Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Cracker Barrel 400 Media Availability
Saturday, May 31, 2025

Josh Berry, driver of the No. 21 Freightliner Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, was made available to the media ahead of the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Berry enters Sunday’s Nashville race 17th in the driver standings, -230 points to the leader, with one race win this season (Las Vegas).

LAST YEAR THIS CUP RACE ENDED IN A LITTLE BIT OF CHAOS WITH FIVE OVERTIMES AND YOU HAD A REALLY GOOD RUN GOING THAT ENDED WITH YOU SPINNING OUT. WHAT IS THE MINDSET THIS WEEKEND WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS? “Yeah, nothing has really changed too much from our side. We just go and try to have a good practice and qualifying today. Get us some decent track position and a good pit stall. Go to work tomorrow and go racing. I feel like this has been a place I have enjoyed coming to and ran pretty good over the years. We’ve had speed and everything. Obviously, Miles and the guys have been doing a great job over the course of the season bringing speed. If we can just execute from when we get on the track today then I think we have a chance at a good finish.”

I AM SURE YOU HAVE SEEN THE COMMENT FROM ELTON SAWYER THIS PAST WEEK ABOUT THE POTENTIAL INCREASE IN HORSEPOWER IN THE NEXT GEN CAR. AS SOMEONE WITH THE AMOUNT OF SHORT TRACK EXPERIENCE YOU HAVE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IS SOMETHING THIS CAR NEEDS TO IMPROVE THE PRODUCT ON SHORT TRACKS AND, IF SO, HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK IT NEEDS? “I definitely think it needs more. The question, I think, boils down to how much more does it need to move the needle? I don’t really have an answer to that. It probably needs to be pretty significant. What I would hate to happen is to go up 100 horsepower and it doesn’t really look that different and everyone goes ‘oh that wasn’t it.’ It is a combination of a lot of things. It is the aero side of the car, it is horsepower, it’s the tires. Honestly, it’s technology. I raced a Pro Late Model on Thursday night and when I got out front my car drove a lot better than when I was tucked up behind someone’s bumper. It’s just technology and the field is that close. It’s just physics and aero. It would definitely be a step in the right direction if they go in that direction. We will see what happens.”

HAVE YOU GOTTEN MUCH TIME ON THE SIMULATOR GOING INTO MEXICO AT THIS POINT? “Yeah, I have a little bit. It is definitely a pretty cool layout. It is going to be interesting. I think there are some passing zones. There’s definitely going to be issues with track limits in the esses, right? It’s just tight. You can just tell. To me, it is probably just a little bit worse than COTA. It doesn’t feel like there is going to be grass on both sides so it is just a little bit different. Overall, I think it should probably be a good race. That is what we want to see.”

IN A RACE AT A HIGHER ELEVATION IT IS GOING TO JUST SAP THE HORSEPOWER. IS THAT FACTORED IN? DOES IT FEEL A BIT SLOWER COMPARATIVELY? DO YOU GET A SENSE OF THAT? “It is hard to get a sense of that. Our engineers and Ford talk about that. We are trying to recreate it, I guess, to think about it. But, I will be honest, I never had that experience. I have never raced at a high elevation like that to know how it will change things or not. Obviously, a bunch of other forms of racing have raced there and we can communicate with those guys to get an idea but I am not really sure if it will be enough to notice or not.”

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU ARE DOING, OR CAN DO, TO PREPARE YOURSELF AND YOUR BODY TO RACE AT 7,000 FEET ELEVATION? “I don’t know? I have never done that. It is hard to say. Something to think about a little bit. Thankfully we are going to be there on Thursday so we will have a couple days to acclimate to it. But, I haven’t really thought about it too much, I guess.”

FOR THE IN-SEASON CHALLENGE, THE TOP 32 AFTER TOMORROW NIGHT ARE IN THE FIELD. WITH THE FOCUS ON WINNING WEEK-TO-WEEK, HOW MUCH THOUGHT IS THERE OF THAT ? DOES THE MILLION DOLLAR PRIZE GET YOUR ATTENTION? “I think we all pay pretty close attention to it once it gets rolling. I think it is going to be exciting to follow and watch. I am sure we will go into the weekends knowing who we are paired against. Obviously, there is a lot of money on the line and potentially a lot of money on the line for a fan if they have a perfect bracket. I think it will be cool to follow. It should be fun.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, driver of the No. 6 Solomon Plumbing RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, was made available to the media ahead of the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Owner/Driver Keselowski is 32nd in the driver standings, -319 points to the leader. Nashville is the site of Keselowski’s first NASCAR win in 2008.

YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH SEASONS LIKE THIS BEFORE, HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO GET THE KIND OF FINISH YOU GOT AT CHARLOTTE? HOW HARD IS IT TO NOT TO TRY TOO HARD TO DIG OUT AND YOU CREATE NEW PROBLEMS? “That last part is what really stands out. You know, just trying not to do too much. We’re hitting our stride as an organization, in particular with the 6 team. The cars are developing more speed, our execution is getting better. It is an exciting time for us, outside of looking at where we are in the point standings. We need to build off of that and incrementally inch our way up to being able to win. I think we are really close to that right now. Trying not to jump the shark on that is important. But last week was a really positive moment for us. The last run of the race we passed at least a half dozen cars and ran the fastest laps and did a lot of positive things that would make you feel like you can go win.”

HOW DO YOU VIEW WHERE YOU SIT IN THE POINTS STANDINGS? DOES IT MAKE LIFE SIMPLE, JUST GO FOR WINS OR DO YOU VIEW IT ANOTHER WAY? “It is simple in some ways. Last year, I don’t think we had much pace but we were executing and getting good finishes out of it. We were sitting in the top 10 in points and all of those things. We have more potential now but we haven’t had the execution that we had last year.I am just eager to get the execution to go with the potential.”

THE 32 TEAMS FOR THE IN SEASON TOURNAMENT WILL BE LOCKED IN THIS WEEKEND. YOU ARE THE GUY ON THE BUBBLE, AT 32ND. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO GET A TEAM AND A DRIVER IN THAT TOURNAMENT CONSIDERING IT IS PROBABLY GOING TO GET A LOT OF TV TIME. “I can’t say I have thought a lot about it. I really just think about winning this weekend and what that takes. It will be fun to talk about when it gets going. It’s good for the sport, good for our fans. It’s a competition and if it is a competition, we want to win it. With that said, our heads are down and focused on one week at a time, really one day at a time, and that is Nashville and it is hard to look further ahead than that.”

AS WE LOOK AT GOING TO MEXICO FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE CUP CARS, IS THERE SOMETHING YOU ARE HOPING TO EXPERIENCE MAKING THAT TRIP AND AROUND THAT EVENT? “It is an interesting event. There are all kinds of different sentiments; positive, negative. I think it is good for the Cup Series in general to see the schedule variability that has really been driven over the last half-dozen years or so. An international race just fitting the bill for everything else we have been doing. I am just really curious to see the reception of our fans. I think the reception from our partners has been pretty strong which is always fun and great for the teams. But I am really curious about the reception from our fans both here and in Mexico. Will they turn out the way we think they will turn out? It is one of those things that when it is all said and done, I think I will be able to answer a lot better than I can now. We will just have to see how it all plays out.”

TWO BIG PENALTIES IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME TO YOUR TEAMS. AS AN OWNER, WHAT’S THE MESSAGE? IS IT PUSHING TOO MUCH? IS IT CARLESSNESS? HOW DO YOU ADDRESS THIS SITUATION? “The situations at hand were not items I would call ‘pushing too much’ as much as I would call just not having enough regard to understanding the rule book and all of its complexities. Ultimately, that burden falls on us and we have had those conversations internally. I think everyone knows what is expected of them moving forward.”

THIS WEEK AND INDY CAR TEAM ANNOUNCED IT WAS PLACING SOMEONE IN CHARGE OF OVERSEEING THE RULES. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO LOOK INTO MORE? “The rules are extremely complex. It is a bit like an IRS tax code. You have to read this paper and you have to reference this paper, to reference this paper to reference this paper. When you’re head down and digging, running 38 weeks a year, oversights are going to happen. From our perspective, that’s not an excuse, I can’t really speak to other teams and how they handle it. I can speak to ours and we made a small restructuring this week to be better prepared and more mindful of what it takes to be in compliance.”

RYAN PREECE MIGHT BE THE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER OF THE YEAR. AS A TEAM OWNER, HOW IS IT TO SEE HIM SUCCEED SO EARLY AND TO FIND THAT SPEED AND EARN POINTS? “Yeah, I am really happy for him. When we brought him on, it reminded me a lot of the Chris Buescher story. When people said ‘what do you see in him?’ and ‘I don’t know if this is a good move?’ I just felt really strong about it. I like his work ethic, I like his talent. I just felt like he wasn’t in the right situation, just like I felt about Chris. It just felt like the burden was on us to put him in the right position. To allow him to thrive in the scheme that was made for him and he has done just that. He has put in the effort. He is very hungry. He is very driven. He is in a spot where he has people who believe in him, who are engaged with him. In a system that is very supportive and he is showing what he can do. I am thrilled for him. I am here to see him win. He’s been close a few times. I can’t wait to see him break through. That will be a great moment for him. Three or four years ago I feel like we were having the same conversation about Chris Buescher and now Chris is clearly the guy for the 17 car. He is doing all the right things and producing results. I feel like we are going to be saying the same thing over the next few years about Ryan.”

