not the laps. We’re gonna be looking at the braking zones as a big part of it, trying to get that depth into our memory banks, so that we can make consistent laps. It’ll be nice to have practice in general so we can make adjustments and fine-tune on our car, something we haven’t been able to do in a very long time. We’re gonna have a game plan in motion before we ever get there being that it’s gonna be two changes max. We’ll work hard with Ryan and the 6 bunch to try and offset some changes so we can double up our time there as well as working with Front Row for some of our meetings. We’ve already talked about trying to gather as much information as possible in that very limited amount of time, and then we’ve got a little bit of weather in the forecast that will balance out. My parents are within 45 minutes of the racetrack down there, so I’ve been getting news updates and weather updates from them and they said it’s storming every day, so don’t know what we’re gonna get on that front, but it’s gonna be really exciting. I’ve got some laps around COTA in a Mustang, so it’s not that I don’t know the track. We’ll be iRacing this evening at COTA as well. I’m not saying I’m gonna learn much from that one. Those are usually a little rougher than the actual races, but it’ll still be good to get some track time and try and start learning some of our braking points, some of the bumps in the racetrack and where our big heavy cars are gonna be the most efficient, so I’m definitely looking forward to a new racetrack. I’m really excited. COTA is an incredible facility, so I’m looking forward to putting on a really good show this weekend.”

DAN FLORNESS, President and CEO, Fastenal — AS A SPONSOR, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE POSITIONING OF THE NUMBER ON THE DOOR. DID THE LOCATION MEAN ANYTHING? “I don’t know if I have strong opinion on the placement of the number on the side of the car. I know the folks at Roush have done a really nice job of having great paint schemes, just having great looks to the car, changing it up every so often, and making it a fun car for us to participate in. We’re aligned with some great people, but NASCAR resonates really well within the Fastenal organization and our customer base and I think that’s what holds the strongest card in that game.”

STEVE NEWMARK CONTINUED — IS THE NUMBER ON THE DOOR A FACTOR FOR SOME OF YOUR OTHER SPONSORS? “I think that when we look at the number location it’s not necessarily through just the lens of sponsorship. I think we look at it through the lens of what’s the best thing for the sport? And if you look at the fact that we are transitioning to a completely new car, a new platform and so we want this to be fresh, different and provide as much energy and excitement as possible, and so when we look at it at Roush, we’ve actually had fun here internally moving the number around, playing around with it and how can you come up with the most compelling look and feel of the car. We’ve actually gone back and looked at how the numbers have been in the past and, to me, I always think it’s fun to have a link to our lineage and our history because we’re so proud of everything that’s gone on in this sport, so really that’s what we’re looking at. We obviously will of course consult with our partners because we want them to be happy with however we lay it out, but, for us, it really is about trying to tie into the tradition of the sport and we’ll ultimately provide our input to NASCAR along those lines.”

HOW MANY NUMBERS WILL FASTENAL BE ON THE CAR? “I think the way that we’ve operated with Fastenal is somewhat probably different than the traditional, where it’s locked in. It’s been very fluid and we work with them. They are obviously the anchor partner on the 17 team and generally have somewhere in the vicinity of 20 races, but as their needs change, as our needs change, it really is a collaborative effort. We’ve gone to them at times and said, ‘Hey, we have a new prospect, a new partner coming in and this market is their home market. They would really like to have it,’ so Fastenal has relinquished that, so we could continue to grow. On the flip side, when we’ve gone to some new markets that maybe Fastenal didn’t necessarily have, they’d come to us and say, ‘Hey, we’d like to add these because this is a big foundational base for not only Fastenal but some of our partners.’ I mean, they’ve got 3200 locations around the U.S., so they’re pretty much everywhere, so it’s a long-winded way of saying it’s a little bit fluid, but I think as just a soundbite on it they’re generally gonna be in the 20-22 range each year and have been in the past.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET ADDITIONAL SPONSORSHIPS TO HELP WITH THE INFLUX OF MONEY IT WILL TAKE TO BUILD NEXT GEN CARS? “I think everyone on this call recognizes that we are unique in the big U.S. professional sports in that our business model is different. As a rule of thumb, 75 percent of team revenues come from our partners and that’s why they are completely and truly integrated into everything that we do. I don’t think Next Gen changes that, although he cost of Next Gen gets a lot of publicity that wasn’t the driving force, at least from our perspective about why we’re doing this. It makes the cars more relevant. It updates the technology with the transaxle and allowing potential hybridization, plus the look and feel is just closer to what we see on the streets. That said, racing is expensive. It always has been and probably always will be because we’re all highly competitive looking for every advantage that we can, and there’s no doubt that we are unable to do what we love and Chris is unable to be on the track unless you have partners like Fastenal who stand behind you. That is what drives our sport and allows us to put race cars on the track every weekend.”

HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS THE SPONSORSHIP CLIMATE COMING OUT OF THE PANDEMIC? “What we’re finding, and I think we’re not alone in this, is that there are brands out there that are embracing the opportunity to become a part of this sport. I can’t speak to whether that’s across all sports, I just know that the storyline for NASCAR is so positive, whether you’re looking at the engagement, the viewership and even look at how resilient the sport was last year across a lot of different fronts. Quite frankly, some other sports had struggled. We’ve really seen brands being much more receptive and even actually searching out opportunities. I think that’s led to us adding a number of new partners and expanding. You’ve seen it across the sport with other teams jumping in, so I view it very much as a positive momentum right now, probably more so than we’ve had in a decade of my experience.”

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED — WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO BE DIFFERENT AT COTA COMPARED TO OTHER ROAD COURSES? “It’s very different from a lot of aspects. It’s a very long course, which, to me, is gonna be a little bit similar to Road America, which we are looking forward to going to in the Cup Series for the first time in a handful of weeks as well, but on the COTA front I think what’s going to be unique there is you’re looking at four hairpin corners that are first gear in our race cars, in our current car. You start thinking about Watkins Glen or Sonoma, we really don’t have that many slow corners and then on top of that you think about the straightaway between turns 11 and 12 is an incredibly long straightaway. At the same time you’re looking at a massive speed difference from top speed to that hairpin getting into 12, so it’s gonna be hard on equipment again. I think our equipment has really caught up to the road courses that we currently run and surviving them has not been an issue. I think you may run into abusing equipment at COTA. I think that is one possibility. The next thing is the track was pretty specifically designed for a different style of racing on the open wheel side and really high downforce F1 cars. With that being said, it doesn’t change everything, but the way that they paved those hairpin corners you basically have asphalt all the way down to the apex of the corner and it’s just a point of a curve sticking out, so it does increase the chances of dive bombs, for lack of a more official term, but we definitely are gonna be aware of the possibility of somebody overdrive the corner, or make a mistake with brake lock up or wheel hop and get to the inside and could very easily t-bone you as you try and set up for some of those corners, so that is gonna be very unique and something we do not have at any of these other courses, just due to the build and construction of that racetrack, so it’s something to keep in mind. Turn one will be very interesting on restarts. I’m thinking like Pocono or Michigan interesting, so it should be wild on that front. There’s a lot of unknowns into it as well, so we’ll really have to wait and see how this one plays out to see, but the good news is we’ll have three different series on track, so we’ll have plenty of time to watch before we get to the Cup race to maybe have a little bit better idea of how that first lap is gonna go.”

STEVE NEWMARK CONTINUED — HAS THE INCREASED OWNERSHIP OF LEBRON JAMES WITH THE FENWAY SPORTS GROUP FILTERED DOWN TO YOU AT ALL ON THE RACING SIDE? “I wouldn’t say there’s been a direct impact on LeBron’s enhanced engagement at Fenway. He’s always been part of the Fenway Sports Group, or at least in recent years, and even has been a part owner of Liverpool before. He just expanded his presence. I think probably the bigger aim behind that transaction, which LeBron was part of, is that the Fenway Sports Group is expanding their sports empire. We’re very fortunate to be a piece of that with the Red Sox, with Liverpool and Roush Fenway, and I’m really excited about where the future is going. I think Fenway is extremely positive about the direction of this sport. They really see the Next Gen platform as being something that’s gonna be good for both Roush Fenway and the overall sport, so we expect more continued engagement from the Fenway side. As some of you know, the Fenway Sports Management team has got their sales team that works hand-in-hand with our group and they’ve been responsible, quite frankly, for bringing a lot of our partners in, so I can tell you that I hope at some point that we can get LeBron to a race and we’ll see if we can make that come to fruition. Having seen Chris shoot a basketball, I’m sure that we will pair them together on the court, but we’d obviously love to host him at some point.”

