Toyota GAZOO Racing – Chase Briscoe
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

INDIANAPOLIS (July 26, 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 Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This is Briscoe’s series-leading fifth pole of the season. It is his first at his home track – Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This is the first time in Toyota’s history that the manufacturer has swept the top-five starting positions. The previous best was a top-four sweep at Bristol-2 (2015), Kansas-2 (2016), Dover-1 (2017), Homestead (2017) and Charlotte-1 (2022).

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

Can you talk about your team’s speed in qualifying and how much this one means to you?

“Yeah. For sure. Our team just does an incredible job of making adjustments – even after practice, we were a little bit off. Today was a great example of that. We just put in so effort and work. All of this week – we were practicing, whether it be race runs or qualifying runs in the simulator and just spending extra hours doing it – it make a difference. Super, super special today – just to qualify on the pole here. The Daytona 500 one was cool, going three in a row was cool, but being able to set on the pole here is just so special. I got out of the car, and hearing the crowd screaming – I don’t have that happen anywhere else, so it is just so cool to experience that. I was on the other side of the fence when Tony (Stewart) and (Ryan) Newman, and those other guys were doing it – being one of those Indiana kids, cheering for their Indiana driver, so now to be on the other side of the fence is special for sure.”

What has this been like for you to experience this with your team?

“It’s been really, really just fun. Any time you are driving fast race cars, it is just fun. I feel like my entire career; qualifying has been a strong suit of mine. At SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing), I felt like a lot of the time, we overachieved, truthfully, and now to be able to be at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and be in these extremely fast race cars, it allows me to contend for poles, instead of just contending for a top-10 starting spot. To be able to lead the field to green on all of these Crown Jewels and just to be able to take it in – every time coming to the initial green, every time looking into the grandstands, each one is different. It is just really, really special. Anytime you can lead the field to green – it is significant, but to do it at a Crown Jewel event, it is even more special.”

What is it like to go home and see people before this race?

“Totally is just a fun week for me, because outside of Christmas, is the only week that I get to go home. My entire family still lives in Mitchell, so for me to go back and be able to see my grandparents and everything – I think it honestly helps me recharge my batteries. I was able to come up on Tuesday night and have some time, and my sister got married last night, so that was fun too. It has just been a really fun week to be able to come up here and do all of the things we have done, and even Brooks (Briscoe’s son) is old enough to know what is going on. He’s an Indianapolis Colts fan, and a Pacers fan – he understands what Indiana is and the significance is to it, for myself and our families, so that makes it fun for sure.”

Do you have more pressure this weekend?

“It honestly is not pressure. For me, you just find this extra 5, 10 percent. I’ve talked Tony (Stewart) about it. When you are from Indiana, and you come here – you’ve seen it with Tony and (Ryan) Newman. Jeff Gordon was kind of a transplant to Indiana, but certainly with Tony – you just find that, like I said, extra five, 10 percent that you didn’t know you had and you really put that pressure on yourself when you come here. I think a lot of it is because of the Hoosier fan base gets behind you unlike anywhere else. There is no other race track that we go to, when I hear a driver from that state does the crowd go nuts. It is different in the state of Indiana, and for me to be that guy for the fans here, it is just really, really cool.”

Would you like to sweep the Crown Jewel poles this weekend?

“I mean, yeah, for sure. I try every week to go qualify on the pole. I don’t know if anyone has ever done all four. It would be cool if not to do it, but it doesn’t matter if we are going to St. Louis or the Southern 500, I want to be on the pole. It would be really, really special to do it. The Southern 500 is on a track I feel really, really good about. I will say this year, that has by far been the worst race for the 19 team, but I know when we go back later in the year, we will be really, really good. It would be really special to start on the pole there too, but I would trade them all in for race wins.”

How do you keep so focused with all the other distractions you’ve had this week?

