TOYOTA RACING – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LONG POND, Penn. (June 13, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race from Pocono Raceway.

Denny Hamlin has won the pole for the third time this season (Martinsville-1, Michigan); along with also winning the pole for the All-Star Race. This is his third consecutive race starting first as he also started from the pole Nashville Superspeedway on the metric. It is his 51st career pole, and sixth at Pocono (2006-1, 2006-2, 2014, 2022, 2025, 2026).

This is the fifth consecutive race a Toyota driver will start first in the NASCAR Cup Series race – Dover, Charlotte, Nashville, Michigan and Pocono.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 King’s Hawaiian Shake ‘Em Bites Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Can you talk us through your lap?

“Well, I didn’t like the prospects, because the track got so hot. I was kind of watching it throughout qualifying, and there was just a moment there in the middle that there was so much clouds, and the track temp dropped, and then for the last 12 cars, it was all sun, and certainly felt like that was really going to be a tough obstacle to try to get around, but I got through a turn three, good. Got to turn one pretty good, and then at that point, I thought, this might be good enough, so I really didn’t do a great job through turn two finishing the lap, because I knew I was on a good lap and didn’t want to mess it up. So overall, just good enough and car had some great speed.”

They changed the right-side tire here. Could you tell a difference?

“No, I mean, they’ve done that a lot on the mile-and-a-half and 2 miles, like last week they had a different construction or something as well. No, they’re all, it’s also close. Really big compound changes is the only thing I really can tell the difference.”

Can you explain the pit road timing line changes?

“Well, this was a really wonky pit road. When it came to, like, there were sections where you could run three miles an hour faster, and then there were some sections where you had to be a mile an hour slower than pit road speed. So it seems like when we did a roll, it was way more consistent now. There’s not any games to be played now, which is good that they redid it. I think we’ll see less pit row penalties because of it.”

What conversations have you had with Bubba Wallace during this tough stretch for him?

“I mean, truthfully, not a ton, sometimes the drivers just got to work through it. I’m sure listening to me is the last thing that he wants to do when he’s going through a slump. It’s certainly not ideal. He’s just been a really a kind of in the wrong places at the wrong times. Some of it is if you’re in the middle of the pack you’re going to get involved in some of it, but some of it is, then he’s there because of strategy or something. There’s definitely been a large element of luck that’s been involved in it. If you crash out, you at least want to be the responsible party for it. It always feels worse when you’re part of someone else’s wreck. I didn’t see qualifying. He was two cars in front of me, so I was already buckled in, ready to go. So, I didn’t quite see that. The stuff kind of compounds, right? You just got to put solid weekend together, which he did last week, had a good qualifying opportunity today, and obviously wasn’t able to see it through. So, the opportunity was there, but there were some circumstances and I’ll have to look at it, but as a driver, you go through these stretches; how can you not let it get to you and remain emotionally stable through it? If you can do that, then you’ll come out better.”

Any reflections to tying Ryan Newman on poles?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s interesting. I was telling Kelly (Crandall) earlier that my algorithm feeds me (Ryan) Newman qualifying laps all the time on X. So, like, I see it all the time and I’m a sucker. I’ll sit around for those 15 or 30 seconds wherever it is, and watch it, because it’s, I love the nostalgia of it. I don’t know what they had going on back then. I mean, back then you were able to find advantage, all it took was they find something trick with the body or a chassis or tires and next thing your car could be way, way faster than everyone else’s. But he just was able to execute one lap just so much better than everyone else. So, you look at him and he had a fast car, but he also did an incredible job of getting back to the gas quicker than everybody else, hitting his marks, just, he was the guy. I mean, they called him Rocket for a reason, but it was amazing. It was amazing to see, and it wasn’t always sustainable in the race, but the guy knew how to get speed out of a car. He reminded me of, like, Shane Hmeil, like, back in the old days in the O’Reilly Series, just the guy was just a monster for one lap, and you just couldn’t figure out how or why.”

