NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOLDS OF HONOR QUICKTRIP 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 16, 2021

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 PETTY’S GARAGE CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript:

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR START TO THE SEASON AND THE PERFORMANCE OF RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS FIVE RACES IN?
“I guess they’ve kind of been to every track now and it’s been a good start to the season for us. Obviously, we’ve had some ups and downs. But a Top 10 at Vegas was obviously great. A 20th at Phoenix which, I think we were probably a little bit better than that until the last 50 laps and unfortunately, that’s when they pay. But it’s been a good start. I think we’ve done a good job each week just getting better and better. I was really pleased with the improvement from Miami on to Vegas and the improvement we made there going from a 20th place car at Homestead to a Top 10 car at Vegas. We just need to keep that trend going and hopefully the next short track that we go to we can take what we learned at Phoenix and hopefully improve on it.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ALL THE NEW WINNERS WE’VE HAD THIS SEASON? DOES IT GIVE YOU HOPE THAT IF YOU HIT IT RIGHT, YOU GUYS COULD BE THE CINDERELLA STORY ONE WEEK?
“Yeah, I hope so. It’s cool to see the start to this season where we’ve had all these different winners. It’s definitely been unique. I think we’re capable of that. Obviously, with no practice it’s a little bit different. And, like you said, if we happen to hit on it that week, you can be the guy that does it. I hope we can do it one week and hit it really well. I thought Vegas was close for us if we could have gotten some track position. We started pretty far back and it just kind of took us all day to get up there. If we can start farther forward at some of these places, I think we’re going to have a shot to hopefully do it.”

NASCAR IS GOING TO BE USING DOGS TO SNIFF TEAMS FOR COVID-19 AS THEY GO THROUGH THE GARAGE. HAVE YOU HEARD THAT? DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS?
“They just told us like 20 minutes ago. I don’t have any concerns with it. From what it sounds like, they’ve learned quite a bit over the past year about detecting COVID and what the best ways are to do it. And they feel really confident in the dogs. I’m a dog lover, so I don’t have any problem with dogs doing it. If they think they can do a good job, it seems like from what they’ve learned and what they know about it, it’s just as good as a test. So, I feel good about it and it sounds like we’re going to use that instead of the temperature check. I think it’ll be fun.”

WHAT IS YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE CARS FROM WHAT YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO BE TO WHAT THEY ACTUALLY ARE THIS YEAR?
“Really, they’re what I thought they would be. I felt pretty confident going in, to be honest with you, about what the equipment is and what they have with the resources we have at RPM. And it’s been similar to what I thought. Really, the cars are really close. We have opportunities, like I was mentioning a second ago, to really hit it right and have an opportunity to run really well week in and week out. There are a lot of good things that the cars do that I’ve felt over the last few weeks. And there’s some stuff that I think we can work on to get better and improve. We’ve just got to race and learn more about those things. Without practice it’s tough to go in and say hey, this is what we’ve got to do better before the race. We just have to get out there and do it and do it and learn from it.”

WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT AND WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE KEY FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL RUN SUNDAY?
“Atlanta is kind of a unique place. But we’ve always run pretty decent there in the past. It’s just really worn out. You really have to have your car working good on the bottom to be able to really hook the yellow line and make it work down there. I think overall, Atlanta is abrasive, and it’s worn out. It gets a little slicker every year. You just have to really focus on making your car good on the long runs. It’s tough. It’s not easy to get your car driving good there. I feel like the balance is a little bit more finicky with this package now than what it was in the past with the lower downforce package. So, you really have to hit it right and make sure your car is working good. When you have to start getting up and running the top, I feel like that’s kind of a Band-Aid and it’s not really where you want your car to be running. So, if you can get it running good on the bottom and hooking the line well, you’re going to have a pretty good day.”

