Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Chicago Street Race Qualifying
Saturday, July 6, 2024

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd – Michael McDowell
10th – Brad Keselowski
16th – Chris Buescher
17th – Ryan Blaney
21st – Austin Cindric
22nd – Chase Briscoe
23rd – Justin Haley
26th – Todd Gilliland
28th – Noah Gragson
29th – Ryan Preece
31st – Harrison Burton
32nd – Joey Logano
36th – Josh Berry
38th – Joey Hand
40th – Kaz Grala

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Chicago White Sox Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 3rd)

“I was trying to get my Ford Mustang on the pole. We were close, right? So proud of everybody. We made good changes in between round one and two because I felt like (Kyle) Larson and SVG sort of had everybody covered there. Then we went into that next round and made some gains and got close. You know what it means to get a pole and track position and all that. So we’re starting up front, we’ll have a great shot at it with the White Sox Ford Mustang. It would just be easier if you were controlling the start, but we’re in for a battle tomorrow and we’ve got a fast car and a good opportunity to try to execute and put ourselves in position to win and we’ve got to have speed to do that and we have the speed to do it.”

WAS THERE A CERTAIN SPOT ON THE TRACK WHERE YOU FELT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE BACK?

“Yeah, there’s always a little bit and the thing I’ve learned with road racing, though is it is the same for everybody. You very rarely hit a perfect lap where you just got 100 percent out of every corner, every brake zone and here it’s risk versus reward too. You’re on the edge. You’re pushing really close. I did get into the wall on my last lap, so it’s not like I left a bunch on the table, but at the same time, when you’re only two or three hundredths off, you’re like, I could have just got off the brake a little sooner here or there. But it is the same for everybody. You know, if you ask (Kyle) Larson that, he’d tell you, oh, I blew turn five and six and could have run a tenth or two faster. So we’re close. We’re in the game.”

YOU SAID YOU GOT IN THE WALL A LITTLE BIT AND WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF THAT. HOW DO YOU WALK THAT FINE LINE FOR THE RACE TOMORROW, TRYING TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE VERSUS THE RACING? “Today’s the day you have to push really hard to get track position. And then tomorrow, you’ll still have to have that pace. Still, you’re not going to be pushing every last inch every single lap because you’ll be able to control those cars behind you, so that’s why today was worth the risk to put yourself up front, and there’ll be times tomorrow where it’s worth the risk as well. Still, you know the toughest thing about a street race is anytime you race with a lot of concrete barriers is when you’re tucked up behind somebody knowing where those points are. Where the corner apexes are, where the limits are because your visual is so limited when you’re behind somebody. That’s when you can make the big mistakes. You turn in a little early and you’re in the fence. So yeah, I enjoy the challenge of it because you have to be so laser-focused and dialed in but tomorrow’s race is going to be a dogfight.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Chicago Street Race Media Availability
Saturday, July 6, 2024

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse and the reigning NASCAR Cup Series Champion, met with media members at the Chicago Street Race ahead of on-track activity Saturday morning.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse

IN ABOUT A WEEK, YOU’RE GOING TO BE AT THE ESPYS, NOMINATED FOR BEST DRIVER. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO ABOUT THAT?

“Well, it’s pretty nice to be nominated. That’s for sure. That’s neat. And with some really great company as far as other drivers in other series. So looking forward to going out there. I’m just kind of seeing what it’s all about. I think the sports fan in me enjoys that stuff, recognizing other athletes and other types of sports all around the world and all different kind of backgrounds of sports and kind of seeing what that’s all about. So yeah, just pretty neat to be nominated and we’ll see what happens. We’ve got some pretty stiff competition, so we’ll see.”

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE SO FAR COMING BACK AND FEELING THE VIBES OF WHAT THIS PLACE HAS TO OFFER?

“I walked it this morning. The course is narrower than I remember it being, walking on it. I know it’s not, but I think it’s just nice to be back. It’s nice to be back and it’s nice to have good weather. I think the whole weather this weekend is going to be phenomenal and it is going to give the fans and teams and drivers an experience that we didn’t have last year. A lot of stuff didn’t happen last year because of the weather from a fan experience side and I think that’s going to be way better this year with it being beautiful outside all weekend. So it’s nice to be back. I came up here a couple months ago promoting the race and the excitement level was through the roof and I think it’s going to be the same way. It’s honestly kind of like the first year we’ve been here in my mind just because the weather is so 180 and this is like properly going to be done with the whole weekend tying in. So yes, I’m happy that you know the city wanted us back and we decided to come back and put on even a better race than what we did last year. So it should be good.”

TEAM PENSKE IS NOW THE FIRST CUP TEAM TO HAVE ALL OF ITS DRIVERS LOCKED IN THE PLAYOFFS. IS THAT A BIG CONFIDENCE BOOST FOR THE TEAM? BECAUSE YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR PERFORMANCE ALL SEASON. AND NOW TO BE LOCKED IN LIKE A HEAD OF HENDRICK AND GIBBS, DOES IT MEAN SOMETHING?

“It’s nice to have everybody locked in, me and Austin and Joey. It gives you some confidence and a little bit of relaxation of, OK, we’re all in. So that 22 group, they were kind of all in that bubble. Then they performed last week and ended up winning the race. The 2 car being where they were before they won Gateway, that’s just a huge confidence booster for them and our whole organization. I think we’re honestly getting to where we need to be performance-wise. The last month and a half, I feel like I can just speak for my group personally, I think we’ve been really strong. Maybe our finishes haven’t really shown it with getting kind of tore up or spun out at the end of these things, running in the top five or so, but I feel like our direction as a team right now is really good and it’s just a bonus that we have all our cars locked in. Now it’s just a matter of how do we get our mile and a half a little bit better? How do we continue to get better on these road courses, which I think we’re learning. I’ve always just focused on where is the direction going from our team side? Where is our speed at and how are we running compared to the other teams that we’re trying to keep up with? And then getting us all locked in, that’s another kind of sense of relief. I feel like from everybody at our race shop on the teams like, ‘Okay we’re in, no more stressing about the points now.’ We can really focus on trying to get better as a whole group. Maybe you try a couple things here and there this summer to try to get prepare you for when the fall comes around, the playoffs start.”

WITH EVERYBODY LOCKED IN, YOU CAN KIND OF FOCUS ON THE FINAL 10 BEFORE EVERYBODY ELSE KIND OF CAN, RIGHT?

“You obviously want to win every week and be competitive and stack your wins up and get points. Because we’re kind of in that battle now of, OK, can we get to the top half of the top 10 in points to kind of help us out, come playoff time? Can we try to win some more races? But also, it does give you a little bit of freedom to try some things. That’s what we did last year. After we won Charlotte, we kind of went off and tried some stuff to try to be better for the playoffs. We tried some things that didn’t work, so we kind of learned what not to do and the things that maybe didn’t help us speed-wise. So it’s like a balancing act. You don’t just want to go completely off the reservation of, you know, wow, we’re really going to science project these things out and run like garbage, you know, if you don’t hit it right. But you also want to learn. So how do you balance out of trying new things, trying to be innovative on how you’re approaching their weekends to try to help you for the final 10 races and 10 tracks that are on the schedule. It’s like that fine line of, you don’t want to go too far off and really spin yourself out. But at the same time, you can’t just do the things you’ve been doing all year because everyone’s getting better constantly. So it does give you a little bit of freedom to do that stuff.”