DO YOU SEE ROUSH FENWAY HAVING TO RESTRUCTURE IN ANY WAY IN ORDER TO GET READY TO ACCOMMODATE THE NEXT GEN CAR? “It’s a great question and, quite frankly, it’s one that every team is wrestling with. I’m on calls every once in a while with other team presidents and we’re all grappling with all of the issues. A lot of it is truly exciting, but there are all sorts of granular things that are behind the scenes such as how do you get show cars to be ready so we can make sure we have a Next Gen show car for Fastenal as well as all the stuff that goes out on the track, but the reality and what we’ve been doing is we’ve been doing an analysis of our facilities and how the build flow will go with the new car because I think we all recognize that the way we’ve been building cars in the current generation will not necessarily be the most efficient and apply to the Next Gen. So, we’re all trying to get our arms around how you put the parts and pieces together and then of course when you do that you’re trying to maximize and figure out where can I get an advantage and where can I find more speed than the next guy, but it is definitely something that we’re dealing with on a daily basis, where you’re kind of on parallel paths. You are trying to make sure you can get both cars in the playoffs in ‘21, which is our goal and objective while also making sure that when 2022 starts that we are in a really good spot on the Next Gen. That encompasses re-evaluating every part of how you operate on the competition side.”

HOW DOES THE FAN INTERACTION LOOK LIKE GOING FORWARD AT THE TRACK? “I think our goal, and even NASCAR’s goal, is to get back to normal, meaning have the garage look like it used to look. It doesn’t mean we’re not gonna have to take some learnings and do some adjustments based on what the experience all of us have had over the last 18 months, but at the end of the day the cornerstone of how we operate is providing these memories and these experiences for fans and our partners, and a lot of that happens at the track. I think our hope is that we’re gonna slowly open up the infields, allow our partners to have these experiences, allow the fans to have the interaction with the drivers, so I don’t see there being any intent to do anything less than what we’ve done in the past. I will say that this past 18 months has opened our eyes to ways that we can connect with fans who might not be able to travel to the track. We do a production now on every race day that is broadcast over Zoom or Teams or whatever medium we choose that if Fastenal is the primary sponsor, they might have their eight guests at the track, they might have some folks in the suite, but we can broadcast Jack or Chris or crew chiefs or any type of special videos where we can do that with a group of Fastenal suppliers or customers that might not even be in the state. So, it really opens up who we can reach on a race weekend and give them a glimpse into our world, but I do know a lot of us are excited to be getting back. I’m extremely fired up to go to COTA. I’m in the non-essential category, so I have not been in the infield for the last year and ready to go back and ready to welcome fans and partners back in as well.”

DO YOU SEE A NETFLIX STYLE BEHIND THE SCENES PRODUCTION AS SOMETHING NASCAR NEEDS? “I think I would say, and it’s probably a little bit repetitive with some of my other comments, is that I think the sport’s trajectory is in a really good place right now, and I think you take a lot of the pieces of the puzzle and there’s a really positive narrative that’s going on. That said, we should always be looking at new innovation, new ways to get our story and our message out because we think it’s such a compelling one. I think the F1 series was great. We’ve had lots of discussions among the teams, with NASCAR about the right way to do something like that. There have been some smaller efforts last year that were along those lines, but if I was a betting man I would say, yes, definitely in the future you’ll see something along those lines that is produced with NASCAR and the teams. How that manifests itself and how it does it I’m not privy to it, but I do think it’s something that we would embrace and welcome.”

DO YOU THINK THE 2022 SEASON WOULD BE GOOD TIMING WITH THE NEW CAR AND EVERYTHING GOING ON? “I know that from the Roush Fenway perspective we are looking at what’s coming as a great opportunity to capture content about this year. I mean, it’s a fantastic storyline. There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes that the average fan can’t see because they’re not in our shop on a daily basis, so I do believe it’s a very prime opportunity for either Roush, the industry or whomever to tell a story and show it to the world.”

Roush Fenway Weekly Advance | COTA

History will be made this weekend in Texas as NASCAR takes all three of its national series to Circuit of the Americas for the first time ever. The 3.41-mile track is commonly known for hosting F1 races each season, but this weekend the NASCAR Cup Series highlights a full weekend of action on Sunday. Jack Roush has 15 wins all-time on road courses, including five in the NCS.

EchoPark Texas Grand Prix
Sunday, May 23 | 2:30 p.m. ET
FS1, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
· Ryan Newman, No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford Mustang
· Chris Buescher, No. 17 AutoTempest Ford Mustang

Dover Recap, COTA Preview

· Newman finished 23rd last Sunday at Dover after starting from the rear of the field.
· Buescher earned stage points in the opening segment and went on to finish 17th.
· This weekend serves as one of the most anticipated on the 2021 NASCAR slate, which features a record-breaking six road courses, including the inaugural event at the 3.41-mile long Circuit of the Americas.
· The course is the only circuit in the United States to annually host both F1 and MotoGP.
· With the new venue on tap, the weekend schedule features both practice and qualifying, a rare occurrence in the 2021 campaign. Teams will practice for 50 minutes at 10:05 a.m. ET Saturday morning. Qualifying takes place Sunday at 11 a.m. ET, just prior to the race rolling off at 2:30 p.m. ET.

