MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang — ARE THE NERVES SIMILAR AS DAYTONA OR DIFFERENT? “No, I would say different than Daytona. Daytona was really hard. Our primary, number one goal of the season was we’ve got to make the playoffs and then everything after that is opportunity, so that was extremely stressful and something I don’t want to go through again. This is still, I mean this first round of the playoffs our first two races have been terrible and things haven’t fallen our way. Darlington was just tough. Richmond, we just didn’t have an opportunity to recover because of no cautions. Going into Bristol this weekend just kind of being in a hole, I still look at it as opportunity going to my personal favorite racetrack, a track where I know we can perform really well at. Yeah, it’s pressure for sure, but I still look at it as opportunity for us and there’s no other track I would choose other than Bristol to be in this situation and to go out there and perform at our very highest.”

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CONCERN FOR SATURDAY? DOING TOO MUCH TOO SOON? “I don’t know. I guess I really don’t have any major concerns. That might be a boring answer, but, no, I think everything is mostly just looking at our team and making sure to do the best job possible as far as I know my ability behind the wheel in driving Bristol. I think we all know that. I love that place and take well to it. It’s my favorite, but what I look at is I wouldn’t call it concerns, but the things I look at and put the most emphasis on is my communication with the team. Us making the right adjustments and calls throughout the race because that’s gonna be everything. Us doing a good job of pit road and not only the pit crew but myself also because it’s kind of a tricky pit road, so maximizing your in and out because every single spot gained or lost will dictate the outcome of your race, so I wouldn’t call them concerns, but those would be what I’m looking at the most going into Bristol that’s gonna be the biggest player into us preferably having a shot to win the race.”

DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOURSELF MORE AGGRESSIVE IN THIS TYPE OF SITUATION AND HOW DO YOU TURN IT ON AND OFF? “Yes, I would say we do have to be more aggressive in this situation knowing what’s on the line and what we need and that we have to perform at the very highest and, really, for the most part, it’s not necessarily a must-win, but we really, probably have to go out there and win the race, and it’s our best shot I would say all year. Yeah, to answer your question, it’s a little bit maybe to a slightly lesser extent, but very similar to how I approached the Open race when I was trying to make it in the All-Star. We got damage early, had to go to the back, and we drove from the back to the front and won the Open. It took us a little bit, but I was impatient going through the field and I knew I had to be, and it’s kind of that same case. I would reiterate what Blaney said. If I’m faster than the people in front of you, you can’t just sit. You’re not gonna be crashing people. You’re not gonna do anything stupid, but you can’t sit and wait behind them. I was very aggressive getting through the field in the Open. I did have to bump a couple of people out of the way. There was some aggressive driving, not dirty driving, but it was aggressive to get through the field because you don’t have time to waste at a track like Bristol, where every single lap, every bit of your position, everything is setting you up for the end of the race. Every stage point matters. All that, so we’re definitely gonna have to get all we can get.”

HOW DO YOU DEFINE AGGRESSIVE DRIVING AND DIRTY DRIVING? “I think it’s always kind of a little bit of a moving target, just depending on the situations. Some of the moves that I made in the Open race were aggressive to get through the field and everything’s on the line and you’re trying to make the All-Star Race and it’s a very short race. Some of the moves that I made in the Open race if it were a regular points race and we’re at the beginning of the race or something, some of those moves probably at that time were just considered aggressive because everyone knows what we’re doing and what’s at stake. In other situations, they could have been dirty because I moved some people out of the way. That’s a little bit of a moving target, so it’s hard to answer that question. I would say for this weekend that everyone usually knows what’s on the line for different people. Everybody pays attention, so as long as you’re not out there crashing people and just sending them right out of the way in the first corner that you get to them or any nonsense like that. If you’re knocking on somebody’s door or you have a little position and you have to get to the bumper and give them a little nudge, it’s really whatever you have to do and it will be a little bit of a moving target as to how aggressive you’ll be based on the situation. If it’s real early in a run or you just got to the guys bumper, or you’ve been stuck behind this guy for four laps and you’re faster and you just can’t waste anymore time, it’s a little bit of a moving target as to how aggressive that you are with people.”

HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU TO BE IN THIS POSITION? “We’ve dug ourselves a hole, for sure. It’s not optimal. As competitors, that’s frustrating for Blaney and I, but it just shows how tough the playoffs are and how crucial every single race is. You just can’t have a couple of bomb races and it just makes it really hard to recover, not that it’s impossible, for sure. I would look at it, yeah, it’s frustrating but we also have opportunity and I still look at it as we’re going to my favorite racetrack in Bristol and we still have opportunities. I definitely haven’t given up or I’m not that level of frustrated. I’m bummed about the first two races, but I can’t sit and we can’t sit and dwell upon those races. As much as I can say I’m happy that we made the playoffs, I am. I know the team is happy, but you instantly as a competitor turn the page the next day and you’re like, ‘All right, now how do we make the next round?’ We as drivers and competitors are never gonna be satisfied unless we can win the championship.”

HOW DISAPPOINTED WOULD YOU BE NOT TO MAKE IT TO THE SECOND ROUND? “I don’t know. I wouldn’t be satisfied. I’m glad that we made the playoffs, but it’s never enough. There have been a lot of variables that 2020 has thrown at us. We still have just barely scratched the surface as far as our 21 team. I think we have a long ways to go as far as progression. Hopefully we’ve built this team together for a long time to come because we’re barely getting started — 2020 has been quite crazy, so I’ve got to keep it in perspective. I couldn’t be too disappointed if we miss it, but I still look at it as a lot of opportunity for us this weekend to redeem ourselves. I think part of what will be a little disappointing is knowing that through the midpoint of the season we had speed like crazy. Every single week I was driving up in the top five and top 10, so it was like, ‘Man, if we make the playoffs, I really know we can make a good splash.’ And then we start the playoffs and we have two bad weeks. I know that we have the speed and the ability as a team to perform a lot better, but that’s part of the structure and you’ve got to be perfect every week.”

HOW DO YOU THINK THIS RACE WILL AFFECT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU IN 2021 CONTRACT-WISE? “I sure hope it doesn’t come down to just one race as far as my contract stuff for next year. I’ve said it before, I came over here and there was a lot of people involved. It’s a dream come true driving for the Wood Brothers. They’re not the only ones involved. We have a strong alliance with Team Penske, a big relationship with Ford, so there are a lot of folks involved in this and in the decision-making, but they heavily expressed they wanted this to a multi-year opportunity as far as my contract. They heavily expressed they wanted this to be a long-term relationship, something that we build for a long time to come. All those things, so that was very encouraging when I came over here. I do not want to go anywhere. I love driving for the Wood Brothers. It’s a dream come true. They are family and as far as my contract stuff, it has options for I think 2021, ‘22 and ‘23, if I’m not mistaken, so it’s a multi-year deal opportunity, but the team has to pick it up each year and the deadline for that is at the end of this month, so I guess I should know pretty soon. I wish I knew now because I don’t want to go anywhere and it would put me in a pretty bad situation if something were to change, but I don’t expect any changes. I’m just waiting to hear.. Hopefully, it works out. Hopefully, I’m not going anywhere. I love being the driver for our team.”

HOW DO YOU BALANCE THE AGGRESSION EARLY? “2020 has been really challenging for a lot of people. Not to pick on anybody or point out anyone, but Kyle Busch and guys that different teams — some have maybe excelled and some that have had some advantages or things taken away from them, man, it’s tough. You’ve got to hope that your starting setup is close, which the teams do a great job, but you’ve really got to hope that you start close and your race is so important from lap one because you think about, I’ll give Richmond as an example. We started Richmond and were tight. We were a little off because of no practice. If we had practice this wouldn’t have even been an issue. We would have been fast and competitive and ran great. We started the race and were too tight . We got to work on it. There are no cautions. We’re behind the eight-ball. We get trapped a lap down. We get our car better and we’re like, ‘We’re pretty fast now. We’re a decent car, probalby a top-10, top-12 car, could have a decent day,’ and you’re just stuck in the lucky dog position for an hour and you can’t recover. So your race from the very beginning is that important. Even though it’s a 500-lap race at Bristol, from the drop of the rag it is really, really important every move you make, every position you can get, staying up front, staying competitive, that’s the only way you can position yourself for the win to the end. It’s gonna be very important from the start of the race that we hopefully have the setup close, which I feel pretty confident in. This is our third time driving around Bristol this year, so I feel good about that. Our cars are fast. We won the Open race, so I have a lot of great things that give me a lot of confidence, but we have to be really good from start to finish in that 500-lap race.”

