Toyota Racing – Bubba Wallace
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DARLINGTON, S.C. (August 31, 2024) – 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Southern 500 race at Darlington Raceway.

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

How much confidence do you have for tomorrow’s race after getting the pole for Sunday’s Southern 500?

“Yeah, you look at us coming in and being on the bubble – 21 points out with a ton of pressure and I think the pressure just switched. We’re not here to mess around. I showed up with a more open and calmer demeanor – more free and relaxing demeanor, but at the same time I don’t want to be messed with. So, it’s a fine balance you’re got to walk. I appreciate the team. We unloaded – we did some changes to the car in the spring race, and it just wouldn’t give me the right read going into qualifying. So, I told Booty (Barker, crew chief), ‘Hey, I need to be this to have a good qualifying run’ and here we are. Just everybody on the 23 car and everybody back at AirSpeed. Both cars just showing up with speed at Darlington for the Southern 500 is super cool. I’ve been close here I think once or twice in qualifying, so to finally pull it out, it’s like ‘Wow! We’ve got it!’ With all that being said, the elephant in the room — tomorrow is a whole different day and I’m excited to see what tomorrow offers.”

What kind of confidence does checking the first box give you to having a good run to make the Playoffs?

“Yeah, for sure. To be honest with you, I was pretty mad after practice and not being on top. I set the expectations pretty high, and we were sixth and I was like ‘God almighty! Alright, I wanted to make a statement,’ and I didn’t do that. So, I had to make that up in qualifying. It’s good to be where we’re at. It’s so hard at this level, right? 17, I don’t know where he qualified – he’s top 10. But there’s no free lunch. That’s one of Bootie’s (Barker, crew chief) many sayings – one of his favorites. Everything you do, there’s no free lunch. There’s nothing guaranteed on the other side. I’ve said this a couple weeks ago after Richmond, it’s going to be a dog fight to the very end. And I think that’s what makes us drivers all great is we’re excited to show up and compete and put it all on the line for our team, our sponsors, our people that work on these cars. We get to do that tomorrow here in Darlington. Yeah, the confidence is there. I get to get humbled here in next few hours going back to racing Legends cars here against Keelan (Harvick). So, yeah, I’ll tell him I got a Southern 500 pole, and he doesn’t.”

Is there a rhythm here that you’ve started to pick-up on here?

“Hell no. I pounded it off the fence in round one and two. It just so happened to work. Where we’re at now is so data driven. Denny (Hamlin) talks about that a lot. How much we dive into data. It took me a while just to get onboard with that, but knowing how much vital information there is inside of all that data – now you can get a little too much into the weeds and so you’ve got to pick and choose. We’ve been really good here in qualifying and we’ve also given up a really good race car trying too hard from what I’m hearing from data and just not getting back to the basics. So today, I’ve determined that Darlington is probably one of the, if not the hardest places to qualify. Just the way you have to approach practice to the qualifying trim, it’s totally different. For example, Kansas the first couple laps in practice you’re damn near wide open. In qualifying, you’re wide open, so it’s close. Here you’re finessing and practicing and then hey, good luck. It all goes back to JR and our analytics group. They do a really good job of feeding us the right information that translates to on-track performance.”

What was the battle between the head and the throttle pedal there?

“So, I’m sitting there, and I remember coming here a year ago, right and we were pretty good in practice and JR is like, ‘Hey, you need to be deeper on entry.’ And I’m like, okay, and I went out in qualifying, and I said, ‘Here’s deeper’ and we were 18th or whatever and that’s not what I meant. You have to understand, and you have to dive into what that actually means. We came here in the spring and my car was okay and I made a move to the bottom in (turns) three and four – not the bottom but the middle and that gave up our pole time. So, here we had a goal to make sure you run the fence in (turns) three and four and right before qualifying I looked over an email with our analytics stuff and I said, ‘Okay, I got on the gas right here in the spring so I’m going to do that.’ It’s a little bit hotter. Track temps up, grip’s not like it is in the spring, and it caught me by surprise. It’s tough. It’s tough to go out – I mean, (Kyle) Larson ran a 43 or 44. I don’t know – it was close. And so, I thought I definitely gave some up especially through (turns) one and two in the second round, but the first round was just perfect.”

