NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 2, 2020

JUSTIN MARKS AND PITBULL, CO-OWNERS OF TRACKHOUSE RACING, AND DANIEL SUAREZ, DRIVER OF THE NO. 99 CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE FOR TRACKHOUSE RACING, met with media via teleconference in advance to the start of the 2021 season and the team’s debut in NASCAR Cup Series competition. Full Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: I would like to welcome you to today’s media availability with Trackhouse Racing. Pitbull, the Grammy-award winning superstar and co-owner of Trackhouse Racing is running a few minutes late. We’re also joined today by Justin Marks, the co-owner of Trackhouse Racing, and driver Daniel Suarez.

Justin, a lot of great news surrounding your race team as we head here into the 2021 season. Can you just talk a little bit about what you have going on and all the great developments that have taken place over the last few weeks?

JUSTIN MARKS: Thanks, everybody, for taking the time today. This is just a vision kind of coming together. I mean, this has been in the works for probably really two years now. So, for us to be able to put all the pieces together, to stay steadfastly committed to that vision and the goal of what we’re trying to build, to see it all come together here as we prepare to get ready for the Daytona 500 is pretty awesome, pretty special.

I mean, I made no secret from day one that what we were trying to accomplish here has to be a team that’s unique in its branding, that’s unique in its mission and the narrative around our activities, to try to communicate with fans and try to create content, try to create visual elements around this team that are unique and captivating and compelling for lots of fans.

I think we’ve done that so far. We’ve got some great partners and sponsors of the race team. Everybody’s excited to be a part of it. Yeah, it’s really nice. Seven days till unloading the cars down there so it’s getting pretty real.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for both Justin and Danny. Pitbull will join us soon.

Q. Daniel, I wanted to ask you how this deal all came about involving Pitbull. He was quoted as saying NASCAR is not only a sport but a culture. How much of an influence do you think he will have as an owner with you and the Hispanic community as far as attracting new fans?
DANIEL SUAREZ: Yeah, well, it was extremely cool to hear how this was actually getting into shape. I have known Pitbull for a few years. We have some friends, good friends, in common, but I didn’t have a personal relationship with him at all.
When Justin mentioned to me the possibilities that there were out there, I tell you it was just amazing. I’m just extremely excited to have somebody like Pitbull part of this race organization, Trackhouse Racing, to help us take out of what Justin’s ambition is for this race team. That’s actually the reason why I am here as well.

Justin’s vision in the racetrack and outside the racetrack is extremely important. If Justin was only focusing in everything that is going on outside the racetrack with the STEM programs, helping the Latino community, et cetera, and not really caring much about the competition, I wouldn’t be here. Probably if he was only focusing on the competition without everything else that is outside the racetrack, probably I wouldn’t be here either.

It’s just a combination of things. I know Pitbull share the same ambition than Justin to try to help others and to change the way that people actually view the sport. Pitbull say something that I totally agree with, I didn’t even think about that in the past, is that NASCAR, other than an amazing sport, it’s also a culture thing. It’s extremely culture on how different generations, different families are so involved into the sport, not just as a sport.

I really think that he hit it right on the point. I’m really looking forward to doing amazing things with Trackhouse Racing, Justin, Ty Norris, and of course now Pitbull is onboard.

Q. Specifically, opening the door to the audience of the Hispanic community, which is more in line with F1 racing, to bring those fans to NASCAR.
DANIEL SUAREZ: Yeah, of course. NASCAR has no limits. Already we want to make this sport as wide as possible. We are not just talking about Mexico. We’re not just talking about Latin America. We’re talking about worldwide. Actually, that’s Pitbull’s nickname, Mr. Worldwide. So why not?
Pitbull is a Latino, like myself. I was amazed to know that his biggest fan base is actually not in the United States or not in Latin America. That tells you how big his impact that he’s going to be able to get for this racing, for this organization. Hopefully we can do an amazing things together.

Q. Could you discuss what it’s been like to be around Pitbull, how involved has he been so far, how involved does he expect to be going forward, your interactions with him.
JUSTIN MARKS: He’s one of these guys that really commands a room. He’s got such a big personality. He’s so passionate about his mission, the things he’s dedicated to, the places he’s trying to carve in the world.

He’s been fantastic from day one. Really from the first moment we sat down, started talking about it, it became apparent that our missions were aligned. There were so many elements of what both of us were trying to achieve that were consistent with each other, that it just felt so natural, serendipitous almost.
He’s been asking questions; he has been engaged and excited. I’ve been sending him pictures of the equipment coming together, the pit crew practicing, all that. He’s very, very excited. He’s looking forward to really helping out a lot, being an asset, being someone that can kind of take our platform to as many people globally as possible.

Obviously, he’ll be at Daytona, at Miami, a few more races this year. I think he’s kind of in a mode where he wants to learn. I think he’s humble enough to know that he’s got a lot to learn about this sport. But he’s been very engaged. He’s going to be a great partner.

Having somebody like that come in, sometimes it’s transactional in its nature. This has truly been a partnership among people that are passionate about the sport, passionate about the Trackhouse brand, and really want to contribute to seeing it all the way through, trying to make it as big as possible.

Q. Justin, along the lines of what you were saying, we have seen a lot of celebrity owners come in. They’re here to kind of generate sponsorship. Some of those work out, some of those don’t. Is this one aligned with trying to get sponsorship? Why should this one be different than some of the others we’ve seen?
JUSTIN MARKS: Well, like I said, I think a big part of it is the fact that we both have aligned passions and missions. I mean, one of the core components of Trackhouse is trying to find a way to make an impact in America’s minority youth communities. That’s through a STEM program that we’re putting together.

We want to cultivate great stories that inspire people. I mean, we’re storytellers, right? I think that’s evidenced by the fact that we’re turning impossible into possible. It’s that message that resonates with a lot of people. That’s something that’s important to Armando through his music and partnerships as well.
It’s so consistent with what we’re doing that it’s really about something bigger than sponsorships. It’s bigger than the race team, bigger than just the sport. It’s about storytelling, it’s about inspiring people.
Look, we have a driver who moved to America, whose dream it was to be a NASCAR driver in a sport where there had never been a Latino champion ever. He did it. You have Armando who grew up from very humbling beginnings in Miami, wanted to be a global icon, transcend his community, take his message to the world. Against great odds, he did that. That’s just kind of who we are, the story we’re trying to tell.

I think because it resonates so deeply with all of us, it’s going to be different than I think what you’ve seen in the past and I’m excited about it.

THE MODERATOR: Mr. Worldwide has joined us now. We will continue on with questions.

Q. Pitbull, in an interview with NPR a couple years ago you noted that you never looked at your life like it was rough because it was just your normality. As you’ve done various things to improve what some might think of their normality, how do you feel your role as a team owner in NASCAR can contribute to that and help drive that?
PITBULL: For one, I apologize for being a little late. Got caught up in a jam on the way here to the school. Good to see all the kids back in school, a lot of traffic out here. Number two, I want to say thank you to Justin and Daniel for the opportunity to be able to be a part of this.
When I was speaking about what my normal was, I thought that everybody was around violence, drug abuse, killings, murders, things of that nature. Growing up, I thought that was everybody’s normal in everybody’s city.

It’s when I started to venture out in different parts of my city to see that clearly wasn’t the normal. If I hear me in certain interviews, I’ve always spoken about I’ve grown up in good neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods, worse neighborhoods. The worst things I saw actually was in the good neighborhoods. What I mean by that is that’s where I saw most of the FBI when they would show up, ATF when they would show up, DEA when they would show up. Growing up like that is why I always speak about taking my life from a negative to a positive.

Getting involved in the team, I was hearing Justin speak before, this is deeper than sponsorships, this is a movement. This is a revolution/taking a sport and creating a culture because when we first opened SLAM, we had brought a NASCAR car to SLAM the first day eight years ago. If you would have seen the look on those kids’ faces when they saw that car, they just had no clue that it was actually something that was tangible.

Since that day is when I say, Wow. I’m a big believer in the law of attraction, I want to be involved. There’s no better time to be involved in NASCAR with Trackhouse, Daniel, Justin and Ty than now. It is all about creating awareness. In the same way that music is a universal language, I also see NASCAR as a universal language. Everybody loves a fast car and a great story, you know.

Q. Pitbull, you’ve done so many different things with your school and with SLAM. Why get involved in NASCAR now? Was there something about Daniel or Trackhouse that attracted you, or had you always wanted to be a sports team owner or specifically a NASCAR team owner?
PITBULL: Always wanted to be a team owner one way or other no matter the sport. NASCAR, I’ve been a fan of NASCAR since the movie Days of Thunder when I got a chance to see what it was about. I would say from that perspective.

As far as with Daniel, by default or design, I heard about Daniel 10 years ago through a friend of mine in Mexico named Carlos Slim Jr. He was talking to me about Daniel when he was about 17, 18 years old. He is a big, big fan. The Slim family are big racing fans.

I go back to law of attraction. Here I am 10 years later when I’ve also met Daniel at different concerts through a family that we also know, which is the (indiscernible) family. Now to be here next to him making history with Justin, Ty and Daniel.

For him I would say coming against all odds into the United States of America, coming from humble beginnings over in Mexico, to coming here and winning a race, which actually happened to be in Homestead, the stories run parallel. They coincide. It just makes sense because we’re all here for one reason and one reason only: to create awareness clearly for NASCAR, clearly for Trackhouse, but more than anything to show this brings people together.

If there’s anything we need in these times right now is something that unites people, not divides people. That’s what we’re here to do with this platform/opportunity.

Q. Daniel, how focused, how locked in have you been in this off-season to prepare? Justin told me a couple weeks ago that he’s very pleased with your focus, you doing everything you need to do to get ready for this opportunity.
DANIEL SUAREZ: Let me start with that question saying that this off-season has been probably the most productive I have had in a very, very long time. If we think back for the last few years, through the off-season, I’ve been trying to put my racing together, to work with a new people I’m going to have.
For the first time in actually a few years, I already knew since before the season was over exactly what I was going to be doing. When you are with that much time ahead, you can actually organize yourself, you can work hard, and you can put everything on perspective.