HOW IS YOUR COMMUNICATION WITH THE TEAM? “Greg Erwin is a great guy and we’ve worked together well. This year has made it tougher on a new group working together and figuring each other out because there are a lot of things we’ve learned and figured out with each other and our communication and stuff in practice to be a lot better versus having to do things in the race and figure it out. So 2020 and the way it’s been had just made it so much tougher, so we haven’t maximized some races just because of having to learn together and these crazy circumstances that we’re not accustomed to being thrown at us. We work together well. It’s gotten better and better throughout the course of the season and continues to get better, so we’re in a must-win type situation or close to it. I wouldn’t choose any other time than now. We are definitely most prepared and I wouldn’t choose any other track than Bristol.”

WHY DO YOU AND BRISTOL SEEM TO MESH SO WELL TOGETHER? “I kind of asked the same thing to myself a lot. It’s funny. I think Bristol just is, I don’t want to say it’s an equalizer because your equipment is so important everywhere, but it’s just one of those racetracks where you’re really hustling the race car and kind of the older school principles matter the most, like just having good grip and a good balanced handling race car, and you’re hustling the car around the racetrack a lot, which suits my style. A place where you really have to drive super-hard from start to finish of the run, I feel like I’m pretty good at all kinds of different racetracks, but if I were choosing places that I love, Martinsville, Bristol, I love both of them a ton and I would say the thing that they have in common is that you’re hustling both of those types of racetracks and you’re just driving it really hard. You’re up on the wheel and it’s very opposite of a place like Richmond, which I’ve run well at, but Richmond is a short track that has a very slow feeling. Every movement that you do is very slow, very easy on the throttle. Bristol, you’re attacking the corners really hard and it’s just the most fun short track to go to, so it’s a place I’ve taken well to and I think I know what I need there very well, also, to be good in the race. I know exactly what my car needs. It’s just a place I have a lot of confidence at and it is a bit of a special place to me and has been to my career.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — HOW NICE IS IT TO FEEL FAIRLY COMFORTABLE THAT YOU’RE GOING TO ADVANCE OR DOES IT STILL WEIGH IN YOUR HEAD THAT THERE IS STILL A MATHEMATICAL CHANCE YOU COULD GET KNOCKED OUT? “A little bit. You think about it, but I think we’ve done a pretty good job here the last couple of races with a couple of top-three finishes and getting some stage points at Richmond put us in a pretty solid place for Bristol, which every two weeks you’re gonna have this moment to where everyone is on pins and needles. There are drivers that are desperate that need to win. There are drivers that are just trying to get every point that’s possible there. We’re fortunate to be in a pretty good spot for Bristol this weekend.”

I’M SURE YOU HEARD ABOUT TJ SAYING THAT MAYBE SHOULD HAVE WRECKED THE 2 AT RICHMOND. DID YOU SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THAT TO HIM? “That’s news to me. I’ll have to look into that.”

YOU AND BRAD START AT THE FRONT. IS THAT GOOD? WILL THAT HELP? “That’s better than starting at the back of the race. I think starting at the front is a great thing, so we’ll continue to hopefully stay at the front and try to get a stage win, try to get our race win most importantly. We’ve been pretty good there the last few races, both Brad and I, and Blaney has been good there, too. I think Team Penske should have some good cars there and, hopefully, myself and Paul and the guys are able to grow on what we had in the spring race there and the All-Star Race and have something. The interesting part about this weekend really is that this is the third time we’ve come to this racetrack this year. Even though we don’t have practice, the fact that you’re going back again kind of lets you take all those notes and everything that you’ve learned those first couple races and actually put it into use. Most of the time we go into a track that’s not even close to the same and you can never take what you learned and put it to use. Well, we have that opportunity now, so we’ll try some new things, some adjustments to our car from the last time we were there. We think it makes sense, but there’s no way of really verifying it until the race starts.”

HAVE YOU AND BRAD TALKED ABOUT HOW TO RACE EACH OTHER OR WHAT YOU THINK IS FAIR? “I think every teammate always has that conversation and what is acceptable and what isn’t. It’s always something that’s pretty confusing and hard to get around because the goal for each team is the same. The goal is you want to win and get through to the next round. It’s the same thing with Team Penske. We need to make sure one of us wins, for sure. That is the one thing that you can agree on no matter what is one of us better win this thing. It kind of matters at what point of the race it is, whether you’re coming down to the end of a stage or end of a race might be different than what it is 50 laps into a race or a few laps into a race. Every situation is different, so it’s hard to play out each scenario before it happens, but I think the biggest thing — just like any relationship that you’re in with your wife or your husband, your girlfriend, whoever, you need to communicate. You need to talk about it. That’s the biggest thing, and as soon as you talk about it you see that there are two sides to every story and until you know that other side you can really make the smallest little ant mound into a big old mess. We always talk about it. We’ve had those conversations tons of times.”

HOW CLOSE DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE TO REGAINING THE FORM YOU HAD TO START THE YEAR? “Apparently two spots away. We’re getting closer, which is great. A minute ago we touched on how we don’t practice anymore and coming back to a racetrack for a second and a third time you have some notes to go off of, and, for us this year as a new team working together, Paul Wolfe, myself and the team, they had to learn what I mean when I say certain things. What I’m looking for inside the car. When we had practice early in the year we were able to adjust on the car and get it there. When you take that practice away and just show up, it’s a bit of an unknown because you don’t know what’s gonna happen, so that made that growing process a little bit harder and even the communication barriers that we go through. Obviously, you guys see as we’re all on virtual calls every day that it’s not the same as being in person. It’s just not, and eventually if you go have practice, you run out of things to talk about. There’s only so much prep you can do to get ready and then after that it’s like, ‘Well, I guess we just go and see what happens.’ There’s not much to talk about eventually once you get your setup in place and your strategy in place. You just go. The weekends are short. There are things that are different and it just makes that growing curve a little bit harder than we thought it would be, but I feel like at this point in the season we’re really starting to get where we need to and starting to move forward.”

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE ROUND 2 RACES? “The same way we do all the time is maximize the finish. Get as many points as possible, win — that would be great and that’s obviously the goal is to win the race, but if you can’t it’s get everything you possibly can, just like we have these first two races of the playoffs. That doesn’t change. Now, when you get to your third race and you see where you’re at, then you might have to change your plan at that point, but when you look at three races it’s hard to say there’s a strategy of it besides just go out there and pass the car in front of you. It’s pretty simple, but, like I said, this weekend when it’s a cutoff race and there are teams that have to win, well, you obviously change your strategy to that.”

THE FIRST TWO RACES OF THE NEXT ROUND ARE KEY SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE ROVAL AND TRYING TO DEFEND THE CUTOFF LINE, RIGHT? “It’s not a fun place to be. It’s a stressful place, but I’ve said this all the time, when you’re in the playoffs there is going to be a time you will have to win. Even if you run up towards the front, there’s going to be a point, especially if you get to Phoenix, you’re gonna have to win that thing. We’ve seen that happen every year during this championship format is you have to win the final race to win the championship. You’re gonna have to win at some point and the pressure is gonna be on one way or another, so you want to try to make the next two races be able to score as many points as possible to position yourself in a good spot, but at some point the pressure is gonna be there. Yeah, I don’t want to have my back against the wall at the Roval, but if it does, it does and we’ll handle it then.”

