NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 2, 2021

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript:

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE START OF YOUR SEASON? DO YOU FEEL THIS TEAM IS DEVELOPING INTO A WINNING TEAM AT THIS POINT?
“I’ve been happy with the start of the year. I feel like for the most part, or partially, we’ve kind of contended for a win in a way each week. So that’s been good. A top 10 at the 500 is always good. I wish I could have Turn 6 back at the Road Course because I felt like we had a great shot to win, but definitely probably would have won top 3 in that race. And then at Homestead we got a top 5. So yeah, I’m happy with it. New team and new faces. I haven’t been in a car in a long time and to be as strong as we’ve been; and drive the whole race at every race has been really good. So, I’ve been happy.”

WHAT ARE YOUR PREPARATIONS FOR THE BRISTOL DIRT RACE? WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS ABOUT RUNNING THE WEEK BEFORE AND WHAT SORT OF CUP RACE WILL WE SEE ON THE DIRT?
“I’m excited to get there. I think we all are just because we don’t know what it’s going to be like. So, I don’t really know. I’m probably not going to learn a whole lot the week before, other than just getting familiar with the banking and the track and stuff like that. A Super Late Model on dirt is going to be way different than a Cup car on the same race track. So, I don’t know what to expect for the Cup race anyway. We’ve gotten to see some laps of Modifieds and Late Models and things like that around there. It’s really fast. And it looks like it’ll be hard to pass. Maybe with the Cup cars being slower around there, which I’m sure they will be, we’ll be able to pass a little bit easier than the Late Model and probably what a Sprint car will be around there. But you don’t know until we get there. It’s coming soon, so I’m excited about it.”

WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE, AND ALSO CHRISTOPHER BELL, ARE YOU TWO THE FAVORITES?
“Yeah, I think it’s easy for race fans and media to probably point at us as being the favorites just because of our dirt experience. But honestly, I don’t think we are really because a Midget and a Sprint Car drive way different than a full-bodied stock car in general. And then you put it on dirt and it’s going to be way different. So, just because the surface is dirt doesn’t mean that we’re going to be great; because the cars are way slower responding than what we’re used to with a Sprint Car or a Midget. A Midget is a little over 1,000 pounds and a Sprint Car is about 1400 pounds with 950 horsepower. Where a stock car is 3500 pounds and 750 horsepower. It’s just going to be a lot lazier than what we’re accustomed to. I think there are advantages about being dirt guys because we’re able to read the track surface and know when it’s changing and know where there may be grip on the race track where other people don’t have that experience might not know. But I honestly think it’s going to look a lot like a pavement race but on dirt.”

YOU DID RACE HOMESTEAD LAST YEAR, BUT NOT THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE. DID YOU FEEL BEHIND AT ALL?
“Not at all at Homestead. At the Road Course maybe a touch, but I feel like I got comfortable after really a few laps I felt comfortable enough to feel competitive, which it showed. And then coming to the first Stage, I felt good. I felt like I was aggressive. Maybe being able to go back now, I think I’ll be able to understand how much deeper I can go in after looking at data and stuff like that. But being in the race car, I felt like I was fine. I ran around fifth to seventh kind of all race; and then had a shot at the end. So, I don’t really feel like I was too far behind. I feel like I’ve done a really good this year of preparing and doing my homework and coming to the race track ready to go.”

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BEING WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS NOW AFTER BEING WITH CHIP GANASSI RACING?
“I still don’t really notice much of a difference. If anything, the only difference I really felt at Homestead was just the ride quality was a little bit smoother. There are some bumps on entry to (Turn) 3 up top and usually with the No. 42 I could feel those a lot. Where in the No. 5 car this weekend it was just much smoother and it kind of floated across those easier. But in a way, I’m so used to the Ganassi car and how it feels there and feeling those bumps and I’ve ran so many laps on the top there, I could kind of use those bumps as a trigger to my brain and knowing when to lift going through those bumps. Where this past week my car was so smooth through there that it was kind of hard for me to get into a rhythm at first on entry up top.”

YOU HADN’T BEEN IN A CUP CAR FOR ABOUT A YEAR. WERE THERE ANY COBWEBS OR IS IT LIKE RIDING A BIKE AND YOU JUST GOT BACK ON IT?
“I was surprised. I thought there would be cobwebs and rust. But maybe because I raced so much last year in Sprint cars and open wheel cars and dabbled in some Late Model stuff, I felt as fresh as ever in a race car. Your body just gets into a rhythm of even buckling in the car each week. When I got in the car and put my head & neck restraint on and buckling up and all that, everything just felt normal. It didn’t feel like I had been out of the car in long time. So that was good. Even shifting gears and coming down pit road and stopping on my pit sign and stuff like that, like it’s all come natural so far. I don’t really feel like I’ve made any mistakes doing those little things. And I think when you’re out of a car for a long time, it’s the little things that you forget about. So yeah, I think just the preparation that I’ve done looking at data and lots of in-car videos and some iracing and stuff has helped me make that transition a little bit easier.”

ACCORDING TO CHAD KNAUS, YOU ARE AN ASSET IN DEBRIEFS. DID YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE JUMPING RIGHT IN AND HAVING YOUR VOICE HEARD, OR WAS IT SOMETHING YOU HAD TO WORK INTO?
“I don’t know. I really don’t feel like I’ve offered a whole lot in the debriefs other than just talking about my race and my race car. But you know, maybe the crew chiefs and engineers can listen to me talk and get a lot out of it. But I haven’t like offered any advice or what I think we need or anything like that. I feel like we’ve don’t a good job and I’m really just trying to learn everybody. But I do think me coming from a different team and being able to talk about what I’ve previously felt in the past before, kind of like I mentioned about the bumps in Turn 3 at Homestead and the No. 42 versus the No. 5 was a different ride quality, I think that can kind of help them know that they’re on the right path and stuff like that. And I think as we get more races into the year, I’ll be able to offer a little bit more. But I’ve been comfortable with everything. I feel like I’ve been comfortable communicating with everybody in the race shop and all the teams and am not afraid to ask questions and stuff like that. So, it’s all been really good. Nothing has felt out of the ordinary.”