Do you think you’ll gain enough stage points to make it a battle on points?

“Yeah, anything can happen we’ve seen. Look at last week, right. Anything can happen so we have to run our own race. It makes it a lot easier for us. Having that first pit stall and as long as long as we execute and make the right calls, be great on pit road then — all I want is every single person a part of this team, including myself, is to go to bed tomorrow night saying, ‘We did whatever we could. We did all we could.’ And maybe it was good enough, maybe it wasn’t so that’s the lottery ticket we’ll find out tomorrow after the race.”

Is racing a Legends car doing all that you can or just a distraction to keep your mind off Sunday’s race?

“Hell, I got my ass kicked. You were there. It was bad. I didn’t need you to confirm that. I love racing Legends cars. I haven’t been in one in over five years and it’s totally different now. It’s more frustrating not being able to jump back into it and being as competitive as I was, but on the other side of that I’m a competitor. I’ll make everything a competition, right. I bet I can write a better article than you. It’s just a competition thing – it’s kind of a joke but I’m going to make it a competition. But it’s just that side of it is just competing and having fun with it all and being around the kids there. It was funny, we were talking about qualifying in the Legend car and I said, ‘Y’all ain’t got nothing on qualifying at Darlington.’ And I was giving them just a little flavor of the difference between groups what you have to do in the car and I’m glad I told them somewhat of the truth because it ended up working out today. Just going over there and racing Legends cars and having fun. When is our writing competition (laughter)?”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 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 more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th 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 29 electrified options.

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

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Southern 500 Qualifying | Darlington
Saturday, August 31, 2024

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd – Chase Briscoe
7th – Ryan Blaney
10th – Chris Buescher
11th – Austin Cindric
12th – Brad Keselowski
15th – Josh Berry
21st – Justin Haley
23rd – Joey Logano
24th – Harrison Burton
29th – Noah Gragson
30th – Ryan Preece
31st – Michael McDowell
33rd – Todd Gilliland
35th – Kaz Grala
37th – Timmy Hill

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 3rd)

“It was a really good job by our guys. We were not that great in practice. We were really tight but we got on the other side of it. We are pretty free now, which is a little nerve-wracking for tomorrow. If we can get it somewhere in the middle, I will feel really good about it. I was surprised that lap was third. I am kind of kicking myself because I feel like I definitely could have put it on the pole, but we will see what we have for tomorrow.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 7th)

“The second round wasn’t as good as I had hoped for. I thought our race pace was really strong though, so that is something to look forward to. Starting in the top 10 tomorrow is not too bad. Like I said, I feel good about the race tomorrow, so we have that to look forward to and hopefully we can move forward come race time.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 10th)

“The first round I thought we did a good job, the team did a good job of making adjustments for the second round. We were working hard to try to make three and four better because we left a lot on the table there but then I ended up messing up turn one a little bit. It is still a good start for us.”

Toyota Racing – Tyler Reddick
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DARLINGTON, S.C. (August 31, 2024) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.

TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Upper Deck Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

What does the Southern 500 mean to you and what is your outlook?

“The regular season has kind of flown by – the whole year kind of has. The break, everything else, I don’t know, it feels like we just got going. Yeah, it’s been a nice climb out of the gutter for us as the year has went on. Just some really solid finishes have helped us close the gap and get to where we are currently today. But, yeah, really excited for this weekend. This is a race that means a lot to me. I feel like it means a lot to a lot of these drivers and it’s one that I’ve ran second and third a few times in to this guy over here (Kyle Larson) to the left. We’ll try and get one spot better this weekend, but we’ll probably be racing around each other a lot tomorrow night.”

Are you focused on racing your own race or how can you win the regular season championship?

“I feel like at a place like Darlington it’s hard to because I mean it’s just, you’re kind of racing the track, right? There might be an option to mix up the strategy in the stages, but I think we all have a pretty good idea of what the best strategy is going to be. It’s tough here. I feel like you go to some of these other tracks – Michigan is a perfect example – where you’re more worried about fuel than tires. I think it’s easier to do it, but here it’s just a race where you’re running against the track all night like. Certainly, it could go that way, but I feel like if we both have solid nights then we’re in a pretty good place unless we just have a disastrous night.”