HOW HAS THE CHOOSE RULE IMPACTED THE PLAYOFFS IF IT HAS, AND IF NOT HOW MIGHT IT IMPACT THINGS GOING FORWARD? “I think it impacts the races. I don’t know if it’s changing much for the playoffs in general, but the race itself it has changed a lot and I love it. I think it’s great. It adds another piece of strategy to the races of what lanes you want to be in and a lot of it depends on some lanes get better driver. You look at Richmond last week and the bottom lane gets better drive, but being in the top lane after that wasn’t that bad of a place to be. How much are you willing to risk to be in the preferred lane or the non-preferred lane? What are the gains and the risks and reward is what you kind of have to look at with these decisions, and who is in front of you? Maybe it’s a car that you know doesn’t fire off well and you don’t want to be near that one or not behind that one that’s gonna trap you, so every racetrack is different. It’s a lot to look into compared to what it used to be because you it used to just kind of be where you rolled off of pit road and if you were in the right spot, you got lucky and if not, uh. Well, this takes the luck right out of it. To me, there’s a lot of science that goes behind which lane you want to be in that’s gonna put you in the best spot later.”

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN DEALING WITH THIS NEW SYSTEM IN REGARDS TO YOUR FOUNDATION BECAUSE YOU CAN’T DO THINGS AT THE TRACK LIKE BEFORE? “Zoom calls. We’ve been doing some things through Zoom with the JL Kids Crew, which is only as good to a certain point. I’m such a fan of being in person with people, but this is what we have and we’re lucky to have this technology during these times, but with the foundation itself, outside of doing the JL Kids Crew, we obviously did the Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund. That was a million dollars that we just dispersed throughout the country, helping with so many different areas with people that are struggling through this pandemic right now. And now we’re going back to what our roots are, which is giving second chances to children and young adults in times of crisis and in this moment it’s actually more important than ever because you think about everyone is going through their own struggles right now in their own world and usually when you’re struggling yourself you don’t think about others as much and it gets harder and harder for these organizations that help mentoring kids, foster families, group-type homes, all these things that these kids need, and it’s not their fault a lot of the times when they’re in this position and they just need someone to believe. They need some faith and someone to just support what they can be, so for the next eight weeks — the rest of the season — we’re gonna give $22,000 a week to organizations that help support that cause through the Joey Logano Foundation and our supporters.”

THERE HAVE BEEN RUMORS ABOUT DENNY HAMLIN RUNNING HIS OWN CUP TEAM. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT A DRIVER OWNING ANOTHER TEAM? “It’s not the first time it’s happened. You look at what Earnhardt did back in the day. Ricky Rudd, there were quite a few guys that owned their own race team and whether they drove it or had someone else drive it, I don’t know the ins-and-outs of all these details and what’s going on and what rumors are true and which ones aren’t. I have no idea. I know it’s one heck of a project if that’s the direction he’s going, which, all the power to him. Good luck. I hope it works well and it goes well for him, but that is a big project to take on, so I’ll be interested to see how it all goes and what happens and hope for the best, but I don’t know the details about the situation.”

WILL YOU BE RACING CHASE ELLIOTT ANY DIFFERENTLY THIS WEEK AFTER WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME AT BRISTOL GIVEN THE HIGH STAKES? “We race to win. That’s what we’ll continue to do. Race people the way they race you. That’s kind of the expectations that I’ve always had. If you race someone the way they race you, they’re gonna race you the way you race them. That, to me, is the driver code. As this sport has been brought up so many times and talked about what is code, what is code, to me, that’s what it is. You treat people how they treat you and that’s just the way I kind of move through on the racing side of things.”

DO YOU FEEL MOMENTUM AS A DRIVER GOING TO BRISTOL? HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO KEEP IT GOING INTO THE NEXT ROUND? “It’s important, for sure. Momentum is confidence and I feel like we’re pretty close to where we were in the beginning of the year when we were able to click off those wins. I feel like our speed is in those positions to where with the right situations, the right decisions on strategy, things like that, we can put ourselves in a winning spot again, just like we were. So I feel good about that. I feel like we’re very confident as a race team right now and a lot of that is because how much we’ve grown over the last few months, and I’ve said this a few times to my guys is that when we won the championship in 2018, I remember telling my wife about four weeks before the playoffs started, I said, ‘There ain’t no way we get through the second round of this thing. We’re not fast enough.’ And the next thing you know a little bit of speed popped up and the next thing you know there’s this pretty tiny trophy behind me. You just don’t know how quick that happens, so with that in the back of my mind I always feel like we always have a shot, no matter what. With that on top of actually proving that we have some speed here the last few weeks and capable of winning makes us feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

DO YOU FEEL YOUR CARS AND THE TEAM ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP? “I think we’re there. Our pit crew is firing on all eight right now. They’re very fast. Paul and I are working together better than ever as we get to know each other better and better. We’re all working on each other individually to be better. We’re working with each other as a team to be better, and I think we just have to kind of figure out how do you race during Covid-19. That’s just what it is. This whole pandemic has changed the game for everybody and it was a little bit more challenging for us to kind of figure it out for whatever reasons. Believe me, we’ve got 15-20 different reasons, but I do feel like we’ve really overcome a lot of those hurdles at this point and put ourselves in position again to have speed and start to capitalize. Like I said, I feel pretty good about it.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang — YOUR OVERALL STATS AT BRISTOL ARE NOT THE GREATEST. DO YOU HAVE ANY ANGST OR IS THERE SOMETHING WE SHOULD KNOW BEYOND THE STATS FOR YOU THERE? “I really feel like the statistics at Bristol for me have been really just feast or famine. I have run really, really well at Bristol. I have led a lot of laps and have run up front in Stewart-Haas race cars and even ran really well there at RPM. I think I have a top-five there in the 43 car and a couple of top-10’s. I have run really well there but have just had silly things keep me from getting a good result. I think back in 2018 we ran up front and led laps and had a power steering failure. We have had other issues and had a really good car there this spring, arguably one of the best cars in the field and had a loose wheel and had to recover from that. Then coming back up through the field and passing a lot of cars we got caught up in a wreck on a restart. Just things have always seemed to either go really well and I have run top-five or run really well or we have had fast race cars and wrecked or not finished. The performance has always been there I feel like for me at Bristol. It is just whether or not we get the result.”

DOES THAT MAKE YOU MORE NERVOUS FOR SATURDAY NIGHT OR DO YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE? “I have a lot of confidence in how well we typically run there. I do. I have a lot of confidence going into Bristol and I feel really good about the cars that we have going there. If we get caught up in something then it just wasn’t meant to be. I feel like we will perform at a high enough level like we need to to go there and run good enough to make it in and transfer to the next round of the playoffs.”

WITH A SINGLE-DIGIT GAP CUSHION, ARE YOU PLAYING OFFENSE OR DEFENSE SATURDAY NIGHT? “We just have to go race. I think the ideal thing to do would be to win both stages in the race. Go score the most points and you don’t have to worry about it. Beyond that, it is really just about racing and scrapping and getting every point you can get in each stage and then fighting for every spot you can get in the race. Certainly once the race is happening and once you get through the first two stages, you will know kind of where you stack up points-wise. If I am sitting there running seventh, I am probably not going to stuff it in the fence trying to get to sixth if I know I have a decent gap in points back to where I need to. On the flip side of that, if we need that spot or a couple spots then you are going to be super aggressive and do whatever you can to go get those points. I think the beginning part of the race and going through the first two stages you are just going to race really hard and try to get as many points as you can get, just like everybody else is going to do. From that point forward, you will know what you need to do to close out the race.”

HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE HAS YOUR CREW CHIEF GIVEN YOU THIS YEAR? “Mike has been great to work with. He is a very passionate and intense crew chief and I enjoy that about him. He works really hard on the race cars and pays attention to all the details on the car and the simulation side of things. That is kind of where he came from. He had been an engineer for most of his career and then graduated to being a crew chief and a good one at that. He has been a lot of fun to work with. He is certainly fiery and competitive and I appreciate that about him. He certainly expects the most out of me as the driver and he expects the most out of our team. All the guys rally around that and we do our best to make sure that we give our best and we do that anyway but Mike expects that out of us.”

