NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT
MARCH 15, 2025

McDowell to Lead NASCAR Cup Series to the Green Flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

 TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st – Michael McDowell
4th – Kyle Busch
6th – Alex Bowman
8th – William Byron
10th – Kyle Larson

•  For the second-straight weekend, Chevrolet earned the pole position in NASCAR’s top division. Laying down a lap of 28.883 seconds, at 186.961 mph, Michael McDowell and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team earned the top position of the qualifying speed chart and will lead the field to the green flag in tomorrow’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube.
• The feat – McDowell’s seventh career pole in the division – marks his first pole win in just five starts with Spire Motorsports after joining the Chevrolet organization at the beginning of the 2025 season.
• McDowell delivered Chevrolet its sixth all-time NASCAR Cup Series pole win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with this marking the manufacturer’s second pole triumph in the Next Gen era at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval.
• Chevrolet earned five of the top-10 starting positions for tomorrow’s 267-lap event, with McDowell leading the hometown hero, Kyle Busch, who qualified fourth in his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Hendrick Motorsports’ three past Las Vegas Motor Speedway winners also posted top-10 qualifying efforts, with Alex Bowman qualifying in the sixth position, William Byron in eighth and Kyle Larson rounding out the top-10.

Chevrolet’s all-time NASCAR Cup Series statistics at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

Wins: 13
Poles: 6
Top-Fives: 72
Top 10s: 137

Chevrolet’s season statistics heading into the fifth points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race:

Wins: 1
Poles: 2
Top-Fives: 8
Top-10s: 18

Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – Pole Win Press Conference Quotes

Looking at the ghost car, you did something in three and four that no one else could come close to matching. What was it?

“Well, this is where I always say being a student and studying matters.

Christopher Bell, last year in round two, just kept it a little bit lower off of turn four and that’s how he was able to get the pole. And so when my car went through (turns) one and two and it had a lot of grip and I didn’t feel like I used it all up, I knew that I had an opportunity to potentially do that without scrubbing speed and without putting myself into a bad spot. Because that’s the chance you take, right? You put wheel into it; it gets loose and you start tracking up. The car had a lot of speed and, obviously, a lot of grip. And just from studying and seeing how C-Bell was able to do that last year in round two, and that was the difference between him getting the pole and not, I felt like it was the right move to make.”

Spire Motorsports has had speed all year. Specifically in qualifying, the organization has had a lot of good results. To finally get a pole, how important is it for the team’s momentum?

“Well, I mean, anytime you’re building positive momentum, it’s great in our sport. And it does matter. I mean, all of it matters. And last week was good for that, too. We got all three cars in the top-10.

You know, the race didn’t go well, right? I mean, two of our guys crashed in the same crash, so that’s no fun. And we had to go to the back with that steering rack change that we made. And then we ended up cutting a tire and that kind of ended our day. And, you know, when you look back at Sunday last week, you’re like — oh man, we had such fast cars and we don’t have anything to show for it. But that’s what’s great about our sport, is you get to re-rack them and get ready the next week.

And, you know, this was the true test for us. I really felt like that. I think I talked about it a little bit last week — this will be the test because Las Vegas, places like this, they challenge everything, right? Aerodynamics, engine, setup.. you have to hit everything just right to be fast here. And so this was kind of that unknown coming into it of — you know, will we have the speed that we’ve shown at other places? And obviously we did.

I’m just really proud of everybody at Spire Motorsports. We’re building something and we know that. And that’s kind of the mindset that we have. This is just one of those next steps that help us get to the next step that’ll help us get to the next step.”

Michael, this is now your seventh career pole, seventh in the last two seasons. What does it mean just to have kind of found that speed during qualifying and start getting these poles?