SVG IS THE OVERWHELMING FAVORITE IT SEEMS. I’M CURIOUS IF THAT WAS KIND OF YOUR THOUGHT GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND AND AS WELL AS IF YOU LOOKED AT SMT DATA, WATCHED THE RACE FROM LAST YEAR, ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN KIND OF TAKE FROM HIS DRIVE FROM LAST YEAR THAT YOU’RE GOING TO IMPLEMENT FOR YOURSELF THIS WEEKEND?

“Yeah, he’s going to be a tough one to beat, right? I mean just his experience on the street courses and things like that. It’s nice that we all have a street race under our belt, that kind of brings us a little bit up to speed to where he’s at, but he just has so much more experience in this stuff. Looking at his stuff, he’s a right foot braker, right? I think he’s like the only guy probably right now that right foot brakes anymore. And we talked about it last year. It’s like, all right, well, how can we do this? Does this a help on street courses where it’s rough in the breaking zones? Does it help rear locking and things like that? I really got to thinking like, I would have to dedicate three to five years of my life right foot braking to get up to even half of what he can do. I’ve just done that left foot my whole life. So it’s like, how can you change it up now to help you on this course? You would reset yourself so much, I feel like. So I’ve played with it, like tests, and I’m like two seconds slower than what I’ve been, and I’ve gotten within like a second, but I just try to refine what I can refine and try to be better. There are some things you can learn watching just kind of how he modulates maybe on that stuff. But it’s just so different. It’s hard to get in that mode of how can I really change my whole thing up? And then you wouldn’t even be close to on par with him. You’d be so far behind the eight ball, you’d be worse than what you are now at left foot braking. At least that’s what I thought of it. It’s going to be a different race, that’s for sure, this year with it being dry the whole time, hopefully. I think we’ll be closer to him because we have a little experience, but I still think he’s going to be obviously the one to beat.”

WHEN YOU WALK OUT OF YOUR HOTEL AND YOU SEE A CITY OF THIS MAGNITUDE, YOU KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO RACE A RACE CAR IN IT. HOW LONG DOES IT JUST KIND OF TAKE YOU TO GRASP KIND OF THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS WHOLE THING?

“I’ll be honest, I was on the skeptical side last year before we came here. It’s like, how are we going to make this work and something new and you’re always kind of nervous with new things and how it’s going to go. I remember Gianna and I were having lunch last year before practice right outside our hotel right by the racetrack. And I’m like, this is super cool that we’re having lunch and I’m about to go walk over a block and go practice in a city like this and Lake Michigan is right behind you’ve got the high-rises right here and it’s weird going down the straightaways kind of the back stretch and the front stretch if you will, just looking at the museums and buildings. I try not to try not to focus on that too much like I got to pay attention to what I’m doing, but It is neat. I think it It took me that day to kind of grasp it. Once you like get here and you get kind of affiliated with everything and understand what’s what’s going on and it’s a big deal. It’s a really big deal that we’re here and hopefully the city enjoys it. I think they did last year and I think they will even more this year. It took me getting here and experiencing the whole thing and being in it to really appreciate it and I think it’s really neat. I don’t know what the future holds for styles like this, but I definitely think there’s an opportunity to continue doing something like this once a year or so. I never would have thought. I talked to my dad about it last year and he’s like, ‘I’ve never would have thought y’all would go here.’ Never in his wildest dreams. You never know what’s going to happen or what’s on the horizon.”

I’M CURIOUS, RICHMOND IS THE FIRST RACETRACK THAT WE GO BACK TO, BUT IT’S BEEN WELL DOCUMENTED THAT THE TEST JOEY DID AT NORTH WILKESBORO REALLY IMPROVED THE SHORT TRACK PROGRAM FOR PENSKE CONSIDERABLY. HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THAT’S GONNA HELP WHERE YOUR PROGRAM WAS WHEN YOU WENT TO RICHMOND IN THE SPRING AND NOW COMING BACK TO A SHORT TRACK?

“I hope it helps a lot. These things you learn at tests, sometimes it’s just light bulbs, that’s like, okay, that works. And we don’t test much anymore, so when you can find those things and utilize tests like that, it’s massive. The Homestead test last year that we did, it set up our whole playoffs. We found some stuff there that’s like, well, this is a really good direction. We seem to make this work. Let’s implement it on the weekends, and boom, we started running really good in the playoffs and led us to run for the championship. So those things are huge if you can learn the right things and utilize the test really well. I think as an organization, we do a great job of having a good game plan before we go to these tests, really preparing for them. We don’t get many of them, so you have to be really ready with things you want to try and good direction. We have great people that prepare for those things. That Wilkesborough test helped us out a lot. Hopefully it helps us come Richmond and all the short tracks through the year. Now we just have to ask for a mile and a half test so we can try some stuff there and see if we can find a little bit of pace at those places.”

EARLIER THIS WEEK NASCAR PENALIZED CARSON HOCEVAR FOR HOOKING HARRISON LAST WEEK. 15 MONTHS AGO HE GOT PARKED FOR A COUPLE LAPS IN MARTINSVILLE FOR DOING SOMETHING SIMILAR. AS A SERIES CHAMPION, IS THERE A ROLE THAT YOU HAVE IN TALKING TO SOMEBODY IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS, OR HOW MUCH OF A CONCERN IS THIS THAT SOMEBODY IS BEING PENALIZED FOR DOING SOMETHING TWICE IN A 15-MONTH PERIOD?

“Yeah, don’t hook anybody. You get penalized. Pay money, pay points, park them if you have to. That’s something I’ve seen too many times out of that guy from different series. That’s not cool. Don’t do that. They parked Lane Ridge for two laps for running through the back of somebody in that truck race at Nashville. I think everyone made a big deal when Hocevar did that in the Cup race, and then they rightfully penalized him after the race. That’s the only way you’ll get that stuff to stop. You have to make them pay a lot of money, fine them from points, things like that. If it’s bad enough, make them sit out. You know, that’s just stuff that you learn as a young driver. Don’t do. There are a lot of no-nos, and that’s one of them. And I don’t care if it’s under caution or under green, both of them are bad. Obviously, under green is worse. I think NASCAR did the right thing of penalizing because you have to slap people. There has to be repercussions for what you do when it’s something like that. And like I said, that’s something I’ve seen reoccurring with him that hopefully he learns from it and hopefully when there’s a little bit of hole in his pocket after the money he had to pay, it teaches you a lesson of don’t do that anymore.”

AS A REIGNING CHAMPION, DO YOU FEEL LIKE A MORE OF A RESPONSIBILITY TO TALK TO DRIVERS OR IS THAT STILL NOT A ROLE THAT YOU FEEL IS YOUR POSITION AT THIS POINT?

“I mean, me personally, I just don’t see it as my role. I’m not going to go to you and say, hey, don’t do that. You should know not to do that. That’s something about growing up and learning that you just don’t do. So, no, it’s not my role to go speak to somebody about that unless I am directly involved in it, then you’ll get a talking to, but you gotta learn that stuff on your own.”

WITH THE RICHMOND RACE NOW FEATURING THE DUAL TIRE FORMAT, HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT NOW MOVING TO A REGULAR SEASON FORMAT, AND IF IT WORKS, THE PLAYOFF SHORT TRACK RACES?