ANY LESSONS YOU LEARNED FROM THE ALL-STAR RACE THAT YOU WILL TAKE TO SATURDAY NIGHT? “I think Bristol is one of those unique race tracks that changes all the time, especially with how they apply the PJ1 on that bottom groove. In the spring race, it seemed a little different than what they did for the All-Star race. The All-Star race didn’t seem quite the same as the spring race and the bottom groove didn’t seem like it had as much PJ1 or wasn’t as wide and so a lot of the cars were a lot looser in the All-Star race it seemed like. I think a lot of the field was struggling with running the bottom. The top never really came in either. We were the only series there and our race was really short. All the runs in the open were very short runs and all the runs in the All-Star race were very short runs. It really takes a long run of 30-plus laps for that top groove to even start to come in. From lap 50-60 on in a run you see that top groove starts to become a little bit more dominant. We never got that in the All-Star race. I think a lot of things will be different, including the weather. It looks like the weather is going to be quite a bit different. The All-Star race was a pretty hot night where now it looks like it is going to be in the 50’s for the race coming up this weekend.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL THE CHOOSE RULE HAS IMPACTED THE RACES IN THE PLAYOFFS AND WHAT KIND OF IMPACT DO YOU SEE GOING FORWARD? “I think the biggest impact that is has is that now you get to kind of choose your own destiny on the restarts at least. In the past, wherever you came off pit road or wherever things kind of cycled out is where you would line up and you would see the games that were played on pit road where somebody would rather restart fourth than third so they would slam on the brakes as the end of pit road if they were third and hope that one car would pass them so they could restart fourth. Or you would be fourth and one of the guys in front of you would get a speeding penalty and it would be like, ‘Oh man, now I am going to restart third.’ Because that was not a favorable spot to be in. Now, you could be fifth or sixth in line and if nobody chooses to restart third, you can choose that and actually advance up there. If you get a good restart actually come out to the good a spot or two. It just puts things a little bit more in the drivers hands to where you are not married to that spot where you come off pit road for the lineup. If you don’t want to start on the inside, if you feel your car is struggling to take off on the bottom lane or the top lane or want a different guy pushing you or follow somebody different, you have that choice where in the past you didn’t.”

LOOKING AT THE NEXT ROUND WITH VEGAS, TALLADEGA AND THE ROVAL, WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS WITH SOME PRETTY BIG WILD CARD RACES IN THAT GROUP? “I like it. I really enjoy the excitement that this schedule has put into our playoffs. Our playoffs are already intense and exciting and from a fans perspective I just think that the way that they have set this schedule for the playoffs is incredible. I think a Saturday night short-track race at Bristol for a cut-off race? C’mon, that is awesome. Then in round two you go from the 1.5 mile at Las Vegas, a downforce track, to Talladega which is certainly exciting and a little bit of a wild card and then to the Roval. It is three distinctly different race tracks. I think it is just really awesome for the fans. From the driver standpoint, I like it too. It really sets up for that versatility and makes sure that you have to be good everywhere. You can’t just be good at your short-track program or your 1.5 mile program or superspeedway program. It all has to be good. I think that is really, when you crown a champion, what you want to identify. You want to crown somebody who has been successful at every different type of race track throughout the year. Incorporating that into the playoffs is awesome.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference to discuss his outlook going into the race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, the pressure that comes with racing during a cutoff race, and more. Transcript:

HOW DO YOU HANDLE THE TRACTION COMPOUND ON SATURDAY, ESPECIALLY WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS? DO YOU HAVE TO PLAY IT VERY CONSERVATIVELY OR DO YOU JUST RACE AND HOPE YOU DON’T SLIDE ON IT?
“I think the biggest question right now is actually the weather. With Sally moving through, we hope that the Truck race gets in on time and we have the Xfinity race, as well. The thing about the summer race at Bristol is that you have the races before the Cup series race, so it helps burn in the traction compound. Even if they spray more, it still has a more consistent feel. So, this year, the spring race, it had a race before it. But at the All-Star race, there was no race at all and the Cup cars went out there right away, and it was like you were on ice. So, I’m hopeful for more consistent August/September track conditions, which will then lead the notes to what we’ve done in years past at this race. So, for us, we’re just hoping the weather cooperates and the race track ends up very close to the same as it usually ends up as.”

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU FOUND THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO DO RACING ON THE BUBBLE AND ADVANCING THAT YOU FEEL ARE THE KEYS TO SUCCESS?
“Fast cars and fast pit stops – that makes it easier. It’s just not getting too far ahead of yourself and executing as a team. With most likely a competition caution at lap 30, then the stage breaks at 125 and 250, there’s three opportunities to get points – stage one, stage two and the end. If we go out there and do our job, we’ve got a gain those points in the stages so that way the end of the race isn’t as much of a nail-biter as it should be.”

YOU’RE SO GOOD AT BRISTOL. DOES THAT LEND SOME SORT OF CONFIDENCE IN YOU OR HAVE THINGS CHANGED WHERE WITHOUT PRACTICE, IT’S DIFFERENT? BRISTOL, YOU JUST GO BACK TO IT BEING BRISTOL TO YOU, RIGHT?
“Yeah, I feel like anytime you can go to a track that you’ve had past success at, it lends to just better feelings, it lends to going through the checklist items in an easier fashion. So, our confidence is high going into the race. We have our homework done and now we go and race. There are some other tracks where you’re like – we didn’t run so well at Kansas, let’s just say earlier this year, and we’ve got more questions so to speak going into the race. So, Bristol, we’re ready to rip and ready to go with the Monster Energy Chevy. We’ve got seven points to the plus and that’s just kind of how we’ve been all year – we’ve been right around that tenth-place position all year.”

HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO KNOW DURING THE RACE, KNOWING THAT BRISTOL IS A BLINK OF AN EYE, AND HOW MUCH WILL YOU JUST SAY ‘TELL ME WHEN I ASK FOR IT’ KIND OF THING?
“There’s so many guys in the mix, so wherever the points end up at the end of each stage, I’ll just want the plus or the minus. As we’re getting closer to the final 100 laps, that’s when you have to make those decisions to race the guys straight up for points and play more of a defensive role if you have to.”

SEVEN POINTS – HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THAT GAP RIGHT NOW? DO YOU PLAY OFFENSE? DO YOU PLAY DEFENSE? A COMBINATION OF THE TWO? JUST WHAT KIND OF STRATEGY DO YOU LOOK AT GOING INTO A RACE WITH JUST A SINGLE DIGIT CUSHION?
“So far in the Playoffs in 2020, we haven’t finished worse than 13th in any stage and we haven’t finished any better than 5th. So, that’s the good news and bad news all mixed in together. And so we just go there and do our job to get points in the stages. We know it’s going to come down to the final little bit on who’s above the line and who’s not, and you can’t worry about it too much. You race off the talent of the crew, the pit strategy, the pit crew guys themselves – everybody has to do their job right now because it’s the Playoffs, it’s what you do. It’s what we do and it’s what we’re prepared for.”

ARE YOU FEELING CONFIDENT JUST KNOWING THAT THE CUTOFF RACE IS IN BRISTOL? DESPITE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, GIVEN YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE THERE, DOES THAT KIND OF BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THAT EVENT?
“Yeah, I enjoy Bristol. It’s a track that I look forward to going to and I get amped up for. I’m ready for the challenges that Bristol brings. The night race, getting back to the PJ-1 traction compound question, you hope that it all gets burned in and that the outside lane comes into play. But each time we go back to Bristol, there’s just these little weird things that the track is doing that SMI might not tell NASCAR. NASCAR might not tell SMI. And then there’s the Goodyear tire that shows up with different stager values, even though it’s the same tire code. So, there’s a lot of little things at Bristol all the time. But with this being a cutoff, you have to just go in there and do it. Get the job done, don’t shy away from the pressure. Even after this round, you have to go to the Roval and advance through it to get to the round after that. And then you have to go to Martinsville to go through that round if you’re going to have a shot at the championship. This Playoff format is genius for the anxiety level for all the drivers and teams.”

FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, RICHMOND SEEMED PRETTY TAME FOR A SHORT TRACK. DO YOU THINK THAT THE ANXIETY WILL BE ELEVATED GOING INTO BRISTOL, JUST BECAUSE IT IS A CUTOFF RACE?
“The anxiety will be higher, the nerves of course, and just the overall ambiance and excitement. But in all reality, everybody’s got so much riding on the line and everybody’s got to protect their race car, get the points that they can, not run into somebody and get a fender rub. That’s what led to Richmond’s, I guess, lack of excitement and that could end up happening at Bristol. Which then that’s a question of, well wait a minute, maybe we need to move this race back to August when goes aren’t necessarily worried about points as much and let the rough edges drag, dump somebody or wreck some cars and not have to pay such a big points penalty. That’s the difference in Playoff racing – everybody is making sure they’re getting every point possible and, therefore, they’re driving more cautiously.”

THE NEXT ROUND BEGINS AT LAS VEGAS AND THAT’S ONE OF THE RACES THAT WERE HELD BEFORE THE PANDEMIC AND THE PAUSE. TYPICALLLY, YOU HEAR DRIVERS AND CREW CHIEFS TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THINGS HAVE CHANGED IN THAT PERIOD OF TIME. HAVE THINGS CHANGED AS GREATLY BECAUSE OF THE CHALLENGES THIS SEASON OR HOW DIFFERENT WILL VEGAS BE THIS TIME COMPARED TO THE VEGAS RACE THAT WAS HELD BEFORE THE SEASON WAS PAUSED?
“First things first is that this race is in 100-degree temperatures, where the spring race is in usually 60 to 70-degree temperatures. So that’s a huge difference all in its own. Then you get into the real nuts and bolts of 2020 and that’s where we haven’t had practice. That’s when more things are done on simulation models and engineering models for the baseline setups. That seems to have fallen into some teams’ hands and it seems to have handcuffed other teams. We can say that even within the same garage area, as far as Gibbs – we’ve got Denny Hamlin with a ton of wins and my little brother (Kyle Busch) with none. Guys like (Kevin) Harvick have a ton of wins and all the rest of Stewart-Haas has one. So, it works some ways to be a position, other ways it doesn’t work out as well. Even like Penske, with (Brad) Keselowski running well and (Ryan) Blaney is right on the line of being eliminated. So, it’s hard to really say. What happened back in March seems like two years ago and then also things trend in tech inspection, as well, on things that were going on in March versus what’s happening here in September.”

PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THAT NEXT ROUND. THE FEELING IS YOU NEED TO WIN AT LAS VEGAS BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF TALLADEGA AND THE ROVAL. IS THAT ALMOST THE WRONG APPROACH TO TAKE AND LOOK AT IT AS OPPORTUNITIES INSTEAD OF WILD CARD RACES?
“Yeah, there’s a hundred different philosophies or different ways to look at it. Each team has their own agenda. There’s definitely the championship front-runners. There’s the guys that need to throw the hail marys and try to gamble on a pit stop. You’re going to see some of that at Bristol with this cutoff race. Guys might just do two tires and stay out and try to muscle their way to the end. There could be that same thing at Vegas, where you come in just for fuel only and try to top it off even though you can’t even make it to the end, but you try to use that strategy to get some points or to get a win. So, it’s really hard to really play out all the scenarios. You’ve just got to race with what your strengths are. And some teams have different strengths in different areas.”

IS BRISTOL A TOUGH TRACK TO GET THE BASELINE SET-UP RIGHT, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE STARTING 13TH AND YOU’RE AROUND THE GUYS THAT YOU NEED FOR STAGE POINTS IN STAGE 1?
“It seems like it’s tougher with the spray (traction compound) and how much they spray or where they spread. That’s been the biggest adjustment. It’s hard to really get into the full jargon of the level of detail of what an engineer has to do to match a race track surface; but then when you throw in inconsistencies from the track and the spray that they’re using and how much chemical versus how much water they mixed in. Or, how rain is hitting the track right now. In years past, to win Bristol you would set-up for lap 250. You would set-up for halfway. And you would just try to get through the first half of the race the best that you could. But you can’t do that anymore with it being the Playoffs and with Stage points. So, you’ve got to go hard right away, but you’ve got to build in that adjustability to be able to be that guy at the end that can win as well.”

CONSIDERING THE PANDEMIC, HOW MUCH INPUT HAVE YOU HAD WITH (CREW CHIEF) MATT MCCALL THIS WEEK, GOING INTO THIS RACE?
“My phone says I have a new operating system that I can download, but I’m scared to do that because I have so many digital meetings and so many calendar items of this department and that department. Hendrick Engines was checking in on some of the horsepower levels. There are these new departments of communication and open line; I mean, it’s all hands on-deck right now. And so, we’re staying on top of it the best way that we can. I even asked the shock department yesterday to have shocks that can have compression and rebound adjustable shocks in case we are off on our set-up and we have to go aggressive with changes. And the only time that you’re able to really do that is if you’re the last car on the lead lap on a pit stop or something. You’ve got to be ready for all case scenarios right now.”

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

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NASCAR CUP SERIES

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

FOOD CITY 300 – NASCAR ZOOM MEDIA AVAILABILITY

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang — WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN TAKING TO TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF WINNING AT BRISTOL? YOU HAVE RUN WELL THERE AND HAD A GREAT BIT OF SUCCESS, HOW DO YOU GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL TO GET TO THE NEXT ROUND? “It is a place we have run pretty good at before it is just a matter of kind of figuring out what we need to do later in the race to adapt to the track changing. Bristol is pretty big on that. I thought we were really good there in the spring but got a foot too high and spun out and then got wiped out. The All-Star race I thought we were pretty good but we had a different strategy than some guys and stayed out and had some old tires and that didn’t work out. There are other times we have led a lot of laps and just haven’t finished it out. I think the biggest thing is just adapting to the track as the race gets further along and we get to that lap 350-400 mark and just try to adapt to the race track and what it is going to do. I think that is something that Todd (Gordon) and I have talked about a lot this week and rewatched races and have been kind of going through them. I think that is the biggest thing. I wouldn’t say it is a must-win for us because I think there is a situation where we could point our way in, but things would have to go our way. We just have to go out there and try to win the race and run the best we can. That is all we can do.”

WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE THAT YOU HAD FROM THAT LAP 350 POINT ON THAT YOU FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS NEED TO WORK ON? “Just adapting to the track. Usually, when you get to the third stage later in the race, you will have one long green flag run in there at least and you will hear guys talk about over-rubbering the top where it will get really black up top and kind of cake the rubber up there and your car really reacts differently. That is something that I am trying to get better at. When you have that really long green flag run, figuring out what we need to do because you know it is coming. That is probably the biggest thing I meant by that.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED TO FIND YOURSELF IN THIS POSITION? “I definitely don’t like being in this position. Am I surprised? No, I am not like, ‘man, I am surprised we are in this position.’ There are things we could have done better as a whole group to make sure we weren’t in this position. It started at Darlington with having to start at the back and all those penalties kind of stacked up and it just kind of put us behind the eight-ball. We didn’t go do our job at Richmond. I wouldn’t say I am surprised and disappointed is a big word too. I am not disappointed in anything but it is a bummer that we are in this position. It has been a rough two races and the Roud of 16 is a round that you can’t really screw up and we have managed to have a couple of screw ups and find ourselves in this spot. Not surprising, just kind of bummed out. Our whole focus on this group is this weekend. We have one more race to try to get in here and it is a track that we have plenty of capability to do it at.”

DO YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE A BETTER TEAM THAN THIS AND WOULD LIKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO AND SHOW IT? “For sure. This whole group, this team, we are not a 16th place in points team. We showed it all year. We have had speed, it is just a matter of closing it out. We are way better than that and hopefully we can show it this weekend.”

