Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Playoff Media Day
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150 – WHAT DO YOU VIEW AS YOUR BIGGEST STRENGTH GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “I feel like our biggest strength is our team. We’ve shown consistency throughout the season. We’ve kind of gone through a slump here, honestly, the last two or three months and just not been able to show up at the racetrack hitting the balance like it should be, not having great speed, but I’m confident in my No. 38 team to turn that around going into the playoffs and, hopefully, pick up the pace and pick up the momentum. With how this playoff format is all we have to do is make it to Phoenix. I’m confident with all of the things that we’ve got, all of the resources that Ford provides us with, that we have everything right here at our disposal to at least make it to Phoenix.”
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE? “Biggest challenge is probably just execution on the racetrack between myself, between the pit crew, between pit calls, just making sure that we all execute and we’re all rowing the boat in the same direction.”
WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOU WILL EXECUTE BEST IN THE PLAYOFFS AND HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE FIRST ROUND? “I feel like the first round is our strong suit, especially going back to Bristol. We won there earlier this year and New Hampshire is one of my favorite racetracks. It’s got a lot of similarities and I consider it a short track. Given my background, I feel like this first round fits into our narrative. Darlington, I’m not sure what to expect. It’s been forever since I’ve been there in a truck. The past few times I’ve been there in Xfinity has been kind of eh. I just ran top 10, nothing really great or phenomenal about it, so Darlington I’m just looking to maximize the day with whatever we’ve got. And then Bristol and New Hampshire we’re going and trying to get checkered flags and make sure we advance ourselves to the next round of the playoffs. Round two, it’s kind of the haymaker round. You’ve got Charlotte Roval, Talladega and then Martinsville. I may have said that backwards, but a lot can happen between Charlotte Roval and Talladega and then even Martinsville. Hopefully, we can just make it to that round and we can execute there and try to make it to the final four.”
ARE YOU PLANNING TO BUILD ANY NEW TRUCKS FOR THESE UPCOMING RACES? “Richmond was a brand new truck for us. I think I may have one more brand new truck coming out and it’s scheduled to hit the track at Phoenix, I believe.”
HOW DO YOU THINK THE ADDITION OF NEW HAMPHSHIRE AND ROVAL THROUGH A WRENCH IN THE PLANS FOR THE PLAYOFFS? “I think it’s big, especially for our specific team. We don’t have any notes from trucks ever being at New Hampshire. Teams that should have notes – your ThorSports and your Spire because they inherited the KBM notes and maybe McAnally. Granted, it’s got a lot of similar characteristics to Phoenix and a little bit to Richmond and some other places that you could kind of build a baseline around. I’m personally all for it. I’ve been to New Hampshire the past two years. I love that racetrack. I think it’ll put on a great race, and I”m extremely happy to see it in the playoffs. The Charlotte Roval, I mean, it’s what the fans want. They want excitement. Do I want to race on a road course in the playoffs personally? I embrace them. I love the challenge. I love being able to get better on road courses and each time is an opportunity once you go out on the racetrack and have a race on the road, so I’m looking forward to hopefully just having a clean day there, especially with the new hairpin corner they’ve got there. Last year, I remember that was actually a really big passing zone and once I ran laps in the sim I was like, ‘Man, you really ship it off in there. I don’t know if this will be a big passing zone,’ but I kind of proved myself wrong. I made a few passes there last year in the Xfinity car myself, so I’m looking forward to it, especially because I do have experience at the Charlotte Roval with the new configuration, so maybe I’ve got a little bit of a leg up, hopefully, on the competition.”
WHAT DO YOU BRING TO THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR THAT YOU DIDN’T BRING BEFORE? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OF YOURSELF THIS TIME AROUND? “Great question. I believe this will be my fifth actual playoff appearance in the NASCAR Series, not just Craftsman but taking into account Craftsman and the Xfinity Series. With that, I’ve gained a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge on how to manage each race, each round because at the end of the day the end goal is to make it to Phoenix to have a shot at winning the championship, but on the flip side of that as well, say you get eliminated in the first round, then you can only be as good as eighth or whatever it is in the trucks. I can’t remember what it is for the cutoff because everybody advances to the next round and you get 1000 points or whatever it is. The bigger picture is we want to go to Phoenix and we want to go win the championship, but it’s something I’ve learned over the years of being in the playoffs and how this format has worked is your situation awareness needs to be on an all-time high and just knowing who you are racing, what your situation is. We want to go out and win races, but if we don’t have a truck to win the race that day, we’ve got to take a step back and be like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to maximize the day.’ The end goal is to get to Phoenix and try to win that race because that’s what this playoff system rewards is getting to Phoenix and being the best when you’re there. It doesn’t necessarily reward the guy that’s got seven wins for the season. It awards the guy who makes it to Phoenix and beats the other three once you get there. Being aware of that and making sure that you keep that mindset going all the way through each round.”