Have you seen your car yet and what are your thoughts of having those iconic sports superstars on it? Are you old enough to know who Wayne Gretzky is?

“Yeah, Wayne Gretzky, man, that’s pretty crazy. I mean you don’t have to be very familiar with hockey to know about Wayne Gretzky. I remember seeing the car in the shop like last week and saw Michael (Jordan) on the hood and I quickly went to the gym or whatever and a couple days later I took a closer look at it, and I realized that Tiger (Woods) and Wayne (Gretzky) were on it too. Yeah, just adding to the pressure of the weekend so it’s find with me.”

What’s it like to have your bosses face on the hood of your car?

“Better take care of the hood. Better take care of it!”

What are your thoughts on starting the Playoffs at a track like Atlanta?

“Hopefully make it past lap two and it should be a better day (laughter). Yeah, it’s just one of those speedway races – again it’s one that you could see a mix-up on strategy and everything. Yeah, we’ll just cross the bridge when we get there. Certainly, that first round really has the opportunity to get out of hand for a number of teams. Just try to manage the race the best we can when we get there.”

Which races in the Playoffs do you consider ‘wild card’ races?

“Atlanta can be. We’ve seen some pretty chaotic finishes there. Just stack ups can happen at a bad time and take out a lot of cars. Watkins Glen, I feel like is a bit more straight forward. It seems like the tire we’re going to go with is going to be much different than we’re used to. So, I mean, it’s very possible with that it takes a little bit different formula than what you’ve seen in the past to win there so that has the potential. I think with a place like Bristol, if it remains like it did in the spring then yeah it could just be totally wide open there as well. It has all the potential to be a real disaster if you’re not careful.”

What are your thoughts on NASCAR returning to Rockingham?

“Yeah, I feel like it if it wasn’t for my first start K&N start at Rockingham, I don’t know if I’d be here, honestly. So, yeah, the track has been good to me, well was good to me in the K&N car. My truck start was a little less than desirable. I think we got spun out on like lap three or so. It’s always been a fun track. I’ve got a good understanding of faster races tracks are kind of like racing there way back when. It’s cool to see it back on the schedule, for me, it’s a place that kind of changed my life. It’s great to see it back.”

Will you be thinking about manufacturer-specific drivers coming down to end of tomorrow’s race with the Playoffs on the line?

“I mean, places like this you’re just running your own race. You’re thinking about yourself, you’re being selfish and not really thinking of anybody else. A speedway, that’s where it gets a little more complicated. But, yeah, at a place like this you’re just trying to win the race. For us, we’re in the Playoffs right, so if we go out there and win it keeps anything crazy from happening. But, yeah, it can get a little tricky as we saw.”

Do you look closely at the schedules when NASCAR first releases them?

“I’m just excited for another road course. I finally get to go to Mexico too so that will be cool. Yeah, I think I’ve been like to Cancun or something I don’t know, it doesn’t really count. Real Mexico, I’ve never been to so I’m excited about that. Outside of that, I mean we try to just think ahead, look ahead at what we need to be focused on for the Playoffs next year. Outside of that, other than seeing only one off-weekend, that’s the only thing I think we really think about.”

Is there more calmness heading into Darlington as the regular season finale compared to Daytona that is more of a wild card race?

“I mean, yeah, I was kind of hoping that Daytona was going to go a little better. Coming to a place like this, I’d say it’s pretty much in our control. It’s in mine and it’s in his (Kyle Larson) right? That’s how we go out and run our race will decide it. A place like Daytona, it’s just when you’re fighting the cutoff or if you’re fighting for that regular season championship, it’s so stressful because there’s so many things that can happen out of your control.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 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 more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th 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 29 electrified options.

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2024

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Darlington Raceway.

Media Availability Quotes:

A lot of speed on Richard Childress Racing the last few weeks, really since the Olympic break. What do you attribute that to?