THERE HAVE BEEN THREE DIFFERENT WINNERS SO FAR THIS SEASON. DOES THAT CHANGE HOW YOU AND YOUR TEAM ARE RACING AND DOES IT PUT MORE PRESSURE ON TRYING TO GET WINS AND EARN POINTS EARLY?
“I think it definitely puts a little more emphasis on grabbing points, just in case. We would have thought that after the first race or two, but then Michael McDowell has been really, really good since his win at Daytona. It’s been awesome to see that team contend and really show that they are a Playoff-capable team even if they weren’t to win Daytona. Yeah, points are always important. You never want to be in that bubble spot. I’ve been in that before and it’s not a nice feeling. You need to go out there and wrack up as many Stage points as you can and get the best finish you can get each weekend and try to limit those races where you finish outside of the top 20.”

HAVE THERE BEEN A LOT OF GUYS ASKING YOU FOR ADVICE ON THE BRISTOL ROAD COURSE OR MAYBE WHAT THEY CAN DO TO PREPARE IN ADVANCE OF THAT RACE?
“Not yet. No, I think because everybody probably understands that a Cup car is so different than most dirt cars you can get in. I guess I’ve had a couple of people ask if there are any Late Model teams that they could get in for that race the week before. But even then, I don’t really even know a whole lot of people in the Late Model world than the people I race with. I think once we get there and get to practicing and stuff, some people may come up and ask me what I’m feeling and talk about how they’re feeling and see if that’s normal and all that. But it’s hard to ask questions and prepare for that race. I think if you were a driver that didn’t have much experience on dirt because it’s going to be such a different type of race. We’ll see. It’s nice that we get a day of practice and some heat races, hopefully everybody will be comfortable by the race.”

IS KEVIN RUMLEY WORKING AS A CONSULTANT FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS?
“I don’t really know for sure. I introduced (crew chief) Cliff (Daniels) and Kevin at Charlotte, so I think they’ve been able to probably ask questions and stuff. I don’t know if they have a consulting deal or anything like that. Kevin is extremely smart. He’s an engineer. I think if there were any questions presented to him with his engineering background, he can answer them, and probably the vocabularies between crew chiefs and engineers mold very well together. I know they’ve been talking. I don’t know how often. Cliff has mentioned that he’s talked to a lot of people even outside of Kevin Rumley. I think as an organization we should be in a good spot.”

HOW HAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CLIFF DANIELS EVOLVED OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS?
“It’s great. I feel like it’s even better now that we’re racing. I really enjoy him as a crew chief. I like how he is on the radio and how thorough he is on the radio as well as during the week. And really, my whole team, I really enjoy all of them. It’s a young team. All the engineers are young. Really, our whole team is young. It’s crazy that I’m in my 20’s and I bet there’s not too many guys that are a whole lot older than I am. It’s a fun atmosphere and we’re all dedicated to doing a great job and putting in all the work that we can and studying as much as we can. I don’t know if there’s really a team that’s worked harder than we have to be as prepared as we’ve been each week and I think that’s why we’ve been good in these first three races.”

ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY THIS YEAR TO GET UP TO SPEED OR TO GEL WITH THE TEAM, OR JUST ALL YOUR NORMAL PREPARATION?
“I would say mostly normal stuff. I think you just do it more. You look into it a little deeper. I think before, I would always look at data and watch the previous race and maybe get on iracing, but I always knew I had a couple of hours of practice to where I would figure it out once I got there. Where now, I feel like I’ve put in probably twice as much emphasis on studying that data because you don’t have a couple of hours to figure it out and time to debrief and talk to your teammates and stuff like that. So, you’ve really got to be as prepared as you can be going to the race track and being ready to go, so you’re not out to lunch at all in the first Stage, or anything like that. So, it’s shown. I had never made a lap at the Road Course in a Cup car before that event, and I felt like I was able to move forward right away. Definitely, all the resources that I’ve had to look at have benefitted me and I’ve just got to continue to stay hungry and keep studying and I think we’ll have some more good runs.”

YOU DIDN’T GET TO RACE AT SONOMA LAST YEAR, BUT YOU’VE SAT ON THE POLE THERE. HOW DO YOU FEEL LIKE MOVING TO HENDRICK IS GOING TO HELP YOU FOR THAT RACE?
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to Sonoma for sure. It’s my home race and I’ve always qualified well there. So, I know how to get around there fast. I’ve struggled on long run stuff. But I felt like at the Daytona Road Course I was probably a touch better than I typically was in the race in the past at road courses. I was optimistic about getting there and then during the competition meeting, everyone in the meeting was kind of talking about how they’re worried about Sonoma because it’s been a place that they’ve struggled in the past. I don’t know how we’ll be. But I enjoy road courses and I know I still have a lot more room to improve and I’m already okay at it. I think if I can continue to improve, I’ll have a good shot at a good run. I still think I’ve got a long way to go to be as fast as (Martin) Truex and Chase (Elliott), but I feel like I’m a top 10 guy. But that’s nothing to be satisfied about. Thankfully there are a lot of road courses this year and I get a lot of opportunities to work at my craft and try and get better. Hopefully, come a couple more races, I’ll be able to contend for wins and hopefully when we get to my home race, I can get a win there at Sonoma. That would be really cool. I don’t know if I can have any friends and stuff at the track, but if I do win I know I’m going to meet up and hang out with them.”
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
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 2, 2021

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:

HAVE YOU TALKED MUCH WITH RUDY (FUGLE, CREW CHIEF) ABOUT THE STRATEGY AND HOW IT MIGHT CHANGE NOW WITH A WIN?
“We meet on Tuesdays in the morning and mostly talk about the upcoming week. We’ll talk about the previous week if we have anything major, but most of that stuff is talked about Sunday or Monday. For us today, the approach doesn’t really change that much because we know what worked and we know what we want to achieve in our car. Vegas is different than this past weekend but in some ways it’s similar. For us, there might be a little more openness to a two-tire call or a little bit more strategy. But we’re still trying to race as hard as we can and try to win this weekend, as well… work on some pit road stuff on my end and work on some stuff for the pit crew; all those kinds of things we do to try and get better.”

DO YOU LOOK BACK AT LAST SPRING’S LAS VEGAS RACE BECAUSE OF SIMILAR TEMPERATURES OR ARE THERE THINGS TO PULL FROM LAST FALL’S PLAYOFF RACE?
“There are some similarities to last year’s race, but I think the cars have evolved so much since that race. The weather and track trends will be similar to last spring, but the cars and the setups have changed so much since that race. I think we’re really looking more at the fall, looking at what the No. 9 did. He was fast and the No. 88 was pretty fast. We’ll look at what those guys did and try to build around that. We’ll keep up with the trends of the racetrack. The differences in the two races are that the spring has more sunlight but a lower temp, and then the fall has a little more shade but a higher track temp. It’s a little bit of a weird phenomenon there, but I think you focus on the most recent race.”

IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS, HAVE YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF KYLE LARSON, HOW HE DRIVES AND LEARNING MORE ABOUT HIM?
“I’ve been super impressed with Kyle. He’s everything in terms of talent that I thought from watching from afar and having just the little bit of access to his data in the past from CGR. I’m impressed with his honesty and how he’s able to describe the car, be completely blunt and honest about it and not sugar-coat anything good or bad. He tells you how he thinks and how he thought his car is, the strategy or whatever. I like that. It’s making me more open in those competition meetings and making everybody a little more open and less gun-shy.”

WHAT DOES AN EARLY-SEASON WIN MEAN AT THIS POINT?
“It’s huge. I feel like I go to sleep with less stress. I didn’t get a lot of sleep Monday but this past night I went to sleep and woke up with a lot less anxiety. It’s really easy to stress about points during the NASCAR season, and we don’t have to worry about that. We definitely want to try and get in the top-10 in points for the obvious reasons of the bonus points for the playoffs. All of that is still important to us, but you don’t have to worry as much. We’re still going to have bad weeks and bad races, but it makes it a lot easier to go to the racetrack with one goal – to win and try to gather as many points as possible in a good way, not a defensive way.”

FOR ATLANTA, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN TO FANS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO RACE THERE AND WHY DRIVERS SEEM TO LIKE IT TOO MUCH?
“I think it’s a lot like playing golf at The Masters or something where you understand how hard it is, but that’s what makes it fun. For us, it’s like playing a tough golf course. There are some things about it that you just love the challenge of. It’s so low on grip that I had a flat tire under caution, and I couldn’t feel it because the grip was so low. It’s one of those places where you have to have a lot of trust in your team to give you a good car. I think Rodney (Childers) and Kevin (Harvick) have shown that they have it figured out and know what to look for there. We’re chasing those guys, but it will be fun. I think this year that the track will have some similarities to Homestead, so I’m kind of excited for it. Honestly I’ve never been that excited for Atlanta in a Cup car. It’s just very challenging. So it might be different this year, hopefully.”

WHEN YOU WERE PAIRED WITH RUDY IN THE TRUCKS SERIES, WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HIM? WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THE BOND YOU FORMED THAT ALLOWED YOU PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF YEARS LATER?
“I think when I worked with him in the Trucks series, I was so young – not that I’m not young now because I get a lot of jokes about it – and naïve in a lot of ways of what racing really was about. I hadn’t raced a car in general for a long time. I think I was like three or four years in and didn’t know what to expect or tell him about the racecar. I could tell him what I felt and the things I thought I needed, and he always listened but always brought some insight himself. He picks up on little things. I think that’s the biggest thing with him… the attention to detail in all aspects. When we got back together this year, we had been away from each other for awhile and both learned from our experiences over the last few years that kind of strengthened us. In a lot of ways, we’re more technical now than we were back in the trucks.”

WITH A WIN ALREADY, DO YOU THINK ABOUT MULTIPLE WINS? HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT AND IS THAT SOMETHING THAT IS HIGH UP ON THE LIST THAT YOU HAVE TO DO?
“I think there was more pressure from a ‘one-race wonder’ type feeling from the first one to the second. That’s more of what I was referring to (Sunday night) because I feel like the first win is always the monkey-off-your-back. Everyone says that, but they don’t get any easier at all. I think that taste and that drive to win is there after the first one for me, which is what I noticed. Going throughout the year, you hope you can get multiple wins. That would be a phenomenal season. There aren’t many guys that do that… I think the top six or seven guys. That’s our goal. I said during the offseason that it was to be in that top-six to eight guys that can win every week. We have a lot of work to do to get to that point. It’s a good start, and we’re ahead of schedule. There are a lot of good tracks for us, so we have to see how the year goes.”

COMING UP TO BRISTOL, YOUR NEW TEAMMATE KYLE HAS SIGNED UP TO RACE THE MODIFIED RACE THE WEEKEND BEFORE. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU’RE LOOKING AT DOING OR THINKING ABOUT?
“I’m going to run a dirt car by myself at a test. I can’t say I’m going to be very good. Rudy and I joke a lot about how Eldora went for me. I’m not excited about the dirt race. There’s definitely less stress for me after the win. We’ll see how it goes. I feel like the best thing for me to do is to show up, put in a good effort and try to learn as much as I can throughout the weekend. For somebody like Kyle, he really enjoys it and can be competitive. For someone like me going in a dirt car and racing a bunch of guys that race every week is probably not the smartest decision. We’ll see. I’ll see how this dirt test goes and hopefully it goes pretty well. Maybe we can finish in the top-15; that’s kind of the goal right now.”

WHERE IS THAT DIRT TEST, AND HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO LEAN ON KYLE FOR ADVICE?
“I don’t know where the test will be. It’s a dirt car that one of the guys who works at HMS in the fab shop has. I’m going to go with him and test, and hopefully he can teach me some things. I’ll try to pick Kyle’s brain as much as possible. I’ve had Christopher Bell as a teammate in the past, and he was very helpful. It’s just a matter of doing it, and that’s the hard part.”

RUDY WAS ASKED SUNDAY ABOUT HOW SIMILAR THE 550-HP PACKAGE THE CUP CARS IS COMPARED TO WHAT THE TRUCKS HAVE HAD THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS. HOW DO YOU SEE THAT?
“It’s very fitting for his style. Rudy has done a lot of different kinds of racing. He’s very versatile. He’s done a lot of Super Late Model races with Kyle. I’ll be honest, I don’t think we would struggle at any track. He would do well with the low-downforce package. It does suit his style or background. He can take some of the things comments that I used to make and Kyle used to make about the trucks and take that into account when he’s making decisions.”

WHEN YOU AND RUDY WON IN TRUCKS AT HOMESTEAD IN 2016, WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU TOOK AWAY FROM THERE THAT YOU USED SUNDAY FOR THE WIN?
“Not really. It’s a totally different car. In terms of the track, I took some things from my Xfinity days when the race went day to night, and some of that stuff kind of comes back to you but it’s a few years ago.”