YOU HAVE HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS ON CONCRETE TRACKS BEFORE AT DOVER AND BRISTOL. WHAT MAKES THIS CONCRETE DIFFERENT WHERE YOU ARE STILL LOOKING FOR YOUR FIRST TOP TEN RESULT AT NASHVILLE? “We have had some really good runs here at Nashville. We haven’t been able to get the finish on the Cup side here. I won my first race ever here in NASCAR which is great, in 2008. What I have always enjoyed about it is that the concrete is just really, really unforgiving and takes a lot of discipline. When you get sideways the car is much more difficult to recover, generally. I just think it is a different type of racing than asphalt racing. I enjoy it. It is the only track above one mile that is concrete. It is something different, interesting, that kind of breaks up the schedule a little bit. We have to survive the restarts and bring speed. I think we can do both of those.”

WAS IT KIND OF NOSTALGIC LOOKING BACK WHEN YOU DROVE IN? “I was thinking that as I did the track walk this morning. I remember coming here in 2006 for an ARCA race where I worked on a team. That was 19 years ago and now I am here owning a team in the Cup series. It has been quite a ride. I am really proud to be where I am at and this track has kind of aged like fine wine. The surface here is 25-26 years old and it is in great condition. The facilities are in great condition. It is really just kind of a walk back in time for me.”

DID YOU NOTICE ANYTHING ABOUT THE BUMP IN TURN 4 BEING MORE PRONOUNCED? “No. The only thing I really noticed on the track walk is there is some significant grinding to the track in the middle of turn three and four but not at the exit of turn four. The key to this race track in the Next Gen car is that these cars are very sensitive to rough surfaces. We will get a better answer to that after practice.”

OTHER DRIVERS HAVE BEEN IN HERE TALKING ABOUT SIM TIME AND WORKOUTS. WITH YOU, AS AN OWNER, HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DELEGATE YOUR TIME SO YOU CAN DO THOSE THINGS TOO? “It is a delicate balance. Trying to make sure we have fulfilled the needs of the team and I am doing the things I need to do to be prepared as a race car driver. There is obviously a lot going on. We have a great cast of people to support me to help me be efficient with my time which is really important. Otherwise it is not achievable. There is a lot of juggling but it is part of the fun.”

ABOUT BABY WATCH PLANS? “Our baby is due in August. We have two months, which is not what my wife wants to hear. It will be around the corner which is all the more reason that a win this weekend would be great.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MAY 31, 2025

 Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 and 2022 Nashville winner, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Nashville Superspeedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Chase, consistency has been a key word for your season so far. It seemed like you really stepped it up and at Charlotte and Kansas. Are there any changes in the team or what have you all found here in the last few weeks?

“I think, yeah, Kansas (Speedway) and honestly North Wilkesboro (Speedway), too, I thought was a solid week for us. And then, yeah, I thought we had a really good car last week at Charlotte, as well. I think it’s a product of a lot of hard work and just a collective effort of trying to make some improvement. That’s always the goal, just keep chipping away. I think the team’s in a really good spot. We had a really good week on pit road. Really, they kept me in the game last week. They gained me two or three spots on every pit stop, and I’d give away five or six. So it was a frustrating night on my end, but I thought the car performed really well. All the pieces of the puzzle were really in place. I just need to continuously work on my craft and make sure that I’m doing my part.”

Three concrete tracks on the schedule – here at Nashville, Dover and Bristol, and you’ve won at all three. What about the concrete surface fits your driving still?

“Yeah, I don’t really know that it’s — I mean, I guess it could have been concrete, but I didn’t really think about it like that. I think we’ve fortunately had some good runs at those three tracks. I don’t necessarily have one reason, I think it’s probably a lot of reasons, truthfully. So I hope that this weekend’s another good effort for us.

For me, it’s never about — hey, you won here however many years ago, you should be good. It’s what do I have going on right now? What is our team doing well right now? What do we need to improve on to be good here this weekend? Just because so much changes. I’m more of a ‘what’s going on lately’ type of person, and I just think the performance is really centered around that more than those historical practices and things that happened years ago.”

Chase, how do you view your playoff situation? We’re into the second-half of the regular season. We’ve only had eight winners. You’re the highest, way above the cut line, of the drivers who haven’t won yet because of your consistency. Just how do you view being so far above the cut line in your picture of the playoff right now?

“I mean, yeah, certainly better to be in that position than on the other side of the fence, no doubt. But I’d be lying if I said that was my top focus. It’s just not. I think that if you’re worried about barely getting into the playoffs, I think you have some work to do. It really is kind of the best way I can think about that. And just to talk about my thought process, I want to be better than that. I want to be in the group of people of how many playoff points do you have, not just barely getting in. Our expectations and goals are above that, and we hope that we can achieve all of our goals.

