TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
OCTOBER 18, 2020

KANSAS: RACE #33
With just four races left in the 2020 season, NASCAR’s three national series head to the Midwest for a Playoff tripleheader at Kansas Speedway. For the second time this season, the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) will pay a visit to the 1.5-mile Kansas tri-oval for the 400.5-mile, 267-lap Hollywood Casino 400, kicking off the first of three races of the Round of Eight in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff battle. The inaugural NASCAR Cup Series event at Kansas Speedway took place on September 30, 2001, which was won by Career Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon. Going into the action-packed weekend, Sunday’s event will mark the 30th NCS race at the Kansas venue.

Over the course of three days, Kansas Speedway will be the host of four events, kicking off with a visit by the ARCA Menards Series Championship race under the lights on Friday, October 16th. The Playoffs’ Round of Eight gets underway for all three of NASCAR’s national series, starting with the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series with the Clean Harbors 200 on Saturday, October 17th, at 4:00 p.m. ET, followed by the NASCAR Xfinity Series with the Kansas Lottery 300 at 7:00 p.m. ET. The weekend will be topped off with the NASCAR Cup Series’ Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, October 18th, at 2:30 p.m. ET.

In compliance with the Covid-19 restrictions, a limited number of fans will be in attendance for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event. With an allowance of up to 10,000 fans, the race has been sold out at social-distancing capacity.

WEEKEND SWEEP
It was a winning weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, where Team Chevy made its way to victory lane in all three ROVAL events.

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ final race in the Round of 12, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger endured challenging weather conditions to edge out fellow Team Chevy driver, Noah Gragson, for the win at the line by a mere .446-seconds. Chevrolet drivers took all top-five positions with Daniel Hemric (3rd), Alex Labbe (4th) and Ross Chastain (5th). Going into the Series’ Playoffs Round of Eight, five Team Chevy drivers are left to vie for the title of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion.

In the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut at the ROVAL, Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor claimed the victory from the pole in their No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. The duo has now won five of eight races this year and four of the last five in the first year of the mid-engine Corvette C8.R.

The weekend was capped off by Chase Elliott’s continued dominance on road course circuits, when he became a back-to-back Bank of America ROVAL 400 winner. The trip to victory lane marked his fourth road course race win in a row, making him only the second driver in NASCAR history to accomplish that feat. Concluding the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12, Team Chevy’s Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch punched their ticket to the Playoffs’ Round of Eight.

KICKING OFF THE ROUND OF EIGHT:
Since the start of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in 2004, Kansas Speedway has been positioned in five different spots on the Playoff schedule, with the 2020 season being the first that the 1.5-mile tri-oval will host the seventh race in the Playoffs and the first race of the Round of Eight. Kansas Speedway will become the fourth different track to host the seventh race of the Playoffs, alongside Atlanta Motor Speedway (2004-2008), Talladega Superspeedway (2009-2010) and Martinsville Speedway (2011-2019).

Three Team Chevy drivers have secured their spots into the eight-driver field that are left to compete for the chance to be crowned the NASCAR Cup Series Champion. Entering into the first of three races for the Round of Eight, here are where the Team Chevy drivers currently sit in the Playoff standings, including key statistics at Kansas Speedway:

Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE – 4th in Standings (4,027 points)
Victories: 3 (Charlotte Motor Speedway, Daytona Road Course, Charlotte Road Course)
Top-Fives: 13; Top-10’s: 19; Laps Led: 810; Average Finish: 12.3
Stage Wins: 8
At Kansas: Wins: 1; Top-Five’s: 4; Top-10’s: 5; Average Finish: 11.556

Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Truck Hero Camaro ZL1 1LE – 7th in Standings (4,009 points)
Victories: 1 (Auto Club Speedway)
Top-Fives: 4; Top-10’s: 12; Laps Led: 396; Average Finish: 15.6
Stage Wins: 4
At Kansas: Top-Five’s: 1; Top-10’s: 4; Average Finish: 19.6

Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE – 8th in Standings (4,006 points)
Victories: 1 (Las Vegas Motor Speedway)
Top-Fives: 6; Top-10’s: 1; Laps Led: 140; Average Finish: 13.2
Stage Wins: 1
At Kansas: Top-Five’s: 4; Top-10’s: 12; Average Finish: 14.120

BOWTIE BULLETS:
· Victories by active Team Chevy drivers at Kansas Speedway include:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE has three wins (2008, 2011, 2015)
Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Camaro ZL1 1LE has two wins (2012, 2013)
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE has one win (2018).

