Toyota Racing – Tyler Reddick
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DARLINGTON, S.C. (August 31, 2024) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.

TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Upper Deck Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

What does the Southern 500 mean to you and what is your outlook?

“The regular season has kind of flown by – the whole year kind of has. The break, everything else, I don’t know, it feels like we just got going. Yeah, it’s been a nice climb out of the gutter for us as the year has went on. Just some really solid finishes have helped us close the gap and get to where we are currently today. But, yeah, really excited for this weekend. This is a race that means a lot to me. I feel like it means a lot to a lot of these drivers and it’s one that I’ve ran second and third a few times in to this guy over here (Kyle Larson) to the left. We’ll try and get one spot better this weekend, but we’ll probably be racing around each other a lot tomorrow night.”

Are you focused on racing your own race or how can you win the regular season championship?

“I feel like at a place like Darlington it’s hard to because I mean it’s just, you’re kind of racing the track, right? There might be an option to mix up the strategy in the stages, but I think we all have a pretty good idea of what the best strategy is going to be. It’s tough here. I feel like you go to some of these other tracks – Michigan is a perfect example – where you’re more worried about fuel than tires. I think it’s easier to do it, but here it’s just a race where you’re running against the track all night like. Certainly, it could go that way, but I feel like if we both have solid nights then we’re in a pretty good place unless we just have a disastrous night.”

Have you seen your car yet and what are your thoughts of having those iconic sports superstars on it? Are you old enough to know who Wayne Gretzky is?

“Yeah, Wayne Gretzky, man, that’s pretty crazy. I mean you don’t have to be very familiar with hockey to know about Wayne Gretzky. I remember seeing the car in the shop like last week and saw Michael (Jordan) on the hood and I quickly went to the gym or whatever and a couple days later I took a closer look at it, and I realized that Tiger (Woods) and Wayne (Gretzky) were on it too. Yeah, just adding to the pressure of the weekend so it’s find with me.”

What’s it like to have your bosses face on the hood of your car?

“Better take care of the hood. Better take care of it!”

What are your thoughts on starting the Playoffs at a track like Atlanta?

“Hopefully make it past lap two and it should be a better day (laughter). Yeah, it’s just one of those speedway races – again it’s one that you could see a mix-up on strategy and everything. Yeah, we’ll just cross the bridge when we get there. Certainly, that first round really has the opportunity to get out of hand for a number of teams. Just try to manage the race the best we can when we get there.”

Which races in the Playoffs do you consider ‘wild card’ races?

“Atlanta can be. We’ve seen some pretty chaotic finishes there. Just stack ups can happen at a bad time and take out a lot of cars. Watkins Glen, I feel like is a bit more straight forward. It seems like the tire we’re going to go with is going to be much different than we’re used to. So, I mean, it’s very possible with that it takes a little bit different formula than what you’ve seen in the past to win there so that has the potential. I think with a place like Bristol, if it remains like it did in the spring then yeah it could just be totally wide open there as well. It has all the potential to be a real disaster if you’re not careful.”

What are your thoughts on NASCAR returning to Rockingham?

“Yeah, I feel like it if it wasn’t for my first start K&N start at Rockingham, I don’t know if I’d be here, honestly. So, yeah, the track has been good to me, well was good to me in the K&N car. My truck start was a little less than desirable. I think we got spun out on like lap three or so. It’s always been a fun track. I’ve got a good understanding of faster races tracks are kind of like racing there way back when. It’s cool to see it back on the schedule, for me, it’s a place that kind of changed my life. It’s great to see it back.”

Will you be thinking about manufacturer-specific drivers coming down to end of tomorrow’s race with the Playoffs on the line?

“I mean, places like this you’re just running your own race. You’re thinking about yourself, you’re being selfish and not really thinking of anybody else. A speedway, that’s where it gets a little more complicated. But, yeah, at a place like this you’re just trying to win the race. For us, we’re in the Playoffs right, so if we go out there and win it keeps anything crazy from happening. But, yeah, it can get a little tricky as we saw.”

Do you look closely at the schedules when NASCAR first releases them?

“I’m just excited for another road course. I finally get to go to Mexico too so that will be cool. Yeah, I think I’ve been like to Cancun or something I don’t know, it doesn’t really count. Real Mexico, I’ve never been to so I’m excited about that. Outside of that, I mean we try to just think ahead, look ahead at what we need to be focused on for the Playoffs next year. Outside of that, other than seeing only one off-weekend, that’s the only thing I think we really think about.”

Is there more calmness heading into Darlington as the regular season finale compared to Daytona that is more of a wild card race?

“I mean, yeah, I was kind of hoping that Daytona was going to go a little better. Coming to a place like this, I’d say it’s pretty much in our control. It’s in mine and it’s in his (Kyle Larson) right? That’s how we go out and run our race will decide it. A place like Daytona, it’s just when you’re fighting the cutoff or if you’re fighting for that regular season championship, it’s so stressful because there’s so many things that can happen out of your control.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 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 more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th 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 29 electrified options.

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2024

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Darlington Raceway.

Media Availability Quotes:

A lot of speed on Richard Childress Racing the last few weeks, really since the Olympic break. What do you attribute that to?

“Just a lot of hard work and everybody really pulling together, and you know, a few changes personnel-wise behind the scenes, but really just, you know, great effort and great work really coming together. A lot of that’s been from April to May timeframe of just conversations of processes and procedures that we need to improve on and work on and we’re starting to see the fruits of that labor now.”

Do you see this weekend as one where you may have to just take chances or do a crazy strategy if you don’t have the flat-out speed?

“Yes and no. I don’t know that you can really get a whole lot done here because of all the fall off and tire wear and things like that. If you have a three-lap run, do you stay out? I don’t predict you’re gonna be able to hold them off very long so unless it’s a green-white-checker which in that case you’re probably gonna get a few as we tend to do this day and age so I don’t know that you’ll be able to see a whole lot of different strategy play. We’ll just have to have some outright raw speed and go get ‘em.”

Does Parker Retzlaff owe you or anybody at your organization either an explanation or an apology for maybe not doing enough in other people’s eyes last week for you?

“Not me, but I don’t really know him all that well so I don’t know what sort of business relationships there are behind the scenes. Once upon a time when I owned a Truck Series team, we had other teams that we helped and we supported and we gave parts and pieces and resources and different things too. I don’t know how all that stems for his relationship with Beard behind the scenes. So yeah, not to me. He didn’t owe me nothing.”

Why not?

“Well, we have our Chevrolet team meetings, our key meetings, key partner meetings before the race and he’s not in one of those. So if you’re not in one of those, then you should not be relied upon as a key partner to need to push and know the game that needs to be played. So that’s how I look at it.”

Flashing forward a little bit to the start of next year going to Bowman Gray for the Clash. Your boss man Richard has a long history there’s where you got his start. What do you think about going to Bowman Gray, such a historic place? Have you ever been over there?

“I have never been no, I’ve never been on the premises. I’ve seen a lot of highlight reels from over there so I will have to call upon a driver coach, probably Burt Myers, to give me some pointers about what to do and what to look out for and how to get around that place. Him and I are pretty close and been friends for a long time. He seems to be a champion over there and knows how to get around there well.”