You’ve tied him now. What does that mean?

“I don’t know. I guess to tie, I don’t know, I don’t feel like it’s been that many. I trust the stats, but in my heart, I don’t feel like that is something that I did, but over the course of 20 years, like, they can they can slip by you. You’ll forget some that happened. So, it’s cool. It’s certainly something I’ll look back on years from now when I got a lot of time on my hands, but it’s awesome that when you were bringing up kind of the 50-50 thing, and then my next thing was like, okay, so who’s 60-60? Like, can I get can I get there? I was like that would eliminate three more guys out of that list. So, maybe (laughter).”

Do you know why you went before Kyle Larson in qualifying?

“My guess is to allow them to cool their car off more. The components and things like that get hot when you go out there and to keep the playing field as level as possible, they let them change the tires and then cool the car back to where it should be. You’ll still have a few components that might be a little hotter. At this racetrack, those components being hotter, actually is maybe a little bit of a benefit, not a hurt, but more than likely, qualifying tires, those things, they match them up just right. It’s all awash, but usually, especially the way that the racetrack was with no clouds and everything I was super sensitive looking at that, so it was the same track for everyone.”

Is there any irony to the guy who ended your last chance at winning three straight is starting next to you?

“No, I did not know that, but I can assure you that, that probably (Kyle) Larson and (Cliff) Daniels would love to do it.”

Will moving up the race time affect the race?

“Yeah, it will be different. So, my guess is – I haven’t looked at exactly the weather for tomorrow. I’ll look at that tonight, but generally speaking when weather rolls in, you usually have good sun for a while, and then the clouds come in before the rain. So, what that means is that the track, if you’re going to get your passing done, you have to do it in the first half of the race, because that’s when the track is going to be the hottest, the sun will be out the most, and then as it clouds up, track will get faster, passing will be certainly more difficult because of the evolution of a normal race anyway, the field tightens in the last stage, because everyone tunes their car in, and then you add cloud cover and cooler conditions. It just is going to make the field even tighter yet, so you better have your strategy done.”

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 over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 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 – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LONG POND, Penn. (June 13, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Pocono Raceway.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 King’s Hawaiian Shake ‘Em Bites Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

What are the challenges of racing at Pocono?

“It’s typically strategy. That’s one of the biggest factors of kind of where you’re going to end up finishing. Of course, you got to be fast. You have to qualify really well, but then it comes down to strategy, so many races have been won by, teams that you get that caution or you pit right before the caution, you can flip the field, and then once you get the clean air here, you can really kind of take off. It just seems like strategies, the only thing that as a driver, you just can’t really control that you hope goes your way.”

How much have you looked into like Christopher Bell’s car, how it worked, and do you have any concerns as far as the safety of the car going forward?

“I mean, truthfully, I haven’t looked at it at all. I haven’t dived into it at all. Obviously, that was a super massive hit and a very awkward kind of position where he doesn’t probably have very much time to change his posture or prepare for it either because it happened so quick. He got out of the car, other than his wrist, he felt okay. I feel like we’ve made some good, good strides in the safety department, because certainly before they started cutting on the chassis and starting to make it weaker like we wanted in the beginning that would have been a very, very tough impact to the body itself.”

Do you think that relaxed driving style is kind of what has helped you succeed at the triangle?

“I mean, sort of. I think just generally at this racetrack when I came here for the first time, it suited my driving style. I always raced low horsepower, late models that you had to keep momentum up, and this is just a really a momentum-based racetrack that you got to keep minimum speeds up. It’s about having really fast drive on the exit of the corner and this track rewards that type of style. So, I think that that really has been, you know, the key to the success here. Then, being with Joe Gibbs Racing. When I came here back in ‘06, they had some really good stuff going on with their cars, some development that Tony Stewart found in 2005 that I was able to latch onto. So, it really was just good timing on my part in a track that really suits my style.”

