Toyota GAZOO Racing – Chase Briscoe
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Sept. 27, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.

Briscoe added to his series-high seventh pole position by earning the top spot for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400. The pole marks the most pole positions in a single season since Kyle Busch also notched seven poles back in 2017 in his No. 18 Toyota Camry.

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Take us through that blistering lap you put down during qualifying

“It was honestly kind of a surprising qualifying session. We came here in the spring, everybody for the most part ran wide open through turns one and two and turns three and four was the end of the track that kind of determined your lap. This time around guys were just way slower and not a single guy ran wide open through one and two. What we had prepped for was kind of totally opposite from what we just did there and I thought my team did a really good job of making adjustments for the slower pace and everything that goes into that. We had to adapt for a lot of angles. It was an interesting lap. I was watching everything else and noticed nobody ran wide open through one and two and everyone was way out of the gas. Coming to the green everyone was really out of the gas. When I came to the green, I knew my car was going to be really good and it was all about wide open through one and two. I just told myself to just make a good solid three and four but don’t give up too much like I did at Darlington and you’re going to have a good shot at the pole. It was a good lap and will be helpful to start up front tomorrow.”

What do you think was responsible for the slower speeds today?

“Momentum. The car drives the exact same on this tire and my inputs don’t feel that drastically different, maybe I had a little less grip but not so much that you thought you were going to be a second slower. This place is so momentum based, just being out of the gas a little extra really adds up. It was definitely surprising going into the weekend. All the prep work we thought we would be running way faster than we are this weekend. It’s definitely a challenge for sure.”

Could you tell anything with the new right-side tire?

“No, not really. Just slower. From a feel standpoint I didn’t really notice anything different than I expected in the spring. Maybe just not getting into the corner quite as hard, but the feel was very similar to what I’ve always imagined here. I’m still kind of surprised by the pace change for sure.”

You have the most poles in a single season since 2017. Were you always a fast qualifier in sprint cars and other vehicles you drove growing up?

“No, horrendous every time. Sprint cars I was literally the worst qualifier ever, I would be so nervous. In stock cars I always have been the strongest in qualifying for whatever reason. In the past at SHR, I would qualify fifth to 10th a lot, but didn’t show a whole lot because I wasn’t on the pole. The cars capability is just so much greater now, those fifth to 10th qualifiers are now second and poles. Qualifying has always been my strongest asset truthfully in stock cars, I just haven’t been able to show it in the Cup Series.”

What is your mentality when you qualify as far as being in control out there?

“I don’t know. I don’t use markers, I just go out there and go wide open until I feel like I need to list and once I go back to the gas I go back to the gas and sometimes I mess it up. I mess it up more often than not, truthfully. I don’t ever have a preconceived notion by watching videos of where I need to lift, I just go out there and drive it to the limit and if it’s good enough it’s good enough. And sometimes I leave a little bit on the table or I overdo it, 99% of the time I overdo it. It really comes down to the car, just really good at getting the balance right. I’m not the only JGR car that qualifies well, Denny (Hamlin) is on the front row with me, Christopher (Bell) is up there, Ty (Gibbs) is really fast. Our cars are just really good, and when your cars are good it just allows you to be more aggressive.”

Where is the pedal car going to go for winning the pole today?

“That will definitely be a fighting piece at our household. Having three kids, I have another pedal car from 2016 and Brooks (son) rides it all the time. He’ll be excited as the older seniority to get the newer one. I guess I’m going to have to try and win one in the spring so all three kids can have one. It’s always a cool part about Kansas with the unique pole trophy. Not every track has a pole trophy so it’s always cool when there’s something neat like that.”

Bass Pro Shops is down the road in Springfield, Missouri. Does anyone there put more pressure on you here at Kansas with them being located not too far away from here?

“I don’t feel like there’s any more pressure from them. It’s just cool every time we come here you kind of know it’s in their backyard. I came in and hung out with them the last couple of days and you know their presence in the area. Johnny (Morris, Bass Pro Shops owner) will be here tomorrow and it’s an added pressure when he’s here because you want to perform because I would love to experience a win with Johnny, I’ve never been able to experience that before. Hopefully we can execute tomorrow and allow him to go to victory lane in his backyard, essentially. There’s always an added pressure as a driver whether it’s your home track or your sponsors home track or crew chiefs home track. When you are near home you just want to perform when there are people there to support you. Hopefully we can do that.”