YOU HAVE HAD FIVE RACES WITH RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’VE FOUND YOUR RHYTHM THERE. HOW IS IT GOING AND HAVE YOU HAD ANY DIFFICULTIES?
“Overall, it’s gone pretty good. No real difficulties. It’s been a smooth transition for me. The biggest thing really is just working with (crew chief) Jerry (Baxter) and have him lean more about me and kind of what I want out of the race car and when I’m asking for adjustments, kind of what I want from those adjustments. So, that’s been the biggest thing. But it’s just a matter of getting to the race track every week and going out and doing it you know. Like I said, no practice, you don’t really have that time to learn; so, you have to go out and race each week. But the transition has been really smooth. I’ve been trying to put in the effort and doing what I can on my end to make our cars as good as they can be; and from my point, obviously driving the car and doing the best I can there as well. It’s been a smooth transition though.”

GIVEN YOUR BACKGROUND, HOW DOES ONE PREPARE FOR A STOCK CAR RACE ON A DIRT TRACK?
“I don’t know that you really can too much. It’s still going to be a Cup car on dirt at Bristol, really, at the end of the day. Our cars aren’t dirt cars. They’re not really made to handle dirt. So, you just have to do the best you can. Looking at Eldora, and how those truck races work, it’s about being patient and kind of picking your time to go and the times to make the moves and just being easy with it and try to make the most of it. So, I don’t really have much dirt experience. I haven’t done much of it. I’m going to go run a Micro, hopefully tomorrow. It’s been a little rainy here in North Carolina, so hopefully that clears out and we can go get some laps; you know, just getting something on dirt to get a feel for it. I think really, the dirt guys are going to have a little bit of an advantage just knowing how the lines move around and kind of what lane to be in, but I think that’s all as far as driving it, that’s going to be totally different for everybody.”

WE’VE SEEN FIVE DIFFERENT WINNERS IN FIVE RACES SO FAR THIS SEASON. HAS THAT SURPRISED YOU AND DOES IT CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY IN TRYING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR?
“I don’t think it really surprises me too much. I think the guys that have won are all guys that are totally capable of winning on a certain weekend. With no practice, it’s less surprising because it’s a matter of really hitting your car right when you unload and hit the race track. When you have practice, you always kind of see the cream rise. It’s the same guys that know how to get their stuff really good; especially at the tracks that they’re good at. And without practice, you lose that. So, you’re just totally relying on hitting it right. It’s a little bit of the flip of the coin, right? You hope that it lands on the good side and it’s handling good for you. It doesn’t really surprise me, but it doesn’t really change my approach to the Playoffs either. Obviously, it’s going to be a little bit harder to point your way in, the more and more winners we get. But we’ve still got to do the best we can each week and just try to continue clicking points off and moving up and taking advantage of the places that we can go and have a shot to win and hopefully win one.”

WE COULD GET INTO A SCENARIO WHERE WE HAVE 17 OR 18 WINNERS. HAS THAT CROSSED YOUR MIND IN TRYING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS?
“I’ve thought about it, for sure. I think everybody has already after all the different winners we’ve had so far. That just makes it more important to make sure you’re getting as many points as you can each week and moving up. If we do get in that situation that you’ve got enough points over the next guy that’s got a win, to hopefully beat him into the Playoffs. So, it just makes points even more of a focus, I guess. It’s funny. This system is supposed to be winning and getting in but, we’re in a situation where we could realistically have more than 16 winners.”

ON RUNNING THE MICRO, WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THAT ON A LITTLE TRACK? BRISTOL MIGHT ACTUALLY BE MORE LIKE A MARTINSVILLE RACE AND YOU’RE NOT SLIDING THE CAR AROUND AS MUCH. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO GET OTHER THAN JUST GETTING THE FEEL OF DIRT UNDERNEATH YOU?
“That’s really it. Just the feeling of dirt and being on dirt and having the car and what it feels like. I haven’t been on dirt in I guess six years was the last time. Just being on a dirt track, not a lot is going to apply over to a totally different car and track and everything. The track is going to be more like a Martinsville or Richmond. It’s going to be really slick, and you’ve really got to manage your grip. For me, it’s just getting some kind of dirt feel and just anything that maybe I can take over with me just to get reacquainted a little bit.”