WHAT IS YOUR MENTALITY THIS WEEKEND? ANXIOUS? NERVOUS? “We are just going to go racing. That is the biggest thing. I mean, okay, you can get a little frustrated right after — I was frustrated for 20 minutes right after Darlington and 20 minutes right after Richmond but after those 20 minutes you have to put it in the past and talk about what we could have done to improve that but we have to focus on the next race. There is no dwelling on the past, especially in these playoff races. You have to focus on the next one, especially when you have a bad day. I am excited to get going. I love going to Bristol and I am excited to just be able to race and have a shot at it and go try to do our best. I would love to say it is another race weekend but it is our season, pretty much. You have to treat it like a race weekend like every other time and go out there and try to win the race, but I caution those in front of me that I am not going to be behind them for very long if we are faster than them. I feel like that is what everyone has to realize and that is just the position we are in.”

IS THIS JUST ANOTHER RACE OR ARE YOU EXTRA DETERMINED? HAS THE KILL-SWITCH BEEN TURNED UP A LITTLE OR JUST TREATING THIS AS ANOTHER RACE WEEKEND? “I feel like if all of a sudden for one race you are extra determined, then why aren’t you that way the whole season? Everyone is always motivated and determined to win races. When the playoffs start, I don’t think the determination goes up but I think the aggression level goes up and there is no give, it is all take. I feel like if you are not in a winning mindset throughout the whole year other than this situation, I try to be in this mindset from the first part of the season to now, even with the situation we are in. You are always dedicated and motivated but in our position, we are going to be pretty aggressive. That is what we have to be. everyone else has to realize that. There are a couple of guys that are a few points above or below the cut line that might try to be a little bit safer than what me or Matty D has to be because we have to get a bunch of points and finish good and win the race. I wouldn’t say I am more determined because the dedication has always been there.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO TALLADEGA, WHY HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN ABLE TO HAVE SUCH SUCCESS THERE AND CAN YOU LOOK BACK TO THE JUNE RACE THERE WITH HOW IT BEGAN WITH THE SUPPORT OF BUBBA AND THEN THE WIND FINISH? “Yeah, I think the Penske speedway program has been good for a long time, a handful of years, and that says a lot. The changing rules packages that keeps coming on the speedways is a big testament to all the guys and girls here at the race shop for all the work they do. Just being in the right place at the right time at the last two Talladega races and winning them by a combined two-feet. You are going to be on the good side of those and the bad side of those and I have been on both sides of them. It is a testament to fast cars and executing on all sides, not only my sides but my spotter at the end of these races and being very aware of what is around us and making the right moves that pay off. You are going to make moves that don’t pay off for you too but you have those. That is just part of speedway racing. The thing before the race with Darrell, it was cool to see. In those times when things were popping up, I thought that everyone coming together and showing support for him was really good. That is something I will never forget. And he was the first guy I saw after I won that race. He came out there to pit road.”

HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO KNOW YOU ARE KIND OF IN THIS POSITION BECAUSE OF THE EXECUTION OF THE TEAM? THE CHALLENGES DURING THE PANDEMIC AND GETTING THE CARS READY AND THE INSPECTION PROCESS. THINGS THAT ARE OUT OF YOUR CONTROL THAT KIND OF SET YOU BACK: “Those things happen. We are all a team and we are all in this together. Mistakes are made by everybody. It doesn’t matter if it is the pit crew that makes a mistake. I make mistakes all the time. You don’t want to point anybody out. I can’t really be frustrated by those things. You have to understand that people do make mistakes and we are all human. It is just a shame that it happened at the time that it happened. Yeah, what Travis (Geisler) was saying is that it is tough now with people having separate shifts at the race shops and no practice. We have been dealing with that all year with no practice. It isn’t all on them. I have done things that I could have done a lot better too. We are all a team and I don’t point fingers at anybody. We are all in this together and if one of us makes a mistake it is on the team. If I go hit the wall, everyone understands. I don’t really call anybody out. It is just an unfortunate thing that sometimes happens in racing.”

TODD GORDON SAID EARLIER THIS WEEK YOU WEREN’T IN A DO-OR-DIE SITUATION. BUT WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS IT SEEMS LIKE YOU NEED THAT WIN AND STAY IN THE TOP-FIVE. HOW MUCH PRESSURE DO YOU FEEL LIKE IS ON YOU? “Todd and I talked. It is not an absolute must-win situation. It isn’t like we are 40-points out. I think you can run top-three in a couple of stages. It depends obviously on where the other drivers are in those stages and how they are running. If you can run top-three at the finish of the race you might have a shot depending on where everyone else is at and how many stage points they get and where they finish. The pressure side, I hate that question, I am going to be honest with you. I hate hearing that word because I don’t really think of it ever. We are all under pressure a little bit constantly proving yourself. I don’t really feel added pressure. It is an opportunity to go out there and perform and show yourself and your group that you belong here and belong to move on to the next round. I always see the opportunity here and proving how strong of a group this is. A little adversity never hurt anybody.”

YOUR TEAMMATES WERE ASKED IF THEY HAD ADVICE FOR YOU AT BRISTOL AND KESELOWSKI SAID TO JUST GO WIN THE DAMN RACE. JOEY’S ANSWER WAS LONGER. HAVE THEY GIVEN YOU MUCH ADVICE? “Yeah, it is two different philosophies for sure. I would have thought Brad would be the more philosophical one. Those guys have been great. I know we have had our struggles in the past and you are always going to have some of that. It is racing. Those guys have been really good to me. I texted Brad a little bit this week and he texted me Sunday or Monday and just had a little conversation. Those guys are people I lean on. Brad is obviously someone that gave me a big opportunity in the sport so hearing words of advice from him, I am more of a short and sweet kind of guy. That advice is simple enough from Brad. I can learn a lot from those guys and I feel like they have been helpful teammates throughout the years. I think we all work really well together.”

CLINT BOWYER SAID, ‘I JUST HAVE TO GO RACE MY ASS OFF’ AND KESELOWSKI SAID, ‘JUST GO WIN THE DAMN RACE.’ IT SOUNDS EASY, BUT YOU JUST HAVE TO GO DO WHAT YOU DO, RIGHT? “Anything sounds easier than it actually is, in anything. We could all say just win the race and move on, that is really easy to do but obviously it is the hardest thing to do. It is going to be tough. There are a lot of great cars in front of us that run really good at Bristol but our group runs really good at Bristol too. We just have to step it up and go win the damn thing, or come close to it.”

THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES THIS SEASON WHERE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU AND YOUR TEAM THAT YOU COULD CHALK UP TO REALLY BAD LUCK. DRIVERS HAVE DIFFERENT MENTALITIES ABOUT IF THEY ARE SUPERSTITIOUS. DO YOU BELIEVE IN LUCK? “I don’t know. I don’t really believe in good luck, bad luck. Everyone has it. I don’t think anyone has more good luck or bad luck than anyone else. You are going to have good times and bad times and there are things that happened to us that you can say are bad luck but they are just part of life and part of racing. Hopefully you have more good days than bad but that is tough to have. I am not really superstitious or anything like that. Just go out there and do your job and if something happens that is out of your control the best you can do it just do your job to the fullest of your ability and if you are good enough then you are going to run well. Bad things happen. That is just part of it. I am not really superstitious at all or any of that stuff. It happens to everybody.”

BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (.533-MILE OVAL)
LOCATION: BRISTOL, TENNESSEE
EVENT: NASCAR CUP SERIES (RACE 29 OF 36)
TUNE IN: 7:30 P.M. ET, SATURDAY, SEPT. 19 (NBCSN/PRN/SIRIUSXM)

Chase Elliott
No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
Driver Chase Elliott Hometown Dawsonville, Georgia
Age 24 Resides Dawsonville, Georgia

2020 Season
7th in standings
28 starts
2 wins
1 pole position
11 top-five finishes
16 top-10 finishes
646 laps led

Career
177 starts
8 wins
9 pole positions
55 top-five finishes
90 top-10 finishes
2,490 laps led

Track Career
9 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
3 top-five finishes
4 top-10 finishes
287 laps led

ROUND OF 16: Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway marks the final event in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Round of 16. Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, currently sits seventh in the playoff standings, 57 points behind the leader.

