Toyota GAZOO Racing – Tyler Reddick
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

CONCORD, N.C. (October 4, 2025) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

This is Reddick’s second pole of the season (COTA), second at the Charlotte ROVAL (2023) and 11th of his career.

TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

What was it like out there in practice and qualifying?

“Yeah, it was something. I feel like when we raced at Sonoma in the past, we’d have the high fall off, but the track certainly took you know, rubber, but a lot of rubber and rubber buildup off-line too. I feel like I’ve seen this before. Probably, when I did the Watkins Glen tire test, I believe it’s on this tire combination that we have been racing this year. It did a lot of that at that tire test, and we really haven’t seen it to the level that it did today. So yeah, the way it acted today was somewhat reminiscent of that test, but obviously, when we returned to race, it was much different, it wasn’t, you had some fall off, but it wasn’t rubbering the whole track in, kind of like it was. So, yeah, this is, I guess more in line with what I expected this tire to do, at a lot of the racetracks we go to, when I participated in that tire test, but it had just hasn’t done it quite to this level until today.”

What more do you need tomorrow to beat Shane van Gisbergen in the race?

“I think what you would define a long run – the long run seems like it comes quick with the way these tires go away. I believe he was the standout in that regard, on long run pace, so, I will try to look at what I’m doing with the car. We’ll try to look at what we can change on the car to see what more we can kind of do to help that. Outside of that, I thought my car handled pretty well over the course of the long run. We just have to just look through everything and see if there’s anything more there that we can find to help us. I mean, I think we’re okay when you look at the field minus the 88 (Shane van Gisbergen), but yeah, Shane’s obviously very good at what he does, he’s proven that this year in other years with this car. For us, we’ve got to kind of figure out how we can close that gap. It’s a pretty big one, but we’re up for that challenge.”

What did you think of the location of the tire packs?

“Turn seven’s, you know it’s there. I think in in the race last year, drivers and cars were really cutting that corner quite a bit. So, it keeps us more on the racetrack, I think with how much this tire wears away, keeping us off the paint over there is probably a good thing. I guess on the front chicane here, in the past, you’re able to really jump over that if you needed to, and that’s kind of taken that away. We kind of saw it, I think Kyle Busch made contact with it. A couple others did, and it didn’t destroy their car, it didn’t go flying. So, I think in the race – the intent of it was to keep us more on the racetrack, but it’ll be interesting to see when we’re two-by-two and we’ve got to work together to kind of get through a corner. We’re going to have less room, so, I expect more contact .

What does this do in terms of strategy?

“That’s how we played it the last two years, but we weren’t quite as far back on points as we are right now, going into tomorrow’s race. So, I think everybody that had a plan, an idea on the strategy for this race just had it completely ripped in half and all the teams are now looking at, you know what the fall off was like today and refiguring what the strategy’s going to look like. I would imagine that tires are going to be important to have late if there’s a caution based on what we saw today.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Bubba Wallace
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

CONCORD, N.C. (October 4, 2025) – 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

How was the competition meeting this week?

“Look it was definitely a somber week for sure, and I hate that it got to this point – the lingering effect, but Denny (Hamlin) and I just talked 30 minutes ago. It was a good, heart-to-heart conversation. It came from a place of peace. It went better than I thought it would. He shared his side of things, and I shared mine and we had common ground. I told him – and it was kind of funny – I kind of sent him on a detour when I said, you can go first, and then five seconds in I said, just so you know, I’m not mad about getting fenced going for the win – and his eyes were like, and he was like I need a second to reposition where I’m going to go. Just so we are all clear on that – that is not going to be the last time where I’m battling for a win and it doesn’t go our way in some fashion, whether that is Denny or anybody in the field. I’ll be a little gracious here and say 95 percent of the people on this side of the catchfence look at that move as, oof, that’s it. The other five percent, whether they are buddies or they don’t care, and they see the other side of it. I don’t fault Denny Hamlin for racing for a win, racing for his team, and his sponsors. I get the question a lot – what is it like racing Denny, on the race track, no offense to him, but I could give two shits because he is a competitor, and he has labeled it that way. That was two competitors going for a win, and so as much so as it didn’t work out, I have to respect that. I think Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) said it – I have every right to be pissed off about it. My biggest thing was Toyota didn’t win, and before I left my motorhome after the race, I texted the Toyota reps apologizing that we didn’t win. We had five in the top-five to take the green flag on the last restart, and none of us won. I just told Chase (Elliott) – we alley oop’d that for him, he appreciated it. It was all of the people that got effected – that is where my frustration came from, because I felt like I was stepping up for them, so while the conversation went really well – the pain is still there a little bit, but it definitely eased it. So I definitely appreciate Denny’s comments, never want him to back down in any scenario, but I didn’t get the chance to see the rest of the corner, and so yeah, that sucks.”

Is the pain because you didn’t win or it may affect you having a shot to run for the title?

“Both. I don’t expect – I’m not an owner and a driver. I don’t know what the thought process is. It is easy to sit there and Monday quarterback it, or in this case Saturday quarterback it. I’m sure it’s a difficult thing to juggle. It’s really good if I get 60 wins, and it is really good that I advance myself in the Playoffs, but man, it’s also really good if the car I own gets locked into the next round. There is a lot of money on the line – there is a lot of layers to all of that. You don’t think about that – I would assume – in the moment. Win and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. That is what we’ve always done since we were kids – figure it out, and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win races. Some are more respectful than others, and you’ve just got to deal with it. You’ve got to respect that and accept it and move on.”

What is the mood in the shop right now?

