NOAH GRAGSON
Homestead Advance
No. 10 Beef-a-Roo Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Straight Talk Wireless 400 (Round 34 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 27
● Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Noah Gragson will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway when he takes the green flag for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400. His only Cup Series start on the 1.5-mile oval came in 2022 when he drove the No. 48 machine for Hendrick Motorsports as he subbed for injured driver Alex Bowman. Gragson started 24th and finished 25th, battling flu-like symptoms throughout the 267-lap race.

● While Gragson has limited NASCAR Cup Series experience at Homestead, he was a force at the South Florida track in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In the stepping-stone division to the elite Cup Series, Gragson made five starts and finished among the top-five in all but one of them. He led laps in every race, and even with a 33rd-place finish in 2021 when he was collected in an accident involving David Starr, Gragson still managed an average finish of 9.2 with 335 total laps led. Gragson’s final Xfinity Series start at Homestead proved to be his best. After starting second in 2022, the Las Vegas native proceeded to lead six times for a race-high 127 laps to take the victory by .550 of a second over runner-up Ty Gibbs.

● Gragson also owns three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts at Homestead. He debuted at the track in 2016 and finished 15th. An 18th-place finished followed in 2017, but then in 2018 Gragson found his rhythm. He qualified third and finished third, leading twice for 34 laps in between.

● Beef-a-Roo, known for its famously delicious burgers and fresh, quality ingredients, will serve as the primary partner for Gragson and the No. 10 team of Stewart-Haas racing in the Straight Talk Wireless 400. Beef-a-Roo is a beloved fast-casual restaurant brand that has garnered a loyal fanbase for its commitment to quality food and community engagement. Homestead is the last of three primary races for the No. 10 Beef-a-Roo Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Beef-a-Roo debuted with Gragson Oct. 6 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and returned to his car the following week for the Oct. 13 Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. This partnership, facilitated by agency AMG Sport, marks a key step in Beef-a-Roo’s strategy to align with dynamic personalities who resonate with racing fans and support local communities through motorsport. Coinciding with Beef-a-Roo’s partnership with Gragson is the opening of three new locations in October: Manhattan, Kansas; Pittsburgh, Kansas; and Joplin, Missouri. These soon-to-be-opened restaurants will join already established Beef-a-Roo locations in serving a special Noah Gragson-inspired burger throughout the month of October. Gragson’s “Nacho Burger” features a premium beef patty with lettuce, tomato, onion, tortilla chips, jalapenos and taco sauce, all drizzled with melted cheddar cheese. To learn more about Beef-a-Roo and its offerings, please visit www.beefaroo.com.

● Riding along with Gragson this weekend at Homestead as part of the 50th anniversary of the Ronald McDonald House Charities is the Harmon Family. In 2019 while in the midst of moving to California, their car was T-boned as they drove through Las Vegas. Joshua, their 9-year-old son, suffered shattered bones from his pelvis down. While Joshua recovered in a Las Vegas-area hospital, his parents stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for 71 nights. Today, Joshua is fully recovered and able to walk. The family chose to be represented on Gragson’s No. 10 Beef-a-Roo Ford Mustang Dark Horse as Gragson is a Las Vegas native.

Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Beef-a-Roo Ford Mustang Dark Horse

You have one NASCAR Cup Series start at Homestead, and it came back in 2022 when you were driving the No. 48 car for Hendrick Motorsports while subbing for an injured Alex Bowman. You finished 25th. What do you remember from that first Homestead start?

“We won the day before in the Xfinity race and really dominated, but just couldn’t run the wall in the Cup car like we needed to. So that was kind of a struggle, but I just remember being really, really sick inside the racecar and throwing up a handful of times, and that was definitely a long race. But it’s a fun, fun track, and I’m excited to get back there this year.”

Were you sick for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, or was it something that came after the Xfinity race?

“Saturday after the race, I remember going to victory lane, and I was so sick in victory lane. I was good before that, but then, I don’t know, I did a huge burnout and I was breathing in all the smoke and everything. And I don’t know if that made me sick, but I just felt terrible that whole night and the next day.”

Homestead was a great track for you in the NASCAR Xfinity Series – four top-fives in five starts, capped with a dominating win in your final Xfinity Series start there (2022 with 127 laps led). What was it like to rip around Homestead with so much confidence?

