Category: NASCAR Cup PR

Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BROOKLYN, Mich (August 17, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Yahoo Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Is there any possibility that your incident with Austin Dillon was a matter of circumstance?

“No, because Austin (Dillon) made a left-hand turn. After he made contact with the 22 (Joey Logano), he made a left hand turn to correct his course, straightened his course, and then turned left again, so there was two. If you can read the graph, there is a big left, straight, big left again.”

What do you think he’s trying to do?

“I think he’s trying to make contact. I can’t see him, because I have a big right-side headrest, but I know he is kind of coming down. He is able to see me because of the visibility of the window net. You can see when a car is passing you. More than likely, when he is getting told to come down, he is doing what he is told and then when he sees me, he’s probably just trying to make contact, but at that point, I nearly had him cleared. The right rear is just a vulnerable spot and can put you in a bad wreck position.”

How do you fix the system and is it fixed now with this penalty?

“I certainly hope so. I certainly would love to see it called in real time, going forward. I think there is going to be an opportunity, in a few weeks, for NASCAR to perhaps use the bottom series to start to set precedence for us and let people know that they are not going to put up with intentional wrecking for wins. I think there is some incidents that have happened in the past, that if this is a new precedence it could fall under those, I think for instance when I spun out Chase Elliott in 2017. I would deem that as well I know I didn’t intentionally wreck him, I tried to move him out of the way, I intentionally made contact with him. The result does matter, so I think – I watched a CARS Tour race and three times a car got put in the back for spinning. It just is an easy call. It really is an easy call, but you have to give the people in the tower the liberty to do it, and hopefully, we have created a new precedence where if you spin out the leader, and in such an egregious manner, you get to put to the last car on the lead lap or whatever it is going to be. I don’t think it will detour – we don’t really want to stop the contact – you are not going to. We are still going to push the edge to try to get the guy out of the groove to win the race. We are still going to make contact, but it is certainly going to give us pause in those situations where you saw like last weekend where it is not going to be worth it to clear somebody out that was deservingly going to win the race. Which is the fair part of sport of this. I think there is a balance of entertainment and sport that can be had here. It is just a matter of where this is really one that you need to put your foot down and we have to police the sporting aspect of this.”

Are you satisfied with NASCAR’s decision?

“I am. In the moment, you wish – well, if you just take the win, then everything fixes itself then kind of having this split decision, but as I understand it there is some iffy language in the rule book on if can you really go back and take a win at this point. I think in the future you just send whoever it is to the back, and it all fixes itself. You don’t have to worry about Playoff eligibility and stuff like that. Given how much time it took, it was probably the right call.”

So, you are comfortable if they need to add language where they can take wins away in the future?

“Yes. Well, yeah. You are just sending people to the back for rough driving. We have that ruling in the rule book, but you just actually implement the rough driving.”

Did you play basketball with Austin this week or have you spoke?

“He didn’t come. I have not.”

Do you need to?

“I just think – I don’t have anything negative to say about this with Austin (Dillon). I really don’t have anything negative to say about his character. I really stuck up for him quite about earlier in this year, when he was going through some pretty tough finishes and things like that, and talking about how I really respected his character, and I still do. He just was put in a really tough spot, where you have to make a split-second decision, and he made one that was not in the, in my opinion, best interest of the sport. People make mistakes, and I believe everyone deserves second chances.”

How is your shoulder?

“It was just more my whole right side. When you look at how these Next Gen cars take crashes, really the flat side impact is kind of the worst thing you can have because there is no crush there. There is not crush to have there. I would have been better off to nose it head on or back it in, because we have the softer bumpers now. It just happened to work that the total right side – it was very similar to how it felt from the Daytona rain crash, where I was in the lead, tank slapped it and hit it flat on the right side and it hurt my right side in that one as well. It was just a really weird circumstance, and just going 100 mph still can result in a really hard hit.”

Do you think the injury will affect your chance to win the championship?

