Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Enjoy Illinois 300 Qualifying
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Media Availability – World Wide Technology Raceway
Saturday, September 6, 2025

Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is the defending winner of this weekend’s race and comes off a 12th-place finish last weekend at Darlington Raceway. The Team Penske driver is currently ninth in the standings, 12 points above the cut line.

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang Dark Horse –

YOU ARE THE DEFENDING WINNER HERE, WHY IS THAT TEAM PENSKE EXCELS ON THESE FLAT TRACKS?

“I can just give you my setup sheet if you like? I don’t think it is just as easy as saying whether the track is flat or not. Obviously our guys have done really well. I feel like the thing that sticks out for me at a lot of the tracks that you would think of as flat tracks is that they are very unique and different from one another. There are not a whole lot of takeaways that we can take away from here at St. Louis and go apply to Phoenix other than maybe gathering some trends. Because the ends are so different and the loads are different. The demands from the drivetrain are different. It’s kind of that way with a lot of those tracks, similar to New Hampshire. New Hampshire is a very different track, there is nothing else like it on the schedule. Richmond is very different from all of these types of race tracks. So as far as relating them and categorizing them, I guess my response would be that our team does a really good job of staying consistent regardless of the challenge of the race track”.

YOU ENTERED 12 POINTS ABOVE THE CUTLINE, LEAVING HERE, HOW MANY POINTS ABOVE THE CUTLINE DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO BE TO FEEL COMFORTABLE?

“Anything under 20 is pretty nervewracking. I would describe our position as being fairly neutral at the moment. Twelve is better than two. Even with 20, nothing is guaranteed. With as many unknowns as there are with Bristol, with what unexpected comes next week?”

CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PROCESS OF GETTING A SUPERCAR SEAT? WHAT IS LIKE TO CONVINCE PENSKE TO LET YOU DO IT?

“Yeah, I think I could probably take you down two pathways. I think one, it’s been about 10 years since I’ve been down to Australia to go race. And there’s a certain point in time in my career that it was a legitimate consideration to go race full time there. Whether it be Super Two or something else or, obviously, they’ve done a great job with that series and producing great drivers. So as a younger driver, it was something I really looked at pretty heavily. I’ve always kind of kept a pulse on it. I did some racing down there in the past, with the Bathurst 12 hour and I have a lot of great relationships there. It’s really cool to see it all come full circle. Obviously, I wouldn’t be able to do it without the help and connection from Ford, with all the guys at Tickford and kind of just piecing things together to see if it is all possible and then kind of go through the paperwork of how do I get approved and this and that? But all in all, it’s going to be a super fun adventure. It’s something that I look at as a great opportunity to, hopefully, do more races than just the one. And I want to do well and represent myself as well as possible, but it’s a tricky course and an incredibly competitive series. So looking to see what I learned about myself and how well I stack up against a pretty stout grid.”

YOU ARE THE DEFENDING CHAMPION OF THIS RACE.

“It’s definitely been a good track for our team and I think anytime you can come with a good notebook to lean on, it kind of takes some of the stress off of maybe other things. But the cars and competition continue to evolve. So I can be comfortable with the performance we’ve had here. I think going into this race, the big shift to the Iowa tire is definitely something we’ve had to take into consideration and try and understand. How do we adapt where we’ve been here the last couple years to that level of stagger? So it should be an interesting day, and I should be able to learn a lot. But overall, it’s been good. I think we have a good advantage with a Ford powertrain at this race track compared to others. So yeah, I’m excited to see what we’ve got today.”

IN AN INTERTERVIEW EARLIER THIS WEEK WITH DAVE MOODY, RUSTY WALLACE HAD SAID THAT IT TOOK GETTING HIS SECOND CAREER WIN TO FEEL THAT HE BELONGED IN THE CUP SERIES.. AT WHAT WIN OR AT WHAT MOMENT DID YOU FEEL YOU HAD PROVEN YOURSELF?