“Yeah, it’s cool. It’s great. I mean, it’s a lot of fun to come here and have a shot at being at the pole and executing everything perfectly, which is really tough in our sport. You have to hit everything perfectly. You guys saw how tight the times were. You know, one little mistake and that’s it. I’m proud of the effort that goes into making these cars fast. I think that one of the funny things that my crew chief, Travis Peterson, said like — you know, we got a pole at Gateway. We got obviously a lot of poles at the superspeedway’s. And then we got a pole in a mile-and-a-half. The only place I haven’t got a pole is a road course, which that’s supposed to be my thing, you know? We’ve been close. Hopefully this will be the year, right, that we can go get a pole at a road course as well and try to close out all types of tracks. But poles are fun and it is fun. Today will be great and everybody’s going to go to the hotel; be excited and be pumped up for tomorrow. But wins are what matter, right? And so tomorrow’s what matters. And so, you know, it’s a much tougher challenge to go win that race tomorrow, but that’s the goal. And I think we’ll have a race car to contend.”

I’m watching you on the TV as the other drivers are all going through their laps. You were exhaling and inhaling constantly and stressing out. What was the mood like when it finally was over and you were in?

“No, it’s great. I mean, it’s hard to watch when you go out early just because you know so many fast cars are coming. And with the times as close as they were — I mean, it’s literally hundreds and thousands of a second as you’re watching the tracker. And, you know, the tracker’s not always 100 percent. So you’re watching on TV and you’re seeing guys start to slide wide and things like that.

I’ll tell you one thing that was nice is normally you go out there and you put up a big lap, right? And you’re shaking and, you know, you got the adrenaline pumping and you execute it. And then you have to get ready to do it again because we used to have two rounds, right? And so when I got out, I was like — whew, I don’t have to do that again. So there’s a little bit of relief, as far as that goes. I think that over the years, too, we’ve been really good round one. I think that we’d probably would have a lot more poles if it was just round one. And then round two, we seem to, you know, slip back. So I think this new format might help us a little bit or help me. Maybe I’m good at executing it once but not twice. But, yeah, it’s nerve wracking watching everybody go. I think once the Penske cars went, I sort of felt a little bit of relief because typically they’re the fastest, as far as, trimmed out and straight line speed. And so once we had beat those guys, I felt like we were in a pretty good spot.”

Michael, the transition from Front Row to Spire Motorsports with Travis, is there any surprise from where you guys are already, speed-wise? What you are bringing to the team this year is already translating into speed on the racetrack. Just because you guys are, you know, different manufacturers, different teams, different processes..

“It’s so hard to answer that because as racers, we’re so unrealistic. Yes, we thought we would do this. We thought we’d sit on the Daytona pole, you know? I mean, that’s just the mindset. It doesn’t mean that it’s right and it doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen because it is a lot to learn the tools and the processes.

What I would say is that Spire Motorsports had a really good baseline before we got there. I mean, you guys saw last year, at the end of last year — Carson (Hocevar) was rattling off top-10s, and him and Luke (Lambert) were qualifying in the second round and doing all the things. So, it’s not like we came there and we had a lot to go forward to be in this spot, you know? It’s details and it’s people and processes, and we still have a lot to do. I mean, we are not where we want to be. I mean, today the speed is where we want to be but there’s so many things that have to happen over the next 30 days, 90 days, six months, year to put us in a real position to contend week in and week out. But we’re moving in that direction. And so, I’m glad we are where we are but I’m not surprised by it. But I probably should be, if that answers it.”

You may not know yet but last fall the polesitter didn’t pick pit stall one, they picked pit stall six. And I’m curious if you know which one you’re going to pick..

“You know, it’s one of those things that I study all aspects of driving. I do not study aspects of strategy or pit stall selection. I let the smart people do that and they tell me where we’re going to be and how we’re going to go. And so, I’m not sure what Travis’ game plan is on that. But I do know that he’s prepared and he always thinks we’re going to get the pole, so he’s not surprised by it. He already has a plan, so we’ll see which one he picks here.

Honestly, I stay out of those types of things, unless I have an opinion with just track history and things like that. So, we’ll see.”