“Honestly, I enjoy it. I don’t really go to any other race track throughout the year where people are screaming my name, so it is kind of cool just to get to experience that for a weekend, every single year, but honestly, I think having all of those people around me is kind of what helps you find that five, 10 percent. I can’t speak for Tony (Stewart) obviously, but Tony would come here, he would have a ton of family and friends as well. You don’t get to race in front of them very often, so when you do, you want to put on a good show for them, and give them a good result and give them something to cheer for. I think it just definitely helps put things into perspective. Without that support, you probably don’t get where you are at, a lot of times, so for me, it is always enjoyable when I can have them around. My life is full of distractions, you are seeing one here right now as I’m doing interviews, and the twins and stuff. I feel like I’m pretty good at managing all of that, but it is nice to have all of those people here and have that support when you go to get in the car.”

How much more confident are you after practice and qualifying?

“Yeah, I didn’t even realize that until we were coming up here that Toyota is one through five. That is an incredible testament to the attention to detail that Toyota brings. They do such a good job of preparing myself as a driver, but even the race teams – to give them all of the tools that they need, so for us to be one through five is really special. I think our cars as a whole, as a manufacturer, are going to be really good tomorrow. Hopefully, I can win it, but if not, hopefully another TRD car can.”

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
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
JULY 26, 2025

 Ty Dillon, driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 33-year-old Welcome, North Carolina, native will represent Chevrolet in the championship round of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge.

Media Availability Quotes:

Just talk a little bit about how this week has been and kind of the things your team did to prepare for this weekend.

“Yeah, the last couple weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind from Monday until the race, just with everything that’s been going on with the in-season tournament. It’s been quite welcomed and very fun.

We had a team luncheon on Tuesday, led by Chris Rice, which I appreciate. You know, we started it with saying, like, it’s weird that we’re having a luncheon after finishing 20th. But what this has done for our team, the morale, even just talking to the guys — the summer months are hard for the men and women at Kaulig Racing, and all the race teams, to keep finding motivation to work hard and build the best of the best each week. It’s easy to kind of pass through, but when you have good things happen and some momentum like we’ve had through the in-season tournament, it’s been super fun. And I appreciate the fact that Kaulig Racing Chris Rice, Matt Kaulig, aren’t afraid to pause and say — hey, this is a good thing, and let’s take this moment in because this is a lot of fun and good for everybody. So, that was great. It was a great moment on Tuesday, and we’re all excited for this weekend.”

It’s kind of hard to believe it’s been 11 years since you got your Xfinity Series win. That was a huge deal for you at that point in your career, but I’m curious, with you being consistently in the spotlight over the last five weeks with this in-season tournament ending here at Indianapolis — which has been more special, these five weeks or that one win here 11 years ago?

“I think it’s hard for me to fully give the credit to this five weeks right now. I think when I look back, this is going to be a special, special moment no matter what because I do ultimately want to win in the Cup Series, and I hope that that feels as great as these five weeks has been. But this has been — I don’t know how you even place it because this is the first time anybody’s really gone through this round, and being a 32 seed adds more to that and just the story that’s been built.

I haven’t won in the Cup Series, so I don’t know what it’d be like between the weeks, but it feels like the last three or four weeks, I’ve been in enough media and talked to enough people and had fan growth like I’ve never seen before, and that felt like I’ve won the last three weeks. So it’s a weird conundrum… it’s not a win, but it has felt so special to be a part of. Honestly, winning here in the Xfinity Series is something that’s given me confidence inside the race car for a long time. Some of that got played this week, and I had even forgotten — like when I won that race, I beat Kyle Busch. I’ve always remembered I beat Kyle straight up on a restart for the last 20 laps or so, and beat him head-to-head. So that always gave me so much confidence just for my career in general, especially coming here. But then I looked at the top-10 after that… I think Matt Kenseth finished third, (Kevin) Harvick finished fourth, (Kyle) Larson was in the top-10. Regan Smith and Paul Menard, who won here with RCR — the top-10 in the Xfinity Series then is so much different than it looks now, and I beat the best of the best at their peak in that time, in that race. So I always look back at that with so much confidence and fond memories. But this is a run that I don’t think I could have ever expected, based around something totally unique to our sport. I’m beyond grateful for what it’s done for me, the race team and our sponsors.

It might be a good question to ask me next year or in the future once I can kind of take it all in. Hopefully we have a Cup race win by then, too.”

(No Mic.)

“I don’t know how long they’ll last, or how long they’ll stick with me, and I really hope they do.

