NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
GEICO 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 23, 2021

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:

GIVE US A RECAP OF HOW THE WEEK HAS BEEN SINCE YOU WON ON SUNDAY.
“Yeah, Sunday night was fun. Recovery and kind of a normal week, honestly; normal competition meetings, team meetings, a little more media than normal. It was really special to win at Richmond (Raceway), on a short track, get the No. 48 back in victory lane and get Ally’s first win. That’s really, really cool.”

AFTER A PIT PENALTY AND BEING QUITE FAR AWAY FROM THE LEADERS IN THE CLOSING STAGE OF THE RACE, HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT ACTUALLY ENDING UP WINNING THE RACE?
“Yeah, it was a surprise to me, I guess. I knew we were really good, but really to be buried in the field twice throughout the day, to be able to come back from that pit road penalty and pass as many cars as we did. Really under green, we drove from last to third. The leaders were pretty checked out and then got that late caution to be able to pass the No. 22 (Joey Logano) and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) was really neat. I felt like we had a car capable of winning all day, just didn’t have the track position to get up there and do it until the end.”

CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH THE INTERACTION OR THE WAY YOU LIKE IT WITH YOUR SPOTTER ON THE RACETRACK? ALSO, PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES ON FRIENDS. SO, HOW DOES HAVING FRIENDS HELP OR HOW MUCH DOES IT HELP TO BE SELFISH THESE DAYS?
“Spotter/Driver interaction on the No. 48 team is very sarcastic. Both of us are very sarcastic all the time, whether it’s daily life, meetings, in the racecar, spotting. Neither one of us do a very good job of turning it off, it’s always there. So, there’s a lot of that, for sure.”

“I think having friends on the racetrack doesn’t really benefit you, expect for this week going to Talladega (Superspeedway). I respect everybody I race with. There are a few guys in the Cup garage that I would consider friends, but I’m not there to make friends. I’m there to do the best I can. I have a pretty small circle of friends as it is; it’s not just an in-racing thing. I have a small group; I keep to myself and do my own thing. I think being selfish is definitely rewarding in the Cup Series. But this week, I need all the friends I can get. So, everybody be my friend and push me to the front.”

WITH TEAMMATES TO THINK ABOUT AND CHEVROLET TO THINK ABOUT, HOW SELFISH ARE YOU ALLOWED TO BE? HOW SELFISH CAN YOU BE?
“I think the goal is go win Talladega and if you have to be selfish to do that, that’s fine as long as you win. We’re all going to work together as much as we can. If we can’t win, we want one of the HMS cars to be there and being winning it.”

NOW THAT WE’RE ABOUT TEN RACES DEEP, HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THE START OF THE SEASON FOR THE NO. 48 TEAM AND JUST HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS IN GENERAL?
“I think HMS, in general, has been great. I feel like about every week, they’ve had a car that’s capable of winning. It’s really cool to see that. The atmosphere in the company is amazing. Everybody is working really well together. A lot of new faces and everybody has really clicked. For us, it was a rough start to the year. Obviously, we got the pole at Daytona; crashed like 12 laps in. From there, we had some rough weeks. We had a lot of speed, but just really couldn’t put races together. I felt like Bristol and Martinsville, we had cars capable of winning. Obviously, didn’t get the job done at either of those; broke a transmission at Bristol and then, Martinsville, we got crashed. It’s been rougher than we wanted and rougher than what we wanted for Ally. But going to Richmond, we just wanted a good, solid top-10 and to come out of there with a win, I think it’s a good point in the year to kind of get pointed in the right direction and hopefully we can carry that through the summer and into the Playoffs.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL LIKE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS STACKS UP AGAINST THE COMPETITION RIGHT NOW? DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IS THE ORGANIZATION TO BEAT?
“I think so. It might not be one specific car every week, but every week there’s one of the cars that are up front. I think we’re only going to get better, just with the atmosphere in the company and everything. Everything is so positive right now and I think it’s going to continue heading in that direction. It’s really cool to see that. In 2018 when I started there, it was a rough year. 2019 started rough and got better. Last year was kind of hit-or-miss and ended the year really positive, and it’s good to see it carry over to this year.”