· Of the 29 NASCAR Cup Series events held at Kansas Speedway, Chevrolet has recorded 12 victories and 11 poles at the 1.5-mile Kansas tri-oval, topping all other manufacturers. Other statistics of note include 59 top-fives, 125 top-10’s and 2,564 laps led in NCS history at the track.

· Career Chevrolet drivers, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, lead the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Kansas Speedway, each scoring three victories. In addition, Jeff Gordon is the only driver in the series to-date to win in his first appearance at Kansas (2001).

· Only three drivers have started all 29 NASCAR Cup Series races at Kansas Speedway, one of which being Chip Ganassi Racing and Chevrolet Driver, Kurt Busch.

· Of active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, Jimmie Johnson leads the way in top-five finishes with nine and top-10 finishes with 19. He also holds the record of the most laps led by a race winner in a single NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas with 197 of 272 laps during his October 2011 win, a laps-led percentage of 72.4%.

· Chevrolet team, Hendrick Motorsports, leads the series in wins at Kansas Speedway with seven victories: Jeff Gordon (2001, 2002, 2014), Jimmie Johnson (2008, 2011, 2015), and Chase Elliott (2018).

STARTING LINE-UP:
For the remainder of the 2020 NCS season, the starting lineups will be determined by a competition-based formula, combining the following metrics from the previous race event: 15% of a fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race position and 35% of the Owner points position. Coming off of his recent victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Chase Elliott will lead the field to the green in his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE.

Here are Team Chevy’s top-20 starters for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400:

1st Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE
3rd Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE
6th Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Truck Hero Camaro ZL1 1LE
10th William Byron, No. 24 Hendrickcars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE
14th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE
15th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Caterpillar Camaro ZL1 1LE
17th Austin Dillon, No. 3 American Ethanol Camaro ZL1 1LE
19th Ryan Preece, No. 37 Kroger Camaro ZL1 1LE

TUNE-IN:
NBC will telecast the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, October 18th, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the 400.5-mile, 267-lap event for race one of three for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 can also be found on the NBC Sports Gold app, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

QUOTABLE QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 4th IN STANDINGS
IS THE NO. 9 TEAM DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY THIS SEASON TO ADVANCE TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4?
“I don’t know if we are necessarily taking a different approach. I think we’re just trying to build on what we’ve been working on over the past few years. I feel like every year we’ve been close; we just haven’t been able to get over that hump and really assert ourselves among that top group. I feel like we’ve been right there. I feel like we’re very capable of it. Just those little inconsistencies and some bad racetracks have been our biggest problems. So, we’re trying to be a little more consistent everywhere. I think it’s a goal. And eliminate bad tracks. You can’t have bad tracks at this level, and the guys who win often and win all the time and run good don’t have any bad tracks. So, it’s certainly possible and that’s just where we have to get to. The reality is that’s the only way to contend with them and I think we’re capable of doing it.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 7th IN STANDINGS
“Making the Round of 8 was one of our team’s goals for the 2020 season. We are focused and ready to get through the Round of 8 and go for a championship in Phoenix next month. Going to Kansas this weekend is something I am looking forward to. We have had some strong results there in the past and Hendrick Motorsports’ intermediate program is one of our best. This No. 88 team is capable of putting together a race winning Chevrolet and we believe we will have a strong car this weekend.”

GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE
“I feel like we are going to have a great car in Kansas. It is one of those tracks that we have had marked on our board, like hey this is another place we can win at. We have the car capable to do that and we have the team capable of doing that. There are a lot of factors to consider but we are going to go out there with a fast Chevrolet and try to get that win. We have to take advantage of our strengths and we feel that Kansas is one of our strongest tracks when looking at the next three tracks. We have to be aggressive to the point of succeeding, but not over aggressive.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 8th IN STANDINGS
“This was our goal at the beginning of the year, right underneath winning the championship, was to be in this position. Here we are, we’re in the elite eight. I like to reference it as the ‘who’s who’. We are a little bit behind in points and it’s tough to gain points on a group of drivers like this towards the end of the year. Everybody is on their game, every position counts. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I feel like we’ve prepared the cars well over the last month since we won (Las) Vegas. As soon as we won Vegas, our mindset went straight to Kansas and Texas, of course we’ll still have a good car for Martinsville though. This round is important and I believe that we need to win at one of these mile-and-a-half tracks; you never know what can happen at Martinsville, others could have trouble. I believe there are two wins ahead of us for the rest of this year at a mile-and-a-half track or Phoenix, and that’s how you win a Championship!”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 10th IN STANDINGS
HOW IS KANSAS UNIQUE COMPARED TO SOME OF THE OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS?
“Kansas Speedway has done a really good job with their banking. There’s a line right up by the fence that has a little extra grip. There’s an angle up there that I don’t think many tracks have figured out yet, but Kansas got it right. You can run from top to bottom there. The bottom groove is the preferred groove at the beginning, but it becomes too tight to try and run around there in turns one and two sometimes depending on what the balance of your race car is. I’ve enjoyed that track a lot ever since they repaved it. I wish every track could do as good as a job as Kansas has with repaves.”