I’ve been around long enough to kind of ride the highs and lows of it, but it’s been massive. Every person I’ve seen at the racetrack is cheering me on to beat the next person, and just the acknowledgement from that has been incredible and the engagement online. Obviously our team and myself are having a lot of fun with just the social media side of it, the entertainment side of it, and I hope it tells the truth of our story. I hope I’m doing a good job of showing who I am as a person and also who our sponsors are and who our team is so that they’ll stick with us and continue to follow the growth because we’re heading in a great direction and hopefully they’ll ride with us through a lot more success.

A secret weapon for you over these last five weeks have been restarts. How does that translate to a place like this where there’s such a long frontstretch?

“Yeah, it translates quite well. I think the thing about this is there’s been a lot of talk about raw speed, which really matters here. If you look at the last five Cup races, at least almost every Cup race that I’ve been a part of here, the end of the race gets quite wild and there’s a lot of crashes here. That’s something you’ve got to take advantage of but also not put yourself in too bad of a spot, which fits my mentality as a driver and what I’ve excelled at in my career. I think that’s one thing that gives me confidence every time here is that I know when it gets chaotic, I feel comfortable and that’s been the story of my career. Give me less practice, give me less qualifying, give us some crazy. Whether it’s rain on the track, I’ve always excelled. Give me chaos and I feel calm in the chaos. This is one of those tracks that seems to induce some of that at the end of restarts, so I look forward to hopefully a little bit of that happening. I think that’s going to help in our favor.

You’re always looking to take advantage but you’ve got to do it in the right time and you can’t do it too soon in the race. Chris Rice has helped a lot with that this year for me. I think when you’re not at a place where you feel safe or comfortable at a team, it’s easy to push over your bounds to try to earn some respect or earn some confidence from your team. But Chris, Matt, Ty Norris and everybody at Kaulig Racing have given me so much confidence just by constant communication that ‘I want you to be you’.

Stating at Phoenix, Chris was like, we’re going to race the race one third at a time. First third, I don’t care what happens. We pass you, let’s just try not to go a lap down. Second, let’s try to find our momentum and get the car right. And the third, I want you to attack all-out. It sounds simple and silly but that’s really something that we’ve implemented and it’s been kind of the truth to our season. A lot of these tracks haven’t been to in two years, so it’s a little bit crazy for me to think I’m just going to out-power move people in the first-third of the race. So it’s been about growing, getting comfortable and then attack at the end. And that’s kind of been our goal and it’s really what’s played out through this whole in-season tournament for us.”

What would the one-million grand prize do for you and your team, especially when you’re competing against the powerhouse teams?

“Yeah, the money is awesome. It’ll get split up. By the time it all gets spread out between all of us, none of us are getting a million but we’re going to get a nice chunk of change, which is so grateful and we’re so appreciative that we have something so cool like that for something new in the middle of the season.

But for me, it’s bigger than the money. Money doesn’t change your happiness; it just makes you available to do some more fun things. But my true happiness resides in just having fun with my kids and sharing moments with them, but also sharing moments with the race team. The moments that we’ve been provided through this in-season tournament have been bigger than anything I’ve been a part of; the smiles and the hugs after the race and the good times that are rolling. This sport can pass you by and you can realize you just never had fun because you were so worried sick about your next opportunity or the next race or being the best. You can look back and not remember anything. I’ve been lucky enough to stick around where there’s been years that you look back and you’re like, I don’t remember one highlight from that year because I was so in my own head and so worried about everything going on. I guess growing older, being around a lot longer, I feel like coming into this thing I’ve already won and we’re on house money just because the moments and memories that we shared; the growth that we’ve had as a team, the confidence that we’re all building in each other and the future that’s right in front of us.

The money will be great. The trophy will be awesome to show around and have some more one-liners for everybody if we do this thing first, but the things that it’s already provided for our race team, for our sponsors, have been enough, and hopefully this is just the beginning of it.”

When you do get your chunk of the change, what is going to be your splurge purchase?

“I’ve got three kids, so we’ve got some futures to plan and work on. But boy, Chevy has a pretty beautiful Corvette. I’d like to get my name on that list of that fast Corvette that’s breaking all those records. But I don’t want to talk about it too much, like I said, but that would be one thing.