There’s been a conversation this year ongoing about the approval process between Mike Wallace, Helio Castroneves and Katherine Legge. Casey Mears is now also involved. Where do you see the approval process at NASCAR? You’ve obviously raced multiple different kinds of cars. You made the leap from ARCA yourself to Cup. Do you think there needs to be a different process? Are you fine with how things are? How do you see it?

“Well, I can tell you what my process was, as far as back then and I don’t know if it’s the same now. I signed my Cup deal with MWR before I ever stepped into a truck or Xfinity car or a Cup car, right? So, I knew I was going Cup racing. We just didn’t know how we were going to actually get there.

And so, I had to run a truck race at Martinsville to be approved to run an Xfinity car or Nationwide car or whatever it was at the time at a bigger track. And I think I ran Phoenix in the Xfinity car. And then I ran Texas in the Xfinity car.

And before I could run the Cup car at any of those other tracks, I had to run Daytona in an Xfinity car. Like, that was the process. I had to do all the different tracks in lower series in order to do that. And so, that was the approval process then. And I don’t know if it’s the same.

And, you know, I know what you’re asking. It’s a tough question to ask because, you know, Helio (Castroneves) is a world-class race car driver, and he should be approved. I mean, it would be crazy to think that he wouldn’t.

Now, does that mean that he has a ton of experience in our cars and is prepared for every single situation and every single dirty air situation and all those things? No. But either was Kyle Larson at the Indy 500, right? There are certain things that, if you don’t do it all the time, you’re just not going to know and you’re not going to have. Mike Wallace, he’s a tremendous speedway racer. Out of all the places that you could run him, you could probably run him there pretty confidently and not think about it. It’s just the amount of experience he has in all the different situations. Casey Mears, I mean, I have no problem with Casey Mears driving. He’s done 490 Cup starts and is a great race car driver. And he’s not that far removed from it. So I don’t think we’ve missed it. I don’t think it’s an issue. But you’re putting a lot on a driver to know all these different aspects in a one-off situation. Same with Katherine (Legge), too. She’s a world-class race car driver. Driven all over the world in all different types of race cars. I don’t feel like she’s underqualified.

But she doesn’t have the experience, situationally, in our cars. And I don’t know how much racing would — if she did an Xfinity race at Phoenix, I don’t know if that would change anything.”

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
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MARCH 15, 2025

 Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Kyle, many consider you the king of restarts in NASCAR. For a track like Las Vegas, where restarts are so hectic and crazy, just take me through a restart here on a race weekend..

“Yeah, I mean, restarts are sort of the name of the game, I guess, now, because once you get single-filed out and spread out a little bit, it’s hard to make up time and make up ground unless you’re really, really good. And to get by guys that you’re around or in front of you, as well. So you try to get as many as you can and whatever you can. It’s kind of tough, you know, with the defense being as good as the defense can be with guys, where they pull up in front of you and block your air and things like that, where you’ve got to, you know, get out of the gas and whatnot. So, you know, it’s definitely changed over the years. This car has changed it again. But it seems like, more and more times, guys are more amped up and more — not amped up, but more ramped up to just be ready to defend and make it harder for guys to make ground as much as you used to when we first went to some of the double-file restart stuff.”

This is your home track. You’ve won here once before.. all the way back in 2009. What are some of the most challenging things about getting it done here at Las Vegas?

“I would say Vegas is challenging just because of the time of the year. You know, we’re coming off of winter time for this race, obviously, so we cold weather, things like that. So the track reacts differently versus the fall race here, where you’re coming off of summertime; all the summer heat, the ground being hotter, the track being different, the bumps being different. So, just kind of getting accustomed to all of those things and getting reacclimated with all of that.

You know, the springtime, the speeds are very high. I feel like you run a faster lap time in the springtime, and I feel like the aero deficiencies become greater in the springtime. So, you know, the track doesn’t quite widen out as much as you want it to. I feel like we have a greater sense of track wideness more so in the fall. But, you know, that could always change, just depending on if it gets upwards in temperature on race day.”