AS IT GETS CLOSER TO MOTHER’S DAY, WHAT ARE YOUR REMEMBERANCES OF YOUR MOTHER HAVING A BIG ROLE IN YOUR RACING CAREER COMING UP?
“She hated it (laughs). She was not a fan when I was a kid. She was definitely skeptical about racing as a kid; being safe, how much school I had to miss, kind of all of that. I think once she realized that it wasn’t going anywhere and I was going to stick with it, she got super, super supportive and has been supportive ever since. I remember she hated it at first, but once she realized it wasn’t going to stop, she’s been extremely supportive.”

I KNOW YOU WON EARLY IN THE YEAR LAST YEAR TOO, BUT HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET THAT FIRST VICTORY OF THE YEAR PRETTY EARLY IN THE SEASON?
“Yeah, I think it’s a little bit of a stress reliever. But (INAUDIBLE)… we want to win each and every week. There’s a lot more races that we’re going after. Last year, we won early and then kind of fell off through the summer months, and I think that’s something we really want to avoid this year. We want to stay strong all year long and have good Playoff points to fall back on in the Playoffs. We put together one of the best Playoff runs of anybody last year and still ended up sixth in points, just because we didn’t have the Playoff points to fall back on. We want to do a better job of that throughout the summer, but it’s definitely good to have a win early.”

YOU’VE TRADITIONALLY PERFORMED WELL IN THIS PARTICULAR RACE, THE GEICO 500 AT TALLADEGA. YOU FINISHED EIGHTH IN 2018, RUNNER-UP IN 2019 AND THEN SEVENTH LAST SEASON. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE KEY TO NAVIGATING THE DIFFICULT TRACK, WHEN TO MAKE A MOVE AND WHEN TO STAY PATIENT?
“Yeah, really the key is just surviving, right? You’ve got to be there at the end and that’s really hard to do at superspeedways these days. Everybody is just continually getting more aggressive, continually feeling like they can throw huge blocks and not cause crashes, and push each other really aggressively and not crash. Surprise, we crash a lot. It’s just tough to make it to the end. I think knowing when to be aggressive is key. It’s different each and every speedway race. It kind of has a flow to how the race goes and it’s kind of a guessing game, to a point. I feel like there’s definitely some guys that have it a little more scienced out than I do, but we just have to do what we can to survive to the end and be aggressive when it counts.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT HIM, WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT HE’S DOING NOW?
“To be honest with you, I expect him to have a lot of fun. Probably bring a lot of new eyes to IndyCar and make the most of his opportunity. I feel like putting an expectation on finishing position and stuff like that isn’t really fair to a guy that got two test days and went racing in the hardest open-wheel series in America. It’s really cool to see him do that and see him trying something new. Never having driven anything like that, going into a car with so much downforce, some really technical racetracks that he’s never seen before – I think it’s hard to put a finishing position goal on that. I think by the end of the year, you’re going to see improvement. All year long, he’s going to continue to get better and better; learn the racecars, learn the racetracks. But I think the biggest thing you’re going to see is he’s going to have a lot of fun with it and probably there’s going to be nobody in the garage area happier to be there than he is.”

I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE SHORT TRACK AND WITH THE WIN: YOU MENTIONED YOU DRIVE THE TRACKS A LOT DIFFERENT THAN YOUR TEAMMATES AND MAKES THE SETUP A LITTLE MORE INTERESTING. HOW IS YOUR DRIVING STYLE DIFFERENT THAN YOUR TEAMMATES, BUT THEN ALSO HOW MUCH OF A CONFIDENCE BOOST IS IT TO SEE THE SPEED THAT YOU GUYS SHOWED?
“Yeah, I feel like we all have different backgrounds. Chase (Elliott) grew up racing super late models. William (Byron) grew up iRacing and then quickly into late models, and then Xfinity and all that. Kyle (Larson) grew up somewhat similar to me. He raced a lot of sprint car stuff, whereas I raced the midget stuff more. I think it just makes us all drive different. When we go to short tracks, we all kind of point to Chase. He’s been the most successful lately. Chase and I have really different driving styles at the short tracks. So, it’s hard for us when we have one car that’s really successful there and we’ve kind of struggled to go a different direction. But I think it’s something I feel like Greg (Ives, Crew Chief) realized that we needed to do. I was never going to be able to copy Chase’s driving style and it’s worked out here recently. So, I’m appreciative of him sticking with me and knowing I ask a lot out of the racecar at short tracks and want different things than most. But we’ve been able to figure out how to make it work.”