But honestly, I probably won’t do a whole lot with it. Probably manage it well, hopefully (laughs). I don’t have a real exciting answer. We need to do some remodeling around the house and some clean ups but not a whole lot.”

For the In-Season Challenge, how much of that is credit to the big picture you guys are building this season? You guys have executed week in and week out. how much of that success in these five weeks has added to the overall picture?

“I think what I appreciate the most from this In-Season Challenge is that it’s allowed us to get a little bit of light for that growth. You know, I’ve talked about a lot that we’ve had the recipe of success to our season with a lot of speed more speed than I’ve ever had in a Cup car, but we just didn’t execute the races. With this In-Season Challenge, people have got to see the moments where we’ve executed the last five weeks in a row, so that’s been big.

But just in general, NASCAR taking the chance to do this and TNT picking it up and running with it has been great. And then I think a lot of it — we’ve been probably the most direct beneficiary of it because of our story, but a lot of good things came together. I would say one of the unwritten stories that I give a lot of credit to is the fact that Denny Hamlin in the last year-and-a-half has leaned into his ‘Denny versus the world thing’ and played into a personality to kind of go at the fans. My kids and I watch a lot of WWE. It’s something we do. Learning how to entertain people is something that I think every driver should do homework and watch a little bit of because we deserve to give our fans a little bit more. Denny leaning into that and telling everybody that ‘he’s beat your favorite driver’, I mean he gets the loudest boos. And boos aren’t always a bad thing. Him doing that allowed me to have a little fun when we beat him in Atlanta, and I hope me being a little jovial and playing around will allow some more people to feel like they can have a little more personality. We have some great, wonderful race car drivers, but I think our sport is only going to grow if the best of our best can grow into a personality and really take the moment and harness the fans and the entertainment side of what we do, too.

What’s your plan to win and to beat Ty (Gibbs)? Is your sole focus going to be on him, where he’s running and how he’s doing, or are you going to just try to run a race and know that you beat him in this race last year?

“The conversation about him has been very minimal for us, and that’s been the process week in week out. We truly believe as a race team that’s why we’ve built so much confidence. If we execute our race and do the best to our abilities – no mistakes and out execute everybody in the field – we might not have the most speed to win the race but we’re going to do plenty to put pressure on him. And you know what they say about pressure, it creates diamonds or it’ll crack your pipes. So you know, that’s what we want to do to him — we want to put as much pressure on him as possible and see how they handle it. It’s worked out to this point. We’re going to worry about our race. Hopefully he massively underestimates us, and hopefully we’ll be there at the end to take advantage of it.”

There was some confusion this week on the subject of the million-dollar prize, whether the driver or the owner received that. You kind of alluded to it in one of your answers earlier but have you been told if you get the $1 million prize exactly, who gets that and how it’s going to be distributed among the team?

“I think that’s a bigger surprise to the media and the fans than it is to us drivers. That’s all in your contract stuff. As a driver, you’re negotiating and stuff like that. And if you’re not aware of your contract negotiations as a driver, that would be a surprise to you. It’s probably on you. I was well aware and I know my portion. But like I said, the money part isn’t everything about this. It is a cool thing, and it’s certainly welcomed and please add more money to it. My advice would be — I know I’m being late to the party, but I would have liked to have got some money for winning what I would call the NFC division of this tournament, you know the Eastern Conference final champion or at least something… a little acknowledgement to that like a banner or something or a trophy.

But I was well aware of that a long time ago, most drivers probably are. The only way that you would see 100% is if they did just present it to the driver, but it’s not just the driver. It’s not been me that’s gotten us to this point and this whole thing, so that wouldn’t be right in my opinion. Without my team, without the hard work that everyone at Kaulig Racing has put into it, we wouldn’t be here. So it’s not that big of a deal to me.”

When I talked to you briefly at Charlotte, I asked you about the bracket challenge and you were kind of nonchalant… most of the drivers were. But when I talked to Chris Rice this morning at the Xfinity trailer, we had an in-depth interview, he said that he’s been encouraging you, you’ve been encouraging the team all along, and got really excited about this. Where do you see this going for yourself?