Obviously you hope to win this weekend and make the playoffs but if you don’t do you feel better about being able to keep your consecutive season streak alive given that you’ve had the speed, you’ve been knocking on the door, do you feel more optimistic about that happening now between now and the end of the season?

“No, I mean, you want to go out there and contend every week, but getting wins is a whole different story. So, for us to be able to capitalize on our good runs, like last week, we just missed and didn’t execute well enough in those final moments to get the job done. Anything can happen. You’ve got to live it out until the end and we’ve got 11 more weeks to get it done. It would certainly be nice to get it done here in Darlington and put that story to rest but also put ourselves in the playoffs and have a shot to continue to build on this momentum that we’ve had with RCR and our stuff getting better to take our Chevrolets far into the playoffs.”

You haven’t been in this position on the outside of the playoffs at this point very often in your career. Has there been any frustration? How have you kind of kept your mindset moving forward to take advantage of every chance that you can?

“Yeah, the whole season’s been frustrating. Every week, it just kind of seems like, okay, what’s next? But that’s something that we can’t change. Chris Buescher just said it beforehand, you know, there’s a lot of things and a lot of questions that we have for ourselves and answers that we might not be able to answer exactly right now as to how our year has gone, but that’s in the past, and you know you can use that as a distraction or a motivation tool, and we’ll look to try to make that as a motivation tool. We did not run well here in the past. This race in the spring we did not run well, but we don’t come in this weekend holding our heads low and thinking that we’re gonna not run well again. We put our heads to paper and try to figure out why and said we’re gonna go there with the best piece we can and try to kick their butt and get a win.”

Looking at the recent talk with Kyle Larson and Max Verstappen, what’s your take on would it be harder for a good NASCAR driver to go to F1 and do well or harder for a good F1 driver to come here and do well?

“There once was a time when Lewis Hamilton and Kyle Busch were the dominant guys and this conversation never happened so I’m jealous, frankly. But maybe it didn’t happen because I didn’t bring on the conversation myself. I would say that you have seen guys do better going from our realm to the other one. I don’t know if it’s a pure downforce thing or not, but those guys seem to just drive pure beyond the limits of the car and the car will take it and they can stick. Over here you have to have a lot more finesse and so you just kind of see guys not understand the finesse part and where the grip is without just going over it. To answer your question in short, I would say Kyle’s probably got a better shot than Max.”

You just said that last Saturday you didn’t execute well at the end of the race. What could you have done differently?

“Nothing. That’s the terrible part about restrictor plate racing. The two guys behind me seemed to be a bit out of control and when you go back and look at SMT data they were dilly-dallying around off of turn two, getting squirrely and not holding their steering wheel straight, not holding their gas pedal down and they were slow. The guy that was on the outside with the run with Harrison and Parker, they were wide open, steering wheel straight and they drove right by us. So, I guess I was blamed for not pulling up in front of the 21 off of two, but the runs were equal when I was watching and re-watching, when I was watching in my mirror and remembering it as it happened. The 20 was getting to me as fast as the 21 was getting to me and when the 20 was bumping me, that’s when the momentum of the outside with the 21 and the 62 took off. If I would have turned to get in front of that, I would have wrecked. There’s no way in protecting that. So unless I come off a turn two and just go to the middle and block the 21’s lane, then who’s to say that we don’t get squirrely and the 20 goes right by us on the inside. Monday morning quarterbacking is the worst thing you can do. So it is what it is.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2024

 Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Darlington Raceway.

Media Availability Quotes:

As we head into this weekend, it’s obviously the end of the regular season and the regular season champion will be crowned tomorrow night. Tell us a little bit about this weekend and what it means to your team to be here.

“Yeah, it’s kind of wild that we begin our playoffs next week. It’s flown by and we’ve had, as I’m sure every team has, we’ve had our ups and downs.. a little bit opposite, I guess, from Tyler (Reddick). I feel like we started our year off really consistently and strong. I’ve had some inconsistent races on my end here lately, where Tyler had tough luck early in the year and then has been super consistent since. And then now, we’ve kind of met with similar points at the end of the regular season.

So yeah, it’s been fun. It’s been good to be upfront. We’ve been fast most weekends, so now as we approach the final 10 weeks, we just have to be on our A-game.”

Can you think about the regular season points battle while you’re out there, or are you more content with running your own races and not paying attention to that until maybe the end of the race?

“As well as both Tyler (Reddick) and I run here, there shouldn’t be too many points exchanged. It just kind of comes down to making sure you have the cleanest race possible to not hinder yourself in the points position. Yeah, it’s a tough track; one that the strategy is very straightforward, and if you have a good car here, you’ll be upfront. You’ll probably be taking tires almost every chance you can get, if the caution comes out. Nothing to kind of really get off strategy.”

You’ve conquered so many cool race tracks, not only in NASCAR but in your dirt racing career. What does it mean to have won at Darlington Raceway?

“Yeah, you know a lot like Tyler (Reddick), I’ve run upfront here for years; have led hundreds and hundreds of laps here, maybe the most in my Cup career, and had yet to win a race. Last year, finally conquering the Southern 500 felt really rewarding because this is such a difficult track. It’s one where I feel like if I had more experience and had done things differently, I could have won a couple others, at least. When you finally close out a win here, it feels great. When it’s a crown jewel and one at a historic race track like Darlington, it’s great. It’s definitely up there on my list of race wins and memories, and hopefully can have another opportunity again this weekend.”

Looking ahead to next weekend, we start the playoffs at Atlanta. Your thoughts on starting the playoffs at a superspeedway-style race.

“For teams like ours, it’s probably not one that we were excited to see on the schedule. But I think it’s a good thing for the teams that have performed well throughout the regular season. You hopefully have some bonus points along the way and a little bit of a buffer to the bubble. So yeah, it’s an ‘anything can happen’ type of track. We’ve been really strong there, but I don’t think I’ve finished a race yet at Atlanta since they repaved it. Just have been caught up in different wrecks every time. Hopefully next weekend is a little different and we can be upfront; get stage points and at least see the checkered flag.”

Joey Logano was in here earlier and basically thought that all three races in the opening round are going to be wildcards. How do you guys feel about those three races and are they all wild cards?

“Almost every race in the Next Gen era could be considered a wild card (laughs). There’s just always crazy things that seem to happen. Yeah, you just have to kind of take it week-by-week; assess where you’re at and what your goals are going forward. The first round I think can definitely present more challenges than other rounds, but like I said, every track, anything crazy can happen.”

As the most recent national series winner at Rockingham, how cool is it to see that track back on the schedule and would you consider running there?

“It’s Easter weekend? No, I’m taking Easter off. I love to race, but not that much (laughs).

No, I won’t be there, as much as I like Rockingham or liked it back then. I guess it would be different now since they’ve repaved it. But I do think it’s awesome that we’re going back to venues; kind of restoring venues like Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, all that. So yeah, I think the schedule is pretty cool. Obviously wish we had at least one more off weekend. But I think the variety and for the lower series to tie in those grassroot-style fanbases is great. You won’t see me at Rockingham, but I might be watching.”