“Just a lot of hard work and everybody really pulling together, and you know, a few changes personnel-wise behind the scenes, but really just, you know, great effort and great work really coming together. A lot of that’s been from April to May timeframe of just conversations of processes and procedures that we need to improve on and work on and we’re starting to see the fruits of that labor now.”

Do you see this weekend as one where you may have to just take chances or do a crazy strategy if you don’t have the flat-out speed?

“Yes and no. I don’t know that you can really get a whole lot done here because of all the fall off and tire wear and things like that. If you have a three-lap run, do you stay out? I don’t predict you’re gonna be able to hold them off very long so unless it’s a green-white-checker which in that case you’re probably gonna get a few as we tend to do this day and age so I don’t know that you’ll be able to see a whole lot of different strategy play. We’ll just have to have some outright raw speed and go get ‘em.”

Does Parker Retzlaff owe you or anybody at your organization either an explanation or an apology for maybe not doing enough in other people’s eyes last week for you?

“Not me, but I don’t really know him all that well so I don’t know what sort of business relationships there are behind the scenes. Once upon a time when I owned a Truck Series team, we had other teams that we helped and we supported and we gave parts and pieces and resources and different things too. I don’t know how all that stems for his relationship with Beard behind the scenes. So yeah, not to me. He didn’t owe me nothing.”

Why not?

“Well, we have our Chevrolet team meetings, our key meetings, key partner meetings before the race and he’s not in one of those. So if you’re not in one of those, then you should not be relied upon as a key partner to need to push and know the game that needs to be played. So that’s how I look at it.”

Flashing forward a little bit to the start of next year going to Bowman Gray for the Clash. Your boss man Richard has a long history there’s where you got his start. What do you think about going to Bowman Gray, such a historic place? Have you ever been over there?

“I have never been no, I’ve never been on the premises. I’ve seen a lot of highlight reels from over there so I will have to call upon a driver coach, probably Burt Myers, to give me some pointers about what to do and what to look out for and how to get around that place. Him and I are pretty close and been friends for a long time. He seems to be a champion over there and knows how to get around there well.”

Obviously you hope to win this weekend and make the playoffs but if you don’t do you feel better about being able to keep your consecutive season streak alive given that you’ve had the speed, you’ve been knocking on the door, do you feel more optimistic about that happening now between now and the end of the season?

“No, I mean, you want to go out there and contend every week, but getting wins is a whole different story. So, for us to be able to capitalize on our good runs, like last week, we just missed and didn’t execute well enough in those final moments to get the job done. Anything can happen. You’ve got to live it out until the end and we’ve got 11 more weeks to get it done. It would certainly be nice to get it done here in Darlington and put that story to rest but also put ourselves in the playoffs and have a shot to continue to build on this momentum that we’ve had with RCR and our stuff getting better to take our Chevrolets far into the playoffs.”

You haven’t been in this position on the outside of the playoffs at this point very often in your career. Has there been any frustration? How have you kind of kept your mindset moving forward to take advantage of every chance that you can?

“Yeah, the whole season’s been frustrating. Every week, it just kind of seems like, okay, what’s next? But that’s something that we can’t change. Chris Buescher just said it beforehand, you know, there’s a lot of things and a lot of questions that we have for ourselves and answers that we might not be able to answer exactly right now as to how our year has gone, but that’s in the past, and you know you can use that as a distraction or a motivation tool, and we’ll look to try to make that as a motivation tool. We did not run well here in the past. This race in the spring we did not run well, but we don’t come in this weekend holding our heads low and thinking that we’re gonna not run well again. We put our heads to paper and try to figure out why and said we’re gonna go there with the best piece we can and try to kick their butt and get a win.”

Looking at the recent talk with Kyle Larson and Max Verstappen, what’s your take on would it be harder for a good NASCAR driver to go to F1 and do well or harder for a good F1 driver to come here and do well?

