Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Goodyear 400 Qualifying — Darlington Raceway
Saturday, March 21, 2026

Ford Qualifying Results:

5th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Chris Buescher
7th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Austin Cindric
17th – Ryan Preece
19th – Zane Smith
26th – Josh Berry
29th – Joey Logano
30th – Noah Gragson
31st – Todd Gilliland

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I thought it was really smooth. It looks like Chris is qualified right next to me. I felt like I got all it had. We know the cars are gonna be very difficult to drive and that did not disappoint.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Delta Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I kind of messed up half of it, but overall it wasn’t a bad qualifying effort. I’m looking forward to seeing where it ends up, but hopefully it’s in the top 10. We’ll see.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That was a big moment into turn one, but outside of that I got down in three and four and drove it all the way to scared, so that slowed us down there. Everyone on this Fifth Third Ford Mustang Dark Horse did a great job. I’m proud of that qualifying effort. We had our woes on the day and that was a great recovery time to miss a little bit of practice time and get rolling. We had good long run speed. Our fire off was pretty good. I’m pretty happy with this thing. I’m proud to keep it in one piece, but that’s a solid place to start from and we’ll keep marching forward.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We obviously have decent speed in our Freightliner Ford Mustang. I definitely overdrove turn one on my lap, but it was a solid lap and should put us in a good position for tomorrow. There’s a lot different going on with the package, so a lot of homework to do tonight even if we feel decent about our speed. There’s a lot to learn still. There may be different driving characteristics to the car with the different package and you definitely would expect that, but trying to figure out what to dial in and what we can dial in and what I have to adapt to in the car, so it’s a pretty busy day, pretty busy inside the car, but I’m confident we can continue to gain on it overnight.”

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Goodyear 400 Media Availability — Darlington Raceway
Saturday, March 21, 2026

RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, and Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 Kroger/Oscar Mayer/Heinz Ford Mustang Dark Horse, came into the Darlington Raceway infield media center before practice to talk about this weekend’s race.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHY THIS COULD BE A DIFFICULT RACE? “I think looking at it, maybe it’s because I’m just not as prepared as Preece, showing up in a firesuit a couple of hours early here. I think we look at this racetrack, whether it’s been in year’s past, the fall off, the surface, how it’s aged, this was a higher fall off racetrack before we started talking about higher fall off tires, so it’s already been well on its way. Now, with the tire we’re able to successfully run here for probably a year now or so and what Goodyear has done on that side of things has really helped improve the racing, and then to come here with more power and significantly less downforce, I just feel like we’re going to be out of control, and I think you’re going to be screaming and wanting tires way more than we’ll physically be able put them on. I hope that the passing opportunities go up. If somebody is really struggling, we’ve got a couple of different lanes to look for for fresh racetrack and I hope it makes great racing. I know we’ll have a lot more questions than answers, but I’m real excited to fire up in practice and see what that brings, and especially the race.”

RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/Oscar Mayer/Heinz Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I think we’re heading in the direction of what a lot of us drivers have been talking about for years and that’s if there’s a caution, you know, four or five laps, and I’m talking outside of just Darlington, you didn’t want to see guys stay out for track position and be rewarded for it. You want to see the guys that decide to give up track position come down for tires and make their way through the field, much like we saw Corey Heim do that last night. I mean, how exciting was that for two laps? You had guys that stayed out because they didn’t have anymore tires, and you had a guy that had, I don’t know how many laps those scuffs had on them – five laps – and boy it looked like he was Superman. That’s the type of racing I want to see – less downforce, the more horsepower and heading in this direction is what I’ve been beating the drum on for years. It’s nice that it’s happening and you guys are gonna have quite the show for it. I’m definitely excited about this weekend, just like Chris said. There’s a lot of questions that will be answered here in about an hour or so – what kind of understanding of what balance we’ll be projecting – which one is right and which one is gonna need some work on for tomorrow – but I certainly feel like our RFK cars are gonna be fast. Our Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang Dark Horse is gonna be fast as well.”