· Guaranteed Rate is back on Newman’s Ford Mustang for the second consecutive race.
· AutoTempest returns to Buescher’s machine for its second race of the season.

Road Racing Success

As an organization, Roush Fenway has made 358 starts on road courses across NASCAR’s major touring series and has recorded 15 wins, 69 top-fives, 134 top-10s, 11 poles and 879 laps led.

Martin Goes Three-Straight in N.Y.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin is responsible for four of Jack Roush’s road course wins all-time, including three-straight at Watkins Glen from 1993-95. Martin dominated the three years, leading a combined 183 laps, and won all three from the pole. He also won once in Sonoma, in 1997, after also starting from the point to lead 69 of the 74 laps.

Edwards Victorious Four Times, at Four Different Courses

Carl Edwards also visited victory lane for Jack Roush at Sonoma, driving to the win in 2014 after starting fourth. In Xfinity action, Edwards was victorious at WGI in 2012, Road America in 2010, and Montreal in 2009. In the 2012 event in New York, current crew chief Scott Graves was atop the box for one of his two Xfinity wins all-time on road courses.

Buescher, Graves Former Road Course Winners

In Buescher’s first full-time Xfinity season in 2014, he and Graves found victory lane at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August, which also fell on August 16. Buescher led 25 laps that day in the No. 60 entry for Roush.

Roush Fenway Road Course Wins
1993-1 Martin WGI-Cup
1994-1 Martin WGI-Cup
1995-1 Martin WGI-Cup
1997-1 Martin Son-Cup
2014-1 Edwards Son-Cup
2012-1 Edwards WGI-NXS
2010-1 Edwards RA-NXS
2009-1 Edwards Mon-NXS
2014-1 Buescher Mid-O NXS
1998-1 Ruttman WGI-Truck
2000-1 Biffle WGI-Truck
1997-1 Ruttman Top-Truck
1999-1 Bliss Top-Truck
1997-1 Ruttman Son-Truck
1999-1 Biffle Port-Truck

Circuit of The Americas
Sunday, May 23, 2021
3.41-Mile Road Course
2:30 PM ET
Location: Austin, Texas
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (14 of 36)
Radio: SiriusXM PRN

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 28 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 5th

No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

HALFWAY THERE: Through 13 of 26 NASCAR Cup Series regular season races, Kyle Larson has one win, six top-five finishes (which rank second in the Cup Series), eight top-10s and currently sits fifth in the driver point standings. He has the most stage victories this season (six) of all Cup Series drivers and has accumulated 11 playoff points – the second-most of any driver.

LEADER OF THE PACK: The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE has led 774 laps through 13 races – the most among all Cup competitors. That total is the third-most Larson has led in a single season during his career and is just eight shy of his second-best total which he accomplished in 2018. His career-high of 1,352 laps led occurred in 36 races during the 2017 campaign.

FOUR SCORE: Larson has finished first or second in four of 13 races this season. The 2014 rookie of the year won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and posted second-place finishes at Dover International Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

RC RACING: While this weekend marks NASCAR’s first event at Circuit of The Americas, Larson has 15 previous starts on road courses in the Cup Series including one top-five finish – fourth at Watkins Glen International in 2014 – and four top-10s. Larson has three pole positions – all at Sonoma Raceway – and two stage victories (third-most of all-time) in those starts. In sports cars, the 28-year-old driver competed in the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA for Chip Ganassi Racing from 2014 through 2016 and was victorious in 2015.

ROAD COURSE REARVIEW: Earlier this year on the DAYTONA Road Course, Larson was battling for second with just over seven laps to go when he spun into a tire barrier. While the No. 5 crew was able to fix the damage, the Elk Grove, California, native ultimately finished 30th in the 70-lap race.

NEARING A TOP-10: Larson has a 10.4 average running position in 2021 – the sixth-best average in the Cup Series. That average factors in position scored in all 3,745 laps run in NASCAR’s premier series this year. To better understand Larson’s average, 5% of it is scored as 40th since the No. 5 entry experienced engine issues at the start of the Talladega race and completed only three of 191 laps.

