Author: Official Release

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Coke Zero Sugar 400 Qualifying | Daytona International Speedway
Friday, August 23, 2024

MCDOWELL WINS DAYTONA POLE AS FRONT ROW SWEEPS FRONT ROW

• Michael McDowell won the pole for tomorrow’s Coke Zero Sugar 400.
• The pole is McDowell’s fourth of his career and fourth this season.
• Todd Gilliland made it an all Front Row Motorsports front row as he qualified second.
• Overall, seven Ford drivers qualified in the top 10.

Ford Performance Results:

1st – Michael McDowell

2nd – Todd Gilliland

3rd – Joey Logano

4th – Ryan Preece

5th – Josh Berry

6th – Chase Briscoe

8th – Austin Cindric

12th – Brad Keselowski

13th – Chris Buescher

14th – Ryan Blaney

15th – Noah Gragson

20th – Harrison Burton

33rd – Cody Ware

36th – Justin Haley

POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse

WHAT GIVES? “It’s a funny story, actually. So, qualifying has never been a strength for us at superspeedways, but we’ve always raced really well, and so we always though, ‘Ah, it takes so much time and energy to get all these little, small details just perfect to go out there and beat fenders side-by-side, three-wide and is it worth all the effort.’ And so we just decided, ‘OK, we are going to take as much time as we possibly have available to execute everything that we can to the best of our ability and really focus on taking our time and trying to do every detail perfect.’ And it was kind of an inside joke at the shop or just one of those jokes of like, ‘Hey, if we go to Daytona for the Daytona 500 and we qualify 18th, we are never, ever putting this much time and energy into another race car again.’ I mean, it was just a massive amount of time and energy by everybody at Front Row. We came down here and we qualified second and we all looked at each other like, ‘Oh, you know what this means? It means we’ve got to do this every single time.’ We set the bar high for ourselves, so that just moved the bar internally and so when we went to Atlanta and sat on the pole, I mean, obviously, it’s the superspeedway package, but it’s not like Daytona and Talladega where it’s just easy flat, like we saw guys hit the wall and spin out in qualifying, so it’s not exactly the same, but we sat on the pole there, and then sort of knew going to Talladega that if we did everything well and found those fine little details that we’d have a shot at it. That’s the long story of it. Kind of shortened up, we just kind of proved to ourselves that with a lot of extra, and when I say a lot I mean a lot of extra time that it matters and we just put that time in and it’s paid off.”

ON POSSIBLY RACING HIS TEAMMATE FOR A WIN TOMORROW NIGHT WITH BOTH NEEDING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. “We haven’t gotten to the last lap and been nose-to-tail and had a shot at trying to win the race together, but from my standpoint is the best thing that we can do for our team and for ourselves is to work together because we have fast cars and if we can work together, and we’ve seen guys do it well. The 6 and the 17 here last year did a great job and I think if it wasn’t Chris Buescher leading that race in front of Brad, Brad would have drove that race much different that last lap. He did give himself a chance to win, but didn’t ever put Chris in a situation where he wasn’t going to, if that makes sense. And I think that’s what it comes down to. I don’t want to take away a win from Todd. I want to win myself tomorrow night, but if we’re in that situation, you have to play it out to where is my move gonna hurt both of us or is it gonna help one of us, or both of us. So, you don’t know until you’re in that situation and we haven’t been there yet to know on that last lap coming off of turn four what we would do, but it really is situational just like anything else. Hopefully, we’re in that spot. Hopefully, we can get to the last few laps of these races and put ourselves in position because as you guys know so much can happen in this race in particular. There’s a lot that can happen, so hopefully we get to that point to feel and see what we would do.”

DID YOU COME INTO THE TUNNEL FEELING EXCITED, ANXIOUS? “I come here excited. That’s really what helped me change my perspective and I think become a better superspeedway racer is coming from a road course background in road racing, superspeedway racing is its own thing. It’s different than anything else that we do or anything else that you’ve ever done in your career getting to this point. I remember the first superspeedway race I did we were four-wide on the backstraight at Talladega and I was running probably 25th and I was like, ‘This is the dumbest thing ever. What are we doing?’ You can’t go anywhere. You’re locked in the middle. I mean, one guy makes one wrong move and we’re all piled up in a ball. Like, ‘This is not racing.’ That’s kind of my first year and so once I’ve learned to embrace it and enjoy it and become a student of it, it’s really helped me, and so now I come here optimistic and when I drive through the tunnel I think we have a better shot than most to win this race, and I know everybody has a shot, but at the same time if you just look, forget about the win here, just top 10s, I don’t even know what the number is, but double digit top 10s here and that doesn’t just happen by happenstance. I feel like for whatever reason this place has been good to me in that sense of feeling the pack, feeling when things are gonna happen, putting yourself in a good position. Dale Jr. always talks about, ‘Hey, you’re not gonna win every single one of these, but you need to be in that picture.’ You know, that picture they snap over the start-finish line as everybody is coming across the line three-wide and half sideways, and I’ve been in a lot of those pictures. If we continue to do that, no different than 2021, we’ll have a shot at winning the race. As you guys saw at Talladega, obviously we had a shot at winning the race and just wasn’t able to make the right move there at the end and put myself in a bad spot, so if we keep putting ourselves in that position to win, we’ll get one.”

DO YOU CARRY THAT WEIGHT OF EXPECTATION AND PRESSURE? “For sure. Every week you feel the pressure, but there are some weeks more than others. Road courses, superspeedways, we feel that more – that if we don’t win or don’t put ourselves in position to win then it’s a missed opportunity, but at the same time I’ve been doing it long enough to know that you can’t control everything and you can’t prepare for every scenario and sometimes you get it wrong. I think Talladega I did everything right until I didn’t. The move that I did wrong was a big wrong and so you learn from those things and you adjust and you make a game plan for the next situation, but the next situation is completely different. It’s a constant learning and growing process, especially here at superspeedways.”