What would that mean to you to accomplish that this week and do it at a place like this?

“Yeah, it would be one of our best shots. There’s been other times where we’ve won two, and then the third racetrack is when we don’t feel quite as confident but certainly here, we think we have a great opportunity. It certainly would be something special to me, that something that we haven’t accomplished in my career, that I didn’t know that all the other top 10 guys had. So, it’s certainly something that has been very tough to achieve.”

Have you ever felt as confident coming to the racetrack on a weekly basis as you do right now?

“Not really. This is certainly the peak of that. There’s been other times where we’ve had a lot of success over a stretch like you’re talking about, but not as dominating, even though, I don’t know that we’ve really dominated the last few weeks. When we’ve needed to, we could, and that was that’s been the difference this time around versus previous. So, no, not really. I feel very confident in the way that I’m approaching each racetrack, the way that I need to get speed out of the cars, what I need out of them in traffic, all those things. I feel pretty dialed in with that right now.”

How do you prepare each week with the track changes?

“The process is truthfully the same. It really doesn’t change track to track. It does change for San Diego, since I haven’t been there before. Obviously, the process starts a little bit sooner. You need more laps, more reps at a track like San Diego versus somewhere like here at Pocono. So, I don’t really treat it any differently. My advantage right now just simply is that the laps that I’ve got at all these tracks, and any of these tracks that I’ve been successful at or had wins or run really strong, I know I know what that feel is. So, I just go in there and I try to replicate that feel over and over and over. So, it’s just, it’s truthfully been easy when we’re coming to these racetracks where I’ve had success or had wins. It’s tracks like San Diego where I don’t know what the right feel is. I don’t know where I’m at on the racetrack. That’s where the challenge really comes in, but all the other tracks, it’s pretty easy at this point, knowing what I need out of the car. Not easy to get the result. The process is not easy, but it’s certainly easy to know what I need.”

How much are you thinking about points and trying to close that gap since we have two road courses coming up after this?

“I mean, yes and no. I don’t know that we found ourselves really racing with him at any point of this season, like looking at points or anything like that. Yeah, we’re within shouting distance now, but I still don’t think we’re going to change our approach. I would imagine, when it comes to strategy, things like that, just do whatever it takes to win the race, and so that that will close the gap, surely. So, I think we can keep doing that and then play a little damage control when we go to the next couple tracks, then we put ourselves in a position to make maybe make a run at it later.”

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Since the wave of the checkers at Phoenix last year, the off-season that you had personally to deal with, how much have you been able to compartmentalize that into this year’s campaign and is it fueling what you’re able to produce out there now?

“Yeah, I mean, I think there’s a couple motivating factors. Certainly, right now, some of it is knowing that I’ve only got a couple more shots at this racetrack to win here, and we are there typically my best opportunities to win. You only got two more shots, or one more shot at that. So that is the super high motivating factor. Another one is the fast cars that I’m driving right now. Knowing that this is a window of opportunity to get the wins that I hope to accomplish in my career. That is a factor. Outside the racetrack, yeah, I mean, things are things are going good for once. Nothing’s crazy going on and mom has moved into her new house this week, so things are good there, and just there’s a lot of positive juju going on. So, it’s all just compounding and it’s just raising my confidence each time I go to the racetrack.”

Do you have excitement for the In-Season Tournament?

“Yeah, and I think they’re going by points this year, right? Yeah, so I like that a lot better, obviously, for simplicity reasons. I don’t know kind of who’s in that group, but really it was the racetracks last year. It was just so tough. Atlanta kind of wiped out really all the favorites right there in the first week, which you would expect out with a road course or a superspeedway, and we still got still got that in there, but it’s not the first race. So, it’s something that I would like to go further than the first round this year. Ty Dillon took it to me the first week last time (laughter).”

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 over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 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 – Chase Briscoe
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LONG POND, Penn. (June 13, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Pocono Raceway.