About Toyota

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

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.

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

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Hollywood Casino 400 Qualifying — Kansas Speedway
Saturday, September 27, 2025

Ford Qualifying Results:

13th – Josh Berry
14th – Noah Gragson
15th – Chris Buescher
19th – Ryan Preece
23rd – Todd Gilliland
26th – Austin Cindric
27th – Cole Custer
28th – Zane Smith
31st – Brad Keselowski
34th – Cody Ware
35th – Joey Logano
37th – Ryan Blaney

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IT’S NOT BEEN THE EASIEST DAY FOR YOU GUYS. WHAT HAPPENED WITH HITTING THE WALL IN QUALIFYING? “I think we’ll probably have to do some damage repair on that for tomorrow, so definitely not ideal from a starting position standpoint, or at least starting on track. I don’t know how the lap looked. It felt like it was a pretty good lap going, so it’s a shame. I can’t say I was really expecting it to step out like that, but that’s how it goes. It’s been a pretty challenging day for the team and a pretty important race tomorrow.” HOW DID WHAT YOUR TEAMMATES GO THROUGH CHANGE FOR YOU PREPARING FOR QUALIFYING AND THE RACE? “I don’t think we know why we failed a tire four laps into practice. I would say normally it would take longer than that to have a failure, but, either way, I think even having cautions throughout your session definitely gets you a tough read on balance and so on, but there’s a lot to go over tonight to make the right decisions going into tomorrow if it is air-pressure or setup items or things we can control.”

NOTE: Ryan Blaney blew a tire in practice and will be forced to a backup Mustang for tomorrow’s race.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED IN PRACTICE? “We blew a tire, so we’ll have to look at it and see why that was. I hate that we crashed a race car and stuff like that, but we’ll take a peek at what we need to do differently and hopefully come from the back tomorrow. I’m looking forward to getting the race going tomorrow.” SOMETIMES YOU START PRACTICE ON LOW PRESSURE. DID THAT SEEM UNUSUAL AT ALL FROM THE START? “Not really. I wouldn’t say I really had any feel of something kind of off until right before it went, honestly. It kind of had that normal feeling to it until it blew. That’s kind of the hard thing about when you blow tires like that. They don’t feel way off and then they just kind of give out the next moment, so I didn’t have any kind of caution beforehand. It’s just unfortunate. I hate that we’ve got to get a backup out and do all that deal, but we’ll fight through it. Like I said, I’m just looking to getting out there tomorrow and see what we’ve got.”

BLANEY MEDIA AVAILABILITY SESSION:

WHAT’S THE MINDSET AFTER WINNING LAST WEEK FOR THESE NEXT TWO RACES? “I said last week after New Hampshire that it doesn’t change our outlook the next two weeks that we won at New Hampshire. I’m a big believer in keeping your head down and keeping the momentum that you have. You don’t want to go kick your feet up for two weeks just because you’re in the next round. You have to stay in that competitive mode and your mentality of racing and go run hard every single week. I think the only thing that changes is maybe you can look at Vegas a little bit earlier than what you would and that’s really the only difference in this team’s mentality with the spot we’re in.”

IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU GUYS HAVE RACES ON A TRADITIONAL 1.5-MILE TRACK. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? “It’s our first mile-and-a-half since Charlotte in May, our first natural mile-and-a-half, so we’ll get to see where we’re at from Charlotte and then Vegas is only two weeks away, so this is the closest chance you’re gonna get to see what we’ve learned from Charlotte and did it apply and how can we be better, or do you have to go to the drawing board for the next couple weeks to really get ready for Vegas. There are a lot of things you can learn from this weekend. This weekend I wouldn’t say is a science project for us by any means. We’re taking what we think is the best that we’ve learned from Charlotte and seeing if it’s there. If we’ve got to go to work on it for Vegas, then we will. If not, then we have a good direction, but it’s definitely a good base of where you’re at for Vegas in a couple weeks.”