DO YOU SEE YOURSELF DIFFERENTLY THIS TIME AROUND FROM FOUR OR FIVE YEARS AGO? “I feel like I kind of had a general understanding of it the first and second time I appeared in the playoffs, but managing it and managing what that is from a race to race basis just comes with more experience. It’s no different than when you get somebody that is new into the series and they’re trying to get better on mile-and-a-halves or something like that, superspeedway racing. The only way you get better is just by raw experience and doing it. It’s no different than when it comes to managing a task like the playoffs and what you’ve got to do to advance to each round. You just have to experience it and being put in different situations to where you know you’ve got to react differently to be able to acclimate to whatever that may be, so with that being said, the past few years that I’ve been in the playoffs I’ve had different scenarios start to play out and different situations that I’ve been put in to where each race was managed differently.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT DARLINGTON BEING THE PLAYOFF OPENER AND SUCH A TOUGH TRACK, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ROVAL RACE POTENTIALLY ENDING AS THE SUN IS GOING DOWN? “Darlington is definitely one of the tougher tracks that the Truck Series goes to specifically because it’s worn out, it’s got low grip and it does pay dividends to run the fence there. But there is a silver lining to that and it’s that we do not run composite bodies, so you get into the fence trying to get that extra little bit – a half-a-tenth to a tenth a lap – that can end your day right there, so it’s not like an Xfinity car where you can go in there and pancake it and keep on digging. You go pancake the right side of one of these trucks and you’re probably done for the day. Going back to the last question, you have to assess your situation and pick and choose your battles. Considering I think our start time is about 12:30 at Darlington, it’s a pretty early race. It’s gonna be right dead center of the day. It’s gonna be super hot and greasy, slick, so I’m honestly looking forward to it. I love racing in the middle of the day on wore out racetracks. It’s so much fun just slipping and sliding. It puts it in the driver’s hands a lot more when you have those conditions than not, so I’m looking forward to it. ANd then the Charlotte Roval, I’m not 100 percent sure if there is a sunset time that we’ve got to be done by x time and they’ll call the race, kind of like what they’ve implemented at Watkins Glen and some of these other road courses that you can’t run at night, so I’m not sure if that will be the same deal at the Charlotte Roval because I guess there may be lights, but I’m not sure about the infield section. That will be interesting for sure.”
YOU HAVE THREE PLAYOFF WINS IN THE TRUCK SERIES. HOW HAS THE RACING CHANGED FROM AN AGGRESSION STANDPOINT? “I said this right when I got back into the Truck Series at the start of the year after Las Vegas, I believe, and it may have even been at the Rockingham test, but obviously I’ve been in the Xfinity Series the past two years and then coming back down to the Truck Series, when I came in I was like, ‘Hey, what’s different about the trucks from the last time I was in them at KBM?’ And they were like, ‘Nothing, really at all. There has not been really any rule changes at all.’ I beg to differ. Granted, there may not be any rule changes, but it’s completely different. The window is just so small now. You have the 11 truck. They’re always kind of in their own zip code on most weekends than not, and then the rest of the field is in a very, very tight circle. We’re all pretty much right in a widths hand to each other. We’re right there on top of each other. It wasn’t like that a few years ago. I feel like the trucks have way more grip than I remember them having as well. I find myself going to some of these racetracks and being surprised about like, ‘wow, this thing’s got a lot of grip. I don’t remember this.’ And I think that’s a product of just evolution over time. Each individual race team and body builder is getting more creative and getting better with their efficiency on their bodies and stuff like that and maximizing everything still. I think it’s a product of that because even the tires, there’s not really that much difference in the tires from two or three years ago. It’s definitely a lot different. The racing has cleaned up a lot. I remember when I left the Truck Series it was not good. People were right hooking each other, doing very stupid things that shouldn’t be going on and made our series look like crap. I’m proud to say that this year at the start of the season it was a little bit bumpy with a few instances with some rookies, but a lot of it has cleaned up and it’s pretty tamed down. That’s been pretty encouraging to see that we’re not all just going out there and running over each other and right hooking each other like it was three years ago when I left the series. When I went to Kaulig Racing in 2023 I had a relief because I was like, ‘Finally, I don’t have to worry about being around a bunch of people that are just gonna drive through me for eighth place or maybe right hook me because I literally nudged them out of the way.’ That was ridiculous. That was a ridiculous time in our sport and it’s good to see that’s been cleaned up a lot for this year at least. I remember even last year they still had some problems, but it’s been cool to see that this year has been pretty tamed for the most part.”