“It’s fun. We probably should’ve won at least four of the five races. My first race there, we finished fourth, and then we should’ve won every single race. I think I led the most laps out of the next four races in a row, and was leading within six to go in all four of them and only got one win. It’s definitely my favorite track. It’s kind of my bread and butter.”

Do you walk into Homestead with more confidence than you do at other racetracks?

“In in the Xfinity car, it was definitely like, ‘Man, I have so much confidence. It’s like there’s nobody who’s going to beat me here straight up if it goes green.’ On restarts, we kind of struggled on the short run in all those races, but over the course of 200 laps, the thing goes green the whole time, I felt like I could lap the field. And I mean that not out of arrogance, but we were just that good. I was so comfortable there that I felt like I could carry that confidence because I just felt almost like I was at home when I was right up against the wall, skimming the right-rear quarter panel against the wall. And if I got away from the wall, you know, 3, 6, 9 inches, the further away I got from the wall, the more I was going to wreck. So I had to be right up against the outside wall, and it also looks pretty cool too.”

Drivers seem to universally praise Homestead. Why do you like racing there, and what are you able to do with a car at Homestead that you can’t do elsewhere?

“I just think that’s the only track where you run the wall and it’s like a constant radius from when you turn into the corner to when you get your hands straight on the exit of the corner. It’s one constant radius. It doesn’t have a pocket and then sharpen up like some of these tracks, like the exit of (turn) four at Kansas and you’re running the wall, and then the wall sharpens up, and you kind of have to stay away from it. You can just rip the wall all the way from entry to center, and I think with it being worn out and having progressive banking, you can run bottom, middle, top – there are a lot of options. It’s worn out, so the tires are slipping and sliding at the end of a run, and you can throw slide jobs in turn one, make passes, and drive away. It’s pretty fun.”

No. 10 Beef-a-Roo Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Noah Gragson

Hometown: Las Vegas

Crew Chief: Drew Blickensderfer

Hometown: Decatur, Illinois

Car Chief: Jerry Cook

Hometown: Toledo, Ohio

Engineer: James Kimbrough

Hometown: Pensacola, Florida

Spotter: Andy Houston

Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Ryan Mulder

Hometown: Sioux Center, Iowa

Rear Tire Changer: Trevor White

Hometown: Arlington, Texas

Tire Carrier: Tyler Bullard

Hometown: King, North Carolina

Jack Man: Sean Cotten

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Fuel Man: James “Ace” Keener

Hometown: Fortuna, California

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Chris Trickett

Hometown: Grafton, West Virginia

Mechanic: Beau Whitley

Hometown: Carmel, Indiana

Tire Specialist: Jacob Cooksey

Hometown: Westbrookville, New York

Engine Tuner: Matt Moeller

Hometown: Monroe, New York

Transporter Co-Driver: Steve Casper

Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Matt Murphy

Hometown: Augusta, Georgia

Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (October 25, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Friday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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

How long did it take for the sting of last weekend’s race to wear off?

“Yeah, it definitely was (a bummer). But I’d have to say (on) Monday night, I closed the book and moved on. There’s a lot worse positions to be in and you know, obviously, once that disappointment wore off, you realize we’re running really well, had a great day at Las Vegas and we’re trying to carry the momentum over to Homestead.”

How do you feel about the reaction to your radio chatter at the end of last weekend’s race?

“I mean, I don’t know. I own it. I try to not curse, but in the moment, it was a very passionate (pause). I don’t know, I was overcome by emotion at that time and yeah, I don’t know what else to say other than I just didn’t really think about what (all) I was saying, right? It was just emotion, disappointment, and yeah, passion.”

Do you care if that is out there?

“I mean, I don’t know. I don’t really care. Normally, I’m not on ‘Radioactive’ (laughs). That was one of my first appearances on ‘Radioactive.’ But, yeah, I guess it doesn’t really matter to me. It was a passionate moment, and you know, this sport is full of those. And yeah, I guess I’m glad I contributed once in my life.”

Do results like you had last week hurt worse than races where you made a mistake during?

“Yeah, that’s definitely what goes back into Bob’s (Pockrass, FOX Sports) question about my radio chatter and that’s why it hurt so bad, because everything went literally, exactly how we dreamed it up and we still lost the race. You’ll have that and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) told me before we even started racing together back in 2021, ‘I can probably count on one hand the amount of times we won with the best car and everything went smoothly,’ and the majority of your wins come from the days where you don’t have the best car or people make mistakes and it falls into your lap. And, you know, unfortunately, it (Las Vegas) was one of those deals. And that’s happened a lot to us this year. Between (pause), you can start rattling off the races, but there’s been races where we’ve executed and one everything well and didn’t win. So, yeah, that’s why it hurts so bad.”