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – IS THE ADDITIONAL HORSEPOWER GOING TO CHANGE THE RACING DYNAMIC? “It will probably just an exponent on it would be the prediction because you’ve had a certain amount of understanding how hard you can push here in the past already, so this is not completely new to us. It’s just the extent of what we feel like we’re gonna fight, so I don’t think that it changes who comes out here and gets it right. I think that it’s gonna take some time in practice to figure out what that looks like – how much can you really gain on the tail end of the run by giving up a little bit early. I think that’s the bigger question. We talk about track position and it’s a couple of things that we hate to hear in these rooms is track position and aero and dirty air and all these things, so we have these conversations because track position matters because it was so hard to pass. If the fall off is as significant as we feel it is, can you from behind the wheel make a difference to where when we get 20 or 30 laps into a run come charging through there because you’ve taken care of your stuff more and I think that’s what we predict we’ll see. I can’t answer a whole lot of questions with accuracy yet, but I think it’s just going to put an exponent on it.”

WHERE IS THE LINE ON TAKING THE GAMBLE OF TRYING TO HOLD YOUR STUFF BACK, BUT IN DOING THAT IT COULD PUT YOU FURTHER BEHIND? “I’m glad I’m not a crew chief this weekend. Let’s put it that way. I don’t want to have to make that decision and have to live with the consequences if it doesn’t go the right way. That being said, I’m putting a lot of pressure on Scott (Graves) and Derrick (Finley), but it’s gonna matter at some point. Somebody is gonna get it right and somebody is gonna get it wrong, but at the end of the day I think it’s just a calculated risk that you take. I can’t say what the right answer is right now, but as the race plays out, that’s why those guys have gotten to where they are and why they’re so good at it is trying to read the vibe. I think Jeremy Bullins said ‘the vibe of the race’ last year at some point. I didn’t see that one coming from him, but read the vibe of the race and figure out if you feel like setting something back is gonna be the right play and if it doesn’t and everybody else puts stickers on one more time than you coming down to the checkered flag, you’re gonna pay a price for that. You’re going to lose a significant amount of time somewhere in that entire cycle, but it can certainly make someone look like a hero at the end too. It’s risk versus reward, just like always. It just might look more dramatic here.”

RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – WHEN YOU GET OUT OF THE CAR TOMORROW HOW WILL YOU DECIDE IF IT WAS A GOOD RACE FOR YOU, THE DRIVER? “Chris was just talking about how you attack the beginning of the runs versus the ends of the runs and, to be honest with you, I saw even at Vegas that’s not notoriously known as a track that is gonna wear tires out and you’re gonna see comers and goers and late in runs there were guys that I saw in the first 10-12-15 laps that they would go really, really hard and be really, really fast, but after 15-16 laps, they were holding on and coming back. The guy that chose to take care of them a little more, you saw them go forward. I know there was a pack of us that on a 35-lap run it was a handful at Las Vegas. So now we’re at Darlington that is known for wearing tires out, that is known for seeing race cars jumping and chasing around, so I think, like Chris was saying, how you choose to keep track position or say, ‘Hey, you go ahead and burn this up. I’m gonna see you in 10-15 laps. I’m excited to see that, so when I get out of the race car and I look back and say, ‘OK, I was able to be disciplined and then reap the rewards. That will kind of be the point where I get out and say, ‘OK, we’re hitting it here. We’re figuring it all out.’ But, yeah, I guess you’ll have to check back after the race.”

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO CONVINCE YOU TO DO THE VIDEOS YOU’VE BEEN DOING LATELY FOR SPONSORS? “For us, that stuff is separate from the DAP program. That’s our partners and, honestly, it’s them saying we want to invest in NASCAR and in RFK Racing and we want this to be what people think about when they see our brand. Trimble being the most recent one. I think that I pretty much about my entire life just being told where to go and when, so when stuff like that comes up it’s something you don’t know much about until you roll in there and everyone starts talking and figuring out what we’re gonna do and then it’s just a matter of having fun with it and playing off of it. For us, you think about NASCAR 20 years ago and those more fan-facing interactions or commercials or stand up, whatever it may be, and we’ve been really fortunate to have partners that have bought into that. With the Trimble video. With the Consumer Cellular video. The amount of times I get told to Shut Up, Chris walking through the garage every single weekend is a lot higher than it used to be, I’ll say that. That’s great for us. That’s a way for us to have a little fun and for our partners to get just a little bit more out of the sport that we love to come and participate in every weekend. Hat’s off to our groups that have said, ‘We’re gonna commit to this. We’re gonna have fun and show everybody that NASCAR is where we want to be and RFK Racing. This is our group of people and this is how we’re gonna promote our brand.’”

RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO CONVINCE YOU TO DO THE VIDEOS YOU’VE BEEN DOING LATELY FOR SPONSORS? “What you see on camera is very much natural. That’s how Chris and I are, and Brad. It’s just we’re not on Instagram videos and all that stuff at points during the day. I feel like, for us, when we have Trimble productions or Kroger productions or some of those other ones, it’s kind of how we are in those environments. They’ve very natural.”

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – IN TERMS OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE AT JACK’S RECOGNITION ON TUESDAY, WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT STAND OUT THE MOST? “I’ve been at RFK, I signed up when I was almost 16 years old. I’m 33 now, so I’ve seen a lot of things and I’ve heard a lot of things. I’ve been a fly on the wall in a lot of meetings and it was funny to me, I’ll start with this story. Tuesdays used to be the meetings. They’re not now. They’re Mondays, but Tuesday used to be the post-race meeting and that was the five Roush Cup cars, that was the Petty Motorsports cars, it was a meeting that took two or three hours to get through and they were a little harsh. Jack has an iron fist and it was scary. Let me tell you, as a 16-year-old sitting in the meeting listening to heroes of mine that are hall of famers now getting chewed out like that, I couldn’t imagine what was gonna happen to me when I screwed up. Every driver that was there had some comment about how rough some of their Tuesdays went, but the neat part about that was every driver had also won races under that roof and those were great Tuesdays. This was probably the best Tuesday that all of the drivers collectively had ever had at RFK. There were some scary moments. You didn’t want to have to go first and explain why you sped on pit road, wrecked the race car in qualifying, gave something away in the closing laps. You didn’t want to be there, but this was not that atmosphere. This was stories of the fun times. Jack was grinning from ear to ear and just kind of going through what he’s meant to all of our careers. I think it was Mark who said it best. He stood up at the end and said that everybody sitting at those tables that has gotten to drive Cup cars and win races for RFK were developed and built out of those walls – that everybody got their start because Jack was willing to take a chance and put the development work in. You’ve not seen that consistently through this garage area across the board. It’s not been the standard operating procedure of any other team, and I think that’s really important to get across for Jack’s legacy is that he took chances on people, found them from other series – I didn’t have the credentials to walk into Roush and try and act like I could go drive a Cup car that day, but Jack took a chance, gave me the tools and the people and the resources to go figure it out and figure out how to win at the highest level in motorsports. It’s important to know that that is the side of Jack’s legacy that everybody hears the most because it is so rewarding to think about all of the times that were tough, but also the times that were great. That was the best Tuesday within those walls that I think most of us can remember.”

RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – IN TERMS OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE AT JACK’S RECOGNITION ON TUESDAY, WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT STAND OUT THE MOST? “For me, it was sitting around Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Burton and as race car drivers now we grew up watching those guys, so they are all hall of famers and have a level of respect. Where I come from in the northeast, we respected people like them and the ones you race against, so sitting at the same table and hearing some of those stories and hearing Mark and Carl talk about them was really eye-opening and fun. It makes you definitely appreciate the opportunity that I have as well as being there now and being there to honor Jack. I grew up and my family and my father loved Fords, so I grew up driving Fords and Jack Roush has a rich history with Ford and to be there where RFK honored him and NASCAR has honored him twice is a big deal and it was great to be a part of.”

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED –BRAD WILL BE MAKING HIS 600TH START AT MARTINSVILLE. WHAT HAS HE MEANT TO THE SPORT? “I would say that I will just speak to the most recent interaction with Brad and kind of what that means to me. Obviously, he’s been in this sport a really long time and is a champion of our sport. He’s a future hall of famer of our sport, so when you think about those years, think about watching him as a kid growing up while I was racing Legends cars or ARCA or whatever it may have been, I guess I have to admit at some point that I was under the RFK banner when the Carl and Brad feud was going on and I guess I wasn’t really on Brad’s side at that point, but we haven’t had that discussion in person. But thinking about now and what Brad has done coming over, diving off into the ownership role as well as a driver and a teammate, it has been the most unique way to talk about race cars to your ownership because anything that we are experiencing in our race car or anything that we want to be better, he’s living it at the same time. He wants that to be better. He wants our cars to turn better in the middle and he wants the rear to be planted in the racetrack. He understands exactly where we’re coming from. It’s not going to somebody that is trying to guess where our head space is at and it’s created this more direct and efficient line to making better race cars quicker. That’s come from him saying, one, I want to be a race car driver. I want to be a winning NASCAR Cup driver. I want to be a multiple champion of our sport, but I also want to be a team owner. I want to have say in how a race team can develop and get better, and I give him tons of credit because I want nothing to do with team ownership. I have watched him run circles around us just back and forth through the shop non-stop. The amount of stuff he goes through to try and make that work, we owe him a ton of credit and probably more than he gets because it’s exhausting watching him. I can’t imagine trying to live that life the same way, so it’s showed me how it’s all progressing and ultimately how it’s helping us be able to fine-tune and have our race cars faster than you would in a different scenario.”

RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – “The way I look at it is that Chris has been here at RFK since you were 16-17, so you’ve seen all sides of it. You saw pre-Next Gen era, then you saw Next Gen era where Brad came in and what I came into was an already block solid foundation between Chris doing a lot of simulator work, trying to build up credibility and making sure that our cars showed up fast week in and week out, and then I see Brad preaching the performance and constantly trying to make it so we can drive fast cars faster. That’s very important in our job, so I came into this organization where the foundation was already really solid and now it’s trying to go from where you guys are winning a couple races a year like what Brad wants to do – he wants to win five-plus races this year between all of us, so that’s the goal and constantly trying to put boundaries and be faster and make cars faster and that’s much like what Chris just said. I can appreciate him running around between buildings making sure that every side of RFK is heading in the right direction to give us opportunities to win races, whether it be the pit crew, the cars, sponsors, we are trying to win in all aspects.”

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO YOU GUYS TO DO A BIFFLE THROWBACK SCHEME THIS WEEKEND? “It’s not the Throwback Weekend for the first time in a long time, but, obviously, with the tragedy through the offseason and what Greg Biffle and his family meant to RFK and Jack and this sport, for us to be able to pull us together and everybody back in our shop to make this happen to where we are all able to run the legendary 16 stylized font and run some form of a throwback for our partners to sign up to do that because I know that’s always the discussion of it takes away from the brand identity. Fifth Third signed up and jumped at the opportunity to do it and that means a lot to me personally, to Jack and to RFK as a whole because it’s just a way to remember Greg and everything that he accomplished for RFK Racing through the years. It’s hard to put together, but it’s a neat way for us to be able to kind of carry that remembrance throughout the season and just in a bigger way for this weekend.”

RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – “For me, Jack Roush had a lot of really memorable paint schemes. One of them was Greg Biffle’s No. 16 3M paint scheme and mine – the red, the black, the yellow, the white – it all stands out. I had two occasions where I interacted with Greg. One was a couple years ago at my race shop that I rented from David Ragan. He just happened to be around there and was talking with him, and then the other time was racing last year in the Crown Vics at Stafford and banging doors with him. What I learned that day is those guys have a good time. They knew how to have a good time and I respected him as a race car driver, so RFK jumped at the opportunity to be able to do this and hopefully we can all have some really strong runs in his honor.”

TOYOTA RACING – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DARLINGTON, SC (March 21, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Darlington Raceway.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Have you noticed any former teammates racing you harder after they leave their organization?

“I think there’s always going to be animosity from anyone that gets let go from their position. That’s human nature. I don’t think anyone – you don’t have to be a good person or a bad person to have that sort of feeling. Truthfully, my relationship with my teammates always got better when we were no longer teammates. (laughter) I mean, that’s just factual. We always were closer after their time was up. So, I don’t know. Different for everyone, but certainly you can’t stop human nature.”

Have you ever thought about getting to Dale Earnhardt’s number or Kyle Busch’s win number or is that in pie in the sky?

“I think it’s pie in the sky, realistically, I think that, you know, given the runway, Kyle’s (Busch) career – he’s still got more years to go than I will. He’s capable of running and winning long after I’m gone. I think I’m kind of where I’m at, and where I think I will be, but you just never know. I mean, each win stacks up and, you know, 50 was a goal at one point. So, you just keep moving, keep moving the bar as far as you can. I think that I’ve certainly got more wins than what I would have imagined. It’s just now can we, can we get the big prizes at the end of the year? That’s the only goal left to have other than the Brickyard is certainly one that still is mindful of me personally, of where I’m at.”