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

How do you feel coming back to Pocono as the reigning race winner?

“Yeah, looking forward to it. I mean, anytime you can come back to a place where you’ve won before, you just have a different confidence about you. So, yeah, looking forward to it. Obviously felt like last year our stuff was good here and just this has been a really good track for JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) in general, and then you throw in the fact that the Toyotas have been as strong as they are. I definitely feel good about it. Just have to go and execute.”

What are some of the challenges of racing here at Pocono Raceway?

“I think the big thing is you just have to know that your car is not going to be good and at least one of the corners. So, you’re just always trying to figure out what that compromise is of, how much can you give up in one of the corners if you’re getting better in the other two? So, that’s the hard part I feel like about coming here is you can normally make your car better in two of those corners, but it’s going to probably make it even worse than the others. So, you’re just trying to figure out like the gain loss of time and what’s worth it, and then you got to take into account in traffic, what’s your car going to do? Where can you actually set up passes? So that’s the hard part, I feel like about coming here and it changes, year-to-year, the track gets rougher in spots, and the tire can always be different. The track kind of moves around differently. It’s always a challenge when you come here just because there’s so many variables, I feel like, that go into, honestly, just running up front here. Your car’s got to be good, but the strategy piece, like, they’re just a lot that goes into running up front at Pocono. So, hopefully we can do all those things right.”

Did you take a look at Christopher Bell’s car at the shop? Do you ask a lot of questions or do you to see what NASCAR says?

“I went and looked at it Monday, when they were tearing it down. I was just like blown away, at just some of the damage, I guess, in a good way. Like it did what it was supposed to do, right? I’ve been around the Next Gen car for four years now or whatever, and I’ve never seen one look like that. It was just unique to see one, kind of twisted up and do the things that it did. I went and looked at it and then I talked to Christopher (Bell) a lot. Sunday night flew home with him and then Monday and even Tuesday we texted him back and forth. I tried to get him to send me the video of the in-car, but it wouldn’t work, I guess, but yeah, I was definitely curious just because I wanted to see it just in a sense of, I feel like he got out, like relatively unscathed. He has a broken wrist and stuff, but I mean, it could have been really, really bad. So just trying to see if looking at my crash videos and I know what kind of the G’s were in mine, compared to what he had and just trying to see if maybe I need to do something different in my stuff because I feel like to be able to get out of that impact, especially like from a head standpoint, like to not have a concussion, like he’s got something right with his helmet or head rest or whatever. So yeah, I was definitely, you know, curious about it everything.”

How would you compare where you are mentally and pressure wise compared from one year ago?

“From a preparation standpoint, everything, I feel night and day. I know what the car is going to do every weekend, like I feel like our prep work is dialed in. I would say that the pressure, honestly, kind of, it’s a little bit different because last year I felt like I had to, I had to perform to like maintain my job, which I still need to do that, right? But the pressure now is more in a sense of like, man, I haven’t went to Victory Lane this year and last year I was able to win three races and just from a point standpoint. I don’t know, now the expectation is there, where when I came into this weekend last year, like I felt like I could win, but I’d never done it at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). It wasn’t necessarily the expectation. So, it’s just, it’s different from that mindset. But the pressure, I feel like, is very similar. I obviously want to race for a championship and as a team, we feel like we need to be top five in points at the end of the regular season to really do that, and so I’m 100 points out right now. So, the pressure from that standpoint is very similar. Just knowing that I have to have a good weekend and just knowing that a win could really be the difference maker in getting to that point.”

What have you learned about that course for next week?