A NEW RIGHT SIDE TIRE FOR GOODYEAR. DO YOU WANT TO SEE A LOT OF WEAR? “Yeah, I think that’s always the goal is the fall off and things like that, laying rubber down on the track. I think it being hot this weekend is gonna help that a lot to where it starts getting slick in the dominant top lane and you have to move down. I feel like it’s started to creep that way the last couple of races here and hopefully that takes another step. We’ll see. I’ll give Goodyear credit, they’ve been doing a really good job of trying to figure out how we can manufacturer these softer tires. Here it’s tough because you’re running so fast that you can’t just bring a gumball because it’s gonna fail, so where is that balance? They’ve been creeping in on it.”

NOTE: Joey Logano had a tire go down during practice, but he was still able to post a qualifying lap.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – POST-PRACTICE QUOTE: WHAT DID YOU FEEL IN PRACTICE? “I just felt it starting to feel funky through three and four. It just didn’t feel right, so I took it a little safe than sorry and lifted off in the corner, which is when it really came apart. I’m glad I caught it there. I got a little lucky, but, overall, it should be OK with the Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. We’ll put four tires on it, make some adjustments, cross our fingers and hope she runs good.”

LOGANO MEDIA AVAILABILITY SESSION:

“At this point we have to just keep maximizing the day. We did great in Loudon. That was good. We’ll try to score somewhere around 35-40 points minimum, which probably puts you in a pretty good spot no matter what happens for the Roval, so I think at a minimum you do that. If you can win, it’s even better. We’ll just go out there and maximize the day no matter what we’ve got.”

IS THERE A NUMBER ABOVE THE CUT LINE YOU WOULD LIKE TO LEAVE WITH? “It’s hard to be very specific because there are a lot of what if’s. If somebody behind the cut line wins, it gets you and obviously that buffer shrinks a lot really quick. It’s different being 30 over the cut and sixth, or 30 over the cut and being fourth. That’s a big difference, so we’ll do the best we can and the points will take care of themselves. We’ll go out there and do the best we can to score as many points as possible.”

IS THERE ANYTHING SINCE CHARLOTTE THAT RELATES TO THIS TRACK? “Maybe some, but not a lot. Darlington-ish, but not really at all. There hasn’t been many since then, so I think everyone is curious to see where they stack up this time of year on a mile-and-a-half. I feel like we’re gonna be decent. We ran top 10 here the last time, so I think we’re gonna be in the ballpark, but it’s been since May to really see where you stack up and a lot of things have changed since then for all the teams, so we’ll see.”

IN TWO WEEKS YOU’LL HAVE THE SAME TIRE AS HERE, SO HOW CRUCIAL IS THIS WEEKEND? “It’ll be pretty similar, so what you’ve got here will probably, you’ll have enough time to really make some big differences. The only thing that’s really different there is that you’re going to a track that’s got some bumps. The tire fall off is pretty comparable here and there, but the bumps are probably the biggest thing that’s different when you go to Vegas.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I was pretty happy over there in one and two. I was not happy in three and four. Obviously, practice was pretty good. I’m pretty happy with our Fastenal Body Guard Ford Mustang. I think our long run pace stayed with it, and I think we made some good improvements from the last time here. There are a lot of things that are positive, but I wish that would have gone a little bit better for qualifying.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I thought it was OK. It’s probably not the best lap I made because we were a little bit too free, but that should be a decent starting spot for tomorrow. I felt like we had a really good car in the spring, so hopefully we can build off of that.”

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Tyler Reddick
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (September 27, 2025) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.

TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 The Beast Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

Are you nervous or excited to come to Kansas this week?

“I think it’s fairly nervous. We had a stretch here where it was a 23XI Toyota or a Toyota car in general, we had a pretty good record here to be able to win races. I look at the last two or three times we’ve been here we’ve been missing a little bit of something. The car changes, the Goodyear tires change, so naturally you’ve got to keep up with it. I think it’s fair to be nervous, there’s a lot that weighs on this weekend that its super important for us to either win or run top-five all day and score a lot of points.”

What has been the atmosphere at 23XI and Airspeed this week leading into the race?

“Everyone has had their head down for sure. It was a tough week, think we all know we got our asses kicked pretty good at Loudon and I feel like it’s motivated everyone properly. It’s easy to be down, but we have two opportunities to either win or score a lot of points. You look at other mile and-a-half tracks this year and we’ve brough cars capable of winning races at those tracks. It’s been since Charlotte Motor Speedway since we’ve had a true mile and-a-half race, so there’s been a lot of time for things to change, for people to catch up and people to fall behind. I think that just adds to the nerves of the weekend to see how we perform when we get to the racetrack.”