What is the strategy for these next two races – to gain max points or something different?

“Yeah, I think that’s what we’re planning on (gaining max points). You know, that’s why you’re in the Round of 8, trying to transfer to the Championship 4. You’re never really safe. The three of us William (Byron), Kyle (Larson) and myself have kind of, the way that the cards fell, we’re kind of essentially point racing each other, and the guys below that are far enough below, they’re basically out of the points and essentially racing for wins. Certainly, we’ll know more once we get through Homestead on Sunday night, but, right now, we’re planning on there being three winners and the three of us – William, Kyle and myself – are racing for that last points spot. There’s a good chance William, Kyle or myself could win this weekend and it could change. But plus 42 (points) sounds great until you realize every time someone wins, that cutline shrinks more, more and more, or that gap to the cutline. You’re never safe and it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a battle all the way until the checkered flag at Martinsville and, you know, everybody knows how important those wins are. That goes back to last week and why I felt the way I did.”

What was the passion you had for the sport as a young driver? Was there a moment that you knew this is what you wanted to do for your career?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s tough as the path to get here (NASCAR Cup Series) is so unclear as a kid in my shoes, growing up dirt racing and the thing is that’s just so hard to fathom, there are 38 cars that race on Sunday. And how many racers in the United States want one of those 38 rides, so just the number is so small and to get yourself into this position is so hard, so, you know, for me, I never thought it was a possibility. Whenever the door started opening up, racing for Toyota in the USAC ranks, it was (pause), the door was opened up, but the path to get there was so far away. Now all of a sudden, you’re in with a manufacturer, but at the time, we had JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and that was like six cars? I don’t know, but still, just you go from 38 (cars) to six, it becomes so incredibly difficult to get one of those rides and yeah, I never really saw the pathway to Cup. It was hard for me to envision that, even when I was in Xfinity (Series), because at the time, JGR had Erik Jones in the 20 car and you know, younger veterans with Denny (Hamlin), Carl (Edwards) and Kyle Busch. So, it was like, ‘how am I ever going to get in one of those seats? Those guys are young, Erik’s going to be there forever.’ So, I was always content with what I was doing, and you know, I never really tried to make it to the next level, just tried to execute what I could where I was at in my career. Fortunately, those results brought other opportunities from that, but I was never looking forward, just trying to do the best I could do in the situation I was in.”

Is there added pressure to perform and win for Toyota because they’ve helped mold your career?

“No, you’re right, but the thing is, when we started this journey back in 2013 of me joining Toyota, we didn’t have a goal to be a Cup champion. It was always just ‘put him in this position and let’s see what happens. How will he do once he gets into late model races?’ And then, oh I did well and then it was ‘let’s see how he does whenever he does Truck races?’ So the goal was never to be a Cup champion, the goal was to be see how he (himself) does and whenever I got to the Cup Series, it’s not (pause), my goal is to be a Cup champion, but I don’t think from the Toyota side it was ‘okay, you need to be a Cup champion or that’s the goal, to be a Cup champion.’ And I’m proud to be competing for a Cup championship. And I’m proud to reward them with wins, and obviously, it would mean the world to me to bring them another championship. It’s just been a heck of a ride for sure, and that’s one thing I’m proud of with Toyota is that they never put that pressure on you, right? Like ‘you need to be a Cup champion and you need to be an Xfinity Series champion,’ or whatever. It’s just ‘see what you can do,’ and it’s kind of talked for itself.”

Do you take that same mental approach for yourself?

“Yeah, I mean I completely put the most pressure on myself out of anybody. But I always just try not to envision the end goal and focus on what the process is to get there. And that’s always been my M.O. I’ve never been one to set goals to ‘you have to have this many top-fives, or this many wins, or whatever.’ You know, I guess a little of it is that the goal once I got to the sport was to make that championship race and be a part of that final four, but there are many ways to get to that. So, yeah, I’ve always with myself, just focused on the job and not the end goal of like saying ‘I need this many stats or race wins.’”

Where does that come from – your dad and family?

“Yeah, it definitely stems from the people I grew up around and who have instilled knowledge in me. I go to my dad and my uncle and my car owners in my younger years and they just, I guess, molded me into what I am. Yeah, that was I was always trained (to do) – to not focus on what’s out there, just focus on your job and to do the best you can.”