For me was extremely important obviously to get together with Justin, with Ty Norris, that made this happen, and put everything, our goals, perspective, how we’re going to be able to achieve these things.
As I mentioned before, everything that Justin, Ty, Pitbull now, want to do outside the racetrack is amazing. I love all those things. At the same time competition is extremely important for me. I know I can win races. I’ve done it before. Championships as well. I want to do that in the Cup level. That’s actually what I’m having for breakfast, lunch and dinner right now because that’s what I want to do. I want to prove out there what I’m capable of. That’s all I’m thinking right now.

I really want to go out there, compete, have fun, enjoy this time, and just enjoy the ride. You don’t have this opportunity to have an amazing team owner like Justin, with Pitbull now, Ty Norris, and Chevrolet, to go there and have fun and be competitive. So, I really feel like I’m in a very, very fortunate position. I’m really looking forward to make the most of it.

Q. Pitbull, you have such an incredibly powerful presence. Anyone who follows your music knows that. As I read the quotes about what you plan to do with the global demographic that’s ready to be inspired into action for themselves, I was motivated. When I hear you speak of it, it’s just unbelievable. What do you feel about being the grand marshal for the Daytona 500 and can you use that with your presence for the global initiative that you talk about?
PITBULL: I have a quote that I always say: why dream when you can live it? It just goes to show you. Justin was saying when he was speaking, he said we’re taking the impossible and making it possible. It’s something that my daughter taught me. She said if you take the word ‘impossible’, you put an apostrophe in it, it’s unpossible. You space it out.

It goes to show you through inspiring, no matter what, we’re always going to find a way to bring people together. That’s what I’m all about. Especially in these times we’re living in right now, as you can see in these times we’re living in right now, the most important is to let everybody know out there there’s only one most important race, it’s the human race. It was these races are about at this point, bringing the sport, creating the culture, letting everybody out there know through the races, through the cars, through our stories, we just want everybody out there to enjoy and we’re going to utilize it as a form of uniting everybody out there.

When Daniel, Ty and Justin and I sat down, clearly there’s no hidden agenda here, it’s all about winning, it’s all about creating a successful team, it’s all about creating sponsorship around Daniel, it’s about believing in Daniel. We all sat at the table wanting more than that. That to me is priceless. That to me is what this is all about.

That’s why I wanted to get involved, because I see it’s a higher calling. It’s about utilizing the culture, creating the culture through NASCAR to bring people together. I know it because I live it, I’ve seen it. Music is a universal language. When I’m out there performing for everybody, it doesn’t matter whether you speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, if you are black, white, pink, purple or orange, it doesn’t matter. We all speak music when we’re there.

When it comes to NASCAR, we watch the cars race, it’s about letting everyone know no matter what in life, if you focus, you work hard for it, you can achieve it. That’s my story and Daniel’s story. That’s why we appreciate Justin and Ty investing in us as far as believing in us. And we’re here to win and show everybody in the world how to bring everybody together through NASCAR and Trackhouse.

Q. Pitbull, back to the STEM aspirations. Was that really the selling point for you in this partnership? How do you hope the STEM program aligns with your STEM schools?
PITBULL: It was absolutely the selling point. If you’ve seen what I put in the last eight years in education, I never put my face next to anything for propaganda. There has to be the grassroots of it, something that’s real. Because if it’s not real, clearly we’re going to see that in the near future, which is not going to be the case. We’re all here, we’re all on the same page, all about an initiative of bringing everybody together, utilizing, like I said before, our stories of basically from nothing to something, from negative to positive, and how we can utilize the platform of NASCAR to do so.

Now, one of the neighborhoods I come from in Miami is Wynwood. There’s a big slogan in Wynwood that says: Don’t talk about it, be about it. There’s one thing, I’m always here to be about it. That’s why I’m having this conversation/interview from one of our schools in Miami, in one of my old neighborhoods. On this block we have close to three thousand kids right now just in this one school.

It’s to take the same thing we’ve done in education, music, business, apply it to what we’re about to do in NASCAR and Trackhouse and watch Daniel win some races and bring it home (laughter).

Q. Pitbull, you’ve talked about you like the movie Days of Thunder. That drew you to NASCAR. Other movies about NASCAR, they tend to be stereotypical, southern, white. What did you like about the movie? What do you like about NASCAR and why it appealed to you?
PITBULL: What I love about NASCAR is the ultimate underdog story. I’m your ultimate underdog, you know. When you’re an underdog, you got a chip on your shoulder. You’re a fighter, you’re a champion, and you welcome failure. What I mean by that, failure becomes the mother of your success.
I tell people all the time there’s no losing, only learning; no failure, only opportunities; no problems, just solutions.

When I saw the movie, I love documentaries, when I saw a documentary that was actually called Blink of an Eye, I relate to that fight. I relate to being in those positions where people think there’s no way you’re going to make it out of this. Not only do I relate, I respect for what those drivers go through, how they have to be so mentally fit, that no matter what, look at it and go, we’re going to get through this one way or another. That is the sign of a true champ. That’s why I relate to it the most. And the negative-to-positive story.

Q. How involved do you think you’ll be with the team? How will you maybe be more successful than other celebrity owners? You and Daniel, can you team together and further broaden NASCAR’s audience?
PITBULL: Oh, we definitely will, as we already have to a certain extent.
Number two, we are fully involved with the team and committed to the team since the minute that we ended up doing this deal and it was signed, sealed and delivered. All we’ve done basically is each team speaking to each other on how we’re going to continue to move this forward, coming up with innovative, untraditional and unconventional ideas and ways to go back to take it from a sport and create a culture around it.

I’m going to circle back because I want to make sure by the time we finish this interview, it’s programmed in you guys. The reason that I got involved in this is because there was a greater initiative. The greater initiative is what we need more than ever, especially in these times. I’ll say it again: One race, one race only, the human race. If we can do it through music, through NASCAR, by entertaining, motivating and inspiring them, then that’s what I signed up for.

Just to make it clear, I’m far from a celebrity. That I’m not. I’m a hard, hard worker. Big difference. Celebrities will sell anything. I’m not here to sell anything. I’m here to help the culture, help unify, more than anything help motivate and inspire those through my story, through Daniel’s story, Justin’s story, Ty’s story and NASCAR’s story.

Q. Justin and Daniel, can you talk about that. You want the team to be bigger than racing. Daniel, how does Pitbull help you with your platforms?
DANIEL SUAREZ: For me, like I said before, I just feel extremely fortunate. Actually, I mentioned this in Spanish. I’ll repeat my answer in English.

The people that know me closely, they know that I’ve been working extremely hard throughout my career, not just to be successful in the racetrack, but also to be successful outside the racetrack. What that means?

Seven, eight years ago I was thinking to myself, okay, I’m the only Mexican, the only Latino in NASCAR, the only guy that can speak Spanish. If I don’t try to do something to bring Latinos to the racetrack, who is going to do it?

In that day I start working with NASCAR to try to do different things, to try to bring Latinos in the racetrack. That’s when Daniel’s Amigos was born. That’s what we started to try to do different things, programs to bring Latinos to the racetrack.

At the same time competition is number one. Competition for me is the first step that everything has to come after that. If you’re successful on the racetrack, you can do everything else. It makes your life easier everything else.

All this work I’ve been doing with NASCAR, with some of my sponsors that have helped me through all this, especially Coca-Cola, now having Pitbull onboard in a race team with Justin Marks and Ty Norris is something huge. He’s not called Mr. Worldwide just because of nothing, you know. He’s extremely well-known worldwide. The Latino community love him.

I think he’s a huge plus, a huge help to have someone like Pitbull super close to a race team to help us in many, many things. But obviously just to bring the community together and to bring more Latinos to this racetrack, to this team, make this team something different, something young, something cool, something modern, that’s something we are trying to do.

JUSTIN MARKS: You asked about aligned visions. In the early stages of sort of envisioning what Trackhouse is going to be, how we were going to be different than traditional racing teams, how we were going to build a platform that was viable for the future long-term, it became very clear early on that we wanted a cause marketing, a philanthropic community involvement element of our team that wasn’t an afterthought, that was really deeply intertwined in the DNA of the company.

I think as sort of Armando alluded to, people talk about here, we’re entering an era where it’s becoming more and more important for companies in this country to make sure they’re giving to the community, they’re empowering the next generation of people, an element of what they do makes America a better place. That goes from the sandwich shop on the corner to Amazon and everything in between. Everybody shares a responsibility.

We’re like the luckiest people on earth because we get to go to a racetrack and put racecars on the racetrack. I think if we’re going to have such a tremendous opportunity to do that, we need to make it a core fundamental element of our team that we’re doing some good in the world, we’re giving back to the world.

I think that aligns so well, you’ve heard how passionately Armando talks about this with what he’s doing with his SLAM schools, wonderful schools in their own, but part of a bigger nationwide network of schools that allows us to build a STEM education experience for underrepresented minority youth or youth in general in this country that wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to be exposed to that. We can really scale that over time.

Using NASCAR as the platform, Trackhouse as the platform, I think we’re in the early stages of discussing it. I think the definition of success at least early on will be a STEM discipline experience set up at each and every one of Armando’s schools, having thousands and thousands of kids be able to be exposed to this and use NASCAR to say there is so much opportunity in this world, you can be engineers, mathematicians, scientists, build thing. Not just STEM by design, finance, entrepreneurism, all that.

Without being too long winded here, it goes back to the fact that we have a responsibility as people, we have a responsibility as companies in America to make sure not only are we building a successful enterprise, but we’re building something to empower the next generation of people and we’re leaving a legacy. I think that’s so consistent with what’s important to Armando, the partnership makes sense. I think there’s so much opportunity for us in the future.

PITBULL: Well said.

Q. Justin, what are the biggest challenges you face as a new team to be competitive and win races beyond the message? How is your Spanish shaping up?
JUSTIN MARKS: I told Daniel, I said, you come drive for me, I’ll learn Spanish. I’m in the early stages. Not only do I have a driver, but I have a partner. They can’t start talking in Spanish at the meetings and me not know what they’re talking about.

Yeah, no, look, NASCAR, obviously it’s a very competitive form of motorsport, most competitive form of motorsport in the world, I believe. I have experience owning race teams before, never at this level. I’m leaning on that experience in communicating with the guys, with the pit crew, the mechanics, engineers, everybody at the race team, making sure that they’re appreciated, empowered, that they have an opportunity to do their jobs to the best of their ability.