“There once was a time when Lewis Hamilton and Kyle Busch were the dominant guys and this conversation never happened so I’m jealous, frankly. But maybe it didn’t happen because I didn’t bring on the conversation myself. I would say that you have seen guys do better going from our realm to the other one. I don’t know if it’s a pure downforce thing or not, but those guys seem to just drive pure beyond the limits of the car and the car will take it and they can stick. Over here you have to have a lot more finesse and so you just kind of see guys not understand the finesse part and where the grip is without just going over it. To answer your question in short, I would say Kyle’s probably got a better shot than Max.”

You just said that last Saturday you didn’t execute well at the end of the race. What could you have done differently?

“Nothing. That’s the terrible part about restrictor plate racing. The two guys behind me seemed to be a bit out of control and when you go back and look at SMT data they were dilly-dallying around off of turn two, getting squirrely and not holding their steering wheel straight, not holding their gas pedal down and they were slow. The guy that was on the outside with the run with Harrison and Parker, they were wide open, steering wheel straight and they drove right by us. So, I guess I was blamed for not pulling up in front of the 21 off of two, but the runs were equal when I was watching and re-watching, when I was watching in my mirror and remembering it as it happened. The 20 was getting to me as fast as the 21 was getting to me and when the 20 was bumping me, that’s when the momentum of the outside with the 21 and the 62 took off. If I would have turned to get in front of that, I would have wrecked. There’s no way in protecting that. So unless I come off a turn two and just go to the middle and block the 21’s lane, then who’s to say that we don’t get squirrely and the 20 goes right by us on the inside. Monday morning quarterbacking is the worst thing you can do. So it is what it is.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2024

 Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Darlington Raceway.

Media Availability Quotes:

As we head into this weekend, it’s obviously the end of the regular season and the regular season champion will be crowned tomorrow night. Tell us a little bit about this weekend and what it means to your team to be here.

“Yeah, it’s kind of wild that we begin our playoffs next week. It’s flown by and we’ve had, as I’m sure every team has, we’ve had our ups and downs.. a little bit opposite, I guess, from Tyler (Reddick). I feel like we started our year off really consistently and strong. I’ve had some inconsistent races on my end here lately, where Tyler had tough luck early in the year and then has been super consistent since. And then now, we’ve kind of met with similar points at the end of the regular season.

So yeah, it’s been fun. It’s been good to be upfront. We’ve been fast most weekends, so now as we approach the final 10 weeks, we just have to be on our A-game.”

Can you think about the regular season points battle while you’re out there, or are you more content with running your own races and not paying attention to that until maybe the end of the race?

“As well as both Tyler (Reddick) and I run here, there shouldn’t be too many points exchanged. It just kind of comes down to making sure you have the cleanest race possible to not hinder yourself in the points position. Yeah, it’s a tough track; one that the strategy is very straightforward, and if you have a good car here, you’ll be upfront. You’ll probably be taking tires almost every chance you can get, if the caution comes out. Nothing to kind of really get off strategy.”

You’ve conquered so many cool race tracks, not only in NASCAR but in your dirt racing career. What does it mean to have won at Darlington Raceway?

“Yeah, you know a lot like Tyler (Reddick), I’ve run upfront here for years; have led hundreds and hundreds of laps here, maybe the most in my Cup career, and had yet to win a race. Last year, finally conquering the Southern 500 felt really rewarding because this is such a difficult track. It’s one where I feel like if I had more experience and had done things differently, I could have won a couple others, at least. When you finally close out a win here, it feels great. When it’s a crown jewel and one at a historic race track like Darlington, it’s great. It’s definitely up there on my list of race wins and memories, and hopefully can have another opportunity again this weekend.”

Looking ahead to next weekend, we start the playoffs at Atlanta. Your thoughts on starting the playoffs at a superspeedway-style race.

“For teams like ours, it’s probably not one that we were excited to see on the schedule. But I think it’s a good thing for the teams that have performed well throughout the regular season. You hopefully have some bonus points along the way and a little bit of a buffer to the bubble. So yeah, it’s an ‘anything can happen’ type of track. We’ve been really strong there, but I don’t think I’ve finished a race yet at Atlanta since they repaved it. Just have been caught up in different wrecks every time. Hopefully next weekend is a little different and we can be upfront; get stage points and at least see the checkered flag.”