There was a lot of discussion this week on the approval process to race in Cup after what happened last week. I’m curious if you feel like there needs to be more structure, and how do you balance or how should NASCAR balance it? You know, you have SVG come in. Granted, it’s a road course, but in his first race, he was able to win. How do you balance, you know, somebody who’s so accomplished in another series and trying to figure out if they’re able to race Cup?

“Yeah, I don’t have a great answer. I feel like I’ve questioned the approval process for a long, long time.

Being an owner in the Truck Series and seeing some young drivers get opportunities at different tracks versus my drivers that I was trying to get them opportunities at some of those same tracks getting denied. So I was very confused, and probably I’m even more confused now on how it all works. I think it’s broken.

I think there’s a lot of work that could be done to make it better. I also do feel as though it shouldn’t be ‘suit and ties’ making the decisions always. Certainly there can be some that need to be involved, but I do feel like there needs to be fire suits involved in some of those decision-making processes on those that need to be approved or not approved for various activities. And I’ll even go so far to say, too, that I feel the same way on driver penalties. The Austin Cindric deal.. I don’t think ‘suit and ties’ should be making that. I think you should get penalized by your peers.”

We talked extensively at COTA and you really felt like things were going in the right direction. In that period of time, you’ve had three top-10s. Do you feel like the No. 8 team has kind of turned the corner? “A little bit, yeah. I mean, certainly we’ve had some good races, so far. We’ve had some good speed. We’ve had the cars driving much more to my liking than what we’ve had in past. So I’ve been able to get more from the race car as well, too. So that’s all a net positive. Everyone at RCR should be proud of the efforts and all the things that we’re doing behind the scenes to get us to where we’re at right now. So I’m grateful of that.

I do feel like there’s more to go get. You know, if we had the gains that we made at Phoenix from last year to this year — if we could have another step of that, you know, then there’s going to be reason for us to race for wins. And so I’m optimistic about here this weekend and seeing what we can do this week in putting ourselves in position to race up front; challenge for stage points, challenge for a win, put ourselves in a position to go out there and continue our decent start to the season of top-10s.”

Given the gains you mentioned at Phoenix, does that kind of, you know, portend well for when you go to Martinsville, which is another shorter, flat track? Since you’ve been in the No. 8 car, that is one of the places where you had had lots of success but struggled with RCR.

“Yeah, each week’s different, right? We have a small sample size right now with the start of the season and only having a few races. So as we continue to add to that sample size of Las Vegas, Homestead and go to Martinsville.. you know, hit a Bristol, a Darlington, I feel like then you’ll really start to see where you stack up. The seasons change so fast also. You don’t want to start hot and then, you know, have NASCAR looking over you with a microscope, and then you have different issues getting through tech each week that then kind of derail your summer. So, you know, you’ve got to be careful and be patient with everything that you’ve got going on. But that sometimes can be a defining factor, as well too, to your season and how you play it out.”

Given that it’s been a while since you won a race, is it difficult to keep your emotions in check and not push too hard when you feel like you’ve got a car that’s capable of winning?

“It is. I would say, you know, when I was winning a lot, you were doing it quite often. You were in position quite often. And so you could harness those emotions and those feelings; be able to go out there and just do your job and kind of let it come to you.

Kansas last fall, I felt rushed. I felt hurried. I felt like I needed to get through the traffic as fast as I could, and I put myself in a bad spot; we hit the wall and lost the race. So, you know, those things are certainly on your mind as you come to them, especially with as close as the competition is today. It’s rare that you see — I guess unless you’re tiny Kyle (Larson), it’s rare that you see, you know, three-second gaps to the next guy behind you. You know, you’re always kind of fighting within that one-second gap that you have to a guy behind you. You can lose a half a second in one lap, if you get the wrong lane through a corner and you get in somebody else’s wake. So, you know, you don’t have much room to breathe.”