HOW WILL YOU APPROACH THIS RACE NOW THAT YOU ARE NO LONGER COMPETING IN THE NASCAR PLAYOFFS?
“I don’t think the mentality changes, too much. The goal remains the same, and that is to go out and win. My RCR team has been really strong on mile-and-a-half tracks this season, and I know that we have everything we need to try and get another win before the end of the season. We can take some chances and try some things now that maybe we wouldn’t have if we were still in the NASCAR Playoffs, but overall, the goal is still the same.”

OCTOBER IS NATIONAL “NAME YOUR CAR” MONTH. DO YOU EVER NAME ANY OF YOUR CARES OR HAVE NAMES FOR THEM?
“When I was in the NASCAR East Series, we had a car called Midnight Rider because we worked all night on it. It ran a lot of races and was a solid car for us.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 12th IN STANDINGS
BYRON ON THE CHALLENGES OF RACING AT KANSAS:
“Kansas is one of the most dynamic tracks we go to in terms of how crucial lane choice and lane selection are. It’s a tough track to figure out. You want to be turning well but if you’re too loose it’s really hard to make good lap times because the track is so smooth. It’s tough to manage and figure out how much freer you need to be to make time but also how much rear grip you need so you can stay in the throttle. I think the Vegas races this year give us a good idea of how this weekend will go though. I think those two tracks really correlate well to each other. Vegas gives us a good idea of what we need to work on since we had a decent run there and hopefully, we can apply some of those things.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 18th IN STANDINGS
“I’ve always loved racing at Kansas. The track shape and design, and also the progressive banking in the corners. They just hit it – and they gave drivers the opportunity to search for other lanes and to try to find a way by the car in front of you. It’s led to some very strong finishes for us. It really takes 10 to15 years for a track’s surface to really come in and if you look at the age of Kansas Speedway they are in that window. Its quality racing and some of the best out there.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 19th IN STANDINGS
WE RETURN TO KANSAS SPEEDWAY THIS WEEKEND AFTER RACING THERE AT THE END OF JULY. ARE THERE ANY TAKEAWAYS FROM THAT RACE THAT YOU CAN USE THIS WEEKEND?
“Honestly, that race was a tough one for us where we were going through a patch of learning how to adjust on these Cup cars to get me what I need. None of the adjustments we made that weekend seemed to help, so we’ve been working hard on our game plan for this weekend when we return to Kansas Speedway with our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet. I think we’ve made a lot of good headway over the past couple of months on making adjustments that help me. With this Sunday’s race being a day race and not bleeding into the night, I think the track will still change but not go through as big of a swing as it did during the July race. We’ll have a little more consistency during the day, which will help us. We just have to manage everything the best that we can and not lose any track position we get, since it’s so hard to get that back in these races.”

Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics

Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2019): 39
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)

Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Drivers Championships:
Total (1949-2019): 31
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)

Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016

Event Victories:
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)

2020 STATISTICS:
Wins: 7
Poles: 3
Laps Led: 1,880
Top-five finishes: 45
Top-10 finishes: 109

CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 793 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 717
Laps led to date: 236,186
Top-five finishes to date: 4,059
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,391

Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date

       General Motors: 1,127
       Chevrolet: 793
       Pontiac: 154
       Oldsmobile: 115
       Buick: 65

       Ford: 803                                                         
       Ford: 703
       Mercury: 96
       Lincoln: 4

       Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
       Dodge: 217
       Plymouth: 191
       Chrysler: 59

       Toyota: 151

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with 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 at www.chevrolet.com.

Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY (October 15, 2020) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to media via videoconference in advance of the race at the Kansas Speedway:

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Looking at this round, besides you and Kevin Harvick, is there a driver that you look at that if they make the Final Four, you will be in trouble in Phoenix?

“Not really. I think we can beat anyone any given week, but no, nobody in particular that I’m really worried about. As long as we execute the way we know how, it really doesn’t matter if you pick the four strongest drivers at Phoenix – or the three other strongest drivers – it wouldn’t make a difference. We think it’s going to take a win to do it, and to win, you have to beat everyone, so there is not anyone in particular that I’m particularly scared about.”

You’ve competed against Clint Bowyer forever. What is his legacy in the sport?

“We came into the sport at the same time. I think he was maybe in the Xfinity Series one year before I was. I think, but we came in as rookies together in ’06, us and Martin Truex, and other guys. It was fun. It was fun competing with him. We had some on track battles, some things like that. Really, our families kind of grew up somewhat at the same time, because we had kids around the same time, so there has always been a bond there. I think that certainly he was a great ambassador for our sport. He’s very outgoing. He’s very outspoken. Certainly, think that he’s going to carry on that in the TV world and be a contributor for our sport – be an asset for it – going into the future.”

In 2018, what kind of discussions and questions did you ask at the end of the season? Do you think Kyle (Busch) is going to have those same questions?

“I think that each team is different and independent in their own kind of way. It’s different because we didn’t win the championship in ’17 and have a season like he’s having in ’18 or what we had in ’18. So, it’s a little bit different, but I think it kind of depends on chemistry and things like that but I think certainly at any moment – there’s not one driver out there that doesn’t think that Kyle can win any given week, no matter what the circumstances or what’s going on. There’s probably not one driver that doesn’t think that the driver/crew chief combination isn’t good. I think that sometimes you just have off years. That’s just part of major sports. You have off years, and it happens. It’s just one of those years that they got a lot of bad breaks within the 18 team.”

Can you accept that you are just having an off year as an athlete?

“No, it’s not acceptable. I don’t want to make it sound like it’s just hey, we’ll chalk it up because everyone has these. No, you have to look at yourself, and every person on the team. You have to find all your faults. You have to figure out where you can be better as a driver, where can you be better as a leader, where you can be better as a team. So, no. It’s not that it’s just part of it. There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of work going on and a lot of analyzing going on figuring out why the results have been what they have been. It’s not all just luck. Luck is just a stupid word in racing. You’ve got to analyze and figure out where your deficits are and go to work on them, and then sometimes, it’s how you respond that makes you a great leader or not. It’s how do you respond to it when you do have a tough year or a tough week or a tough race. The response is the most important part, not necessarily the immediate result.”

In 2010, you and Jimmie Johnson traded the top spot many times. Did you ever think that this was your year and that you had him?

“I would say I really felt good about where we were in 2010. It was probably after Texas, where I thought we were really good. I think we won that race and retook the point lead, and then kind of going into Phoenix, which had kind of been in my wheelhouse for a while at that point, and Homestead had always been good for us as well. I think we had won in 2009, so you go into these last two races thinking, not that we’ve got them, but that we’re in a better position than probably anyone has been in the last five years. That’s what ultimately made me as disappointed as Phoenix did. When I go out and do my job and dominate like I’m supposed to do and then have the fuel problem that we had. You finally had the bull by the horns, or you had them, and you let them out. That was the difficult part for me. Not necessarily his intimidation factor on me; it was the fact that we didn’t close it. That’s what threw me off more than anything. So, I go into Homestead, and I’m like I’ve got to push. I need to get this back, and we are head-to-head, so I’m going to go after him and beat him and it just found me pushing too much, especially early in that race. I don’t know that Jimmie, from my stand point, has ever been that intimidating, but you just know that you cannot give someone that is that great any opportunity or window or he will pounce, and that team will pounce, and that’s what they did.”

How did you respond when your team had a bad year? How much did you put into it?

“A lot. A lot of work. I think through my whole career, I’ve always been a hard worker on trying to get better. I think that as you get older and even through statistics obviously show that I’m in my prime right now, you still have to work really hard to – the group of talent coming up always seems like it keeps getting better. No matter what the sport. They start earlier. They have more information, more technology than you had when you were growing up. So, it’s like you started late. You have to work really hard at it. I know in 2018, in particular, I couldn’t figure out well why were we qualifying well, if our racing was so bad. How can I do it for one lap but can’t do it for lap after lap. Just started analyzing those things, figuring out my restarts and how can I get better on those, and it’s just every little margin that you can find as a driver to get an advantage, you have to try to go after. It takes a lot of work to do that. You have to go through a lot of data, a lot of film to make it happen, but that’s just the way the world is now-a-days. If you want to perform at a top level, you have to do it. Natural talent only takes you so far. You have to put in a lot of work to be at the top of your profession. It took me later in my career to learn that, and I think I started seeing results from it.”