YOU HAVE FOUR POLES THIS YEAR AFTER NOT HAVING ONE FOR YOUR FIRST 17 YEARS. HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN IT THIS YEAR? “It’s so many things, but for superspeedways in particular it’s just speed. The driver, yes, I have – if I was gonna give you a percentage I would say the driver is 10 percent qualifying and the car is 90 percent. You’ve got to hit your marks. You’ve got to hit your shifts just right, which it’s come down to 10 rpms. You get a report and if you’re 10 or 15 rpms off, they’re like, ‘Hey, you missed it.’ But it’s all about speed and we’ve had a lot of speed in our cars. Now, Gateway was different for sure. That’s not a superspeedway and we got the pole there. I don’t know what the stats are, but this year I think 10-12 times we’ve made it to the second round in qualifying and not just superspeedways but everywhere, so more than anything our cars just have speed. Having speed is important and then the level of execution that it takes not with only 20 minutes of practice. I think the time I put in during the week studying and preparing has allowed us to unload really quick and put in a solid lap for qualifying, so that’s been fun. It’s different than in years past, the other 16 years, where you had three hours of practice and completely different car, gear, sometimes engines. I’ve been around long enough to where we changed engines between qualifying, so everything has changed so much that it comes down to execution and I think we’ve done a good job with that.”

HAS THE PENSKE ALLIANCE HELPED WITH THAT? “Yes. I think that anytime that you’re able to share resources, especially with an organization like Team Penske is huge. I don’t know if it’s led to our qualifying success, but I do feel like our relationship with Ford Performance and having more tools and having more resources in general has definitely helped the speed at Front Row and that obviously plays into it. It’s been tricky here the last couple months, but we’re still managing to make speed and make it happen.”

ARE YOU ABLE TO LOOK AT IT AND NOT THINK, ‘WHAT ARE WE DOING?’ “As crazy as it sounds, you don’t really think about it. I mean, obviously you want to keep the cars on the ground. I know it’s a big goal. It’s not the worst thing on the planet when they roll. I hate to say it like that. I don’t want that to be taken out of context because we want to keep the cars on the ground, but sometimes it dissipates energy and speed as it’s rolling rather than hitting something hard. I’m not technical enough to go into what’s better, but like Corey’s last week was not super scary for me because of the way that it went up and came down. It was kind of a soft roll. I know it probably didn’t feel soft for him, but it didn’t fly. It just went up and over, so I think the car did a pretty good job with all the things that are there to keep it from flying, but at Daytona here they’ve obviously paved the back straightaway, which is different from what Ryan Preece had last year when he came across the 24 Hour bus stop and then across the grass and it kind of dug in, and if you see too, like even at Michigan everything was soft until they hit the grass and it dug in, but at the same time, when you’re on the asphalt he would have skid for a long, long time, so there’s a balance there, too. It doesn’t really worry me. It doesn’t scare me. I feel like these cars are really safe, and I think drivers just have this ability to block that all out. You’re usually not worried about it until you’re in it, and usually even that’s delayed. Like, I’ve been in some bad ones where you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah. This is gonna hurt.’ And all of a sudden you realize this is gonna hurt, but you don’t think about it until you’re in it.”

WILL YOU FEEL THE RIGHT SIDE AIR DEFLECTOR THAT HAS BEEN ADDED? “With how late that change came, I think there was very little information to the teams as far as what this is gonna do balance-wise and all that. We got a tiny little bit of information, but even that in a wind tunnel by itself isn’t a real indicator of what it will be like in the pack. I don’t think anybody knows. I think everybody is taking their best guesses, but I don’t think it’s gonna be terribly different, but there might be some positives from it, too. We’ll see how the cars suck up. Every situation is different and that’s what’s hard about superspeedway racing as rules packages change. Sometimes you’re three-wide in the middle and the car responds like this and sometimes you’re three-wide in the middle, but a car two car lengths off of you and all of a sudden you get something completely new and you’re like, ‘Whoa, where did that come from?’ And you can see that as a fan and as a spectator. When guys are caught off guard or just lose it, it’s because there is a situation that they haven’t been in before, so with this deflector I’m sure there will be some of that, of figuring out does it do something unique in a certain area, whether that’s middle, top, bottom, behind a car, in front of a car, but I don’t think it’s gonna be a huge change.”

WERE YOU GLAD THEY MADE THE CHANGE? “Honestly, I didn’t think much of it other than they said that this helps the take off speed, so obviously with last week they’re worried that we’re close to that 200 number, which we are when we’re pushing hard and sucked up tight. Most of the time we’re 180s and we’re well under that, but when you get those massive runs and those big trains coming you can get there, so I think it’s just precaution. That’s probably the best way to describe it. I think they just took an extra measure of, ‘Hey, let’s be on the good side of this just in case.’”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS SUCCESS KNOWING YOU ARE MOVING ON NEXT YEAR? “I think you never take it for granted. We come down here this weekend knowing that we’re gonna have a shot at the pole, and you’re gonna start over next year and you’re gonna have to build to that and you don’t know that. So, driving down here and just thinking about it like, yeah, you put it in perspective of tomorrow is not guaranteed and success is not guaranteed as you guys have seen my career. I’ve spent a lot of it having very little success, so I think it’s more of enjoying the process in the moment and I’m thankful that our cars have been good and we’ve had some strong runs. If anything, I’m disappointed about this season because I think we’ve been faster and ran better than we’ve shown from a points standpoint and winning races because just with mistakes and some of those on me and some of those that we’ve just had, which you have throughout the year. I felt like Atlanta was a race that we could have won, and Talladega obviously was a race that we put ourselves in position to win. And there have been a handful of others that have just gotten away from us, so that’s a little bit disappointing on the last year because I so badly want to win and get us locked in the playoffs and looking at the playoffs with the way that the rounds are set up and the tracks that are in it. There are a lot of high expectations, but you’ve got to get there and we haven’t gotten there. Now, I feel like we’re in that last two weeks and we’ve got to make it happen. This is the first step to making it happen. There’s a good chance I could be sitting here with you tomorrow night and we’re talking about being in the playoffs and having Watkins Glen in there. You go through the rounds and all of a sudden this conversation changes, but it’s racing and we’ve seen the highs and lows of it and I’ve been a part of the highs and lows of it, so you just don’t take it for granted. You enjoy the moment and the process and in two weeks we’ll know.”