Has the start of the season impacted you possibly wanting to go past 2027?

“I’m not really sure. I think that I’ve given Gibbs enough of a heads up that they’re working on the plans for beyond. So as long as those all go as planned, I would, I still assume that the end of ‘27 is it. I just don’t want to go to my last half of the year or year just like, can’t wait to get out. If I could end on notes like we have like seasons like this one is starting, then that would be a successful last year for me.”

Do you want to have a farewell tour?

“No, no, I’m good on that.”

Is this going to be your last contract?

“Well, I mean, things always change. You just never know, but it’s what I would like, but again, I don’t know all the moving parts and pieces beyond what happens between now and bout 20 months from now. So, you just don’t know, but I thought that was a good enough timeline and enough heads up that, that they could make plans.”

How did you get to the thought where you thought 67 would be potentially the final win total?

“Just averages over the years. If you average the last 10 years or something like that, it’s about 3.5 wins a year. That puts me right around that number. That’s assuming that I don’t wake up in 2027 and have a declining skill set. That’s why it’s still a goal. It’s not the pie in the sky, but it’s still going to take some work to do.”

Have you had any issues with any teammates over the years and how did you handle that?

“None of them. I mean, really, none of them. I mean, I think, now I think about it, me and Joey (Logano) is the one that was better with than what it was without, but still it doesn’t mean I don’t respect them. I never really had any long standing animosity towards any teammates. I think everyone had been really, really fair to me over the course of my career, and again, a lot of it is, I really had a lot of experienced teammates, guys that were older than me and more experienced, and guys that won a lot of races, so I really respected a ton. So, no, not really. I can truthfully say that I’ve never had any issues long term with any of them.”

How did your background in late models help you with managing tires here at Darlington?

“Late models is low horsepower, short tracks. It’s easy and hard off. That’s just the general mindset when it comes to these types of racetracks that wear tires out is easy on corner entry, hard on a corner exit, and you just take that philosophy to all these tracks that we wear tires on, it typically works really well. I just was really lucky early in my career to get a test here. I watched Brent Crews run his very first couple laps in the simulator at Darlington, and I just watched him just like pound the wall off a turn two, like lap after lap after lap (laughter), and that’s just that’s exactly what I was doing, and only it was real life. I didn’t have the virtual option back then, and so just kind of watching him and saying here’s where you need to be at this point of the corner and here’s your lift point typically. I actually got in the O’Reilly simulator and ran some laps kind of as a bogey lap for him. It was just, I was very lucky to be able to be at a test here with Tony Stewart when he was here in a Cup car, and I got to come here in an O’Reilly car, and just run laps and learn from him, and after eventually wearing the sheet metal off the right side and having nothing left but the 4 by 4 that they put in the door. I figured out how to get around here, and at that point, I latched onto the track.”

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TOYOTA RACING – Chase Briscoe
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DARLINGTON, SC (March 21, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Darlington Raceway.

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Free Bird Southern Spring Water Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

What changes do you think we will see in tomorrow’s race?

“I mean, I don’t know what was wrong with the package here at Darlington before (laughter). I mean, I think it’ll be good. No matter what package you come to Darlington with, you’re going to slip and slide around, and that’s just going tobe amplified now. So, I think you’re going to have more guys that are kind of coming and going throughout the field. I think there’s going to be a bigger discrepancy now in short run versus long run guys. I think this is the one race is probably more wide open than any other, just because it’s the first time we’re doing it. Nobody has a notebook on anything right now where as we go throughout the year, with Dover and Darlington 2 and all these things, teams are just going to start getting better and better and understanding what we need, where right now nobody has a clue what this thing’s going to do. So, yeah, I’m excited for this weekend. I’m always excited to come to Darlington, but certainly the more power, slipping, sliding around. It’s going be a lot of fun.”

What did you think about this track when you started coming here?

“Honestly, I loved this place from the first laps I ran around it. I don’t know, just something clicked right away. I still had a lot to learn my first time coming here, but the style of racing here reminded me so much of Sprint Car racing where you’re constantly changing what you were doing. You’re always searching and trying to find that little bit more grip, and you go to some of these racetracks and you’re pretty repetitive. Like you just do the same thing, time in, time out. We’re here – you don’t ever run two laps the same. I mean, every lap, your car is just changing so much, so you’re always adapting, and that’s what I kind of loved about this place from the get go and then you just added the fact that you’re sliding all over the place. Yeah, really from the first time I came here, I was like, man, this is one of my favorite places, and then as the success came in, it obviously got closer and closer to the top. So yeah, I’ve always loved Darlington. It’s been a very influential place in my career and really my life in general.”