“I would say none of us have – and this can be, I don’t want to say naive to the fact – but we don’t go there and talk about December 1st. It is our jobs; it is our livelihoods to give it everything we’ve got for the race that is ahead of us. That sounds like a very cliché answer, but I could care less. I’ve got five races left to go out and fight for a championship, and I set that tone from the beginning of the year. We’ve got to work out tails off to make it count each and every week. With everything going on in the background, I’ve encouraged my guys to stay focused on that – so I can’t answer your question and give you any insight to that, nor would if it was the case, but I genuinely don’t feel that. Now if Sunday was December 1st – mood was pretty down, and I hate that for my team, but it is a new weekend. Fresh opportunity in front of us. It is time to go focus on that.”

How much attention do you pay attention to the lawsuit?

“I don’t. I focus on the things that I can control and let everything else sit on the background. Didn’t even know anything went on last night, so that just shows you, I guess, how out of tune I am, but focused, for me, on the more important things.”

Why is the frustration that Toyota didn’t win?

“You turn left, and you go from the bottom. Simple as that. A lot of people want to relate that move to my move to CBell (Christopher Bell). CBell got to see the other side of the corner, and I was on the bottom to start the corner and drifted up. That was the thing. I texted CBell before I left the bus. I said, man, my full intentions were to use the air. That is still one thing that we can go back to when (Kyle) Larson fenced me at Vegas. We all know that moment. He didn’t touch me – I don’t think, it was more so his air put me in the fence. There is a fine line, obviously, of just forcing someone to lift, but also putting someone in the fence. I texted CBell after the race and said my full intentions were to make you lift, not put you in the fence, and I apologized for that. He took it, I guess, as best as he could, but I reached out immediately because I saw the replay after the fact, and was like damn, I did not want that, but I allowed him – I don’t know how long it takes you to get from turn three to turn four, a couple of seconds, I allowed him to see that. Just the way it was handled after the fact was a frustration too.”

How are you and your team better than you were a year ago?

“I’ve joked around since Indy that I don’t care, and for the longest time I was always racing for job security, no matter how long you are signed, I go back to COTA, when I crashed out, third race of the season, I said I needed to be replaced because I was always just chasing the results and wasn’t living up to expectations for self, and I’m sure the expectations for the team. I was just kind of being a realistic, pessimistic – like I’m not doing the job right, but Indy allowed me to enjoy that job that I did, and also replay that – you didn’t care in that moment. You raced because you loved it. I think that has been the biggest shift. Everyone just supporting that and showing up and having fun. It has been fun being on the race track. Everybody has told me that the start of Kansas last Sunday – they like to say I give up, I never give up, so that is BS when you hear that, but the outcome would have been different. Bubba Wallace wouldn’t be fighting for the win a year ago if his Kansas race started out like that. I think it is just legit, letting the little stuff go and allowing yourself as chance to breathe and looking at things differently. That has produced a lot of the results.”

Does it add another layer to that when Denny just goes on the whole next day and has a graphic that says I won’t apologize? Does the tension and awkwardness just stem from the uniqueness of the situation?

“Yeah, you kind of hit it right there on the head. It was just the way it was kind of handled behind the scenes just kept going, kept adding fuel to the fire and I hate that it got to that point, and I expressed my displeasure to Denny (Hamlin) today, and he totally respected that. I’m a guy that we have confrontation, and it is not settled – like it is lingering, and now I’m in this spot where I’m 25, 26 points out. I expressed to him, that what you need from your driver is to be at 110 percent focused on what to do, how to execute, and how to go out there and beat SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) – I had a dark cloud over my mind all week long, man, it’s not fair to my team. I expressed that, he told respected that, and frankly the conversation allows him to see things from a different perspective. Denny usually doesn’t do that but allowed him to have that opportunity. As much as I wanted to come in here and MF the guy, the competitor Denny, the conversation went better than expected and you feel lighter on your feet. There is a transition period that you have to go through, and it sucks that it is happening on Saturday.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Bank of America 400 Media Availability — Charlotte Motor Speedway
Saturday, October 4, 2025

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse, comes into this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series elimination race 13 points above the cut line. He spoke to members of the media before today’s qualifying session about his situation.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WE SAW YOU RIDING AROUND IN YOUR BACKYARD EARLIER THIS WEEK. WAS THAT PRACTICE FOR THIS WEEKEND? “It’s kind of an every week occurrence. There are a lot of good perks with being a race car driver, but one of the coolest things if you do this long enough is you can afford to build your own racetrack and it’s pretty cool. It’s like the coolest thing in the world. It’s like as a child that’s all you wanted is to be able to walk out your front door and jump in your go-kart or your four-wheeler and go have some fun. It’s like every little boy’s dream, so I built a racetrack and it’s awesome. I don’t know if my neighbors love it or not, but I do and they all seem to be pretty cool about it. They haven’t really said anything, so that’s good. I love driving still. Nothing has changed for me since I was a little kid. That’s what I did everyday I got home from school is I’d jump on a go-kart or I’d jump on my quad and I’d go ride. I still do the same thing when I get home from work though, and the good thing is my oldest is becoming fast enough to race with dad and it’s becoming more fun again, so it’s pretty cool.”

HOW DO YOU APPROACH SUNDAY? ARE YOU GOING TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE GUYS AROUND YOU IN THE POINTS AND WANT TO HEAR WHERE THEY ARE? “Absolutely. I want to know it all. I want everything, all the information I can possibly get said to me. I think everybody knows you make better decisions when you have all the data and we’re asked to make decisions in the heat of the battle live. There’s no time to talk it through in a boardroom. We’ve got to make the decision at that moment, so the more prepared we can be the better, but also understanding what the situation is, what’s going on around me and what I have to do inside the race car.”