NOW THAT YOU GUYS HAVE A WIN AND ARE LOCKED IN THE PLAYOFFS, WHAT’S THAT FOCUS NOW THAT WE HEAD INTO SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER?
“Really just winning more races; staying consistently upfront through the summer months. It’s something we’ve struggled to do the last two years, really. We’ve fallen off through the summer. So, we want to continue to be as strong as we are right now and win more races before the Playoffs start.”

HOW MUCH IS THE LUCK FACTOR FOR YOU AT TALLADEGA BECAUSE YOU HAVE JUST ONE TOP-FIVE FINISH THERE. IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, HOW MUCH HAS LUCK KIND OF PLAYED INTO YOUR RESULTS?
“Well, I definitely think you make your own luck to a point. I feel like we’ve crashed out of a lot of superspeedway races. Daytona, we were like 12 laps in, leading the top line minding my own business and got cleaned out. Luck is definitely a factor, but there are also guys that can consistently seem to avoid those situations and consistently seem to be upfront at the end of those races. I have to figure out how to do that and do a better job of doing that, but it’s definitely part of it. To a point, you make your own luck.”

HOW MUCH HAVE YOUR RELIED ON KEVIN (HAMLIN, SPOTTER) OVER THE YEARS, AS FAR AS KIND OF GUIDING YOUR WAY? I KNOW THERE ARE TIMES WHERE HE DOESN’T HAVE TIME TO REACT, BUT HOW MUCH DO YOU RELY ON HIS NAVIGATION FOR YOU?
“Yeah, I mean a ton. The Cup cars, you can’t see a whole heck of a lot out of them, so your spotter is really all you got; painting a picture of what’s around you. I think he does a really good job of giving me what I need. I feel like we’ve gotten continuously better at knowing what each other wants and needs in communication. He’s done a great job. I rely on him a ton. I think every Cup driver is relying on their spotter a ton. He’s going to go through some radio batteries this weekend, for sure.”

CJ LEARY, WHAT’S YOUR GAMEPLAN FOR HIM, AS FAR AS HOW MUCH INTERACTION AND SUPPORT ARE YOU GIVING HIM IN WHAT DISCIPLINES?
“Yeah, him and I are really close friends. Obviously, he drives my wing car and he’s going to keep driving the Chili Bowl stuff. Other than that, he’s got his own non-wing deal driving for Bill Michael from Arizona. That’s their deal, but the wing deal is going OK. We’ve got a lot to learn. I feel like he’s just got to get comfortable in a wing car. We seem to be able to go fast and then just struggle to race. He just needs laps and races. I think by the end of the year, we can be really, really strong. We’ve been racing with the World of Outlaws and the All-Stars lately; kind of jumped in head first. So, I think once we get back to the local stuff, he gets his feet under him and figures out how to race the air and all there, he’ll be really, really strong.”

NINE, GOING ON TEN RACES THIS SEASON, WHAT’S IT BEEN LIKE HAVING KYLE LARSON AS A NEW TEAMMATE AND WHAT HE’S BROUGHT TO THE TABLE TO BETTER YOURSELF AND THE ORGANIZATION AS A WHOLE.
“Kyle (Larson) and I are good friends, so it’s really cool to have him as a teammate. It’s been a lot of fun. I feel like he fit right into the group. Everybody has clicked really well and he’s definitely fast. Everywhere we go, he’s very sharp on what he wants in a racecar. He does a really good job of knowing exactly what he wants and kind of what he’s had in past experiences and I think that’s been really good for the team. I feel like the four of us are all clicking really well together. The four crew chiefs are working really well together. Obviously, Rudy (Fugle) is new and he’s been really great, too. It’s cool to see all the new faces and people that have moved around at HMS all clicking really well right now.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO PUT THE NO. 48 BACK IN VICTORY LANE AFTER ALMOST FOUR YEARS AND STARTING TO BUILD A NEW LEGACY FOR THAT NUMBER?
“Yeah, it’s really special. It’s a similar thing that I went through with the 88 and it’s cool to do it again in the 48 and put it back in victory lane. We want to win a lot more. There are some high expectations to live up to driving the 48 car. But to get it back to victory lane and get Ally their first win, it’s really special.”