You raced on one of those K&N races at Bowman Gray. Talk about the idea of going back to Bowman Gray for the Clash and what you remember about the K&N race there.

“Yeah, honestly it was so long ago, I don’t really remember much about the race. I remember qualifying. I got the pole the time we ran, so I remember part of that. I just remember it being really slick. Like your tires were never quite ready in qualifying, so it was like dirt tracking around there. But that was different back then; a different car, tire, horsepower, all that. But regardless, I’m excited to go there. Logistically, it makes way more sense for the teams and drivers. And the fan base there is just amazing. I’ve been there to watch local weekend shows. I sat in the stands that night we ran the K&N race.. afterwards I think they had modifieds or something running. There’s no other experience like Bowman Gray as a race fan. I hope that same style of a crowd shows up for a Cup race there; flipping all of us off, leaning over the wall and screaming at us (laughs). It’s amazing. It’s such a cool atmosphere. I’m excited for it. I just hope the weather cooperates.”

The year you won your championship, you won 10 races. If it wasn’t for a great pitstop at Phoenix, you might not have been the champion. Does that system kind of seem odd to you.. that you can dominate the year but it comes down to something that close?

“I don’t know.. I mean, it’s the system, so it doesn’t really matter. I think it makes for storylines and whatnot. When we went into Phoenix with nine wins and dominated the year, I was like – man, I can’t believe.. and I was thinking about it right before that final caution, that I can’t believe we’ve been the best car all year and I’m going to finish fourth in points. And then the magic caution came out; we had a magic pitstop and the rest is history. But yeah, I don’t know. I think I’ve heard people mention that – I think I would be in favor of like a three-race little stretch to decide the champion, rather just one at Phoenix. I don’t know that we’ll ever see that, but yeah for right now, it is what it is. You have to be good everywhere, especially at Phoenix.”

Ray Evernham mentioned yesterday that he could probably put you and Max Verstappen in an IROC car somewhere, if you had a mentioned in that. Has the response to all that talk kind of surprised you?

“No, not necessarily. Obviously there’s different fan bases throughout the world. I think everybody’s definition of ‘the best all around driver’ is a little bit different. So yeah, I don’t know. I think it was a fun little topic of conversation there for a couple of weeks. Obviously, you’ve got the American fans that stand by me, and then the rest of the world. But regardless, it’s cool to just be in the topic of conversation as one of the best all around current drivers. Like I said, everybody’s definition is a little bit different, so I think that makes your opinion of what that might be a little different.”

If it comes down to winning a race, you’re going to be manufacturer-centric towards the end. But tomorrow night when we’ve got the cutoff and guys that could win to get in, are you guys aware of manufacturers? Do you tip-toe around those drivers to make sure you’re not a factor in a bad way?

“Yeah, I mean I think for a place like this, you’re not as conscious about it as you are maybe last weekend. Yeah, sure – if it’s like Ross (Chastain) and Kyle (Busch) lined up at the front at the end, you just don’t want to be the reason why they crash and don’t make it or something like that. But you’re still trying your best to win for yourself and for your team. And the same goes I think even at a track like Daytona. But yeah, it’s not something that you typically think about here.”

When the schedules come out, do you look at them as hard as we do, or do they just tell you where to go and you go do it every year?

“I mean for me; I haven’t really studied it a lot because there’s no sprint car schedule out yet (laughs). Once sprint car schedules come out, that’s when I start building my schedule for next year.”

Is there more calmness heading into this one, knowing the points and what you both need to do to win the regular season title compared to ending at Daytona, where the points change every single lap?

“Yeah, I like Daytona being the finale of the regular season. I think that extra – like imagine if Harrison Burton would have won this weekend, I think it would be an even bigger story. And I think it’s that way next year again.. that we go back to Daytona for the finale.

So yeah, not that it matters a whole lot, but I think just the storyline of it being the final race to get in is pretty cool.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Toyota Racing – Erik Jones
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DARLINGTON, S.C. (August 31, 2024) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.

ERIK JONES, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB

Can you talk about the Southern 500 and what this race means to you and to our sport?

“I think it’s become a more and more important weekend. I guess for me, I remember as a kid watching the race. It got a little bit distorted for a few years with some dates and where it kind of fell on the schedule and it’s become pretty cemented back into Labor Day weekend as it’s probably rightful place in the schedule and in the sport. I look forward to it every year. Obviously, I probably have some bias there, but it’s just a neat race. A neat weekend. They pack the house usually every time we come here – just kind of a fun one to be a part of.”

Can you talk about your confidence coming into Darlington and being able to win and advance into the Playoffs this weekend?

“It’s just been a long year. A lot of different reasons, but if you told me I could pick one (race) other than a superspeedway, I’d pick Darlington to try and go win. Definitely some confidence in that. I think any time you come to a place where you’ve had success a couple of times with different groups, you have the notes to dive into and just that confidence of feeling like you know how to get around the place and knowing what you need to do. I’m excited about that. It’s not going to be easy by any stretch. This is a tough race in a lot of ways, but I think we have a good plan of knowing what we need out of our race car, knowing how we need to manage the race, and knowing what we need to do to be in position. So, we need everything to go right, but I think it’s a great shot for us for sure.”

How important is today to be successful in tomorrow’s race?

“I think this is one where you target maybe a little bit different feel in practice than what you’re probably looking for in the race. It’s going to be pretty hot the middle of the day. We don’t start the race until 6:30 at night. It’s already going to be sun going down, cooling down and then obviously by the end of stage one, you’re going to be completely covered in dark. For me, I’m looking for different feel. I can kind of put some things to the side that you feel today during practice and put them to the side just because it’s a hot, slick track (today) and you’ve got to pick out, ‘Okay, we’re not going to have to worry about that tomorrow and let’s just focus on this part of the corner.’ So, that’s kind of unique to here. The only other race that I can think of that’s similar to that is Charlotte with the 600 going into the night and practicing during the day like that. It definitely goes through a big transition when it cools down. This race is so different than the spring race too with it being at night this place changes so much when it comes to temperatures. That makes it fun. Gives you something to kind of guess for and I think that’s the fun part of racing sometimes.”

Do you think this being the end of the regular season will change the aggression of drivers on the track during the race?

“In some ways. I think Darlington is a bit of a unique one. There’s not a lot of places that we go anymore where you race the track a lot. A lot of it is now that you’re fighting with other competitors and fighting for track position. There’s some of that here. You have to be up front. You do race the rack a lot more here probably than anywhere else we go. You kind of settle in. You get through that first I don’t know eight laps of a run where it’s kind of you’re in the hornets’ nest and then you’re settling into your groove and trying to manage your run, manage your car and you can kind of pick people off one at a time. You know, if the race stretches long and you have a green run to the end, I don’t think you’re going to see anything different. Where it will get crazy, if it happens, is all of the late yellows. And we see that in the spring too right. If you get some late yellows stacked up at the end which is a little bit more rare at the Southern 500 for some reason, you don’t see it. But if that happens, I definitely think you’ll see more aggression.”

Are you conscious of the 16 Playoff drivers and what you need to accomplish to get into the Playoffs and how do you balance that?