Having this NextGen car getting delayed to 2022 sort of is a blessing in disguise for us because it gives us an opportunity to really build our team, to build our culture, and to just develop our relationships, Daniel’s relationships with Travis, the pit crew finding continuity and working together, so when that new car comes this fall leading into next year, we’re a cohesive group, we can focus on trying to make sure that race car is as fast as possible. That’s the work right now.

I think we’re going to learn a lot. I have to learn a lot. I’m learning every day. I’m very fortunate to have a guy like Ty Norris working at Trackhouse because he’s got many years of experience in this sport and can make sure that I’m thinking the right way about certain things, putting stuff on my plate that I didn’t necessarily think was an element of NASCAR racing, and helping guide me through that.
Look, we’re here for a long time. I’m trying to build one of the next great NASCAR teams. I think that means at this stage making sure that we get a group of people that work well together and we focus on making sure that that group is cohesive and is building relationships with each other. I think that’s the most important thing right now.

We start getting to the racetrack, start racing, we’ll work on all the racing stuff, but it’s about that next car, building the Trackhouse framework so we’re successful for a long time.

PITBULL: As far as Justin, he’s already halfway there because he looks like he’s Canelo’s cousin, for real (laughter).

JUSTIN MARKS: That’s the first thing he said to me when he walked in at lunch.

PITBULL: Number two, it goes to show you that exactly what we’re doing with the team, the diversity through the team, whether it’s Daniel being from Mexico, coming over to the United States, me being first-generation Cuban-American, what my family did as far as fleeing Communism from Cuba, for me to enjoy the beautiful thing called freedom here in the USA.

To be with Justin and Ty, it already shows you we’re leading by example. All of us are coming from different places, but all of us are aligned on one goal. Obviously, there’s no hidden agenda, we want to win, we want to make sure we create a very successful team, but creating legacy at the same time that we’re all about giving back, motivating and inspiring and creating that culture, letting people know, and also educating folks on what NASCAR is, the history of NASCAR. Also, I’m learning every day more and more about NASCAR as well, as I will about the car, as I will about the driver, as we will as far as from the investments and all that.

The reason when we sat down that really motivated me about this opportunity was just that there was that greater initiative. For one, that’s priceless. That’s how you become living legends and leave behind an amazing legacy. For me bottom line, living is giving.

Q. Armando, I understand the missions with the school and STEM, the desire to unify people, the cultural aspects of NASCAR. There’s a lot of race teams out there that you probably could have been a part of. How did you even hear about these guys? How did they get in the same room as you to pitch you on this?
PITBULL: As we started this interview, I told you I’m a big believer in the law of attraction. I happened to be up in North Carolina having a conversation with someone named Pam Miller. I was talking to her about what NASCAR meant to the kids when they first saw it here in SLAM in Miami eight years ago. She was talking to me about a documentary she was working on.

As we kept talking about different ways to be able to educate the public on NASCAR and hearing about how they wanted to diversify as far as when it came to culture, utilizing the sport on bringing everybody together, that’s how it all came about. Really Pam is the one that connected us, seeing that our visions aligned.

I would say about a week later we were all together in Miami, sat down. Daniel, I knew through a family years ago and was spoken to me about him and his career from Carlos Slim Jr. which is a friend of mine down in Mexico. When all of this came together, we sat down, it was just bigger — it wasn’t just we have to have a winning team, we got to do the sponsorship, got to create this. I was like, Look, we’re going to do that, okay? Really what this is about is this: How do we make this something more powerful? How do we make this so it’s historical and how do we make this so we break barriers, boundaries, limits, bringing everybody together through this?

That’s what made me think, this is what I want to be involved in. I tell people all the time, I wouldn’t want a billion-dollar business and have a trillion-dollar headache. It’s all about the people that you are with, it’s about the journey.

Daniel was saying this in Spanish. It’s about the team, the environment that you’re around. If you’re around a great environment, a positive environment, a winning environment, but an environment that wants to give back and understand that’s what life is really all about. They say: Why say that the sky is the limit when you know there’s footprints on the moon? We’re on the way to the moon with Trackhouse (laughter).

DANIEL SUAREZ: Vamos.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you for taking the time for joining us this. Pitbull, you’re going to be saying the command to start the 63rd running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500. That’s got to be cool.

PITBULL: It’s an amazing honor. I look forward to it. Like I said, not that I hope, I know what we’re going to do is, man, it’s history in the making, bottom line. You’re going to hear me at Daytona.
Thank you, guys. Stay blessed, God bless. See you all soon.

DANIEL SUAREZ: Stay safe everyone.

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CINCINNATI AND FREIGHTLINER EXPAND PROGRAMS

CONCORD, N.C. (Feb. 2, 2021) – Two existing Hendrick Motorsports partners have joined the organization’s No. 5 NASCAR Cup Series team with driver Kyle Larson beginning in 2021.

This season, machine tool maker Cincinnati Inc. and heavy-duty truck manufacturer Freightliner will expand their NASCAR programs to become primary sponsors of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for two races each and be featured as full-time associate sponsors of the team.

“We’re pleased to have Cincinnati and Freightliner grow their respective partnerships with us,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “The best way we can show our appreciation is with high performance on and off the racetrack. NASCAR has tremendous momentum going into 2021, and Kyle and the No. 5 crew will certainly be one of the most exciting teams to watch this year. We look forward to seeing Cincinnati and Freightliner at the front of the field with them.”

Cincinnati joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2019 following a landmark 10-year agreement. With the addition of primary sponsorship of the No. 5 team, the leading machine tool manufacturer has grown its racing program for the 2021 season. Cincinnati is Hendrick Motorsports’ Official Metal Fabrication and Additive Equipment Provider.

“We are very happy to announce the expansion of our NASCAR program in 2021,” said Tim Warning, president and CEO of Cincinnati Inc. “Our entire team takes great pride in knowing that Cincinnati machines contribute to the success of Hendrick Motorsports on the racetrack, including last year’s Cup Series championship. It was also extremely powerful to see the Cincinnati car in victory lane at Auto Club Speedway in 2020, which ignited incredible enthusiasm inside our company and with our customers. We’re looking forward to building a strong relationship with Kyle and sharing in the excitement of winning more races with the No. 5 team.”

With a three-year contract renewal through 2023, Freightliner will become a Hendrick Motorsports primary sponsor for the first time. Since 2004, the team has trusted Freightliner’s efficient and reliable trucks to transport race cars and equipment to NASCAR events across the country, logging more than 4 million miles on the road. It is the leading brand of heavy-duty trucks in North America.

“We take great pride in growing our relationship with Hendrick Motorsports and expanding our support of Kyle Larson and his team,” said Pete Hobbs, Freightliner’s vice president of on-highway market development. “Freightliner is dedicated to delivering efficiency and performance to our customers, and it’s how we set the pace for the rest of our industry. We look forward to cheering on the No. 5 this season.”

Larson, 28, has won more than 250 events across a variety of sanctioning bodies and vehicle styles. The Elk Grove, California, native began driving at age 7 and has raced stock cars, winged and non-winged sprint cars, karts, trucks, and sports cars. Larson made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2013 and was named its 2014 rookie of the year in his first full-time season.

“I’m excited Cincinnati and Freightliner have increased their partnership with Hendrick Motorsports and are now part of the No. 5 team,” said Larson, who signed with Hendrick Motorsports in October and will be paired with crew chief Cliff Daniels. “Cliff has built a team that I know can battle for wins on a weekly basis. With the support of great partners like Cincinnati and Freightliner, I can’t wait to get back to the track and go to work. It’s great to have them along for the ride.”

Dates for the Cincinnati and Freightliner events have not been determined. NationsGuard will be primary sponsor of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team in the Feb. 14 season-opening DAYTONA 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX), along with Feb. 21 at the DAYTONA Road Course and Feb. 28 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

ABOUT CINCINNATI INC.:
Cincinnati Incorporated (CI) is a U.S.-based manufacturer of metal fabrication machinery and has shipped close to 60,000 machines in its 120 years of operation. On its 80-acre campus in Harrison, Ohio, sits a 500,000-square-foot plant, which manufactures CNC laser cutters, press brakes, shears, automation, powder metal presses, and additive manufacturing equipment. Learn more at www.e-ci.com or engage on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

ABOUT FREIGHTLINER TRUCKS:
Freightliner Trucks is a division of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and is the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America. Daimler Trucks North America produces and markets Class 5-8 trucks and is a Daimler company, the world’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer. More information is available at www.Freightliner.com.

ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS:
Founded by Rick Hendrick in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 263 points-paying race victories and a record 13 car owner championships in the premier NASCAR Cup Series. The organization fields four full-time Chevrolet teams on the Cup circuit with drivers Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Alex Bowman. Headquartered in Concord, North Carolina, Hendrick Motorsports employs more than 600 people. For more information, please visit HendrickMotorsports.com or interact on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 2, 2021

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 CHIP GANASSI RACING CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Daytona Media Availability Highlights:

WHAT ARE THE UNIQUE OBSTACLES YOU FACE IN JOINING A NEW TEAM, A TEAM THAT’S HAD SUCCESS AT THE CUP SERIES LEVEL, WHEN PRACTICE AND SHOP ADJUSTMENTS ARE AT A PREMIUM RIGHT NOW?
“I don’t know if that question is ready to be answered, honestly. The best thing right now, ahead of the season, in trying to prepare is that it was all familiar faces. It’s not a new building. I didn’t have to get a new key to get into the shop. Everything at Team Chevy is familiar. We’ve been able to just ramp-up that dialogue to another level. I don’t know. I don’t know what to expect yet.”

WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF HAVING A PRIOR NASCAR CUP CHAMPION LIKE KURT BUSCH TO GUIDE YOU?
“I’m going to follow that guy’s lead, even on Media Day I’m following him. He’s a good guy to follow. We’ve gotten to spend some time together this off-season. He came by the watermelon farm. I showed him around a little bit. He got to meet some of my family. We’re not that different in a lot of ways in just taking and chatting about life and race cars and watermelons and talking about his childhood. He actually ran some of the same series’ I did, and my dad did, as a hobby; that was cool to talk about old times. He’s been there and he’s done it. The depth of drivers and like the best role models I can try to be like; I’ve had some really good ones in my life obviously, with my dad. But you get into the CGR fold and the guys that Chip (Ganassi) has assembled (like) Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti and Jimmie Johnson; these are all guys that I’ve been able to now go to and ask questions. Kurt is first and foremost and the closest, and we’re driving the same race car. I’ve bugged him with quite a few questions.”