DO YOU HAVE THE AIR JACK SYSTEM ON YOUR CAR? “No.”

DO YOU THINK THE EXTRA WEIGHT MIGHT GIVE AN ADVANTAGE WITH DOWNFORCE? “Yes and no. I think weight always matters, so you’re always trying to do as much as you can and you don’t want to put anything on your car that is heavy or unnecessary, but, for us, more than anything is this is kind of the approach that we take. We’ll let the big teams figure it out and spend the money first and if they think it’s good, then we’ll add it. That’s the nice thing about it not being mandatory. Yes, it would be unfortunate if you’re sitting on four flat tires and you can’t get back to the pits, but as you guys know, if that happens, you’re pretty much done anyways. Even if you come out there and they jack you up and you drive back, you’re still a lap or two down, so the probability of that being something that you need and it actually be effective, we would rather watch and see if it’s effective for other people first, and I think that’s probably why you saw teams split it, too. They’re doing the same process, but just doing it internally.”

TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 Grillo’s Pickles Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Like we talked about before that second round, it’s just an amazing effort by everyone at Front Row Motorsports. I think it was in Atlanta where we were fairly close to getting the front row, so to come back here we’ve had super fast cars at every superspeedway this year, so just to be able to keep cranking them out like that has been really impressive. Johnny, Ryan, my crew chief, everybody on our car has stepped it up a lot. Michael is a tough one to beat. He’s been pushing us to new levels since I got to the Cup Series and we continue to do that. Second isn’t too bad and we’ll be on the front row and race him from there.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 4 eero Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Everybody back at Stewart-Haas Racing and the 4 team, all four teams did a really good job. We definitely improved a lot from what we had here in February but as well as at Talladega, so that’s exciting. Everybody has been digging hard. The Fords as a whole have a lot of speed. We have a lot of cars up front and hopefully we can stay up there tomorrow night.”

IT’S A CHANCE TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS TOMORROW WITH A WIN. “For sure. Every week is a chance and that’s all you can ask for. I think tomorrow is gonna be wild, but we just need to execute and obviously stay out of trouble. We need to be there when it counts and give ourselves an opportunity. That’s all we can do and if it doesn’t happen tomorrow night, we’ll try like hell next week.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAIL. QUOTES
AUGUST 23, 2024

Ross Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

If something similar at Talladega happens in the final stage where a group of cars come in and pit for fuel early and they’re sort of on their own and it almost worked out before they wound up wrecking each other, do you guys have a plan to cover that tomorrow night?

“I can’t tell you all of our secrets. We’ve all watched that and learned from it, learned what they did good and what they did bad, and it’s different from what the majority of the field had as a mentality from what I see. We’re always evolving and always watching.”

As the only Chevy driver not yet to secure a playoff position, is there an expectation that if you need help you get help at certain times of the race understanding that there is a point where everybody’s got to look out for themselves?

“As a Chevy group we meet and talk through stuff, and we’ve done that over the years since I’ve been in the Cup car. I’ve been part of these conversations with all different scenarios of who and what and where we were at. I think there is going to be some ask out of some of my chevy teammates. I don’t expect it, though. When I make a move or I’m in a line and I need a Chevy teammate to go with me or help me, I want them to go with me because it was the right move not because they feel like they have to help me. If I make the right choices in drafting, it’s going to be for the right reasons why they go with me, push me and help me. They choose behind me on a restart it’s because our car is strong, and I’ve been showing them that I can do what can help them as well. I’ve been asked in the past to help a Chevy, and that’s every OEM, and I’m sure that will be said but I don’t expect it.”

Being on the playoff cutline, how much do you focus on trying to win the race and looking to come away with a big points day going into the regular-season finale?

“I could give you an example of last week at Michigan because it’s fresh in my mind was I had never thought about when I was in the car until I was stuck in the grass, and at that moment I went, ‘Oh, no.’ It came flooding in the thoughts of all the cars no longer around me that I had been racing with, so it won’t be in my mind while I’m racing. You can’t do that; it’s not possible for me. We’ll just go race and win.”

During a shorter first stage, do you expect people to be more aggressive?

“We do know we can push the gas pedal to the floor, which is nice. That won’t be the case later just the way the stages break down and lays out. If you want to be up front at the end of the stage, you have to be on pit road less. We’ll all pit at the end of it and there is a scenario of cautions and stuff before the end. It won’t go as easy we all think it will, I’m sure, for Stage 1. But just on paper it looks like you can run hard and pit at the end and fill it up with gas and tires and then start. Stage 2 and 3 we’ll focus on saving fuel.”

How much do you monitor the charter negotiations from a business standpoint?

“I’m not in the charter business. I look back and obviously wish I would have and that’s any investment. You look in hindsight and it would have been good when charters first came out to invest in them, but I wasn’t smart enough then and maybe not smart enough now. It’s worked out good for some and not so good for others. I think it’s been a win for everybody, though. I don’t study it. I just get information after it’s happened of what it all was.”

When you get in an accident where you’re airborne, what is going through your mind at that moment?

“I’ve never flipped. I’ve watched my brother flip and obviously lots of competitors flip over my life. Actually, the only time I can think of when I got air was last week when I got spun around the back tires came off the ground a little bit and I felt it. I was looking down at the ground in front of me. It happened quick though and it sat right back down, so the car did a good job to put me right back down on the ground. That was the first time and it was over before I knew what happened. My brother has described it as it all happened really slow, but he was young then, so that was probably the most detail I went into with anybody about it. I’ve never asked anyone what it’s like to flip.”

It’s still six months away, but do you have any feelings about leaving LA for the Clash and bringing it back East?

“It matters but I don’t have a say or a vote. Just hope for warm weather.”