YOU WENT TO THE CHILI BOWL THIS PAST YEAR. WHAT WERE YOUR IMPRESSIONS?
“I loved it. I had probably the best opportunity to watch it with Jeff Gordon. I talked to Christopher (Bell) quite a bit, Alex (Bowman) a little bit and Kyle (Larson) quite a bit. Those guys are just really cool to talk to about dirt racing. Not that any of the dirt racing makes sense to me, but watching them really helped it make sense with some of the things they were doing. It was just really cool to see in person and see some of the things they are able to do with their cars. You watch Kyle and Christopher, and they are in a different zip code of how they can adapt and learn each lap during the feature. The cool part for me was seeing how they separated themselves in the race. Seeing Christopher go for it at the end was pretty fun.”

COULD YOU SEE YOURSELF GETTING INTO MIDGET CARS AT SOME POINT?
“For sure. I think it would be different driving a proper dirt car and seeing how that feels. They look really fun to drive. I hate to compare it to this, but I think Legends cars have some similarities on asphalt. In terms of the distance from the wheels, I think I’d feel pretty comfortable because of my Legends cars background. I could see it being fun.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE YOUNG GUY MOVEMENT THAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW? IT’S KIND OF BEEN ALL OVER THE PLACE SINCE THE START OF THE SEASON.
“It’s kind of a product of the racetracks, the variety there and not having practice. Someone asked me whether experience pays off. I think with no practice, there is a little more parity throughout the field. I don’t know exactly what it is. There are plenty of guys like (Martin) Truex Jr. and (Kevin) Harvick who were all really fast this weekend. You’ll see those guys prevail as the season goes along. They communicate well with their teams, they get the cars to do what they need to do. Hopefully we are a part of that. That is our goal… to continue to be like those guys. We have to keep working at it.”

WHAT IS THE TEAM COMMERADERIE LIKE BETWEEN ALL OF YOU BEING IN YOUR TWENTIES?
“Very productive. Kyle is very involved. Everyone has been open and everyone has been running well. There isn’t a weak link by any means. We’re all kind of up there in the points and running well. The goal is for everyone to win a race here soon. Everything is going pretty great.”

IS THIS RACE AT LAS VEGAS ONE YOU LOOK FORWARD TO?
“Yes and no. I feel like it’s usually the first gauge of what speed you have. But that was Homestead this weekend, and Homestead kind of took the place of Atlanta. We used to go to Atlanta for the first real race of the season and you figured out what kind of downforce you had and how good your car was. Now we went to Homestead, and I feel like we performed better than we expected to. I feel pretty confident for this weekend but you never really know how things are going to go.”

LOOKING BACK AT SUNDAY, HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO HAVE A SOLID RESTART WITH THE LONG GREEN-FLAG RUNS?
“Really important. Even though my car was really good, you have to try and capitalize early. It makes it that much harder to pass each guy as you get through the field. If I hadn’t gotten a good restart, I think I would have been mired in around third or fifth and maybe gotten to the lead later. But then (Tyler) Reddick would have been coming hard. That cushion and gap we were able to build after we got the lead was big for us to be able to manage our tires.”

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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Zoom Media Availability | Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series, goes into this weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway fourth in the point standings.  The Daytona 500 winner is also on a season-opening streak that has seen him post a top-10 finish in all three events, one of only two drivers to do that.  McDowell was this week’s guest on the Ford Zoom call and talked about a variety of topics.

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang — DO YOU HAVE BETTER CARS, BETTER ENGINES OR BETTER CONFIDENCE?  “None of the above.  I think that it’s a combination of different things and one of those things is that we ran fairly well last year at Homestead.  We kind of had a top-15 car and were able to come back with something very similar with a few adjustments.  I think the competition has actually come back towards us.  My guys have done a great job.  We’ve made our cars a little bit lighter, a little bit more downforce and we’ve made some small gains, but I don’t feel like we’ve done anything different or special as far as engines and chassis and all those things.  We’re still getting the same equipment that we got last year.  I feel like we’re executing better and I feel like starting up front helps a tremendous amount.  When you start 25th or 30th it’s just hard to dig yourself out of that hole, so I think that the track position helped us early on.  Obviously, we had a car capable of it, but I think there’s a lot of factors to it.  We didn’t go out and buy new chassis and buy new cars and have a bunch of new parts and pieces.  We’re running the same stuff we ran last year, it’s just our guys have done a good job of making it a little bit faster, a little bit better and feel like cracking down on some of the shenanigans going on has helped close the gap for us.”

DO YOU FEEL BRINGING BACK THE WHEEL WELL TEMPLATE HELPED YOU GUYS?  “Yeah, there are a few other things too that definitely contributed I think to bringing the field closer together, not just the wheel openings, but just how you go through inspection and how you’re blocked up in the left-rear and how you’re not now, I think, has eliminated some other opportunities too.”

THE FIRST THREE RACES HAVE BEEN ALL DIFFERENT TRACKS.  DOES THAT GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE COMING TO PHOENIX, A FLAT ONE-MILE OVAL?  “Yes and no.  So, this year has been going well and we sort of hit the setup at all three places, in particular the Daytona road course and Homestead with no practice, but Phoenix is a track that is one that we have circled that we really struggled at last year, not just our Front Row cars but Roush cars in general.  We haven’t had what needed at that particular track and not just Phoenix but probably Loudon and Richmond as well.  Hopefully, we’ve made gains.  We’re definitely going back to those racetracks with a completely different approach from a setup standpoint, just because they were such a struggle, where Miami we sort of had something to build on from last year and Daytona road course we had something to build on from last year.  Those races have been a struggle, in particular the shorter flat tracks, so we definitely need to improve and hopefully we did, but you just don’t know until you get out on the racetrack and see what you’ve got.”

GENERALLY SPEAKING, DO YOU HAVE A DEFAULT PREFERENCE WITH THE CHOOSE RULE OR ARE YOU LITERALLY MAKING THE DECISION ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS?  “It is very case-by-case.  There’s a lot of data and information to go through to look at history and what lane kind of is preferred and not preferred, but it is an ongoing process and it’s different at every track.  It’s not super cut-and-dried.  I hate having the option, to be honest with you.  I just hate choosing and having to make that decision because you’re just like, ‘Oh, man.  Did I make the right move?  Did I not make the right move?’  So, it’s added a variable and another level of thinking that I don’t want.”

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO RUN UP FRONT?  “It feels great.  It’s very rewarding, in particular last week at Homestead.  It was, overall, an awesome team performance, not just on-track, but even our pit stops were good.  We came in in the top 10 and left in the top 10 and even gained a couple spots, so there’s so much to having good on-track performance and it was just nice to have one of those days where it was all there.  We had a fast car.  We executed well.  The strategy was good.  The pit stops were good.  Not that it was easy, but it was a pretty smooth day altogether and it was a special day for me.  I know coming off the 500 it’s hard to compare to that, but to run how we ran at Homestead it was a very rewarding race for us.”