YOUR STORY OF HOW HARD YOU’RE WORKING JUST TO GET AN OPPORTUNITY IS WELL-KNOWN. IS THIS YOUR SHOT, YOUR ONE SHOT? DOES THIS HAVE TO WORK AT GANASSI?
“As a racer, yeah. I don’t want to go fail. So, there is no alternative. There is no Plan B. We have the farm and will still grow and sell watermelons, but yeah as a racer, I want to succeed, and I want to do my jobs. Yeah, this is it.”

YOU HAVE A REPUTATION FOR BEING A HARD-CHARGER AND A HARD RACER. DOES THAT CHANGE NOW WITH THIS OPPORTUNITY? DO YOU TRY TO MAYBE BLEND IN A LITTLE BIT MORE? DO YOU APPROACH THINGS DIFFERENTLY NOW?
“Yes. Definitely blend in more. I’m not going to let anybody pass. I’m not going to purposely run into anybody. I think that’s maybe been embellished a little bit over the years and I haven’t done any work to diminish it. I’ve embraced it and enjoyed how people view me and how people talk about me. We’ve used it internally with the race teams that I’ve driven for over the last two years to really motivate and find that extra little bit of speed in the race trucks and cars and I would not trade anything. All those steps and mistakes are what got me here. But yes, definitely blend in a little better. I don’t want or need a line of drivers or crew chiefs or anybody to be lined-up at the car after these races. This is the premier series and I have to elevate to that level. I have a long way to go. This is going to be the biggest step of my career.”

INAUDIBLE
“It’s a benefit to them but they’ve earned it. Those guys have done what they needed to do to meet all the requirements and luckily, we do have Kurt. I’ll be watching and listening and looking through everything that the No. 42 team will be watching and in constant communication with the No. 1 team. And whatever they do learn will help us. It only can help. But from the pure driving aspect of getting laps there, I’ve got some laps in the Xfinity car, but they weren’t exactly quality and I need more laps at all these places, especially road courses. Yeah, they’re going to have the upper hand but that’s okay. We’ll be there in the race.”

HOW HAVE YOU SEEN THE EVOLUTION OF SPIRE MOTORSPORTS WHERE THE FIRST SEASON THEY DIDN’T REALLY HAVE A BUILDING TO WORK OUT OF AND NOW THEY’RE EXPANDING AND GIVING OTHER DRIVERS A SHOT?
“Genius. I mean they didn’t have a wrench or a jack or nothing. They didn’t even have a car. And they’ve progressively built it with the help of a lot of other people and team owners along the way that I’ve gotten to drive for as well. But taking that step to buy a shop, acquire charters, and get real race cars; they’re going to have some really good cars and good engines. Corey (LaJoie), just like me, he’s going to have that next step in performance. Years ago, when people thought they were kind of crazy and I think it was the joke when it was just a cash grab, it wasn’t. They had a long-term goal. I got to be just a fly on the wall for a lot of those talks years ago. Even I was kind of like man, I don’t know. But everything they said they wanted to do, they’ve accomplished. Obviously, I’m indebted to them and tied to them and friends with them and want to see them succeed. Having the alliance with us at CGR is big. It’s a big deal. It gives us another Chevy teammate as well at Daytona. We all know Corey can drive, so it’s going to be really cool.”

HEADING INTO YOUR FIRST FULL SEASON IN CUP RACING, HOW WAS YOUR OFF-SEASON DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS?
“More relaxing, to be honest. I can say that truthfully. I got more sleep across the board, knowing what I was going to do. And I had goals; very specifically. Ahead of these races we started planning back when we knew we were going to do this season, and then really ramped it up as soon as Phoenix was over. We all took our holiday breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we have been more diligent than I’ve ever been able to be with a team of time in the Chevy simulator and just talking. It is on a Zoom call sometimes or finding a conference room and sitting probably 15 feet apart, but just talking with my core group of guys that I’m going to spend this year going to battle with; and just being in that communication where they know what I mean when I say this; and that I’m maybe not the biggest motivational speaker on the radio pre-race or post-race, and that’s the time to do our job. Having those goals have been the biggest things to keep me on track.”

HAVE YOU BEEN SURPRISED WITH THE AMOUNT OF TIME REQUIRED, SUCH AS PHOTO SHOOTS, THAT YOU MAYBE HAVEN’T THOUGHT ABOUT BEFORE?
“Not really because fortunately we have done photo shoots. We have done production days. But I’m just kind of out there by the car by myself because everybody is away because I have my mask off, right? So, I’m by myself and my mask is close by. I can put it on, and we can go see what we need to fix or do. But that’s the bad part of all this. All the pageantry and going to Daytona, I’ve been fortunate enough to run two Daytona 500 races and I’ve been there as a fan for years. Once I get in the car it won’t matter; but pre-race, the place won’t be sold out. We’ve been sold out for years in a row now and even back to photo shoots and these things, we should be at the 500 Club and the infield at Daytona doing this, not here. We should be in fire suits and carrying helmets around and trying to grab lunch in between sessions. We don’t get that person-to-person interaction.”

AS A DRIVER, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO IMPROVE UPON?
“Everything. There is so much (laughs). I mean, we all have better laps or better days than others, whether its in normal life or around the race track and making those bad days better and those good days great and keeping the mistakes down and staying like calm and cool. That’s the biggest thing. I won’t know until I get in the car, but really try to just be a better person inside the car and have a better outlook and not worry as much whenever something doesn’t go how I think it should. Controlling what I can control is the biggest thing and the rest of it is racing. We don’t call it winning. We call it racing. That’s what I can go better.”

KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW NOW IN MAKING THIS JOURNEY, WHAT WOULD BE THE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOURSELF FIVE YEARS AGO?
“Believing it’s going to happen. I was doing it. I did believe but I just couldn’t see it. I couldn’t see the end goal. I knew what I wanted to do. I knew what we were talking about and what we were trying to prepare to do but yeah. I would probably even back up farther than that and when I first got to NASCAR, I was so naive in the Truck Series. People were telling me there was a way, but I just knew the real facts of it and I didn’t know if it would actually happen.”

DO YOU THINK MAYBE SOME DRIVERS IN THE CUP SERIES MAY NOT TRUST YOU COME FEBRUARY 14th ON-TRACK OR DO YOU EVEN CARE IF THEY DO? WOULD YOU RATHER JUST WORK WITH YOUR TEAMMATES INSTEAD OF TRYING TO GATHER THEIR TRUST?
“I definitely need their trust. Fortunately, with my high number of starts in the Cup Series, I will not have rookie stripes. For all the reasons I thought I would be a rookie by the rules, we won’t be. And I think once we’re out there racing, I’ll try to do the best I can to help my line move forward. Yeah, I’ve made mistakes. There’s no way around it. Huge mistakes that cost me and my teams a lot of money and a lot of points and a lot of chances at wins. So, I can only try to be better from that.”

OVER THE YEARS, WE’VE SEEN WHERE THE BEST DRIVER DOESN’T ALWAYS MAKE IT TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND IN HIS RESPECTIVE NASCAR SERIES’. HOW IS THE PLAYOFFS A GOOD MEASURE FOR DETERMINING A CHAMPION WITH OTHER MOTORSPORTS USE A SEASON-LONG FORMAT?
“It’s the rules we have. We all know it and we all plan accordingly. Whatever series you’re in as a racer, you’re going to examine the rule book and find the gray areas on the car and on the driving and what’s acceptable, so it’s no different with the points. We know we have to. And the driver points are what this series and this sanctioning body had built our sport to live on. Making the Playoffs is pivotal for everybody. So, that’s it. If it was a different format, we’d focus on that. At the end of the day, whatever your point structure is, they’re just race cars or trucks and different courses. We just go try to win.”

EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU AS THIS HIGH-ENERGY GUY WHEN IT COMES TO WINNING, YOUR CELEBRATIONS, YOUR SIGNATURE WATERMELONS. HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK THAT IS OR THESE DRIVERS TO HAVE THIS BIG BURST OF PERSONALITY NOW THAT WE HAVE A WHOLE NEW SPECTRUM OF TRACKS AND RACING AND NEW FANS COMING INTO THIS SPORT?
“I love that I have something that actually means so much to me and my family. To sit down and go home after we won that first race in Las Vegas and talk to my Grandad and we were just sitting there eating watermelon at his house and he’s just like, you just showed so many more people water watermelons. And we believe that’ll help more people buy more watermelons. A rising tide raises all ships. And although they might not be buying one of our watermelons, it’s something that our family lives on and is our livelihood. Everybody, I don’t think, is going to have something as tangible and visual and funny and makes as many people smile as a watermelon, but I do think that guys should put that effort in. We all can’t do backflips. We call have to find our niche, and it’s no different than life in general. Mine was a very natural and easy fit and it wasn’t planned. That’s what makes it even better. It’s evolved. I just held it up that first week and somebody asked what I was going to do with it and I’m like I guess we’ll go smash it. So, it just evolves and that’s what makes it so cool. No doubt about it. We are a traveling circus, right? It seems kind of funny to say it out loud but that’s just kind of how I view it in a laughing, joking manner. We come, we set-up our tent, we perform our show, we compete, we pack it up, and we go to the next town. Why not embrace it and everybody has their thing?”
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
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
FEBRUARY 2, 2020

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 CHIP GANASSI RACING CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:

WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR YOUR FORMER TEAMMATE, KYLE LARSON, COMING BACK THIS SEASON AND THE OPPORTUNITY THAT HE’S GOT WITH A SECOND CHANCE?
“I think we saw a good dose of that in 2020, with how he handled the departure from Chip Ganassi Racing and how he elevated his game to a whole new level on the dirt circuits everywhere. I was texting him after win, after win, after win and I got behind after about the 20th win. Ultimately, the way he presented himself, the way he carried himself, showed his initiative with NASCAR on rectifying the problem and going through the road to recovery. And just everything about him last year shows what he’s going to bring to the track in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2021. The professionalism of Hendrick Motorsports has never been questioned. The guidance there and just everything that I’m seeing adding up is that once he gets the feel of the car, and once he’s in sync with his crew chief – they’re going to be a tough train to stop. I see that program as being one of the top contenders already.”