“I’d say the next one. Whatever the next one is, you’re only as good as your last race. I’m chronically never satisfied with a whole lot else other than winning. Even races where you think I’d be excited after a finish, if I feel like there’s still meat left on the bone, I’m usually not satisfied. The expectation for myself and my team is typically high. So I am really not ever satisfied or comfortable with anything other than success. Which often leaves me frustrated and, you know, confused and wanting more. It is definitely a difficult thing. I feel like this being my fourth year in the series, understanding where I’m at and respected throughout the field and understanding how difficult it really is to expect that. Trying to just go out and win races like this. Yeah, it’s a tough series, but it makes it that much more satisfying to do it.”

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOU AT THIS TRACK?

“The caution that I don’t know is gonna happen in the middle of stage two or stage three. That’s not necessarily in my control, but the strategy for this race is going to be probably as challenging as a road course in the playoffs because of how important track position is going to be. How tight the fields going to be. You know qualifying today will be exceptionally important to give yourself options. Pit Road is exceptionally challenging to navigate. But as this race track widens out, there begins to be a lot of other options with the car. Like, what gear do you want to run through certain corners? Typically, you’re kind of questioning those things at most racetracks. Where here, that’s kind of all over the place, depending on what lane you’re running, what your priorities are, how your car is driving? So on top of that, there’s not too many ovals where you’re really threshold braking like you are into turn one here. So it’s a pretty unique place and definitely presents a lot of challenges.”

HOW AWARE OF THE STRATEGY ARE YOU THROUGHOUT THE RACE?

“I definitely look at it as the team’s job. Typically, I will have an opinion, and I will only share it if asked. So this race will probably be another one of those occasions. Even last year running, full fuel runs, pitting, similar to a road course, right when the window opens so you have the track position. There’s also a different tire this weekend. I think you could easily influence the end result of the race just with one caution at the right time.”

HOW BIZARRE IS IT GOING TO BE TO HAVE A NEW TIRE WHEN YOU GO BACK TO MARTINSVILLE BECAUSE YOU RELY SO MUCH ON YOUR NOTES?

“The same could be said about Bristol next week, so your guess is as good as mine right now. I mean, I can’t say that I’ve thought too far ahead to Martininsville. I can’t even say that I’ve let myself think about Bristol past the fact that it sounds scary, from a playoff standpoint. You rarely, at least in my experience in the Cup series, rarely have had an opportunity to have a notebook to go and say, ’okay, we do this at this racetrack, this has worked well, let’s go do it again.’ Rarely do we get to do that anymore. You know, even when I sit here and talk about, hey, we’ve got a great notebook to rely on for St. Louis, but we’re now on a different tire, so are we throwing it out the window? We don’t know. How much can you take away from Iowa? How much you can’t? When I was in the Xfinity Series, the cars were largely unchanged, at least for my last two years. The tires, the aero, everything was the same. So you could easily go with confidence to say, hey, we’re gonna change things up this weekend, throw the kitchen sink at it before we leave the shop, or we’re gonna run exactly what we ran last year and have zero questions about it. I don’t think there’s really a whole lot of any of that anymore other than maybe at the drafting tracks.

I think our team does a great job at figuring out things quickly. I think our team of engineers are really good at looking at a lot of the facts and separating out what’s important and what causes change and what’s not. I mean, that’s the difficulty in their jobs. Most weeks, it is not just building the setup, but also, we have all this information from other races, how do we relate it to that?”

Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race. Historically, it has been a pretty good place for us and the Team Penske Ford Mustangs and I just hope to keep bringing the speed that we have had here in the past. I just want to have a smooth day. Speed is great. That’s what you need to start, but you know, can you execute well all day? Can you keep up with the strategy and what you need? That part’s super tough. But yeah, hopefully we’re where we need to be pacewise, and then we’ll go from there, but I look forward to it.”

ABOUT THIS WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE RETURN OF THE FORD RACING BRAND

“Yeah, we’re going back. Going back to Ford Racing! I’m pretty excited about it. It took me a while to not slip up and call it Ford Racing before. And Ford Racing just kind of slips off the tongue a little bit easier. So yeah, I’m excited for that.”