“No, because I had some internal stuff that needed to be repaired, and now it is repaired, but even though it has been nine months since surgery, rotator cuff can take forever, and I’m not as young as I used to be, so I don’t recover quite as quick as I used to. It is one of those things where last year, I just kept making the injury worse and worse and worse, by continuing to race, this year, it is getting better each week, but weeks like last just take a little bit of week off.”

Did you go to the competition meeting this morning?

“It was not. We ran out of time.”

What do you think about Bristol being a cutoff race and do you think there is a potential for something like this to happen?

“Well, it is always possible, but I think – I’ve said this for quite some time, but if NASCAR just puts their foot down it will really scare us from doing these things in the future. When the Clash kind of got out of hand over time, at the end people were just cleaning each other out, it just takes one call – one black flag call – to, trust me, it will reset all of us to say, hmm, I can’t be as egregious as I was before. Certainly, those things could happen, people could be in a desperate situation, but they are going to have live with the result because the precedence has been set that there is a chance that will not count.”

Is the line anymore defined?

“I think that – yeah, I feel like I saw something that I’ve never seen before last week, and we saw an unprecedented penalty for it, so sometimes when you see something unprecedented, you have to respond in an unprecedented matter. I believe so. I believe that hard racing is still okay. I think if two cars are battling side-by-side and one of them hits the wall because of close racing that is going to be deemed okay. I think if you come from a long way back – you were not going to win the race until you decided to wreck someone, I think that is clear line in the sand, but sometimes balls and strikes aren’t totally clear. There is one right on the edge and you have to call it, but it is up to us to make the decision. Do we want to put ourselves in that position where it could be called one way or the other? I think that you just have to live with the result. I think if NASCAR policies it and intentional wrecks for the win going forward, there is going to be some close calls, but you put yourself in that spot, so you are going to live with the result and the ruling on it.”

Did you have any issue when NASCAR turned on the caution light?

“I don’t think so. We talked a little about it today. They are going to try to get us to the finish line as much as they can in a safe manner. If it happened right when Joey (Logano) hit the wall, then certainly, we would have been ahead. I don’t know if it would have changed what happened with the 3 (Austin Dillon). I think he was still going to be in an erratic situation. I don’t know. They are always going to try to get us to the finish line, and probably what the deemed was the 22 was up out of the groove, and not an immediate threat, and we were so close to the finish line that they were going to try to let us go as long as they did. In my mind, they did throw the caution on the secondary – when I hit the wall at a heavy rate, they threw the caution kind of right when I hit it, so they didn’t just let it go all the way to the finish line, which was good.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 29 electrified options.

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

Toyota Racing – Bubba Wallace
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BROOKLYN, Mich (August 17, 2024) – 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

Were you relieved when you heard the penalty because of where you are in the Playoff battle?

“Yes. It definitely helps us out. We are still only in by three, but there are still four spots left instead of the three. Definitely a relief there, but it is still going to be a dogfight. I said that after the race – it is going to be a dogfight for the next three races. We are still not safe but there is an extra spot open now.”

What do you feel like has led to the recent consistent run for your team?

“Taking a step back, taking a deep breath and working through the problems. Accepting if it is not your day, handle it – and when it is not your day, it’s not that bad of a day. When it is a good day, we are executing on those days as well. We’ve shown up with a lot of speed the last few weeks. We’ve shown up with our heads in the game, and we’ve been close a couple of times. I said that at the beginning of the year – you have to put your name in the hat, and we went a long time not even having right size of hat on. Definitely showing up and being in the game, from the start of practice to the end of the race. It is so hard to do. Every weekend that is our main goal – just to be in the game, and you don’t know when you are not in it until the green flag falls. It could be stage one or stage two or the last stage – you never know. You just have to fight so hard with today’s car, and how the races play out – it is just so damn hard. You have one mistake, and you are killed. Passing is nearly impossible, so you want to maintain track position as much as you can, and I’ve done a lot of things to give up track position. We haven’t executed to keep track position. I think now we’ve been vibing. We’ve been jelling and moving the needle. You can’t ever get complacent. It doesn’t matter how your last five was – it doesn’t mean your next five are going to be the same. It is a new set of downs. It is a new week, and it all starts today.”