“It is probably, I feel like, the most technical racetrack that I’ve ever ran on in my career. You go to some road courses and, there’s just some corners that don’t really matter, truthfully. Like, they’re pretty standard. Like everybody’s going to be the exact same speed through them. I mean, San Diego, there’s not a single corner that is not like a massive time game or loss that just compounds the next one. Every corner is so technical and each, there’s like just, I was talking to Riley (Herbst) about it on the plane. There’s no flow. Every corner is so opposite of the one before it that it just makes it extremely like there’s just no flowing through sections. So, it just makes each corner, its own individual corner that is so technical and how you have to set it up and what you have to do and some corners are more important to give up the entry. Some are all about making entry because of that flow and the gain time loss of certain parts of the racetrack. So, it is extremely technical, I feel like the most challenging place I’ve ever had to just challenge myself on the SIM, like to just really just dive into data and change how I’m driving completely. Even sometimes using two or three different driving techniques for two or three different corners in a row. It’s a really, really challenging racetrack. If a guy’s not put in the time, I mean, they’re going to get exposed, I feel like when they get there, just because it’s one of those racetracks where if you haven’t prepared and done your due diligence. I mean, obviously the SIM could not be accurate to real life at all, but as of now, it is an extremely challenging racetrack.”

Have you seen what Pocono Raceway has done to honor Kyle Busch?

“I haven’t really got to yet. I came in last night. It was dark and then today I literally just kind of went from here to the bus lot. So yeah, I haven’t really got to see a whole lot yet, but I know on social media, I’ve seen a ton of the stuff that they’ve been doing, whether it’s the start-finish line or I even saw like a mural with the QR code to donate to Bundle of Joy. So, I haven’t got to see that in person yet, but certainly on social media, I’ve seen a lot of the stuff they’ve been doing. I think they’ve done a great job.”

What do you think the most important factor is moving forward, especially after recent success?

“I think definitely from a result standpoint, it’s been challenging. It’s been one of those years where it’s like you either run top-5 or you run 30th on back. There’s really been no in between. From that standpoint, it’s encouraging because we have been able when we execute to run in the top-5. From a speed standpoint, a lot of those times, even when we didn’t run up there, we had the speed and just something would happen and that’s why we wouldn’t finish. So, I think that’s been the thing that we’ve kind of held our hat on is, from a speed standpoint, we’ve been good. It would be one thing if we were just running 25th on back on speed itself, but we’ve had the speed. We just need to get the execution piece and sometimes that’s really hard to do. So hopefully, we can just be a little more consistent with that.”

Where do you feel like the team is in qualifying and how important is to start up front at Pocono?

“Qualifying is definitely important. It’s been kind of a head scratcher, I would say, why we haven’t been able to, you know, get the poles this year. Some of those have been, we just haven’t qualified. There’s been tracks where we’ve rained out qualifying that we were on the pole last year and then other times, we just have been like third to fifth. We’ve still been really fast, just haven’t been able to get the pole where last year, a lot of the time we would get the pole would be by a pretty good margin. So yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know why we’ve I don’t I don’t feel like we’ve regressed. I feel like a lot of the time, especially normally our teammates are the ones getting the pole, and they’ve just gotten better. So, yeah, I don’t know why that is, but hopefully today, we can get the pole because it does make a difference here from a pit road standpoint, but certainly a track position standpoint. So, yeah, it’s been bothering me that we haven’t gotten any poles at this point.”

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 over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 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 Bel
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LONG POND, Penn. (June 13, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Pocono Raceway.

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

Do you know how you broke your wrist?
“Yeah, I think I do, so I was still hands on the wheel, hands turned left and then my left hand, which was on the bottom, my wrist was bent over, like that on the underside of the wheel and then just the force into the steering wheel, slightly smashed it. So yeah, just that was that.”

Do you have any more concerns for San Diego and Sonoma?

“It’s certainly going to be hard. I’m just going to play it week by week and see how I feel today and practice at Pocono and then after the race. I have done a couple SIM sessions at San Diego. I mean, I feel like I was able to get through an hour or two in the simulator and do okay. So, I’m thankful that it’s another seven days away. I think certainly it’s going to be a week-to-week thing.”

Are you willing to divulge the numbers on the g-force or the Delta-V number is on your impact?