Josh Berry, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I feel good. Obviously Team Penske has got a really good history here. I really haven’t raced here a lot. Last year, we were pretty good and blew a tire and wrecked. So I felt pretty comfortable there. We just need to go out and have a good weekend. That’s all we can do.”

Joey Logano, No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a lot different than any other track we go to. The tire fall off here hasn’t been a big deal but we will have to see what this tire is like. It’s just minor tweaks, right? It’s hard to compare Richmond to Gateway [World Wide Technology Raceway]. I mean, it’s just different. You know, Phoenix and here probably are the most similar race tracks of the two. I think it’s the most similar track to Phoenix that we go to.”

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

MADISON, Ill. (September 6, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Do you know if anyone has come after Tyler Reddick?

“We have him under contract. I think he probably feels as confident as we are for December. I’m not sure.”

Are you worried about tire wear with the forecast for Bristol?

“I think the tire change is going to mean more than the conditions will. Apparently, this right-side tire is going to be more aggressive as far as a tire wear stand point – that is the goal of it, which I’m all for it. Any time, Goodyear and NASCAR can get together and be okay with some chaos style racing, when it comes to the tires, I’m all for it. Certainly, the teams and the drivers will separate themselves when that happens.”

What more do you need to get the win here?

“Not really sure. We’ve just kind of been a top-five car. We have a couple of second-place finishes. I don’t know. We just have to get a little bit better. We are going into this weekend with a good mindset and understanding with how I need to be to feel better, so we will go to work on it and see whether we step up a little more than the competition. Ultimately, just haven’t been fast enough to win the last couple of races here, so hopefully we can change that.”

Do you think the tire compound this weekend will affect the race for you positively?

“I’m not really sure. The reduced stagger is one thing. The only thing about the Iowa tire is we saw the racing was very, very challenging there. You can attribute it to track or tire, but we are bringing one of those elements here to this track, so we will see if it has any fall off at all. We will see during practice.”

How does your focus shift with your Playoff standing?

“I mean, if you had to put me on the spot right now, I don’t think I could tell you what races are in the next round. I just know this one and the next one, but beyond that, I don’t look too far forward. I just try to focus so much on the week ahead, but I’m sure there will be some challenging tracks for us. The first round – if I remember – is pretty straight forward, and it is where we can gain some spots and get some wins, then if the second round has a little more challenge to it, then we need to stack those Playoff points in this round. I haven’t focused on that round quite yet.”

Is there a number that you want to be above the cutline leaving here?

“Anything 50 or more is a pretty comfortable spot, even if you typically DNF. You have to add in if the people below the cut, are they really legitimate contenders to win a race or not, at Bristol? So, 50 or more would be fine. Even if it is less than that, it’s fine. We were far less than that last year at Bristol, and unfortunately, had to run that race a little bit more conservatively because we weren’t in as comfortable of a spot as I was hoping for, so I would like to go to Bristol not having to worry about anything – simply, like Jeff (Gluck) talked about with the tire and stuff, you never know what can happen, and certainly, if you want to win that race, you are going to have to be aggressive as a driver, and certainly, you don’t want to have to think about the repercussions of missing the next round at Bristol because it could hamper your ability to win that race.”

What is it like as driver to be on the cutline?
“Everyone’s situation is different. Everyone’s speed is different. Everyone’s ability to win is different, and so I would say that everyone’s mindset is probably a little different. I think there is probably will be a couple of guys below the cut probably praying something bad happens to the guys in front of them because that is really their only shot. They are not going to gain that many points to the cutline. You maybe will have one that will have to win, so on and so forth. Everyone’s situation will be a little different. I can only speak for our team, and that we want to go to Bristol with the opportunity to win. I want to be 100 percent – that is the only mindset, win and who cares if you finish last, and that is probably a unique place that only two or three guys will have at that track.”

What is the biggest challenge for you here at Gateway?

“The passing is the most difficult part at this track. The straightaways are long, the corners are pretty narrow, so the passing aspect, the clean air – which is like any other bigger race track with this car in general.”

How do you feel about Bubba’s shot at advancing?

“I think they probably feel pretty good. Ceratinly, they’ve got some good tracks these next couple of weeks and certainly have the speed to do it. As long as they focus on the execution, they will be fine.”