“I was the first one that took a camera around probably in the sport. If you look at my YouTube page, it was a long time ago, I think I started that. But having kids and a full life, it’s hard to keep somebody else there around with you full-time. I hope people are getting enough of me when they pay attention because I don’t really manufacture who I am. When you see me, it’s the same guy all the time typically. This has been a great run for us, and I hope to get time to keep rolling. I try to do as much media and show my personality as possible.

If I’m honest, I had forgotten that we were doing the In-Season Challenge during the off-season. I was so excited just to have an opportunity to be back Cup racing, so I wasn’t really focused on that. I was focused on being the best driver I could be inside the race car. I think it was like two or three weeks — it was probably your interview where I was like, I really don’t know a whole lot about it and how it’s going to work out. And yeah, once it started and I saw the buy in from everybody, that got me excited. I really haven’t changed who I’ve been as a person because of this In-Season Challenge. I haven’t changed who I am as a driver. It’s just given me and our team a spotlight that wouldn’t have been here if this didn’t exist.”

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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Brickyard 400 Qualifying
Saturday, July 26, 2025

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse, has secured top-10 finishes in each of his past four starts on ovals heading into the Brickyard 400. Before qualifying, Keselowski stopped by the infield media center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to talk about this weekend’s race and the progress of his season so far.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT IS THE OUTLOOK FOR RFK Racing HEADING IN THE FINAL RACES TOWARD THE PLAYOFFS? We have our three teams, the No. 6, No. 17, and No. 60. The No. 17 looks to be in a really good position to point their way in. They’ve had really strong performances and I’m proud of that team. The No. 60 is right on that fringe. I think they would have to win, but it should be a strong stretch of races. Then the No. 6 just has to win a race. So, we would like to win with all three of them and not have to worry about it. And that would be the ideal situation. We’ve been on the fringe of that with a handful of second place finishes with all three of our cars. So we need to convert those into wins to solidify our position. The last month has been really positive, and I think all three cars have shown a lot of potential. We’ve kind of hit our swing and stride, so I’m excited to see what comes of that with these fairly traditional races that we can hopefully just punch out through with the win.

HOW AGGRESSIVE DO YOU PLAN TO BE THIS YEAR GIVEN WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS? I think we’re really aggressive last year and we almost won the race. I wouldn’t expect anything to change there, and we’ve got no reason not to be very aggressive. I certainly don’t want to just do dumb things just to do them, but this is a race that lends itself to aggressive moves on the track and off the track with pit strategy.

HOW DID WINNING THIS RACE IN 2018 IMPACT YOUR LIFE? I won this race in a three-race stretch that was just phenomenal. You know, I won here, Darlington, and at Las Vegas, all three in a row. To get two majors in three weeks was really special. I made up for a few that I feel like I fumbled, I fumbled this race away in 2012 and 2017 and made up for in 2018. I didn’t really deserve to win the race in 2018, I just really put together a great race. We had great strategy, and I made the right moves at the end, so I felt good. It felt like a redemption arc, and it made me a lot hungry to win the Daytona 500 because it’s the last one I don’t have on the majors list. But it was nice to cross this one off.

DO YOU THINK THE PEAK FOR A DRIVER HAS GOTTEN EARLIER IN AGE DUE TO ADVANCEMENTS IN HOW YOUNG DRIVERS START, TECHNOLOGY AND SIMULATORS? Yeah, some things have changed along the way. If you look at statistically, the peak is right around that 40 mark. There’s always exceptions like Mark Martin and Harry Gant, lately it’s been Denny Hamlin.I think when you have great cars, it’s easy to stay motivated and hungry. It’s easy to look at it and find that drive it takes to compete at a high level. I was having this joke session with Joey Logano, last week, he made his 600th start, and, you know, the question everybody asked was, “How much longer are you going to go?” And every race car driver answers that question the same way, as long as you feel like you can win, right? And you know, you go through these stretches where you know you’re winning and you’re super competitive and you’re like, “Oh, I’ll go until my body fails me right?” And then you have a stretch of races where nothing seems to be going right, whether it’s your fault or not. And then you’re like, “I don’t want to do this any more.” I think those are natural ebbs and flows that you work through. And you have to find your own motivation. That motivation changes throughout your career. I feel that way, you find different things that motivate you. I know my motivations have changed over the years, and that’s okay. But I’m tying this all back into the thought that if I go out here and run really well, and I have a shot to win, I’ll walk back in the garage area and say that I’ve probably got 10 more years left. It’s a very strong, emotional roller coaster being a race car driver.