But again, nice to be on that side of the fence, no question. But there’s also a lot of racing left between now and the cutoff. You know, if you win, then your problems are likely solved. And if you don’t and you have a bunch of winners, you can find yourself in a tough spot. We’ve been in that spot before, too. So yeah, we want to not find ourselves in a tough position, you know, come the end of Week 26.”

The top-32 are set after tomorrow night for this in-season challenge. With the eye on the big picture of the playoffs, how interesting is it week-to-week, trying to win each week, or how much do you keep an eye on that in-season challenge of trying to win that prize? A million dollars is not bad…

“Yeah, for sure. I think, you know, similar to the last question — all of the points stuff, it all takes care of itself when you just do your job. So that’s kind of my approach to all those things. It just does not do you any good to worry about those things. Our expectations and our goals are to try and be amongst those teams that have opportunities to win regularly. You know, if you’re doing that, you’re going to get your turn. And if you’re not, then you won’t. It’s really that simple. I think that if your goals and your expectations are in a high enough place and where they should be, the stuff that goes on on the side will sort itself out, and that’s kind of how I’ll view that, as well.”

Without a stage win or a race win season, do you get a little anxious for those kinds of things while you’re trying to manage and be consistent?

“No, I don’t. I wouldn’t say I’m anxious about it. I just want to go and achieve it. You know, those are our goals and those are the things that we want to go out there and achieve.

But no, I guess to answer your question, I don’t feel any anxiety from that. I just want to make it happen.”

You’ve had a really good record at Michigan International Speedway in the past. I think you started your career there with three second-place results. How important is it to do well at that track since it’s home to the manufacturers?

“Yeah, for sure. It’s always good to go to Michigan (International Speedway) and have a good run. It’s certainly changed a lot, you know, over the years, just with how the cars have changed. But the racetrack itself is like the most consistent place I’ve ever seen for, for a racetrack that has those hard winters. It just doesn’t seem to get old, which is kind of crazy.

I enjoy going out there. If you’ve never been to Michigan in the summer, it’s actually really nice. I highly recommend it. I always enjoy going up there in the summer months. Certainly a great place to have a good run for GM and everybody involved there. They do a lot for us.”

Elton Sawyer said on SiriusXM this past week about the possibility of increasing horsepower. In your opinion, do you feel like that is something that’ll help the product with the short-track racing? And if so, how much does it require to see a difference?

“Yeah, that’s a good question. I’m not super in-tune with what those numbers are or like what’s being talked about as far, as how far they want to go with it. So I don’t know that I’m super educated on kind of what’s possible, what’s even true or not true. I think it’d be worth a shot, you know, if the engine manufacturers are willing to do it. And that’s probably going to be a question for them, truthfully, because they’re going to dictate how much power we can give the current packages that we have and still have the longevity and the reliability we expect to have because I think we have to run them three times. So, you know, I think without having a total overhaul, you’ve got to play within those walls, right? And I think the engine manufacturers are going to have to get on the same page and agree to a number, which is always difficult. You know, throughout my career, it’s like — Chevrolet might want one thing, Toyota might want something else, and Ford might want something different. And everybody kind of plays to their strengths as to what they think they have their leg up on, right? And that’s just a game. So you’re going to have to get all of them to agree, which in my view, is going to be a difficult thing to do. But hopefully they can, and everybody’s willing to give it a shot somewhere just to see if it makes a difference. It might not do anything, but it might really help. And until you try, I don’t know that you really have an answer.”

Chase, at various times in your life, you’ve snow skied and snowboarded in the higher elevations of the Western Mountains, so you’re aware of the physical activity and all at a higher elevation. With the Mexico track being more than 7,000 feet, what are you doing to prepare for that elevation you’ll be racing in?

“Yeah, I had thoughts of trying to get somewhere, you know, with the higher elevation before the weekend or before going down there, but I’m not so sure if my schedule is going to allow that to happen. So I’m going in earlier than I would typically go in, you know, for a race weekend for Mexico City. There’s lot of reasons for that, one of them being to your question, and just to hopefully alleviate any kind of sickness or not feeling good. I visited Mexico City a month or so back, and we did some media events for the race, and fortunately, I felt fine. I felt good. We were only there for a day or two, but I felt okay that whole period of time. Granted, I wasn’t pushing my heart rate, running or anything like that, so that might be different. But yeah, hopefully, it’s like that again. I felt normal. So yeah, kind of wait and see when we get on track and see how you feel. But going to go in a little early, and hopefully that alleviates all that stuff.”

How’s your father doing? Does he get to attend many races, and you still kind of rely on him sometimes for advice or counsel when things aren’t going too well?

“Oh, yeah, he’s doing good. He comes to the races every now and again, not a ton. He enjoys his time away from the racetrack, and I think he’s earned that right. He ran around this deal for a long time, so he seems to be enjoying that, which I think is great. I love to have him when he does come.