CAREER HIGHS: In 2020, Elliott has accumulated career bests in laps led (646), runner-up results (three), top-five finishes (11), stage points (217) and stage wins (six) through the first 28 races of a season. His two wins and 16 top-10s are tied for a personal best at the 28-race mark.

NAPA AUTO PARTS: The familiar blue, white and yellow NAPA AUTO PARTS paint scheme will return to the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE this weekend at Bristol. The Atlanta-based company will serve as majority sponsor for Elliott and the No. 9 team for a total of 26 NASCAR Cup Series races this year. In February, it was announced that NAPA AUTO PARTS and Hendrick Motorsports will continue their partnership for another two seasons. NAPA will remain a primary sponsor of Elliott and the No. 9 team through 2022. Click here to read the full release.

NIGHT RACE SUCCESS: Another successful night race is in the books for Elliott after Saturday’s top-five result at Richmond. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native has one win (Charlotte), three runner-up finishes, six top-fives (the most of all drivers) and 238 laps led in the last eight points-paying NASCAR Cup Series night races. Elliott’s NASCAR All-Star Race win at Bristol was also collected under the lights.

BACK AT BRISTOL: During the May NASCAR Cup Series event at Bristol, Elliott and the NAPA team were a force to be reckoned with all afternoon, leading 88 laps and picking up two stage wins before a late-race accident while battling for the lead left him with a 22nd-place finish. In July at BMS, Elliott drove his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to take the checkered flag after dominating the field during the 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race. Elliott won the second and third stages before crossing the finish line first in the final stage and earning the $1 million prize.

LEADS THE FIELD: In nine Cup-level starts at Bristol, Elliott has led 287 laps – his second-highest total at any track behind only Dover International Speedway (321). He leads all drivers with the longest active streak of races led at Bristol (four).

BRISTOL STATS: On Saturday, Elliott will make his 10th NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. In his first nine appearances at the 0.533-mile oval, the driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE has collected three top-five finishes, four top-10s and one pole award (April 2019). He also ranks sixth in average finish (12.7) of drivers with more than six Bristol starts since 2014.

PIT ROAD PERFORMANCE: As the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol, the No. 9 team owns the fourth-best average time for four-tire pit stops at 13.94 seconds through 28 races. The team is comprised of jackman T.J. Semke, gasman John Gianninoto, tire carrier Jared Erspamer and tire changers Chad Avrit and Nick O’Dell.

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William Byron
No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
Driver William Byron Hometown Charlotte, North Carolina
Age 22 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina

2020 Season
13th in standings
28 starts
1 win
0 pole positions
3 top-five finishes
10 top-10 finishes
97 laps led

Career
100 starts
1 win
5 pole positions
8 top-five finishes
27 top-10 finishes
391 laps led

Track Career
5 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
1 top-10 finish
0 laps led

CALLING HIS SHOT: Heading to the final race in the Round of 16, William Byron currently sits three points below the cut line and looks to advance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. While he may start the race on the outside looking in, the gap between 10th place and 13th in the playoff standings is tight. Currently sitting 13th, Byron has outscored 12th-place driver Clint Bowyer by more than three points in three of the last four races. Meanwhile, the third-year Cup Series driver is only seven points behind 10th-place Aric Almirola. In the last four races at Bristol Motor Speedway, Almirola has finished at least seven positions behind the driver of the No. 24. Byron is also only seven points behind Kurt Busch, who is 11th in the standings. Over the last six races this season, Byron has averaged 10.6 more points per race than Busch.

NIGHT RIDER: While Saturday night’s race at Richmond may not have gone the way the No. 24 team wanted, Byron still has continued success running under the lights. In the last six races run at night, including his August win at Daytona, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has finished inside the top 10 five times. Those five top-10 results tie Byron with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman and six other drivers as the fifth-most top-10s in 2020 night races.

BATTLE AT BRISTOL: This weekend, Byron will make his sixth NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has a best qualifying effort of second at “The Last Great Colosseum,” lining up alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott in April 2019. In the May Bristol event, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native raced his way to an eighth-place finish – a personal track-best performance. Just two months later in July, the Cup Series returned to Bristol Motor Speedway for the NASCAR All-Star Race, where Byron won the opening stage the Open race and locked himself into the main event.

KNAUS’ KNOWLEDGE: With 37 Bristol Motor Speedway starts already under his belt, Saturday night’s race will mark No. 38 for veteran crew chief Chad Knaus at the half-mile track. With two wins, two pole awards, 12 top-five finishes and 20 top-10s coming with Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team, Knaus most recently added a top-10 finish to his BMS stats after an eighth-place result with Byron and the No. 24 team in May. The No. 24 group followed it up with a stage win in the All-Star Open race held at Bristol in July, locking themselves into the $1 million showdown.

LAPS WITH LIBERTY: Wrapping up a four-race stretch, Liberty University will be on board the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Saturday night’s race at Bristol, followed by Texas Motor Speedway the last week of October and Martinsville Speedway in November. Liberty University is in its sixth season of sponsoring the 22-year-old driver dating back to his time in the late model ranks. Liberty has been Training Champions for Christ since it was founded in 1971. Located in the mountains of Central Virginia, Liberty is a liberal arts institution with 17 colleges and schools that offers more than 600 degree programs from the certificate to the doctoral level, on campus and online. Working on an undergraduate degree in business communications, Byron is in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program.

CLOSE TO HOME: Chris Burkey, the pit crew coach for the Nos. 9 and 24 teams, hails from Greeneville, Tennessee, which is only 47 miles southwest of Bristol Motor Speedway. Burkey has an extensive background in coaching, getting his start in football. He played for Wingate University, where he eventually started his coaching career. Burkey coached college football from 1992 to 2005 for Wingate, East Tennessee and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2005, he joined the NFL’s Miami Dolphins as a scout. Looking for a new challenge, Burkey made the transition from football to NASCAR when he was hired as a developmental pit crew coach for Hendrick Motorsports in 2009. He moved up to the head coach position for the former No. 5 team and the No. 24 team in 2014.

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Jimmie Johnson
No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 44 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina

2020 Season
17th in standings
27 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
4 top-five finishes
9 top-10 finishes
102 laps led

Career
678 starts
83 wins
36 pole positions
231 top-five finishes
373 top-10 finishes
18,936 laps led

Track Career
37 starts
2 wins
2 pole positions
13 top-five finishes
22 top-10 finishes
914 laps led

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAMP: Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will turn 45 years young on Thursday, Sept. 17. The native of El Cajon, California, will make his 679th Cup start Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway as he attempts the half-mile track for the final time.

MR. TOP 10: Dating back to 2014, Johnson has only finished outside of the top 10 at Bristol three times over the span of 12 races, making for nine top-10 results. Even better, six of those finishes were in the top five, including one win in the spring of 2017. Johnson finished third in his most recent points race at Bristol in May. The only other track where Johnson has more top-10 finishes during that timeframe is Dover, where he has 10. Johnson has the best overall average finish (8.85) of any driver with more than six starts at Bristol Motor Speedway.

CAR ALLIES: Ally Racing recently brought together Johnson and Las Vegas-based custom car personality Danny Koker to share in their love for racing, music and cars. A four-episode content series showcases Koker and Johnson discussing how the car design and livery of the No. 48 Chevrolet for the upcoming Sept. 26 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was developed. For more info and to watch the weekly episodes, go to AllyRacing.com.

RICHMOND HONOR: Last weekend, Richmond Raceway recognized the historic accomplishments of seven-time champ Johnson by naming its pedestrian tunnel in his honor. The tunnel, originally constructed as part of “Richmond Raceway Reimagined” that was unveiled in fall 2018, will now be called the “Jimmie Johnson Champions Walk.” Click here for photos.