HOW DOES GOING FROM THE BRINK PLAYOFF CUT-OFF A WEEK AGO TO NOW HAVING A WIN CHANGE THE VIBE GOING INTO THE NEXT FEW MONTHS?
“Yeah, I mean honestly, last week I couldn’t have told you where we were in points. I wasn’t thinking about that or worried about that. I knew it wasn’t good; we had had a rough start to the season. But I felt like if we run as we should run and finish how we run, we could make the Playoffs and win races. The vibe for the rest of the season is just to keep it turned on through the summer months. It’s something that we’ve struggled to do as a team throughout the last couple of years. We’ve got to run strong each and every week for the rest of the year. I feel like we magically turned it on for the Playoffs last year and went on probably the best streak of my career, as far as how strong we were each and every week. But we need to do that for the entire rest of the year to come away with what I feel like we’re capable of doing.”

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM CHASE ELLIOTT AS A TEAMMATE AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES CHASE A GREAT CHAMPION AND THE MOST POPULAR DRIVER?
“Yeah, I think having Chase (Elliott) as a teammate is really cool. I feel like all my teammates are pretty great in their own way. Chase approaches things a little differently. He doesn’t live here, he just kind of does things a little different. So, it’s cool to see him be so successful. I think he’s a great Champion for the sport for a lot of reasons. I think it’s been a while since such a popular guy has won the Championship, so for him to do that is obviously really popular. People love him; people just absolutely love that guy. Chase is a great guy and I really enjoy being around him. I don’t know what parts or pieces makes somebody so popular, but he definitely is and it’s really cool to see.”

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NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
GEICO 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 23, 2021

RICKY STENHOUSE, JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERGY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript:

TALK ABOUT GOING TO TALLADEGA AND WHAT YOUR APPROACH WILL BE
“For us, it’s just to go out and try to get a win and get some Stage points. We came up short at Daytona, just the way things played out, where we were in the pack coming down the stretch at some of those Stages, we didn’t get the Stage points that we got last year and it kind of put us behind a little bit. But I feel like we’ve been making up for that with the end results, the finishing results. So, we’d like to get some more Stage points. We know our NOS Energy Drink Camaro is going to be really fast. It always is. The guys have been massaging on it and working on it hard. When we’ve got it ready to go, we’ve just got to be one spot better than what we were at this race last year. All in all, it’s just really about trying to get to the checkered flag and making sure that we have a chance for the win.”

CONCERNING WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS, DO YOU FEEL LIKE IF IT GETS DICEY, DO YOU STILL FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO GET STAGE POINTS RATHER THAN MAYBE BACKING OUT, WHICH MIGHT BE THE SAFER PLAY?
“I don’t know. I just kind of always go off the feel. I don’t really always have a set full game plan. I feel like when you have those game plans and you try to stick to it, especially at speedways, it can be a detriment to the decisions you make on the race track. So, I’m more of a feel guy. One that goes out to the race track and that’s me, my spotter, and that’s also (crew chief) Brian Pattie watching from the pit box. I feel like we do a really good job of just kind of watching what’s going on. So, I’m not sitting here and saying like hey, we have to go get Stage points. Just like at Daytona, if the opportunity arises, then we’ll go get them. If I feel like things are getting too dicey and something could happen and we won’t make it to the end of the race, then I’ll back out. It’s just the way we have always done our speedway racing.”

WHAT IS THE OVERALL VIBE OF THE TEAM, CONSIDERING RIGHT NOW YOU’RE IN THE PLAYOFF MIX COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO WHEN AT THIS TIME, YOU REALLY WEREN’T?
“It’s definitely a different feeling and you’re always looking to not make mistakes and continue the run that we’ve been on. Last week at Richmond, with the caution the way it came out and a pit road penalty, it kind of set us back a little bit. But we were still able to manage a decent finish. We didn’t finish where I feel like we normally run there at Richmond. But, you know, the overall confidence in the team is really high. We’re doing what we set out to do this year and that’s to be consistent, get those Top 15 finishes, try to average a 14th place or better finish, and just see where things shake out. It’s nice to be in the mix. It’s nice to be on a good, consistent run; and also check the goals off that we’ve been trying to do since the off-season. And it’s been fun to accomplish. We’ve got to keep it up. We’ve got to keep doing it. There are a lot of races left until the cutoff, so yeah, there are a lot of winners, but you never know how it’s going to shake out. So, we’re just going to keep plugging away.”