CAN YOU RECALL THE RANGE OF EMOTIONS A YEAR AGO WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE ELIMINATED AND THEN REINSTATED? DID YOU FEEL A SENSE OF DESTINY AFTERWARDS? “No. I don’t ever feel like anything is owed to me. You just roll with whatever comes your way and it shows how unpredictable life is and sometimes you don’t need to be going up and down with every wave. I remember the emotions leaving the track. I was bummed. I was like, ‘Well, on one hand we did really good here last year,’ so I was proud of the effort that we gave. I was bummed that we were just a little short, but it is what it is. That’s how I am at the end of the race. It is what it is. I can’t change it now and you just have to keep looking out the windshield and we went home. We went home and had a fairly normal evening, and then I got a call and it was like, ‘Hey, honey, you ain’t gonna believe it. We’re back in.’ Obviously, the next seven days after that changed everything because we went from out to in to winning Vegas and in the Championship 4 and winning our third title, so just a quick turn of events, but that’s NASCAR racing for you. It’s unpredictable. Things can change really, really fast. You just have to keep rolling with it.”

HOW DO YOU DUPLICATE THAT SUCCESS AND WIN AGAIN AT VEGAS NEXT WEEK? “It’s one step at a time. We’ve got to get through this week first. This week right now is the most important race of the season for us. We’ve got to get through this one. Hopefully, we can continue to be in the championship race after this and at that point we’ll look at Vegas, but right now 100 percent of our focus is at the Roval.”

WHEN YOU WERE LISTENING TO BUBBA WALLACE. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHEN YOU’RE RACING HARD AGAINST TEAMMATES? “I honestly feel like it’s one of the most challenging relationships that you can ever go through because when you think about other team sports you’re on the same team. That team wins together. In this case, you’re on the same team, but only one of you get to win. It gets really confusing. One win is good for everybody and there’s truth to that. I’ve seen that over my years of driving, how your perspective changes over the years. When you first come in it’s me, me, me, me, me, and then you kind of eventually see the big picture if you do it long enough, how the whole ecosystem is really created and how it is good for everyone to see victory at Team Penske or whatever respective team that may be. So, with that said, it’s still challenging because only one driver gets the stat. Only one driver gets the points. Only one driver gets the paycheck. That’s true and there’s also the team aspect, where there’s everyone working on the cars at the shop of course, but then there’s also individual pit crews, there’s individual road crews, crew chiefs, engineers, so there is some separation there as well. It’s a very challenging relationship to navigate and it gets stressed a lot. It’s just unique. I have never seen anything like it in my time.”

YOUR PENSKE TEAMMATES SAY YOU TALK ABOUT THOSE SITUATIONS IN ADVANCE, SO WHAT IS THE WORD ABOUT WHEN THOSE THINGS HAPPEN? “You’ve got to race. We try to run through as many scenarios as possible and a lot of what-ifs. The longer you work with a team, the better that becomes because everyone understands. But, at the same time, we’re supposed to race, so you’ve got to weigh that out, too, because that’s our jobs as our fans expect that out of us. There’s a lot of arguments that will argue the other side, so you try to find some happy medium and what is the rules of engagement. What is acceptable when we’re racing for a win? Basically, one of us better win. I think that’s the simplest way of looking at it. One of us better come out with the win. I don’t think there’s probably a more challenging situation that can possibly come up than what Ryan and I went through in Phoenix last year. That’s not just a win, that’s a championship and it’s coming down, mano a mano just the two of us within a car length of each other. It’s a tough situation for both of us to be in.”

THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF TALK ABOUT GETTING YOU AND RYAN OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS. WHAT’S IT LIKE KNOWING THAT YOUR COMPETITORS ARE THINKING ABOUT YOU? “Cool. Good. I want to keep them there. That’s fine. We have a reputation of just grinding it out and sticking around and showing up when it matters, and so that’s been our reputation over the last 10 years plus because we continue to do that. Last week, obviously, didn’t go the way we wanted it to, getting caught up in that wreck, but we’re still in a good position this weekend. We’ll just focus on ourselves and what everyone else wants to say, they’ll say. You just focus on you.”

DO YOU BELIEVE IN A MENTAL ADVANTAGE? “Absolutely.”

IS THERE ONE RACE THAT STANDS OUT AS ONE WHERE SOMETHING HAPPENED AND YOU STILL CAME BACK AND WON? “Gosh, I don’t know off the top of my head. You kind of caught me off guard there. There are a lot of races that come up that way. I mean, these days in Cup racing you could almost argue that every win is a championship performance because the cars are so close that you have to be perfect. You really can’t have a mistake these days and expect to recover and drive through the field. The cars are just too close in speed and passing is more challenging because of that, so I’d say you win these things these days it takes everything. The pit stops have to be perfect. The restarts have to be perfect. The car has to be really, really good. All of those things have to be lined up perfect to win one of these things these days, so it’s kind of hard to say any of them. I feel like it’s harder to win these days than it even used to be just because there are more cars that can.”

WERE YOU PART OF THE MEETING WITH NASCAR THIS MORNING AND HOW DID IT GO? “I can’t say anything (laughing). No, it was fine. They just ran us through some marketing stuff, some plans for next year on what the sport is gonna look like, which is super exciting by the way. I’m not gonna spill the beans, but it’s super cool, and then just some competition stuff, some stuff along with the rules, how things are called, some safety stuff. They just kind of run through those categories with the drivers and see if the drivers have any comments on where we’re going as a sport or anything that’s concerning.

WHAT MOST EXCITED YOU? “To me, I think where we’re going from a marketing standpoint next year is really exciting.”

WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU GOT THAT FOURTH WIN OF YOUR CAREER IN VEGAS AND NEW YOU WERE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4? “Just pure excitement because the goal when you start the season is to win the championship and it takes a lot of stepping stones to get to that place. One of the largest ones is just getting to the Championship 4. That’s the one closest to the championship, so getting to the Championship 4 is so hard to do, so when we won that race, you automatically know, ‘Gosh, we’re in it. We’ve got a chance.’ And then you know that you’ve got a couple weeks advantage on everybody. The excitement is real and then it goes straight back to the pressure automatically kicks in. Maybe 30 minutes after the race and the adrenaline starts to come down, you’re like, ‘We’ve got to start working on Phoenix now.’ It starts happening really fast because you’re that close. As great as it is to make the Championship 4, it equally sucks to not win it – to get that far and not accomplish the goal. That hurts so bad, so you just want to make sure you have everything ready.”

HOW IS THE FALL RACE AT VEGAS COMPARED TO THE SPRING RACE? IS IT MORE STRESSFUL GOING INTO THAT ONE? “Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it’s way more stressful. It’s the playoffs. There’s more on the line. You’re getting close, so for the eight that are still in it, absolutely there’s more pressure.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE ROVAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
OCTOBER 4, 2025

 Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Elliott – a two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner at the ROVAL – heads into the race weekend with an already guaranteed ticket into the Round of Eight.

Media Availability Quotes:

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING TO ACCOMPLISH THIS WEEKEND AS WE TACKLE THE ROVAL?

“Oh, yeah, try to get another win. You know, I think fortunately, last week keeps things really simple for us. So, yeah, that’s the goal. I think we are very capable of contending this week. We’ve had, you know, a good pace over the last few trips to this event, and hopefully we can replicate some of that and keep ourselves in the mix, have a shot.”

CHASE, DURING THIS TIME OF YEAR, WE OFTEN HEAR ABOUT HOW MENTALLY EXHAUSTING THE PLAYOFFS ARE BECAUSE OF HOW LASER FOCUSED EVERYONE HAS TO BE. HAVING THE WIN AT KANSAS IN THE BOOK FOR THE 9 TEAM, HOW HAS THAT HELPED? DOES IT DO ANYTHING TO HELP EASE SOME OF THAT PRESSURE OR INTENSITY FOR YOU AND THE TEAM, AT LEAST FOR ONE WEEK?

“Yeah, I mean, I definitely think it keeps your strategy really simple, you know. Especially if you are a contender on the day and have good pace. A lot of those questions are just answered on how fast or slow you are, you know, truthfully. So, I feel like our intensity is usually pretty high. I feel like we’re always really locked in on what we need to do. I don’t know that the situation really changes that. We still try to show up each week and be really prepared, and I thought we had a good week of prep this week and kind of went about our business like we would have done if we hadn’t won last week. So, I think that’s the important thing to keep that cadence and keep your process the same. Because it’s not like the season’s over, we still have another month. I think our team is in a good place and we just keep going about our business and keep our heads down. We certainly know we have room to improve, even with last week. So we look to try and do some of that this week and then certainly try and find, find some more next week in Vegas.”

OBVIOUSLY, YOU FEEL FREER, POTENTIALLY TO RACE A DIFFERENT WAY COMING IN TO THIS WEEKEND? CAN YOU RACE ANY FREER? LIKE YOU SAID, THE SEASON STILL CONTINUES. BUT DO YOU FEEL THAT FREEDOM TO BE ABLE TO? WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

“Yeah, I mean, I think the difference is not having a short stage or having the ability to short stages and not feeling so pressured to run to the end if you need the points, right? I’ve said that a lot, but, you know, road course racing in general, this time of year, in some cases, it can almost decide whether or not you have a chance to win the race, and you kind of see guys put themselves in certain buckets, and they have to have the points, and we’ve been there, and I get it. And you just can’t afford to lose the stage points, right? So, I think that’s really the biggest thing that it does more than anything. I think from my perspective behind the wheel, I’m still going to try and go and extract as much pace from the car as I can like I would have done anyway. But, yeah, just nice to not have to worry about that side of the fence, you know, it’s such a nice thing when you come to these places, assuming you have good pace, and all those things. Now, if we’re slow and you don’t have a legitimate shot to win or beat the top runners, then maybe you do consider still running to the end of stages if it could potentially give you a stage win. That would be an extra point, right? So, I think it’s number one, it’s how can you win? And then number two, it is how can you accumulate the playoff points? And to me, I think the priorities go in that order.”

CHASE, HOW WOULD YOU EVALUATE THIS ROAD COURSE IN THE DIFFICULTY OF IT?

“I mean, it’s, it’s nothing new, you know, at this point. We’ve been coming here for a number of years now and I’ve said, really from the get-go, it’s a place that it doesn’t have a lot of flow to it. It’s a really choppy road course, and it’s kind of a makeshift road course, and it is. In a lot of ways, you know, having a rhythm and a flow is a really important piece of road racing, at least it is for me, and this is one of those places where it just doesn’t really come naturally. You kind of have to find that and create that. And it’s hard to do. And I’ve had trips where I’ve been able to do that, and I’ve also had trips that I haven’t, and you know, it’s a challenge. So, you know, I look forward to getting out on track and, you know, trying to, you know, find some of that.”

IN THE NEXT GEN ERA, LAS VEGAS HAS BEEN NOT ONE OF YOUR BEST TRACKS. DO YOU HAVE ANY REASON WHY YOU THINK THAT IS? WHEN YOU GUYS RUN SO WELL ON OTHERS?