DANIELS MAKING STRIDES: Cliff Daniels will make his 44th start as a crew chief this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. Daniels has led the No. 48 team to four top-fives and nine top-10 finishes so far this season.

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Alex Bowman
No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE ​
Driver Alex Bowman Hometown Tucson, Arizona
Age 27 Resides Concord, North Carolina

2020 Season
8th in standings
28 starts
1 win
0 pole positions
3 top-five finishes
10 top-10 finishes
389 laps led

Career
181 starts
2 wins
2 pole positions
13 top-five finishes
36 top-10 finishes
863 laps led

Track Career
9 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
1 top-five finish
2 top-10 finishes
0 laps led

SITTING IN EIGHTH: Coming off a ninth-place finish at Richmond Raceway, Alex Bowman now sits eighth in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings going into Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Tucson, Arizona, native is 27 markers above the 12th-place cutline. Drivers inside the top 12 following the event at the half-mile venue will move on to the Round of 12.

BOWMAN AT BRISTOL: Bowman has nine NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway with two top-10 results. His best performance at the half-mile Tennessee venue came in 2018 when he brought home a fifth-place finish after 500 laps in the spring race. Earlier this season, the series visited the track for the 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race, where Bowman and the team earned an eighth-place finish after rolling off second. In 2013, he made two starts at the facility in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, capturing one top-15 finish. The 27-year-old driver will roll off eighth on Saturday night in the final Round of 16 event.

ON A ROLL: Bowman has finished inside the top 10 in four consecutive races held at night and currently holds the longest overall active top-10 streak in the Cup Series with four in the last four weeks. The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet finished fifth at Dover, seventh at the Daytona oval, sixth at Darlington and ninth at Richmond. Bowman has also finished inside the top 10 in the two most recent short-track events. He has never scored a top-10 in three straight short-track races.

STAGE NOTES: The No. 88 team has four stage wins this season, which is tied for fourth overall in the NASCAR Cup Series. Bowman has captured 184 stage points in 2020, which is eighth on the list of drivers following last Saturday night’s race at Richmond.

SHORT-TRACK STATS: On Saturday, the NASCAR Cup Series visited Richmond Raceway where Bowman finished ninth, his personal best result at the venue. Earlier this season, he finished sixth at Martinsville Speedway after rolling off eighth. The No. 88 team captured back-to-back top-10 finishes at Bristol in 2018, finishing fifth in the spring event and eighth in the fall event.

TENNESSEE NUMBERS: Greg Ives will call his 12th Cup Series race at Bristol on Saturday night under the lights. In 11 previous events at the half-mile track, the crew chief has two top-five finishes and four top-10s with a best finish of second in 2016 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. In 2013 and 2014, Ives was a NASCAR Xfinity Series crew chief at JR Motorsports where his drivers led 59 laps and claimed one top-five finish and three top-10s in four races. As an engineer for driver Jimmie Johnson from 2006-2010, he was part of one win, two pole awards and eight top-10 finishes at Bristol.

AXALTA ON BOARD: This weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway marks the fifth and final event of the 2020 season in which the Axalta colors will adorn Bowman’s No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. The leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings and Hendrick Motorsports announced an extension back in February that will take their partnership through the 2027 season. Read more here.

DEALS, DEALS, DEALS: During the month of September, No. 88 team sponsor ChevyGoods.com is providing discounts on various accessories on its website. Customers can receive 10% below MSRP on all Adam’s Polishes, NOCO and Truck Hero accessories purchased online. Use code CHEVYGOODS to receive the discount at ChevyGoods.com.

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Hendrick Motorsports

MOMENTUM INTO BRISTOL: Hendrick Motorsports is carrying momentum into Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff showdown at Bristol Motor Speedway. In each of the last six races, the team has led laps, placed multiple cars inside the top 10 and recorded at least one top-five finish. During that stretch, Hendrick Motorsports has the most or is tied for the most in the series in wins (two), top-five finishes (10) and top-10s (15). It also has one runner-up finish, one stage win and 207 laps led in those events. The team’s average result of 11.63 over the last half-dozen races is the best of all Cup-level organizations.

LOOKING FOR 12: At the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, car owner Rick Hendrick has 11 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series victories with a track record six different drivers. Jeff Gordon (five) and Jimmie Johnson (two) have won multiple races there for Hendrick Motorsports while Darrell Waltrip (1989), Terry Labonte (1995), Kyle Busch (2007) and Kasey Kahne (2013) have also gone to Bristol victory lane for the team. Most recently, Chase Elliott won the July 15 non-points NASCAR All-Star Race at the track.

NOT SHORT ON WINS: Going into Saturday night’s playoff race at Bristol, Hendrick Motorsports has 50 Cup Series wins on short tracks – the most among active teams. Ten different drivers have posted a short-track victory for car owner Rick Hendrick, which is one away from tying the NASCAR record held by Junior Johnson and Associates.

PLAYOFF HISTORY: Since the inception of the format in 2004, Hendrick Motorsports has 44 NASCAR Cup Series playoff wins – 16 more than any other team. The organization has scored at least one playoff victory in a record 15 different seasons, missing only 2017. A series-topping seven different drivers have won a playoff race for Hendrick Motorsports.

MORE STATS: Since its inception in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 260 race victories and holds the all-time records for championships (12), pole positions (226), top-five finishes (1,092), top-10s (1,884) and laps led (70,123) in points-paying NASCAR Cup Series competition. Including 2020, the organization has won at least one race in 35 consecutive seasons, the longest-ever streak. Hendrick Motorsports is eight wins away from tying Petty Enterprises’ all-time Cup record of 268.

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QUOTABLE /
Driver Chase Elliott on if he has an advantage due to his regular-season performances at Bristol:
“I’m not sure that it gives us an edge, but it does give us a good starting spot from a setup perspective, so I look forward to that. I think we have a good baseline, so to speak, to start the race, which is encouraging. Hopefully, we can make the right adjustments throughout the race to be good at the end of 500 laps.”

Elliott on this year’s playoff schedule:
“I was glad to see NASCAR switch it up and change it around. Ultimately, if you are running like you need to be to be a contender, you don’t just sit there and worry about that last race in the round, you want to do good at all of them. I think you have two opportunities to put yourself in a good position. There are a lot of things that are out of your hands. I think if we are running like we need to be running to contend for the championship we aren’t only worried about the last race of each round.”

Driver William Byron on his mindset for Bristol:
“I have confidence for this weekend at Bristol after our performance in the spring race and the All-Star Race. We ran well in both races this year, plus all four races that I’ve run there with Chad (Knaus) on the pit box have been good. We’ve just had circumstances out of our control. I think Hendrick Motorsports as whole runs well at Bristol, too. Chase (Elliott) showed that with his All-Star Race win in the summer. That just means we have a good notebook to utilize for our setup. Overall, I have confidence for this Saturday’s race. We just need to focus on the details, execute all race and we’ll accomplish what we need to.”

Driver Jimmie Johnson on his final Bristol race:
“It’s hard to believe this is my final night race at Bristol. We have been so close the past few races. I would really like my final time there to be a win. We need to execute. Starting 24th will be tough but we’ve been on the outside looking in before and have had fast cars to get through the field. I have so many good memories at Bristol – once I figured out that track – and some great memories of my girls singing the national anthem there before the race.”

Driver Alex Bowman on Bristol Motor Speedway:
“Bristol is a good track for us, just as long as we have the track position we need. If you get down on track position early, it can be difficult to bounce back. We ran pretty strong in the All-Star Race over the summer, which gives the team some momentum going into the final race in the Round of 16.”

Bowman on the No. 88 team’s momentum:
“Following last weekend’s race in Richmond, we have some really good momentum going into Bristol. Richmond has always been a tough track for this team but coming out of Saturday night with a ninth-place finish, was like a win. We are doing what we need to do, as a team, in order to continue pushing our way through the playoff rounds.”