Are you comfortable on knowing where the line is during these races? How would the rest of the season have played out if this line hadn’t been done?

“I think just growing up – it takes me back to the summer shootout, and (Steve) Post is back there. Post knows how many fights I’ve been in and whatnot and wrecking people and learning from that. You learn that is not right, and you try to turn over a clean slate, and you try to race with a lot of respect. I know that homeboy is probably tired of getting talked about, but I got wrecked twice in two weeks in Legend Cars and I told him, hey, we don’t race like that. I know that I haven’t been here in five years, but we don’t do that, and he’s like the whole field does that, so learn how to do it. I’m like, holy shit that is not the right answer. And then you see stuff like that on Sundays. I know it’s like – y’all do it there, and you’ve got a point. I knew where I was at – fourth or fifth. My emotions coming off of (turn) two heading to the checkered, I was like – he may get him, but thank God Joey (Logano) is leading. I’m thinking about points here – cool, Joey is leading. Don’t know if he is safe. Oh shit, he hit him. Ok sweet, Denny (Hamlin) is going to win. Wow. That is where we are. That was my range of emotions. At the bottom line, I think you grow up racing, going through your wrecks, finally stop wrecking, start winning, start running competitive, earn respect. I said it after the race. People are going to say what does Bubba Wallace have to say about respect? And they are going to bring up shit from two years ago, because they live in the past. When you feel like you are wronged in the sport, and it is so hard, and you fight your ass off each and every race, and every minute, every hour of the race and someone just feels like they don’t respect it, you retaliate. The officials upstairs will say every incident is different. No, it is not. It is retaliation. That is all it is. Retaliation. You feel like you are wronged, and it is a knee jerk reaction. I’m not saying that is what is right. That’s just what happens. Something is ripped away from you, so you are going to rip it away from them. You want to fight, then here we go. It comes down to retaliation, and I don’t know. I didn’t read the article – but Denny’s hit was the hardest in the Next Gen car. Is that correct? (information provided) That is what it is. From those moments you grow, and you mature, and you know the line, and for me, would I have made that move? I would have tried my hardest to get to the 22 (Joey Logano) without spinning him, but then that was it. I lost. Throw in the towel, that is it.”

Did you feel like a suspension was warranted?

“Retaliation is retaliation, so if we are going to set the line there, then yeah, but myself and Chase (Elliott) were in the middle of the race. This one was different. In the same category as retaliation, so I think not being a Playoff eligible win – we go through the points and money stuff – that somewhat nets out the same. Kinda.”

Does this go back to the ‘win, and you are in?’

“It starts at media day in Daytona and what will you do to win a race?”

Who’s fault is that?

“The system’s fault. They created this system where you put it on the line, but at the same time, we always say will you wreck your mother to win? Of course, yeah. (laughter) No, you wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. You do everything in your power under the respectful line to win the race. Now people want to relate (Joey) Logano and (Martin) Truex at Martinsville the same as what happened to Richmond. Who are these people? He moved him out of the way, knocked him out of the groove, and they drag raced to the line. Yeah, he may have plowed him, but he didn’t spin him out, wreck him and didn’t give him a chance to finish. He finished second. Where Truex messed up is he shouldn’t have let him get to his back bumper. Kept him on the outside. It is nuts how we can relate that to this and this to that. I don’t know. You just have to remember where you came from and what it took to get here and what you had to go through and earn respect of people. I remember getting to the Truck level and you would race harder because you are a rookie. Things change. You start to gain the respect of your peers. You move up to Xfinity. The cycle resets. Then you get to Cup, and it resets again. You have to earn and respect your way in the Cup level, because at the end of the day it is a self-policing field. If the officials don’t take care of you, we know how to take care of you.”