“I think we got a little taste of it at Wilkesboro. It didn’t do as much as I would have hoped it would have done at Wilkesboro as far as the different compounds, fall off and stuff, but it was hard to get fall off at Wilkesboro anyway with the new pavement. Hopefully at Richmond it does a little bit more. The track is a little older. It’s worn out. I just like to see, you know, I think if you’re going to have a dual tire like that, you have to have the option, like the soft tire, be a lot faster for 10 laps and then be a lot slower after like 20 than the prime. So hopefully it works. I know, like I said, Wilksboro didn’t really work. We stayed on the reds for like the whole race and we’re able to hold everybody off. I don’t think it will be that case at Richmond. I think you’re going to get more fall-off there. I applaud NASCAR and Goodyear for wanting to try stuff like that. You’ve got to find ways to try to help the short track program a little bit as far as raceability, dirty air, stuff like that. We always talk about tires and they’re not easy to change, but it’s the easiest thing to change as opposed to like bits and pieces on the car. We’ve tried everything you can try on the car — almost everything. We tried everything that we’re going to get on the car, so the tire thing is the next option and I think it’s a good direction. I don’t expect it to be amazing at first, like just the learning process and learning curve of getting everything where it needs to be. I think it’s a good direction. Hopefully it does something. It will be fun for the teams to have the option of when you put them on and how many you got laying. So we’ll see how that strategy side goes.”

IS THIS AN EVENT SOMETHING YOU THINK COULD HAVE A LONG-TERM EFFECT WHERE FOUR OR FIVE, TEN YEARS DOWN THE LINE WE’RE STILL COMING TO CHICAGO FOR A STREET RACE?

“I think it did such a good job last year and this year as far as like the notoriety of it and the fan excitement of it to where I think you definitely can do it. I don’t want it to get like — Bristol’s different, you know, when they threw dirt on it. There’s a track already there and you throw dirt on it and yeah, it was super hyped up. The first year and the second year was even more than a third year people started to, I say people I mean like fans watching and stuff like that they’re like, well okay, this has kind of run its course. I thought the dirt race was pretty good honestly, but this is a whole different thing. You’re bringing a racetrack to a big city and whether it be a Chicago or somewhere else, I don’t really have a preference honestly, it’s just whatever city will have us. That’s above my pay grade. I just go where they tell me to go. I definitely think it could be neat. You go to these huge markets of major cities around the country that can draw a huge attention to people that have maybe not seen a race before. Now we’re bringing it right to your home, and I apologize that we messed the traffic up for a few days here, but I think overall it does a really good thing. Bringing money to the city with everyone coming in, bringing notoriety to your city, I think that’s good. Whether it’s here or somewhere else, I don’t really care, but I’ve enjoyed Chicago. I really like this city. I’m not a big city guy, but Chicago is great. So hopefully it’s something that can continue across multiple cities, not multiple times a year. I think once a year is a good thing to do it. Hopefully it continues on. I’ve enjoyed it”.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHICAGO STREET RACE
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAILABILITY QUOTES
JULY 5, 2024

Daniel Suarez, Driver of the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of racing double duty in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Chicago Street Course.

Media Availability Quotes Highlights:

When you go into this event, do you expect there to be a little bit more aggression than other road courses? Do you just know that going in, or would you completely disagree that it’s no different than any of the road course races?

“Yeah, well first of all, I’m super excited to be here. The race is amazing. The event is unbelievable. I want to give a lot of credit to NASCAR, to you guys, all the other media and the city for putting this amazing race together. I think when it comes to the drivers, I think in the first part of the weekend, we’re going to be a little cautious, just because racing in the streets, it can be a little intimidating. A little slight mistake and you pay the price big. But as a race team, we’re going to get more and more comfortable, and we’re going to get more and more aggressive. I just think that’s great. I think that last year, we all learned a lot – the drivers, race teams.. even NASCAR. The second year, I feel like we come with a lot more knowledge and we’re more prepared. So I’m really excited and looking forward to seeing who’s going to be contending upfront. I feel like last year, if I remember correctly, there were maybe five to seven of us that were upfront with an opportunity to win the race. But I can assure you that there will be way more than seven cars fighting for the win this time, just because everyone keeps getting better and that’s going to make the race even more exciting for everyone.”

Having Shane van Gisbergen to lean on as a teammate, how has he been able to help you and Ross (Chastain) prepare for this year’s event?

“Yeah, honestly, I felt that last year, he helped our entire program a lot because, like I said, nobody had experience in street course racing last year. In my entire career – I’ve been racing over 20 years and in my entire career before last year, I had two races in the streets; one was in go-karts and one was in a Trans Am, and that was it. Ross (Chastain) had never raced a street course before. Most of us had never seen a street course before. Shane (van Gisbergen), he had been doing street races.. like 100 races. He’s experience in street course racing.. he’s tremendous. I mean last year, he had more experience than the entire field combined. So last year, he was able to really help a lot. This year, I still believe that he’s helping the entire program. With having said that, the entire team already has knowledge. Everyone has experience. Everyone knows what to expect; what to do, what not to do.. things like that. I believe that Shane is going to be extremely strong this weekend again. But I think, like I said, there will be a lot more contenders in the mix.”

How did you experience your first Fourth of July as a United States citizen?

“It was a little different. Most Fourth of July’s, I’d go with friends and we do a barbecue, go to the lake and things like that. My first Fourth of July as a United States citizen, I was unpacking because we just moved (laughs). So it wasn’t very exciting.. it was actually a little boring. But you know, it’s how it is. It’s been a little bit busy at home lately.”

You obviously didn’t get the finish you would have wanted here last year. You’ve had a bit of a struggle these last few weeks. But your teammate won here last year and Ross (Chastain) was close to winning last week. How does this week, as an organization, give you confidence heading into this weekend?

“Yeah, we’ll see. Definitely running well helps and we have to build on that. With that being said, I’m a very realistic person. I like to live on planet Earth. I don’t like to be on a different planet (laughs) with not being realistic. The reality is that last week, I would say that in Nashville, we had a good run. We had maybe a 10th to 15th place car before all the chaos we had there at the very end. We were running 12th or 13th, and Ross was in a good position. I think Ross was maybe a little bit better than us. I still believe that there were cars out there that were much better than us, but strategy got him in that position.

For me, when I start thinking about being realistic.. you tell me, ‘Hey Daniel, the No. 1 almost won last week’. Yeah, the No. 1 team did an amazing job executing a good race; making some good calls and good strategy, and things almost worked out for them. But they didn’t have the speed to flat-out win the race. So we still have work to do. Our road course program – the last race at Sonoma, I think the No. 1 team was pretty good and we were OK. We were not very good.. we finished 13th, which is not very good. So you know, we are thinking a little bit outside the box coming here to Chicago. Some of the things have worked for us in the past, and some of them are things that we’ve learned the last few months. We’ll see where we stack up. We all have confidence that the cars are close enough that from the start of practice, we’re going to be contending. We just have to be in the ballpark because if you’re not in the ballpark at the start of practice, that’s it. You cannot make a slow car a fast car in 20 minutes.. it’s impossible. So pretty much, right now as we talk here, there are race cars down there.. nobody knows yet, but there are some cars that are going to be very fast, some cars are going to be OK and some cars are going to be slow. So hopefully we have some of the cars that are going to be very fast and we can make it a little bit faster in those 20 minutes and go execute in the race.”