Can you talk about what kind of impact your crew chief, Chris Gabehart, made?

“I think he deserves some credit when it comes to that. It didn’t happen all on my own. I didn’t right the ship on my own. I gave Chris a lot of rope to do things the way he wanted to do them and try not to implement. A lot of people would always say well, he appreciates me being in the sport for 12-13 years saying okay you are the rookie crew chief. I’m not going to sit here and tell you what you need to do or how we should do this. You are the crew chief. They put you in this position for a reason. My job is to drive. I’ll give you all the information that you need or that you ask me of, and I’ll run the plays that you tell me to run. You are the coach. I’m the quarterback, and what he says that he appreciates that if he told me that we’re going to come in and put caster wheels on the roof, we are going to flip the car upside down and I need you to run two laps upside down, I would just do it because there’s a reason for it. He’s the coach. He’s telling me to run the play. I run the play. You’ve got to trust your crew chief to do the job that he’s there for. I think that’s why our relationship has worked really, really well right from the beginning is I never questioned him. He didn’t question why are you driving this way or that way. He just said I’m going to make the car go faster the way you drive. I’m not going to change that, so let’s make these cars work for you.”

You are going for three in a row in Kansas. What has been so good for you in Kansas?

“I think it kind of started last year. I don’t know. Kansas has not always been my strongest suit. I was terrified of Kansas probably a few years ago, but I showed up to Playoff race there last year and my car was just absolutely incredible how well it was handling, how good it was. I remember I started mid-pack, maybe in the 20s, and just drove to the front and dominated the day. From that point on, once I create that good database for Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) to work off of it seems like when we go back to the track, he’s made the proper adjustments for weather and conditions and things like that, car changes. He’s dialed in. Hopefully I have another really good handling car like I’ve had in the last few races. If so, I know it’s an important one for us. We could go the next two weeks and really shift our focus from Texas and Martinsville to putting all of our resources towards Phoenix, and that would certainly be a benefit for whoever locks in right off the bat.”

How unfortunate would it be for a Round of 8 driver to report a positive COVID test?

“It would be super unfortunate. I can tell you that. I think that all of the protocols that NASCAR has put in place has been pretty good. I think you saw in the NBA and the bubble that they had, they didn’t have any positive tests, which is amazing. I certainly think that as a driver, you always put your health first. You’ve got to put your health first but certainly the stakes are high at this part of the season and you just have to be extra careful with what you put yourself around and the positions that you put yourself in, socially distancing yourself from people you’re not normally around, because it can happen to anyone. We’ve seen that in other sports, but we’ve also seen other sports be successful in it. It would be devastating to say the least.”

Jimmie Johnson said that he thinks NASCAR should require two tests in a row when they get the initial positive. Do you agree?

“Yeah, I certainly think that his was a unique circumstance. I think there were a lot of questions about whether it was a false positive or not. There’s been false positives out there. We all know that, so certainly, yeah, you would like to see if you do have a positive a consecutive test to see if it is correct. I don’t know a whole lot about the situation to be speaking on it because I don’t have all of the information. But certainly, yes. If that was the case, I would want as many other opinions as possible.”

# # #

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2019.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 15, 2020

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference and discussed the upcoming races in the Round of Eight, the leadership of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, his focus on advancing to the championship round, and more. Full Transcript:

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU’VE SEEN AS JIMMIE JOHNSON’S TEAMMATE THAT MAKES YOU THINK OH YEAH, THAT’S WHY HE WAS ABLE TO WIN FIVE CHAMPIONSHIPS IN A ROW?
“Yeah, that five in a row thing was unbelievable. I watched it for sure, and was around there when he won his seventh, so I can imagine what it felt like to lose to him five times in a row as a competitor. Jimmie is just, I don’t know, everybody says it all the time about how good of a guy he is on the race track and off the race track. But he just has everything prioritized the right way, I feel like. His work ethic is extremely high. He’s a very competitive person. But, he’s competitive in his own way. He’s not the kind of guy that’s picking fights every week. He’s just the kind of guy who just wants to beat you. And, I think that’s why it rubbed so many of his competitors bad over the years because he was just better than they were; and they were better as a team. But he wasn’t flaunting it all the time or getting up to peoples’ faces about it. He just carried himself well and competed at a very high level for a very long time. The way I see him as a teammate and how great of a leader he is, I can totally understand where that came from.”