“Yeah, we’ve crashed a lot, you know? So that’s hurt for sure. Lots of crashes out of Vegas for us, really throughout the whole entirety of my career. You know, I’m trying to think through, you, all of the scenarios and its hard to remember. And then we’ve just had some bad runs there. I thought we had some pretty good runs prior to Next Gen and then kind of the inception of the Next Gen car, I feel like it was a pretty big step backwards. And then I thought we had a really good run there going last fall. I thought we made some nice gains last year as a whole there. Had a really, really nice run going. I was excited about just having a solid day there in the fall, and crashed. And I thought this spring was solid. More in the ballpark, not as good as we were in the fall, but certainly more competitive than some of the races, I think, that you were mentioning. So, this deal, as it always is, is what have you done lately, and that narrative can be really different next week if we do a job, right?”

DOES YOUR PREP OR ANYTHING CHANGE THIS WEEK, MAYBE FOCUSING MORE FORWARD ON LAS VEGAS BECAUSE OF THE HOW CRITICAL THAT IS?

“No, truthfully, our our prep work in our week was really similar to, like, it always is. I as a person and we as a team, I feel like we take things kind of week to week and this week was really no different. I mean we always touch on Vegas a little bit here or there, like, if there are things that, you know, coming off Kansas while it’s fresh, something that might translate, of course, we’re going to talk about those things. But nothing was any different. We just, I feel like it’s just an open dialogue all the time. Like we talk about everything and I think everything’s on the table. But us talking about Vegas and the conversations that we had were no different. Like, we would have been talking about that stuff anyway. So, I didn’t really see where it changed.”

CHASE. JUST HOW COOL IS IT WHEN THE FANS COME UP TO YOU AND WANT YOU TO BE PART OF, LIKE, A BIG MOMENT OF LIVES, LIKE THAT GENDER REVEAL? HAVING FANS WANTING YOU TO BE PART OF SOMETHING MAJOR IN THEIR LIVES AS WELL, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?

“Yeah, it’s really cool, and I say this, but, you know, you totally do take that stuff for granted a little bit sometimes. It’s always really important to remind yourself, just the impact that you can have on someone’s day. Just being in the position and, you know, very fortunate to be in that position and I always try to show appreciation for that and show as much respect as I can. I am human. I do have bad days, too, right? Just like we all do, so, you know, there are times where, you know, you probably don’t express your best and you look back and wish you had done better or done different. I’m certainly guilty of that too, but those moments are special because it is a great reminder to me that you can have that type of impact in someone’s life or just in someone’s day. If you can help put a smile on somebody’s face for five minutes, or whatever, you made a difference, whether you like it or not, you made a difference. I think there’s a little bit of responsibility in that. So, as I’ve gotten a little older, I try to, you know understand that and make sure I’m showing the respect in those situations that I would want, and I appreciate them letting me be a part of it. It was definitely a first, for me. So, that was kind of cool, but, yeah, all those moments are, you know, unique in their own ways.”

I WAS CURIOUS, WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT WHAT YOUR TEAM DID IN BOTH 2019 AND 2021 TO KIND OF RECOVER FROM THOSE TWO DIFFERENT INCIDENTS?

“Yeah, I mean, obviously they did a great job. You know, it was unfortunate. was not his fault either. So yeah, I’m sure they had some bad moments there, you know, when that first happened. Just in thoughts and what the damage could be. In both of my scenarios and in their scenario yesterday, there was some good fortune in what part of the car was hurt and what parts weren’t. Fortunately, in all three of those scenarios, enough of the suspension was not bent and enough of the body was still intact to be able to repair it. So that’s number one. If you can fix it, is it fixable? How bad is the damage? Fortunately, all those situations, you know, and for us and those two that you referenced, our car wasn’t hurt that bad. And the pace here is pretty slow, and when you look at it from an aero perspective, you’re not going super-fast. Yes it is a deficiency, but you can kind of patch it back together and go out there and still have a solid day with a beat up race car. So that plays a role. And then, you know, I think the mentality aspect of it is really all the same. I feel like we’re always of the mindset you’re never giving in, right? So whatever situation you’re faced with, that is not an option. So, it’s just, you just put your head down and fight through whatever it is until it’s over, you know, until somebody says it’s done. And that’s just how it’s going to be.”

CHASE, OBVIOUSLY A LOT OF GREAT DRIVERS IN THE SERIES AND GREAT ON ROAD COURSES, BUT WHEN ONE PERSON IS WINNING SO OFTEN AT THIS TYPE OF DISCIPLINE, I’M CURIOUS, IS SVG CHANGING THE SPORT OR IS THAT LOOKING AT IT THE WRONG WAY BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH TALENT AND THERE IS SO MUCH COMPETITION THAT THERE’S ALWAYS THAT NATURAL PUSH TO BE BETTER?

“Yeah, I mean, there’s no question he’s done a fantastic job. I’ve always tried to give him the credit that I think he deserves for the discipline and how good he is at it, and I think that should be celebrated, you know? I’ve always been a fan of if a guy’s dominating something, so what? You know you as writers and fans should celebrate that, and then us as competitors should figure out how can we make ourselves better to try and recapture where the bar has been set. So, he has certainly raised the bar in a lot of ways on the road courses. Why is that? He’s a great talent, no question. He has a number of years of experience driving cars very similar to this. Maybe not quite as heavy, I’m not sure what the weight of those cars are, but certainly from a trans axle perspective, and I think those cars are independent, rear suspension as well if I’m not mistaken. Might check on that, I’m not sure, but nonetheless, there are some similarities that I think that have helped him make that transition into these cars. But then you look at his Xfinity’s success on that side, he’s also very good in those cars, and that’s nothing like he came from. That’s why I say, he’s a great talent and we shouldn’t take that away, either. So, I think you just give credit where it’s due, and I think he’s a good racer. He’s always raced me with a lot of respect, and you know, from my perspective, I just want I just want to get better and try to put myself and our team in the ballpark to go up there and run with it.”