You’re one of the handful of drivers that will be doing double-duty. Is this Xfinity Series race one that you particularly wanted to do? How can that help what you do on Sunday? Is there a tremendous value in running the race on Saturday?

“Yeah, that’s a very good question. If we were in Sonoma, Watkins Glen or any other race track and I had the opportunity to run the Xfinity race, I may do it.. I may not. I don’t know, like I would really have to think about it because the cars are so different nowadays that it can be helpful or it can be hurtful. The transmission is different. The engine is different. The suspension is different. Everything is different. The only thing that’s the same is that it has four tires (laughs), but everything else is different. But here on a street course, like I was talking earlier – I, personally, don’t have a lot of experience on street courses. I’ve had three street courses, so far, in my career. So the more laps that I can get, the more reps that I can get at this track, I’m going to take it. I have a great opportunity with Mario and his group, and hopefully we can make the most out of it. They’ve been working very hard to make this race car as good as possible, and I’m really looking forward to getting some extra reps. With that being said, I have in my mind very clearly, that the cars are completely different; the transmission is going to be different and everything is going to be different.. the brakes are going to be different. But the goal of this for me is to give Mario and his group a good result, and also for me, to get some extra reps on a race track that I know is different than 99 percent of the schedule that we have in NASCAR.”

When you talk about SVG elevating the entire Trackhouse program, obviously he’s got a completely different style with the right-foot braking technique. So how do you take that data when you can’t really mimic what he’s doing?

“That’s a good question. That’s a very, very good question. You know, it’s just a different style. Do I think there’s an advantage to do what he’s doing? I would think so. But whatever he does and the way he’s doing it and the time – because he takes his time, getting from the gas pedal to the brake. That time that the car is settling is working.. it’s working. And I believe in some corners, it works for him, and some corners, not so much. We went to Indianapolis last year – he was good, he was fast and he finished in the top-10. But he wasn’t as dominate as he was here. So I definitely feel like there’s something there to learn. I believe, and this is just my personal opinion, is that the clutch-heel that he does is a huge advantage in the Xfinity Series and not so much in the Cup Series. Again, this is just my opinion, and the reason for that is because in the Xfinity Series, you have the wheel hop and you can control that with the clutch. In the Cup Series, we don’t have wheel hop.. it doesn’t exist. So it’s a little bit different, but definitely, his style works. I was talking to Shane about this a few weeks ago, and when I moved to the United States 12 years ago, I used to do that. I used to do exactly what he does now because in the NASCAR Mexico stuff, you used to use the clutch to shift. So I used to do exactly the same thing. It took me a year or two to swap my mentality and my style to what everyone does here. He told me he’s too old to change (laughs). But yeah, it works for him and I think he’s going to continue to be very strong. I’m very looking forward to racing against him. It’s impossible to really, really know if it’s better or worse.. I mean I believe if he was braking with the left, he would be just as good. He’s just good.”

Did you ever think about maybe switching back?

“I mean, I feel like I could do it. I could do it if I gave it a shot.. I just don’t believe that in the Cup Series, like a lot of people think that is the reason why he won here last year. I don’t think so. I think that he won here for many reasons, and that’s just his style. But I believe I can replicate what he does with the right-foot brake, with a left-foot brake. It’s everything about timing. The clutch part, I cannot replicate that because my left-foot is either on the brake or the clutch.. you cannot do both. But I don’t think that the clutch does a lot in these cars. It does a lot in the Xfinity stuff. That’s why I think in the Xfinity car he’s going to dominate a lot on road courses because the wheel hop doesn’t exist for him in the Xfinity car because he’s using the clutch and nobody else is doing that.”

What was your first impression when you got here last year?

“For me, the coolest part was to walk to the track and seeing fans left and right. That was super cool, you know? I was actually just doing an interview downstairs and I felt like it’s super personal for many people here; to come race here in the streets of Chicago. Next week, people are going to be driving on these roads that we’re going to be racing over 100 mph on and they’re going to be running 45 mph and they’re going to say, ‘man, these guys were running yesterday here, 160-170 mph’. So that part is crazy to think about. And also, we’re racing in their city; racing on their turf. So I think that’s very special. I don’t know.. I personally think that we should have more street courses because it’s an amazing way to connect with the city at a whole different level. It’s way more personal. We’ve been bringing fans to the racetrack for over 75 years, and I feel like this thought process of bringing the racetrack to the fans, I think it’s a very good way to do it.”

You said earlier that you feel pretty decent about where your team is at and you’re slowly gaining momentum. Where do you think you guys stack up right now compared to the rest of the post-season field? Do you feel like you have what you need to make a deep run in the post-season?

“I feel like we have work to do, to be honest. I believe that if the playoffs were to start tomorrow, I think we would really change the mindset and the way we’ve been doing things; trying different things and the way we’ve been calling some races. (Inaudible…)

But when we have good speed, we’re good. We can execute a good race and we can run in the top-10, top-five, all race long. We did it in Iowa. In Nashville last weekend, I feel like we didn’t start the weekend that well, but the car was much better on Sunday and we were able to drive through the field and we were running in the top-15. We just have to be a little bit more consistent. Like New Hampshire, for example, it was probably the worst car I’ve ever had at New Hampshire. The car was bouncing like crazy. I talked to my guys about this – we’re going to miss it at some races. We’re not going to have a great car every single weekend. But the weekends that we miss, we cannot miss by a lot. Our misses should be running top-20.. not running 30th. If we run 30th in the playoffs, that’s it. We can say ‘goodbye’ to the playoffs. So it’s just very important to be smart about our decisions; how we’re going to make sure that we’re competitive. If we’re going to miss it, miss it by a little bit. Don’t try to hit homeruns because you’re not going to win a championship by trying to hit homeruns.. you have to go through base one, base two, base three. And then when you get that cycle going, then you can start hitting homeruns. In some ways, sometimes we’ve been trying to hit the jackpot a little bit too much as a group. So we just have to be a little bit better with that, and I think then, we’re going to be great and make a good run into the playoffs.”

About Chevrolet

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Chicago Street Race Media Availability | Friday, July 5, 2024

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske, met with members of the media Friday afternoon in downtown Chicago ahead of this weekends Chicago Street Race. Logano will pull double-duty, driving the No. 15 Klutch Vodka Ford Mustang Dark Horse for AM Racing in Saturday’s The Loop 110 before Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse

BECAUSE OF HOW YOUR WIN CAME LAST WEEKEND WITH THE FUEL MILEAGE, HAVE YOU EVER HAD A WIN QUESTIONED OR TALKED ABOUT OR THEORIZED ABOUT SO MUCH ABOUT HOW YOU PULLED THAT OFF? “Not really, actually. That was probably the most. Honestly I would say the same thing if it wasn’t me. We did a really good job of saving fuel under those cautions. It all kind of just played out just right because we didn’t have the best track position in the beginning of the race, so we saved some fuel there. You get a lot of cautions and we were able to save quite a bit under those cautions. I just kind of worked from the engine side, seemed like we made pretty good mileage. Our bodies seemed to be pretty good as far as the drag perspective. It all plays in favor for fuel mileage races. Not many fuel mileage races these days though. That is kind of a rarity for sure. If it does ever go that way, it looks like we are in pretty good shape.”