ON THE POSSIBILITY THAT MAKING THE PLAYOFFS COULD BECOME MORE FOCUSED ON POINTS RACING AND STAGE POINTS. A NOT-SO-GOOD RACE COULD RESULT IN STARTING FURTHER BACK IN THE FIELD FOR THE NEXT RACE. CAN IT BECOME LIKE A SNOWBALL ROLLING DOWN THE HILL AND GROWING LARGER AND LARGER?
‘It can pretty easily right now. If you have a bad race, especially going into a 1.5-mile race and you have to start pretty far back, it makes it pretty tough. It’s hard to get up there and get those positions and it’s definitely hard to earn Stage points when you start that far back, especially in the first Stage. It can snowball pretty quickly. Without qualifying, your week before kind of carries over. That’s not something that, as a driver, you want. If you have a bad week you don’t want to take it with you. You are kind of forced to right now. It’s easy to get in that hole and it’s hard to get out of it but, hopefully we can just stay out of that and avoid it and just stay up towards the front. I think for us, getting some Stage points is going to be pretty important. We haven’t done that yet. So, we need to hopefully figure out early in these races to get up and get some more points. That could be pretty beneficial to us.”

GIVEN WHAT YOU’VE SEEN OUT OF THE TEAM SO FAR, HAS ANYTHING CHANGED FROM YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR AGENDA WITH THIS TEAM COMPARED TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE COMING INTO THIS SEASON?”
“Not really. I think a Top 20 in points is our goal. Obviously making the Playoffs and getting a win, that’s like top pure echelon for us. But I don’t think my expectations are any different. I think it’s just having consistent improvement and just trying to get better and better each week; and doing what we can to make the car faster every time we hit the race track. But I feel confident in it. Some of the gains we’ve made already over the season have been really encouraging and have been really good. Hopefully we can just keep that trend going and keep getting our car better each week.”

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.

Team: No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 – Sunday, March 21 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

ADVANCE NOTES

Newman at Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Newman makes his 29th Cup start at Atlanta on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 17.8 with nine top-10s and two finishes inside the top five.
• His best finishes of fifth came back in 2004 and again in 2013. He’s also finished 10th on four occasions, including most recently in 2015. In the last two outings at the 1.5-mile track, he’s finished 13th and 14th, respectively.
• Newman has an impressive average starting position of 7.4 at Atlanta, by far his best on the circuit, with seven career poles as well as two-straight outside pole starts. In 28 career races at AMS Newman has started on the front row 12 times.
• Newman is a former winner at Atlanta in the Truck Series, winning back in 2008, one of only seven Truck starts in his career.
• Newman also has three starts at AMS in the Xfinity Series, finishing eighth in 2010 and capturing the pole back in 2001.

Scott Graves at Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Graves will call his fifth Cup race at Atlanta this weekend where he has an average finish of 14.5 overall.
• Atlanta is also Graves’ best track in terms of qualifying and starting positions, as his average starting spot is 8.8 in just four prior events. He and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. earned the pole together in 2013, and he followed that by starting fourth with Daniel Suarez in 2018.
• Graves led Newman to a 14th-place run last season at AMS, and a year prior finished 13th.
• Graves also called seven Xfinity Series events at Bristol dating back to 2012, recording one top five with Chris Buescher (2015) and two additional top-10s with Buescher (2014) and Daniel Suarez (2016). Graves is a former winner in the NXS, taking Kyle Busch to victory lane in 2017 after starting on the pole.

QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing at Atlanta:
“Atlanta is always a challenging track with the varying lines that you’re able to run, and how we have to manage tire wear. On top of that, it’s a really fast track, so we’ve got to have our ducks in a row come Sunday in the Kohler Generators Ford as we look to bounce back from Phoenix.”

Last Time Out
Newman finished 28th a week ago at Phoenix.

Where They Rank
Ryan Newman is 22nd in the driver standings through five races.

On the Car
Kohler Generators makes its second appearance aboard Newman’s machine this weekend, and first since the Daytona 500. A leader in whole home standby generators, Kohler Generators will be on Newman’s machine for eight primary races in 2021.