Do you think of Daytona of a home track at all? How much of your family is here and how important is it to win in Florida?

“This was our vacation when we would go to the summer race when it was on Fourth of July weekend, so I’ve sat through all the rain delays and everything. I have all those memories. This one is more of a home track feeling because of those summer vacations. We’ve been able to win an Xfinity race here, which was really cool. A few less family members here for tomorrow’s race. Mainly just my grandparents not coming over. They’ll all be tuned in and read everything. They’re super engaged. It’s cool to talk to them every week and sometimes they know more than I do.”

About Chevrolet

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Coke Zero Sugar 400 Media Availability | Daytona International Speedway
Friday, August 23, 2024

Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is the defending winner of the Coke Zero Sugar 400. He comes into this weekend 16 points above the cut line with two races remaining in the regular season and discussed that situation as part of a media session this afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IF THERE ARE A GROUP OF CARS THAT PIT EARLY LIKE THE TOYOTAS DID AT TALLADEGA IS THERE A CHANCE TO COUNTERACT THAT? “We can counter it, yeah. It’s more on our radar now. Obviously, fuel saving has become very prominent at these superspeedways in the last four to six races and it was that ‘what-if’ and the group took it and ran with that and proved that there’s a possibility and everyone took note. So, yeah, it’s definitely something that if it’s going on and we see it happening, then we definitely have the opportunity to cover it this go around and not have to try and hope for anything bad to happen. We’ll be more prepared for that this go.”

WITH THE SUCCESS YOU AND BRAD HAVE HAD ON THESE TRACKS IN THE NEXT GEN ERA, DOES THAT GIVE YOU MORE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR ABILITY TO EXECUTE GIVEN HOW UNPREDICTABLE THESE RACES CAN BE? “Yeah, it certainly helps. We know we’re gonna be fast when we get on track here in a short bit. We know we’ll have Fords that will race really well, that push really well, things that we’ve excelled at that it’s taken others longer to figure out, and a lot of the field is starting to catch up in those areas, so we are aware, but certainly we know we have a lot of really good things going for us when it comes to this style of racing and it makes them a lot more enjoyable when you’re fast and when you don’t feel like you’re white-knuckled and hanging on it every moment. With that, we are very much looking forward to getting going into the race tomorrow. Obviously, we’ve had a lot of discussions on how our teamwork has benefited us in the last couple of years. I think we can pick out moments in time from every race where we could have done better, whether that ends in a one-two finish or whether that ends with a big separation of cars there are always moments in a race when you feel like we can be better teammates, be more on the same page and try and cover more strategies, I guess, and be prepared for anything that may happen during a race. All of that said, there’s a level of unpredictability or it’s probably predicted that it’s going to happen, it’s just when so when we come to these races we know that and at the end of the day you can only control what we can in our very small circle and the rest of it will go as it may. Unfortunately, that’s part of the game at these places and small lapses in judgment lead to rather catastrophic consequences. We’re certainly ready for it, but we’ll be eyes out front paying attention and trying to be smart and work together really well so that we can find ourselves with a shot to go one-two again.”

AS THE ONLY FORD IN A POINTS POSITION THAT HASN’T SECURED A SPOT AT THIS POINT, IS THERE AN EXPECTATION THAT YOU WILL GET HELP FROM YOUR FORD TEAMMATES IF YOU NEED IT? “I don’t know if it’s an expectation. It’s more of an ask if given an opportunity to help out a manufacturer car versus a competitor. I think the ask would be there to try and have that scenario in your mind from some of our teammates across the board on the Ford camp, but, no. I certainly don’t think you can expect it from others. We’re all competitors. We obviously have a very singular goal in mind, all of us for the same thing, and you’re not gonna get there if you’re helping out those that you’re gonna have to compete with at the end of the day. Again, it’s kind of just a small favor, if possible. You try to pay attention to who is around. It’s something that I feel like we’ve done in the past if you had the opportunity to help a fellow Ford move forward in a line or be in a better spot to push, then you would take that, but ultimately I certainly know everybody out here is trying to figure out how to win this thing.”

HOW EASY WAS IT TO HELP ANYBODY THAT NEEDED HELP LAST YEAR SINCE YOU WERE ALREADY LOCKED IN? “The part for me is the fact that our two RFK Fords are very good and if we’re both in the race and can find each other, we’re gonna work together first and try to better both of our positions. With that, the person we can count on the most is names on my shirt and the side of the car. That’s our biggest ally out there on any given weekend, but certainly this race and we know that at all these superspeedways. That’s what worked so well for us last time, so it’s a matter of doing what we can to help each other, but obviously it’s within our organization’s walls it’s very important to try and get a win for the 17 group and go ahead and lock this thing in to where we can go to Darlington and not have any of this thoughts in the back of our minds. When we come to Daytona it’s tricky because we’ve gone about this different ways in the past and ultimately I think we just have to go out here and race and try to be smart within our group – make decisions and try to better both of us and go race and let it fall where it will. It’s Daytona. We know things can happen, but we’ll go race hard, be smart at times, but we’ll go see what happens and see how we can find ourselves in victory lane again.”

AT DARLINGTON YOU NOT ONLY RACE THE COMPETITION BUT YOU RACE THE TRACK AS WELL. HOW MUCH OF THAT RACE ARE YOU DOING BOTH OF THOSE THINGS? “Darlington, you’re always racing the track. I don’t want to be in the position leaving here where we have to have too many of those internal thoughts, but it’s a tricky place. I love that racetrack. I love how difficult it is and what it makes you think of as a driver. For us, you will pay attention. If that’s the scenario we’re in, we’ll pay attention to where others are at, but you’ve got to race that racetrack first, run our own race, make sure we don’t make mistakes. You’re right at the edge at any given point there and while the cars have proven to be quite robust when you are right there up against the fence, they’re certainly not indestructible. We have to have our mindset right going in, but it’s about how we’ve gone about the last couple weeks is go to figure out how to win the race and for whatever reason, many different reasons, we haven’t found ourselves with a chance to really compete for a win in the closing stages of these things and with that you kind of turn your attention to those that we are racing on the other side of it and knowing what their situation is and kind of helping decide how we need to approach the ends of these things. You want to ultimately be fighting for the win first and then worry about the rest of it.”