How would 750 horsepower affect the mile-and-a-half package?

“I don’t know. I could see it going either way. If you start going faster, it probably makes the field even more spread out, I feel like. Just the difference in the top teams and the bottom teams are going to be even more extreme. So maybe it just is one of those things where the rich kind of get richer, where right now, like we are not underpowered, but like we’re all relatively the same speed for the most part, right? At least from 1st to 30th and in qualifying is only a couple tenths where I think as you add more power, like the setups, everything is just going to become more and more important. So, I don’t I don’t know. I could see it going either way. I think it could make it maybe a little bit better. Maybe it makes it worse. So, yeah, I’m obviously not against it. I mean, it’s way more fun for any of us to go drive a 900 horsepower car versus a 200 horsepower car, right? You always want more, but on the mile-and-a-halves, I don’t know what it would do, to be honest with you. I think some tracks, we could definitely use it, but there’s other tracks where maybe the product’s as good as it’s going get right now. So yeah, I don’t know which way it would go if I’m being honest.”

How are you gauging this weekend going in balancing confidence versus being cautious?

“I feel like this is one of those tracks where typically things that work, like no matter the O’Reilly car, truck, like you can still find some speed doing it, but I wouldn’t say I’m like overly confident coming into this weekend just because so much has changed. I think it could be a totally different style of racing now. I mean, just even in a simulator, it drives nothing like what he used to drive like. So I think it’s hard to come into this one specifically and be like, oh yeah, our stuff’s going to be really, really good. I’m hopeful that it’s good, but you don’t really know until we go out here and practice. So yeah, hopefully, our team will hit it right. I do think it’s going to be one of those races where only a handful of teams are really going to hit it and have a huge advantage. So yeah, it’ll be interesting.”

Will you know more after practice or do you have to get into the race? What kind of driver do you think will excel in this type of race?

“Certainly going out in practice, you’re going to at least have a better idea of what to expect. You can validate some of your simulation. I mean, you’re still not going to have the full picture, but I do think it gives you at least somewhat in the ballpark of kind of what you need to do. I don’t know. I think that it’s such an unknown right now with what this thing is going to drive like that nobody really knows, but I would think certainly the guys that are good on the long run are good when the car is slipping and sliding around, those would be the guys I would think would be good just because I think that’s how the cars are going to drive. So, it will be interesting to see. We could all go out here and practice it as the complete opposite of what we think is going to be. That’s the exciting thing, I think, for all of us.”

How do you prepare for a race like this?

“I mean really, just the sim. That it. The video, like, you can go back and look at it, but it’s going be so different, right? Even qualifying what we’ve done here in the past, you just have so much less down for, so much more horse power that. Certain little tendencies in qualifying will still work, but just what was successful last time isn’t going to work this time. So, it’s hard whenever you’re trying to study for races like this. Tonight will be one where you’re definitely going to go and look at a lot of stuff, just trying to figure out what other guys are doing, but yeah, really just a simulator. Even that, like, that’s what I was saying earlier, it could be way off. You just don’t know until we get here. I would say this is going to be one of the more exciting practice sessions, at least for myself, just because of the unknowns, and then qualifying is going be a lot of fun too, just because it’s going kind of be, you know, who can figure it out? I’m looking forward to that.”

Do you think we will see more Darlington stripes with this new package?

“I think you’re going to see a lot more of it. It is just going to be easier. The harder the car is to drive, the easier it is to get the fence, and typically, the less downforce you have, the more advantageous it is to start running closer and closer and closer to the wall just because that becomes your grip. Look we could race rental cars around here and we’re probably going to put it in the fence eventually, but when you add just all the added power and less downforce, I think it’s certainly going to be one of those races where a lot of guys are just making mistakes and getting into the fence.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our nearly 1,500 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 48,000 people in the U.S. who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of more than 35 million cars and trucks at our 11 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

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

TOYOTA RACING – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DARLINGTON, SC (March 21, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Darlington Raceway.

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

No. 19 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

When drivers change teams, do you think drivers race their former teammates any differently?