And yeah, for sure. I mean, I think he keeps up and pays attention, and he keeps his eye on us. I hope we don’t have to have many of those conversations, right? You just want to keep trucking, keep plugging away and keep working hard. He’s done it long enough to know that this deal is going to have ups and downs, and that’s just part of racing. But yes, if that is needed, he’s always there for that.”

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NASCAR CUP SERIES
NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MAY 31, 2025

 Ty Dillon, driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Nashville Superspeedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Ty, it sounds like you had a really interesting week this past week in Ohio. Could you please tell us about it?

“Yeah, we had a great time up in Cleveland. Maybe most people know, but our owner, Matt Kaulig, is from the Cleveland, Ohio, area and that’s where his businesses are ran out of. It’s kind of a unique situation that our owner’s from there and a lot of what makes Kaulig Racing go is in Ohio. So, I spent the week up there; saw his companies and visited all the folks there. And then I also did media up in Cleveland. We went to the Guardians game and threw out the first pitch. That was fun. We went to LeBron James’ ‘I Promise’ School, which is an amazing experience just seeing what he’s doing there in the town that he grew up in, in Akron.

We also went to Denzel Ward’s football camp, the ‘Make Them Know Your Name’ camp. They do some amazing things. So, we went around Cleveland kind of raising awareness for the Kaulig Companies Championship coming up, which is Matt’s golf tournament that he sponsors for the Champions Tour. Us drivers from Kaulig will be there for that in a couple weeks.

And then also just for the Kaulig Giving Group. Matt does so much giving from his wealth, his personal wealth and his company’s wealth, to so many foundations in Cleveland. And to just go out there and see that was a really fun week for me. It was busy, but it was a great time.”

How would you evaluate your 2025 season so far? What are your expectations for the second-half of the regular season?

“I would evaluate our season — I don’t know about putting a grade on it, but I’d say it’s been pretty good. I think we’ve been fast, and we’ve ran really well at some tracks. We’ve done a bit of a poor job executing finishes. I think we’ve ran up front more than we’ve finished up front. And I think that’s one of the positives is that we have the speed to do it. So, now it’s just executing some finishes. I mean, we ran out of gas two races in a row, which was pretty devastating for us. It was a difference of probably 35, 40 points over two weeks.

And then last week at Charlotte, we were really fast, just like our teammate AJ (Allmendinger), and we struggled getting out of pit road, just kind of getting blocked in in our spot. I think Charlotte’s one of the hardest pit roads. (Kyle) Larson was parked there in front of us, and he had early damage. So, he kept coming down pit road in front of us, and I couldn’t get out of my stall. So, I think we came down 20th on the first stop and came out 30-something. Then the next stop, he came to fix it again. I think we had driven back up to 22nd and then fell back to 30th again. It’s just been one of those years where we just can’t really seem to catch a break to where a race has been clean for us. Some of that’s out of our hands, and some of that stuff that we’ve got to clean up on pit road and mistakes I’ve made myself.

But I feel like for the rest of the season, everything’s right in front of us. We’re fast enough. I think everybody sees the performance gained in Kaulig Racing for AJ and myself. We just have to, for my team, execute some of these races a little bit better.”

Is it helpful to see what AJ (Allmendinger) is able to do, or is it frustrating in the sense that you can’t replicate it because you guys haven’t been able to execute everything in all situations?

“Yeah, I mean, certainly you want to be right there with your teammate. AJ’s (Allmendinger)having a phenomenal year. But both of us have had, you know, there’s been weekends where he’s had bad luck and I’ve had good luck, you know, and he’s had a couple more finishes inside the top-10 than us. But there’s been days where we should have finished in the top-10. You look at Talladega (Superspeedway), you look at some of those days, and we run out of gas or something silly might happen. So I think our season looks very similar if some of our mistakes aren’t there. I’m sure he would like to have some blown engines back, and his season would look even better. But if you just look at it as a whole, we’re both running good. And for me, it’s not really about comparing myself to my teammate. AJ and I work really good together. He’s one of the best teammates I have had. I love the way that he attacks his preparation and the way he drives. He’s a fighter every time he gets out there in the racetrack, just as much as I am.

My view always as teammates is rising tides raise all ships. So AJ doing good is only a good thing for both of us. We work a lot together, both of our teams. We don’t go to the racetrack — I think the only time we’ve been to the racetrack where we don’t have the same thing was at the All-Star Race, and that was just because we were trying some different things out there. So when one team runs good it’s because we all put our effort together. I think we’re running good as a group, and it’s just a matter of which one executes the weekend better. They’ve done a better job than us so far and hopefully we can get our team to that standard.”