HAVE YOU AND BRAD TALKED ABOUT THE STRATEGY GOING INTO THIS RACE TO REPEAT LAST YEAR? “We always study a lot for these races and the teamwork side of things we have focused on a lot. We have seen it work for us. We’ve seen it work for other organizations that do it well and we know that it’s a big part of it. It’s certainly a big strategy race. Yes, there’s some of that unpredictability in it and, yes, it puts up this little asterisk there, but it is still a big strategy race. There’s a lot going through your mind as a driver. There’s a lot going through our team’s minds as we go through this. A lot of scenarios that we play out. We go back and watch the old races, even the ones that went right because there’s always stuff to do better differently, try and dissect it through the week leading up to these things and when it comes down to the end, I fully expect it to be side-by-side with Brad last year at the end of this thing and his help kind of all just fanned out behind him in the end and ultimately just stalled out all of us. We all just kind of got stuck to the finish, so I don’t think I ever expect him to simply get in line and push. I think the hope is that in a position where we come down to the end we’re one-two and we can have a shot at this thing together and not take that chance of losing it. If you’re running one-two, make it exciting and go for the win. I think it’s understandable as competitors, but certainly don’t finish second and third doing something dumb. That’s the general mindset right now. I can’t speak for where Brad’s head is exactly, but obviously with having a win and being locked in – this race last year he was locked in mathematically, so it was an easier race as a group to go through and not have that on our minds with it being more ideally not the last one leading into the playoffs, so I do like this, but with that we do have one more race after this that we need to be aware of. You need to be in the hunt to win this thing and if you come close and put up a bunch of points on the board, it will make next week a lot easier.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE WHEN YOU GET AIRBORNE IN A CAR? “I hate Talladega Nights. I hate that movie, but I’ll start with that, but it is strange the amount of time you have to think and the amount of silence that is in the race car when it goes airborne. I haven’t asked Corey about this. I watched it happen right out my A-post window last week. It started out as a spin and the first thought in my mind was, ‘that’s bad angle. He’s gonna hit a lot,’ and then before I got that thought out of my head it was upside-down and flying though the air. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I know that feeling and it’s not a good one.’ I’m glad he’s OK. I’m glad he and Kyle Sieg are OK, but it is not a pleasant feeling and it’s something that most racetracks, and Michigan is a little bit of an exception, but at most racetracks you don’t realize how fast you’re going, how dangerous this really is until something goes wrong and you’re sideways, or backwards, or upside-down. Michigan is the exception to that. You know how fast you’re going there forwards. I can’t imagine what it feels like backwards and I know it’s not good, so it is very strange feeling. I’m afraid of flying in general. I’m a little more so afraid of flying in a race car, so it’s not something to have on my bucket list. Unfortunately, I have two under my belt. I’m like a quarter of the way to my pilot’s license at this point is what I figure, so maybe that will overcome my fear, but I want to do the rest of it in a real airplane and not in race cars.”

WHEN YOUR CAR STOPS FLIPPING, DO YOU JUST WANT TO GET OUT OF THE CAR AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE OR DO YOU TAKE A SECOND TO GATHER YOURSELF? “My first one at Talladega landed right side up and it’s always the last couple of impacts to me that hurt the most. All of the energy is basically landing on flat ground. At that point in Talladega, the suspension was torn off the car. It was just chassis to Earth. That one I wanted out quicker. I remember the window net was caught because of the A-post. The sheetmetal of the old car was actually wrapped around the buckle, so plus-one for the roof hatch, and then our Charlotte one I just wanted out of that stupid car at that point. I was so mad. It was just a bad situation and sitting in there upside-down for that long, first one to have to be turned back over in the new car and, unfortunately, I was kind of just the learning curve for everybody. It was not fun. It’s not that it was particularly painful during the accident, but you just start getting a little bit of a temper as you’re sitting there upside-down and you know if you undo the belts sitting upside-down it’s gonna hurt worse, just unstrapping and hitting stuff on the way down. Three or four minutes into that one I just decided I’ll just let my arms dangle and kind of tuck down and wait for whatever is gonna happen to happen, but that one was different landing on top and having way too much time to think about things.”

KEVIN HARVICK COULDN’T BELIEVE YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT HOW YOU PRIORITIZE WINNING OVER POINTS RACING. HE CALLED IT BS. HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THAT? “I can assure him it’s not BS. It is not something that we’ve put any focus on throughout my career, especially not until it’s absolutely necessary. At this point, there are thoughts of what our point situation is and discussed it a little bit today and last week. The last couple of weeks haven’t gone our way, so we don’t start the race thinking about points and how do we just put points up and play conservative. I promise, that’s not what’s going on here, but we’ve had some rough go’s for a couple of races and we haven’t been in a spot to compete for a win at the end. Yes, at that point, the team has made me aware of struggles of some of the other cars we’re racing on that cut line, and it’s just information. It’s not telling me to do anything different. It’s just, ‘so you know, we’ve had two cars that we’re racing that have had failures or wrecked out.’ That’s just information for me to say, ‘Do I really want to go four-wide into turn one at Pocono, or three-wide may be my number.’ That’s all it is. Yeah, at that point you think about it. If you don’t truly believe you’re gonna have a shot to win the thing, you’re not gonna go do something crazy and lose 30 points on the day. I’ll defend that one pretty adamantly. I can assure him it’s not BS and we’re not coming here to points race. We’re coming here to win races.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAIL. QUOTES
AUGUST 23, 2024

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Earlier today, you got to go to the Daytona 500 Champions Walk of Fame and see the car for the first time. What was that like for you?

“Yeah, it was really fun. I really haven’t, during the season, given the Daytona 500 much thought but I think going there, seeing there in person, was definitely a chance to relive it. It was special. Really cool. Really cool day. I always think about it when I see the trophy, but to see the car was pretty cool.”