“I think if somebody told you they didn’t think about it they’re probably lying. I think we all do. I’ve been in the spot in the Playoffs where you’re hoping for that extra bit respect and 90% of the time, I think you get it. Maybe not the first round – the round of 16 – but when you start squeezing down to the guys in the Round of 8 and the Round of 4, those last few six races of the season, I feel like you start to see a bit of a change in the way you race some of those guys and no doubt at Phoenix at the end for the championship, there’s no way I would want to wreck a championship contending guy in Phoenix. So, yeah, it changes a little bit depending on how competitive you are in the race. Obviously, if you’ve got a car that can go and win the race you can’t just give up a win for them. But if you’re running 10th, battling a guy who’s in championship contention at the end of the year, you’re probably going to give him an extra break and I think most of the field would have to agree with that.”

Do you hope you’d get that kind of respect if you were in the Playoffs?

“100%. I think a lot of the sport is what comes around goes around, right? All the way from what you do on pit road – if you’re a guy who’s running 28th and you’re on the lead lap and you’re pitting ahead of a guy who’s running second and you choose to block him in just so you can get out and screw his day up it’s probably going to come around if he’s on the other end of the stick if you’re running up front. And no different being in the championship. If you give a guy a break who’s running up there and is contending, and hopefully he remembers that. I feel like I try to race everyone really fair, and you just hope that comes around. I know not everybody has that same mentality right, but you just hope that it swings around. I hope we’re contending for wins and championships one day and I hope that we get that same respect for sure.”

What has this year been like in terms of expectations?

“I think the transition has been harder than what we anticipated. I would think we would all have thought by this point we would be in a better spot than what we are right now. Obviously, it’s been a tough year for me with the injury and not that it put me way behind but missing a couple of races isn’t great for the team, it isn’t great for me. Getting comfortable again and changing everything in the car isn’t easy. I think there’s a lot of things that have put us behind the eight ball. I guess my opinion on it all is that I just re-signed, and I wouldn’t have re-signed if I think we’re going to go continue to perform the way we are. It’s not what I’m interested in in racing right? I want to go out and run upfront. WE all do. And the same for LEGACY. For me, it was just the fact that I do believe we’re going to improve. It’s for sure taking longer than we hope. There’s nobody in the company that would argue against that. We are working hard to get better, and we hope that within the next six months – discounting the off-season – that we’re performing a lot better than what we are now.”

How is the repave in turn 2 since it was done three years ago?

“I’ll let you know in a little bit. I think it’s more aged even from the spring, right? Just another summer of it. It’s way less than it was. I’d say the first time we came here with that pass you had to be in it, and it was narrow. There were not two lanes in it. I’ve noticed in the last maybe two races, there’s probably been a bit wider. You can’t be as aggressive on that exit being high like some guys are as what we were in the past before, but it’s getting back there pretty quick. You definitely haven’t been able to run that low line easily where you kind of enter on the apron, go up the middle and exit on the apron. That hasn’t really been there because that patch has been so good. I think if it’s not all the way back for this race, a year from now I think it will be.”

Can you talk about where you can be aggressive on this track?

“Yeah, it’s a fine balance. I think a lot of your speed is made in (turns) one and two and in some ways that’s the more aggressive end. You’re carrying way more speed there, especially on new tires. So, you setup a lot of passes in one and two – it’s hard to make a pass down in (turns) three and four. So, you’re trying to setup your pass kind of in the exit of four and complete it into one or through the middle of one and two. So, that’s kind of your aggressive zone. It’s easy to get frustrated in the race. You see these wrecks happen a lot. Guys trying to get around someone and they start pushing a little bit harder and a little bit harder and all of a sudden either they’re wadded up or they’re both wadded up just because the track doesn’t have the grip in it. You really can’t make those crazy moves, those aggressive moves. I think definitely (turns) one and two are more aggressive corners especially with the way the line goes sometimes. You see Denny and Tyler running a lot where they get really wide on entry and wide on exit and that’s not a super easy line to run. It’s definitely an aggressive line so I’ve always thought one and two is more aggressive.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 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 more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th 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 29 electrified options.

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

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Southern 500 Media Availability | Darlington
Saturday, August 31, 2024

Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing met with media members ahead of on-track activity at Darlington Raceway for the Southern 500. One of NASCAR’s crown jewel races, it also serves as the regular season finale with Buescher holding onto the final playoff spot by 21 points.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

WHEN YOU’RE IN THIS POSITION COMING INTO IT, ARE YOU LOOKING BACK THROUGHOUT THE YEAR ON THE WOULDA, SHOULDA, COULDAS, WHETHER IT WAS LAS VEGAS WITH THE WHEEL, KANSAS, DARLINGTON, ARE YOU FOCUSED FORWARD?

“We’re on this weekend. All that is stuff that hurts and will when you do stop to look back at it, but ultimately it’s not anything that’s changing our situation right now and would really be a distraction at this point. There’s no changing it, right? So definitely things that you look back on, and we’ll clean up as a team. Things I can clean up as a driver and do differently. And then just situations that certainly could have gone better. We’re focused on this weekend now.”

HOW MUCH ARE YOU PLAYING OFFENSE VERSUS DEFENSE BECAUSE YOU HAVE ENOUGH OF A POINTS MARGIN THAT’S SOMEWHAT COMFORTABLE? HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GO ABOUT THINGS THIS WEEK?

“For me, this is one of my favorite racetracks. I absolutely love coming to Darlington. I had a chance to win this race last time we were here, and ended up in one of my less highlight-worthy moments. For us it’s how do we come in and win this race? How do we be in contention to win this race? I think I just don’t like to be a points racer. I’m aware of our situation. I feel like we can come out here and do what we’ve been doing every week, bringing fast racecars to the track. But a lot of times I feel like we’ve had speed to compete for wins and then days that we need to execute a little bit better all around. For us, that’s kind of the same thing we’ve got looking at us for this go. We’ll pay attention. It’s something we started probably around Pocono time, just aware of the cars we’re racing if they have catastrophic or bad days. Just know what that means for us. And if you do have to be a little more aware of your situation, we can pay attention to that. But ultimately I want to be in contention to win this race and close the deal out that way and not worry about any of the rest.”

AS WELL AS YOU RAN LAST YEAR, THE WINS, AND ALL THE SPEED YOU GUYS HAD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON, ARE YOU SURPRISED TO BE SITTING HERE COMING INTO THE LAST RACE IN SUCH A PRECARIOUS POSITION?

“In a way, I guess. We’re third of the cars without a win on points. I think that’s probably the biggest surprise is that there have been as many different winners this year as there have been. On the flip side, we’ve had a lot of speed this year. We’ve been really close at a lot of races. We just haven’t sealed the deal. That’s been very frustrating at times because that was one of the the bigger goals we had on this season was to make sure that we fired off with the potential that we had around this time last year. And we did. It was good to go to a race track and have speed at types of race tracks that, honestly, we just haven’t been very good at in the past. And we were good at short tracks and intermediates and road courses are still really strong for us. All those things were going well. We just had a couple of runner-ups and very near misses. So I think that it’s been a great year, we just don’t have any trophies on it yet. We didn’t expect to be in this position and unfortunately, it’s where we’re at, but I am pretty confident in what we’re able to do at Darlington and what we’ve had as an organization this year at RFK that as long as we do everything we need to, we’re going to be in good shape.”