I’VE COVERED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR WHOLE CAREER AND I KIND OF FEEL LIKE WATCHING YOU OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, THERE’S BEEN A CERTAIN LIFT IN YOUR STEP. YOU REALLY SEEM TO ABSOLUTELY BE ON TOP OF YOUR GAME. I’M JUST WONDERING, IS THAT KIND OF HOW YOU FEEL, AS WELL?
“Yeah, I feel confident in who I am, what I’ve done in this series, what I’ve done in all of motorsports. This is the point in my career where it’s easy to give back- it’s easy to help young crew members, engineers. I’m in a perfect situation now with being a mentor to Ross Chastain, who I think is an up and comer in the NASCAR Cup Series. So, it’s just fitting into that role and being confident with all my moves and Chip Ganassi, himself, and this racing program has brought the best out in me.”

DO YOU LOOK AT THE CLASH AS A TEST SESSION, CONSIDERING THERE’S A POINTS RACE THERE TWO WEEKS LATER WITH NO PRACTICE?
“Yes, Bob (Pockrass), you’re right on it. We looked at the Clash as just a fun exhibition race. And then with the cancellation of Auto Club Speedway and a full points race the week after the Daytona 500, it took a whole new level of importance within our approach. We’ve got minimal time on track, but we’ve got to make the best of it. So, we’re approaching this as a bridge from where we were last year at that road course race, where we were at the ROVAL, and all of what we’re doing is prepping towards the February 21st race.”

WITH THE NEW CAR COMING IN 2022, HAVE YOU SET ANY SOFT DEADLINE AS FAR AS MAKING A DECISION AS FAR AS WHETHER YOU’LL RACE FULL-TIME NEXT YEAR?
“No real soft deadline. One thing I learned in 2020 is that you have to be fluid – that seemed to be the word of the year. And following that stream, I feel like with Ganassi, Monster Energy, myself, Chevrolet – all this will come together for the right reasons at the right time.”

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE DAYTONA 500 AND YOU LOOK AT HOW IT MAKES OR BREAKS A CAREER IF YOU’RE A YOUNG DRIVER, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO A GUY LIKE YOU WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS YEAR STARTING OFF THE SEASON WITH A RACE THAT BIG AND WHAT YOU NEED TO SHOW EVERYONE OR DON’T AT THIS AGE?
“The Daytona 500 is the most prestigious stock car race of all. To win it, it changes peoples’ lives. The title that comes along with it is important, nostalgic, historic and it’s a pride feeling when you win this race. And so, the drive and the fuel for me is to go get it again and to keep it from others. That’s the motivation, but also to bring it to Chip Ganassi Racing and all of our sponsors. The overall feel is, at the same time, you’re tied for the lead for points when you go into Daytona – that’s always a nice quality token to take with you. It’s important to get good points in the race, but ultimately, you’re there to win it.”

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO STRAP IN FOR THE DAYTONA 500?
“It is different than all the other races. It’s the first race of the year, it’s the most powerful race. There’s always that question of, did we get everything prepped? Did we get all of our checklist done? You have all the months of re-build and training. So, there’s just all those emotions and all those thoughts. Ultimately, when you strap the helmet on and fire up the car, that’s that big deep breath of ‘oh yeah, it’s race time’ and I know the fans feel it that are there and the millions of viewers watching on TV. And then you have to remember, it’s a 500-mile race. It’s not just a quick stage race – it’s a full 500 miles. There’s a lot of emotions to control right at the beginning of the year.”

TALK ABOUT THE TEST THAT YOU DID WITH GMS RACING TO PREPARE FOR BRISTOL. YOU WERE ONE OF THE MASTERS AT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND, I’M JUST WONDERING, WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE?
“For me, it was fun to get back in a car and just fire up a big engine with horsepower. And then to go around the dirt track – it was Elkin, North Carolina. We went to Friendship Speedway just to, in all honestly, knock off the cobwebs and the cobwebs of my dirt racing, which go back to the mid-90s. That’s a fun thing to say as a current Cup driver. I’ve got a couple starts at the Prelude at Eldora Speedway. But, in all honestly, it was Mike Beam, who I worked with at KBM – he gave me call and said ‘hey, we’ve got some modifieds here, come on out’. And that’s the same style of modified I drove on asphalt back in the 90’s, but it blended me back in with my dwarf car roots. Dwarf cars are very similar to legend cars on the dirt.”

“But ultimately, Bristol will be a whole different track, a whole different complexion. What I’ve done there in the past is irrelevant for the spring race. It’s just the motivation to go after something new and go after something different. It’s the same motivation when Bruton Smith, Marcus Smith and everybody changed the Charlotte track to the ROVAL, and I attacked that whole sequence with practice, simulators and ultimately sat on the pole for the ROVAL and picked up a top-five finish. I’m doing all I can to prep for this dirt race at Bristol because that’s what my team wants me to do and that’s what I need from them to bring the best possible car to win this race.”

YOU WERE AT CHILI BOWL A COUPLE YEARS AGO. WE’RE SEEING CHASE ELLIOTT MAKE HIS DEBUT IN USAC MIDGITS THIS WEEKEND, HE RAN CHILI BOWL. IS THAT STILL MAYBE ON YOUR BUCKET LIST EVEN LATER IN YOUR CAREER?
“The Chili Bowl would be a fun factor, bucket list item, but it’s not relevant to prepping for the big, heavy stock cars that we’re going to have at Bristol. It’s sticking with something that’s in the space, the genre, of the Cup car – Xfinity, Truck, that modified was a good taste. The next step is researching what’s racing the week of Bristol prepping to get into possibly one of those races. But again, nothing is going to simulate a big, heavy Cup car. Our race is 250-laps at this race. The place is going to glaze over after 50 laps and there’s no dirt track anywhere where you can prep to get that type of experience. So, it’s a learn-as-you-go and it’s doing it as a team at Chip Ganassi Racing to find all the right proper sequences to prep.”

WHAT HAS ROSS CHASTAIN SHOWN YOU SINCE YOU’VE BEEN TOGETHER AT GANASSI?
“The No. 1 thing about Ross Chastain is his work ethic. That can never be questioned. His commitment to making it to this level has been second-to-none. His track experience is solid. He knows his weaknesses and has his strengths. Again, it’s the intimidation factor of a top-tier car, a full-time ride, and he’s like, ‘Man, what happens if we have a bad race at Daytona,’ or ‘What happens if I slip up at Vegas or something?’ And I’m like, ‘Hey man… just relax. Let’s get these first five races under your belt and we’ll come back circle around.’ So that is showing his eagerness, his desire to do well but also his nerves. We just have to get those calmed down by running some reps. So limited track time… he has to do a good job of understanding stages as well as the full completion of the race and then to keep expectations in reality. A top-25 finish is a great checkmark. A top-15 is a really solid day, and to come away with a top-10 early in the season is what I’d call a win for a rookie-type guy like him.”

DO YOU FIND THE DESIRE TO WIN ANOTHER DAYTONA AFTER WINNING IT THE FIRST TIME?
“Absolutely. The years before a win at Daytona, there’s the humility and the humble feeling of that this track is still in control of me. With winning it in 2017, it’s an experience beyond no other. There’s that energy in your soul when you go back to defend… and then the race doesn’t go well, there’s that humble feeling again that the track will give you. That’s the approach I have as a couple of years that have gone by. It’s to be humble, approach the track with the same style – humility, preparation and the hopeful feeling of Lady Luck being on your side to win. You can never go there to expect to win. You just go there to try to take care of all the things that are in your control to be in position to win.”

ARE THE PLAYOFFS STILL A GOOD METRIC FOR DECIDING A CHAMPION?
“I feel like NASCAR did a great job in 2004 to create a playoff atmosphere. You had the regular season and then the 10 races that separated themselves as playoff races, as Chase races, as the way and the avenue to win a championship. It’s still the same even though there are these cutoffs of three races at a time… getting from 16 down to 12 drivers and then down to eight. Those guys with bonus points usually work their way right to the final four. What we saw with Kevin Harvick not making it is very similar to football where let’s say Tom Brady had to go on the road and beat all those other teams to work his way to the Super Bowl. That’s an underdog-style team that didn’t even know who they were going to end up playing next week. You have to adapt and you have to take in what’s going to show up next week. Everybody knows that we’re going to this track for this sector, and you have to do your job to get through that round. Whether you have a points cushion or whether you don’t, ultimately there is the black-and-white task of getting this many points ahead of this other guy to advance. It’s a bona-fide championship system that is very clear to understand. You have to go out there and perform each and every week within what it takes to advance. It’s not just a given when you performed good all year.”

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.

COLE CUSTER, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang – HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO RACE ON THE DIRT AT BRISTOL? “I’m excited, but probably scared at the same time. Everybody knows it’s gonna be one of those races where nobody knows what to expect. There’s gonna be a lot of adapting when we show up and trying to figure it out because it’s gonna be brand new for a lot of people – for everybody because we’ve never run Cup cars on dirt. It’s gonna be a lot to take in, but we’re trying get on a dirt track before and trying to get a feel for it because every track and every race matters. It’s a matter of trying to collect as many points as you can so you can have a good shot at the playoffs.”

PITBULL IS GOING TO BE THE GRAND MARSHAL FOR THE 500. HOW COOL IS THAT AND HOW DOES THAT HELP NASCAR BE MORE INCLUSIVE TO ALL? “I think it’s awesome. Obviously, having a couple new teams and a couple new owners in this sport – Michael Jordan, Pitbull, Justin Marks – it’s awesome to see these new people coming in and having excitement towards it. I think it’s one of the best things that has happened to this sport in a long time. The more inclusive we can be to everybody and get everybody involved, the better. I think that’s kind of the direction that we want to move in.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT WHEN YOU GET TO SONOMA THIS YEAR? “Luckily, I’ve raced there a few times in the K&N Series, so I do know the track for the most part. It’s just gonna be figuring it out in a Cup car. We didn’t go there last year, so there are gonna be a few things we’re gonna have to figure out. It’s a hard track. It’s really technical. The carousel they started running two years ago is pretty hard, so it’s definitely one you’ve got to be good at hitting your marks really good and having tire fall off right. It’s one that I’m looking forward to going back to my home state because we haven’t been able to go back in a little while.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM CHASE BRISCOE THIS YEAR AND WHAT DOES HE BRING TO THE TEAM? “I’m really excited about it. I think Chase has a ton of talent. Coming from the dirt side he really knows how to get after it in a car and he has a different driving style that I think he can bring to our team. I’m a good friend with him, so I feel like we can bounce ideas off each other really good and it’s gonna help our team in general is to have somebody – I think Chase is gonna be a great addition and bringing a lot of talent to the table. I’m looking forward to it. It’s gonna be a little bit hard having no practice for him, but I think he’ll definitely catch on as the year goes and I’m sure he’s gonna definitely get it by the end.”