You’re the most recent winner at two of the next three race tracks on the schedule. Does that give you any advantage?

“I think that the advantage that I have, and a lot of us have, is that we know we’re going to be competitive. But every race is a new race, and just because you won this race (Homestead) last year or Phoenix in the spring does not guarantee results by any means and it does not mean that you’re the favorite or whatever. You have a good feeling you’re going to be competitive because the track hasn’t changed, the cars haven’t changed, the rules package hasn’t changed. So, ‘you’ll be in the hunt’ is a good way to look at it. But the results of the previous race don’t guarantee anything.”

Does your team feel any more momentum from those results?

“Yeah, I mean the biggest thing is knowing you have a good baseline and you’re going to be fast. And there’s going to be a group of us who will be fast in practice and qualifying and, yeah, you take your top-10 guys and they’re probably going to be the top-10 guys, but the running order will be shuffled a little bit here and there. Yeah, the best way I can explain it is, we know we’re going to be competitive. We were competitive here last year and at the Phoenix race in the spring. You know, going back to those race tracks, we expect to be competing for the race win. But to say you’re going to win the race because you win the race last year is just false and inaccurate.”

Do you think winning the first race in the Round of 8 is as big of an advantage as we think?

“Yeah, I mean it’s definitely an advantage to just have a clear headspace and time to prepare. I go back to my two years of making it (Championship 4). Now everything I’m saying, (Ryan) Blaney completely blew (it) up last year. But, yeah making it from Martinsville, everything was such a blur and such a rush, and like ‘holy smokes, you just won the race,’ to Nancy (Padula, Joe Gibbs Racing) saying we have to book flights to get to Phoenix early and now we have to do the simulator and get extra simulator time. You know, the teams have their routine to prepare the car for every week, but the Phoenix car is a special car and if you’re in the final four, it deserves to have more time and effort put into it. So, winning that first race is huge and yeah, it’s an advantage. And I noticed that from winning Homestead last year, having that extra week to prepare.”

Winning Homestead last year, did you do anything different compared to your normal routine knowing you were already in the Championship 4?

“At least for me, I went to the simulator all week from Homestead to Martinsville and the track I drove was not Martinsville. Yeah, I remember I was doing Q (qualifying) runs, different setups and all of the things that, literally, we won at Homestead, and Martinsville, you didn’t speak of it. It’s all about Phoenix. I haven’t been in the position where you win the first race (in the Round of 8), but there’s such a difference between winning (at) Homestead versus winning (at) Martinsville.”

About Toyota

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Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 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 30 electrified options.

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

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Straight Talk Wireless 400 Media Availability | Homestead-Miami Speedway
Friday, October 25, 2024

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series, clinched a spot in the Championship 4 for the sixth time in his career after winning last weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Logano talked about that and preparing of the final event of the year in Phoenix earlier today at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAS THIS WEEK BEEN LIKE IN YOUR MEETINGS, KNOWING THAT THIS RACE AND MARTINSVILLE, I’M NOT SAYING THEY ARE IRRELEVANT, BUT IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, YOU’RE LOOKING AHEAD, SO KIND OF WALK ME THROUGH WHAT THAT’S BEEN LIKE.

“Yeah, pretty much what you would expect. We went over Vegas for a little bit, just like we typically would after any race. An overview of Miami, of just the details of things that we’re looking for here, and then we started talking about Phoenix and pretty much just stayed there the rest of the time. Not that this race doesn’t matter to us, but the fact that we earned an advantage by being able to focus onto Phoenix before anybody else, we need to take advantage of that opportunity. That’s a big opportunity to have. So as much as we want to run well here and I think we will. We need to have all our focus on Phoenix right now.”

WHEN YOU LOOK BACK TO 2018 AND 2022, I THINK YOU WON THE FIRST RACE IN THAT ROUND EACH YEAR. WHAT DO YOU PULL FROM THAT?