“I don’t think so. I’m honestly trying to think back to, even whenever I came into the 20 car, and Erik Jones went to the 43. I thought Erik raced me really respectfully. I haven’t noticed that and I didn’t get to see the incident or I wasn’t around Daniel (Suarez) or Ross (Chastain) at all last week. So, yeah, I don’t have anything for you there.”

Are there any races where it is more difficult to run double-duty or triple-duty?

“Yeah, I mean, there’s definitely certain tracks that are a lot more physical than others. The physical tracks on the schedule would be Dover, even Bristol, but Darlington, it is not too bad. You have some decent straightaways to get some rest. The speeds are down; the G-forces are down. The biggest thing about Darlington is it’s just mentally taxing. Like you have to be mentally switched on the entire time because you get no off laps. You’re right up against the wall and any sort of mistakes are going to damage your car and likely jeopardize your potential to run well. I think most of us don’t really get the opportunity to pick where we run double, and triple duty. It’s more so about the teams and where they want you to drive at. I’ve been doing the O’Reilly Series race here for a number of years now with Sport Clips, and then it came together with Pristine Auction to do the truck race as well. It’s more so on the team’s deciding where I’m going to run or where the drivers are going to run compared to the drivers deciding where they want to do it at.”

What makes the Cup practice so important this weekend?

“Yeah, well, certainly learning from that group A. It’s nice that we’re in group B, so we get to watch. So, we’ll have a good idea of what the tire degradation is going be and how slick it is and how different the cars drive. So all of us are going to be tuned in to that group A for sure, all the group B drivers and teams are going to be glued to those monitors, watching, see what the guys are struggling with, what the tire deg is, what the balance migration is, and then making adjustments on their cars for the group B session. So, once you get on track, you kind of go to focusing on, on what you’re doing in that moment and even if it does go a certain direction, really loose or really tight, or a lot of, a lot of tire deg, a little tire deg – I don’t think it’s going to be a little tire deg – but, it’s, yeah, watching group A is going to be a huge, huge part of practice and hitting your adjustments because this is so foreign. The last time that we had a rules package change like this, we had an open practice at Phoenix, I think. So, it’s going to be tremendously different than what we’ve had, and I would expect there to be a lot of field spread between the best cars and the worst cars.”

Do you feel like tomorrow’s race will live up to the hype?

“The potential to crash by yourself is going to be much greater than what we’ve had in previous Darlington races, but honestly, thinking back to it, like the harder that we make the cars to drive, it seems like everybody becomes more heightened and focused on driving their car well and we typically see less crashes. I don’t know that it’s going to be a crash fest, but, yeah, I think everybody at this point is just speculating. Like nobody truly knows what’s going to happen. Whenever we get out there with, you know, this aero package and upped horsepower. Even after the practice session, we’ll know a little bit of what the tire deg is and how the cars drive, but we won’t know how they race, and I think that’s where hopefully we make the biggest gains is even if the cars drive differently, hopefully they drive better in traffic. We’re able to pass better and ultimately, we see a better race because of that, and, with the Phoenix being the higher horsepower stuff, it seemed like we could pass tremendously better. I would expect Darlington to be a place where we can pass a lot easier too.”

Is there a point of the season where you feel like you need to be in the top three or you will begin to panic?

“Definitely not before the reset. The Chase reset is what we’re all focused on is trying to get that best seeding position going into the Chase. Someone could run away with the regular season and then get bumped back down closer to the field at the Chase, or it could be a really tight points battle and then they could get an advantage at the Chase reset. So, right now, it’s definitely way too early to be talking about the runaway stuff. I think that Chase reset could go either way. It could give the leader an advantage and more of a buffer or you could bring him back closer to us. So, for us and the 20 team, I think we’ve focused on just trying to be in that top 5 in the regular season standings, at one time, I didn’t think we were ever going to get there after the first two races being that far back, but the points have worked out. We’ve run really well in the stages and the guys that are winning races are able to make up a lot of positions and a lot of points with those added points to the win. So, yeah, if we can start winning races, who knows, maybe the regular season championship isn’t out of out of the hunt, but right now we’re right where we want to be, and, we feel like we’re in great contention still for the championship.”

Has there been a former teammate that you didn’t get along with and how did you handle that situation?