You seem to like the Roval course, are you an advocate for it staying or would you prefer to see the Charlotte oval for the playoffs?

“I’m really torn in the middle. I really enjoy what the Roval brings pressure wise to the drivers. I love that we get a road course in the playoffs and that it’s at home. When you also look at it from the other side, the intermediates have been typically our best races and racetracks over the last three or four years. Charlotte has become one of our better intermediate tracks as well. It’s just tough, it’s a great problem to have if you are NASCAR or Marcus Smith, if you are able to put on good racing at both the oval and the Roval. I think it’s going to be split, some drivers are going to like the oval more and other like the Roval more and same with the fans. We don’t need to race at Charlotte three times a year but we could race at the oval two times a year and then the Roval date. There are only some many weekends in the year, I guess.”

With the chances of Shane Van Gisbergen winning at the Roval next week, does that change your strategy at all?

“It’s a fair point. I wouldn’t say it’s a reason why I say we have to run top-five and score a lot of points because of Shane. He just adds to it, AJ (Allmendinger) adds to it as well. He’s going to be doing the same thing, they are both really good road course racers. That’s just part of it, if we are in that spot where we have to win so be it. We will do what we can to go out there and be the better driver.”

Based off what we saw at Loudon last week, would it be safe to say Team Penske is the championship favorite?

“What do you mean, now? (laughs). Their track record at Phoenix is hard to beat the last couple of years. More specifically with the 12 team (Ryan Blaney) and what they’ve been able to do at Martinsville over the years. Little things have changed here or there. This tire is a little bit different and see how it affects Phoenix when it gets closer and if we can catch up. We got our answer Sunday at Loudon, they just looked really strong.”

Would you be an advocate for going back to a 36-race points format?

“If I had to pick one I’m not sure which one I would pull for. Me growing up, that’s all I really knew as the season long format in other disciplines of racing. I’ve also been able to become a two-time champion through the format we use now. It’s probably not fair for me to say which one I would favor. As a competitor, it’s up to you to figure out a way to give yourself the best change to become a champion regardless of what the format is or going to be. There’s a way to go about each one. I feel like now, yes winning races is super important but the 15 playoff points you get as the regular season championship go back to that the traditional mindset of finishing those races like we did last year. No matter what the format is you have an opportunity for it to be really exciting.”

The last time you had a top-10 at Kansas was when you won here in 2023. Have frustrating does that become as a driver?

“It certainly will frustrate you, motivate you, make you scratch your head some. The positive for us seems like it’s something that typically is a challenge at Kansas specifically. I feel like since the years I won here, I’ve been able to go to other intermediates and similar style tracks. Other than Homestead, like Texas, Charlotte, Las Vegas and those tracks we’ve been able to go to those other mile and-a-halfs and have some speed. We should be able to figure this out where we are able to go to these other intermediate track types, and yes they are different, and do well. We just have to figure it out and hopefully our starting point this weekend is much more what we need. I think that was more of a point of frustration here in the spring. I walked away from practice being happier than I’ve ever been at a place like Kansas and then the race was a struggle. We just have to be on top of it and pay attention to our notes. Just try to make the best adjustments possible during the race.”

There was a video of jacking up the car during pit practice at the shop. How difficult was that for you and do you have a new appreciation for what those guys do?

“I’ve always had it. With the schedule I carry right now, there’s only a couple of days where I’m not in the training room with those guys as they are working out. I know what they are capable in the gym and I know what they are capable on the pit pad at Airspeed. My only complaint is I wished they would have posted that sooner because that was a couple of months ago. We are working on making some progress on that, maybe it’s something I can post in the winter.

How rare is it when you feel like things go well in practice, but it doesn’t translate to the race?

“My first year at 23XI and throughout the year last year at times, I feel like Bubba (Wallace) and myself would show up to a racetrack and be top-four in practice and things look great. But it would see like things would just slide in the wrong direction as the track rubbered in and lose performance throughout the race. We’ve done a better job of leveling that out a bit, it’s just sometimes in practice that’s a thing that can happen but it’s on us to figure out why that happens and pick up on things to not let that happen. We’ve done a good job of that, but that race here in the spring was one where we struggled. It’s a part of racing that sometimes can happen, these cars are very sensitive to inputs and just traffic and all those things. It’s easy to think you are going to have something for the race and it can rear its ugly head and be a problem. You just got to be really mindful in practice of your balance regardless of how you do in practice.”