PENSKE NOW IS THE FIRST TEAM TO HAVE ALL OF ITS DRIVERS LOCKED INTO THE PLAYOFFS. IS THAT A LITTLE BIT OF A SURPRISE? IS IT A BOOST IN CONFIDENCE KNOWING YOU ARE ALL LOCKED IN? “It is definitely something to be proud of, no doubt. It is hard. This NextGen car, I am telling you, it isn’t like it used to be where you can just count on the Penske cars to be in the playoffs. There are really solid teams that are going to miss the playoffs this year. It is just what it is now with this NextGen car. It is hard to get a huge advantage and if you have a few things that just don’t go your way time after time you find yourself behind the eight ball. On the outside looking in pretty quickly. It is just different than it used to be where you would look at Hendrick, Gibbs and Penske and on a bad day they would finish 10th to 12th. Now on a bad day you finish 25th, just off of raw speed. It is a different game than it used to be. Because of that there are more players in the game and it makes it harder to get through the rounds and get in the playoffs for sure.”

“I don’t know if it changes a whole bunch. The pressure was on to get all our cars in. That is just one piece to the puzzle that is done now. I think it lets you kind of recharge your batteries a little bit. Instead of going into the playoffs with your tongue hanging out, you have a moment to look a little further forward than just the next race. It is the same things as when you move on to the next round in the playoffs by a win a couple races before the other cars do. You have a moment to think about two weeks ahead instead of just this weekend. I think that does give you an advantage. Considering the playoffs are still pretty far out it doesn’t do a whole bunch for that yet. But I think directionally it is good, yeah.”

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT DETERMINING WHO WILL BE YOUR SECOND AND THIRD SPOTTER ON A TRACK LIKE THIS? “I let Coleman handle it. He has the connections and we have used the same people for years now. I think ever since Coleman started spotting me. The last couple of years have been the same, maybe even longer than that. I let Coleman handle that and decide where the most important spots are. We talk about it, don’t get me wrong, I don’t just say, ‘Hey, handle this.’ We talk about it and figure out where the best places are that they can see and all that.”

IS THERE A PREFERENCE ON WHERE YOU WANT COLEMAN AS THE MAIN SPOTTER? DOES EVERY DRIVER HAVE A DIFFERENT PREFERENCE ON WHERE THEY WANT THEIR MAIN SPOTTER?

“We try at Penske to keep everything with a system, right? Where everything’s consistent throughout all the teams. That being said, sometimes there’s things a little bit different. The spotter choice a lot is because of the driver and what he feels is best, working with the spotter. But you’re having your main spotter on the main spotter stand is probably best. And here, it seems like that’s the best view anyways. So that’s what he’ll be.”

JUST WALKING THROUGH THE GARAGE, SEEING THIS TRACK COME TO LIFE FOR THE SECOND YEAR. WHAT’S BEEN YOUR TAKEAWAY YEAR TWO JUST IN THE FEW HOURS THAT WE’VE SEEN THIS PLACE REALLY START TO BE BUILT UP AGAIN? “Yeah it’s nice to at least know where you’re going a little bit. I’ve been out there walking around getting all my stuff gathered up. At least you know like okay I’m gonna change this driver lounge thing. I know where the hauler’s at. Like last year you’re out there like, where am I? You literally pull up your GPS on your phone to try to figure out where you’re at. It’s nice to have a lay of the land. I’m sure everyone could probably agree with that sitting in here too. That part’s great, but I think also, you talk to some of the fans, you’re just walking over here from the hotel and everyone seems to be very excited and the weather’s great, so the energy is much better. I feel like just last year everyone was so excited about it, like they are this year, but it just was kind of, yeah, but it’s going to rain. You know, everyone just kept talking about that, which this year everyone’s talking about how great the weather is. So, I think that really is going to give us a fair shake. I could see everything play out the way it’s supposed to on time with the schedule and the concerts and all that. Like everything can go the way it’s supposed to and be fun to see.”

YOU’RE ALSO IN THE XFINITY CAR THIS WEEKEND AS WELL. WHAT KIND OF AN ADVANTAGE CAN THAT BE IN TERMS OF JUST GETTING REPS IN LAPS AROUND THE RACETRACK DESPITE HOW DIFFERENT THE CARS ARE? “There’s no doubt that running on a street course more is gonna be better. I think the best example of that is Shane, right? When you look at the experience he had on street courses it showed up immediately in a car he never drove before here. So it tells me it doesn’t matter what kind of car you’re driving, he’s able to gain that experience. For me when this opportunity showed up I was like well yeah I’ll I’ll drive it. I’ll do it. Because it’s the experience you get and knowing the little nuances of the track. It’s so different than any other road course you go to and it’s just a matter of just finding those little details and getting comfortable. Knowing where the passing zones are. Knowing how close you can get to the walls, and being able to maximize things. It just takes some time and I think more laps will help.”

ASSUMING THIS RACE DOESN’T STAY IN THIS CITY FOREVER, BUT MAYBE THERE’S ANOTHER STREET RACE IN THE FUTURE, 10 YEARS FROM NOW, WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS THAT, AS DRIVERS YOU GUYS LIKE, THAT SHOULD BE CONTINUED TO BE PURSUED GOING FORWARD? “The fact that we’re bringing the race to the fans, or even bringing the race to not fans, is so important. This is about growth, right? If you’re a diehard NASCAR fan, you’re going to go to a race, right? You’re going to travel. You’re going to do the whole experience. You’re going to go wherever your favorite track may be that you want to see the cars at and do the whole night. Whereas here, if you’re not a NASCAR fan, well, guess what? We’re in your face. You’re here. Like, you’re going to like it. We’re going to make you like it, at least. Or at least you’re going to have to see it. You can’t get away from it. Whether it’s the advertising through the city that you see just driving around here, which is great. Hearing the race cars. You’re going to hear the race cars all through the city. These cars aren’t quiet by any means. So you’re going to hear and go, what’s going on? Curiosity is going to get the best of everybody. They’re going to come over here and want to see what’s going on. Even last year, you think about the people that were trying to peek through the fence. They didn’t have a ticket, but they’re trying to look through the fence to see the race cars. They’re just curious, like, what’s going on here? What’s bad about that? Nothing. That’s all good things. So I love the idea of doing this. Yes, is the driver competing? Is it challenging? Absolutely. Logistically, is it challenging for the teams? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Yes. It’s totally worth doing. It seems like there’s so many positives that comes out of our sport long-term.”

ARE YOU READY FOR THE RACE? HAVE YOU DONE LIKE 10,000 LAPS IN THE SIM? WHAT IS YOUR WARMUP FOR THIS? “Yeah, I’ve run some laps in the sim with both cars. Am I ready? I don’t know. I’m as ready as I know how to be. I’m more ready than I was last year, I can say that much. But the whole field is. At least you have an idea of what you’re up against and what it’s going to be like. The first few laps in practice last year was kind of sketchy, right? In a sim I break here, but how good is a sim gonna be? I’m on the streets of Chicago, I don’t know. You seem to figure it out fairly quickly. Now, at least like passing zones, and you study your competitors, and kind of see where they were strong, where you were weak. You have an idea of things you want to make better to your car. There is actually stuff to talk about where last year is just, I don’t know, put on what you think is best and we’ll tune on it from there and hope it’s pretty close. Now it seems like we have a little better direction.”