HOW HAS THE RACING CHANGED WHEN EVERYBODY IS SO CLOSE? “It’s so track position dependent. You’ve got to be on your top game. Execution on pit road. Maximizing your lights. Being mistake-free. All of those things are emphasized even more because it’s no different than Cup racing. You see some of these Cup races and some of these crew chiefs make pit calls just to keep track position because it’s so hard to get it. It’s not that different in Truck racing. It’s definitely a lot easier to get track position, but, like I said, the competition is so close to each other and we run so much on-throttle time it’s like, what are you gonna do? There’s not that much of a difference you can do to make up when you go to mile-and–a-halves and some of these racetracks where you’re on the loud pedal for such a long time and there’s very minimal off-throttle time. Execution is definitely emphasized a lot and restart are big, too. You’ve got to be on the offense and be able to get after it, try to have a truck capable enough underneath you to be able to get after it and try to make up a few positions on the restart because all of that stuff matters.”
LAYNE RIGGS, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150 – WHAT PREPARATIONS HAVE YOU MADE IN TERMS OF RACES LIKE THE ROVAL? “I feel like we haven’t really gotten that far yet. We just have to get through one round at a time, but, for us, I feel like we’ve been pretty strong on road courses so far. Watkins Glen didn’t really go our way. We had an error, but the other two road courses I’ve done I feel like we’ve been pretty naturally fast at. Talladega is kind of a wildcard. There’s really not much preparation you can do there besides watch some film and talk to your spotter and be ready for anything that could happen. The last race, Martinsville, I feel like I’ve always ran well there in the top five, but you just have to have nice, consistent days at all of those tracks. Hopefully, with the points buffer that we have now in this first round of tracks that are three tracks that I love, we can create enough of a buffer that we can go into those races and just have solid top 10 days and make it all the way to Phoenix.”
WHAT DO YOU VIEW AS YOUR STRENGTH AND YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE? “I would say that my strengths are pretty much all the tracks besides the Roval and Talladega, which is just two places that I don’t have really much experience at. I’ve only ever run three road course races in my life and only ran two speedway races in my life, so I just don’t have a lot of experience at those places, but I’ve got confidence that we can have good days there and just take the knowledge and experience and maturity that I feel like I’ve gained, especially here the last six or seven races, and apply that. Like I said, I feel like it’s gonna be a wildcard for everybody. You really don’t know what’s gonna happen at those places. Obviously, the Roval is more performance-based. We need to be the best we can there, put a lot of prep work into it, a lot of sim work, and Talladega, just be smart. There are gonna be wrecks at some point and just try to not be a part of that, and hopefully be fast enough or even somehow win at the Roval that we don’t have to worry about that. That’s the goal, but just one race at a time and just trying to think ahead and prep ahead and try to do the most that we can for the places that we don’t feel as confident in or just feel like we don’t have as much experience at.”
WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS SINCE THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME? “Of course, there’s a lot of pressure, but I feel like I’m ready for it. In my 2022 season, we ran for the weekly series championship and it literally came down to the last race on the last night they were taking points. Me and the guy I was tied with had to race against each other and whoever finishes higher of the two won the championship, and we got the job done. I’ve been in that situation before. It wasn’t a playoff, but it was the same kind of situation, pressure going into it and I feel like looking back on those times I did nothing but prevail and just be confident in myself. Being nervous or being worried or tense isn’t gonna make go any faster on the racetrack. It isn’t gonna make me any smarter, so just run each race like its their own and just be as smart as you can at all of them and don’t worry about the little details or worry about the points, just do you and go out there and be as strong as you can. I feel like that’s what I’m really strong at and I know I can do it.”
ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING ELSE FOR PREPARATION? “No, I’m putting the same amount of effort into every race. I want to win every race equally, but I think it’s just big picture – trying to be smart, don’t take any big risks and just keep a level head. I feel like it’s ours to lose going to Phoenix and just being smart, keeping that points buffer up and just being a calculated driver and team, and make sure our team dots all the i’s and crosses all the t’s. That’s the only thing we’re doing a little bit sharper on the pen, pushing the pen a little bit harder into the paper.”
DOES BEING IN THE PLAYOFFS CHANGE YOUR COMPETITIVE APPROACH? “I’m gonna do the same thing I always do. I’m gonna try to go to the lake when I can. I’m gonna get on the golf course when I can, but I’m also gonna put in the same kind of prep work that I do for other races. I feel like the people that try to change it up going into high pressure situations always end up doing worse. From my standpoint, if you’re not already putting in the maximum effort, the maximum prep work for every race, I’m not doing a good enough job as a driver on a weekly basis, so I’m just gonna keep putting in that same prep work, the same mindset and just keep running these races like the others and they’re gonna work out the same way the others have and that’s being in Victory Lane a lot.”
WHAT HAS CHANGED IN YOUR MENTALITY BETWEEN THE 2024 AND 2025 SEASON? “I’m excited. I was wishing I was in it last year, for sure, but I still had the opportunity and got a couple of wins in it and ran strong and was even a contender to win the race at Phoenix at some point, so I’m just thankful to be in it. I’m glad the points worked out this season. I’m glad we got some wins before the playoffs this year, so I think I’m really ready for it now. I know what it takes to win. I know what it takes to go fast and just put everything together to make a championship run. I’m just excited to show it to everybody and show everybody what the team has in store and just our performance as a whole. I’m just very grateful that I got the opportunity to go for it now and just try to do the same thing I did last year.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE NEXT THREE RACES? “I think the next three races I feel very confident in. Darlington is my favorite track. New Hampshire is very similar to the Milwaukee Mile. I got my first win at, a flat track, similar to IRP as well, and Bristol I got my second-ever win at, so I’m very confident in the three tracks we have next. Our goal is to win one of them and to get as many points as we can, maximize our days to gain more of a points buffer into the next round, so hopefully heading into a Talladega and a Martinsville that is such a wildcard, we have enough points buffer to say, ‘Hey, let’s just have a good, solid day. If you’re in the hornet’s nest, back out a little bit.’ Just know that you have a buffer to be able to do stuff like that. No Hail Mary’s in the playoffs. That’s the goal for us.”
JAKE GARCIA, No. 13 ThorSport Racing Ford F-150 – THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME IN THE PLAYOFFS, BUT EVERY ONE OF YOUR TEAMMATES HAS WON A CHAMPIONSHIP. HOW DO YOU APPLY THAT TO YOUR BENEFIT? “There certainly is a championship pedigree at ThorSport. We’ve got a really strong team. I’m the only full-time driver that hasn’t won a championship, so I think there’s some pressure that comes along with that too, entering the playoff and to get a championship. That way you’re not the odd man out anymore, but I think that I can rely on my teammates. Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes and Ty as well for some advice going into this deal because they’ve been in this situation before and I haven’t. So, I’ll use a little bit of their help. Some of my guys have been on championship teams as well, so I think that will all play into our advantage entering these playoffs.”
IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT MATT IS GOING TO STOP RACING FULL-TIME NEXT YEAR. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM HIM? “It’s been great to have Matt as a teammate these past two seasons at ThorSport. His dad, Danny, worked on my quarter-midget stuff when I ran quarter-midgets as a little kid. I’ve known Danny and Matt forever. Matt used to come to some of the races and hang out with us, so I’ve known him forever and it’s been really cool to grow up and become his teammate in the Truck Series and be able to work with him, who brings a ton of experience every week. If I ever need anything, I can ask him a question and he usually has an answer for me because he’s been to that track so many times. I’m really thankful to have him as a teammate and looking forward to finishing out the rest of the year with him.”