How is this year’s summer slump you guys have kind of went through similar or different to last year, and do you feel confident you can turn it on like you did last year?

“We’re just up and down this summer. I think we still had some races that were pretty good. Iowa comes to mind. There were a couple of others. Just tracks, I think, aren’t super strong for us. I don’t know if we just don’t put emphasis on it enough in the offseason or what, but we’ve been trying to get better at those tracks. Really, we focus on the tracks that are in the Playoffs and the start of the year. We try hard every week, but really, I think the tracks that suit us as we go through the Playoffs. That’s what our focus is, and I feel like we’re turning up the performance again and feel good about that.”

You’ve never experienced something like the charter negotiations, and obviously, you can’t influence that or be a part of that process, but are you watching that? Are you following it much?

“Yeah, I don’t really pay attention to the business side that much. I really just focus hard on what I do, what I can control, but I do read the articles and look at everything and kind of get an idea of what is going on and how it’s evolving. I just want to be a good racecar driver and win a bunch of races, and hopefully, the sport is around a long time, and I can do that. I think it would concern me if something was going on where we weren’t going to race or something like that, but I don’t really pay much attention.”

You got your first win at this track. What does that mean to you to have so much success at Daytona?

“There’s a lot of luck involved as we all know. I feel like I’ve been fortunate in some situations here to win twice. But also, I’ve been in a lot of crashes, and up until this year at the 500, I’ve been in crashes most of the time. It just is trying to be a good drafter, try to make good decisions in the draft. I feel like I’ve learned a lot of things about side drafting, controlling the lanes, and I feel like that stuff has come fairly natural to me, but just trying to evolve and be better at it. I feel like the Next Gen car has changed the game in terms of being too wide and not being able to really create a third lane unless there’s some fuel-saving going on. Just trying to figure out how I can control my lane and not necessarily kind of move from each lane as much. It’s just a different style, and fuel-saving is a part of it now. You have to know the strategy to save fuel. That’s what we did well in the 500. We were able to save fuel better than most, and I came out in the top three or four after every pit cycle and I can race from there.”

Looking forward to Darlington next week. You have a win and four top 10’s in the last four starts. What is it about that place you’ve really taken to?

“I love Darlington. I felt like since I was a rookie there it was one of the tracks that clicked for me. I’m not really sure why other than just the difficulty of it, kind of respecting the place. I do feel I spent a lot of time as a kid watching races there. Kind of that visual memory of how to get around the place, knowing the cadence of it, has always paid off. I just really like the technical aspect of it. I feel like I really have a place I can live with the balance of the car that makes speed on the long run. I just try to live by those things. I think we’re going to be a little bit different this time around at Darlington as far as we’ve talked about, just because I felt in the spring, we were a top five car, but not very good on the short runs. Gotta get better on the short runs. Gotta qualifying a little bit better to have a shot, because we were really about a fourth or fifth place car and the race came down to a short run and we finished sixth, I believe. Just need to be a little bit better on the short runs.”

The regular season points kind of got jumbled last week with (Kyle) Larson going out so early. What did you and Rudy (Fugle) discuss as far as how you handle the next two races, just try to get max points to try and leapfrog over (Tyler) Reddick?

“I don’t think we’re really, I think, technically I guess we are in the race for the regular season, but I think we’re really eyeing fourth or fifth in points. I think we moved up a spot because of the penalty, and I think we just need to keep doing a good job. We didn’t have a great Richmond, but I feel like that was kind of status quo for us. Really, we lost a chunk of points at Indy. We lost a really big chunk of points there because we had a top four or five car and was wrecked out early. Just trying to climb out of that hole. I think going into that race we were only 40 back, then we were 90 back. Just trying to climb out of that hole and try to chip away at it. Like, I said, if we can get a few stage wins and try to finish fourth or fifth, that’s going to be realistic.”

When you approach the Daytona 500, or do you still think of it as I won my first career race, this place is special for that reason, first and foremost?

“It was weird. Every time I came here after my first win, I liked coming here but it didn’t really click for me like I… I wasn’t relieved or anything coming here. I was still super stressed because of the nature of this place. I feel like this time around coming here, I’m super relaxed. I think just the fact that this race, there’s less pressure for us, not really worried about the Playoffs and we can just kind of enjoy the fact we can reminisce on that win. I think there’s, at least for me, a lot more relaxation coming down here. I’m not as worried about the outcome, but anything can happen. Coming here, I just have that in my head, and just knowing the result could be bad, but trying to put as much effort as I can in on Saturday night and do a good job drafting. Stage 1 here is interesting, so I’ve thought about that. Just the fact that you don’t have to save fuel. I think you’ll see a different style race and some crashes in Stage 1 just because of the nature of how aggressive you can be pushing.”

What about the right-side window air deflector that’s added here, and how much do you, you were talking about paying attention to the charter deal, but how much do you pay attention when a car flips and how much do you watch it, or do you just leave that to others?

“I heard Kyle Busch talking about the right-side air deflectors as just a shark fin down the right side, I think. He said it maybe added some side force. Maybe, when we get to Kansas we can test that out a little bit, but I don’t know. I think it’s going to change the air somehow around the car. Any aero change does. I’m sure there will be a little bit to learn, I guess when we go to Darlington. I don’t know if it will be on there, but it’ll be something to learn there. As far as this weekend, I don’t worry about it. I don’t think about that. Honestly, I knew that he had flipped, but I just… I didn’t see the replay during the race, so I assumed there was some contact that created it. But really, it’s running your own race, and thinking about that later. When I saw it after the race and seeing he spun on his own and flipped, it was definitely surprising. It is kind of odd that a car flipped the same way the day before, so I don’t know if there is something there in the track, a dip or something. I don’t know. I don’t think about it that much outside of that.”