I’VE COVERED TURNS 5, 6, AND 7, AND THAT’S THE PART OF THE TRACK THAT MOST RECENTLY CHANGED. CAN YOU WALK US THROUGH THAT SECTION, WHAT YOU’RE DOING WITH GEARING, AND HOW CHALLENGING IT IS, TOO?

“Yeah, it’s definitely changed, man. I think the biggest challenge of that section is it’s a little blind as you exit, the quick right to come over the hill, it’s a little blind. You end up kind of going over a hump in the road and that can upset the car. So just kind of how you, how you get through that quick right, you know, whatever you decide to do with your gearing, there’s a couple different options. I think you can downshift earlier or downshift late. It is kind of a dealer’s choice. But I think more importantly, just getting the car settled to get over that rise and be able to, you recapture the grip on the back side, to set up a really important apex coming back on the big track, obviously, that leads to a long straightaway. So, priority always leans towards whatever the corner is that has the longest straightaway, right? So, you know all that is kind of a setup for how you exit and take yourself to the bus stop. So it’s kind of all connected.”

CHASE, CAN YOU COMPARE CONTRAST FOR US RACING ON A ROAD COURSE LIKE THIS? IT’S ACTUALLY ADAPTED FROM AN OVAL, OR LIKE INDIANAPOLIS, AS OPPOSED TO A RACETRACK THAT’S A PURPOSE-BUILT ROAD COURSE, LIKE WATKINS GLEN OR SONOMA.

“Yeah, I think kind of coming back to Claire’s question, really, it’s just about how much of a natural flow it has, that’s the only difference I see with it. This is just a place that doesn’t have a very good natural flow. You know, you go to Watkins Glen and it flows, whether you like it or not. You know, that’s just kind of what it is, the way the racetrack was built where certain turns set you up for the next one. And that’s how a lot of road courses are. That were purpose built that way. Sonoma was that way in a lot of ways. COTA is that way in a lot of ways and this place is just not. And I think that’s where, you know, coming back to finding that within yourself, creating that rhythm, creating that flow, you know, is going to help you create repetition and lap time and be able to hit your marks and do it, you throughout the entirety of a run.”

THERE’S BEEN DISCOURSE AMONG DRIVERS ON WHETHER THIS RACE SHOULD GO BACK TO THE OVAL OR NOT. IF A ROAD COURSE HAD TO BE IN THE PLAYOFFS, DO YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE FOR WHICH ONE?

“Um, I really don’t. I mean, I think the argument from that perspective has just been that pre–Next Gen, we were hungry for more road races, right? And, you know, the road course had put on a lot of excitement, and I think that’s what they were after, you know, for this event in the fall. It does seem to me like the mile and a half stuff suits this car a little better than it has suited the road racing, from an excitement perspective. So, I think that’s probably why some of those conversations have resurfaced. But I don’t have a preference on where if there is a road race in the in the final 10. I’m good with whichever one they picked.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE ROVAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
OCTOBER 4, 2025

 Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Larson – a two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner at the ROVAL – returns to the 2.28-mile circuit as the track’s defending winner.

Media Availability Quotes:

Have you seen the tire packs there in Turns Seven and 17? How much of an impact do you think they’ll have on how you drive the course, if any?

“Yeah, I mean I watched the truck race yesterday. I don’t know… I don’t really remember anybody really clipping them, so I would say that they’re in a good place. But yeah, we’ll see once we get out there. I think it’ll be nice over on the frontstretch. You can have some sort of visual reference now, I feel like, which will be good.

And then, yeah, I think the hairpin over there, it would just probably make things feel a bit more narrow and maybe a touch less inviting, I would think, for people to kind of dive on when they’re on a restart. I think back before we had the tire pack over there, it just felt like a really wide, kind of apex, corner. And too, last year, we started to kind of cut that corner slightly throughout the race. So yeah, I think the tire pack will keep you from cutting the course over there. We’ll see. I just don’t really know how it’ll be until we’re out there.”

How important is qualifying, but in the ROVAL, specifically?

“Qualifying is extremely important everywhere, but especially on the road courses, I feel like. It’s just really, really hard to pass because we’re all pretty similar, I feel like. Your brake zones are a little bit more in control than we used to have with the old car and all that. So yeah, qualifying has just become way more important at all types of tracks, but especially the road courses.”

As for Charlotte itself, obviously, we all talk about this every time you go anywhere, but it’s your local, home race. How cool is this weekend for the sport?

“Yeah, it’s cool. It’s great to be here at home; sleep in your own bed, drive to the track and drive home. You have a lot of people from the shop that don’t get to go to maybe any race throughout the year that get to come here to Charlotte. I would say the weeks are a little busier because you are at home and they know you’re at home. But it’s still great to be here; you get to have a family here and all that.”

How difficult is this road course compared to road courses that you’ve raced? How would you sort of evaluate it as a racer?

“I don’t know… I mean, every track is unique in its own way. This place is just really bumpy, I would say, especially through one and two. It’s a wore out surface, so drive-off is difficult in the hairpin, the bus stop on the backstretch, the frontstretch of chicane, all of that.

I mean, every track is challenging in its own way. There’s no track that is easy. They’re just all different, so it’s just another different track.”

As a driver, when you’re watching the Truck race or the Xfinity race, how much can you pick up from watching it? How much can you learn from that?

“I don’t know… I feel like a road course race, you’re mostly just watching as a fan. Everybody’s running similar lines and stuff. But I think just seeing areas where people are making moves to pass or how much of a curb that they’re using, stuff like that. So, yeah, you can pick up something every time you watch a race.”

There’s obviously a lot of talk about SVG, being that he’s won the last four. But entering here as the defending winner of the ROVAL, what do you feel like the 5 team was able to find last year, especially on the first year of this configuration, that can translate to year two?