ARE THERE ANY TRACKS YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE GOING IN AND THINKING YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SOME? “I think the big one for me is gonna be Darlington. I feel like that’s a place that I’ve been strong at the last two years, and so I think if there’s one track I had to pick that I think is a good one for us it would be Darlington. And then also Phoenix as well. Two years ago I finished second at Phoenix. That’s a track I’ve always enjoyed racing at, so I think those two tracks would the two that I think are the strongest and the ones I’m looking forward to the most, but I think all of them there’s an opportunity to get a good points day. I can see situations in which we run really, really good at all seven tracks coming up.”
HOW AGGRESSIVE DO YOU GET IN THE CUT OFF RACES IF YOU’RE ON THE BUBBLE? “I think it just depends on what the situation was. This week at Richmond, I was on the playoff bubble and we ran a really conservative race, I thought. That’s what paid off for us there, so it just depends on what the situation is and what needs to be done, but typically being super, super aggressive will put you in a bad spot more times than not. That’s why you’re not aggressive every race, but I think just having solid points days is what you need to look for going into the Round of 10 and the Round of 8, and then come Phoenix I think you just give it your best effort and try to have a really, really strong day at Phoenix.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM THE TIME THAT YOU’VE SPENT AT THORSPORT WITH MATT CRAFTON? “I think I’ve learned a lot. He’s done it for so long that I can ask him about anything and he’ll tell me what I need to know, so he’s been in every situation I think you can be in in the Truck Series and just leaning on that has been super helpful for me and that’s the main thing I’ve taken away from working with Matt.”
WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO SEE OF YOU IN THE PLAYOFFS AS THEY GET TO KNOW YOU AS A CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER? “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out what they learn about me. I think one thing that I’ve done really well in late model racing is just being consistent and being able to have solid runs week after week. That’s how I won some of my championships in the late model stuff, especially when I was younger. I didn’t win all of the races or anything like that, but just had really good consistency throughout the entire season. That’s what paid dividends for us in the points deal, and I think there will be some of that. Even though the rounds are pretty short with three races at a time, I think some of that consistency will certainly pay off going into these playoffs.”
AS YOU ENTER THE PLAYOFFS WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON HOW AGGRESSIVE YOU WILL BE? DO YOU EXPECT IT TO CHANGE? “I certainly think that the aggressiveness is always there and the intensity is always there in the Truck Series. I think it certainly will be, especially as we get into the Round of 8 and come Martinsville when there are guys desperate to win to make it Phoenix. I think that’s when the aggressiveness is gonna be at an all-time high. I think you’ll see a lot of really bold moves being made there at Martinsville like we saw last year, guys moving each other out of the way for the win and spinning each other out and all that stuff. I think the goal is to put yourself in a good enough position where you’re not involved in that. You don’t have to win going into Martinsville and you just need to have a solid day, or maybe you win the Roval or Talladega and you don’t even need to worry about it. I think that is the goal going into this playoffs overall is just not getting caught up of everybody else being aggressive and letting other people make their own mistakes.”
DO YOU THINK CONSISTENCY HAS BEEN THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS IN MAKING THE PLAYOFFS? “Yeah, I think that consistency was pretty important coming into the regular season. Obviously, maybe there were some spots where we could have been more aggressive and put ourselves in better positions to win, maybe we would have had some more bad days in there, but there were some times where maybe being aggressive would have helped us win and we wouldn’t have had to be sweating until the last minute to make the playoffs. I think you can look at it both ways, but I think we did a good job of being pretty consistent. There were some crashes in there that I think everybody had, so that really hurt us in the points deal. I think just avoiding that for all of the playoffs will be very important and having just good, solid runs. Maybe that won’t be enough, but I think that’s what we need to focus on and maybe one of these races we’ll have a fast truck and be able to run top five and compete for the win and that will be a really good points day. On those days where you don’t have a good truck and you unload off the hauler and aren’t close, I think it’s important to make the most out of those days because that’s where that consistency pays off.”
DO YOU FEEL THE PRESSURE OF BEING ONE OF THE 10 BEST DRIVERS IN THE TRUCK SERIES? “I don’t know that there’s any pressure with being with the 10 best drivers in the Truck Series. I think the pressure is off now because we made it here and now we don’t have to compete with 30 other guys, you’re just competing against 10. I think there certainly are some really strong drivers and really strong teams in this playoffs, so I think it will be important to be at the top of our game coming into this because I think any mistakes can cost you moving onto the next round.”