ARE YOU GOING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TRACK WALK? “Yeah, I’ll go out there tomorrow morning. I think it does a little bit. It just get your wheels spinning a little bit thinking about you know where you want to hit the brakes, kind of the markers seeing it like okay this is my point here. I can kind of see that you know where you think there’s going to be some issues from bumps or little things like that which you’re gonna want to work on. Those things help.”

PAUL WOLF SAID ON THE CHANNEL THIS WEEK THAT HE BASICALLY SAID TO YOU, WE’VE GOT TO WIN TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS, AND THAT WAS WITH 18 RACES IN THE BOOKS. HAD THAT STUCK IN YOUR HEAD? “Yeah, I don’t know if we were completely 100% on the same page with each other on having to win to get in. Yes, is it way better to win to get in? Yeah, duh, right? We can agree on that, but we weren’t in a must-win, but we were definitely in a must do good scenario. We had to make up a lot of points. We were in the playoffs going into last weekend in Nashville. But all it would have taken is Zane to win, who finished second, and all of a sudden we’re 40 something points out, probably. I think it’s something like that. So you think about how quickly it can change. And then we would be saying, oh, we have to win. At the moment, we weren’t must win, but we couldn’t have that happen. When you think about how weird Nashville was with all the overtimes, but then you look at the schedule coming up. You’ve got Daytona, you’ve got here, and Pocono can turn into sometimes an interesting scenario as well from a mileage standpoint. There’s a lot of opportunities for somebody to win that you wouldn’t expect and that would change the game a lot.”

IF YOU WEREN’T WEARING THAT SHIRT AND THE HAT, DO YOU THINK YOU COULD KIND OF WALK DOWN THE STREET INCOGNITO AND YOU KNOW JUST KIND OF TAKE IN EVERYTHING THAT THE CITY HAS TO OFFER? “I mean I walked over here. I am a bit of a walking billboard but I can kind of see some of it. I can’t honestly tell you that I’m going to have enough time to like explore the city. It’s pretty much racetrack to hotel maybe grab a dinner that’ll be it for me.”

ON THE STREET AND ROAD COURSES, WOULD YOU AGREE THAT AT TIMES THEY CAN KIND OF BECOME THE WILD WEST THAT PEOPLE TEND TO RACE A LITTLE BIT MORE AGGRESSIVELY, THEY TEND TO JUST PUT IT WHERE THEY CAN? DO YOU SEE THAT MORE AND AS A STREET COURSE THAT’S SOMETHING MAYBE THAT YOU WOULD SEE EVEN MORE THAN ON A ROAD COURSE THAT YOU’RE DOING? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? “I think it’s because of the heavy braking zones is why you think everybody’s racing more aggressively. We’re racing just as aggressive last weekend in Nashville. Those restarts are crazy. Every restart we have these days, everybody is so over the top on everything we do and you have to. If you’re not the one making the moves, you’re getting eaten up. So you have to be willing to just go. It’s just more noticeable here because when you make a mistake at Nashville last weekend, I restart, you may wiggle up, and you go up the racetrack, maybe you don’t hit anybody, but you lose a few spots. Okay, no harm no foul. Well here, you’re getting a pretty decent size breaking zone. You start getting the wiggles there, what are you gonna do? There’s no runoff, you’re gonna hit the wall, you’re gonna run into somebody, and how do you pass somebody when you’re all about the same speed? We talk about this every week, how do you pass them if you’re running the same speed? Well, you gotta be willing to get outside of your comfort zone a little bit. Where you feel like you’re comfortable making speed, but to pass them, you have to get go further and you got to be offline. Maybe there’s a bump down there you haven’t seen yet because it’s offline and you start going. You’re going to hit something. There’s just no room to not hit something. I think that just is more pronounced when you come to a road course, but even more so in Chicago with the walls because there’s just no runoff anywhere you go you’re going to hit something. I don’t think the aggression level is higher it just looks like it it is.”

DO YOU THINK THERE IS AN ART TO MAYBE A RESERVED AGGRESSIVENESS? MAYBE NOT PUSHING IT AS HARD, NOT LEANING ON EACH OTHER AS MUCH, TO BE A CONTENDER FOR THE WIN THIS WEEKEND? He’s (SVG) just smooth. What I think makes Shane so good at these tracks is his ability to hit the apexes so tight without giving up entry speed is what makes him fast. To me, that’s pretty clear. He gets so comfortable in those braking zones to be able to put place his car where he needs to he just is pretty smooth. That move he made against Haley to win the Cup race — changing directions in that area it didn’t even come to my mind like you can’t do that like and he just got so much more comfort and knowing how his car needed to feel to go over those bumps in that braking zone to at least get his car driving to what in his mind is right. But I think his ability to brake smooth, change direction in the braking areas, he did that multiple times to a lot of different cars. We all should be closer this year. I would freaking hope so. This is a lot of work for nothing, so I’d like to think we’re gonna be better.”

HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS THE KNOWLEDGE YOU GUYS HAVE OF THIS COURSE AT THIS POINT, GIVEN THAT IT CERTAINLY LOOKS LIKE IT’S GONNA BE A DRY WEEKEND HERE, SO LESS OF A WETNESS FACTOR, AND THEN OBVIOUSLY A YEAR OF WEAR AND TEAR IN CHICAGO IN THE WINTER AND EVERYTHING THAT GOES ALONG WITH WINTER. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ABOUT WHAT YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT THIS COURSE AFTER RUNNING IT A YEAR? “We know it’s bumpy. It’s bumpier than we thought it was last year. They did repave a couple sections. So, there’s that piece that’s gonna be different. It’ll be interesting to see. Even the things that you think you know could be different when you get out there as far as like wall placement, right? How do you know they set the the apex of the corner at the same angle of the wall and all that? It could be different when you get there. These roads are used every day. Race track roads are not used very often. You have a lot of heavy trucks and things and I’m sure it doesn’t get smoother over time. I’m sure to your point of winter and the pounding of what is the streets of Chicago is probably going to be bumpier than last year. But we’ll have to see. Like I said, even you think of turn 9, 10, 11 around what I always call the half moon area there. All those walls, the way they place them would change a lot of how we get through there. So we’ll have to just wait and see.”

YOU’VE BUILT UP A REPUTATION OF RUNNING WELL EACH TIME AT A NEW TRACK NOTABLY WINNING THE INAUGURAL BRISTOL DIRT AND GATEWAY RACES AND THEN FINISHING IN THE TOP 10 HERE LAST YEAR. WHAT GOES ON IN THE LEAD UP BACK AT THE SHOP THAT ALLOWS YOU TO BE SO STRONG OUT OF THE GATE AT THESE PLACES COMPARED TO YOUR COMPETITORS? “I get that question a lot. I never have a good answer for you. We try to think of it from an old school approach of just going off of history of tracks that we think may be similar and things I think we’ll need. I think Paul and I both do a good job at adapting quickly. It seems like the first couple laps on the racetrack, most of the time I can adapt really quick to at least get us in the ballpark. And then you kind of fine tune, find a little bit here and there. I think the first chunk of speed, usually we can figure it out fairly quickly.”