How much preparation have you done for Mexico City? And if you’ve done some sim work, what is that track like there?

“Yeah, I’ve been spending about two hours a week for the past nine weeks in a static rig every Tuesday with my crew chief, just working on it. So I feel like I got some good laps. Him and I made it a goal to have more laps than anybody before we get there. Whether that helps or not, I’ve gotten pretty good at the computer version. We’ll see what happens when we get there, the real version (laughs).

So, yeah, I’ve been grinding pretty hard, just putting in a lot of laps. I feel like any time you go to a new racetrack, it’s a new opportunity. It levels the playing field a little bit across the ground that first year. You want to be the one that sees it as an opportunity, not a negative.”

So if you’re doing that and spending all that time in the car and trying to figure out the track, what are you doing for your body in getting adjusted and prepared for the high elevation?

“I’m not doing anything special. For about two years now, every week I do the same thing. As soon as the race is over on Sunday, I work out Monday. I work out every day of the week. I’ve really taken my fitness, physical fitness, very serious over the last two years. I have in the years past, but just kind of doing it different, just trying to build muscle. I feel so much better at this point in the season than I ever have just being stronger and being in the gym every single day. Even though when it’s hard, I still get in the gym. I do a lot of sauna work. I have ice baths. I have a hyperbaric chamber. So I’m doing that kind of stuff weekly to take hydration and nutrition very serious, too.

I feel like I’m at the peak performance with my body that I’ve ever been in a race car. I know Mexico City is going to bring a new challenge with the height and altitude, with the lack of oxygen for us, and it’s going to be hot too. But I feel ready to challenge any of these drivers to a fitness test, so we’ll see what happens in Mexico.”

You were still pretty young when Dale Earnhardt drove for your grandfather. So kind of a two-part question… have you watched the Earnhardt documentary? And then secondly, from a young kid’s perspective, what was that time period like?

“So the last week-and-a-half has been quite busy since the documentary came out. I have not watched it yet. I do plan on it. The last documentary I watched was the one called Dale. That was probably, I don’t know, 15-20 years ago.

Like you said, I was very young at that time, but I just knew Dale (Earnhardt Sr.) from my perspective as a guy that when we were little and we were at the racetrack, he would come and bug my brother and I, whether it was pinching us behind the neck or grabbing us as hard as he could to get our attention. And we didn’t really like that. We were kind of scared of him. But man, we grew up every weekend, and where Dale finished determined our week. We got pizza if Dale won, so that was a celebration in our house.

I was telling somebody a couple of weeks ago, he won so often and they were so amazing as a team. I remember being so spoiled and I’d be like — hey man, I wish you’d win at this track. He hasn’t won at this track in a while, instead of just the fact that he keeps winning over and over and over. It’s like – it’s OK, we’ll be happier if he wins at this track.

Just knowing that kind of perspective after being in sport as a driver myself was crazy. But the impact he had on my grandfather, my family, and everybody at RCR, and what that has become because of him and my grandfather’s relationship, obviously means so much to myself and our family and everybody in sport. He was a giant in our sport and a legend. It’s just awesome that we continue to talk about him, and the documentary continues to bring his name to the light because he has done so much for what the sport is.”

About General Motors

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES
NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MAY 31, 2025

 Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Busch Country Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing and the No. 9 Acceptance Insurance Camaro SS for JR Motorsports, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series at Nashville Superspeedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

You mentioned last week how much the Truck race helped you for the Coca-Cola 600. What are you hoping to learn from running the Xfinity car later tonight?

“Yeah, I was wishing I was in the truck last night. Watching those guys rip around looked fun.

But yeah, just laps. After the week we just had, I just want to get in a race car. This afternoon is going to be really good just to make laps and learn the Xfinity car again on this track. This is a humbling sport, though, so we put ourselves at a lot of high risk getting back on track. The success could be hard again — like the cars don’t know what happened last week, so I’m ready to get on track and start working through the process. I expect it to take me a little bit of time to get up to speed in the Xfinity car. And yeah, it’ll be a good afternoon, I hope.”

Did you bring two watermelons this week?

“We did, yes. JRM and Trackhouse both brought watermelons.

What’s so cool is the teams really have bought into that… into having the watermelons and getting them. Whether it’s truck drivers or whoever’s buying groceries for the hauler, yes, they’ve got watermelons in each of them.”

Ross, talk about your week and the win at the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. Of course, all the media responsibilities heading into this week, including being here in your hometown for your race team in Nashville. Just talk about your week and just how busy it’s been leading into this weekend’s race.

“Yeah, we celebrated. We took Sunday night, took our sweet time in Victory Lane and just really soaked it in.