When you were talking about the approval process, does the sport need to go back to looking at how much practice that includes on a race weekend when somebody is in a car for the first time, as well as the testing policy where teams being able to take someone and put them in a car during the week and run laps with them beforehand?

“Yeah, I agree. That can definitely be a good piece of what we can do with individuals that, you know, want to come run.

Testing is tough because, obviously, I would say that if we’re talking about Katherine’s (Legge) situation, I don’t know how much extra funds there are there with that situation to be able to go out to Phoenix a week early and go test, you know what I mean? But that obviously would be beneficial to not only the team, but also the driver in that case to just go out there and get some reps; get some laps, get some seat time, feel the car out, get it more comfortable than probably what she was able to do in just the short practice that we have. So how that all works, I’m not exactly sure.

If it’s a four-hour session on Thursday or Friday or, like, the day before or something, I think that that could certainly be a waiver piece that is allowed for, you know, some first-timers.”

Talking about your performance, the three straight top-10s and the direction this team is going – how much do you want to see from this team or have early season success as it pertains to then when you start weighing your future and what you’re seeing from this team and how much that’s going to weigh in?

“Yeah, I mean, obviously having good runs and solid race cars; cars that feel like they should and drive like they should is a big important piece to all of that. So, so far so good. I mean, from last year to this year — just, you know, Legos being the same, apparently they’re not because we’re doing something different and cars are driving much better. So, again, I just appreciate the efforts and values of everyone at RCR putting all that in. And so, you know, there’s not a team out there that will outwork us, that’s for sure. We’re going to continue that grit and continue to go out there and make sure that we have good pieces and, you know, keep performing.”

With Auto Club Speedway gone and the loss of so many tracks in Southern California, how important is it to you to keep Las Vegas thriving for NASCAR? And do you think that maybe you miss Fontana or that NASCAR might have to do something to fill that gap now that it’s not on the schedule?

“This is a really tough question to answer. Fontana was always one of my favorite places. I love that track. Even though it started off really rough for me, of getting kicked out of there when I was 16 years old, it certainly ended very well winning the final race there a couple years ago. So that place has a special meaning in my heart and, you know, all of Southern California does. You know, I remember Irwindale. I remember Orange Show. I remember Blythe. I think Blythe is still there. You know, you’ve got Madera. You’ve got Altamont. I don’t know if Altamont is still going or not.. that’s more Northern California. But, you know, there’s some really good racetracks that have been through California that I’ve been around and at least have been to or Kurt has been to. And I don’t know how to make it go. There’s so many people around that area that, you know, for a local short track with 5,000 seats to not fill those seats, it’s just not the interest of the fan in those areas. So that’s why they die. I mean, if you’re full every week and you’ve got standing room only like Eldora in Ohio, there’s no problem that you’re going to keep your doors open, you know?

But I understand the Fontana piece — the land value is worth much more than what you were ever going to make in ticket sales. So, you know, eventually there becomes an economic decision and it overpowers us being racers that want to go race at those tracks. It overpowers that.”

Regarding your season, and you and Randall (Burnett) sitting down at the beginning of the year and figuring out which tracks you’re going to –- I know you’re going to try to win every week, but do you focus on certain tracks that you may have a better shot at? And does that morph throughout the year? As you perform well here, you might think that — hey, we learned something that we can apply at X track down the road..

“No, we don’t circle any venue or anything like that to say — hey, this is a place that we want to go win. We know we can win here. Nuh-uh, no. Like, we just try to elevate the whole program. If you elevate the whole program, the whole program is going to, you know, bring yourself to the front and being able to capitalize on good runs. And honestly, like a lot of times, with the way pit stops are, with the way sometimes strategy goes, with the way restarts are, with the way calamity is — if you are running between fourth and seventh every single week, you will at one point or another in the race be eligible or be racing for a win.