DURING THE RACE, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE BUBBA IS RUNNING, WHERE ROSS IS RUNNING, WHAT THE POINT SITUATION IS? DO YOU ASK NOT TO BE UPDATED? WHAT DO YOU LIKE AS A DRIVER?

“I’m not going to ask for silence, but no, I don’t need the updates either if it’s not significant. Ultimately, it’s just a distraction from what we need to do to go race. It’s just a different mindset going into these scenarios as we look at playoffs here. I feel like every year, we talk about points a little bit earlier in the season, and to the point where I feel like it comes up at Daytona now. So for us we need to go to these things and do our own deal in our own race. But no, it’s not something I’m going to ask for constant updates. When you’re in the car, you’re not, I guess I’m not, I’ll speak for myself, I’m not completely aware of the race scenarios and everything that’s playing out, and I don’t really need to be if it’s not something that I can affect the outcome of. There will be a time and place for that and maybe that’s towards the end. It’s been a scenario where some of the cars we’re racing have had bad days. If we have a day or we are involved in an accident, it’s kind of updating on that situation and what we need to do to make sure we recover, but no, you’re certainly not going to hear it from my side of the radio asking for updates.”

SO, WHEN YOU COME TO THIS TRACK WITH SO MUCH ON THE LINE FOR SO MANY DRIVERS, MOST OF THEM SAY THEY LOVE THIS RACE TRACK, WHETHER THEY’VE HAD SUCCESS HERE OR NOT, AND HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE HERE, BUT EVERYBODY CAN’T DO WELL HERE, RIGHT? WHY DOES EVERYBODY FEEL SO CONFIDENT HERE, AND WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS TRACK?

“Because we have composite bodies now. There’s not a big penalty for big misses, I think. It gives a lot of people confidence that they did not have a couple of years ago. It’s such a cool racetrack. There’s so much history here. It’s a place that drivers love. Me being one of them, that wasn’t very good here for a long time and took a lot of learning, but I always loved it. It was always one of my favorites, regardless. The speed we’ve been able to have in the last couple of years has certainly helped me enjoy it more. It’s just a cool racetrack that’s unlike anything else that we go to. I think everybody has an appreciation for that as drivers and enjoy the challenge of it. We all want to be better at it, but ultimately it’s just such a fun race track that you can get behind it quite easily.”

SO HOW MUCH DID THIS TRACK FRUSTRATE YOU AT FIRST? AND THEN HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO LEARN IT? WHAT DID YOU DO IN GENERAL?

“It wasn’t so frustrating coming to this racetrack. It’s just a little bit of bad luck along the way. A couple of tire issues earlier in my career here that felt like ended days that were gonna be okay. After that, just kind of got rolling in the right direction to the point where it was always just a little bit better as we went. I had a lot of hard lessons here with metal body cars as well. That was completely on me. As we’ve gone into it, as the lanes moved around with the repave many years ago now, but as it started to age aggressively, it’s constantly changing too. It’s something that requires a lot of focus, a lot of attention leading up to the weekend, and a lot of effort to break down at the end of it. It’s just one that’s progressively gotten better through the years. Our team’s done a great job. RFK has obviously turned a great corner in the last couple of years. And being faster at the race track certainly helps you like race tracks that weren’t your best in previous years. So that’s made a massive difference from where I’m sitting and certainly helps my head space.”

DO YOU THINK DARLINGTON IS A GOOD PLACE TO END THE REGULAR SEASON? AND WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO HEAD TO A TRACK THAT ISN’T DAYTONA AND MAYBE A LITTLE LESS UNPREDICTABLE FOR THIS RACE IN THE FUTURE?

“I like this one. It’s hard. It’s a 500-mile race. It’s going to be 90-something degrees on race day. It’s a fantastic challenge for all the drivers, the teams, everybody out here, and I think that’s a great way to head off into our playoffs is to make everybody work for it. I’m not saying Daytona doesn’t have its own challenges. I wouldn’t say there’s a whole lot more predictability here, but maybe a little bit more of controlling your own destiny and understanding that it’s going to be very difficult as well. So many things can happen in Daytona like we continue to see, and it can throw a massive curve right at the end that you just can’t plan for in any way. We haven’t done a good enough job not to be on this bubble right now. I like the fact that we have this race, and I certainly enjoy Darlington being the cutoff this year and it would be my vote not to be at Daytona in the future. I don’t think I submitted my vote early enough to get that one to count.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2024

 Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Busch Retro Camaro ZL1 and No. 92 Protect Your Melon Camaro SS, met with the media in advance of racing double duty in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series at Darlington Raceway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Obviously a big weekend for your team. Tell us a little bit about how you guys prepared for this weekend, and what your thoughts are heading into tomorrow’s race.

“Just prepared for the Southern 500. I can’t tell you all my secrets. But yeah, it’s been a fairly normal week. We stuck to our same processes that we normally do with the DiL simulator; talking through some options there of different setups and different things we’ve run in the past. We did fit in some extra time. Been doing some work with SVG and just leaning on each other to learn and lay some groundwork for how we each interact and things. We just have such a great tool with GM and their simulators there in Concord that we try to just lean into that thing and use it as a tool. It doesn’t tell us all the answers, but it’ll give us a lot of questions to ponder.

Pretty normal. Yeah, just talking through it. A few bike rides, a few runs. And then ate some good food yesterday to catch up and recover from the week. We’re ready to rip this morning.”

When you’re in the position that you are coming into this race, how much time do you spend reflecting on the ‘woulda, shoulda, couldas’ throughout the year? The races that you had good runs, you were in contention and it didn’t materialize..

“I don’t think those races cross my mind. The races that did have been the past Darlington races. As I look through and look through the weekends since 2021, when I got with Phil Surgen and the Gen-7 car; looking through those four years now, three-and-a-half years of races, and all of the nuances of each weekend and what I was saying and all that.. that’s the ‘shoulda, woulda, couldas’ of the past Southern 500’s and the past spring races. As I daydream a little bit throughout the weekend, it was those races that were popping up in my head.”

So there’s no race where you look back and go ‘I wish I had that one back’?

“Well there’s definitely races.. yes, there’s a long list. Nashville is obviously at the top of that list. I felt like we could win there. Texas, I was going to run second and would be really happy coming out of there. Those two stand out the most. Pocono, I just crashed. Not at the end of the race and not up front.. we were not up front at all, but that’s one where I just flat spun out. Trying to go too fast for the amount of grip I had and broke traction. So yes, there is a list. But when I was thinking this week, when I would kind of daydream and lose focus, it was Darlington races that were playing in my mind.”

Are you surprised to be in this position with the way you ran last year and the way you ended last year?

“Yeah, I am. Yeah, yeah it is. This stuff is so hard. I knew that.. I knew that whenever I ran my first truck race in 2011 and as I stepped up through the ranks and was in Cup cars here at Darlington, ones that we were just there to run the laps and go single-digit number of laps down.. nine or less was the goal. I knew how challenging it was. I also had this dream that it would be a whole lot easier when I had all the funding, the tires, the pit crew, everything. And it has.. definitely. I don’t expect to go laps down anymore. It still happens every now and then, but yeah – I’d say right now, it’s real that we’re in this position.