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Menards/Delta Ford Mustang Dark Horse, was Ford’s highest-placed finisher at Dover Motor Speedway. Before qualifying, Blaney took some time at the infield media center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to discuss the upcoming weekend and the progress his team has made during the season.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Delta Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DOES IT FEEL TO RACE AROUND A TRACK LIKE INDIANAPOLIS? Yeah, it’s just a very surreal experience. And ever since I got my first start on the road course in 2012 in the Xfinity Series, I just couldn’t believe going down that front stretch on the road course. It’s so weird going in that 90-degree corner, and then when you come off four and you’re staring at a white wall that looks like a barricade. You think, how do we make it? And somehow we do. It’s just a cool place. It’s not only historically amazing, but driving it as well, there’s no place like it. I’ve had a lot of cool memories here as a kid and as an adult.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN BEING ON THE OVAL IN THE NEXT GEN CAR LAST YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME? You could see some passing. It was difficult, but it definitely was doable. I think the oval in this car is interesting because you have to be really vigilant and aware of situations that other guys that you’re racing around are in. You don’t want to jam it right behind someone getting into the corner and mess up. So you’re always looking to take advantage of those opportunities. I think as opposed to other tracks where I say before just gonna run the fence or gonna run two lanes up, this place isn’t like that. So it’s a lot of patience and observation and planning out your moves. That’s one of the bigger things I learned last year.

HOW DO YOU REFLECT ON THE FINAL RESTART OF LAST YEAR’S RACE? I look at it as nothing I could have done differently. It was the rule in place. Just, just crappy circumstances and that’s the only thing that stings. It just hurts a lot to go back and watch it, because we were in a great spot to win. And, you know, that’s just the way it goes. Sometimes things don’t go in your favor, or the timing of things just don’t work out. I’m not mad at the rule or anything. It was just like crappy circumstances.

WHAT’S YOUR REACTION OF RACING AT NAVAL BASE CORONADO NEXT YEAR? I got to go there Wednesday. I think it’s going to be amazing. It was my first time at the base and my first time in San Diego in general. And it was a quick in and out, but we were there for a handful of hours. But one thing that really stood out to me is every single person on that base is excited that we’re coming. And that part is really neat for me as a driver who is going to go compete there. Every single man and woman that are on that base is going to be watching that race. I didn’t realize how big a base it was. There’s 40,000 people that live full time on that base and the 250th anniversary of the Navy is just even better. I’m excited. I can’t wait to see the track layout in person and see if they put any aircraft carriers in the bay while we’re going by or something.

DID YOU GET ANY INDICATION OF WHAT THE COURSE MIGHT BE? Not really, I saw a digital overhead shot but it’s not set in stone that is, so I didn’t ask too much of it. I’ll learn more of it as the year goes on. I think they got a pretty good plan. When the San Diego race was being rumored, I didn’t think it was going to be on the base. I thought it was going to be more in the city of San Diego like we did with Chicago. So, yeah, I don’t know the whole track layout yet, but I’m sure they’ll make it pretty interesting.

HOW DOES THE NARROW PIT ROAD AT INDY PRESENT A CHALLENGE TO YOU THIS YEAR? Pit road here is where it gets treacherous. It’s just so narrow. I wouldn’t say that the boxes are that long, but it’s the narrowest pit road. I think that’s why you see a lot of crew chiefs pick down at the end. We picked way down there at 21 and my rear carrier, Zach, got hit, and he got hurt. I think that’s just the danger of it, and why a lot of guys try to pick down there so you’re not merging when cars are still coming into pit road. So that’s the biggest challenge.