And so, yeah, obviously you’ve got to race for the win at the end. But, you know, if you’re within that position, there’s going to be some guys that falter. Literally a lot more times than not, guys beat themselves out of a win. So you just can’t be that team that does that. So I feel like getting to that level of, you know, that fourth through seventh, fourth through eighth range, where we’ve been just on the outside brink of last week at Phoenix, then we’ll have a shot.”

And a follow-up, this week is the last Cup race for Chris Powell, also Jeff Motley leaving. You built your career here racing around this area. What does that mean for the track, the community, to lose those guys? And for you personally, knowing what you’ve done?

“Yeah, I mean, obviously, a great career for those two guys. So I’m probably a little closer to Jeff than Chris. But, you know, it’s cool to see their tenure here as long as it’s been, as great as it’s been, and for the success of this racetrack; seeing all the different peaks and valleys that it’s been through has been really, really cool. So congrats to them. I wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors.

I’ve heard some cool things that Jeff’s looking at doing. So, you know, it’s going to be neat to see whoever comes in next to keep this place going and keep it where it’s at or grow it.”

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
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MARCH 15, 2025

 Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

A lot of discussion this week on the approval process to be in a Cup race after last weekend. I’m curious, like for High Limit, do you get involved in like – should this person be allowed to race or should they not? Do you feel like there needs to be a little more structure for Cup?

“Yeah, at least on the sprint car side of it, I don’t know if there’s anything in place. There could be at times, but I feel like most of the time — sprint cars are crazy (laughs). So if you’re not capable of it, you usually don’t get in it.

I think in NASCAR, I don’t know what the approval process is, so I can’t really speak on what needs to change. But it is surprising sometimes when some drivers are not allowed to run and then others are. So yeah, I don’t know.. maybe there just needs to be a better something in place. I know when you’re a rookie, you have to go run an ARCA race or you’ve got to build up to the size of the track and stuff like that. So you have to run like three or four races before you can run an Xfinity car or something on an intermediate or superspeedway. So yeah, maybe there needs to be more of that.”

Curious about Travis Pastrana.. how did that all came about and what were your early thoughts?

“Yeah, that was pretty neat to have him get to check something off of his bucket list, especially a guy that’s done so much in action sports, motorsports and all that. So yeah, I’m not exactly sure how it all started. I think there was a connection between the Ridge & Sons Racing Team and Travis. I think they have a mutual sponsor maybe or something. So yeah, I’d heard about that, and then JP and I were able to just call Travis and kind of organize the logistics of it and get the ball rolling a little bit faster. Yeah, so that was neat to have him come out and have some fun in his sprint car. Yeah, he looked smooth. I mean, the track was obviously in not great shape, just with it being during the day and all that. But he was smooth, built up to speed and had a good time. So that’s great.”

You’ve won two of the last three races here. What’s the key to getting around this place?

“Yeah, I don’t know. I think as far as getting around the track and being fast, your car’s got to obviously be fast, have a lot of grip, but get through the bumps, I feel like, really well in (turns) one and two to just kind of carry momentum around the whole track. Three and four are really slick corners, as well. And then to win, you got to have all of that, but your team has to execute. I feel like when we have won the races here, our team’s done a really good job, on pit road especially. So more of all that and hopefully we’ll have a good shot.”

Kyle, for most teams, like two third place finishes in the first month of the season is a pretty good start. But you mentioned last week like it hasn’t been a good start. So what is your perspective on where the No. 5 team sits a month in?

“Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I think like Daytona just was rough. Like we just were buried in the back the whole time. So that was frustrating to start your season off like that. I would have rather been up front and got crashed, but never got to see the front. And then, yeah, Atlanta was good. You know, I was happy. I was like — oh, great. You know, I expected to go there and crash, and we got a good finish. So I felt like we were a week ahead of schedule. And then, you know, we went to COTA and had good speed and all that. I just didn’t do a great job behind the wheel. And then we had the right front wheel fall off and that buried us. And then finally had a chance to overcome it and then got spun. And then Phoenix last week, we just weren’t fast. Like we weren’t very good. But our team did an amazing job executing — pit stops, restarts, all of that stuff kept us in the hunt.