So yeah, I’d say surprised. If you would have had me fill out a bingo card at the start of the season, I wouldn’t have dabbed this block, for sure.”

When you are daydreaming, is there a scenario where you can get in on points or is this a ‘must win’ situation?

“I just know the best way that we can ensure it is to win. We’ve had opportunities to win the Southern 500. We’ve had opportunities to win a couple of races in the spring and fall here in a different series. That’s my goal. The math says we can do it either way, but my preparation and my mentality – and it’s been this way in Cup since the very first spring race that I came here in 2021. I left here that weekend and thought we can win a Cup race at Darlington one day and that thought hasn’t left my mind since.”

Are you running the Xfinity race to have more laps here? Are you doing it as a nice distraction to all the pressure? Are you doing it because you are committed to it and if the situation was different, maybe you wouldn’t?

“I love Darlington, so I want to race all of the races that I can here. I would still run tripleheaders if I thought it was going to be beneficial. I don’t think tripleheaders are the best thing for me in today’s climate of everything. But no, there’s never been a thought about backing out or asking Mario to let me out of the car. I see the benefit. I mean, yes – it’s a H-pattern shifter versus a sequential. It’s independent rear suspension. Truck arms versus not. So there’s a lot of differences, but ripping some laps for 20 minutes this morning; I can’t think of anything better to help me be faster Sunday night than getting laps on track here. It’s only my third Xfinity race of the year, so it’s not like I’ve loaded up on them. I have hit that five-race limit rule, which is a badge of honor too. And I don’t even think I’m going to hit five races this year.. I think I’m only going to do four.”

Do you feel at all that you don’t have the speed that you’ve had against the competition in the past? I’m looking at your laps led, I’m looking at your stage wins, and it just doesn’t seem to be where you’ve been the last two seasons..

“Yeah, I think the stages is the big, easy thing to point at. You look at finishing position and I don’t think it’s as bad as it would seem right now. But the stage points are way down. So yeah, we’ve just not been up there as consistently. There’s been times where we’ve been up there, but just haven’t been able to put together enough points. They give out the same amount of points for every race, except the Coca-Cola 600. Do I think that I’ve had the consistent speed? No, but do I think at Darlington that we’ll have the speed? I do. When I pull on track, I want to go and be as fast as I can in our practice session. And that hasn’t always been the case. Some of our goals in the past – we’ve been fine with not being very fast in practice here, but this weekend is about speed and calibrating up to what the lap times are going to be today. So, I think that here, it’s one of our measuring tools of where we’re at as a team, and if we can come here to Darlington and show speed and be competitive, then we’re not doing everything so wrong, as it would seem because we’re in this situation. As there’s been with this generation car, there’s been a lot of different winners and we needed to be one of those.”

We’re expecting an announcement about Christian Eckes taking the next step in his progression. A guy like you that’s raced trucks a lot, what have you seen from him, as far as his growth over the last couple of years?

“Yeah, I’ve seen him step through a few different teams and then land with Bill McAnally; take a team that’s never won in the Truck Series, win and be a consistent lap leader and race winner. I think him, Charles and Bill have built something special there. I’m biased because I’m over at Niece Motorsports, so I see them as a key partner Chevy truck team and as a teammate. Phil Gould and Charles work together, and they’re more similar than they are different. Yeah, I’ve seen what they’ve done. I’ve seen him pass me a lot in truck races. I don’t know what his announcement is or what he’s doing, but the next step.. I don’t know, got a good thing there. That No. 19 truck has obviously been so competitive and so fast.”

Aside from the consistent speed that you mentioned you don’t have.. when you look at the points, you were 93 points above the cutline leaving New Hampshire. So aside from the speed, what has this team fought that you guys just aren’t where you were last year?

“I didn’t crash on my own at Pocono in years past, so that one stands out, for sure. You could go down the list and you could dissect it over a four hour media availability. But ultimately, it just comes back to how fast you can go and can you finish those benchmark moments of Stage One, Two and the end of the race and collect the points. Don’t really have anything to point out, for sure. But it just adds up to points.. I don’t really know how else to answer that.”

Where is it on this race track that you can be aggressive when you’re trying to dance with the ‘Lady in Black’, has that changed? And has the day-to-night handling of the car made a real big difference on this track?

“The day-to-night definitely makes a difference. But no, I’ve only been on this track since its current paving configuration and asphalt that’s on it now. So as I’ve stepped through Xfinity races, Truck and Cup races, I’ve definitely pulled out of here more disappointed than I’ve ever been excited. But I’ve always pulled in here excited just to be here. The drive down is awesome. We’ve just had so many opportunities to pull out of here winners and we haven’t accomplished it, except the one time, which was this year. It was just so cool, and it really made it more special because of all the failures. I’ve failed here so many times with cars and trucks capable of winning. We were coming back from Covid and having the opportunity to win the second Xfinity race here that year.. just moments like that where it was right there in front of us. We did so many things right, but ultimately didn’t win. Putting together 500 miles from daylight to dark, and how these Cup cars drive off turn two; you’re either really fast and going forward, or you’re wondering if you’re going to crash every lap. When I step out of the car and watch it back, it’s awesome to watch. But in the moment, it gets my heartrate up pretty high.”

The aggressiveness you’re going to have to have at this track, matched with just hanging onto the car, how aggressive are you going to have to be?

“I don’t know.. nothing preconceived. Preparation for that, it’s more lap-by-lap. Trying to keep an understanding of what’s going on in the race; what stage of the race we’re at, what point and what lap. And yeah, how my car is. If I’m tight or if I’m loose. If I’ve been bottoming out off the bump in turn two, or if I’m really tight for three laps. It all leads kind of a natural thing for me as a driver to naturally drive and kind of adjust to how aggressive I can be. It could be that I’m limited by how hard I’m hitting the ground or something like that.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Southern 500 Media Availability | Darlington
Saturday, August 31, 2024

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske, met with media members Saturday morning ahead of on-track activity at Darlington Speedway Saturday. Logano spoke about the regular season finale and more.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse

THIS RACE WILL BE THE END OF THE REGULAR SEASON. NEXT WEEK WE’LL OFFICIALLY KICK OFF THE PLAYOFFS. YOU’VE BEEN IN THIS POSITION MANY TIMES. IF YOU DON’T MIND, JUST SHARE WITH US A LITTLE BIT OF HOW MUCH, YOU KNOW, THIS ENDS ONE PART OF THE SEASON AND NEXT WEEK STARTS ANOTHER PART FOR YOUR TEAM.

“Yeah, in a way it’s kind of a welcoming end of this part of the season as you look forward to the playoffs. Everyone is always excited about the playoffs. There’s so much opportunity to reach the ultimate goal, which is the championship. There’s 16 teams that have earned the right to be there. We’ll figure out the last one or two here this weekend obviously. It’ll be an exciting 10 weeks as it always is. There’s a lot of stories for you guys to talk about. Lord knows what they’ll be, but I’m sure there will be stories as there always is. It’ll be fun and interesting and hopefully at the end of the 10 weeks in Phoenix we’re celebrating.”