THERE ARE A COUPLE OF WEEKS UNTIL THE DARLINGTON RACE, AND IT’S GOING TO BE ON MOTHER’S DAY. WITH THAT IN MIND, WHAT ARE YOUR BEST MEMORIES OF YOUR MOTHER HAVING A ROLE IN YOUR RACING CAREER?
“My mom, she’s always been super supportive of my dad racing when he first started racing, making sure he’s fed while working in his carport back in the day when they first started dating. She’s continued that trend all the way through with me racing and us working in the garage. She’s always supporting us and always going to the race track and she’s coming to Talladega this weekend so I’m pretty excited about that. So yeah, I think most drivers always know that they worked really hard with their dad to get to the point that they’re at. But if it wasn’t for our moms supporting us on the back side, I don’t think any of us would make it here either.”

YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS AT TALLADEGA AND DAYTONA. WHAT IS IT ABOUT SUPERSPEEDWAYS THAT WORK SO WELL FOR YOU AND YOUR CAR?
“Well, I think it definitely evens the playing field out a little bit more than maybe some of the race tracks to when it comes to having the most resources and having the all-out fastest car. Obviously, the draft takes care of a lot of things. But you still need a fast race car. When we won our first race here at Talladega, we sat on the pole by two-tenths. It’s nice to be able to have a car that fast. Since being paired-up with Brian Pattie, I feel like he takes a lot of effort and pays a lot of attention to detail when it comes to the speedway racing, and I feel like that’s made me a better speedway racer. And then just learning over the years how the draft works, what you can do to manipulate other drivers, and other cars, to give yourself an advantage. And then just trying to work and put yourself in the right positions and get yourself out of positions when you feel like things aren’t going good. So, it’s just been something that over time. I feel like that’s why we tend to have some good runs here. Once you get a win at a speedway race, and we got back-to-back wins, I feel like that gives you a little bit more confidence in the decisions that you’re making on the race track.”

WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE JTG DAUGHERTY RACING HAS MADE THE BIGGEST IMPROVEMENTS FROM LAST YEAR?
“I think it’s just paying attention to detail. For me, as a driver, not trying to do more than what the car is capable of, less mistakes, better pit roads; we’ve had really good pit stops all year and that’s always beneficial when we have cars that are running in the Top 15 and we can come down pit road and gain a spot or two or maintain. That was something we struggled with last year when we were fast. I felt like we would come in pit road and we could leave five or six spots behind and then you’re trying to make that up all the time. That’s an area I think is better. We set-up this off-season to come into 2021 and make less mistakes, be consistent, and try not to do anything spectacular and don’t do anything that is really bad. And I think that’s where our heads are at and I feel like we’re all a little bit more focused each week. The guys working on the car, me in the car making the decisions behind the wheel have been a lot better and probably some of the best of my career as far as the decisions I’ve made. I’m looking forward to building on that and continuing to get better. Also at the same time, we’re trying to make our cars faster. Our Kroger team has worked really hard in the off-season as well as making some of the race tracks, now that we have a notebook, being at the team for a year, we can look back at those races where we struggled last year and make different decisions and different set-up decisions going in that can benefit us. And I think you’re seeing some of that as well.”

HOW DOES THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE AFFECT SOMEONE LIKE YOU WHEN YOU’RE STARTING AND FINISHING AN AVERAGE OF 13TH? DO THE RICH JUST KEEP GETTING RICHER UNDER THIS QUALIFYING METHOD?
“Yes and no. I do feel last year, when we re-started, and I finished 40th and made not even a lap; and then all of a sudden we’re starting in the back every week. It was definitely difficult to get to the front or to get to where we felt like we should be running. But it’s long races. The No. 48 (Alex Bowman) went to the back the same time I did. Granted, he was a lap ahead of us. But he went to the back for a pit road penalty and drove up and won the race. I think if you have a fast race car you’re going to get to where you should run no matter where you start. I definitely would like to qualify. I have fun qualifying. It’s a bummer that we can’t. But I think if you have your car where you want it to be and need it to be; yeah, the first Stage might not go as planned or get the Stage points you’re looking for, but you normally get your track position and kind of keep it throughout the race. So, like you said, it’s the same for everybody. And it can make the first Stage or two difficult. But with competition cautions, you’re not really worried about going a lap down. So, if you drive up through the field and come down pit road during the competition caution and gain some spots, and you’re right there where you should be running.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE NUMBER OF FRIENDS YOU HAVE ON THE RACE TRACK AND HOW THAT’S CHANGED OVER THE YEARS OR HOW THAT MATTERS NOW, INCLUDING THE FRIENDS YOU INHERIT VIA YOUR MANUFACTURER AND THOSE YOU FEEL YOU’VE MADE OR DON’T HAVE?
“Yeah, I think everybody sits here and talks about the friends that they have and your teammates going to work in the draft and obviously being at Talladega is why you bring that up. So, when you get out on the race track, you really don’t see a whole lot of like big time help from people. Everybody still makes the decisions based off what’s going to benefit them in the end. And I’m okay with racing like that. I feel like that’s one thing that has helped us be in contention for wins is making decisions throughout the race that are going to benefit your team and your partners. And you can’t keep making decisions throughout the race based on the people you’re drafting with and just lose track position. You have to keep your track position, no matter what, throughout the race to have a shot at winning States and getting Stage points and winning the race in the end. Ryan Preece and I talked about it this week. And I’m like dude, just do what benefits you and your team because I feel like we get too caught up in like hey, how’s this going to affect the guys I’m drafting with? If you watch the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) yeah, he has teammates out there; but he does, and makes moves constantly, that benefit him and his team. I feel like that’s why he’s won so many Daytona 500’s and that’s why he’s in mix at the end of these races. I feel like to the media maybe he says hey, I’ve got my manufacturer teammates and that’s what we’re going to work with; but when it comes down to it and you watch the races, I feel like everybody is out there for himself.”