YOUR CAR NEEDS: This weekend, Larson will drive the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. From the convenience of home, customers can select the category, make, model and vehicle packages that are important to them from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality pre-owned and certified cars, trucks and SUVs available at HendrickCars.com. The website also makes it easy for customers to find one of Hendrick Automotive Group’s 93 dealership locations nationwide.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 25 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 7th

No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

ROAD COURSE WARRIOR: Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, is set to make his 14th Cup Series start on a road course this weekend at Circuit of The Americas. In his previous 13 races, he has collected the most wins (five) and stage wins (six) of active drivers. Elliott has garnered six top-five finishes, eight top-10s and a total of 284 laps led at road courses. He also remains the youngest road course winner at 22 years, 8 months, 8 days. Last season, Elliott swept both races on road courses (DAYTONA Road Course and Charlotte ROVAL) and led the most laps (61) on these tracks.

ROAD COURSE DOMINANCE: Elliott’s wins at Watkins Glen (2018, 2019), Charlotte ROVAL (2019, 2020) and DAYTONA Road Course (2020) account for five of the last eight road course victories. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native also holds the best average finish (9.85) on road courses of active drivers and ninth-best all-time average.

COTA TEST: In March, Elliott and the No. 9 team participated in a one-day tire test at COTA. The test was the first time NASCAR Cup Series cars have been on track at the 20-turn road course in Austin, Texas. Click here for Elliott’s thoughts on the test.

GUSTAFSON ON ROAD COURSES: Gustafson will call his 36th road course race from atop the pit box this Sunday at COTA. In his previous 35 starts, the Florida native has garnered five wins, the most of active crew chiefs, 10 top-five finishes, 16 top-10s and 341 laps led.

THIS SEASON: The NASCAR Cup Series season has completed 13 races in the 2021 season. Elliott has posted five top-five finishes – two of which are runner-up results – seven top-10s and has led a total of 76 laps. He has one stage win and has spent 953 laps inside the top five and 2,167 laps running in the top 10.

LLUMAR RETURNS: LLumar will return to Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro this weekend at COTA. Last year, Hendrick Motorsports announced Eastman Performance Films LLC, a subsidiary of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE: EMN), would become a primary sponsor of 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the No. 9 team after extending its relationship for three more years. Click here to check out the paint scheme.

SPEEDY STOPS: The No. 9 LLumar team owns the fourth-best average time for four-tire pit stops at 13.76 seconds through 13 races in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. The team is comprised of jackman T.J. Semke, gasman John Gianninoto, tire carrier Jared Erspamer and tire changers Chad Avrit and Nick O’Dell.

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 23 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 2nd

No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

STILL STREAKING: After another top-five finish during Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway, William Byron extended his consecutive top-10 finishes to 11 races. Dating back to his win at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Feb. 28, the 23-year-old driver’s top-10 streak is the longest active streak in the NASCAR Cup Series and is the most top-10 results by a Cup driver so far this season. Not only is Byron the youngest driver to hold a top-10 streak of 10 races or more, but his 11 consecutive top 10s are the longest streak by a Hendrick Motorsports driver since Jimmie Johnson’s 13-race streak from 2004-2005.

MAKING A POINT: With just over a third of the 2021 Cup Series season in the books, Byron and the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE continue to be consistent every week. After 13 races, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has collected one win, five top-five finishes and 11 top-10s all while leading 171 laps. With the third-best average running position throughout the Cup field of 8.35 and an average finishing position of 9.23, Byron moved up to second in the driver points standings following Dover – the highest ranking of his Cup career.

READY, PLAYER 24: After its inception last year during the pandemic, the iRacing NASCAR Pro Invitational Series resumes this Wednesday night for the fourth race of 10 in 2021 at the virtual Circuit of The Americas. Picking up where he left off last season, Byron raced to the win in the first Pro Invitational Series event this year on March 24 at the virtual Bristol dirt track. In his nine total Pro Invitational Series starts, Byron leads the field with four wins and is the only driver to win consecutive races. The driver of the No. 24 has paced the field in eight of his nine starts, leading a total of 477 out of 1178 laps – the most of all drivers.

ROAD RESULTS: This weekend will mark a new challenge for Cup Series drivers as they take on COTA for the first time. While it may be an unfamiliar track to most, Byron has stepped up his road course racing skills in the last two years, finishing in the top 10 in three of the last four races. While in the last six road course events, he has led at least 20 laps in three of those races, including leading the most laps during last year’s race at the Charlotte ROVAL. In fact, Byron led the second-most laps on road courses during the 2020 season.