Ty Gibbs said that with the practice, a little bit in qualifying, you might feel it, but you’re just going to wing it. He said to wing it. Being a mere mortal here, do you feel… Will you have to have people tell you the data before you could tell it made a difference or will you feel it, do you think?

“It’s probably so small, I probably won’t feel it but who knows. It might change the balance or something a little bit, I don’t know. We’ll just have to see. Anytime there’s a change on the car, it’s going to change something. I assume it’ll be a little bit of a shift.”

After you saw video of his flip, are you glad NASCAR did something and do you have any thoughts on if this is the right way to go?

“Yeah, I’m glad they did something, but I just don’t really think about it. I just try to get myself as safe as possible in the car with all of my stuff. I’ve been changing some stuff here and there to try and feel safer, but I’m glad they did something because it was pretty odd. I don’t know what that experience is like, but I’m sure it’s not fun, especially with the issues you can have upside down if the car catches on fire, things like that. I think it’s good they looked at it and made a quick change and was proactive about it. That’s always a good thing.”

Since you mentioned change, did you make any changes after the Indianapolis crash or are you picking some things up from what other guys are experiencing now?

“I made some little changes in my car. Really, just kind of going back to what I ran last year with the HANS device. Really just made that change but it wasn’t necessarily related to that. It was more comfort-based, but I’ve always kind of tweaked things here or there to balance comfort and safety. There’s a lot of devices that can make you safe but just trying to get as comfortable as possible.”

This year, Daytona is not the regular season finale as it has been in years past. Do you like that we’re going to a track that’s nowhere near anything can happen like Daytona, or would you rather see Daytona as the regular season finale going forward?

“I don’t know. I’m indifferent. I feel like I care more what the Playoffs tracks are. I feel like when we were in that position in 2020, I don’t want to be in that position again. It about gave me a heart attack with the stress of it. I feel like leading into that race going into a superspeedway, we were three points out then ended up winning the race. The points took care of themselves. I don’t envy that position. I don’t know. It’s probably more entertaining to be for it to be the last race, for sure, but as a competitor I think it’s nice to have Darlington because it’s a crown jewel. It’s going to have a lot of importance, but it’s kind of going to give you that Playoff tune up that everyone’s going to bring a lot of their stuff and see what we have.”

From a convenience point of view and a finance point of view, is Bowman Gray better than going to California early in February every year?

“I don’t know. Those fans are pretty rowdy so I’m sure it’s going to be a heck of a show. I don’t know. I didn’t mind the LA thing. I thought it was pretty cool. I’m sure it’s a lot easier to go to Bowman Gray personally to drive up there. Whatever puts on a better show is better for everybody.”

The three races in the first round of the Playoffs couldn’t be any different and I’m just wondering how do you approach that going from one that runs like a superspeedway, to a road course, to a short track?

“Just race by race. I think it’s going to be race by race because it’s going to be chaotic in some ways. We don’t know what to expect with tires at Bristol, and Atlanta can be a crap shoot. There’s a lot that goes into running well at Atlanta, but you can always get into a crash at the front as we’ve seen with bad pushes and things. I mean, it’s going to be race by race and just seeing what points position you’re in. The only one I feel really good about is Watkins Glen based on last year and things. I feel like our road course stuff is really good. Just got to see what happens.”

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
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAIL. QUOTES
AUGUST 23, 2024

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 47 Kroger/BIGGIE Muffins/CapriSun Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

Given that you only have one option to get into the playoffs and that’s winning.. For the first few stages at least, do you guys just try to go all out and race, or do you still have to do the fuel saving as everyone else will probably do?

“Yeah, no for us, it obviously doesn’t matter if you win the first or second stage. So we’ll be just making sure we can do whatever we can do to make sure we have our car at the end of the race and be capable of running basically that last stint after you pit for fuel. You’re going to run the whole race managing your fuel and trying to make that last pit stop as fast as possible so that you can get your track position then and see how it plays out. I think everybody’s in the same boat for the most part.. like your options on trying to win the race. Nobody is going to come up with a crazy option to win the race, but you’re going to have to make your pit stops as minimal as possible and see if you can just keep your track position. Getting on and off pit road, especially if it’s a green flag pit stop, will be super important. And doing it with a group of cars that can leave pit road with you and get up to speed as quick as possible to keep that track position. That will be all the things that we’re looking at throughout the whole race tomorrow.”

What are the differences between the two Cup races here, and how much does the temperature and stuff like that play into the race?

“Yeah, Daytona is always a racetrack that can be temperature sensitive, for sure. I would say more with our older cars versus now. I feel like this car is really similar everywhere we go, especially coming back to a speedway race. I feel like there’s more difference in Atlanta’s two races than probably Daytona. Talladega is obviously really similar, but you get a little different handling aspects of the car sliding around a little bit more. I would say more so now than February, you would kind of want tires more often. I think all of us would rather have no tires and track position versus tires and having to run through the field. I would say the biggest issues are always off turn four here; getting tight and making sure your car is still kind of rotating, especially if you’re stuck on the bottom lane. But I don’t see it being too big of a difference from February.”

On one hand, this is an opportunity race for you guys. It’s a chance for you to win your way into the playoffs and a chance to win at Daytona again. On the other hand, there’s probably a 75 percent chance you’re going to end up in a crash, too. I’m curious, how do you balance those two things? Do you get excited to come here? Are you nervous to come here? What are the vibes when you drive through the tunnel?

“I don’t get nervous. I think excited is probably the way I go into it. I feel like, throughout a lot of my career, especially in the Xfinity Series, I didn’t really like speedway racing very much. I felt like you never knew what was going to happen. I didn’t feel like I knew enough about it to enjoy it. I was just kind of out there in the draft. If I got a good finish, it was just because I got a good finish. And then throughout my Cup career, I felt like I started learning more; how to draft, the way to use the side draft, use the pushes, getting better at blocking, pulling up in front of lanes and having a better game plan. That’s kind of when my aspect of speedway racing kind of changed and I started enjoying it. And then when I started enjoying it, I started running better at them. I’m definitely excited; optimistic at our chances here. I think there’s a lot of people in the same boat, but we sat down this week in the shop and said that the only thing that we’re focused on is winning the race. We know that there’s a high possibility of getting no stage points and getting in a wreck, but we feel like that’s the best option that we have right now going forward, knowing that there will be a handful of people that are looking for stage points to move themselves up in the standings or whatnot. We know that we can leave out of here with one or two points, but we’re going to give ourselves an option in going to win the race.”