WE TOOK A FAN VOTE ON THE AIR LAST NIGHT ABOUT WHO THEY THOUGHT HAS THE MOST FRIENDS AND WHO HAS THE LEAST NUMBER OF FRIENDS AT A PLACE LIKE TALLADEGA. DENNY HAMLIN SAID HE HAS A LOT OF FRIENDS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS SPONSOR. HE HAS A LOT OF FRIENDS IN THE FIELD THAT WILL WORK WITH HIM OR THAT HE’S WORKED WITH. SO, YOU ALMOST GOT THE MOST VOTES FOR BEING MAYBE THE ONE WHO MIGHT HAVE THE LEAST NUMBER OF FRIENDS OVER THE YEARS. CAN YOU COMMENT ON THAT?
“Well, that’s the fan’s opinion; they don’t really know what’s going on exactly, in our race cars; or the conversations that are had before a superspeedway race. I feel like I’ve got plenty of friends when I need to go out there and draft. But like I said, if you watch those people that yeah, they have friends and there are a lot of people that follow Denny when he makes moves. There are people that follow (Joey) Logano and (Brad) Keselowski because their cars are fast, and they know how to stay up front and they know what they’re doing. The more races, overtime, where I’ve run well and won and been in contention on superspeedways, you just get more people that go with you. And when you have a fast car that can lead a line to the front and you show that, more people go with you. So yeah, that’s the fan’s perspective which, everybody has their opinion, and they have a right to have their opinion whether they think I have friends out there or not. But I’m very confident when I come to Talladega and Daytona that we can get the job done.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FROM A DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE TO DRIVE ON SUCH A WIDE RANGE OF RACE TRACKS IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME?
“It’s something that we’re used to. I think the NASCAR schedule is very diverse. We go to so many different race tracks and we’ve added a couple of new ones this year. You could throw in concrete and dirt and asphalt, new asphalt, worn-out asphalt, smooth tracks and rough tracks. We run on all different sorts of race tracks and I think that’s what is fun about our schedule and about our sport. Every week is different. Some notes apply. You could go from one 1.5-mile to another, and your set-ups are totally different. I think that’s what’s cool about this sport and of NASCAR. All the tracks we go to are different and that makes drivers and teams stay on their toes to make sure that they’re ready.”

WHEN IT COMES TO TALLADEGA AND WORKING WITH TEAMMATES, AT WHAT POINT DURING THE RACE DO YOU THINK OKAY, IT’S EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND I’M READY TO GO FOR THE WIN REGARDLESS OF YOUR TEAMMATES AND THE GUYS YOU’RE WORKING WITH?
“You stay constant throughout the race with those around you that you’re comfortable with, drafting. But you can’t ever really count on anybody to go with you or to like the decisions that you make to benefit your team. Throughout the whole race you have to make decisions based on what’s going to give you the track position. Sometimes that’s changing lanes where there’s only one hole to be filled and maybe the people that you’re drafting with behind you don’t have a hole to get in. But that’s something where you weigh your options of do I stay in the Top 10 or do I stay out here in the outside lane and draft with them and fall back to 20th? Those are things that you contemplate and that you calculate throughout the race. I think everybody has noticed, I would say over the last three or four years, track position means a lot. You can’t just run up through the field like you used to be able to. And it’s difficult to get that track position to break into that Top 10. There are so many games being played on pit road of when to take tires and when not to, just based off of track position. The whole race you’re probably making decisions based off what’s going to be best for you.”