About KOHLER Generators
KOHLER Generators is a leading manufacturer of automatic standby generators, which connect to the electrical system of a home or a business and quickly restore power following an outage to provide security and peace of mind for everyday life. KOHLER whole home generators are permanently installed outside a home, similar to a central air conditioning (AC) unit. The generator operates on natural gas or liquid propane (LP) and is wired into a home’s electrical system. When power is lost from unexpected events such as severe weather storms, the standby generator automatically kicks in – generally within seconds – and can power hard-wired systems and appliances including air conditioning, heat, medical equipment, Internet and Wi-Fi, security systems and lighting. KOHLER Generators is part of privately held Kohler Co., headquartered in Kohler, Wisconsin. The company provides complete power systems including portable, residential, industrial, and marine generators; automatic transfer switches; switchgear; monitoring controls; and accessories for emergency, prime power and energy-management applications. Kohler Power Systems has delivered energy solutions for markets worldwide since 1920. Visit KOHLERGenerators.com, facebook.com/KOHLERPower, or Twitter at @KOHLERPower. or more information.

About Kohler Co.
Founded in 1873 and headquartered in Kohler, Wisconsin, Kohler Co. is one of America’s oldest and largest privately held companies comprised of nearly 35,000 associates. Kohler is a global leader in the manufacturing of kitchen and bath products; engines and power systems; premier cabinetry, tile and lighting; and owner/operator of two of the world’s finest five-star hospitality and golf resort destinations in Kohler, Wisconsin, and St. Andrews, Scotland.

Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Luke Lambert
Twitter: @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 – Sunday, March 21 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

ADVANCE NOTES

Buescher at Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Buescher makes his sixth Cup start at Atlanta on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 21.6. His best finish of ninth came just two starts ago when he collected his first top-10 after starting 30th.
• Buescher also piloted the Fastenal machine in Atlanta back in 2015, driving to a fourth-place fun in the Xfinity Series.
• Most recently, Buescher finished 22nd a year ago at the 1.5-mile track.

Luke Lambert at Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Lambert will be atop the box for his 10th Cup start at Atlanta on Sunday. In nine prior events, he has two top-10s, both in back-to-back seasons with Ryan Newman in 2014 (seventh) and 2015 (10th).
• Lambert and Newman also paired together for some solid qualifying runs in years past, with an average starting position of 12.8, including five top-10 starting spots – two of which were on the outside front row in 2017-18.
• Lambert also called one NXS race with Elliott Sadler in 2012, finishing fourth after starting seventh.

QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Atlanta:
“I’m anxious to get back to Atlanta this early in the season after how we unloaded in Homestead. The two tracks are similar in that they provide different options on how to approach them, and are both big on tire wear. We’re hoping our notebook from a few weeks back gives us a solid baseline so that we can get back on track with a good day Sunday.”

Last Time Out
Buescher finished 18th a week ago at Phoenix.

Where They Rank
Through five races, Buescher is 18th in driver points.

On the Car
Fastenal returns to the fold at Roush Fenway for its 11th season in 2021. They spent three years on the No. 99 before jumping to the No. 17 Cup Series entry, and were the primary partner on the No. 60 Xfinity team that captured the owner’s championship in 2011.

About Fastenal
Fastenal [Nasdaq: FAST] is North America’s largest fastener distributor and a ‘one-stop’ source for hundreds of thousands of OEM, MRO and Construction products. With more than 2,600 stores worldwide, the company supports B2B customers with tailored local inventory and dedicated personnel, who visit regularly, quickly respond to emergency needs, and provide efficient inventory management solutions. Fastenal’s service-oriented business network includes the world’s largest industrial vending program, 14 regional distribution centers, 8 custom manufacturing facilities, thousands of delivery vehicles, and industry-leading sourcing, quality and engineering resources.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Zoom Media Availability | Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Pit Boss Grills Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series, is coming off his best finish of the 2021 season after running 11th at Phoenix Raceway. The Stewart-Haas driver was this week’s Ford Zoom guest and spoke about this weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Pit Boss Grills Ford Mustang — HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE START OF THE SEASON AND DO YOU PAY ANY ATTENTION TO POINTS RIGHT NOW? “Obviously, we got off to a horrendous start, not getting the points and bad finishes. The best thing that’s happened to us all year is we won the Duel and got 10 points. Otherwise, we would have left Daytona with literally no points. It’s been a tough start to the season, but Phoenix was a great way to turn our season around and, at this point, we’ve just got to go race. We’ve got to get on track. We’ve got to get consistent and running in the top 10, get consistent running in the top 5 and then find ourselves in position to win races. I think it’s gonna be tough to point our way in at this point, but it’s possible. It’s certainly possible, especially if we get on a run like we did last summer, where we were running in the top 5 the entire race, scoring a lot of stage points and I think we went eight weeks in a row with top 5 finishes, so if we do that, we’ll climb through the point standings really quickly, but we’ve got to get there first.”

HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU THAT YOU CAN PUT TOGETHER A RUN LIKE LAST YEAR WITH ALL THE WILDCARD RACES THAT LIE AHEAD? “I am confident. We’ve got a really great race team. Like you said, we did it last year. We went on a run of top 10 and top 5 finishes for a couple of months straight, so it’s possible. We just have to get back on track. We got off to a rough start and sometimes that happens. Life doesn’t always go the way you want it to and you go through some rough patches, but it doesn’t stay that way forever, especially with a great race team like we have. We will start getting the good finishes. Phoenix was a good day for us. We needed that kind of a day where we ran in the top 10. We scored some stage points and we finished 11th, so a solid day, nothing spectacular, but not catastrophic like the weekends we had prior to that as well. We’ll get back on track. We’re a great race team and I have all the confidence in the world that we will start putting the finishes on the board that we need to.”

WHAT IS YOUR COMFORT LEVEL ON DIRT AND DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO RUN ANY PRELIM RACES? “Yeah, I have done a little bit of testing on dirt. My car chief has a dirt modified that his son races, so I’ve been able to go with him and test some and we plan to test the week leading into Bristol as well just to get some laps and some reps, but I don’t think anything is gonna be representative of what we’re gonna have when we get to Bristol. So much of it depends on the track conditions and how much rain we get or don’t get, how dry slick the racetrack is gonna be and then as far as the cars, the cars are so much different than what we’ve had in the past. They’re not anything like a modified. They’re not anything like a late model. They’re not like anything else. They don’t make nearly as much downforce as those cars and the way that our suspension is built, they’re not at all like most dirt cars, so it’s gonna be unique in its own right. I heard from a lot of people that, ‘think more like Richmond and Martinsville than dirt track racing.’”

DO YOU TRY DIFFERENT STRATEGY NOW TO TRY AND GET STAGE POINTS AND/OR DO YOU ROLL THE DICE FOR WINS? “At this point, we’ve got to take the cards that are dealt to us when the race starts. A lot of it depends on how your car is. It’s hard to gamble with a car that’s not as competitive as it needs to be, so you have a lot more options when you have a fast race car, and you can kind of pick and choose your strategy because you can be a little bit more in control of the race, not as worried about going multiple laps down when you do roll down pit road, so often times every once in a while you can squeak something crazy out on strategy, but, for the most part, you don’t really win races on wild strategy anymore, unless you have a fast race car because somebody else is gonna get on that same strategy as well. Somebody else has seen it. We’ve got a lot of smart engineers in the garage area and smart crew chiefs and they see all of the different scenarios and strategies that play out and if a handful of cars get on that strategy that could be the race-winning strategy. you’ve got to have a faster car than all those other guys to be the race-winning car on that strategy. So, a lot of it just depends on when you get to the racetrack and see how your car is competitive relative to the field.”

HOW HAS FIVE DIFFERENT WINNERS PLAYED INTO THE PRESSURE YOU FEEL OR THE STRATEGY YOU RUN GOING FORWARD? “I don’t know that we feel more pressure because of that. We feel pressure just because we’re not performing like we know we should, or we’re not getting the results we know we should, so we feel pressure to turn our season around and start running the way that we know we’re capable of. I’m on my fourth season at Stewart-Haas Racing and have never gotten off to a start like this. We’ve always found ourselves in the top 10 or 12 in points by this time in the season and usually comfortably in on points and thinking about just being consistent and trying to win races when we have cars capable. Never have I been in a situation like we are in now to where you’re way on the outside trying to claw your way back into contention, so the old saying holds true, though. The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. That’s kind of our focus going forward is we’ve got to take it one race at a time and in every race we’ve got to focus on just trying to score as many stage points as we can and trying to get the best finish we can. If that means running fifth with a fifth-place car, then we need to do that. And if we have a car capable of winning, then we need to do everything in our power to try and get the W.”