“It’s just really kind of going through the details. You know, it’s, even for everybody. You know, you even think about logistically everything that happens, right? If you lock yourself into Marksville, you got a couple days before that car’s gotta be on the road headed out west. So you don’t have much time to really change much of the setup or whatever things you’re wanting to do, right? You can practice, obviously, but you are just massaging the little things, you don’t have a whole lot of time there. If you think about it even from a partner’s perspective, right now they know you’re racing for a championship, a lot of people want to show up now. You know, now you can book a suite, you can get the travel stuff for everybody. All those distractions that you’ll have on championship weekend, you can knock a lot of that out now, which to me, is something. That definitely adds up, because you have media on Tuesday, you have media again on Thursday. So you really only have one day at the shop, one and a half days before the car is loading up and going. So you just don’t have the time. This advantage does help a little bit with those type of things too.”

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE SO EARLY IF YOU’RE ALREADY LOCKED IN? YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO ROLL IN LIKE TOMORROW MORNING.

“This is just who I am. I flew on the team plane down here. I’m just an early person. So, I’ve got an appearance tonight, so I will go do that. Like I said, I’m still here to try to win the race. I’m not going to just lay up and not just start the race and put it away. That’s not who I am, it’s not what we want to do for our sponsors or for our fans. We still want to try. It’s just changed a lot of our focus, that’s all.”

I KNOW THE TRACKS ARE WAY DIFFERENT, BUT IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN TRY THIS WEEK OR NEXT WEEK TO POTENTIALLY SEE IF IT WORKS AT PHOENIX?

“Not particularly. A lot of things you would maybe want to try things for this racetrack because you have no risk if it goes bad. Typically in this race, in the playoffs, it’s very important and you can’t afford to take risks whether it’s running the wall more often or setup stuff or whatever it may be, you wouldn’t take a lot of risk because unless you’re back is up against the wall and you have nothing to lose. You would say, hey, let’s get a solid top five out of this thing or something like that. Or we can kind of go for all or nothing and we can do that kind of in every category throughout the weekend.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE A FAVORITE HERE TO GET THIS CHAMPIONSHIP? I MEAN, YOU’RE THE FIRST GUY IN, YOU’RE A TWO-TIME CHAMPION, YOU’VE WON THERE BEFORE. DOES YOUR TEAM HAVE THAT KIND OF VIBE GOING ON RIGHT NOW?

“Absolutely. I don’t see why we wouldn’t. I always feel like we can win the race no matter what. And we figured it out a way last week, even when we weren’t the fastest car. We were the best team that figured out how to win that race. That’s where I feel like we have such an advantage over the other teams, is that we’re very well-rounded. I think that gives us a lot of opportunities to capitalize when no one expects it. And now you’re going to give us more time to focus on one track. So we need it. So at that point, yeah, I feel like we definitely have the advantage over everybody.”

IS THERE A RESPONSIBILITY YOU HAVE IN HELPING RYAN BLANEY THIS WEEKEND OR NEXT WEEKEND?

“Yes, within reason of what we can do. If there is anything that they want to try in practice or set up wise or anything like that, we are open to it. What do you guys need to make sure you have the fastest 12 Ford Mustang out there? What can we do to help you from that perspective? So we’ll do what we can to be good teammates, for sure.”

IF YOU GUYS HAVE WORKED WELL TOGETHER IN THE PAST, HOW MUCH CLOSER CAN YOU GUYS GET, OR WHAT’S SO DIFFERENT ABOUT HOW YOU TWO OR THE TWO TEAMS IN PARTICULAR HAVE BEEN ABLE TO WORK TOGETHER THE LAST FEW WEEKS OR EVEN THROUGHOUT THE SEASON?

“Yeah, the two teams definitely work a lot together lately on performing setups. Where it doesn’t seem to be very separate anymore, of like, this team doing one thing and this team doing something completely different. And everybody looking at each other and saying, well, why would you do that? Why would you do that? At least they’re sitting together and going through things together. I think that helps. I think Blaney and I work really well together off the racetrack and on the racetrack. And that relationship has only grown even more so after his championship, which I think is great. And it seems like we’ve been able to really be open with each other. And it’s really gone back and forth where I think we’re helping each other quite a bit. I think that’s just overall going to make our team better and Austin included in that as well. We’re all open to each other. There’s nobody hiding anything.”

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY BEING CLOSER SINCE RYAN WON HIS CHAMPIONSHIP?

“I don’t know exactly why. I don’t know. He’s got a championship now and now it’s not necessarily as much of a competition to where we both want to see Team Penske succeed. I feel like we’re more looking at it from the same lens than we used to. I don’t know if it’s because of the championship or is it that we’re both growing up. I don’t know exactly what it is, but it does seem like it does seem to help.”