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN GO OUT AND BE A LEGITIMATE CONTENDER ONCE THE POSTSEASON ROLLS AROUND? “Absolutely. We always think we can win the championship. There’s a lot of stepping stones and things you had to do to get there but you bring it up plenty of times. If you think of 2018 and I I’ve said it before, I remember having the conversation with my wife just saying gosh I hope we get through the first round of these playoffs because I felt that is where we were from a speed perspective and all of a sudden it got better. And we go on and win the whole thing and she reminds me all the time you just remember what you said in 18. I’m like okay honey I got you. But she’s right. You just got to stay around, right? You got to be in it to win it. It’s so real with our playoffs. Are we seeded the best going into the playoffs right now? No. We don’t have enough playoff points. The cards are stacked a little bit against us from that perspective. But I’ve also seen plenty of times where if you can just be solid, get through the rounds, win the races that matter. If you’re around long enough for the speed knob to get turned up. It happened to the 12 last year. He got through the rounds just as he needed to and by the time it was game time, boom, the speed showed up and he won the championship. We did that in 18, we did it in 22, hopefully we do it again this year.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHICAGO STREET RACE
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAILABILITY QUOTES
JULY 5, 2024

 Shane van Gisbergen, the inaugural winner of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Chicago Street Race, met with the media in advance of racing double duty in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Chicago Street Course.

Media Availability Quotes:

As you were flying into Chicago, do you kind of get a really good vibe? Do you like looking down and seeing it considering what happened last year? Secondly, more importantly, now that you’ve had more experience in NASCAR and have been a part of this, does it make what you were able to accomplish last year in the Cup Series even a bit more amazing or a really feel good moment for you when you think about what you did?

“Yeah, it’s cool. I’m not much of a city person.. there’s not enough grass here for me (laughs). I guess we’re racing in a park, which is cool. But yeah, I prefer the countryside and getting away from people. But yeah, it’s cool. It’s special to come back here. As you asked, being here for a year, yeah it does have more meaning now knowing how tough this series is and how good everyone here is. We just had a dream run and we’re ready to try and do the same again. The preparation has been pretty good. Looking out there now, the track looks amazing. The weather looks like it’s going to be pretty good, which I’m excited for. Hopefully it’s a good race weekend for everyone.”

You didn’t get to experience double-file restarts here last year. Now that you’ve gotten to experience them some in Cup, what have your impressions of it been, and how do you think it’ll impact this race?

“Yeah, I think here, it’s a little different with where it’s placed. You kind of get going just before the last corner, so it’s a huge advantage to be the first guy because you’ll be clear by the exit. But yeah, if you’re third row back, it’s going to be carnage.. not carnage, but difficult to stay clean through there. Yeah, I think that worked out pretty well last year. But this year, it’s going to be tough. I watched the Xfinity Series race – they go through it very cleanly, but the outside guy lost positions every time. So it’s going to be a fight to be on the right-hand side and try to not give too much up to get there, I think. But yeah, looking forward to that. I think it’ll be different than on the ovals. On the ovals, it’s crazy the way everyone races here; takes 50-50’s. They pretty much take all 50-50’s and get involved in a crash or they don’t. So I’m a bit more reserved, at the moment, for that, I think.”

Last year, this is obviously what got the ball rolling. You win this race and suddenly you’re racing full-time in NASCAR months later. When you look ahead to Sunday, are you looking at it as potentially – hey, if I can repeat, win and have all the spotlight and attention on me, that can really kind of solidify my future even more in NASCAR, in terms of the Cup path that you want to pursue?

“No, I don’t think like that, but it would probably certainly help; getting a good result both days and showing I can keep running upfront on road courses. But I’m not trying to put pressure on myself, you know saying ‘I have to win to get into Cup next year’, you know? But certainly a good result will help that, yeah.”

Last year, Kyle Larson was marveling on the move you made on Justin Haley to win. Can you take us through that move again, and are you anticipating that you won’t be able to make that move in year two because people will have figured out that it’s coming?

“Yeah, I think I did the same thing at COTA on someone. But to me, it’s normal (laughs). I see stuff that Kyle Larson does on ovals and I go – what the hell.. how did he do that? So it’s relative, right? It’s what I’ve always been used to with this kind of racing and making moves like that. On the ovals, people are doing stuff to me and I’m like – how did he come up with that or know that I was going to do the opposite? So yeah, it’s kind of just that I need to get better at the oval stuff and they’re going to keep getting better at the road course stuff, as well, I guess.”

Anytime you can get laps at a course, you’re going to be improved the next time come back. So for Sunday, how much do you anticipate the Cup field sort of closing the gap to you? Also for you, doing double-duty on Saturday, your experiences in the Cup car, which generally handles way better on these types of tracks than the Xfinity car does? Can that in any way be a disadvantage for whatever your Saturday might look like?

“The car difference is huge, but laps and reps overcomes that by so far, especially what we’re going to be doing tomorrow morning, the track is going to be completely different from how the Xfinity race finishes. So getting to experience that is going to be a huge head start for Sunday, which is why so many Cup guys are probably in that Saturday race. Just get reps; get comfortable with the walls on both sides of the car. This racing is so different from anything we do all year, so yeah I think for sure that doing both classes is going to be more of an advantage than a disadvantage.

I think for sure that there will be more of them. There were a lot of guys that were fast; five or six fast guys last year. Especially in qualifying, there were some big laps. This year, there’s just going to be more guys with data; more guys will have better setups with learning what they did last year. I think there’s a big chance that there will be 10 or 15 guys. That’s the best thing I find about NASCAR.. it’s not the same people every week. This series is so competitive and so tight, but hopefully it’s us that’s in there, as well.”

It’s been a year and obviously there’s a lot of things that have changed in your life. Is there anything you miss? What are the biggest notices you have now versus being here last year? Like I said, do you miss being home because you completely upended everything?

“I miss New Zealand a lot, for sure. But I love it here. I really enjoy racing. I love racing every week. I love having a routine and knowing what I’m doing pretty much every day until November.. that’s exciting. I have three weeks off in August and I have no idea what I’m going to do. It’s a weird feeling. I love this style of racing; the atmosphere, the people and the schedule. Yeah, I’m loving every moment. I definitely think I made the right choice. I feel like it’s a really cool place for me; being welcome by everyone, whether it’s team people, drivers and the fans. It’s been really cool to see how welcoming everyone is and I’m really enjoying it.”

There’s a lot of talk about the field catching up to you with more experience, but you also have more experience here in NASCAR. So whatever advantages they gain, are you also gaining an advantage too because you have all this experience now?

“Yeah, for sure. Like I have learned a lot with the Cup car. I had a really good time at the wheel force test at Sonoma, which it was essentially like my first test day in NASCAR. You don’t really get to test much here.. you’re learning as you’re racing. So it was good to have two days; experiment with the car, the tire and push things. I went off-track a couple of times, just learning. Got to try different brake pads, suspensions, stuff like that. So yeah, got to learn what I liked and what I needed from the car. For sure, I’ll be better this year, too.. knowing what to expect and what I want from the car. Last year’s car wasn’t perfect by any means. But yeah, I think we’ll all be taking a leap forward, that’s for sure.”

Last year when you came in, maybe everyone wasn’t super familiar with you and didn’t know what you could do. So having said that, this year, is there a slightly different vibe? People know that this is the guy that’s setting the standard, so do you expect it to race differently?

“I’m not sure about that, but I certainly enjoyed last year. I’m a pretty quite guy, so flying under the radar pre-weekend was awesome for me. I just focused on my job and do well at it. Yeah, the media stuff is pretty overwhelming sometimes, but I’m getting used to it. But yeah, I know for sure that there’s probably a target on us. People are going to be looking at us a lot more and try to study what we’re doing. But yeah, just have to keep our heads down and expectations in check. Our prep has been good with all the Kaulig Racing guys, and then obviously some Trackhouse Racing input, as well. So yeah, I feel ready to go and prepared. Just have to go out there and do it.”