I know it’s not something you can control or influence at all, but a veteran like you, who knows the business side, do you monitor the charter negotiation conversations? Do you reach out to ownership, just to say – hey, what’s the status here? What are your thoughts on all that?

“I mean I think, obviously I’m not near as involved as a Denny (Hamlin) or a Brad (Keselowski). But as a driver, you’re definitely I would say concerned, a little bit about it.. thinking it would already be done by now. But as far as getting into the details.. no, I don’t really get into the specifics. I get a little information from my owners. And then obviously I play a lot of golf with Denny.. him and I are good friends. Obviously I think they’ll come to an agreement at some point. Hopefully it’s in a good spot for everybody. I know that, from our team, our ownership side is super committed to this sport and they love this sport. So for me, that’s all that really matters going forward. Yeah, hopefully they get something that works for everybody.”

I’ve heard some drivers say that becoming a parent has had an impact on, maybe not the way they race, but the way they look at racing… maybe some of the moves they make. As you come to a track like Daytona, now that you come here as a dad, does that have any impact on how you’re going about Saturday’s race?

“No, I think for me, I’m just super excited. I’d love to get him to victory lane. I think that would be the coolest thing.

But you know, no – I mean I think once I strap into a race car, I’m all task at hand, and that’s to do the best job for our team, our partners and all our fans. There’s not a move I won’t make, if it gives us an opportunity to win. But no, I’m super thrilled to have him here at the race track, that’s for sure.”

What’s it been like the last few weeks without your family at the track and kind of being on your own the last five or so races?

“Yeah, there’s been more golf played on the weekends. But you know, I think for me, the off weeks came at a great time for us. I like staying up and watching dirt racing anyways, so I take the night shift. It’s all been working out. There’s been a lot of dirt racing on lately, so everything has been pretty smooth on that side of things. Yeah, definitely glad to kind of get back into the normal swing of things. First time at the racetrack for everyone, so it’ll be a fun weekend. We’ve got some great races close to home, which will be nice.”

Obviously anything can happen, any weekend. But do you look at this weekend as the true last chance to get into the playoffs, based on the challenges of Darlington?

“I would say, no. You know, yeah – this could potentially be maybe the easiest. But you know, I look at our races, really all year long, and there’s been a lot of opportunities that I feel like people have put themselves in, especially at like mile-and-a-half racetracks. If you catch a caution the right way and all of a sudden you find yourself starting on the front row, our speeds are so close with these race cars. When you go back and look at lap times and average lap times throughout a race, like at Michigan, a tenth is first to 20th. So theoretically, you could have a 20th place car; catch a caution the right way, your pit strategy works out and all of a sudden you’re starting on the front row with tires. Any of us can hang on for a win, if that happens. I mean, no pun intended, but there’s a lot of late-race cautions, so anything can happen. So I think we keep our options open all the way until the checkered flag falls at Darlington, for sure.”

You’ve had some great times here and some pretty rough times. You said awhile ago that there isn’t a move you won’t make to get the win this weekend. How aggressive are you willing to be, in light of what happened a few weeks ago, and things like that? What will you do to try and make the playoffs?

“Yeah, I mean I think you look at speedway racing a little bit differently. I mean we’re all beating, banging and pushing each other. I would say 98 percent of the time there’s a wreck on the last lap. I would assume they would look at it a little bit differently on speedways, but I don’t know.. I think you’re just going to be pushing, side drafting and trying to get all you can. I don’t think anybody really knows exactly what moves they’ll make until they’re put in those positions. And then you make them and figure it out after that. I definitely just hope we have a shot at it; put ourselves in that position to be able to make a move, one way or the other, and try to win the race.”

How important is conditioning for you to improve in the race car, and what kind of workouts are you doing during the season?

“Yeah, I think for the most part for myself, what’s really worked since I hired my trainer. Trainer Ryan, he was Kasey Kahnes trainer for a long time. Kasey was in great shape. Just really worked on heart rate stuff. I did a lot of cross fit back in the day, and now I kind of do a little bit of everything. We did a burpee-broad jump for a mile last week.. that was harder than I thought it was going to be, mentally. Physically it was OK, but mentally, it was draining after a quarter of a lap. On the first lap, I was really to call it quits. But that’s what we signed up for, so we did it and it took way longer than expected. So two hours and 17 minutes of burpees isn’t a lot of fun, but it was a cool test. I got some great buddies, as well, that we tend to just do dumb stuff. Like the most miles I had ran before this offseason was 11 at one time, and me and a buddy went out on a 30-miler this offseason. Now he wants to do 50 (laughs). But yeah, we just do random stuff all the time and just see how it goes. It’s a lot of fun, but I do feel like with my conditioning, I feel really good in the race car compared to where I was five or six years ago.”

Do you have a stance on ending under green versus ending under caution debate?

“Daytona 2023, I liked ending under caution (laughs). But I don’t know.. I think if you’re trying to end under green, we could be here for days. It seems like we all lose our minds at the end of the races; just hold the throttle down until we get to the front, it seems like. I think back to like a Nashville – yeah, I guess it did under green, but it took forever. I don’t know.. I think you’re just asking a lot because like at Nashville, you had guys that were running 25th to 30th have a shot at winning the race because they had enough fuel in the car, right? When you’re in the back, you’re constantly stopped to make sure you have enough fuel. And then the guys at the front can’t pit and just give up all their track position. But ultimately, you’re going to run out of laps that you can go. You know, so I look at a Nashville, and you almost have somebody win that race that had no other option, up until those late-race restarts when everyone started running out of gas. Ending under green could be pretty tricky.”

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.