WHAT DO YOU DO TO BALANCE THE PRESSURE AND CONSISTENCY NEEDED FOR THE PLAYOFFS? “I think kind of the same thing we brought to Richmond, at least for the first two stages was being cautiously aggressive. We brought a good truck and I feel like we made the most of it the first two stages and gathered a lot of points, but at the same time didn’t make any mistakes. We were really careful on pit road and didn’t have anything silly happen there. I think that stuff is really important, so I think that’s the same mindset we’ll bring into these seven races is just making the most out of what our truck can do and getting the most amount of points we possibly can, and I think we did a good job of that at Richmond for the first two stages, and I think we’re gonna try to do that here in these seven.”
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AS A DRIVER THIS YEAR? “I think the biggest thing is just being at some of these tracks again. Running more mile-and-a-half races and more short track races and just getting more experience in the truck has been the biggest thing from this season to take into the playoffs. Another thing that I think will be really helpful is I’ve worked with my guys now for almost 20 races. They were all new to me coming into the season, and I think that will be really important to have that chemistry with all of the guys on my road crew and all the guys on the pit crew as well, having to work with them and us all meshing as a team really well now.”
TY MAJESKI, No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford F-150 – WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE JAKE GARCIA AS HE COMPETES IN THE PLAYOFFS FOR THE FIRST TIME? “I think the biggest thing is just not letting the moment get too big. There’s a reason that the 13 group and Jake made the playoffs, and don’t lose sight of how you got to this point. As soon as you let the stage get too big and overthink it, that’s when you make mistakes. That’s really the only thing that can really destruct your playoff run is making a mistake, especially in that first round. History sort of shows us that if you get stage points in every stage and finish in the top 10, that’s all you really need to do to advance out of that first round. I feel like the 13 group has done a good job of that. They’ve been pretty consistent this season and if they can just limit mistakes, they’re gonna be just fine. So, like I said, not letting the moment get too big and just taking each race one by one and not letting the moment get too big.”
YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE OVER THE 88 F-150 NEXT YEAR. WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE HAVING HIM AS A TEAMMATE? “Matt has been great, especially to me. He’s obviously got a ton of experience in this series and has been there, done that. He’s won races, championships and really was a great example of consistency all throughout his career. To have that guy to lean on throughout my career, especially at ThorSport, has been a really good thing in my development and understanding how to work through this playoff structure and just having that experience to lean on at different racetracks that I’ve never been to before. He’s a great guy and a great teammate to have in your pocket to lean on for questions pertaining to racetracks or different situations and also going through the playoffs.”
DO YOU APPROACH THIS YEAR ANY DIFFERENTLY HAVING A CHAMPIONSHIP ALREADY OR IS THERE ADDED PRESSURE? “No added pressure at all. I think having that experience to lean on really, I think, is an advantage, just having been there, done that. My team is very similar. I think only one guy is different from last year, so the biggest thing, like I said about the same advice I’d give Jake I give to myself, don’t let the moment get too big. Don’t let the moment take yourself out of the playoffs. We see it year after year. All it takes is one mistake and one bad race and you have to crawl out of a hole. Once you get in that hole, it’s hard to crawl out. You’re leaning on other guys to also have a mistake, so just stay the course, take it race by race and understand the points situation throughout the playoffs and understand what you need to do to advance, not necessarily just win that race. The goal might be different going into a certain race or going into the last stage of a certain race, so just being situationally aware of where you’re at and what you need to do to advance.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT LOUDON AND THE ROVAL? “I’m very excited to be going to New Hampshire. It’s sort of the last track that NASCAR has gone to that, sort of one of the original group of racetracks, ovals if you will, that’s kind of the last one I haven’t been to and it’s one that I’ve always wanted to go to. It’s a flat short track and I feel like anytime Joe and I are together on a flat short track it’s hard to bet against us. I’m excited to go up to New Hampshire. I’ve never really been up to that part of the country, so I’m excited to get out there and go experience another flat short track. I like our chances. Even though I’ve never been there before, I like our chances going in there. Joe has won there before with Cole Custer, so I’m confident we’ll have a great package and it’s up to me to adapt as quick as I can during practice and carry that throughout the race weekend.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL AS THE HEIR APPARENT TO THE 88 TEAM? “First of all, it’s an honor and really a dream come true of mine. In 2021, when Duke, Rhonda and Allison gave me a job as an engineer and just a handful of races, I never thought it would turn into taking over the iconic 88 Menards truck – their flagship truck for their entire existence. It’s incredibly special. I’m humbled by getting the opportunity to do that and I’m excited to see what we can do with it. I really am. Being a Wisconsin racer, pairing with a Wisconsin-based company is special. We have a lot of loyalty in our race fans up there, and I have no doubt in my mind that the Wisconsin race fans will be behind the 88 truck in 2026 and into the future.”