And yeah, I don’t know.. I just feel like we haven’t had consistency really to start, whether that be kind of everything coming together. So I’m hoping that this week, a track that we have success at in the past, you know, we can kind of put it all together and you have a solid weekend. And then go to another track next week where I’m really confident at and try and just put a few good races in a row together.”

With the High Limit, you just happened to have the track in the backyard. I understand Texas is similar. Do you have like a blueprint going forward where you might be able to have, you know, tracks that are somewhere close to where you’re racing in NASCAR and kind of have some cross-promotion or be able to appear at more races? Is that part of your blueprint?

“I don’t know. I mean, I think when it works, like it works. You know, here getting our season started across the street. And then, when we go to Texas, as well. I believe when we’re at Kansas Speedway, we get to race at Lakeside one of the nights.. maybe Thursday or Friday night.

But then, I mean, it’s hard. There’s already races in place, you know, events in place throughout the year. So, like, logistically it doesn’t make sense. And you don’t want to piggyback off NASCAR, you know, all the time. So, there’s great sprint car fans throughout the country. So, no.. we don’t have to rely on coming to venues like this. But it is nice, you know, when you can get the cross-promotion and all that. But it’s not something that we look at trying to do a ton of.”

Kyle, when one of your competitors has won three-straight races, how much do you look at that with respect, as well as — okay, we need to stop this guy?

“I don’t know. I mean, I think we had a great season in 2021 and was able to win three points-paying races in a row, twice, that year. And four in a row once, you know, with the All-Star race in there.

So, I think having lived through it on my own, I can respect it a lot more and it doesn’t bother me. You know, when I see somebody else having success like that. So, if he wins this weekend, maybe it’s like — all right, this is getting annoying. But I think for me, as like a competitor and a fan, I think it’s really neat because this sport is so tough, especially in the Next Gen era. So, I respect it more than anything currently. But if it keeps going on too long, it’ll get annoying.”

If the third-place finish at Phoenix was a struggle, do you have any concerns about Martinsville, where you’ve been great in the Next Gen era with a win and five top-six finishes in the last five races?

“I don’t know. I would say as a team and organization, we’re much better at Martinsville than we are at Phoenix. So, yeah, we had hopes of being better than we were at Phoenix across the board, you know, the four of us. William (Byron) was pretty decent, but the rest of us were pretty average. Where I feel like when we go to Martinsville, we have a package that we can probably look back on and build our car off of that and be competitive. So, I don’t have as much concern going to Martinsville as I do Phoenix right now. But Martinsville is Martinsville, and it is a tough track still for me, even though it’s crazy to think that it’s probably our statistically best track on this circuit.

So, we’ll see. But, yeah, Martinsville is still not a place where I’m like — I can go there and lead every lap. You know, I feel like I can come to Vegas or Homestead and I can lead every lap. But Martinsville is a tough place. Even if I had the best car in the field, which I probably do have the best car in the field, and I’m bringing it down to sixth.”

You did just bring up Homestead. Your last win there came I think two, three races ago. You had a consistent string of top-fives for a while. How do you feel going in next week for Homestead?

“Yeah, I mean, I feel good. I always feel good going to Homestead. It’s probably the track that suits me the best, you know, being comfortable running against the wall and stuff like that. So, yeah, I mean, the last two finishes we’ve had there don’t reflect how we’ve ran. You know, we’ve been the best every time we go there. We were stupid fast there the second- half of the fall race last time we were there with a bunch of damage underneath the car that you can’t see. So that was a satisfying run to almost have a shot to win there. But, yeah, hopefully this year it goes smooth; we have a good handling race car, which I know we will, and we can just hammer away at the wall and be fast.”