Is there enough time to make a decision in the last 350 feet?

“You can never walk in someone else’s shoes and relive that moment, but I would assume he went in there and obviously, he checked up to see where he was going, and his spotter is just screaming at him to hook him and wreck him. It’s like you almost forgot about the 11 (Denny Hamlin) – you are out there on an island, got him out of the way, and oh shit, I messed up, and take out the 11. It is a little bit of knowing where your surroundings are, forgetting about the car behind and reacting to that. I think that is possible.”

Do you feel good about the last three races of the regular season?

“Yeah, for sure. The last five races, I had a top-three average finish. Definitely the mojo is there, but that is the past. It’s like Chase (Elliott) said it the best a few years ago, the past success doesn’t mean future success. It is a new opportunity. It’s nice to know that we are not heading into three road course races. Although, I’m enjoying the time on road courses. It is nice to know there is three good tracks coming up. It helps the vibe, and it helps the momentum for us, but it does not slow up the work process. The workload just gets heavier for us, and we have enough great people on this team to dig all through it and capitalize on it.”

Do you think you can have another successful race weekend here in Michigan like you did a couple of years ago?

“I hope so. I remember that day vividly. I remember the car and how it drove, the temperature outside, everything about it. Hoping to replicate that – that would be awesome – one spot better. I know what I did on the last restart to give the win away, but yeah, it is a great day. It is a great start to the day. Sorry, I overslept a little bit, I was trying to catch up on the pre-baby sleep, but it is a good day. Hopefully, shaping up to be a good weekend. We always circle this place as a place that we want to come up and dominate. Last year, we did not do that. Two years ago, we were close, so it is time to reset the downs and do it again today and tomorrow.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 29 electrified options.

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 17, 2024

Ross Chastain, Driver of the No. 1 Busch Light Peach Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Michigan International Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

If NASCAR did not penalize Austin Dillon, would you be willing to do what he did to make the playoffs?

“I don’t know.. I think it’s a case-by-case. I never thought I would drive into the wall in fifth gear at Martinsville (Speedway), until I did it. I think that no one knows what’s going through Austin’s (Dillon) head for that scenario. So I don’t know.. I don’t have a predetermined decision on what I’m going to do. It’s just racing at the end of these races.”

With how tight the bubble is, how are you approaching the next three races and how do you feel like they set up for the No. 1 team?

“Hopefully just getting faster. I mean you look at Christopher (Buescher) and I, we’re tied in points. We have the same average finishing position. It’s funny.. I don’t feel like we’ve raced around each other a ton. Yeah, I don’t look at anything other than trying to go fast. Coming out of the break, obviously you go to Richmond (Raceway) and run up inside the top-10; drive up there from the 20s and into 11th-ish. And then to race and go on and finish fifth, that’s better than we have been for several months. So that’s the only thing we’re focused on.. executing. I missed pit road at Richmond in Stage Two on the second green flag stop. That cost us spots when we were ahead of the No. 3 at that time. I came out several seconds behind him, the No. 23 and somebody else, and I never passed them again. So minimizing those kind of mistakes.. obviously it’s a lot bigger penalty here if you miss pit road. Or if you speed.. that’s more often going to be the case here. At Richmond, I just couldn’t even turn down.. I mean I couldn’t hit the orange box, let alone get below it. So yeah, that’s the only goal for this No. 1 team and Trackhouse.. just to go faster. That’s going to solve a lot of our problems.”

Your COTA win was hard racing contact and now people are say, ‘well wait a minute, is the line murkier now’. Are you confident that even after this decision that what happened at COTA would be allowable and viewed as ‘OK’ to win a race, or are you concerned now that if you’re in that situation again and I make contact, that I might get it taken from me? Do you know where the line is?