Joey Logano was in here earlier and basically thought that all three races in the opening round are going to be wildcards. How do you guys feel about those three races and are they all wild cards?

“Almost every race in the Next Gen era could be considered a wild card (laughs). There’s just always crazy things that seem to happen. Yeah, you just have to kind of take it week-by-week; assess where you’re at and what your goals are going forward. The first round I think can definitely present more challenges than other rounds, but like I said, every track, anything crazy can happen.”

As the most recent national series winner at Rockingham, how cool is it to see that track back on the schedule and would you consider running there?

“It’s Easter weekend? No, I’m taking Easter off. I love to race, but not that much (laughs).

No, I won’t be there, as much as I like Rockingham or liked it back then. I guess it would be different now since they’ve repaved it. But I do think it’s awesome that we’re going back to venues; kind of restoring venues like Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, all that. So yeah, I think the schedule is pretty cool. Obviously wish we had at least one more off weekend. But I think the variety and for the lower series to tie in those grassroot-style fanbases is great. You won’t see me at Rockingham, but I might be watching.”

You raced on one of those K&N races at Bowman Gray. Talk about the idea of going back to Bowman Gray for the Clash and what you remember about the K&N race there.

“Yeah, honestly it was so long ago, I don’t really remember much about the race. I remember qualifying. I got the pole the time we ran, so I remember part of that. I just remember it being really slick. Like your tires were never quite ready in qualifying, so it was like dirt tracking around there. But that was different back then; a different car, tire, horsepower, all that. But regardless, I’m excited to go there. Logistically, it makes way more sense for the teams and drivers. And the fan base there is just amazing. I’ve been there to watch local weekend shows. I sat in the stands that night we ran the K&N race.. afterwards I think they had modifieds or something running. There’s no other experience like Bowman Gray as a race fan. I hope that same style of a crowd shows up for a Cup race there; flipping all of us off, leaning over the wall and screaming at us (laughs). It’s amazing. It’s such a cool atmosphere. I’m excited for it. I just hope the weather cooperates.”

The year you won your championship, you won 10 races. If it wasn’t for a great pitstop at Phoenix, you might not have been the champion. Does that system kind of seem odd to you.. that you can dominate the year but it comes down to something that close?

“I don’t know.. I mean, it’s the system, so it doesn’t really matter. I think it makes for storylines and whatnot. When we went into Phoenix with nine wins and dominated the year, I was like – man, I can’t believe.. and I was thinking about it right before that final caution, that I can’t believe we’ve been the best car all year and I’m going to finish fourth in points. And then the magic caution came out; we had a magic pitstop and the rest is history. But yeah, I don’t know. I think I’ve heard people mention that – I think I would be in favor of like a three-race little stretch to decide the champion, rather just one at Phoenix. I don’t know that we’ll ever see that, but yeah for right now, it is what it is. You have to be good everywhere, especially at Phoenix.”

Ray Evernham mentioned yesterday that he could probably put you and Max Verstappen in an IROC car somewhere, if you had a mentioned in that. Has the response to all that talk kind of surprised you?

“No, not necessarily. Obviously there’s different fan bases throughout the world. I think everybody’s definition of ‘the best all around driver’ is a little bit different. So yeah, I don’t know. I think it was a fun little topic of conversation there for a couple of weeks. Obviously, you’ve got the American fans that stand by me, and then the rest of the world. But regardless, it’s cool to just be in the topic of conversation as one of the best all around current drivers. Like I said, everybody’s definition is a little bit different, so I think that makes your opinion of what that might be a little different.”

If it comes down to winning a race, you’re going to be manufacturer-centric towards the end. But tomorrow night when we’ve got the cutoff and guys that could win to get in, are you guys aware of manufacturers? Do you tip-toe around those drivers to make sure you’re not a factor in a bad way?

“Yeah, I mean I think for a place like this, you’re not as conscious about it as you are maybe last weekend. Yeah, sure – if it’s like Ross (Chastain) and Kyle (Busch) lined up at the front at the end, you just don’t want to be the reason why they crash and don’t make it or something like that. But you’re still trying your best to win for yourself and for your team. And the same goes I think even at a track like Daytona. But yeah, it’s not something that you typically think about here.”