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE IF THE BIG ONE OCCURS AT DAYTONA? DO YOU WANT TO BE IN FRONT OF IT OR BEHIND IT LOCKING THE BRAKES UP TRYING TO MISS IT? “You want to be in front of it, but being in front of it is not easy and it doesn’t guarantee you, I guess. It can happen at any moment is the problem, so you really just have to go and race. We talk about trying to game it and trying to stay in front of it or behind it and everything, but for the most part you’ve just got to go race, hope for the best. If things are getting crazy and you’re in a bad spot, maybe you back out, but for the most part you go and race.”

WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS YEAR? “I’m hungry to get going. I think we’re excited to try and go out there and run in the top 10. I think that’s the biggest thing. Last year, we could hit it right from time to time and run in the top 10 and compete for a win, but we just need to do it more consistently and I think this year we have a lot more notes to look at. I have a lot better idea and more confidence in the cars, so I’m looking forward to trying to put ourselves in that category and try and be up front more.”

ARE THE PLAYOFFS A GOOD WAY TO DETERMINE THE CHAMPION? “It’s how we play the game. I don’t know how else to say it. I think it makes a lot of excitement. I think it’s a lot like other sports where we have a playoffs and I think it’s always been good. In all sports you have times where the best team doesn’t win the whole thing, doesn’t win the championship. That happens in our sport, too. It’s just part of it. Our sport is a little bit unique because we do race at different tracks and things can happen. Some teams are better at certain tracks than others, but at the same time it’s the game you play. We have a playoff system and I think it’s been great for the sport in having a lot of excitement and you just have to make it happen those last 10 races.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THIS SEASON TO BE LIKE WITH THE VIRUS STILL OUT THERE? “I think we have a lot better idea of what we have going on. Our first race at Darlington we didn’t know. It was so much different than what we were used to, but now we have a good rhythm of how the schedule works and stuff like that, and we know what we kind of want to bring to the racetrack for the schedule that we have and everything like that. I think it’s gonna go a lot smoother this year and it’s just a matter of trying to look at all your notes and trying to make sure you’re as prepared and as thorough as you can going into the next one.”

HOW MUCH DID THE LACK OF PRACTICE SLOWED DOWN YOUR PROGRESSION? “It definitely hurt some to be a younger guy and not have the opportunity to really try things at the racetrack, whether it’s from a setup point or just to kind of get used to the track or whatever it is. It definitely hurts a little bit, but you just have to learn to rely on different things like the simulator and watching videos and trying to really get ready before the weekend. It slows things down a little bit. I don’t know if it’s a make or break kind of thing, but it’s gonna be harder for the rookie guys and the younger guys to probably get up to speed because you don’t have the practice.”

IN WATCHING FILM HAVE YOU LEARNED WHAT YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR AND THINGS TO PICK UP ON? “Yeah, and that’s nothing that’s new. I think we’ve all watched a ton of film even before when we had practice. We’d watch a ton before the race and be completely ready. Now, you just kind of had to change what you’re looking at and how much of it you’re looking at, so you don’t really have to look at old practice sessions and stuff like that. It actually simplifies things at times too because you don’t have to look at as much stuff and you don’t have as many things to mess up through the weekend (laughing). There’s gains and losses, I guess, but it’s definitely for the younger guys would probably be a little bit nice to have some practice.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TABLE AT SHR? DO YOU FEEL THERE’S MORE RESPECT GOING BOTH WAYS NOW? “Yeah, I think so for sure. Your rookie year you’re just making sure you’re not backing it into the fence and not tearing up race cars. So this year you’ve been to all the racetracks, you have an idea of everything, so now you can go up there and really get aggressive with it and have some more confidence. I think we’re just really hungry to go out there and run towards the front more and I think the more we can run towards the front and having those opportunities we’re gonna have more opportunities to win races. I’m ready to get the year going and get to Daytona.”

WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS? “We’d like to win a race again and make the playoffs. It’s just a matter of last year I feel like we could run in the top 10 and compete for wins when we hit things right and I was driving the track right and everything was working. It’s just a matter of doing that more consistently this year and we’ve got to fight and claw to stay up there near the front and get stage points and make sure we’re there at the end of the race.”

WHAT DOES THE DAYTONA 500 MEAN TO YOU? “For me, I just run the smartest race I can possible. I think you have to be aggressive in speedway racing. I think you have to race the whole time, but there are at times where if you’re in a bad spot you might try and do the smarter route and hang back or something. It’s something where it’s the biggest and most prestigious race of the year and it’s the first one, so I think we’re all going on kill. I mean, everybody wants to put their name in that hat of being a Daytona 500 winner. I think it’s something everybody wants to go there and we’re gonna put it all on the line to try to win that race.”

HOW MUCH DOES CONFIDENCE HAVE TO DO WITH IT? “That’s one thing that comes with experience and watching video. Every single situation is different and you just have to know what the right move is and that comes with experience and watching film and studying, and also racing the whole race. I think if you’re kind of lagging back the whole race, you might not have the confidence of making those big moves at the end.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE BUSCH CLASH AND IS IT MORE VITAL THE FACT IT’S NOT ON THE OVAL? “For sure. It’s definitely a race, especially with the amount of road courses that we are running this year, it’s a pretty important race because it’s one of the few races where we get to kind of almost have a little bit of a practice session of races to come that aren’t, and this one is not points related, so you can go out there and try some things maybe and try to figure some things out for the other road courses. I think it’s put a lot more emphasis or more importance on that race for sure.”

IS THERE AN UNDERDOG YOU SEE FOR THE 500? “I’d have to think. The thing about it is this year there are a lot of open cars and a lot of guys who are gonna be fighting to make it into the race itself. Who knows? There could be some really good storylines of teams that had to fight their way into the 500 and you never know at Daytona. Somebody could be there up at the front at the end.”

OUT OF ALL THE NEW IN 2021 WHAT ARE YOU MOST INTERESTED TO SEE? “Honestly, I’m really excited about the Bristol Dirt Race. I’ve raced a little bit of dirt when I was younger. I wouldn’t say I’m a professional or anything, but it was something that was really fun and it was something I would love to get back to. I’m really excited to get back on the dirt and even the practice leading up to it of getting in different cars and trying to get laps, I think it’s really fun to get to kind of learn that different kind of racing.”

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO PREPARE? “Whether it’s a late model or modified or a street stock or something like that just to kind of get some laps on a dirt track. It’s something a lot of the pavement guys aren’t used to, so the more laps you can get the better.”

SO, WHAT WILL BE THE KEY TO RUNNING WELL ON THE DIRT? “I think it’s gonna be important to get through your heat race good and kind of start your race off good because if you start behind it can definitely kind of throw you for a loop and then you’re kind of fighting and maybe you do something that you don’t want to and you get yourself in a bad position. I think the heat race is important and then it’s gonna be a lot about attrition, especially for a lot of pavement guys. I think it’s just staying clean is gonna be one of the biggest things and not making mistakes and just being there at the end because there’s gonna be a lot of guys who do make mistakes and it’s gonna be a race of limited mistakes.”

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT OLD SCHOOL SCENARIO OF DIRT ALL OVER THE PLACE? “Yeah, that’s part of the fun (laughing). It’s gonna be cool. I don’t know if we’re gonna have to run tear offs or what I’m gonna have to get, but I’m looking forward to it.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL NASCAR IS REPRESENTED ON ‘THE CREW’? “It’s a comedy, so I think it’s meant to be funny, but I think it’s good. It brings more awareness to the sport. Having a show on Netflix I think it’s all a good thing, honestly. To have an actor like Kevin James involved with our sport and with a show with our sport, so I don’t think there’s any downside to it. Maybe there are some funny parts that people won’t find funny, but I think it’s all positive.”

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST LESSON YOU LEARNED LAST YEAR THAT WAS THE RESULT OF A MISTAKE? “I don’t know if I can just say one, honestly. I don’t know if I just had that one mistake that I could really pinpoint, but I think the one thing I learned the most from was just the 550 package. It was so much different than what the XFINITY cars were and how you drove them was almost backwards from what you think, so it was a lot of learning. That was the biggest thing and just through the whole year getting better and better with it.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang – IT’S THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY SINCE DALE EARNHARDT’S TRAGEDY. SINCE THEN THERE HAS NOT BEEN ANOTHER DEATH IN A NASCAR NATIONAL SERIES RACE, BUT IN SPRINT CARS YOU MAY HAVE BEEN CLOSER TO SOME TRAGEDIES. DO YOU FEEL YOU LOOK AT SAFETY DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE OF THAT COMPARED TO SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE GROWN UP IN STOCK CARS? “Yeah, I mean I feel like, for me personally, every time I go to Daytona or Talladega there’s just a heightened sense of you know that something can happen. I don’t know if that’s because of Dale or whatever, but I just think whenever you go to those places you just know there’s gonna be big wrecks. You know you’re gonna be going very, very fast and just the potential of a wreck that can hurt you or worse is just heightened there compared to any other racetrack. I don’t feel like just because I didn’t grow up in stock car racing that I don’t feel that fear, but I’ll probably be the first one to admit that I am nervous. I am scared every time I go to Daytona or Talladega because you just know in the back of your mind what can happen there. You’re just going so fast and you’re just in so many situations that can get you in trouble, so you definitely know going to those places that that’s a possibility.”