About Toyota

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NASCAR CUP SERIES
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 6, 2025

Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Media Availability Quotes:

You’re averaging the third-most points on this type of track, the shorter flat tracks, this year. Why do you feel like you excel at these types of venues?

“That’s a good question. I’m not sure. I feel like I’m comfortable with whatever we’re doing with the cars. Just confidence and giving good feedback. The guys are giving me good race cars and it’s just probably a strong suit for us right now at RCR. I guess that’s the best way to answer it. I do feel really comfortable and feel like my feedback is good.”

You finished sixth here last year and Kyle (Busch) won here the year before, so how much of an opportunity is this weekend to get above the cutline?

“It’s huge. You know, last week was very disappointing because I felt like we had a great week to capitalize. We really executed in practice and qualifying. Qualifying ninth, that was a big start for us. We didn’t do a great job in the race of taking advantage of that. I feel like we should be above the cutline because of all the stuff that went down last week. ‘Execution’ was the main word that I used at media day. We executed partly… half of it. Getting through that race, we’re only eight away from the cutline, so it’s not insurmountable. I feel really good about these next two races. So yes, Gateway is huge for us. I think that qualifying today, again, if we can execute like we did at Darlington — this is a place that is tougher to pass than Darlington. Maintaining track position is a bit easier because of that, but you also have to do a really good job in strategy and different things. I think the past history of Kyle (Busch) running really well here and winning. Last year, we had a very fast car and we were able to take advantage of that and finish sixth, like you said, and score stage points. If we score some stage points and finish in the top-10, I feel like we’ll go into Bristol just above the cutline, and then we’ve got to do the same thing there.”

You’ve been fast at this point of the season, the end of the summer, this year and last year. What is it about RCR that you kind of build up to the end of the summer, start of the playoffs, or is it just kind of the team getting fast at the right time?

“It’s funny. I think we come out swinging, we kind of take a dip and then we come back. I think RC has to yell at us at the right time, I guess, and then we get going again. I don’t know why that is.

I’d really love to figure that out, solve for it, but at least we’re finding speed at the right time, like you talked about, because I think that’s key in this sport now and in every sport. Momentum is big I’m proud of our organization for the speed that we have brought the last couple weeks. You saw Kyle (Busch) and AJ (Allmendinger) run well last week. It shows us that we were capable of doing that. We kind of got burnt last week on that last caution. I mean, we were on pit road when the yellow fell and we were the wave around. We had just started coming forward pretty good. We were up to 18th. I think we would have finished the race 14th, if that cycle would have gone through.”

There’s been some talk about changing the rule next year for the fastest lap for the point, like whether you have to be on the lead lap or not. You’re probably somebody who loves kind of love the challenge of getting the car back on track, kind of old school racer mentality. I’m curious how you view that?

So did Josh (Berry) end up getting the fast lap last week and it counted toward the playoffs?

Yeah, that’s impressive. So yeah, I guess you don’t want to be in that situation either way, but it is a consolation prize, somewhat. So yeah, they probably got to look at it, as far as is it the true fast lap of the race? You know, that’s probably the toughest part because — yeah, you pump up the tires, you go rip one lap off, you’re going to be quick time. It’s just part of it. You’re running qualifying air and low on fuel. I mean, you guys see what we do from practice to qualifying every week and how much faster we go. Yeah, it probably needs to be adjusted.”

Austin Cindric was in here a little bit earlier. He doesn’t really think these flat tracks are in the grouping that a lot of us perceive him to be… like Gateway, New Hampshire, Phoenix are more different. What’s your perspective on that? When we watch this tomorrow, how much can we be like, all right, this guy was good here, so Phoenix, New Hampshire, they’ll probably be good there… how much does that really translate?