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET A TOP 10 OR TOP 5 THIS WEEKEND? “Atlanta is just a tricky place. It’s really worn out and the cars slip and slide around there a lot, and now with this new package that we’ve had with the rules package, it’s constantly a balance of drag out of your race car to make your car go fast versus downforce in your car, which makes it go a little bit slower on new tires, but usually takes care of the tires better throughout the long run and when the tires do give up and the pace slows way down on older tires, more downforce is helpful, so there’s definitely a balancing act between figuring that out, and I think last year we had a couple cars out of SHR that were competitive and good — the 14 and the 4 were good. We started off the race good and then had some things go wrong throughout the race. We had a loose wheel and some other stuff that got us behind, but I feel like we have good notes. The 4 was competitive. The 4, I think, was a top 5 car throughout the entire race and then got their car really good at the end of the race and went on to win the race. Atlanta is certainly a track that is a possibility for us to go there and run up front and challenge to win.”

DO YOU FIND YOUR COMFORT LEVEL ON LAYOUTS LIKE ATLANTA ARE MORE COMFORTABLE FOR YOU? IS THAT YOUR SWEET SPOT? “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve been around this sport long enough to where I feel comfortable everywhere. Pocono used to be the one place that I went to that I was like, ‘Oh, not this place,’ because I was unsuccessful there for so long, but then last year we go there and I led a bunch of laps and finished in the top 5 in both races. Honestly, we were chasing stage points and got off on a little bit different strategy, otherwise I felt like we had a car that should have won the first race there at Pocono last year and we finished third with a car that led the most laps and was really in contention to win all day, so I don’t go to any racetrack anymore and feel uncomfortable. I feel good everywhere we go, other than the fact that you just never know what you’re gonna have for a car. Things change so much. The rules change. The tire changes that Goodyear brings. There are so many variables that you never really know until you show up. It used to be we would show up for practice and have a chance to fix it or work on it and now we show up and you don’t know until the green flag waves, so that’s the biggest challenge.”

HOW MUCH OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED IS BAD LUCK AS COMPARED TO PERFORMANCE? “I think a lot of it is just luck and circumstances, and then mistakes, honestly, on my part for a couple of them. Daytona 500 was just bad luck. There’s nothing I could have done different. I was running second and got an aggressive push from behind from Christopher Bell and got turned and wrecked, so I don’t know what I could have done different, so circumstances out of our control. We go the very next week to the Daytona Road Course and I was running inside the top 10 and spun out in the infield section of the road course and made a mistake and got us way behind on track position late in the race and clawed our way back from 30th place back up to 16th or 17th-place finish. Then we went to Homestead and I made a mistake again, two weeks in a row. We had a decent car, not great. We worked on it really hard to get it better and I wrecked with Ryan Blaney. That resulted in a poor finish and then we went to Vegas and we were just off. We were not good and then bad luck, something, a piece of debris got inside the left-front wheel and knocked the valve stem off the left-front during the run and we got a flat left-front tire and wrecked and finished last, so I think a lot of it has been bad luck and circumstances, but there’s also been mistakes on my part as well, so we just have to clean everything up. We’ve got to have better cars. The driver has to do his job and not make mistakes and we’ve got to have luck turn and start going our way, instead of against us.”

HOW DO YOU KEEP SPONSORS HAPPY WHEN THINGS AREN’T GOING WELL? WHAT’S THE SECRET? “So much of what we do is performance driven. The sponsors love when we run up front because we’re more relevant on TV and part of the broadcast and it just makes everything better. Winning makes everything better, but at the same time there is a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes on the business side of things that is equally important to the partners as far as driving consumers to their product and the business to business relationships and even just the personal relationships that I’ve made with these people at these companies, so, for me, that’s one of the things that I have strived really hard at over the course of my career, and I feel like I’ve done a really good job in the last decade of getting partners and holding onto them and making sure that I over deliver on every aspect that I’m in control of. You can’t always control on-track performance as much as we wish we could, but the things that I can control away from the racetrack I feel like I work extremely hard at that and it’s created great partnerships and great relationships for me over the years that we’ve been able to keep partners around for a long time.”