“I think I would say in our Next Gen ROVAL races here, I’ve just never felt comfortable. My car just feels on edge and out of control. Last year, we worked on it a lot and my car balance was really comfortable and it showed for speed. So I’m hopeful that this time around we’ll have that same sort of feel and comfort.

It’s a different tire, though, so I haven’t been good on road courses this year as we’ve changed the tires. So I don’t know what to expect. I hope that we’ll be good, but we’ll find out here shortly.”

How would you evaluate your playoffs up to this point? It’s an elimination race and you’re sitting pretty good points at the moment. Going forward into the next round, what are some things you might need to clean up or do better?

“This round has gone pretty well. I feel like both of the two races have been pretty similar. Really, a few of the races have been similar, where we’ve gotten a lot of stage points and then didn’t finish as high as we had run in the first two stages. But I feel like our speed has gotten better. I feel like we’re executing well. As you get into the next round, it’s time to turn the intensity up and take a little bit more risk and things like that. I feel like our team has quietly been getting better for a while now. I feel like each week, we’re continuing to get better. It’s exciting going to the track and it’s just an exciting time of year right now. It’s fun and hopefully we can keep elevating and be where we need to be come Martinsville.”

This track can always test teams. If something bad happens to the cars, they have to respond. I was just curious, what do you remember about your team and what they did in 2021 when you were dealing with all the battery and alternator issues that you didn’t even think you were going to finish the race and then you won?

“Yeah, so 2021, we had obviously a great season to that point; a ton of playoff points and all that. We weren’t even thinking about being eliminated. There was one point in the race where if we didn’t get it fixed, I think we were going to be right at the cutline or just below. I remember my mindset was just like, man, let’s just get this thing fixed, get a top-20 and leave here and make it through the next round. Our team did a really good job of diagnosing the issue, fixing the issue, and then just executing the day. We had a great car, obviously, too, but we just planned out our race good from there and just made our way forward; had some good restarts and ultimately got the win, which was unbelievable.

That was one of the Cup races that we’ve won where I did not think that we would win, so it was a cool feeling. Kind of a championship sort of thing, a lot like Corey Heim, I feel like, watching him yesterday.”

What do you feel like you do better or can do better than anybody else on the road course?

“I don’t think there’s anything I do better than SVG (laughs)…”

How close do you feel like you are to him?

“I don’t know… I feel like this year, nowhere near him. I think that’s a lot due to the tire change and just my driving style, maybe I’m guessing, but just being overly aggressive in a way of how you load the tire and slip and stuff. I’ve just been trying to get better this year on the road course stuff. We’ve had great results, I feel like my whole career on road courses, so I definitely don’t feel bad. But it’s just a combination of things, I think.

Same as ovals. Your car has to be good. You have to execute well. I don’t know that there’s one particular thing that I’m better at than anybody else, but I think our team just does a good job and hopefully it’s the same case this week.”

I know the focus is this week, but looking ahead after this week to the next round, you talked about risk taking and the intensity picking up. Can you explain a little bit more about that? Because I guess there was a part of me in the back of my mind with Talladega in that next round that maybe there isn’t as much need for risk taking because of what can happen. Maybe that’s the wrong approach…

“I say risk taking, but you’re still calculating risk, I guess, more. I feel like the first round, especially in our position and the playoff points we had, it’s like, just don’t take yourself out of it. And then make it through this round a little bit of the same.

Then as you get to the Round of Eight, I just feel like you’ve only got one more step to get to race for a championship. Obviously, you don’t want to take too much risk and take yourself out of things, but you also don’t want to be too easy and feel like you give up a spot or two each stage. Or if you have an opportunity for a win, I think it’s good to go for it and all those sorts of things.

I can’t tell you my game plan right now. It’s all kind of circumstantial on where you’re at on the track, where you’re at on points, all that sort of stuff.”

You obviously have an extensive dirt racing background. Other dirt racers have done well on road courses, too. Is there any aspect of racing on dirt that translates to road courses?

“I think for me, I definitely feel like I adapted okay to road course racing, given I had zero experience at it before I came to NASCAR… not even a go-kart or anything. These cars are a little different now, the Next Gen cars, than back when I started. In a sprint car, you have a lot more travel and feel of the car moving around. We’d get on an oval and everything was just so stiff and rigid. But when you get to a road course, things are just floppier. You can feel the tire and feel the suspension. I thought I could feel the car better on a road course and communicate about what I’m feeling and changes and stuff like that better than I could on an oval there for a minute. I think there’s that part of it probably that translated well.”

You don’t race as much on dirt here in the latter part of the NASCAR season. Is that an intentional choice on your part, or is that just simply a product of scheduling?

“Just a product of scheduling. There’s really not any mid-week racing right now. I don’t feel a need to go race in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, on a Friday night; get home here at 2 a.m. and then have to get on track during the playoffs. A little bit more focus on the playoffs, but also scheduling just doesn’t work out.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Erik Jones
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

CONCORD, N.C. (October 4, 2025) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

ERIK JONES, No. 43 TriState Vacuum & Rental, LLC Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB

Can you give us an update on the program you are doing with the Erik Jones Foundation this weekend?

“Yeah, I’m sure you guys have seen over the last handful of years – the pink window nets have been kind of a thing that has happened every year annually with the window nets on the cars on Sunday, and we’ve been grateful take this program over for the third year now with the Erik Jones Foundation, and obviously raising money for breast cancer awareness. We have three charities that we’re going to donate to this year with the proceeds from this program. A couple of just cool things real quick. Almost every team this year purchased their window nets – that’s already raised $11,000 for the program before the auction even began. The auction opened on Wednesday. And we’re bidding these window nets up, so excited about that. We also added these pull tabs this year, which are on the inside the race cars as well, to help open the window nets, and we’re selling those for $20 apiece on the website to also help raise money, that’ll go towards the funds as well. So pretty fun and been fun to expand it.”