“Honestly, I don’t really know. I’ve been told that it was 63 g’s on impact, so I don’t know what the Delta V is, and honestly, it doesn’t matter to me. It was a big one, but I’m just so, so incredibly fortunate and thankful and blessed that my head was okay. To get out of there with just a fractured wrist is pretty immaculate. I owe all of the credit to NASCAR and my team for building safe cars. I know I said it in my statement earlier, but all of the previous drivers who have paid somewhat of a price to make these cars as safe as they are today, NASCAR from learning from every experience that they’ve had in every moment, every crash; it all paid off, you last Sunday. So, super grateful and I’m looking forward to putting it behind me for sure.”

What are your limitations with your wrist and what is your recovery like?

“From what I’ve been told, it’s pretty much just a normal broken bone. So, under normal circumstances, they would say six weeks. I would expect me to be in a cast for a period of time. I’m really glad that I didn’t have any displaced bones, so I didn’t have to have surgery, which was awesome, but yeah, I’m going to take it week-by-week. Obviously, I’ll be wanting to get out of the cast as quickly as I can. I think my group of doctors are all along the same lines to make sure that I’m healed up as much as possible, but obviously as quick as possible as well. Right now, I’m pretty much driving the car one-handed. I can kind of hold the wheel a little bit. I think enough to shift shifting on the straightaways here at Pocono is I think it’s going to be doable. The road courses, specifically San Diego, like there’s a couple corners that you have to shift in. I think turn one at Sonoma is going to be difficult. I hope for more healing before we get to those tracks for sure.”

What is the medical treatment that you can do today and tomorrow when you are at the track?

“I’m probably not going to disclose that. I think we have a pretty good plan in place. That what I’ll tell you. I will say, I haven’t driven the car yet. I’ve driven a streetcar and I feel fine driving a streetcar, doing normal stuff. So, we’ll learn a lot whenever I get out there here in an hour or so.”

How do you feel like everything in the car performed?

“The car did absolutely perfect, and all of my safety gear did absolutely perfect.

I was really, really grateful, Sunday whenever I hit the wall that all of that R and D, all of that effort had gone into making sure that I had the perfect containment system and it worked. Everything worked perfectly.”

What was the interaction with Chase Elliott right after, and can you talk about how many people have reached out?

“It’s been it’s been incredible, the amount of people that have reached out to me. This past week, my phone has literally been on fire and it’s been eye-opening how much love I have received from everybody, all of my competitors throughout the NASCAR garage, all of my peers and coworkers throughout the NASCAR garage, friends and family members, even drivers and competitors that I raced against on the dirt side that have reached out to me. So, it has been surreal to see that. Then, I can’t speak highly enough of Chase (Elliott) as well. The moment that he saw me out of the car, he was visibly shaken up and concerned about me. I appreciate so much his, demeanor and his thoughts of me and he’s reached out several times throughout the week to make sure I’m okay. Obviously, I asked him if he was okay too. He had a big hit as well, but just thankful for all of the love from everybody. Everyone in the community, everyone outside of the community, my phone has been the busiest this week, it’s been in my entire life.”

Do you plan to race all 400 miles? Do you have a reserve driver?

“The plan is absolutely for me to compete all or completes all 400 miles, but we do have a backup plan in place for tomorrow if I am not able to do it. Brandon Jones, he came and set through all of our SIM sessions this week to make sure that he was up to speed. He did a great job driving the simulator as well. I think that it’s either going to be like I’m going to commit to the race and I’m going to do it, or I’m going be out and just start and ride around until the first yellow. But, as of right now, I’m full commit planning on running 400 miles.”

What do you remember about the wreck? What was the impact like? What were your thoughts immediately after?