FUGLE FILES: With a more even playing field across the Cup Series for this weekend’s inaugural event at COTA, crew chief Rudy Fugle is no stranger to success on road courses. Already in 2021, Fugle and Byron have two road course starts together, both coming at the DAYTONA Road Course. For the Clash exhibition race, the No. 24 raced to a solid fifth-place result, but bad luck struck the team for their return trip two weeks later, resulting in a 33rd-place finish after Byron suffered a flat tire and with two laps to go. However, aside from those two road course starts in the Cup Series, Fugle has seven other road races under his belt, all coming in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In those seven starts, the Livonia, New York, native has one win (Erik Jones in 2015), three top-five finishes and five top-10s. One of those seven truck starts was also with Byron and the duo raced to a 10th-place finish at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in 2016.

LIBERTY U ONBOARD: Still riding a hot streak of consecutive top-10 finishes, Byron will look to extend that stat when he arrives to COTA for this weekend’s event in the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Redesigned for the 2021 season, the new paint scheme features a white base with navy flames and red accents, the Liberty University No. 24 will be sure to stand out on track. Liberty University has a long history with Byron starting back in 2014 in the late model ranks. Liberty University has been Training Champions for Christ since it was founded in 1971. Located in the mountains of Central Virginia, Liberty is a liberal arts institution with 17 colleges and schools that offers more than 600 degree programs from the certificate to the doctoral level, on campus and online. Working on an undergraduate degree in communications, Byron is in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program. For a better look at Byron’s new Liberty University paint scheme, click here.

48 Alex Bowman
Age: 28 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Resides: Concord, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Greg Ives
Standings: 13th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

DOVER SUCCESS: On Sunday at Dover International Speedway, Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Ally team led the final 98 laps of the 400-lap event to claim their second victory of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. The No. 48 is no stranger to victory lane at Dover, where seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson won 11 times. In fact, Johnson delivered the most recent No. 48 win, which came at the 1-mile venue in 2017.

PLAYOFFS BOUND: Following Sunday’s win, Bowman and the No. 48 team have moved into the seventh spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs standings. The team is currently ranked 13th in the driver standings after 13 events this season. Bowman has clinched a spot in the NCS playoffs by virtue of a win each season since 2019.

BOWMAN WINS, PETS WIN: Through the yearlong initiative between Ally and the Best Friends Animal Society, when Bowman wins a race, a local shelter receives $10,000 from him and primary sponsor Ally. Last weekend, Ally donated $10,000 and Bowman donated $1,000 to the Brandywine Valley SPCA in Dover, Delaware. The Brandywine Valley SPCA exists to end animal suffering and to involve the community in the welfare and well-being of animals. The facility in Dover is located approximately five miles from the 1-mile racing facility. Each week, Ally and Bowman each make a $1,000 donation to a local animal shelter in the race market and that donation gets bumped up if the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet clinches a victory.

LUCKY 13: In 2021, 13 races have been completed and the 28-year-old driver has two wins (Richmond, Dover), three top-five finishes, five top-10s and one pole award (DAYTONA 500). Bowman has led 109 laps in 2021, which ranks eighth this season. The No. 48 team has the 11th-best average running position (13.57) and average finish (17.54) among active drivers.

NEW WEEK, NEW TRACK: This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, for 231 miles of road course racing. Bowman and crew chief Greg Ives had the chance to visit the 3.41-mile venue in April to get acclimated to what a race weekend there would look like. Through many hours of training in both the Chevrolet simulator and on iRacing, the team has been able to prepare for possible changes and adjustments during this weekend’s event.

ROAD COURSE STATS: Bowman has 13 previous starts at road courses in the Cup Series. The driver has two top-five results and five top-10s. Bowman is tied for second with Kurt Busch for the longest active streak (two) of top-10 finishes on road courses. In four of the last nine road course races, Bowman has finished inside the top 10. While driving for Hendrick Motorsports, Bowman has finished in the top 15 in all nine road course starts and has an average finish of 9.67. That ranks sixth best among active drivers since the start of 2018.

PIT ROAD KNACK: With two wins in 13 events this season, the No. 48 pit crew continues to be the fastest in the NASCAR Cup Series based on average four-tire stop times. The five-man over-the-wall crew has an average four-tire stop time of 13.65 seconds. On the Lap 304 pit stop during Sunday’s event at Dover, the No. 48 pit crew had the fastest four-tire pit stop of 2021 at 12.18 seconds. The team includes fueler Jacob Conley, tire carrier Allen Stallings, jackman Dustin Lineback and tire changers Scott Brzozowski and Devin DelRicco.