“I think there is definitely connections to certain aspects. I think I look at it more of like the asphalt degradation stuff, so tracks that really burn up tires and then tracks that have a high grip level. I think this (World Wide Technology Raceway) has a high grip level. I think Phoenix has a high grip level. So I look at Penske, they consistently run well in places that I feel like tires are less attractive in the situation. That’s where I feel like they run well. Like, you go to a higher degradation place, they seem to struggle a little bit in those places. But I wouldn’t look at it like — if you run good here, I do not think that it really translates to New Hampshire at all, just because the asphalt is so old and rough and this place is pretty smooth. So that’s another part of it to look at, like look at how smooth the track is and how rough a track is. Those things play more into what a company I feel like brings consistently to a track, like who really has a good shock package because the tracks are rough. At a smoother track, well, then they’re probably a little more rigid than most places and they really do a good job on their aero platform. Those are the type of things that I would look at instead of clumping certain tracks together.”

What were your thoughts on Gateway getting added to the playoffs? With turns one and two being so different than three and four, what are some of the challenges this place presents? “It’s a very different type of track. It’s a cool track. I think you’re shifting a lot more than most places here. Strategy is very important. Two tires, no tires, fuel only, all come into play here. It is cooler than what we normally race here, so I think strategy is even that much more important.

But it’s a great facility. They give great gifts to the drivers. I’ve got an awesome chrome bat with my name on it, some cookies and all kinds of stuff, so they’re like P1 on my charts for gifts, so far (laughs). So yeah, it’s a cool place.”

I know it’s a way out, but the forecast for Bristol is pretty mild. It could be somewhat chilly at night, so how nervous are you that the tire situation could be one of those crazy degradation races if it’s just cool enough to trigger that?

“It definitely could happen. I feel like they have a good grasp on what makes that happen or not, and I think it has to do with the amount of PJ1 that they use or the type they use. The resin didn’t work. I feel like if they use nothing, like if they make a really light pass across the track with that and they don’t put that PJ1 down within that three-foot, four-foot range on the bottom, then there’s a good shot that that tire degradation stuff happens, like if they just put less down.

So that’s what I think. Every time they try not to put that stuff down on the bottom, then it’s going to really marble up and do all that crazy tire stuff. So yeah, that would be interesting. That would throw a little ding in the plans and change the game a little bit, if that happens.”

With your bigger involvement with the organization, does that and any of that go back to your experiences with the bull riding team and getting more involved? And if so, how so? Is it easy to maybe see how busy you are that that’s more of a ceremonial position with the bull riding team?

“At this point, I wish it was ceremonial sometimes (laughs). But I’m constantly working pretty good with those guys… team psychologist sometimes. We’re struggling right now for the first time

But I’ve learned a lot, man. I’ve learned a ton. It’s interesting from that side of it. I probably feel for my grandfather at certain times a lot more because a lot of things are out of your control in the end. You’re trying to put together the greatest teams and the greatest group of guys you can, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. You got to stick with your people. You got to be there for them when it matters. It makes you grow up a lot in that position.

So yeah, I think it’s been helpful, and I think it allows me to sympathize with him on certain things. You learn a lot from that, so it’s good.”

What is Austin Dillon, team psychologist, like?

“I’m just trying to be there for my guys, like a team. I’ve been in a lot of sports settings. You guys always talk about Little League World Series. I had some great coaches and some great teammates. Sports, in general, have shaped the person I feel like I am. I’ve had some great race teams that I’ve won championships with, and I still have relationships with those guys. It goes a long way. The current team I have is a great team. I have a great crew chief and leader. It’s a long season. It’s a grind. You go up through ups and downs, and you lose a lot.

You know, winning is a blessing and a curse. It teaches you — when you’re winning all the time, it’s hard to understand certain things. So when you lose, it really teaches you a lot more. And yeah, so you learn a lot more of what kind of person you are when you lose, and who the people you have around you. Winning is great and easy… everybody loves you. But when you start to struggle, those are the people that — the guy that comes out of that, that’s the person I want to be around because no matter what adversity they hit, they’re going to come out the other side of it. As you go through those things, you’re not going to win constantly. The best in the world; there’s only a few of those people, the goats, that do it. But at some point in their career, they probably lost, and they figured it out earlier than most.”