It’s so rewarding when you get there because it’s so hard to accomplish it, and to do it at the Coca-Cola 600 was just something that I wanted to just enjoy. Then we stayed up all night and they took me out at the Charlotte Airport in the morning and sent me off to Milwaukee. We already had an appearance booked for the Moose. So I got up there and just to see their excitement — they were celebrating from the night before and we had a good time with them Monday and Tuesday. Then caught a flight back and got to celebrate with the team Tuesday afternoon. Part of Tuesday and Wednesday was all about prep for here, and then I was off Wednesday night back here to Nashville to start appearances Thursday morning and I’ve been here ever since.

I’m really excited. I’m really ready to get in the race car. It’s been a lot of talking about what happened, but this sport moves on every seven days. It’s time to get going again.”

You started 40th last week and worked your way to the front. Did you learn anything? In a car that some people say is hard to pass, did you learn anything that you can use it for the rest of the season, as well?

“Just that patience paid off. There were times where I almost got in the wall, but I lifted. There were times where I almost got to someone’s outside or almost cleared them off the corner and lifted. In a 600-mile race, that allows you to do that. These races are a lot shorter this weekend, though.”

What do you need to feel and see Saturday’s moving forward? What’s been the thing that’s missing to not allow you to get closer to the front to start off races?

“Speed. You saw in practice last week for group two. We were right there with the No. 24 for the fast lap in our group. It’s expected. We expect it to be slower than the first group. But just lap after lap, we just kept hammering lap times. We were really, really good.

But yeah, it just comes down to lap time. The sport rewards speed and how fast can you start and finish the lap from the starting point and getting it done. It’s a real simple reward system. You go fast, you get a lot of cool things. And the lap time came with the balance of the car last week. So for that practice at Charlotte in the Cup car, the balance stayed good. I asked my team to just build the car the same because I didn’t need any changes. Usually you want to migrate the balance a little. You want to tighten up just a little bit on corner entry, a little bit on exit. But I was just like just build it the same, and we will be really good. And we’ll adjust in the race, but I didn’t have any — that’s probably the first time, definitely in my Cup career, that I’ve ever gotten out of a practice session and didn’t ask for anything. And that’s why I was so full of a smile all Saturday as they were building the next car. I knew if they could replicate that, we’d have a real shot. So the lap time comes with the balance.”

This starts the second-half of the regular season. Six of the last 13 races in the regular-season are either a road course or drafting track. So there’s four road courses left, two drafting tracks left. How much can that change things, upset the apple cart, or what kind of impact might that have?

“That’s a good question. I think that’s what’s so great about our sport and live sports in general is we just don’t know what’s going to happen or what’s next. You start seeing glimpses of people gaining on it. Just to figure out how to work through a road course race strategy-wise, staying on track, staying out of the barriers and who can do it. You’ve seen it with all different cars. They show up at some road courses some years and they’re just the fastest. We’ve had it where I feel like I’m the best road course racer in the sport, and then I go to the next road course and I’m 18th or 28th and can’t make lap time. So no idea how it’s going to go… I think that’s why you’ve got to tune in.”

You’ve been pretty consistent that a fast car goes fast and that makes you look good or makes you look bad if you don’t have it. But I want to try to push back a little bit on that because here you’ve gone second, fifth, first, and could have won last year before the incident. Something’s got to be working for you here that’s more than just a car… is that the case? Why does this track fit you so well?

“My crew chief’s name is Phil Surgen and I drive for Trackhouse Racing. Our group was together at Ganassi from the No. 42 and moved into the No 1.

But yeah, I don’t know. We haven’t been fast across the whole weekend every time. We’ve had to work at it. I just push on my guys. They give me the stuff to go do it. You saw it last week — I rolled out of practice and I ran the top coming to the green at Charlotte. I would have done that no matter how my car felt. But if it felt bad as I entered the corner, I would have slowed down. And when I came off (turn) four to start the practice at speed to start my first time lap, I was like — oh my gosh, that was good… I’m going to try that again. Then I ran one and two on the top and worked my way up a little, but feet, not car width. It’s not tens of feet.

If the feel in the car is right, as a race car driver, I’ve learned through my Cup races and Xfinity and Truck because they’re on the same tracks. Cars and trucks drive a little different in each one, but there is a feel that I want, but it also has to line up with lap time. I’ve had cars that felt good and you’re two-tenths off and it’s like, I don’t know. The lap time is there. Sometimes they have to drive worse to go faster. Right now in Cup, for us, if it drives good, we do go fast.

At Nashville, I don’t know. I don’t feel like I do anything different. I don’t compare here any different. But we’ve had really, really good race cars.”

To keep building on the speed from Saturday of last weekend, was there something different? Did you guys do anything different of why you showed up Saturday last weekend and it was so much better and exactly what you wanted? Is that something you guys can learn from to bring to here and going forward?