ONE TO TIE, TWO TO BREAK: Following Alex Bowman’s performance Sunday at Dover International Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports is just one win from equaling Petty Enterprises’ all-time team record for NASCAR Cup Series victories. The legendary Petty organization captured the wins record from Carl Kiekhafer Racing more than 60 years ago when Lee Petty took the checkered flag at Orange Speedway on May 29, 1960, for the team’s 53rd victory. Its 268th and final win was delivered by driver John Andretti on April 18, 1999, in the organization’s 1,703rd race. Since its inception in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 267 points-paying Cup Series wins and currently needs two more to break the record at NASCAR’s highest level.

HISTORIC SWEEP: At Dover, Hendrick Motorsports drivers Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and William Byron finished first, second, third and fourth, respectively. It was the organization’s first-ever sweep of the top-four finishing positions in a race and marked only the fourth time in NASCAR Cup Series history that any team accomplished it. At Titusville-Cocoa Speedway in December 1956, Peter DePaolo Racing’s five-car effort became the first to record a top-four sweep and repeated the achievement in April 1957 at North Wilkesboro. Forty-eight years later, Roush Fenway Racing did it in 2005 with four of its five entries at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports is the only four-car team to post a 1-2-3-4 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series.

ROAD GAUGE: Entering Sunday’s inaugural race at Circuit of The Americas, Hendrick Motorsports ranks as the all-time leader in NASCAR Cup Series road-course victories with 20. The outfit has won road races with six different drivers: Jeff Gordon (nine), Elliott (five), Tim Richmond (three), Jimmie Johnson, Ricky Rudd and Geoff Bodine. Hendrick Motorsports also has eight stage wins on road courses, which is the most of any team.

AND THE STREAK GOES ON: Sunday’s 1-2-3-4 finish at Dover marked Hendrick Motorsports’ 31st consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race with at least one of its Chevrolets finishing inside the top 10. The top-10 streak, which dates back to last season, is currently tied with 1987-1988 for the fifth-longest in team history. Hendrick Motorsports recorded a NASCAR Cup Series record 87 top-10 finishes in a row from 2006 to 2008. In 2021, the organization has placed at least two cars inside the top 10 in 11 of 13 races, the most of anyone this season.

YOUTH MOVEMENT: With Bowman (28 years old), Byron (23) and Larson (28) already posting NASCAR Cup Series wins, Hendrick Motorsports has sent three drivers under the age of 30 to victory lane in 2021. It has occurred only two other times in NASCAR Cup Series history: Joe Gibbs Racing in 2009 and Hendrick Motorsports in 2020. No team has ever won with four different drivers under 30 in the same season. Elliott, the defending NASCAR champion, is 25.

QUOTABLE /

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on racing for the first time at Circuit of The Americas and road course racing: “I’m excited to get on track there and hopefully we’ll be fast. It looks like an awesome facility. I enjoy road course racing because it’s a nice change of pace from what we’re used to, and drivers mean a little bit more on road courses. I’ve qualified well on road courses and run okay in the race. Now that I am with Hendrick Motorsports, I hope I can race better and challenge for a win. To learn the track, I jumped on iRacing a few months back. It took a while to learn the elevation, the corners and stuff like that, but I have the corners memorized now.”

Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on COTA: “Expectations heading into COTA are to check all the right boxes and have a good foundation with the car, which I think we do. With what the 9 (team) has developed the last few years on the road courses, our Hendrick Motorsports road course package is really strong. But you still have to make the right adjustments with the track. We hope to get a good baseline under us during practice on Saturday – give Kyle what he needs in the braking zones, the esses and the switchbacks. We’ll see how qualifying goes – I think everyone is going to go really hard, but you don’t want to take a chance, damage your car and lose your starting spot or have to pull out a backup car. We don’t really know what to expect going into the race – tire fall off and the pit strategy for stages and for the end of the race.”

Daniels on Larson using the simulator for COTA: “We did two weeks ago, and that was good. He got comfortable with the rhythm of the track, what to look for and what to expect. Of course, it will still be different when he gets in the actual race car. The 9 (team) tested there with Goodyear and a few other teams, so we have some notes from them, as well.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on his impression of COTA: “Anytime you go somewhere new, a fresh road is refreshing, I feel like, for race car drivers. I enjoyed the challenge during the test earlier this year. It’s a place that I haven’t made a ton of laps, so I was just really trying to understand the right way or wrong way. It’s tough because when you’re new and you’re trying to get going, you might hit the first part of the track pretty good, then you might miss two spots somewhere else. Your lap time doesn’t tell the whole story, right? So you really have to piece that together and understand what you think you did good and what you didn’t, and then go put the pieces of the puzzle together and try to put the whole thing in the works.”