IS THE RACING ANY DIFFERENT UP THERE?  “No, not for me yet.  I think that there’s a couple different elements to it, but guys aren’t used to necessarily me being up there all the time, and so that made it a little bit different racing a lot of the guys that typically don’t race the 34 and I don’t typically race.  There was some getting used to each other, let’s just say that, but, for me, the race was kind of the same.  You’re trying to get every spot that you can, whether it’s the 2 that you’re trying to pass or the 43.  It doesn’t matter which car it is, you’re just trying to get around them and next car, next car, next car, you just keep pushing.”

HOW DO YOUR KIDS VIEW DAD NOW THAT HE’S A DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION?  “I don’t think they view dad any different.  I don’t think so.  You’d have to ask them, but they were excited for the win, but kids, not that they don’t care, but it’s not gonna change their lives immediately and for them it’s a fun moment but you’re still back to school work and chores and everything else the very next minute.”

WHAT DO YOU DO NOW THAT A LOT OF YOUR GOALS HAVE ALREADY BEEN MET?  “I’m processing all of that too, trying to figure out what that is.  I haven’t been in this spot before, so you’re trying to process that.  You always want to have goals and you always want to have something that you’re trying to achieve and we have.  We have achieved that already, so what does it look like next?  I’m not exactly sure what the expectation looks like, but I think the approach and the mentality stays the same, and our approach has always just been to fight hard, give it everything you have and if that’s 20th, then you fight as hard as you can to make sure you get a 20th or better.  And if you’ve got a 15th-place car, you fight as hard as you can to run 15th or better, so I don’t know how we’ll be at Vegas and I don’t know how we’ll be at Phoenix.  I would love to be the guy that comes on here that I think sort of everybody wants to be like, ‘Yeah, we’re legit.  We’re gonna win five races this year and we’re gonna contend for the championship.’  I don’t know that to be true, but I do know we’re gonna fight our guts out and we’ll see where we end up because I don’t know.  We don’t know what it looks like going to Vegas.  We don’t know whether we’ll have the speed that we did at Homestead or if we’re gonna run 20th, but we’re gonna fight hard and we’re gonna keep pushing at the shop, at the track and keep trying to move in a good direction, and I think that will pay off, but I really can’t tell you where I think we’re at or what the expectations are.”

ARE THE GUYS RACING YOU DIFFERENTLY. MAYBE WITH MORE RESPECT OR MAYBE HARDER BECAUSE YOU ARE NOW A THREAT?  “I’m not really sure.  I think that at Homestead I felt like I was there racing pretty hard.  What I can just tell you, I won’t throw out names because I don’t want to turn it into that, but I literally saw a driver wave another driver by and then race me for the next seven laps like it was the last lap, so there are two things that I think about with that.  One is there are top guys that don’t want to be passed by the 34 and I get it, I understand that because they think that they’re having a really bad day of the 34 is going around them.  On the flip side, I somewhat deserve it because I race the guts out of everybody and always have.  Even when I was in bad cars I never made it easy on anybody, so I don’t expect them to make it easy on me, if that makes sense.  There are guys out there that race each other really well and they’re always up front.  I think of Martin Truex.  He is a fair racer.  He races hard.  He knows when to push it.  He knows when not to push it, and I think that out of everybody out there he’s one of the guys that will cut you a break and he expects you to cut him a break, and he does.  He has that mutual respect.  I’ve raced everybody so hard that I don’t think that I’m gonna get cut breaks, and honestly I don’t expect it (laughing).  So, my feelings are not hurt when they guys are racing me really hard.”

HAS THE RECENT SUCCESS INCREASED THE AMOUNT OF FIGHT FOR YOUR TEAM?  “Yeah, definitely.  And I think momentum is a big part of our sport.  Momentum and confidence is hard to fabricate.  You can’t just make it up.  You either have it or you don’t and you only have it with results and performance, so I do think that.  I do think that we have more confidence and, like I said, it affects every area from the shop to the pit stops to myself.  All of those things are definitely important, but I feel like at the same time we’ve taken a very similar approach that we have in the last few years and we’ve been making steady gains and I think that’s why we’re at where we’re at, so we don’t want to change too much because you don’t want to overthink it and you don’t want to get outside of what’s been working for you, but definitely everybody has confidence and a little pep in their step and it affects every area.”

HOW HAS YOUR LIFE CHANGED OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS?  “That’s such a tough question to answer.  I’ve had it several times.  You think that I would have done a better job of being prepared for it.  I hate to say it like this, but my life hasn’t changed a whole lot since winning the 500.  I mean, it’s been very exciting and it’s been busy and very thankful to win the race and to have all the things that come with it, but as far as your actual life it doesn’t change.  I think that’s the thing that is hard to describe.  I’m still taking my kids to school and I’m still doing all the things I do and still going to the Ford simulator every week and still working out — still doing all the things you normally do it’s just that you’ve got a win sticker on your car, you’re locked into the playoffs and you’ve got an awesome trophy at the house.  Those things are great and I don’t want to downplay it, but as far as changing my life I feel like we just keep pushing away like we’ve always done.”

A FEW DRIVERS HAVE SIGNED UP FOR THE BRISTOL DIRT NATIONALS.  ARE YOU PLANNING TO RACE IN THAT THE WEEK BEFORE THE CUP EVENT AND WILL IT BE AN ADVANTAGE?  “I agree with everybody.  I agree with Kurt that the cars are so different and the style is so different that it’s not gonna be a huge learning experience from the driving style and how you need to approach it, but I think that any track time in any race is good to do.  I think that anytime that you can be in a race car and you’re working all those sensors and learning new things that it’s always gonna help.  It doesn’t matter what you do, so I agree with both.  Yes, I do have a couple tests lined up and I am working on being in that race as well.  We’re trying to hammer out the details.  We’re getting pretty close, but trying to put it all together.  Like I said, I do agree with Kurt, it’s not the same.  I was fortunate to run the ARCA race at Springfield and DuQuoin and in big, heavy stock cars like ours with a lot of power you are not slinging them in there sideways and running on the right-rear, yaw it out all the way up against the cushion.  Our cars just don’t do that as well, so I think that you can learn some bad habits as well as gain some track knowledge.”