You said you enjoyed flying under the radar. Like when you look back on it, the announcers could barely announce your name. You had the drivers, even after the race, be like – I didn’t really know this guy before. Was there anything in the back of your head like there was a little bit of disrespect here.. like I’m a three-time Supercars Champion.. nothing like that?

“No, not at all. I think the funniest one was – Brad Keselowski had a tweet afterwards. We must have done the track walk next to each other and he goes – ‘did the track walk and had no idea who this guy is, but now I do’ or whatever. I found that pretty funny. But yeah, it’s hard, especially in this series – when you’re racing every weekend, it’s hard to have the blinkers off and watch other racing. You’re so engrained in what you’re doing and focused on yourself. I wasn’t angry or disappointed in them at all. It was cool to just come in, but that changed pretty quick after practice and qualifying, I guess.”

Last year, you were in the PROJECT91 car for Trackhouse Racing. This year, you’re in a Kaulig Racing entry for Sunday. You said you were going to have some input from Trackhouse, but can you just address that? Will there be much of a difference, or are you anticipating anything begin different with the car?

“I guess that’s the beauty of both. We had the teams that were first and second last year having input this year, which is awesome. Travis Mack, who is the crew chief on the car this weekend, he was at Trackhouse last year. So it works really well, already having that relationship setup. It’s been good on all the ovals we’ve done, so far. Yeah, Travis has been at the shop most days this week to help prepare the car; make sure it’s right. It went into the Kaulig truck to get here and those guys will run it all weekend. It’s a real combined effort. It was a little messy, maybe, at COTA.. it could have been better. But every week, the relationship has gotten better and better, the more races we do. Yeah, really confident with how it all works now.”

What’s your knowledge of this track at this point?

“Yeah, street courses are different every year, no matter where you go. Like the barrier locations are always different, depending if they put them inside the curb or on top of it. The track always changes. I haven’t walked around yet.. I’ll do that tomorrow morning. Basically, I’ll just be trying to look at all of the barrier locations on apex and exits, just to see the differences with how the barriers are lined up and stuff. I hear there are some resealing, as well. I haven’t been there yet, but basically the corner directions are the same, but there’s always small differences. And then with only two classes on track and a year’s worth of traffic in between each race, it’ll be really interesting. The track didn’t really ramp up until the end last year when it dried up, so it was like a reset. Whereas if it’s dry all weekend, the track will be completely different. But it should be a good race track. There should be a lot of passing, if it’s completely dry. There’s great passing zones here for a street race. Hopefully it’s exciting”

What is that like now, instead of getting the knowledge, you’re giving it to your competitors?

“Yeah, obviously I’ve gotten a lot more questions this week. But yeah, I don’t mind telling small things, but you’re not going to tell every secret, I guess. But I’m completely open to Daniel (Suarez), Ross (Chastain) and Zane (Smith) and whatever they ask. The track walk tomorrow, we’ll do that together maybe and try and talk things through. Those guys were fast in a lot of areas. Daniel was really quick last year in a lot of spots.

But yeah, for sure, I don’t mind. I don’t mind helping those guys because I certainly ask a lot of questions the other way. But yeah, I’ll keep a little bit in the pocket because you want to win, as well.”

How much was there the openness among Supercars? Is that universal or something that is kind of different?

“No, it’s pretty similar there. The Supercars guys, they’re all good guys. You still keep separate, but everyone is pretty fun. You talk about it a little bit, but between manufacturers, it’s not as open as it is here, I guess.”

How do you deal with changing expectations from week-to-week.. going from ovals, where you’re still learning and not having much expected of you at this point of your career, versus going to a road or street course, where you’re automatically expected to contend for the win?

“Yeah, good question. I kind I had just been letting the road course stuff happen this year and not focusing on it as much because like I just know I’ll be good there. I do the usual preparation, but I don’t do more. Whereas with the ovals, I try to study as much as I can with SMT, previous races, onboards.. I’m trying to soak in as much as I can. I’m really focusing on getting better on the ovals, and I feel like I have. At Iowa, I made some errors and had a bad weekend. But I feel like it’s been a pretty steady progress. And then Nashville was the most comfortable I’ve felt on the ovals. I feel like I’ve said that the last few ovals that I’ve run, so certainly moving forward; getting better, more competitive. I’m racing around some pretty good guys, I feel like. But yeah, the road stuff just comes.. it’s almost like a holiday on a road race weekend for me. I can relax and have some fun.”

After watching film and going through those emotions from the race, what were some drivers that you feel like are going to be your biggest challengers this weekend?

“Yeah, again, there are so many guys in this series that if they hit it, they can be on. There’s 10 or 15 really good road racers now, and then the rest of the field aren’t slugs either. It’s pretty impressive how competitive everything is. And especially how much road racing there is now, everyone has gotten good at it. Yeah, I really enjoy racing – I think it was Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson last year.. all of us at the start and just seeing how comfortable they were; their proximity to the barriers and how much they were pushing in the wet. I remember being pretty conservative in the wet and let them through a little bit at the start. It was pretty cool to watch those guys. They’re relatively inexperienced at this stuff and they were pushing pretty hard. It was cool to watch. Yeah, I think it will be those guys, for sure, up front. I think it was Denny (Hamlin) who was on the pole, as well. He was going really well. He hit the wall, unfortunately early, but he was fast, too.”

With everyone having your SMT data, can they copy what you do.. is it that simple? Or do you feel like all your years of experience.. they can look at it, but it’s going to take them awhile for them to be able to do what you do..

“Yeah, the SMT stuff is amazing on the ovals, but I hate it on the road courses for that reason (laughs). They can see what you’re doing. But yeah, I guess my brake technique is completely different, so it would be very hard for someone to switch over. Like for me on the ovals, I’ve never left-foot braked before. But you can’t really right-foot brake on an oval, so I’ve had to learn that technique. But if I tried to left-foot brake on a road circuit, I’d be miles off the pace. It’s such a different technique and way that you control the car into the corner. I do it with the clutch, they do it with the throttle. Yeah, it would be very hard for someone to just try and emulate what I’m doing, I think. You can still see gears, proximities, steering angles, stuff like that, and get most of the basic stuff down, I think.”

You came and ran this race last year. You mentioned that heading into it, you weren’t really well known over here. You go out, whip the field and win the race. Did you ever envision last year that it would ever translate to what you’re doing now.. full-time racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the opportunity in the NASCAR Cup Series in coming years?

“Not at all. It was just a one-off race at that point. As I said, I went to Nashville the week before, a year ago now, and just opened my eyes to how cool the racing was; how open it was for everyone. I took my dad there last week.. he’s come over for the weekend. We were just standing right on the pit wall as the guys were doing their pit stops. I was dropping him at the corporate suite.. he didn’t like the heat, so he wanted to get to the air conditioner. But we stood on the backstretch on the way out and we just walked right up to the fence on the side of the track. I don’t know if we should have done that, but we were standing right by the inside wall right when the cars were going past. The experience here is awesome. We both had a little moment, without saying anything, how cool it is here. Yeah, we’re all really, really enjoying it. It’s been a huge 180 for me, my life and my career. But yeah, I’m having the time of my life.”

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