Elliott on his key learnings from the Goodyear test at COTA: “We did the Goodyear test out at COTA a couple months ago, which was fun. We got a chance to see a new racetrack. The track has a lot more elevation than I think a lot of people would think or see on tv. Turn 1 is a big hill and unless you are there to see it in person it doesn’t look like it, so way more elevation than I anticipated. It was also interesting because I felt like different parts of the track had more grip than other parts and I suppose that’s because they had to patch different areas and some areas have really old asphalt. One of the toughest things for me was understanding the level of grip at different points around the track. I think it is going to be a real challenge, obviously a real long back straightaway that we have seen in the F1 races there so that will be interesting there. I think for our cars, I’m not exactly sure how we will handle and adapt to that. Being really detailed and hitting your marks as always and trying to put together a good race and should be able to have a good result.”

Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on racing at COTA: “It’s a new track for us and it’s really interesting. It’s presenting new challenges. It’s exciting to be involved in that and Chase is certainly a great road racer. It’s something I enjoy and have a lot of background in road racing so it’s a lot of fun. COTA is really the first kind of modern road course. The Formula 1 cars race on this kind of wide open, lots of runoff type tracks. All their new tracks are pretty expansive, and COTA is one of those tracks. You have so much paved surface and if you do make a mistake or get into an issue, you’re not in the gravel or in the barrier and ending your race. I’m curious to see what kind of racing that promotes and if it changes the dynamic of how we race. There are a lot of neat things about it, a great facility and I’m really excited to go there and compete.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on his thoughts for COTA and upcoming road course races: “I’ve been to COTA to test in a Trans Am car but I feel like the Cup car will be a totally different beast there. This race means we’re getting close to starting a swing of road courses soon. That is really going change how teams prep to go to the racetrack versus prepping for an oval race. While I don’t really know what to expect this weekend, I think with this being the first road course in a short stretch, it’s important to get a good baseline to be able to use and build off of moving forward for the other road courses. I also think having practice and qualifying is going to help us not only better prepare for Sunday’s race but prepping for the other road course races moving forward.”

Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the challenges at COTA: “This weekend at COTA is going to bring a lot of unknowns but at least that’s the general feeling across the board for everyone. We’ve spent a lot of time going over notes from when the No. 9 team did the Goodyear test earlier this year, as well as time in the Chevy simulator with William. While we do have practice this weekend, the issue will be how much time we will actually get on track and be able to make adjustments. With the course as long as it is and only one hour of practice, the hope is any adjustments that need to be made will be minor enough to allow you to make a couple decent-length runs, at least. I think we have a good baseline to go off of, though. Hendrick Motorsports has a good road course package and we showed that speed earlier this year at the DAYTONA Road Course. The only factor we can’t control this weekend will be the weather but once again, that evens the playing field across the board. We just need to try minimize our mistakes and capitalize off of others’ mistakes.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on winning at Dover: “To get the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro back in victory lane in Dover was really cool. I feel like that has been one of my favorite tracks and one of our best tracks the last few years. A lot of that just goes to Jimmie (Johnson) and learning from him. He was so good there, so taking notes from him and learning how he approached it has been paying off for us the last couple of years. Glad to get a win and a really cool day for us. To finish 1-2-3-4 for Hendrick Motorsports was really special.”

Bowman on racing at COTA for the first time: “I am pretty pumped for COTA. I have been to a lot of racetracks and I don’t think that I have ever been to a circuit. It is a really interesting racetrack. You have really slow stuff, really long fast straightaways, some crazy esses; it is just a super technical racetrack. If you look at the weather, it may rain and we race in the rain on road courses. It is going to be pretty interesting, for sure.”

Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the team’s impressive pit-road stop at Dover: “Our guys have been doing a great job all year on pit road, and the last few weeks we have been making some big adjustments on stops. Even with big adjustments, they have still been doing a great job on pit road. That final stop was an important one on Sunday, getting us out first. I think the stage one stop was important, too, because we made some big adjustments and only lost six spots, which was big for the changes we made to the Ally Chevrolet.”

Ives on navigating COTA for the first time: “I don’t even know how to get to the track! Hopefully, the garages stay nice and dry. Just looking at pit road in pictures, I think it is going to be eventful, for sure. There are a lot of unknowns that you are going to have to figure out pretty quickly. With this being the first time, really, with practice since Daytona, I think all of the teams are going to be a little bit rusty to get going. Just the fact that it takes over two minutes to get around that place is going to allow us to go get a snack and the come back to see if he completes the lap or not. We have been rehearsing corner numbers and memorizing the track.”