DOES STARTING FROM THE BACK MAKE IT MORE CHALLENGING GOING TO THE FRONT AND WILL THIS WEEKEND BE DIFFERENT STARTING MORE TOWARD THE FRONT? “Yeah, so starting in the back is a dagger every week. That’s the hard part about the situation that we’re in now, not only the fact that we don’t get practice, but when you have a bad weekend it doesn’t end with that weekend, it carries over into the next week. It used to be if you have a bad weekend, you could put it behind you. You go to the racetrack the next weekend and it’s a fresh start. You practice, you qualify, you have an opportunity to qualify up front and get a good pit selection and a good starting spot and really start completely over with that brand new weekend. Now, when you have a bad weekend, it really carries over to the next weekend because you have a bad starting spot, you have a bad pit selection. A bad pit selection usually means that you’re gonna be pitting around other cars that are competitive and on the lead lap, so you’re constantly going to be battling with them getting in and out of your pit box. It just makes everything more difficult and harder to dig out of these holes, so it is a challenge with starting in the back, not scoring stage points usually in the first stage. When you start deep in the field it’s hard to come through the field and score stage points in stage one when you start in the back, so it’s really just a different approach in a different set of circumstances now with starting the race based on how you finish last time and your pit selection and everything being geared off of that. It definitely makes the momentum harder to swing and turn it around.”

WHAT DO THEY MEAN IN REGARDS TO THINK MARTINSVILLE OR RICHMOND WHEN IT COMES TO THE BRISTOL DIRT RACE? “From what I’ve heard from a lot of people it’s not like typical dirt car racing. You don’t have the car really hung out sideways, standing in the gas and just slinging mud. The cars drive a lot straighter on the dirt. These big heavy stock cars do. They’re not running super sideways. You’re not driving them like you would a typical dirt car, so I think that’s what everybody has really referenced is that the cars are not way up on the left side and dug in with the right side tires. There’s just a lot of differences in the way that the dirt cars drive and the way that they race versus how I’m expecting it from what I hear and what I gather our Cup cars to drive on dirt.”

HAS THERE BEEN ANY TALK WITHIN NASCAR ABOUT RETURNING TO PRE-COVID DAYS OF PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING WHEN THINGS GET BETTER? “I’m optimistic for sure. I’m ready for this pandemic to go away and life to return back to normal, but if there’s been any of those talks I’ve not been a part of them. I do not know any sort of forecast on when things may return back to what we considered normal pre-pandemic.”

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU WOULD WELCOME THAT OPPORTUNITY, UNLESS YOU BECOME THE SIXTH DIFFERENT WINNER THIS WEEKEND? “Yeah, but even still I would for sure welcome getting back to some sort of normal. I miss having the fans around at the racetrack. I miss having my family at the racetrack. I miss traveling with the team and being around in the garage area — that human to human interaction is something that I really enjoy, so not having that is tough, but then on top of that not having practice, not being able to qualify, all of those things are challenges, especially when you have a bad week. It’s hard to rebound the next week because that bad finish does carry over into the next week.”

From Fast Pasta to Fast Peanut
Georgia Peanut Commission Partners with Alfredo at Atlanta Motor Speedway

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 16, 2021) – For this upcoming weekend, Anthony Alfredo will have a new nickname thanks to the Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Peanuts. Alfredo, known as “Fast Pasta”, will be sponsored by the Georgia Peanut Commission during Sunday’s 500-miler at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The new partnership will make Alfredo become “Fast Peanut” for the one-race partnership.

The Georgia Peanut Commission conducts programs in the areas of promotion, research and education. Funding is derived from a $2 per ton assessment on all producers. Peanuts are a $2.2 billion industry in Georgia and a vital part of the economy. Facts about the peanut industry in Georgia include:

• Georgia farmers produced 53% of the United States’ peanuts in 2020 – more than 1.64 million tons
• Georgia farmers harvested 800,000 acres, yielding an average of 4,100 pounds per acre
• Georgia farmers planted peanuts in 76 counties in Georgia
• Georgia has approximately 4,500 peanut farmers
• Georgia peanuts accounted for 25.5% of the state’s row and forage crops income
• Peanuts are Georgia’s Official State Crop

“We are very proud of every peanut farmer in Georgia,” said Joe Boddiford, Promotion Committee chairman for the Georgia Peanut Commission. “We are also proud supporters of the Atlanta Motor Speedway and big race fans. We know Anthony will help us promote and educate race fans about our work. We’re proud to call him ‘Fast Peanut’ this weekend and can’t wait to see him drive the ‘Georgia Peanuts’ car in Atlanta.”