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’VE SEEN IN STOCK CARS THAT YOU’VE IMPLETMENTED INTO A SPRINT CAR OR VICE VERSA FOR SAFETY? “First thing, I’m not the most mechanical guy in the world, so I probably don’t even notice that stuff as much as others. I think, for me, just sprint car racing there are certainly things tubing-wise and even head height, where your head kind of sits in the car. That’s something I’ve probably been more conscious of lately and then just the belts. I wasn’t very good about keeping up with belts and stuff like that. I’d run belts that were out of SFI all the time. It just wasn’t a priority because I thought as long as the belts didn’t have a tear or anything in them they were good. I’d keep running them, where now on the NASCAR stuff it’s obviously crucial that your stuff, all of the SFI stuff is in date and all those things. The belt manufacturer I run is different now in the dirt stuff, just trying to be the best I can be on that side. From a car standpoint, I just wouldn’t be the best guy to really say what we need to take from this side over to this sprint car or the midget side just because mechanically I don’t really know what I’m looking at. I’m just not that guy, so it would be hard for me to say one way or the other, but we could certainly get better safety-wise on the sprint car side and I feel like they’ve been slowly trying to make steps to make it better.”

CAN YOU TAKE US BACK TO YOUR MEETING WITH TONY WHEN YOU WERE TOLD ABOUT BEING PROMOTED? “First off, Tony, really the whole company, knew it had been done for two weeks that I was gonna be going to the Cup Series and everybody had kept it hidden from me. So, when I got told I was going to meet with Tony it was a last-ditch effort trying to get HighPoint.com to kind of figure out what they wanted to do. Tony was wanting my family there and my wife there and all these people and I didn’t really understand why he was something that would happen. And then to go through the whole day at Tony’s house, had dinner with him and then at the very end he told me I’m getting to go Cup racing. I think, for me, the fact that Tony put all the effort just to try to have my family there. He said, ‘You only get told you’re going Cup for the first time once and I wanted to make it special for you.’ For me, anytime you get told that it’s gonna be special, but for me to here it from my hero, the guy I grew up cheering for, the guy I grew up idolizing as a race car driver, that’s super special to be able to know that not only am I getting to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing, but specifically I’m getting to drive that 14 car, which is the one I specifically cheered for growing up. For me, it’s just super special. It still doesn’t seem possible that I’m getting to drive that car and getting to start off my career in that car in the Daytona 500. I’m just excited to get going. There’s a lot of nerves and a lot of pressure that comes with that car and specifically with that number. There’s a lot of history involved and really a legacy with that number. I would say it’s one of the more iconic numbers in the sport and I want to do those guys proud. I’m just looking forward to getting going and seeing where we stack up.”

HAVE YOU HAD THAT WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUES MOMENT YET WHERE IT BECOMES MORE AND MORE REAL? “Really, just this past weekend I was at COTA doing a Trans-Am test and Logano and Keselowski just rolled up in their rental car and started talking to me. I’ve obviously known those guys for a while, but I felt like I was finally kind of one of the guys, I guess because normally I wouldn’t be talking to them all the time and hanging out with them. I’m sure as the season gets going it’s gonna be more and more of really being around those guys and getting to experience more things with them. Truthfully, just even the welcome to the Cup Series it’s been very eye-opening how different it is just from the XFINITY side and the other stuff I thought was really detail-oriented in the past. It’s not even comparable to how, I mean, little details go into the Cup side. It’s been very eye-opening for me just transitioning to a new series – still in the same organization but a new team during COVID has been really hard just trying to learn everybody’s, even their face and their names because you can only see their eyes. Not getting to build that relationship I would normally be able to build by taking the guys out to lunch, hanging out at the shop all the time, all of those things are stuff I’m not really allowed to do now, so that part has been a little challenging, but I’d say it’s definitely gonna be a lot more eye-opening moments once I finally get on the racetrack with a lot of those guys.”

DOES ANYTHING CHANGE FOR YOU THIS ROOKIE SEASON WITH PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING BEING LIMITED? “No, I think last year just having where we even didn’t practice last year with help in that sense. Truthfully, I would like to have a little bit of practice just to learn what these cars drive like at some of these racetracks, but outside of that I honestly think it almost helps me in a sense because you see guys like a Kyle Busch or these guys who have a ton of experience. When they had that two hours of practice they can dial their car in exactly how they need it to be and they know from experience what they need their car to drive like for the race. I don’t have that experience. I don’t know what my car necessarily needs, but with no practice we just get in and go and everybody’s got to figure it and I feel like that part of it actually helps me a little bit just because everybody is on the same playing field. Nobody’s car is gonna drive necessarily good and you just have to figure it out. It certainly would be nice to have at least a couple laps before we start the race, but that’s part of it. Everybody is in the same playing field, so you’ve just got to figure it out.”

DID YOU EVER DREAM YOU WOULD GET TO RUN A CUP CAR ON DIRT? “When the Eldora truck race started I felt like it was a possibility that the Cup Series would potentially get a race, but I think I’d be the first one to tell you that I didn’t think it would happen at Bristol. I figured we would just go to kind of a dirt track that we already had. For them to do it at Bristol, I can’t imagine how hard that is from a facility standpoint of bringing all that dirt in and all of these things for three weekends of racing, but I’m super excited. I think the Cup Series has needed the dirt race for a really long time. I feel like all the drivers growing up we all have a way to kind of tie back into our grassroots and dirt guys never really had that, so we have a short track, we have a road course, we have an intermediate, we have a superspeedway, but we never had a dirt track and at least as a fan I’ve always wanted to see the Cup Series drivers challenged in every single discipline and we finally have that now with the dirt race, so I can’t wait to be a part of it. I’m just excited as a fan to see it as well.”

HOW WILL IT BE DIFFERENT THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST FROM THE STANDPOINT OF YOU WERE A THREAT TO WIN EVERY WEEK LAST YEAR AND NOW YOU’LL LIKELY BE DOING A LOT OF LEARNING? “You just have to try to keep it in perspective. You know you’re gonna be humbled without a doubt. You know that there are gonna be a lot of times where you’re gonna leave for the racetrack and it’s gonna be a huge learning day and that’s something I’m personally really excited to see where I need to get better because racing against 25-30 guys that can win week in and week out, that have so much more experience than me, they’ve been in so many of these scenarios and situations that I’ve never been in and just trying to learn from them and see, ‘Okay, this is what I can do in this situation and this is what I can do in that situation,’ is gonna be huge and something I’m really excited for. I think personally you still have to go to the racetrack every week thinking you can win the race, so I’m still gonna have that mindset. Just because I’m a rookie and never really raced in the Cup Series or been against these guys I’m still going to the Daytona 500 thinking I have a shot to win it and I’m gonna go there trying to win it. I’m definitely gonna go there and try to win the race and I feel like as a rookie you can win the race. Look at Cole last year. He was able to win a race that people probably didn’t expect him to win, so you just have to go there and once the season starts I think we’ll really see where I stack up. You never know if you’re gonna be a 25th-place guy, a 15th-place guy, a fifth-place guy, but I’m just excited to see where I stack up and where I need to try and get better.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE SEVEN YEARS AGO WHEN YOU MOVED TO NORTH CAROLINA? “There was a lot of emotions that kind of hit when I saw that. It’s seven years ago, but, honestly, it feels like yesterday. I remember that day. I was so excited to kind of start a new journey, but also so nervous and really didn’t know what I was getting into. I was fresh out of high school. I remember my mom right before I left literally trying to teach me how to do the laundry because she had always done it for me while I was in high school. I was green to everything. I never had a credit card or a debit card. I literally went down with $150 in cash and just pretty much thrown into the world and try to figure it out. I’d been to North Carolina and literally I knew two people. I knew the lady I was gonna live with who was gonna be my agent and I knew Brian Keselowski from the Peak Stock Dream Car Challenge, and I was just down there and I started trying to walk into different shops and offer being able to volunteer my time. Every shop I went to I tried to make it obvious that I wanted to drive eventually. I didn’t necessarily have a timeline on when if I didn’t have anything I was gonna come back, but it had been two years that I was down there and didn’t have anything. Literally the day I was driving home I remember I was in Kentucky, called my mom. I was in tears and told her I was moving back home. I was over it. I had been down there for two years and didn’t have anything. I was gonna go run a midget that weekend and the following Monday I was gonna drive back down, get my stuff and go back home. Two hours later after I hung up the phone I got a call from an ARCA team asking me if I was interesting in coming and doing a test and that was the Cunningham Motorsports team. I went there that following Monday and started volunteering my time. I’d been sleeping on couches for almost two years to that point and just started hanging out around their shop trying to be the first one to be there and the last guy to leave. I think I volunteered for a full nine or 10 months until I even got in a race car and they somehow, I don’t know why, they decided they were gonna let me race for them and we went and ran for the championship in 2016 and was able to win the championship. That following season got me a Ford deal, which got me to Brad Keselowski Racing, which then shuts down unexpectedly and kind of leaves me in the same situation where I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Then 2018 comes and I’m part-time now. I’m probably gonna lose my Ford development deal I feel like and I win the Roval, which that following Monday kind of spirals everything into 2019. Twenty Nineteen we race full-time and doesn’t necessarily go how I want it to. I get told in October I’m good to go for the year and then come November I don’t have a ride again and then literally three days away from not having anything for the 2020 season and that’s when the HighPoint.com stuff comes together. That was the beginning of January I want to say and now we’re sitting here two weeks away from the Daytona 500. So, there have been so many doors that were so close to closing. There were so many doors that probably shouldn’t have been opened that were somehow able to get opened. When that popped up today I just think of all the people that were willing to give me an opportunity when I didn’t have a resume. I certainly didn’t have any money to bring to the table. How many people have helped me along the way and it even was another full circle moment that the guy’s couch I slept on for a year-and-a-half, Ross Wece, he just started at SHR today as a video guy, so just crazy how all this stuff came back full circle. Now that I’m getting ready to drive the Daytona 500 for specifically the team I’ve always dreamed of racing for and even more specifically the car I cheered for growing up, so just a crazy ride for sure.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MIGHT BE LIKE TO START THE DAYTONA 500? “I think it’s gonna be different just because it’s not the full capacity, it’s not all of the pre-race stuff, all those things – not riding around in a truck. I don’t even know if we’re gonna do that, so all of that I think is gonna be a little bit different. It probably won’t hit me as hard, I think, because of that, but I remember the first time I got to run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I cried on the truck riding around there waving to people just because I was getting to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I’m a pretty emotional guy. I’ll probably tear up at the Daytona 500 as well just knowing that I’m about to run that race. It’s just gonna be special. It’s something that I never thought I would get to do one of them. Hopefully, I get to do many, many more, but just getting to savor that moment of racing in one of them is gonna be special, whether it’s full capacity or a third of the people there it’s still the Daytona 500 and it’s just crazy to think I’m gonna be able to run that race.”