When the schedules come out, do you look at them as hard as we do, or do they just tell you where to go and you go do it every year?

“I mean for me; I haven’t really studied it a lot because there’s no sprint car schedule out yet (laughs). Once sprint car schedules come out, that’s when I start building my schedule for next year.”

Is there more calmness heading into this one, knowing the points and what you both need to do to win the regular season title compared to ending at Daytona, where the points change every single lap?

“Yeah, I like Daytona being the finale of the regular season. I think that extra – like imagine if Harrison Burton would have won this weekend, I think it would be an even bigger story. And I think it’s that way next year again.. that we go back to Daytona for the finale.

So yeah, not that it matters a whole lot, but I think just the storyline of it being the final race to get in is pretty cool.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Toyota Racing – Erik Jones
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

DARLINGTON, S.C. (August 31, 2024) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.

ERIK JONES, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB

Can you talk about the Southern 500 and what this race means to you and to our sport?

“I think it’s become a more and more important weekend. I guess for me, I remember as a kid watching the race. It got a little bit distorted for a few years with some dates and where it kind of fell on the schedule and it’s become pretty cemented back into Labor Day weekend as it’s probably rightful place in the schedule and in the sport. I look forward to it every year. Obviously, I probably have some bias there, but it’s just a neat race. A neat weekend. They pack the house usually every time we come here – just kind of a fun one to be a part of.”

Can you talk about your confidence coming into Darlington and being able to win and advance into the Playoffs this weekend?

“It’s just been a long year. A lot of different reasons, but if you told me I could pick one (race) other than a superspeedway, I’d pick Darlington to try and go win. Definitely some confidence in that. I think any time you come to a place where you’ve had success a couple of times with different groups, you have the notes to dive into and just that confidence of feeling like you know how to get around the place and knowing what you need to do. I’m excited about that. It’s not going to be easy by any stretch. This is a tough race in a lot of ways, but I think we have a good plan of knowing what we need out of our race car, knowing how we need to manage the race, and knowing what we need to do to be in position. So, we need everything to go right, but I think it’s a great shot for us for sure.”

How important is today to be successful in tomorrow’s race?

“I think this is one where you target maybe a little bit different feel in practice than what you’re probably looking for in the race. It’s going to be pretty hot the middle of the day. We don’t start the race until 6:30 at night. It’s already going to be sun going down, cooling down and then obviously by the end of stage one, you’re going to be completely covered in dark. For me, I’m looking for different feel. I can kind of put some things to the side that you feel today during practice and put them to the side just because it’s a hot, slick track (today) and you’ve got to pick out, ‘Okay, we’re not going to have to worry about that tomorrow and let’s just focus on this part of the corner.’ So, that’s kind of unique to here. The only other race that I can think of that’s similar to that is Charlotte with the 600 going into the night and practicing during the day like that. It definitely goes through a big transition when it cools down. This race is so different than the spring race too with it being at night this place changes so much when it comes to temperatures. That makes it fun. Gives you something to kind of guess for and I think that’s the fun part of racing sometimes.”

Do you think this being the end of the regular season will change the aggression of drivers on the track during the race?

“In some ways. I think Darlington is a bit of a unique one. There’s not a lot of places that we go anymore where you race the track a lot. A lot of it is now that you’re fighting with other competitors and fighting for track position. There’s some of that here. You have to be up front. You do race the rack a lot more here probably than anywhere else we go. You kind of settle in. You get through that first I don’t know eight laps of a run where it’s kind of you’re in the hornets’ nest and then you’re settling into your groove and trying to manage your run, manage your car and you can kind of pick people off one at a time. You know, if the race stretches long and you have a green run to the end, I don’t think you’re going to see anything different. Where it will get crazy, if it happens, is all of the late yellows. And we see that in the spring too right. If you get some late yellows stacked up at the end which is a little bit more rare at the Southern 500 for some reason, you don’t see it. But if that happens, I definitely think you’ll see more aggression.”

Are you conscious of the 16 Playoff drivers and what you need to accomplish to get into the Playoffs and how do you balance that?