SO FAR THIS YEAR, WE’VE BEEN TO RESTRICTOR PLATE, SHORT TRACKS, INTERMEDIATE, AND ROAD COURSE TRACKS. WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU AND JTG DAUGHERTY NEED TO WORK ON TO BE STRONGER?
“That’s a great question. I think the road courses are something that are not my strong suit. But, JTG has probably helped my road course racing. Our cars are a little bit better than what I’ve run on some of the road courses, and so that’s helped me out. I think our short track program needs to get better. We went to Martinsville and we tried a totally different set-up and we struggled. At Richmond, we got really good at the end of the race, but we didn’t start out as good as what we needed to. So, I would say short tracks are where we need to pick-up some of our stuff and work on to get some better finishes and have fast race cars. But all in all, I’m really happy with the consistency that we have. We’re still just working on every race track and making sure that we’re better.”

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THE DOUBLE YELLOW LINE RULE AND WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IT MAYBE CHANGE IN SOME CAPACITY?
“I don’t know. I really struggle with the double yellow line rule. I’ve been bitten by it a couple of times, actually. And I feel like it’s happened to me two or three times actually, that I’ve gotten penalized for going below the double yellow line and advancing my position. There are so many instances where, in all of my cases, I feel like if I would have stood my ground and not gone below the double yellow line, whoever was blocking me was going to crash. And so, to avoid the crash, I went below the double yellow line and still, I guess, advanced my position. So, any time that happens, I just automatically now have to give it back because we’ve been bitten by it too many times. They say it’s a judgement call. I’m not sure. I don’t know if there’s a certain way they judge it, because I’ve been bitten by it so many times. It’s in place and you can use it to your advantage. I haven’t really seen them penalize people for blocking people below the yellow line. I’ve only been on the other receiving end of being blocked and then getting penalized for going below it. I don’t really know what else there is to do with the double yellow line as far as rules go. It’s either there or it’s opened up; one of the two. And the way we all drive right now, if you opened it up, I think you would have people entering on the apron getting into the corner and I don’t know if that would be good or not.”
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 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. 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 www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
GEICO 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 23, 2021

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 CAREGILITY/YORKTEL CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:

RECAP YOUR SEASON AND HOW YOU ARE APPROACHING THIS WEEKEND AT TALLADEGA?
“I’m going to approach it the same way we’ve approached every weekend: we go and try to win. That’s what we’ve tried to do all year, and we are on a path to get there.”

BASED ON EXPECTATIONS BEFORE THE SEASON, WHERE DO YOU SEE PROGRESS AND WHERE DO YOU SEE AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT?
“It’s been humbling, for sure. There have been a lot of things that I’ve just done wrong behind the wheel… the small details of driving the car. We’re working down a path with no practice of trial-and-error at these races to see what works for me and what works for the car. We have to be better. We’ve been pretty honest with ourselves and pretty transparent with each other in what we see. You can throw a lot of that on me. There are a lot of things in the car that I have to keep doing better. We’ll keep working toward that.”

ARE YOU FILLING UP A PROVERBIAL NOTEPAD WITH THE 42?
“Absolutely. If we could go back and do these races again with what we’ve learned, I’m sure they’d be better and we’d be better. That’s what makes the good guys great. They’re really good at this. To try and catch up and beat them in our first couple of at-bats is a tall task, but it’s what we signed up for. I never realized how much I appreciated practice coming up through the different series and in my time in the Cup Series over the last few years. Man, what I wouldn’t give for a few laps of practice.”

WITH NASCAR RACING AT DARLINGTON ON MOTHER’S DAY, WHAT KIND OF ROLE DID YOURS PLAY IN YOUR CAREER?
“Big… very big. She’s driving to Talladega right now with my aunt. They’re road-tripping and bringing some fresh watermelon from our farm. She sent me a video last night from the field, and that was her last stop. Starting out, she was always there to support me and did everything from sewing the patches on my suits, helping us load the racecar and driving me to the track before I was 16 if my dad was in the field or on our farm. She knew I wanted to race, so those early years were hobby racing and what we loved to do. We’ve had some special times. It’s brought our family closer together. It’s brought in her parents and giving them a more active role. It all gave us excuses to be around each other, so it really brought us together.”