“I mean, I remember everything. I remember going into turn 3 side-by-side. I saw Chase (Elliott) wiggle then I thought that I was going to go around the outside of them, and then at the last moment I saw his car come right, and then, if I remember right, it kind of like picked my nose up, and shot me right. So, I remember staring at that Michigan USA sign too, saw the whole thing coming. Once I hit the wall, my earpiece popped out, so I scared the crap out of my wife (Morgan) and probably everyone else listening because I didn’t respond to Tab (Boyd, spotter) whenever he was checking on me, but my ear deal popped out, so I didn’t have any communication, and then I saw the car was on fire. I was trying to get out as quick as I could. I knew my wrist was broke right away, because I couldn’t disconnect my shirt. I reached down, tried to disconnect my shirt, and I couldn’t squeeze the button, so I had to use my right hand to do that. Then, my foot hurt really, really bad too. We got x-rays on my foot. It just ended up being bruised. So, yeah, between beside my foot and my wrist, I was good to go. I knew right away, or I thought I knew right away, that my head was okay because I didn’t have any sort of headache, didn’t black out. I remembered everything. Obviously in the infield care center, they did tests on me. So just super, super blessed that I didn’t hit my noggin and yeah, glad I can continue on.”

Did you feel like that was just a racing incident at Michigan?

“Yeah, I mean, I just thought it was racing. I don’t even know that I would call it hard racing. It was just a racing accident. He got loose. We were side-by-side through the corner, but these cars don’t really tend to lose a lot of side force whenever you’re side by side compared to the other cars. I didn’t think he did anything egregious. I didn’t think I did anything egregious. It was just a racing accident.”

Has your cast been modified to help you in the car? Has the steering wheel been modified at all?

“The OrthoCarolina team did a really good job of making sure that the cast is as molded to a steering wheel as I could get it. So, I can grip the wheel as well as or as good as I can, and then Max Papis. He did a great job of helping me out with a steering wheel to accommodate me, the best that I can. We took a lot of material off of the left side of the wheel just to make it skinnier, because I have so much material in my palm to help my hand get around the steering wheel. I feel like we’re as ready as we can get and see what happens.”

How different is your steering wheel than normal?

“It’s not much different. Everything’s the exact same, except for the left side, the left side just has some material taken away and it’s a smaller diameter than my right side, just because I have material taking up space in my palm. I’m going have to acclimate to driving primarily right-handed. I think I primarily drove left-handed under normal circumstances, so it’s going take a little bit of acclimation for sure.”

When did it hit that you were in pain?

“Yeah, it was it was pretty instantaneous. As soon as I stopped and reached down to undo my shirt and unhook my shirt, I couldn’t hit the button. I had instant pain. I didn’t have pain before I went to hit the button, and then whenever I went to hit the button, I’m like, oh man, something’s wrong. Then I got out of the car and I was like looking at it. I’m like, well, it still looks okay. So, I guess it’s okay, but then I couldn’t get my chin strap undone. So I’m like, okay, something’s wrong. I knew I knew right away that it was broken, and then once I think I took some Advil or ibuprofen there in the infield care center and they put me in a splint, and then from that point on, the pain has been not much at all if I, if I’m not moving it, but certainly whenever I move it, I get some pain.”

Did you ever consider not racing this week?

“Honestly, I didn’t even consider the points, but Sunday, whenever I got to the airplane, I didn’t really have any thought of not racing because I’m like, as long as I can hold the steering wheel, I’ll be fine, and then throughout my simulator sessions, obviously that was a test of like, how am I going to do driving the car? I did fine in the simulator. Really, there was no thoughts of me missing a race since my head was fine. The important stuff is fine. Honestly, if we weren’t shifting, Pocono would be a really good track to have this issue with, but the shifting makes it a little bit more difficult. Next week’s going to be interesting, Bob (Pockrass). Next week’s going to be interesting.”

Beyond the steering wheel is there any other modifications?

“So just everything that I would do left-handed, like my drink bottle, my radios, my helmet blower, all of that stuff just got moved to the right side of the car. So, I can use my right hand with it. So, yeah, I think that that’s it.”

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