IS THIS RACE BIG IN THE SENSE THAT IT’S ALSO A PLAYOFF TRACK LATER IN THE YEAR?  “I think that it’s important because you go there twice, and I think any racetrack that we go to twice is important because of that reason.  Every race counts and every point counts, but the playoff situation makes it even maybe an asterisk mark next to it.  As far as us trying a lot of crazy, wild things this weekend to get prepared for it, we’re not.  We felt like we had a pretty decent car there the last couple times, so we just want to keep improving upon that and see if what happened at Homestead will happen again at Vegas, where we make a little bit of a gain and the competition kind of comes back our direction and, all of a sudden, we’re in the fight.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but we do know it’s important with it having two races, for sure.”

HOW HAS YOUR FAITH GOTTEN YOU TO THIS POINT AND WHAT ROLE HAS IT PLAYED IN YOUR SUCCESS?  “For me, my faith is the foundation of who I am, so it affects every aspect of my life every single day, and it’s what’s most important to me.  As far as my career goes, I could see very easily how God has provided opportunities for me to stay in this sport and, honestly, I think you all could probably see it too.  There are a lot of great drivers right now that are no longer in our sport that are more marketable, more talented, younger and better-looking and could attract sponsors and all those things, so I’ve seen God continue to provide opportunities and it’s also been a struggle, too.  The struggle, I think, is where your faith really comes into play.  Mountain top experiences are great, but it’s in the ditches and it’s in the trenches is where God is really shaping and molding you and so I feel, for me, as far as my faith and the win, I’m not a prosperity, gospel kind of guy.  I was serving Jesus before the win and I didn’t need the win for me to know that He’s good and that I was gonna do that the rest of my life.  The fact that I got to experience the win, I feel like is incredible and I never had that feeling that I did it.  I never crossed the line and I was like, ‘I did it.  I finally won.  I did all this hard work.’  I literally felt like God allowed me to experience this and be a part of something way bigger and cooler than I could dream up.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE R&D AND MANUFACTURING FREEZE THAT’S BEEN GOING ON.  WHY THAT’S HAPPENING AND WHAT DIFFERENCE IT HAS MADE?  “I’m probably not the best versed on it, but I’ll do my best job, just don’t take these as facts but as how I understand them is when the new car was on schedule to get rolled out there was sort of a development freeze in certain areas and certain parts couldn’t be re-designed and there’s the submittal process and all that.  And then obviously with that being delayed a year and with COVID there were even more freezes put in place as far as development goes, on what you could submit, parts you’ve already submitted.  Like I said, I’m not as versed as some of our competition guys here, but what I’ve seen is that a few years ago every week or every month you have all new suspension, all new chassis-designs for one little gain.  One little aero gain underneath the car required all-new spindles, all-new brake ducts, all-new suspensions.  I mean, we’re talking about $50,000, $60, 000, $70,000 a week in updates, and so when you had to submit what you had, and there’s some wiggle room in there and you can still make things better and stronger, but you’re not completely redesigning components and chassis and everything that goes along with it, I believe, has allowed us to catch up in the sense that we’ve always had quality people that knew that they were doing, we just were always so far behind that we were scrambling.  Well, now that we have the same bits and pieces week after week, month after month and now year after year, we’ve just been able to make everything a little bit better, a little bit faster, a little bit stronger and be more efficient with what he have and not have to be so far behind chasing our tails trying to figure out what’s the next big chunk and what’s the next big spend we have to do to try to keep up.”

WHAT IS THE ATMOSPHERE AT THE 34 SHOP?  “It’s been fun.  Everybody is excited and got pep in their step, just enjoying it.  We know that these things don’t always last forever.  We would love for them to, but we’ve been enjoying these weeks that we’ve had and running well, and I think too that there’s a level of intensity right now to keep it going and to keep it rolling, so it’s fun.  It’s a fun time to be at Front Row Motorsports.  We’re all enjoying it and it’s a tremendous team effort, and everybody has worked really hard here in all the departments in all the areas to get us to where we’re at.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR CELEBRATION WHEN YOU ARRIVED AT THE AIRPORT AND BACK AT THE SHOP?  “It’s obviously been very enjoyable and fun, but it’s also different.  It’s different than your normal Daytona 500 victory and tour and flying all around and all the different things that come with it because of COVID and just trying to do everything we can to be socially responsible and safe as we can.  At the shop, it looks very different.  The celebration is different.  The celebration with your friends and family looks a little bit different, but I’m not complaining.  I’m thankful that my family is healthy and happy and everyone is doing well, but it definitely is a challenge to try to fully embrace and enjoy it all, but it’s been fun.  That lasts about four or five days and it was right back to the racetrack and back to work, and I like that.  I like the rhythm of our sport.  I like every week is a new week and a new opportunity, but I’m still enjoying the victory and still enjoying the win and just trying to take it all in.”

IS IT TRUE YOU DRIVE YOUR OWN BUS?  “I did, and I do.  There’s been years where I haven’t, but a majority of my career I’ve been on the road with my family and we did that for about eight years and then it got to a point where I couldn’t do it anymore.  I wasn’t doing anything well.  I wasn’t doing my job as a race car driver well.  I wasn’t doing my job as a motorcoach driver well, or trying to get my kids back to school on Monday after racing all day on Sunday and I was just wore out.  So, thankfully, my in-laws came and drove the bus for a couple years and it was great to have family with us and for my kids to have their grandparents there, and that took a big burden off of me because it was very challenging to keep up with everything, especially when I went back full-time.  This year I’ve been driving it, but with the one-day shows and the restrictions and protocols it’s not as necessary to bring it to every race, so I’m not really sure what the future holds with that, but I enjoy windshield time.  I enjoy spending time on the road and it just lets you think and it kind of helps me decompress a little bit.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 2, 2021

RUDY FUGLE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript:

WHAT IS THE LEVEL OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOVING FROM A TRUCK SERIES TEAM TO A NASCAR CUP SERIES TEAM?
“There’s a totally different amount of people, like ten times the amount of people, literally, from 60 to 600 people that are trying to help you win. I managed a much smaller amount of people directly on my team in the Truck Series. You only have some much time to work on the truck compared to the car. Details are always different. But overall, all the nuts and bolts are in effect that you need to lead as crew chief and make pit calls and really interact with the driver the right way. It’s a big jump, for sure. It’s hard. It’s definitely not easy. I’m not trying to underplay that. The fact that we had good cars and we had a good team. I didn’t build a team. I came into a team. So, I’m pretty lucky. William (Byron) was ready to go. We know he’s a good driver. He just needs some experience and I think we’re ready to contend more often.”