Provided you don’t win tomorrow, is there a point difference going into the Roval that would make you feel comfortable that you can overcome it by points only?

“I really haven’t ran through that yet, but I’m almost positive the last two season we’ve gone into the Roval below the cutline. You never want to go into that race in that position, but you don’t want to go into that race in a tricky spot. My gut would say even if we are outside by ten points, it’s doable. Sitting where we are minus 23 points outside, that’s a pretty hard number to overcome. That’s counting on other not getting stage points. Would love to win and not worry about this next week, but we’ve been able to overcome a deficit twice over the last few years. That does give me confidence.”

About Toyota

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

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 27, 2025

 Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Kansas Speedway. Larson – a three-time NASCAR Cup Series winner at Kansas – returns to the 1.5-mile oval as the track’s defending winner.

Media Availability Quotes:

I saw you went and met with Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes. Have you talked to those guys before or met them, and what was your experience like getting a chat with them?

“No, I hadn’t ever met them before, but I went out to the facility earlier this year. Brett Veach, the manager there, I didn’t know it until a couple years ago, but he’s a big fan of mine. He had us out and hosted us earlier this year, and then he was able to line it up again this time. It was really cool. We had Cliff (Daniels) out there, and Rudy Fugle is a huge Chiefs fan, so it was really neat to be there. We got to sit in the quarterback meeting before the practice, so that was really cool to see how they operate and prep for a practice. That was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it was cool to do that. Everybody there is extremely nice. I think because Brett’s such a big fan and talks about racing a lot, they kind of get it, so it’s cool.”

When you see those people prepare and stuff like that, what, if any, similarities or qualities do you see in other successful athletes like that that you find are similar here?

“Well, I think what I didn’t quite realize, just being a casual fan of football, was how much work it actually is. I just look at big buff football players, and I’m like, oh, they just probably have a couple meetings during the week, a couple practices, and just lift and get big and strong. But it sounds like their weeks are really long. There’s a lot of prep work; sounds like a lot of meetings. I would say by game day, they’re extremely prepared, so that was really neat to see, and just how much effort goes into prepping for a single game. Like I said, that was just eye-opening and really cool to see. It’s neat to see the culture and leadership that goes on there, and it makes sense why they’re so successful.”

I’m curious, are people like, oh my gosh, you met Patrick Mahomes, and did you think it was a big deal before or more after?

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t really look at the social media stuff a lot, but I definitely had a handful of friends reach out and say that was really cool. You know, I’m friends with a lot of 49er fans, so I was surprised that none of them were like, oh, you traitor, or whatever (laughs).

But no, I think they’re such a big deal, right, like Mahomes, Kelce and even Brett Veach, that a lot of people, whether you cheer for that team or not, they have a lot of respect for those athletes. So yeah, I think everybody was pretty surprised and thought it was cool I got to hang out there.”

Coming back to Kansas, is there any kind of realization or frustration knowing this is the last place you won?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not something that I’ve really thought about, I guess, until getting ready to come here this week. It’s like, wow, it’s been since here that we’ve last won. But I think with that, it gives you some confidence that it’s a place that we’ve ran well at for a long time now. We’ll hopefully have similar speed to what we had earlier in the year. It sounds like we had a great week in the shop and in the wind tunnel, so I think everybody at Hendrick Motorsports is excited to get on track to see where we kind of are on speed and balance compared to what we’ve been on the intermediates or tracks sort of similar… I know it’s been a while since we’ve been on the intermediate.

But, yeah, hopefully we have a good weekend; can run up front, get some good points and go into the ROVAL with an even bigger gap than what we have.”

The last two tracks in this round really cater to your skill set in the Next Gen car. Beyond the obvious goal that a win is, especially coming here, how impactful would defending your spring victory be for you?

“Well, it would be impactful because, like we’ve mentioned, I haven’t won a race since this one and really haven’t been that consistently good since this race earlier this year. So it would be nice to obviously get a win. We’ve been working extremely hard the last few months to get back to the point of where we were leading a bunch of laps and winning stages. And I feel like we’ve learned a lot along the way. So, yeah, I hope we can kind of put that all in motion and have a good day.”