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THAT RUN BLANEY WENT ON LAST YEAR, WHICH CAME OUT OF NOWHERE, HOW DO YOU AND PAUL LOOK AT THOSE LAST TEN RACES AND SAY OKAY THIS MIGHT BE OUR CHANCE OR IS YOUR STRATEGY DIFFERENT?

“I don’t know if our strategy changes much. It kind of depends on what your position is as you go into the next race. What do you have to do to accomplish the ultimate goal, which is always getting to the next round first. How do we get to the next round? I think the strategy at this point is pretty apparent to most and it’s easy to say, hard to do. The first round has a lot of interesting racetracks in it, but a lot of times if you just have races without issue, you usually can get through that one. You know, it gets a little harder each time. And we’re not going in with a lot of playoff points like I’d like to have, but we have a few. There’s really not anyone that has a whole bunch more outside of the first few cars and obviously the 15 that the regular season champion will get. But yeah, it doesn’t mean that that’s a cakewalk for them either. We’ve seen that team get knocked out before, as well. So yeah, we just got to keep our heads down and dig and do our own thing, focus on what makes the 22 teamwork. We’ve gone on those runs before during the playoffs and it’s something that we’ve kind of become accustomed to for the most part at Team Penske. So hopefully we can bring a little bit more to the table and it seems like our cars are getting faster here recently, so I’m excited about that part. It seems like our cars are getting more and more competitive and we’re starting to peak at the right time. So it seems like it’s a little sooner than last year, which is good. I hope that’s the case. If you look at the 12 last year, it really wasn’t in the first round that they looked any better. It was really as they got to the second, the third round when it really started to show that their speed picked up and we were just too late. We were already knocked out at that point. So you just got to survive long enough to make sure the speed’s there if it matters.”

IN HIS THREE YEARS IN CUP SO FAR, HOW MUCH HAVE YOU SEEN HARRISON BURTON GROW AS A DRIVER AND DOES HE REMIND YOU OF YOUR EARLY DAYS?

“In some ways, yes and no. I definitely see some similarities there. I think everyone has said a lot of good things about Harrison this week, but I’d say, as a person probably what stands out the most to me about his character throughout the last three years. I get to witness it firsthand, not many people get to see that. I sit next to him on the airplane when we get done with every race, if we’re not driving like this weekend, but most of the time I sit next to him. There’s a lot of emotions after a race. Typically I have a hard time dealing with a lot of them, trying to get over it quickly. He always seems to have an upbeat attitude. It always impresses me. He’s happy. I’m sure it affects him. He just has a way of dealing with these things really, really well. He really lets that attitude go through his whole team. As a leader, it’s hard to do because you care so much and you get frustrated. It’s hard to keep a positive attitude on everything you do. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that. But as a driver, your emotions, your reactions radiate through the whole team. He does an amazing job at staying positive and upbeat and keeping everybody ready for the next weekend. I think that’s why everyone was so excited to see him win last week. Not many times in my career can I say I was brought to tears of joy for watching someone else win. And actually seeing that last week and seeing Jeff in there with him, that was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in our sport.”

JOEY, STARTING THE PLAYOFF AT ATLANTA, IS THAT A START WITH A WILD CARD RACE? AND HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT TO KICK THINGS OFF?

“Yes, it is. I’m honestly not a huge fan of superspeedways in the playoffs. I get we got to have a variety of all the race tracks within our playoff schedule. I think one is plenty just because we know what speedway racing is. I mean, look at last week. I mean, just things could be going well and then everyone ends up in a wad. And you say look at the last 20 of them. Okay, they all look the same. Guys run up front, have a chance to win, all of a sudden they’re in the infield center and you guys are talking to us there. It just happens over and over and over again. So I don’t like that that can ruin someone’s championship run because of something someone else did. Look at our situation last week, there is nothing I could have done. If that is in the playoffs and that keeps you from winning a championship, that is pretty frustrating. You put your self in that position and you think abou that. I can’t think of anything I’d rather have done. I’m leaving the bottom lane with 7 or 8 to go. Where else would I rather be? I don’t really know how to handle that better and it will happen again when we go to Talladega. The same things are going to happen when we go to Atlanta possibly. Maybe not Atlanta as much as a wild card, but it still can be. We have seen some big wrecks there recently. So yeah, it is interesting.

YOU TALKED ABOUT THE VARIETY OF THE FIRST ROUND, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT THREE RACE PACKAGE TO BEING THE PLAYOFFS IN ROUND ONE?

“Bristol sounds like the one that is the most predictable but it is not now. If you guys remember last time we went there, tires wore out really fast and nothing’s gonna be different, so you gotta assume it’s gonna look the same with a lot of tire wear and when you think of it from that lens they’re all kind of wild cards to that first round. Watkins Glen is gonna be a lot different than what it was last time we were there with the rumble strips through the bus stop being different and you know it’s gonna take something different from your car, the tire sounds like it’s going to wear out there too. So a lot of unknowns and things that we’ll have to figure out as a team really fast with no practice essentially, limited amounts of practice where you can’t adjust anything to your car substantially to try to combat some of the things you may be fighting with a tire wear scenario at both Watkins Glen and Bristol. So I hope you make the right decisions before you get there and then try to figure out how to execute with it once you get there.”

HAVE YOU TALKED TO NASCAR AT ALL ABOUT CARS GETTING AIRBORNE THIS WEEK? HAVE YOU HEARD ANYTHING AND DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS OR THINGS THAT THEY CAN DO?

“I didn’t talk to them about it. I don’t really know what you do. To me, I don’t have an engineering degree, I just have an RCD. I would say that the floor underneath the car that we have a big pan, when it catches wind, it’s like a kite. And we’ve seen that happen a lot with this car. Until that comes off, I don’t think there’s a way to keep them on the ground. So I think one of the best options would probably be to put a splitter back on the thing and take the underbodies off and go back to where they were. Not that we had great success keeping the old car on the ground all the time, but gosh, it seems like we’ve seen more cars go up here recently than ever. So I got to think that that’s kind of the only thing you can do to fix it. You can’t put more weight in the car. That’s not going to be the answer. Then the wrecks would be bigger. So you don’t want to do that. So I think kind of the only option is to take that diffuser off.”

ONLY THREE TIMES IN THE PAST 15 YEARS HAS A CHAMPION BEEN THE WINNINGEST DRIVER OF THAT SEASON. THE OTHER 12 CHAMPIONS DID NOT WIN THE MOST RACES. DOES THAT SEEM ODD TO YOU? DO YOU THINK THE SYSTEM COULD BE TWEAKED OR CHANGED A LITTLE BIT TO REWARD WINNING MORE OR IS IT OKAY LIKE IT IS?