The website, www.gapeanuts.com is the home for all NASCAR fans to learn more about the commission, download educational materials for the classroom, get health and nutrition information, recipe ideas and more. Alfredo will be promoting the site through his social media channels this weekend and into the weekend.

“I didn’t know everything the Georgia Peanut Commission does until I read their website and learned more about them,” commented Alfredo. “Our farmers are so important to our daily lives and they really get taken for granted. Then, you never really think about how much peanuts are a part of our daily lives and they mostly grown in Georgia. So, it’s pretty to cool to learn all that and race a cool looking peanut Ford Mustang this weekend.”

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET. The race will be televised live on FOX.

ABOUT GEORGIA PEANUT COMMISSION
The Georgia Peanut Commission was established in 1961 under the state’s Commodities Promotion Act. Today, the commission represents Georgia’s 4,500 peanut farmers and conducts programs in the areas of promotion, research and education. To learn more, visit gapeanuts.com or follow @gapeanuts on Facebook and Instagram or @GeorgiaPeanuts on Twitter.

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS
Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Camping World Truck Series and the 2021 Daytona 500 champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team– from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

Denny Hamlin
11 FedEx Express Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing

Race Info:
Race: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Date/Time: March 21/3:00 p.m. ET
Distance: 325 laps/500 miles
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Track Shape: Quad Oval
Banking: 24 degrees
2020 Winner: Kevin Harvick

Express Notes:

Press Kit: Download the 2021 FedEx Racing press materials at www.fedexracing.com/presskit, including bios for Denny Hamlin, Chris Gabehart and Joe Gibbs Racing leadership, program highlights and statistics.

Phoenix Recap: Denny Hamlin maintained his perch atop the championship standings with a third-place finish at Phoenix Raceway. Hamlin started the 312-mile event in the third spot and ran in the top five most of the afternoon, including 33 laps out front. The #11 team worked on handling throughout the day, allowing Hamlin to stay in contention. But his Toyota Camry didn’t have quite enough to outpace teammate Martin Truex Jr., who scored his first win of the season.

Atlanta Outlook: The NASCAR Cup Series heads back east to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s 500-mile event on the 1.5-mile asphalt Georgia oval. Hamlin is a one-time winner at the track, taking the checkered flag back in 2012. Hamlin owns five top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 21 career races at Atlanta, leading a total of 391 laps, and will be looking for that elusive first win of the 2021 season.

Hamlin Statistics:

Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway
Races: 21
Wins: 1
Top-5: 5
Top-10: 8
Laps Led: 391
Avg. Start: 11.8
Avg. Finish: 17.3

Hamlin Conversation – Atlanta:

You’ve performed well in each race thus far this season. How do you keep this going as the season moves on?

“Our team is continuing to work each week to improve. We’re happy with our performance this season even without a win yet. There is still a lot of work to do and a lot more challenges coming our way. Our team will stay focused and we’ll do our best to get the job done.”

Do you feel like Atlanta is a track where you can finally get that first win of the season?

“Absolutely. We’ve won there before. Of course, we’d like to add another. We’ve made some progress on our mile-and-a-half program and we’ll keep on working at it. We are surrounded by all the right people, putting in all the work to give us the best result we can possibly get.”

FedEx Express Along for the Ride at Atlanta: Last month marked the one-year anniversary of Stay SHARP, a critical component of the FedEx Express Safety Above All culture. Since launching February 1, 2020, at the FedEx Express ramp in Atlanta, Ga., Stay SHARP has achieved impressive results and been honored with several top company awards. That is why FedEx Express is pleased to recognize the team members at the ATL ramp with the letters ATLR on the B-post of the FedEx #11 at the March 21 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

FedEx Office – Closest to Atlanta Motor Speedway: 105 Promenade Pkwy, Suite A, Fayetteville, GA 30214, (770) 461-6311