Did I hear correctly that you had Jack Hawksworth come up for some road course prep?

Yeah, we’ve had Jack (Hawksworth, Lexus Factory Driver) help, maybe not every road course this year – Mexico, we did some prep, and with him, then here. Jack’s been helping us a little bit. We were just kind of trying to – our road course program has frankly been pretty weak at our company for the last few years, so just trying to get better, trying to get the cars better, get us better. Obviously, Jack has a ton of road course experience. He has drove the Cup car at some tests and so we had him up on Wednesday going over some stuff with him.”

What are some of the things or questions you have asked him based on his background versus yours?

“Yeah, I just ask him a lot of questions on, honestly, I get a lot out of watching him drive and the way he approaches the course on the sim and kind of what he focuses on. So, a lot of my questions are kind of centered around why he’s doing certain things, because I’m just not a road course guy by nature. So, he does things a little bit different sometimes, and I’m curious as to why and figuring those parts and pieces out. I felt like this year, Watkins Glen was when things kind of finally started to click for me in the Next Gen car a little bit on the road courses and what it wanted and needed. And a lot of that was from Jack (Hawksworth, Lexus Factory Driver) and what we’ve kind of went through this year. So, yeah, most of my questions are just centered, you know, I’ve been to all of these road courses, so kind of know how to get around them, but the technique and the little things are where I’m trying to get better and watching him and figuring out why and asking him why has been the biggest part.”

How do you race the Playoff drivers as a non-Playoff driver?

“I’ve always, obviously there’s a couple of ways I look at it, I guess. You know, number one, if it’s a day where we’re in contention to win and running really well, I’m going to do everything I can to win. If it’s a day, you know, we’re running 18th, and you got a guy battling through the field and he’s trying to make his way above the cut line. It’s going to be a bit different. You know, I think they’ve earned that respect, right? They raced all year to be in the playoffs, and they’ve worked hard and now be in the Round of 12 and having an opportunity to go to the Round of 8. So, in my opinion, I think it’s fairly disrespectful if you didn’t give them that service a little bit, I would hope to have that returned, in the future, hopefully, when we’re a playoff team and in that spot. I think it’s pretty reciprocal. I think, you know, like I said, they’ve earned that right, so it’s just what you really should be doing.”

What have the ups-and-downs of this season been like as a new father?

“Yeah, I think you are forced to get over things quicker. I feel like I’ve always done pretty good of kind of separating, racing and home and I’ve always been a guy that I loved to race, but racing isn’t my life. It’s what I do, right? That’s how I make the living, and it’s what I do. I’ve always been able to kind of separate that from home. But I think it’s made that easier, you know, a day, that’s not gone well. If David’s (Jones’ son) at the track, you get back to the motorhome and as frustrated as maybe you are, he’s smiling and laughing just because you’re back and reaching for you and wanting to hang out, so it’s kind of hard to be mad at that point or even be thinking about the race anymore. I think it’s probably made my approach better, my focus better. I think, you know, for me, I want to be able to one day sit with him and look back and just tell him how I did things and why I did things this way and show him that. So just leading, I guess, by example a little bit has probably been more encouraged just by having him around. But I think it’s made the bad days easier. I think just quicker to get over. It’s made the good days more fun in some ways. So, it’s definitely kind of a balance from before.”

How does having a child help you move forward from a bad day?

“Yeah, I would say, you know, this year, I would say this year what’s how I kind of thought it would go. I think maybe there was a bit higher expectation from the company, for our program this year. I felt like this year’s is, like I said, I think it’s how I expected. I wish it would have been, you know, more successful. I think we’ve had times that we’ve had cars that we’re capable of running or contending for wins. I would say definitely Indy and Darlington are two that standout, but it’s extremely hard in this current day and age to say, okay, we had two races, we had race winning speed. Your odds of winning two times out of 38 are pretty low, you know, you’ve got to be in a position where you’re constantly running up there, constantly contention in the top-five, because when you get in those days and you’re not always up there, it puts a lot of pressure on the pit crew, puts a lot of pressure on the driver, the crew chief, everybody to make good calls and good decisions.

So, you’ve got to get settled in that. You’ve got to be settled and running up front and contending for wins. Everybody’s got to be comfortable with it, and we’re just not at that point. There are just parts of our program that aren’t where they need to be, our road course stuff, short track stuff hasn’t been there. Our mile-and-a-half stuff has been pretty good for the most part. So, we’re just still building, you know, I think it’s kind of went along the line of where I I see it. I think this was the first year we had good funding, and we’ve had good people and data and it’s just this was a good base building year for us to get a notebook into next year and hopefully it just kind of step up from that.”

How do you balance for racing for wins versus preparing for 2026?

“I guess it’s a bit track dependent. This weekend, tomorrow, , you know, working on definitely improving for ‘26, just with our road course stuff hasn’t been where we’ve wanted. The 42 team had a test at Kershaw (Carolina Motorsports Park), a little while back, hopefully we learned some stuff that we’re trying. It’s a way different package we have here this weekend than what we’ve had on the other road courses, so we’re hoping to learn from that. Looking forward to Talladega, obviously going for the win. Hope we can grab one there. Martinsville, Phoenix, I would say, probably tougher to contend. Phoenix would be really tough to contend with the championship guys. Martinsville will be tough, just with where our program is at. So, you know, Talladega would be a good shot to win, and the rest, I would say, will be continuing to build that notebook now for us.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

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For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.