DO YOU THINK YOU CREATED A MONSTER WITH CHASE ELLIOTT DOING HIS USAC MIDGET DEBUT? “I’m sure Hendrick is probably not too happy with me. I was blown away. Chase called me a couple weeks ago and told me he was gonna run for Chad at Ocala, but I was kind of hesitant to be honest with you. I didn’t ever think he’d run at a place that big, but I’m glad he’s doing it. I think it’s really cool to see the reigning Cup champion run grassroots stuff and to run USAC Midgets at Ocala is super cool, that a guy like him is wanting to go back and run it. Just getting to know Chase over the past couple years and even the past couple months even better and just seeing how big of a fan he really is, obviously driving them but even just watching him. It’s really neat to see, so I’m excited for him. I’m gonna definitely be tuned in on Flo to see how he does and I’m just excited he’s up for the challenge. He could have easily just ran Chili Bowl and call it good, but he legitimately wants to get better at it and he’s already really, really good. So, it’s gonna be fun to watch him and I’m excited for him and Chad to be able to see what they’re able to do.”

IF YOU COULD HAVE SOMEBODY FROM THE DIRT RACING WORLD TO RACE AGAINST AT BRISTOL WHO WOULD IT BE? “I would love to see Jack Hewitt at Bristol. I think that would be awesome to see Jack come out there. Obviously, with his age and everything now that’s not really possible, but I think there’s a lot of really good dirt guys that deserve a chance. Logan Seavey comes to mind. Tyler Courtney, there’s a lot of guys – even like a Donny Schatz and guys that are just phenomenal dirt racers that really deserve on a national scene, not a national scene but the NASCAR scene to be able to finally see what they can do. There are so many out there. You could sit here and name guys for literally an hour who deserve to be here, but it’s all about getting an opportunity and it would be cool to see a guy, another one like a Tanner Thorson get an opportunity on this stage and really show what they can do. It could really change their career and turn it around and get them more opportunities.”

HOW MUCH OF A LEARNING CURVE ARE YOU EXPECTING? “Yeah, I think for sure there’s gonna be quite a bit of a learning curve – just the length of the races. There are a couple of other variables – pit road is gonna be way busier than anything I’ve ever experienced, green flag pit stops, something I don’t really have a ton of time doing, where in the Cup Series you’re gonna be doing a ton of those every race. I think those are probably the variables I’m the most concerned about trying to learn. I think the length of the races will be something that is gonna be noticeable, but it’s not gonna be crazy. I think keeping your car taking care of with the steel body, you can’t touch the wall at all or really your day is done, where in the XFINITY car you could beat off of it a couple times and it would still be okay. All of those things are gonna be different, and then just how the cars drive. I’d love to have just a couple laps of practice, just to kind of feel it out before we go green, but it’s the same for everybody. It was the same for Bell and Custer and Reddick last year and they were able to figure it out and run up front, so I feel like I’m capable of doing it. I’m just really excited to see where I stack up against these guys and figure out where they’re beating me or where I’m comparable to them at and with the SMT and all the things we have now, it’s gonna be easier even in the race to try to learn and figure out what some of them guys are better than you are.”

WHERE DO YOU SIT ON ANY DIRT PLANS WITH YOUR OWN TEAM? “I would love to go do more dirt stuff and I think it’s risk vs. reward for me especially. My whole life, really these last seven years this is all I’ve tried to do is get to the Cup Series and now that I’m finally here I don’t want to necessarily risk going and getting hurt and throwing away this opportunity that’s an opportunity of a lifetime. I’m probably gonna hold off on the dirt stuff during the season. Once Chili Bowl and the end of the season comes around I’ll definitely start running some more stuff, but during the season I’m just gonna focus on the Cup Series and I’m really trying to do the best I can do. I do think that going and running other things certainly helps, but there’s also that risk of getting hurt and just that extra risk that I probably don’t need to be taking right now. I don’t know. I might try to run the Indianapolis race depending on how the season is going and how we’re looking points-wise. It’s something I would definitely like to do more of, just growing up and doing that it’s obviously one of my passions. Even as a team owner it’s something I really enjoy doing, it just financially has to make sense. I would love to be able to give back and go find young kids that don’t have the means to go race in top tier stuff and go give it to them, so maybe down the road that will be something that is a possibility, but as far as me racing this year I’m not gonna do too much. I still have my mini sprint that I’m gonna have Dillon Welch drive out at Millbridge pretty much all season long. I might hop in it a time before the Bristol Dirt Race to have the test day and just trying to get back in the dirt routine, but, other than that, I won’t do any dirt racing.”

WHAT DOES DALE EARNHARDT’S LEGACY MEAN TO YOU, AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW MUCH SAFER IT IS TO RACE IN NASCAR? “For me, I remember the day that that happened in 2001 with Dale. I was only six or seven years old at the time, so, truthfully, I didn’t completely fathom what had happened because it just didn’t really make a ton of sense to me. I knew what had happened, but I was so young and kind of green to everything that I had never experienced a family death or anything in my entire life, so I didn’t necessarily correlate everything, I guess. I think his legacy still today lives on. He’s literally one of the best of all time and I think there’s a lot you can take away from how Dale raced and truthfully even in my rookie season I feel like you have to be like Dale in a sense coming in as a rookie, at least for me when I’m racing against people I’ve never raced before, if I see I can take advantage of them in certain areas or they’re hesitant in other areas, if they do it that first time you know that you’re gonna be able to get away with it the next 100 times. As a rookie coming into a new series against a lot of guys I haven’t raced against or they haven’t raced against me, you have to be like Dale in the sense of sticking up for yourself and showing them you’re not gonna be pushed around because if they can push you around once, they’re gonna think they can do it over and over and over again. So, I think his legacy in just how you race still is relevant today and then on the safety side obviously it’s gotten a ton safer. NASCAR has done such an amazing job of really digging into that and trying to make not only the race cars but even the racetracks a lot safer for us. There are still areas we could be a lot better and it unfortunately takes a situation for us to learn sometimes about that. I definitely feel safe every time I get in the race car, but it doesn’t matter if you’re at Daytona, Talladega or even the Bristol Dirt Race it can happen anywhere and you have to be ready and know that. I think you as a race car driver, at least for me, you have to respect what you’re driving and know that it can bite you at any time. Just because we’re only going 100 miles an hour or 205 miles an hour anything can happen and you’ve just got to be ready for that. I think you just have to respect the vehicle, whether it’s a Cup car or sprint car or a midget, motorsports are dangerous. I think that’s kind of the draw that people still watch motorsports because it is dangerous. That’s the unfortunate part of it, but that’s why we all do it is that thrill and that’s why I think as a fan a lot of people are so attracted to motorsports.”

WHAT WILL BE THE KEY AREAS YOU’LL HAVE TO WORK WITH YOUR TEAMMATES ON WITHOUT PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING? “I think just trying to figure out what the track is gonna change like. Guys like Kevin and Aric and even Cole they kind of know how these tracks transition through a 400 or 500-mile race and that’s something that I don’t necessarily know, so just trying to go with them and try to really figure out, ‘Okay, this is what your car needs to do at the beginning of a race or beginning of a run versus the end of it.’ And just trying to figure out how the track changes. I just talk to those guys as much as I can and try to be as well prepared as I can and even like I was saying earlier with green flag pit stops, just knowing what their mark is, maybe there’s a sign on the wall or whatever that they use – just things like that. I’ll certainly be talking to them guys about trying to be as well prepared as I can be because I obviously have three really good teammates that have done it and understand what they’re doing, so just trying to use those guys to my advantage.”

HOW INSTRUMENTAL HAVE GUYS LIKE STEWART, HARVICK AND ALMIROLA BEEN IN GETTING YOU READY? “They’ve been huge, just all three of those guys have such large amount of experience. They all three come from different racing backgrounds. All three have different driving styles, so really just trying to pick their brains about what to do in certain situations. I’m sure once we get to Daytona all four of us SHR guys will sit down and kind of come up with a plan about this is how we’re gonna race today or this is our approach on the weekend. I’m sure it’ll get broader and broader as we get closer to Daytona, but as of right now they’ve been great about just trying to prepare me the best they can because the better I run, the better the whole company is gonna run. Everybody has an invested interest in each other and they’ve done a really good job of making me feel welcome and as one of the guys.”

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT SONOMA LATER THIS YEAR? “I’m just hoping I know what way to turn on the racetrack. That’s the only track I’ve never been to before. Luckily, we have the simulator and iRacing and all these things where I can be the best prepared I can be, but there’s still nothing like getting out there for real and just trying to see the racetrack. I don’t know what the tires are gonna feel like or how much they fall off or how much to save, what curbs you can hit, what curbs you can’t hit. There are so many variables that until I get there it’s gonna be hard to say, but I’m excited. In the past sprint car guys have had a lot of success at Sonoma. Tony was always really good there. Larson is good there. Everybody I’ve talked to says it’s extremely slick and wore out and I love slick and wore out racetracks. Sonoma is one I’ve been really wanting to get to for a long time, so I’m excited to finally go there this year.”

WHAT IS YOUR GOAL FOR THE DAYTONA 500? “I’m going there to win, for sure. I think for me I would love to just finish all 500 miles and in order to win the race you have to do that. I just want to try to get as much experience as I can. If you go out there and wreck 100 miles into the race, that’s 400 miles I didn’t get of driving this new Cup car and getting to be around these guys and earning their trust and just learning how they race. I want to finish first off, and I just feel like if you finish you have a really good shot at winning the race. It seems these past couple of years there’s only 10 to 15 cars even out there at the end of this deal just because so many guys get torn up and wrecked. Finish is the first part, all 500 miles, but truthfully I’m going there to win that race. That’s what Stewart-Haas hired me to do and just because I’m a rookie doesn’t mean I’m not capable of winning the race. I’m gonna go there and try to win. I’m gonna put my best effort forward and trying to win the race you’ve got to finish the race, so that’s the first goal and then hopefully be there at the end and in position to try to make a move to win the Daytona 500.”