“I mean it already is really biased towards winning already. You think about the old, even the Chase back in the day or even before that, it’s about consistency as much as winning. Now, yeah consistency pays and for your reasons you said, but winning in the playoffs is a must. You have to win. So I think it’s already really biased towards winning more than ever. It’s kind of odd that it’s like that with such a long season though. I’d like to see how many championships have been won with the most wins in the 10-week span, right, in the last 10 weeks of the season. Because I would assume that the majority of the champions have the most wins in those last 10 weeks because you got to win one, right, you’re going to have to win Phoenix, right, for the most part, I mean it seems like all but one time, so most likely that. And you’re probably going to have to win another one throughout that to get to the next round maybe if your back is up against the wall. It is pretty biased toward winning in my opinion.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU AND YOUR TEAM HAVE INSTALLED A PRETTY GOOD PLAN HEADING INTO THE PLAYOFFS SINCE YOUR WIN? WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET HERE AT DARLINGTON? BECAUSE IT IS THE LAST RACE OF THE REGULAR SEASON, DO YOU STAY OUT OF THE FRAY BECAUSE IT CAN GET CRAZY AT THE END OR BECAUSE IT IS THE SOUTHERN 500, IS THAT THE GOAL?

“It is the Southern 500. This one is on the bucket list, man. This is the one you want to win. Darlington is a place you always want to win no matter what it is, but the Southern 500 adds a little bit to it. One of the three to four crown jewel events of the year. So yeah, you go for it. It doesn’t matter to me if it wasn’t the Southern 500, I’m still going out there to win. That’s our goal. So you’re in it, you’re out there going for it no matter what. So it doesn’t really change much, you know, considering it’s the playoffs next week and all that type of thing. You still race to win every week.”

THERE’S BEEN SOME TALK LATELY ABOUT THE RELATIVE DRIVING TALENTS OF GUYS LIKE KYLE LARSON, MAX VERSTAPPEN. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF A TOP NASCAR GUY WENT TO F1 OR A TOP F1 GUY CAME TO NASCAR? DO YOU THINK ONE WOULD DO BETTER THAN THE OTHER?

“I don’t know if I can answer that without doing it. The cars are so different and the racing is so different. It’s going to be one thing making speed and I think either one will eventually figure out how to make speed out of the car. But you look at the discipline of what F1 is, and the way they race, their strategy, and even the way they communicate is so different. The cars, the little nuances, the little things, so different than our cars. But then you think of, put them in the draft at Daytona, or put them at a restart here at Darlington and they’re racing so differently that it would take a long time to learn that. Outside of just making a car go fast and knowing how the car changes throughout a run and those type of things. It’s not that one’s more talented than the other. I’m sure there are amazing race car drivers in both series 100%, but they’ve been doing that for so long that it’s unfair to think that either one of us can switch and be competitive automatically. Like no way. On a road course it might be the closest for them to have a chance to be in the hunt, but you put one of them on an oval, they’re not going to have a clue what to do. That’s not a dig to F1 in any way, I’m just saying it’s so different that it would take years to try to convert. We’ve seen that. We’ve seen a few F1 guys try to convert into NASCAR drivers, and a few of them were successful, but it took a long time to do that. It wasn’t long. Juan Pablo, right, maybe the first one that comes to mind, it took him a while to become competitive in NASCAR and he’s an amazing talent, right? So, it’s just different. It’s what did you do growing up and what did you do for the last 15 years? Probably gonna be better at it.”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY IT?

“I would try it, sure. Yeah, sign me up. Let’s go. I’d love to.”

IN TERMS OF TALKING ABOUT THE UPCOMING PLAYOFFS FOR THE CHANGES TO THE TRACKS, BUT ALSO THE TIRE CHANGES AND THINGS LIKE THAT. HOW MUCH IS LESS IN A DRIVER’S HAND OR IS IT PUTTING MORE IN A DRIVER’S HAND IN THESE PLAYOFFS WITH ALL THESE CHANGES?

“I don’t think it’s any different more or less. It’s not more or less, it is different though is what I guess I should say. Just because you have to be kind of ready for the unknown more than ever this year going into the playoffs. It’s just a lot of things that can happen that we can’t call yet. I feel like in the past, the playoffs were a little bit more predictable. But this first round is very unpredictable. I don’t know how it’s gonna work out. So you just gotta be quick and ready to adapt. Because we don’t really know exactly how the first three are really gonna play out. Especially outside of Atlanta, those other two, you really have no idea how they’re going to play out. You just got to be ready.”

LAST WEEK, THE END OF THE RACE, WE SAW A SITUATION WHERE A REALLY YOUNG DRIVER IN A DIFFERENT MANUFACTURER PUSHES ANOTHER MANUFACTURER TO THE VICTORY. AS A VETERAN, IS THERE ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO SOMEBODY LIKE THAT WHO HAS GONE THROUGH A SITUATION, A VERY UNIQUE SITUATION AND KIND OF FACING SOME DIFFERENT QUESTIONS?

“I’m too far removed from that organization to know what they talk about, right? Like, did they have a pre-race meeting? Did they specifically talk about that stuff? Like coming to the end of a race, is that how that works over there? I don’t know, I just know how Ford works out things. I don’t know what, there are a couple of people back there that maybe can answer it, but they’re looking at me like, say the right thing, I don’t know what you guys do over there, okay, I don’t know what you guys do. What do we do behind closed doors, it’s your deal, man. But for us, we try to talk about as many things as possible, but you just never can call exactly how these races are going to play out. I don’t know if he was put in a tough spot or not, but obviously, there are questions afterward. You have to talk to him, I can’t really speak to it.”

NEXT YEAR’S SCHEDULE CAME OUT THIS WEEK, NOW WITH MORE TRACKS IN NORTH CAROLINA, INCLUDING ROCKINGHAM. DO YOU THINK THE SCHEDULE DOES A GOOD JOB OF APPEALING TO MORE TRADITIONAL FANS, OR IS THERE ANY WAY YOU’D LIKE TO SEE THE SERIES GO IN THE FUTURE?

“Well, when you think of the racetracks that we’ve resurrected here recently, North Wilkesboro, Rockingham now and Bowman Gray next year. It is cool. I think the Truck Series is perfect for that. You can think about when the Truck Series started or even the Xfinity Series, right? They raced at Hickory and they raced at some of these really old, cool tracks. I think it’s neat that they can bring those tracks back to life. I mean, Rockingham is awesome. It’s one of the best race tracks we’ve ever had. I’ve always enjoyed racing there. So, it definitely looks like a fun event and anything we can do to bring those tracks back and not let them just grow weeds through them anymore. I mean, that’s the cool part.”

THE TRUCKS ARE GOING TO GO TO LIME ROCK PARK NEXT YEAR. AS A CONNECTICUT NATIVE, IS IT COOL TO SEE THAT ON THE SCHEDULE AND WOULD YOU CONSIDER RUNNING THERE?

“I’d like to. I think it would be cool to race in Connecticut. I don’t even know where it lines up to where the Cup stuff is. I didn’t go over to schedule that great. But yeah, outside of me running it, it’s awesome that NASCAR is going back to Connecticut and even at the Truck level. I mean, there’s a lot of race fans up there. I grew up there and I remember going to so many different garages and there’s always NASCAR calendars and NASCAR memorabilia of some sort. Modified racing up there is huge. There are a ton of race fans in New England that I feel like get overlooked a lot because our sport sometimes is looked at as a Southeastern sport but it’s so nationwide at this point and New England has some die-hard race fans. It’s cool to have some more racing up there for them for sure.”