OFTEN WHEN CREW CHIEF CHANGES ARE MADE IN THIS ERA, IT GOES TO AN ENGINEER. RIGHT NOW, NOT AS MANY TEAMS ARE BRINGING ENGINEERS TO THE TRACK. AS WE SEE MORE CHANGES DOWN THE ROAD IN THE SHORT TERM, WILL THIS LEAD TO CHANGES WITH MORE FOCUS ON MANAGEMENT?
“It could be. But I still think you need the engineering background. I’m a mechanical engineer. I started out as a race engineer for quite a while. So, I have that background; not quite nearly as good as my engineers are on my team. And then you see a lot of teams that take their Cup race engineer, they send them to Xfinity, they do well, and then they move back up. Adam Stevens and Greg Ives are perfect examples of that. So, they get that management experience in a lower level. There’s a lot of little things that you don’t get to do as a race engineer that has to do with not just making the car fast but managing the whole weekend.”

WHAT KIND OF ADVICE OR FEEDBACK HAVE YOU GOTTEN FROM CHAD KNAUS?
“I work with Chad every day. His office is right next to mine. We’re in meetings every day. He leads our company from a competition standpoint. So, I definitely take his input all the time. And then, just the fact that he was the leader of this team, he comes and checks in with his guy, his old guys, and just makes sure that everything is going well. As he said, he’s got a lot of blood in the No. 24 currently (like) guys that he’s hired and helped train. So, I definitely use him up a lot.”

HAS CHAD KNAUS BEEN HANDS-OFF IN LETTING YOU COME IN AND MANAGE THINGS THE WAY YOU WANT TO, OR DOES HE STILL HAVE A VOICE IN THE PROCESS?
“No, when I ask for help or maybe he saw I needed to do something better he’ll say something; but he kind of let me go on my own because I needed to. But I’m always up for suggestions and talking and asking, so I try to take as much input as I can.”

COMING FROM KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS, IS IT A LITTLE BIT OVERWHELMING TO HAVE ALL THESE RESOURCES TO WORK WITH?
“Yeah, the first week was really eye-opening. I really haven’t spent much time here, period. They have a campus. They don’t have a building. And then you’ve got so many different managers that are so intelligent and so experienced to lean on. It’s definitely different. I was kind of the lead at KBM and there were other people that helped me but there are so much more resources at this level. It was a big step to figure out who my go-to people would be. Who do I go to at Chevrolet, at Hendrick Motorsports; who do I talk to for this or that, and over the first few months I’ve just found that everybody has been so super helpful in different ways; so, it’s been great.”

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS TEAM HAS IT ALL IN PLACE, EXCEPT FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF CONSISTENTLY WINNING, TO BE A CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE CONTENDER?
“That’s what we’re going to find out. We have the right race cars. We have the engines. We have the people. And we’re going to put ourselves through the rigors to become a week-in and week-out contender like you see the No. 4 and the No. 18 car and the No. 11 car, the No. 19 car, and the No. 9 car clearly; and you see all those, every single week a contender and you’re surprised when they run 12th. That’s what we have to be. Sometimes that takes training just by putting yourself through the rigors of the season, myself included, in a different series. That’s how I’ve always approached how to win a championship, with lots of different rookie drivers. And that’s how I’ve taken the approach. You go work on how to be a champion and when it comes time to perform, hopefully you’re good enough.”

KYLE BUSCH AND KYLE LARSON AND OTHERS ARE RACING IN THE MODIFIED RACE THE WEEK BEFORE BRISTOL. IS THAT A GOOD IDEA? WOULD YOU ENCOURAGE WILLIAM TO DO THAT TO GET THE EXPERIENCE?
“With eight or so years of experience at Eldora, what I know is that the tire we race on in the stock car or truck or whatever, is nothing like anything else. They handle really poorly. They’re slow. The tire doesn’t have a ton of grip. So, any type of experience in different types and forms of racing doesn’t really, really help when it comes to getting better in a Cup car around Bristol I don’t think. But obviously there are things to gain just on what the track is like and what the track does and being there and seeing it. Of course, if Larson is going to run something, he’s going to go in, right? It’s just fun for him. He can hop out and to that and it never hurts when you’re that good at dirt to do stuff like that.”

HOW WAS IT TO WALK IN THE BUILDING AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS ON MONDAY AS A WINNING CREW CHIEF?
“Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I started and walked through each building and thanked everybody and told them good job and congrats and I just hope to be able to do that more often.”

WHAT ARE YOUR EARLIEST MEMORIES RELATED TO NASCAR? WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED OUT, WHAT DID YOU VIEW AS BEING YOUR ULTIMATE CAREER GOAL?
“I was a NASCAR fan as a young kid. I think I was at a NASCAR race when I was a couple of years old. And then it was the thing for my Dad and me to maybe be my birthday present to go to a race a year, so I’ve definitely been a race fan for life. And then you grow up and I worked in a salvage yard with my family and realized that was pretty hard work and I wanted to get a degree and try to not have to work that hard every day. That led me to mechanical engineering and trying to get on a race team and you always have a goal of being a Cup crew chief. That’s it. You want to be Chad Knaus. And then different paths and different jobs and climates of how NASCAR has gone up and down in the past 15 years has been pretty volatile. So, you have really good jobs; and you think you’re on the way up and then that race team is not in business anymore and you have to find another job; but just keep working and working. So, this was a pretty fast find to get this opportunity and then be able to succeed so far. I have bigger goals. Hopefully we can succeed at those later on in the year.”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING THE CREW CHIEF ON THE NO. 24 CAR
“Yeah, it’s special. It’s an historic number. Hendrick Motorsports is an historic place with great sponsors and to just be able to succeed is amazing. I definitely took a chance to be able to come over here and try to prove to myself, most importantly, that I could. And to have a win early is pretty awesome.”

GOING TO LAS VEGAS, WHAT’S THE KEY FOR WILLIAM BYRON TO DO WELL AT THAT TRACK?
“This Vegas race especially, is kind of different. There are cooler temperatures. And with this 550-hp package, there’s some drafting and definitely the way the drag versus downforce, so we’re trying to get that figured out where we have enough speed in the car, but also have the handling. The restarts at Las Vegas are as intense as anywhere. If you go back through the races there’s a lot of side-drafting, side-by-side pushing, wrecks early and late on the restarts. We’re just going to see how that goes.”