“No, it wasn’t like we were in some different shock package or springs or attitude in the car geometry. There was a test there. I don’t remember exactly how they called it — it was not an organizational test, it was either like an OEM. It was like Chevy had a car there, each OEM had one, and then the Wheel Force car went back after and did their own data capture for each OEM. So I know that my group dug into that; looked at all the squiggly lines and picked out the best. But we would have done that any time. When you have a test as close to the race… it was not that far before the race, I know when I was listening as we got closer to the race, my group talked about – oh we see this in the test data that we like. Oh, we see this and we don’t like that. We don’t like this. We like that. And they just kept pulling all the crumbs out and eventually they had the whole piece of what they wanted.

But yeah, it wasn’t like we ran this magical spring or anything of geometry. It was just a lot of digging through all that data, and they came up with something really good. And the No. 24 was the one that did the test, so as I’m running him down at the end, I thought, how am I going to pass the guy that did the test and captured all the information, all the data, and now how am I going to go past him when he’s blocking me like that? So it was really rewarding when it happened.”

You’re still wearing your ring from last weekend. Does somebody have to be in charge of it when you’re in the car, and then it goes back on when you get out of the car? How is this going to work now? “Lauren Emling is going to take it when I get in the car. We’ve already talked about it because we did lose my cool shirt last week in the chaos of the post-race. I had it on for all victory lane, and then we went over to the Prime desk, and I took it off where when we did the cheers down there with Dale (Earnhardt Jr.), Carl (Edwards), Cory LaJoie, Danielle (Trotta) and Justin (Marks). I took it off right before I went on air, and then it’s gone. It might still show up, but it’s somewhere. I don’t understand how. It’s a very unique shirt with hoses on it. It seems like somebody knows where it’s at, but we haven’t found it. So I know we left it. It was our fault. But yes, Lauren’s going to take it. I think once I get in this Xfinity car for practice, that’s going to be it. I’m good. But I wanted to wear it all the way until I got in the car next. I take it off to wash my hands, that’s about it.”

How much motivation is wearing the ring? Because, I mean, clearly you had it on Sunday in Victory Lane and had it on ever since. When you look down at that, it’s your milestone win of your career, so far. Do you use that for energy?

“Yes, absolutely. I do. We have a ‘first win’ ring that we had made at Trackhouse from COTA. Matt Kaulig had win rings made from Daytona in the Xfinity series and now this one. It’s a pretty cool collection. I’m not a big ring guy. I’m not a jewelry guy. But these just have so much meaning in it. It says ‘Champion’ and it says ‘Coca-Cola 600 2025’. It had the SMI logo right front and center. That car and that red and blue logo for SMI is so iconic, something that I remember as a kid seeing and I didn’t know what it was. And now to have it front and center on the ring of what SMI and the Smith family have built the Coca-Cola 600 into is incredible.

So yeah, definitely going to take it off now for practice. But it has been motivation this week because this week was a grind. And sometimes I just had to touch the ring and be like — okay, smile, go to the next thing, make the next flight, get home, like all the stuff.

So yeah, very, very worthwhile. And the ring is a very special part of it, as well as the trophy, which I can’t even pick the dang thing up… it’s too heavy.”

I’m sure you’ve seen the comments from Justin Marks about doing the double and how it benefits both NASCAR and INDYCAR. I’m curious if you have ever had a conversation with him potentially doing it one day and if not, how do you guys make something like that happen?

“No conversations… I wouldn’t even know where to begin. It was cool to see Trackhouse enter into the Rolex 24 this year. It was cool to root my teammates on, and that would be something one day. But with INDYCAR, it’s just so far off my radar that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Somebody else would have to start that conversation internally with us. I drive Justin Marks’ No. 1 winning Cup car in the Coca-Cola 600 It’s got a pretty good ring to it. We’ll stick with that for now.”

Last year you ran the Battle of Broadway 150 at the Nashville Fairgrounds, and I heard you tell people there on Thursday that you were interested in running it again this year. Is there any reason why things didn’t work out to run it this year, and would you like to run it again in the future?

“Yeah, I’d love to. I love what Bob Sargent does, and that’s a really cool thing. It just costs a lot of money. Last year, Tootsies sponsored us to do it, and that was just a big lift for all of us and them. Steve Smith and the Tootsies group is very supportive of the Nashville Fairgrounds, and they want that to succeed. He grew up a couple blocks from there, right down the road.

I want to support it. I want to be a part of short-track racing. But this week or just this year leading into it, it just didn’t really make sense. And, yeah, there’s no real reason. It just didn’t work out. I want to do it again, but it takes a lot of effort. Those aren’t easy programs to put together, and it costs a lot of money. I know it sounds silly for me to say it sitting here after winning the Coca-Cola 600, but just late model racing, any racing is expensive, and a lot goes into it. Putting the time in to prep just wasn’t in the cards this year.”

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.