About General Motors

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
SEPTEMBER 6, 2025

Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Another reason you’re probably in here is because this is the track that gave you a big break in a way, but I’d also like to know why you are addicted to buying cars that look like NASCAR’s now. Is your accountant okay with this? Why is this happening? I

“I’ve always wanted street legal cars as a kid. Kalamazoo Speedway, where I was from, the owner had one of the Intimidator SS’s and I thought that was like the coolest thing in the world. Every time I look at Facebook Marketplace, it seems like there’s more and more coming up. Either my algorithms knowing it or people are making these cars knowing I’ll probably buy them. I was literally in the hauler a minute ago looking at another one. I just enjoy cars, but I enjoy NASCAR’s, too. It’s a lot of fun when you drive it. The Dale truck — I blew a tire and I think I got 100 honks and ‘hell yeahs’, ‘Go Dale’ and stuff like that. I haven’t driven the Oldsmobile yet on the road, so I’m curious about that reaction. It’s pretty awesome. It’s a history of NASCAR, but also it’s super fun. The first time I drove the Dale truck, I had about six people walk over to me. I was stuck at a gas station for an hour. We just talked NASCAR. I think that’s what I’ve most enjoyed with it.”

I understand you’re going to be part of a new documentary called ‘Rising’ that kind of chronicles three up-and-coming drivers in the circuit. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on that and just your overall racing journey from creating stop motions as a kid to being a Cup Series driver now…

“Yeah, ultimately you always want to show people more of the insights and everything. I remember as a kid buying every DVD I could find of mini-docs. I think Kasey Kahen had one. Tony (Stewart) had one. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had plenty, and obviously Dale Earnhardt Sr. had a lot of them.

That’s what made me a fan of a lot of drivers or really just keep in racing. The more we can do of that as a sport is big, and for me to be a part of it is super cool. It’s been a lot of fun to open up a lot on that. I’m just excited for a lot of people to see it when it comes out.”

You made some headlines last week with some contact with the No. 9 car. Have you all discussed that or is it kind of just in the past and move forward to Gateway?

“Yeah, I mean you just move on. It was super early. It didn’t affect either one of us I don’t think too bad. You just move on. One thinks you’re going to give a little bit of extra room, and the other you’re trying to kind of play a pick. I think that’s just racing.”

Have you ever thought about having iRacing as a sponsor livery or like a future partnership? “Yeah, I mean it would be cool, for sure, because obviously I use it a lot. But for how I drive on iRacing, I don’t think I’m their brightest shining ambassador they would want, per se a little bit, so I kind of understand that too.”

I imagine I probably know the answer, but I know Christopher (Bell) was a little upset with the scenario in pit road last week. I’m just wondering, was there any conversations with your team from him that you’re aware of or not?

“Yeah, my crew chief (Luke Lambert) and Adam Stevens talked and they were all good. Obviously, you know heat of the moment, everybody can share their frustration, but they talked and they were all good. Drivers, most of the time on pit road, are kind of just blind, per se, right? It’s more on the crew chiefs from that aspect to guide us in and out, so they had that conversation and I think they’re plenty good moving forward.”

Do you remember the buzz surrounding your Cup debut here?

“I do, yeah. I remember a lot of that that day. It was a lot of fun. It’s pretty crazy what it was like. I don’t know if there was a lot of buzz at the start, but I remember when I got out of the car, there was a lot of moving pieces on my end that it was all a very quick 180 of trying to sign an extension on my truck deal to legitimately getting the conversation started about driving a Cup car within 70 laps, which was pretty wild.”

In a lot of cases, when you have an opportunity like that, some guys — I mean on the other side of that, Corey (LaJoie) had a great opportunity that day but you were in secondary equipment and really kind of started making a name for yourself. At what point did that sink in?

“I mean I was just very nervous about being slow. If I wrecked or ran 30th, I think it wouldn’t have been a shock, but if I ran really fast, I think that would have been the shock and the needle mover, per se. Luckily when the brake rotor broke, I was moving forward and we were like 15th or 16th, which I thought helped me a little bit theoretically because like a month later, it was like we were running eighth-place lap times. And then like two months later, the stories were that we were going to run top-five. And then you know six months later, we were going to win the race. I’m like — these are getting out of control a little bit. But it kind of helped a little bit of just kind of that ‘what-if’ aspect that I thought may Spire Motorsports hungrier to be aggressive and want to make that change for me being in the No. 77. I would have liked to see how that day played out, but honestly, I thought it couldn’t work out any better.”