DOES HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS STILL DO THE VICTORY BELL CELEBRATION? IF SO, WHAT IS IT GOING TO BE LIKE TO RING THAT BELL FOR THE FIRST TIME?
“I’m just finding out that we haven’t done it with COVID-19. All that stuff is new to me. I haven’t been here for that. So, hopefully we get through this stuff and we keep winning and be able to do it for real. That would be pretty cool.”

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WIN AGAIN WITH WILLIAM BYRON NOW ON THE BIG STAGE?
“It’s great. That’s the reason I came over here is to be able to work with William. I believe in him. He believes in me. I’ve believed in him since day one in the Trucks and to be able to realize not only our dreams but our goal as well to be able to compete at this level and win and to be able to do it together. When somebody believes in you like he does in me and I do in him, it’s fun to be successful.”

YOU MENTIONED HENDRICK MOTORSPORT BEING A CAMPUS INSTEAD OF A BUILDING. DO YOU HAVE ANY WELCOME STORIES TO SHARE? DO YOU GET LOST IN THE HALLS?
“I get lost in the halls in pretty much every building. I got lost coming up to this conference room. So, it’s definitely way different to try to figure out where you’re supposed to be. I know my area pretty well, but that’s about it.”
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.

Team: No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
Pennzoil 400 – Sunday, March 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

ADVANCE NOTES

Newman at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

· Newman makes his 23rd Cup start at Las Vegas on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 15.6 with 10 top-10 finishes.

· Seven of the last nine starts at LVMS have netted a top-15 finish for Newman. He’s coming off a 15th-place run there last fall, and also ran 10th in the fall race in 2019. He missed the 2020 spring race after recovering from his Daytona 500 crash.

· Newman’s best finish at the 1.5-mile facility came in 2015 when he finished third, one of his four top fives at the track dating back to 2001. He ran fourth twice – first in 2002 and again in 2012 – and also finished fifth in 2011.

· He has an average starting position of 15.4 at Vegas with one pole and nine top-10 starts.

Scott Graves at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

· Graves calls his eighth Cup race at Las Vegas on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 18.3 with two top-10s.

· Graves led Newman to the 10th-place run in the 2019 fall race, and also finished eighth in 2018 with Daniel Suarez.

· He also called three Xfinity races – including two with Chris Buescher – and finished ninth in 2014.

QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing at Las Vegas:
“We’re excited to get out West to Las Vegas and back up our strong performance this past Sunday with another top-10, if not better. We put together a solid top-10 in the fall race two years ago, and ran decent there again late last year. We’ve got a little pep in our step knowing the speed we had this past weekend in Homestead, but there’s still plenty work to be done, and this Sunday is another opportunity to do so in the Wyndham Rewards Ford.”

Last Time Out
Newman maneuvered his way to a seventh-place run Sunday at Homestead, his first top-10 of the young 2021 season. After starting 23rd, he powered his way inside the top-10 early and battled back into the fray late. The finish marked his first top-10 on a non-Superspeedway track since the 2019 season finale at Homestead when he ran seventh, one of his 14 top-10s that season.

Where They Rank
Ryan Newman is 20th in the driver standings through three races.

On the Car
Wyndham Rewards returns to Newman’s No. 6 machine for its first race of 2021. It marks the brand’s fourth season with Roush Fenway and the No. 6 team after they initially joined the fold in 2018 with Matt Kenseth.

About Wyndham Rewards
Recently named the number one hotel rewards program by readers of USA TODAY, Wyndham Rewards® is the world’s most generous rewards program with more than 50,000 hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals worldwide. Designed for the everyday traveler, members earn a guaranteed 1,000 points with every qualified stay and may redeem points for a wide range of rewards, including free nights at over 8,900 hotels or thousands of vacation club resorts and vacation rentals globally through affiliation with Wyndham Destinations and others. Wyndham Rewards has 86 million enrolled members around the globe. Join for free today at www.wyndhamrewards.com. You’ve earned this.®

Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Luke Lambert
Twitter: @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
Pennzoil 400 – Sunday, March 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

ADVANCE NOTES

Buescher at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

· Buescher makes his ninth Cup start at Las Vegas on Sunday, where he carries an average finish of 17.2 with one top-10, which came in his most recent outing there last fall.

· In that event, Buescher started 16th but powered to a top-10 in the 400-mile race – one of his eight top-10 finishes in the 2020 season.

· Buescher also ran 14th in the spring race a year ago, one of his four overall top-15s at the 1.5-mile track.

· Buescher had two Xfinity starts at Vegas with a best finish of ninth in 2014 under Scott Graves. A year later the duo went on to finish 14th in the 2015 race.

Luke Lambert at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

· Lambert will call his 12th Cup race at LVMS on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 13.5 with four top-10 finishes.

· In 11 prior starts, Lambert has top result of third, which came with Ryan Newman in 2015. He led Buescher to the ninth-place run last fall, and his 13.5 average finish stands as the best of any track on the circuit in his 10-year stint as a crew chief.

· Lambert also called one Xfinity Series event for Elliott Sadler in 2012, finishing third after starting on the pole.

QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Las Vegas:
“Vegas is another opportunity for our team and organization to prove what we’re capable of. While it’s different from Homestead in many ways, it carries a lot of speed and is a place we felt good about after finishing ninth last fall. We’re excited for the opportunity come Sunday, and look forward to another solid day in the Fastenal Ford.”

Last Time Out
Buescher was the talk of the afternoon last Sunday in Homestead, ultimately finishing 19th after winning the opening stage, earning a playoff point and leading 57 laps.

· Buescher passed 11 cars in the opening 53 laps before taking the lead, one he would hold for 57 laps, marking more than he led any prior season in his Cup career.

· It also marked the most laps led for any RFR car on an intermediate track since Carl Edwards paced the field for 68 laps at Atlanta in 2013.

· Buescher took the green-checkered stage one in the lead, marking his second stage win (Talladega last fall). He went on to finish sixth in the second stage, earning a career-high 15 stage points.

Where They Rank
Through three races in the 2021 campaign, Buescher is 15th in driver standings with one playoff point.

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.

Fastenal will feature top suppliers Loctite, Sqwincher, Norseman, Dupont/Tyvek and Lista on Buescher’s Mustang as he competes this weekend. For more information on these suppliers, visit Fastenal.com, and stay up-do-date on social @FastenalRacing, @Fastenal.

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.