“I think if somebody told you they didn’t think about it they’re probably lying. I think we all do. I’ve been in the spot in the Playoffs where you’re hoping for that extra bit respect and 90% of the time, I think you get it. Maybe not the first round – the round of 16 – but when you start squeezing down to the guys in the Round of 8 and the Round of 4, those last few six races of the season, I feel like you start to see a bit of a change in the way you race some of those guys and no doubt at Phoenix at the end for the championship, there’s no way I would want to wreck a championship contending guy in Phoenix. So, yeah, it changes a little bit depending on how competitive you are in the race. Obviously, if you’ve got a car that can go and win the race you can’t just give up a win for them. But if you’re running 10th, battling a guy who’s in championship contention at the end of the year, you’re probably going to give him an extra break and I think most of the field would have to agree with that.”

Do you hope you’d get that kind of respect if you were in the Playoffs?

“100%. I think a lot of the sport is what comes around goes around, right? All the way from what you do on pit road – if you’re a guy who’s running 28th and you’re on the lead lap and you’re pitting ahead of a guy who’s running second and you choose to block him in just so you can get out and screw his day up it’s probably going to come around if he’s on the other end of the stick if you’re running up front. And no different being in the championship. If you give a guy a break who’s running up there and is contending, and hopefully he remembers that. I feel like I try to race everyone really fair, and you just hope that comes around. I know not everybody has that same mentality right, but you just hope that it swings around. I hope we’re contending for wins and championships one day and I hope that we get that same respect for sure.”

What has this year been like in terms of expectations?

“I think the transition has been harder than what we anticipated. I would think we would all have thought by this point we would be in a better spot than what we are right now. Obviously, it’s been a tough year for me with the injury and not that it put me way behind but missing a couple of races isn’t great for the team, it isn’t great for me. Getting comfortable again and changing everything in the car isn’t easy. I think there’s a lot of things that have put us behind the eight ball. I guess my opinion on it all is that I just re-signed, and I wouldn’t have re-signed if I think we’re going to go continue to perform the way we are. It’s not what I’m interested in in racing right? I want to go out and run upfront. WE all do. And the same for LEGACY. For me, it was just the fact that I do believe we’re going to improve. It’s for sure taking longer than we hope. There’s nobody in the company that would argue against that. We are working hard to get better, and we hope that within the next six months – discounting the off-season – that we’re performing a lot better than what we are now.”

How is the repave in turn 2 since it was done three years ago?

“I’ll let you know in a little bit. I think it’s more aged even from the spring, right? Just another summer of it. It’s way less than it was. I’d say the first time we came here with that pass you had to be in it, and it was narrow. There were not two lanes in it. I’ve noticed in the last maybe two races, there’s probably been a bit wider. You can’t be as aggressive on that exit being high like some guys are as what we were in the past before, but it’s getting back there pretty quick. You definitely haven’t been able to run that low line easily where you kind of enter on the apron, go up the middle and exit on the apron. That hasn’t really been there because that patch has been so good. I think if it’s not all the way back for this race, a year from now I think it will be.”

Can you talk about where you can be aggressive on this track?

“Yeah, it’s a fine balance. I think a lot of your speed is made in (turns) one and two and in some ways that’s the more aggressive end. You’re carrying way more speed there, especially on new tires. So, you setup a lot of passes in one and two – it’s hard to make a pass down in (turns) three and four. So, you’re trying to setup your pass kind of in the exit of four and complete it into one or through the middle of one and two. So, that’s kind of your aggressive zone. It’s easy to get frustrated in the race. You see these wrecks happen a lot. Guys trying to get around someone and they start pushing a little bit harder and a little bit harder and all of a sudden either they’re wadded up or they’re both wadded up just because the track doesn’t have the grip in it. You really can’t make those crazy moves, those aggressive moves. I think definitely (turns) one and two are more aggressive corners especially with the way the line goes sometimes. You see Denny and Tyler running a lot where they get really wide on entry and wide on exit and that’s not a super easy line to run. It’s definitely an aggressive line so I’ve always thought one and two is more aggressive.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 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 more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th 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 29 electrified options.

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