DO YOU THINK WE HAVE A LOT OF OLD SCHOOL RACERS IN THE SERIES COMPETING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “There’s a few of those. I think this year’s playoffs has a good mix of experience and sort of that old school feel, that old school racer feel, and then you get a lot of the new school guys that are coming in, so I feel like this year you sort of get a mix of both of those. Grant Enfinger is one that comes to my mind of sort of what you’re talking about, and I think even though Kaden Honeycutt is pretty young, the guy is racing all the time – late model stocks, super lates, and does a pretty good job, too, so I feel like he has an old school racer feel as well even though he’s pretty young and new to these NASCAR trucks. So, a lot of difference in the field of experience and sort of what school they come from, so it’s gonna be fun to see this year’s playoffs pan out and I’m excited for it.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE AN OLD SCHOOL RACER? “I think I’m maybe a mix in between the two just because I don’t know that I could go build a truck from the ground up, but I’m very involved on the engineering side. I think that kind of combines that old school mentality with being involved with the race team and how your race truck goes to the racetrack, but without actually doing a lot of that manual labor, so I kind of put myself in a mix between the two, which I think is advantageous for me, having that engineering mindset and understanding what goes into the truck, what makes it fast and working really closely with my engineer and Joe Shear and what package we need to go with for each weekend. Joe and I were on the phone for an hour yesterday on my birthday coming up with a package we were going to go to Darlington with, but I enjoy that part of it. I thoroughly love being a race car driver, but I think just as much I love being involved on the engineering side and the setup side and having a hand in making my race truck go faster or making it feel a certain way that I want to feel, and I think that’s a big advantage that I have over the rest of the field being so involved on that side of things.”
IT’S BEEN 10 YEARS SINCE YOU WERE THE INAUGURAL KULWICKI DRIVER DEVELOPMENT WINNER. WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN THAT PROGRAM THAT IS BENEFITTING YOU NOW? “I think just understanding how Alan Kulwicki went about racing just in general. I feel like he was kind of the pioneer for being his own engineer, crew chief. He obviously wore a lot of hats as well as being a race car driver, so just understanding how he went about his career and applying some of those same mentalities to mine, I think is the biggest thing that I took away from being in that program. I was born after Alan passed, so I didn’t know a lot about the details of how he went about his career, but being a part of that program really enlightened me on what was possible and sort of the advantage that he created for himself by being so involved on the engineering side. I’ve sort of tailored my career around not exact but sort of took some of the things that he did and applied it to mine, and I feel like I’ve set myself apart from some of the other guys that I consistently race against on a weekly basis, so I’m very thankful to have been a part of that program and to have won the inaugural season is still an honor to this day. I still say that 2015 season propelled my career to where it is today.”
HOW DOES IT AFFECT YOUR MENTALITY BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS WITH THE FACT YOU GUYS HAVE NOT WON YET? “I’ve seen a lot of gain in the 98 team over the course of the last five weeks. We had portions of the season where we fell back out of the playoffs at one point, on the cutoff – the outside looking in – I think, for me, our race team has really crawled out of a hole. We ended the regular season points in fourth, which it wasn’t looking like it was gonna be that kind of a season for us just a few short months ago, so for us to have kind of crawled out of that hole and put together some really consistent races over the course of the last couple months or so really gives me a lot of confidence going into the playoffs this season. We had a great run last week at Richmond, probably should have won the race and just didn’t work out. It wasn’t our night, but we’re putting race trucks out there that are capable of winning right now and that gives me a lot of confidence going into some great racetracks for us. I’m confident that the 98 team is poised to make another deep run into the playoffs, and hopefully we can step our way through the next two rounds and have a shot at it at Phoenix again.”