DO YOU TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS THIS EARLY IN THE SEASON? OR IS IT MORE ABOUT IMPROVEMENT AND GETTING BETTER?
“Every driver and every team look at the points. They usually come out about the time we get to the plane, and you can find it online. Everyone glances at it, but we haven’t had the points acquisition this year that we were looking for. We haven’t finished good enough to deserve points at a lot of races so far. So, we’re building. We just talk about what we need these cars to do, what I need to do better and where we need to do better as a team. It’s more about the progress of these racecars and myself. Obviously, the playoffs are a big deal, and missing them would not be good. The goal is still to make them. There are a lot of opportunities with more races left in the regular season than we’ve ran.”

YOU SEEM TO BE HITTING YOUR STRIDE. DOES HEADING TO TALLADEGA PUT YOU IN A FAVORABLE OR UNFAVORABLE POSITION WITH MOMENTUM?
“I heard a Trucks series veteran say a long time ago… we’ll probably crash but it’s the art of getting through it with minimal damage or no damage to put yourself in position to win at the end. What I learned at the 500 will pay off, although it was a smaller pack most of the race after the first big crash. Talladega is a little bit wider with easier entries and exits out of the corner. It doesn’t funnel down and cause the stack-ups that can cause a lot of wrecks. I don’t know if anyone can feel favorable going to Talladega. It’s just Talladega. We’ll race and work with Team Chevy, Kurt Busch and see what we can come out with.”

THOUGHTS ON THE DOUBLE YELLOW-LINE RULE?
“It’s gotta stay. It’s there for a reason. You can’t have that transition on the apron. They didn’t have it back in the day; that’s why they put it in. There has to be a rule. A good reminder would have been in the iRacing event. There was no double yellow-line rule, and it’s not even painted there from the last scan, I guess. I think the guy that should have won the race got beat because of a pass below the double-yellow. Back where I was in the middle of the pack, there were guys passing below the yellow all day long. There was no enforcement there. We can’t have that. It needs to stay. We all know the rule, so why are we complaining about it?

WHAT’S THE THING YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT CHIP GANASSI RACING?
“The people. There are so many people that I’m still meeting a lot of them. There are around 170 people here. The biggest thing that I got reminded of a few weeks in, I kept going to my crew chief (Phil Surgen) and Doug Duchardt with questions and ideas. Doug was like, ‘You know we have people for this stuff’. Now I don’t go to them necessarily about an idea, but I go to them to find out who do I talk to about this, and who do I talk to about that. That’s why this building is here in Concord (North Carolina), and that’s why they’ve been able to sustain for so long – the people and their livelihood and their job is to push these racecars. That’s the goal. It’s a higher volume and higher quality than I have ever been part of.”

BIGGEST SURPRISES IN THE CUP SERIES SO FAR?
“I’ve been here a few years. We had the Xfinity program, so I’ve raced out of the shop and then I’ve raced for other teams. I’ve been here a good chunk of days out of the week over the years seeing these cars get built, sent out, come back, built, raced and come back torn apart. So, I’ve watched all these processes and couch-raced. I’m a self-proclaimed couch racer. What I mean is that whenever I see a racecar on track, I think I can drive it better. I’m always like, ‘He should be higher. He should enter higher. He should wait to pick up the throttle, ease into it and hook up those rear tires.’ Then I get in the car and I drive in shallow and pick up the gas too soon… so yeah, I’m a couch racer. It’s hard, the transition being on-track. The transition being in the shop has been great.”

HAVE GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS CHANGED AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON?
“No. We have attainable goals and the small steps of doing the obvious things right during a race. Our goal is to win. Our process in preparing for a race does not change. It’s only ramped up and we’re pushing harder. It’s with that goal of winning. We are competitive people and competitive thinkers. I think competitively about everything in every aspect of my life, most of the time with myself to do better. That can be hard sometimes because it can feel like I’m on a spinning wheel and I just can’t catch up. It’s how I’m wired. I wake up and my mind instantly goes to competition about something, what I want to accomplish and what I need to do to get there. We’re not backing down. These guys are here late and up early. We have a lot of things we want to accomplish.”
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 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. 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 www.chevrolet.com.