HOW DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS ROUND OF EIGHT THAT YOU’VE BEEN IN THREE TIMES BEFORE? IS YOUR TEAM FOCUSED OR DOING ANYTHING TO GET YOU PAST THIS ROADBLOCK?
“For us, we’re not going to try to reinvent the wheel. That’s number one. I think another thing that we don’t want to do is to get too far off the beaten path. I feel like for us, when we’ve been at our best and as a team, myself included, performing at the level that we’re all capable of doing, I feel like we’ve contended with the best of the series this year, in my personal opinion. And, I think we’re capable of doing that again. So, from my situation, I’m just trying to sit back and trying to do exactly that; and trying to perform at the level I know we can. And I think if we perform at that kind of level, I think that we can move on and give ourselves a shot. So, I’m just trying not to get trick or smart or reinvent things, I think, is the best way to move on.”

IS THERE ONE TRACK IN THIS ROUND THAT PARTICULARLY CONCERNS YOU?
“Well Texas has been a struggle, as you all (media) know, for us, since the repave. So, that one for sure, sticks out. I’m not thrilled about going there. But the people who win a lot of races and win championships don’t have bad race tracks and that’s just a fact. Kevin (Harvick) and Denny (Hamlin) and those guys who have been winning all these races this year, they can win about every week. So that’s kind of where we need to get to. And I think that’s been where I feel like some of our issues have been over the years is just a little inconsistency. And I think cleaning up those bad race tracks is a thing that we have to do. And it’s something I think we’re capable of doing; we’ve just got to hit on something there at Texas and eliminate bad tracks and I think we’ll be fine.”

WITH CLINT BOWYER ANNOUNCING HIS RETIREMENT LAST WEEK, CAN YOU REFLECT ON THE ENERGY AND EXUBERANCE HE’S BROUGHT TO THE SPORT AND HIS LEGACY WITH THE GAME?
“Yeah, I think Clint is obviously a very loud individual and he’s a very competitive guy all at the same time, but he’s certainly the life of the party. He always has been. I think his attitude and just the way he is has really made it a lot of fun for all the people over the years in certain environments. So, I’m going to miss that about him. He can make light of a very serious situation sometimes; which, sometimes that’s what people need. But yes, it’ll be interesting to see how he does. I think he’ll be a great addition to the booth, or wherever they put him, I guess. I’m sure it’ll be entertaining.”

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE SPECIFIC MEMORY OF HIM?
“I can’t say I do. I’m not best buddies with Clint, or anything along those lines and I’ve never been a teammate, or anything. I feel like I see him at events that we have to do with the other drivers, but that’s really about it. So, in those types of things, he seems like a fun guy. All the things that you see on TV, I think that’s very much his personality. But I don’t know that I know Clint well enough to give you a good story.”

LOOKING AT THE PAST FEW YEARS AND NOT BEING ABLE TO MAKE IT TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE FROM THOSE EXPERIENCES TO APPLY THIS TIME?
“Yeah, I think much like the other question. We’re just trying to build on what we have, you know, and get better and not try to recreate or re-do things or do things different. I feel like our approach is plenty good enough to compete and be a contender. We just have to improve in certain areas. And I think inconsistency has been a problem. We want to be able to win races everywhere. And, I think there have been certain tracks over the years that have stood out consistently year after year, that have kept us from having good runs in places that we are not the most excited about going to. And you just can’t have that. The people who win all the time, people who are championship, and people that contend every week don’t have bad race track and they have an opportunity to win every single week. And we all know that. It’s not something that’s out of the realm, a possibility. If you want to be a top dog in this deal, you’ve got to be able to win every week. And that’s the way it’s been; and I don’t see that changing.”

ARE YOU FEELING MORE PRESSURE, EITHER INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL, TO MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR?
“Personally, and as a team, there’s nothing anybody outside of myself or my team is going to say to me to make we want to win a championship more. So, that should answer that.”

WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON LEAVING, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE WILL BE A VOID IN LEADERSHIP. AND IF SO, ARE YOU TRYING TO FILL THAT ROLE?
“I think from my perspective, I’m certainly not trying to replace Jimmie. I feel like everybody kind of has their own way of leadership and their own way of carrying themselves. I’m certainly not Jimmie. And, I’m not going to ever act like I am. He is just such a stand-up individual. He’s the kind of guy that you want on your team. He’s the kind of guy to look up to as far as how he leads his life off the race track with his family; just the whole nine yards. But, from a leadership perspective and trying to fill that role, I don’t know that I’m going to be very productive in trying to be him or try to fill that. I think the best thing I can do is be myself. I think there’s a lot of attributes that he has taught me over the years that I can carry forward and maybe make myself better and maybe make me a better race car driver and maybe make me a better person, but I’m certainly not going to try to fill anybody’s shoes or fill the role.”

IS THERE MORE CONCERN ABOUT COVID-19 OR IS THERE MORE PRESSURE TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU’RE STAYING IN AND NOT GOING OUT ANYWHERE TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T GET IT DURING THESE LAST FOUR RACES?
“Yeah, it’s a good question. I think just practicing all of the things that they tell us to do every day is the best thing you can do. It’s a difficult thing to just completely avoid the world and avoid people; especially when you have to travel from state to state. We have a lot of traveling coming up for these final races. So, I think it’ll be important to practice those things. You’ve got to wash your hands and be as safe and as clean and sanitary as possible. And from that perspective, I think that’s really all I can do; and hope for the best.”

IN YOUR MIND, WHAT TYPE OF VALIDATION DOES A CHAMPIONSHIP PROVIDE A DRIVER?
“That’s a good question. I don’t necessarily know that I; when you’re on the hunt for one or you’ve never done it before, I’m not sure I’m thinking about the validation it’s going to give me on the back side. I think I’m really just thinking about that being the goal and that being what I want to achieve and being that next step or the next thing that our team wants to go and have a shot at trying to make the Final Four. So, I’m not sure. I feel like that’s something you kind of reflect on after you do something like that. I’m not sure you really know what it feels like or what validation it might give you internally unless you’ve achieved it; which I obviously have not. So, I think that’s more of a back-end question if you get there.”

AS AN ATHLETE, WHAT DO YOU SEE AS SIMILARITIES BETWEEN WHAT YOU’RE GOING THROUGH IN THE PLAYOFFS AND WHAT THE BRAVES ARE; OR WHAT THE LAKERS WENT THROUGH RECENTLY? DO YOU, AS AN ATHLETE, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION OR IS THAT MORE RELAXATION WHEN YOU’RE WATCHING THOSE EVENTS AND YOU’RE NOT TRYING TO GET THINGS FROM OTHER ATHLETES OR TEAMS?
“Yeah, I definitely do. I try to learn and I think it’s a great thing to sit there and watch certain players and how they handle adversity and how they deal with bad times; or, how some guys can deal with being really good for a long period of time and how they can continue to sustain that type of performance over the long haul and how they deal with the media. All those small things, I think you can learn from. I enjoy watching the sport. Obviously, I’m a Braves fans and they have a game today, and that’s why I’m wearing the hat. To be honest with you, I forgot I had this media availability today; but I am sponsored by NAPA, if anybody doesn’t know. They were on our car last weekend. But yeah, I think you can learn from that kind of thing and whatnot, too. So, as much as I enjoy watching I do try to learn.”

YOU MENTIONED TEXAS EARLIER, WHERE IT’S BEEN A STRUGGLE; BUT MARTINSVILLE HASN’T BEEN. WITH THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARTINSVILLE’S MORE TRADITIONAL NATURE VERSUS THE LAST TWO ROUNDS AT TALLADEGA AND THE ROVAL, WHAT’S YOUR COMFORT LEVEL?
“I feel like this round has kind of had a similar look to it over the past years. Certainly, Phoenix has been in there. But Texas has also been in there, which has been a poor race track for us. I feel like the same challenges are still kind of in this round as what they have been. Does that make sense? So, I don’t necessarily think it has a different complexion from what we’ve seen in the past couple of years. But I definitely think it’s going to be tough. You’ve got to execute these races and like I said, you’ve got to eliminate those bad tracks. You can’t have them. And, hopefully we can get things going at Kansas and have something to build on for Texas. But a week at a time and I’m focused on Kansas right now.”
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