YOU AND KYLE (LARSON) ARE THE ONLY TWO DRIVERS TO REPEAT CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THIS FORMAT. WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO ADD ANOTHER ONE IN THIS PLAYOFF FORMAT?

“It would mean a lot in any playoff format. A championship is a championship. That’s what I said last week. There’s one goal when you start at Daytona and that is to win the big trophy. We get a great opportunity to do that again. So, yeah, three would be great, four would be better. There’s never enough of them, so it would be nice.”

LOOKING THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHAMPION, SEEING YOURSELF AS A CHAMPION, DOES THAT GIVE YOU AN ADVANTAGE OVER THE OTHER DRIVERS? I MEAN, OTHER THAN BLANEY, KYLE LARSON MAYBE, DOES THAT GIVE YOU AN ADVANTAGE GOING INTO THAT FORMAT?

“There’s no doubt after you’ve done something once, you’re gonna be better the second time, right? We talked a minute ago about what the week is like leading into it, and all the other things you have to do, all the distractions, all the stress that’s there. It’s a hard week, there’s no doubt. I laugh all the time because so many drivers, in all three series, a lot of their answer is, we just treat it as another race, it’s just another race. BS, it’s not another race. Not even close, it’s the championship, it’s the biggest race you’ll ever be a part of. It’s bigger than that. Everyone tries to minimize it so they can sleep better at night. It’s not about that. And I think for some drivers and teams, they love that pressure and I think there’s some that just hate it and it affects them in a negative way. It probably depends on who you are, but I know going through things more than once definitely helps you know how to prepare for what’s coming your way.”

DO YOU HAVE TO BE BUILT A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY TO KIND OF ACCEPT THAT PRESSURE AND MAKE THE MOST OF IT?

“Absolutely. Everybody’s different, right? Everybody handles things in different ways and some people get excited about the do or die situations and they want that. Some people want the ball as the clock winds down, they want to take the shot. And there’s other people who are like, I don’t want to be the guy that misses the shot. I want to be the guy that makes the shot. It is just a mindset. Everybody is just differet. I have found ways for me that work in racing and makes me excited about these moments, these late race restart type moments. It motivates me and makes me excited about those moments. But others have to find that way, or maybe they don’t have that way. Everybody’s different. That’s why we all do different things in life. Everybody’s good at certain things and not at others. There’s a lot of things I suck at. But luckily I found something I’m decent at.”

I KNOW THERE’S BEEN A LOT GOING ON AND IT’S BEEN A SHORT TIME SINCE YOU WENT UP TO THE ASHEVILLE AREA SO IS THERE ANYTHING MORE IN TERMS OF YOU PLANNING AND DOING THINGS WITH YOUR FOUNDATION OR IS IT STILL TOO SOON TO KIND OF PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS KIND OF, THERE’S SO MUCH THAT’S HAPPENED IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS?

“Not too soon. Lots of things brewing on that project. I spent a lot of time this week on that as well. Lots of really cool ideas, lots of support. A couple of plans we have in works already, we haven’t even announced it yet, so I can’t tell you. But it will be very shortly, you will hear something. But, there are some really cool projects coming our way. I’m really, really excited about a couple of them. They’re going to be really impactful to a lot of families. So, in a cool way too. I’m really excited about the support from not only our fans, but our sponsors as well. They’re like, hey, what do you need to do? We want to help to and jump on board. So the more people you get together, the more impactful we can all be. The job is far from done up there and I think everybody knows that. We’re looking forward to setting up a few plans that will help us in the long term.”

SO YOU’RE ABLE TO BE INVOLVED IN SOME OF THAT PLANNING THIS WEEKEND. WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN THE CASE WITH ANY OTHER WEEK OR DID IT KIND OF HELP WITH WINNING AND MAYBE WHILE YOU’RE STILL TRYING TO WIN THIS WEEKEND, THAT IT JUST KIND OF ALLOWS YOU TO KIND OF LOOK AT SOME OTHER THINGS BIG PICTURE?

“I don’t think it would have changed, to be honest with you. I might have been more distracted in those meetings. The ADD may have kicked in a different way. But yeah, that to me is, I’ve always said it up here before, but that’s my why, right? Like, why do we do it? And I’ve said it many times, championships are cool and they’re great, but do nothing with it. What is it? It’s an empty cup. That’s what they are. So if you can do something larger than just take home a trophy and do something with it, that’s when it becomes really impactful.”