WHAT’S IT LIKE EXITING THE STALL? I’m ultra vigilant here. Let’s say I’m done with my stop and I’m cruising down pit road far right. I’m always watching those cars on the left who are in their stall. I got to look there. See if they’re about to drop to the left side jack, and what that looks like. You can’t bail anywhere. The only way you can bail is to slow down and stop. It makes it pretty tough. So hopefully, knock on wood, you don’t see any issues on pit road and guys stay safe.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHAOTIC RESTARTS HERE, WITH FOUR CRASHES ON RESTARTS LAST YEAR? I think just the track’s narrow and everyone’s fighting for the bottom because that’s the easiest place to make up spots on a restart. So you see a lot of guys shove it three wide. A lot of crowding goes on too so it’s pretty treacherous. But you don’t see anybody go up top at turn three here because you’re all just trying to fight towards the bottom, or jam something three wide late into one or something although that rarely works. You better be on your game on restarts and be on offense. If you’re on defense, you’re probably losing two or three spots.

HOW DOES THE REST OF THE SEASON LOOK FOR YOU, ESPECIALLY GOING BACK TO IOWA, A PLACE YOU WON AT LAST YEAR? Hopefully that goes well. I’ve been really proud of our speed this year and I think we’ve had some great pace. We haven’t really finished many races as I would have liked, but I just try to always look for where our speed is at. Our team is working together properly and they’re doing a great job. Some bad finishes we can’t control, but I think our group is really firing on all cylinders right now. I think we got the pace and the teamwork to do it and our pit crews in a great spot. So just hope that that stays the same and things smooth out a little bit. One thing I think has stayed constant is the speed that we’ve been bringing, so I hope that continues.

IS THERE ANY WAY TO DESCRIBE TO THE AVERAGE FAN HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO DRIVE THE CAR ON THE LIMIT EVERY LAP? That’s the hardest thing to explain to someone who’s never driven a race car. Everyone drives street cars and they think, oh yeah, I drive my street car all the time. You know, it’s just easy. I feel like in every sport, every pro sport, has its difficulties. Like, what makes this athlete special in their sport? You know, it has its own little quirks. But the racing side, I think what’s fascinating about drivers, and I think about this stuff all the time, each lap you go into the corner, you’re guessing the grip level. And every lap it gets worse. Every time you go into the corner, you have to commit 100% but you’re just guessing where my grip level is going to be. As it’s getting worse every lap, and being able to feel that in the seat of your pants is what makes race car drivers, finding the edge of control each lap without going over it. I think it’s the most fascinating thing that makes drivers special. And you see us step over it all the time. That’s because you’re always on the limit, and it’s a really fine line over the limit. So I think just trying to feel that out every single lap, and just not making a blind guess, but like trying to adapt to your scenario, I think, is what makes drivers really special.

DO YOU HAVE TO BE THAT CLOSE TO THE EDGE TO GO FAST? Yeah, for sure, you have to. If not, you’re running 30th every week, like every single person out here is running to the limit. It’s just, how do you find the limit? What’s your car’s limit, and things like that. That’s why you see mistakes happen all the time, right? We miss corners all the time and just don’t wreck, because you can kind of gather it in. But yeah, the best guys still spin out because you’re constantly trying to find the edge. That’s how you have speed, and that’s how you win races. It’s just a matter of how close to the edge you want to get and how, and how many times you do it. Even the best guys still step over every now and then but that’s what makes them so good, that they can find that edge to a really fine degree.

Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Kroger/Diet Cherry Coke Ford Mustang Dark Horse, sits comfortably above the playoff cut line at 10th place in the points standings. Before qualifying, Buescher spoke to reporters at the infield media center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to talk about his outlook for the rest of the season.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Kroger/Diet Cherry Coke Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THE STRETCH OF TRACKS COMING UP ON THE SCHEDULE? We have a lot of good tracks coming up, Iowa was really competitive for us last year. We ended up having a tire failure there, but we were running very well at that time. We get to go defend our win at the Glen. We’ve been able to win Daytona, our superspeedway program at RFK has been really strong for a long time. Richmond is the other one where we got win there to turn my opinions around on that place. I used to despise that one with a passion, but we’re in a better place now. So there’s nothing coming up at us that I’m worried about. I feel like we have five chances to win, really, including at Indy here. We’re going to be really good when we get on track. So, yeah, I’m really looking forward to the stretch for a long time.

HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR ROAD COURSES ABILITIES, HEADING INTO WATKINS GLEN, A TRACK YOU WON AT LAST YEAR Yeah, I can navigate right handers better than a lot around here. Obviously, we’ve been competitive at a lot of them. We’ve been close but we’re chasing SVG this year, that’s for sure. We had a really good car there that took a while to get going. Our long run speed was really the perk there, and the way the race played out, our long run speed was very strong. We had some good strategies as well and with the handful of restarts we were still able to go toe for toe there. We’ve seen some separation between short and long run speed at some tracks, and The Glen was probably the largest offset last year. I don’t know if that’ll be the case this year, and also, we don’t really want it to be that large. We need to figure out how to fire off a little bit better, and that’s probably our bigger focus right now.

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Ty Gibbs
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

INDIANAPOLIS (July 26, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

TY GIBBS, No. 54 SAIA LTL Freight Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Can you talk about your preparation this week going into the finale for the In-Season Challenge?

“Yeah, for us, it is just another race. Especially, we want to go win. The same preparation as all of them are – just go forward from there.”

I know you have a big art collection. If you win this, do you have anything picked out that you want?

“I don’t at that moment. That’s a great question, and I appreciate that. Right now, not really. For me, I don’t know. I probably have too much. I don’t know where I would put it, but I like that. Great question.”

What does this place mean to you personally?

“For me, the way that I look at it – this place is the most historical track in the world. Outside of Monza, I don’t think there is anywhere like this. I really respect and appreciate the history of this place. I’ve been able to go to the museum two times down, and check everything out, and the history back to when they opened it up – in 1909, I believe was the date, I may be wrong on that. It is insane to be here. It’s insane to race here. This is race car country, that’s what we call it. There is a lot of great race tracks near here as well, but being able to race here at the Brickyard is an honor. I’m blessed to be in a position to do it.”

Are you going to be curious of where Ty Dillon is during the race?

“Hopefully, I’m in front of him, but our main goal this weekend is to go and win the race. Everything we can do to put ourselves in position to do that, and if we don’t do that, we are going to try to finish the best that we can, and that’s better than him than we win, and if it’s not, it is what it is. I will just take it as it is.”

What has the last five weeks done for your partners being in the final round of the In-Season Challenge?

“It is great for our sponsors. This weekend we have SAIA on our Camry, and I’ve very honored to have that. It is a great looking car – red and white. I’m very excited to be here and have all of their people here – especially with Ray (Raymond Ramu, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer, SAIA LTL Freight) and Fritz (Frederick Holzgrefe, President and Chief Executive Officer, SAIA LTL Freight) coming. Very cool to have that. Great for our sponsors. Great publicity, but also on the work side – things stay the same. We’ve been fast lately so we will keep trying to add on to that and get better and better.”

If you are bumper to bumper with Ty Dillon on the final lap, what would you do?

“I don’t know. Hopefully, we are not bumper to bumper and hopefully we are going for the win. Maybe we are both going for the win. I don’t know. I feel like we’ve been really good with our strategy lately, and hopefully that puts us out front.”

What is it like going into this round knowing that you are favorite?

“It is what it is. Like I said, our main focus for me is to go and win races, and my team is the same thing. That’s more important to me than this is, but it’s still very cool to be in this position, and congratulations to him for making this far as well. It is a super cool thing, and that is a lot of money as well. Maybe that can go to help people out. It is super cool to be in this position.”

Have you been told who gets the money and how it is distributed to the team?

“Yeah, that just depends on everybody’s contract, and of course that is confidential, but I’m just happy to be driving race cars. For me, it’s not the money – it’s about driving race cars, and maybe I can take some of that and put it towards my dirt program.”

Are you focusing on the same things because of what is on the line?

“We’ve gone to a lot of tracks that you can’t really pass in these cars. You can’t pass or it is very hard too. It is nothing new for us in this car – in the Gen 7 car. Qualifying is important. I’m treating this race like any other race – no matter what is on the line. If I win this race, going up in the point standings is worth more than a million dollars, so I’m not here for the money. I’m here for the race wins, and that is why I’m not just racing the 10 (Ty Dillon) this weekend, I’m racing 40 other people out there. It is super cool to be in this position. I’m just taking it as it is but trying to go and win. Nothing is going to change that. I’m going for it.”

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.