“Yeah, fortunately, I haven’t ever been in that position. I’ve certainly had run-ins with competitors, but my style is if you have a confrontation, like just have a conversation about it and be able to move, move past it, put it behind you. A lot of the people that I’ve had run-ins with or I think right now, all of the people that I’ve had run-ins with, like I’m on pretty good standings with all of them. I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot right now.”

Do you keep a mental tally or write something down on people that you’ve had run-ins throughout the years?

“No, I mean, you certainly, I think if someone wrongs you enough, then you understand that going into the next time that you’re around them, but like I said, if I make a mistake and get into somebody, I’m going to reach out to them and apologize and have a conversation with them and let them know, however they take it, at least they know that I wasn’t willfully trying to take them out of the event. If it’s something that’s not bad at all, if you don’t even think about it whenever you’re on track, but then, the more it is, the more that you think about it whenever you’re on track.”

Is there anything you looked at after Las Vegas after your disappointment with your performance?

“I don’t think that anything that happened at Las Vegas will repeat at Darlington because the tracks race very differently, but certainly going back and learning from what transpired at Las Vegas and just understanding that next time that we go to that style of track, which will be more like a Kansas, and knowing how I didn’t get control of the race. I restarted on the front several times and feel like my race would have looked a lot different had I been able to get control of the event and get out in clean air and lead the race. When you’re side by side, whoever breaks that bubble and gets out front will lead a bunch of laps and look like the best car for a period of time, and unfortunately for me, I never won the starts and never won the restarts, so we never got control of the race. Certainly trying to go back and look at the events that transpired, all of the moves, the side drafts – it really is a side drafting game, so understanding that. I don’t think it’ll transpire to Darlington, but certainly the next mile and a half or normal intermediate.”

You did a great job with your commentating in Las Vegas. Would you like to be in the High Limit booth more often?

“Wow, thank you. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I don’t know when the next time I’ll get that opportunity, but yeah, I certainly enjoyed it.”

How do you manage tires here?

“We’ll certainly learn more about the strategy piece whenever we get into practice and, like I mentioned before, nobody has any idea, it’s all speculation on what the tire degradation is going to be and what that means for the strategy on Sunday. But, how do you save tires? I don’t know. I didn’t do it very well last night. That was my Achilles heel so hopefully I can save tires better today and tomorrow. I’m still looking for that magic answer if anyone else has it.”

What has been working this year with you leading so many laps?

“Well, that was a big thing that we focused on in the off season was getting back to leading laps. A lot of the stats last year mirrored my previous seasons, except for that laps led column, and that’s a really, really important piece because it shows car potential. It shows speed. We did well at the beginning of the year last year, and then we tapered off, mid-season, and we still got great finishes, but we weren’t able to lead the races and show that we had the best car because we didn’t have the best car. So, certainly this year, we’ve been off to a great start, to go to Phoenix and Vegas and have the races that we did, makes me super excited about the potential of our group, and I feel like we’re performing better now than what we did at the end of 2025, which is really good.”

Is it going to be more important to keep your car out of the fence this weekend?

“Yeah, these cars are so funny because they’re very robust in some ways, and they’re very fragile in, in other ways. Darlington is a place where you can hit the wall 10 times and get away with it, and then all of a sudden you just barely kiss the wall, and you get the wheel at the wrong angle, and you bend the tow link, and it ruins your day. I can promise you all of us are focused on staying off the wall. I would say that the O’Reilly cars are probably the most robust for getting against the wall because you don’t have that tow link and you can really lean on it and get away with it, but the Cup cars, you can get away with it all the way until you can’t. All of us are going hit the wall at some point and someone is going to have the unlucky touch of bending that tow link and then you’ve got a long day ahead of you. So yeah, they are very finicky race cars.”

How different of a race is it going to be?

“The last couple years since 2022, the race has become more and more and more predictable, as people understand, the Next Gen car. We’ve been on the same rules package, the same tire now for a long time at Darlington and the race has become very predictable where we know how it’s going to, how it’s going to turn out. I think this is a great change. I mentioned last week at Vegas that I would love to see this rules package implemented at all the racetracks. I think change is good for the sport. I think it’s good to keep the drivers and the crews on their toes and trying to see who can figure it out the quickest. So, I’m excited about it. I think that the race will look drastically different this time than last time.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our nearly 1,500 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 48,000 people in the U.S. who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of more than 35 million cars and trucks at our 11 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

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