You mentioned how big it is that you haven’t won since Kansas. Is that something that you think about often, especially going into a weekend?

“No, I don’t really think about it a whole lot. I don’t know… maybe you should, maybe you shouldn’t, I don’t really know. But I think you’re always looking ahead. You’re not really looking behind too much. You can probably ask Connor Zilisch, who’s won every race the last three months. He’s probably not thinking about the race he won two months ago. You’re just kind of looking ahead always.”

Have you ever done a fire suit swap before or anything, or is this your first time?

“I mean, we’ve definitely done some throughout the past, but it’s probably the most popular jersey I’ve got. So it’s really cool. I’ll probably definitely get it framed up and hang it in the game room of the house or something.”

How do you kind of evaluate where you are in the playoffs as compared to past years at this point, where we’re closing in on the halfway point of the playoffs?

“Yeah, I mean, you can’t really hide from it. It’s probably been our weakest playoffs of my career, at least at Hendrick Motorsports. You know, going through the first round with zero top-10s was not something that we expected. But we still gained good points throughout the first two races of that round, which was good. We just didn’t get the race finishes that we’ve had in the past. But then we had a good New Hampshire, where I know that track hasn’t been in the playoffs for a little while, but we ran better there than we have in the past.

So, yeah, I don’t know. We still have a lot of racing left to get back to what we’ve been. And like I said, I feel like we are getting better and better each week. Although it may be little improvements, it’s still stacking, and hopefully it kind of peaks at the right time.”

How has this year challenged you?

“Well, I would say the beginning of the season until the end of May was really good. You kind of know what you’re going to get for results and stuff each week you go to the track because we were just that strong. The schedule lined up really well for our organization; a lot of mile-and-a-halves and tracks that we were historically good at. And then the tracks that we haven’t been ‘lights out’ at, we were probably just a little bit worse than we have been in years prior. So that just challenges you and your team mentally and emotionally sometimes. We’ve dealt with a lot as a team this year. I don’t know what other teams have dealt with, but I don’t know if there’s a team that’s dealt with more than we have with losing a team member, pit crew swaps, different personnel changes. There’s just a lot that we’ve had to overcome, but I feel like we’ve worked really hard and although the results may not show it all the time, I feel like we are building and better than we were, say in June, for sure.”

Cliff (Daniels) referenced that too, that all the challenges you guys have gone through from a personal standpoint. I know he’s the leader, but as a driver, as a leader, what kind of role can you play or how have you tried to help your teammates because they’ve certainly gone through a lot this year…

“Yeah, I think just for me, just staying positive and motivated and not letting the team members see you down or not motivated. So trying to just keep putting in my best effort every week and letting them know that we have a shot to run well every week is always good.”

You mentioned you’re always looking ahead, so how far ahead are you looking? Are you just focused on this race or the ROVAL as well or even the Round of Eight?

“I mean, I just take it kind of week-by-week or really just by week, but definitely don’t look out of this round. So, yeah, just what we’ve got to do to execute this weekend and the points we need to earn to position ourselves well for next week is really what we’re looking at.”

Denny (Hamlin) and Ty Gibbs had some issues last week. I’m wondering, most of the Hendrick cars are still in. Alex (Bowman) is not. But what are the expectations on how championship contenders are supposed to race each other at Hendrick Motorsports?

“Yeah, I think you’re always just looking out for what you can do to make things a little bit easier on your teammates. Thankfully for me — TVs probably don’t even see the teamwork that happens, but like last week, Alex (Bowman) cut me a lot of breaks at the end of the first stage. I passed him, and then I was starting to die. He could have easily passed me back but kind of just rode back there. So it’s just little things like that where I think where Denny (Hamlin) was probably expecting that, as every team who has multiple cars, has had a conversation of those expectations. So I could see Denny’s frustration, for sure. And yeah, I’m sure they had a lot of talks this week, so I would expect it to be much better.”

Do you think a non-playoff driver should get out of the way of their teammates who are in the playoffs?

“At that point in the race, yeah. I mean, it was stage one, stage two, maybe. I think at the end — if you’re racing for a win, you’re racing for a win. You’re never going to give up a win in a Cup Series for a teammate. But I think if you’re running mid-pack in a stage, yeah, that expectation should be followed.”

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