So if Christopher Bell wins here this weekend, you can break the streak next weekend?

“I’m hoping to break the streak this week.”

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.

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Riley Herbst
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LAS VEGAS (March 15, 2025) – 23XI Racing driver Riley Herbst was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

RILEY HERBST, No. 35 SunnyD Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

What has been the adjustment period been like from Xfinity to Cup?

“It has been a lot of fun honestly. I feel like it has gone okay the first three weeks as well. Just some solid finishes. Obviously, last week was unfortunate, but the jump is tremendous, and everyone tells you about it. It is one of those things that you don’t really know until you experience it, but I’ve felt like I’ve surrounded myself with really good people at 23XI and really good mentors with Denny (Hamlin), Tyler (Reddick) and Bubba (Wallace). I’ve felt like we’ve came out of the gates in good shape, and I was pleased with our results and how we were running. Last week was unfortunate like I said – this week is going to be another challenge with a mile-and-a-half, but it will be fun. I’m taking it in stride each week and trying to enjoy each week and everything new about it. It has been a lot of fun these last two months getting to know everybody and just get my feet underneath me. Hopefully, we will continue to build a good foundation.”

What are your goals for the rest of the season?

“The biggest thing is to finish the race. You don’t get any points if you don’t finish. I think that is what kind of put us in a big hole from this past weekend at Phoenix, but quite honestly, I don’t think anyone is micromanaging the points by any means. That is not our objective. Our objective to get better each week and run more competitive each week. We fall where we we fall. Nobody is too considered about the point standings four weeks in by any means. I’ve got a progress check where we need to be, where we need to be better, where we need to excel and where we need to pick up the pace a little bit. I think there is some checked boxes that we’ve excelled at, and there are some areas that we need to improve on as well. I think it was a good four weeks to get our test results back and try to set ourselves up for a solid run until the Easter break.”

How important is it to you to have Vegas on the NASCAR schedule?

“It is awesome. I think Las Vegas is such a big and unique town. There’s so many different things to do. I think the racing culture has grown tremendously, honestly, with myself and Noah Gragson growing up racing at the Bullring too. That is really cool, and now with the Formula 1 race, a lot of more motorheads are starting to come out to Las Vegas and be from Las Vegas which is cool. Just the presence that Las Vegas Motor Speedway has in the NASCAR calendar – the race in the fall is huge because, I think, that can lock yourself in the final four. It’s really cool that NASCAR promotes Las Vegas – my home city, which means so much to me. Hopefully it continues to grow, and like you said, we get more short tracks, more dirt tracks on the West Coast and no more of them shutting down.”

How many friends or family members do you have coming to the race this weekend?

“It is cool. It is honestly one of those take a step back moments for a lot of people in the field. It’s the first mile-and-a-half race of the year, and the end of the West Coast swing – really excited to get back to Charlotte, but for me, I used to camp on motorhome hill. I used to go to the bridges and watch the hauler parade, so it is kind of like a full circle moment for myself. To race a Cup car at my home track is a dream that I’ve had forever, and it’s really special. Just trying to enjoy the moment and take it all in before we head out to the less unique tracks for me, I guess personally. It is a really cool moment for myself and my family, and to share it with Noah (Gragson) is pretty special as well.”

We are headed to Homestead next weekend. Where do you prefer to run there?
“So my kind of new thing is to throw all of the stats, every result at every race track, in the previous – because this race car is so different than anything I’ve ever driven, so it is kind of hard to look back on history and hope that it repeats itself going forward, but for your question on where to run, I think Homestead is such a cool race track because it is starting to wear more and more. The bumps are getting bigger in (turns) three and four but running along the fence is a lot of fun. The bottom, when your race car is really good, is a lot of fun as well, because you can go into clean air. You just have to hook the line. That race track is awesome. I like the rectangle shape of it, rather than the d-shaped oval. It is very unique. Good race track, great weather and good fans, so looking forward to it.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.

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