I talked to Kyle Busch last week and he said when he races in the Xfinity and Truck Series against those drivers — when they can keep up with him, when they can beat him, when they can contend with him, he knows that they’re ready to make the jump. What did you feel when you were racing against Cup guys that would come to Truck and how would you kind of grade yourself against them?

“Yeah, I mean I think any time you’re racing a Cup driver in Trucks or Xfinity, you know ultimately their owners are watching that and that’s how they really grade it. When there are no Cup guys in the field, I mean you could win 10 of them but if you if you go 0-10 — you know, split half and half, you go 10-0 against no Cup guys but you go 0-10 against Cup guys, I think that’s what a lot of teams really look at. You’re still really good but I think that is a true grade. (Jeff) Dickerson and I talk about it all the time because obviously he was an agent in there and he was there when the top-10 of Xfinity would be all Cup guys and — you’d be lucky to run 12th and you’d be pumped because you’re best in class. So yeah, I don’t think we need to get back there but I definitely think it would make it a lot easier. You know, I’m here because I got to go join the Cup field and race against them; got thrown to the deep end and I didn’t sink right away. So yeah, I think that’s the biggest thing is if I never got that shot, I would just be hoping Cup guys would come run Trucks and maybe I can outrun them. I remember Sonoma when I won the pole, there were like four Cup guys right behind me and that Truck pole meant a lot more because of that.”

This is a narrow pit road… I think the tightest on the circuit. What’s the challenge? What’s it like on from the driver’s perspective?

“I mean, I just wrecked last week on pit road, so I’m pumped now that you say that (laughs).

It’s so tough now because we pit a lot more. Somebody asked me a while ago because it was becoming like every week that there were accidents or issues on pit road – you just think everybody’s so much more competitive now. I remember watching Cup races and there’d be nine to 14 guys on the lead lap and they all picked not even close to each other. And now, there will be 32 on the lead lap and you pit 10 times together because there’s stages and cautions. There’s less green flag stops. We’ll go weeks — I remember the first eight races, I was like, shoot I haven’t even done a green flag stop… I don’t really remember how to do it. So I think that’s the biggest thing that makes it even more challenging but I just think it’s maybe less because it’s so normal now to come down pit road; there’s 32 guys and they’re all competitive too. The stops are faster too… you know, they’re not sitting there for 14 to 17 seconds and the bad guys are maybe 18 to 19 seconds. I mean, the dead last place car is still pitting nine-second pit stops. It’s just so competitive, from the pit stops to the drivers and the cars now, that I think it’s just so common now. When you tighten it up like this, we’re kind of used to it now.”

To come back from a spin and finish top-10 at a place like Darlington, how personally significant was that to you, or was that more of a – boy, what could have been if I didn’t spin? How did you look at it last week?

“I mean, I don’t know. The Toyota’s were super-fast. So yeah, I don’t think there was any like ‘what-ifs’. I think the only ‘what-ifs’ is if we could have ran best in class, from the Chevy aspect, to run like fifth or sixth versus ninth. But yeah, I was still really happy with that and the turnaround — to be able to go from like pretty good to the worst driving car I felt like I’ve ever had for a minute and then we put two-tenths of air or something and be pretty good right.

I think that’s really been our year a little bit, is just being able to — I always mentioned Jeff (Dickerson) but I mean he’s just who I talk to 24-7; he’s really big on the really good teams, they might have a total cluster of a day and the other guys are laughing at them or pointing and just like, man they’re terrible, but at the end of it, they look at the scoreboard and they’re like how did they finish single digits. He used the No. 5 car as an example at times. He’ll have adversity a lot of the day and then all of a sudden he’s sixth, seventh or eighth and that’s where we’ve been trying to mimic per se. For us to be able to do that I think was important on a day that I felt like Chevy, but also Hendrick Motorsports, we just kind of all missed it a little bit.”

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