“Obviously I feel like COTA was fine. I got moved; I covered the bottom in (turn) 16 and AJ (Allmendinger) moved me off of that line. I think the biggest mistake there was that he didn’t move me far enough. He didn’t move me up into the rocks and into the tires. So he gave me a chance to move him back and, in my opinion, if the No. 48 isn’t there, the No. 16 just goes wide in (turn) 19 and he’s a couple car lengths back coming to the checkered and we run one-two or he finishes third. Yeah, I feel like they look at all that. We’re not in those meetings. We’re not the ones deciding, but they’re human. NASCAR is a bunch of humans making decisions and they’re looking at the total body of work.”

I don’t think you have any beef with Joey (Logano) too much that I’ve seen. Obviously you and Denny (Hamlin) have had issues in the past. This system that is setup, it has rewarded this type of activity.. rough driving is part of this system to make the playoffs. You’ll do whatever. How do you fix that, and is it fixed with this ‘line’ supposedly?

“Yeah, I think it’s good to remember that the line is not written down. There’s no words; there’s no pictures and drawings of a line. For some to say that it’s clear, it’s a total body of work. It’s a culmination of decisions that we all make, and we’re all watching each other; watching and listening to the tower and they’re watching and listening to us. We’re watching our competitors. I’m going back and watching myself after an event and I continue to evolve. Yeah, it’s not clear, but I am constantly aware of what I feel like everyone is thinking. You just can’t be too far against the grain, is my opinion.”

You’ve heard people say that whenever a driver makes a move, they’re showing it as retaliation or some sort of move more directed towards one person. The rest of the garage sees it. The rest of the garage understands it and maybe then starts to judge how they view that person. When we see something like what the No. 3 car did, do you feel like there’s an effect throughout the garage, that people start to look at you differently in certain? Is that part of the fallout, I guess, of the situation?

“I think mine and Austin’s (Dillon) are different because he’s established and has been in the sport for longer than me. When my stuff, I guess in Cup, got loud I’ll call it; I was still the new guy to be competitive in Cup. I feel like the guys that were nice to me in conversation or just passing in the garage or maybe, in my opinion, just were OK with me being a Xfinity or back-in-pack Cup, maybe win a few Truck races, maybe win a few Xfinity races; but I was never going to be direct competition. When I became competition, they suddenly had extra reasons to have a problem with me. That’s my opinion, is that they were OK with me when I was just ‘Ross the watermelon farmer’.. they didn’t have to worry too much about him. Consistently I was up there and then I made some mistakes and they did too, so it was easy for them to pile on. I think Austin is way more established; obviously with the family history, he’s been raised in the sport so they knew him long before he drove. I was still the ‘new’ guy to Cup. It wasn’t a clear path for me to get here. So I just feel like we’re too different to really compare.”

With your position in points, five of the last seven Daytona races have been won by drivers who had to win to secure a playoff spot. What are the opportunities or challenges going into Daytona needing to secure a playoff position?

“It’s home for me, so the summertime race (at Daytona) is just a bright spot in my memories of going over fourth of July weekend. Being able to win a Xfinity race there in 2019 was just a bucket list, life achievement after watching those late Busch Series races back then and Cup races Saturday night. So I just have those memories. I know right where I sat in the grandstands before Daytona rising at pit-out. I just have so many memories with friends and family there; camping outside of turn one before it was a nice campground. Yeah, it doesn’t make it easier though. I know the last two years going down there, I’ve just been able to enjoy family and the experience of racing at Daytona. A lot like the 500, where I’ve learned to just enjoy it for what it is. There’s just no way around it. If we leave here and don’t have it secured, then it’s math.. you just have to know that if you finish bad, you get less points, and if you finish good in the stags and the race, then you get more points. It’s just simple math. But we’re really excited about the next three races and changing some of those stats for who’s been winning here at Michigan.”

The simple math says that there will be one more driver in on points than before NASCAR’s decision, so were you pleased with NASCAR’s decision on Austin Dillon?

“When I read it, I didn’t really have much thoughts on like the – we’re watching it all unfold. We’re listening to people; hearing who’s loud and who’s the squeaky wheel. It looks like they got some grease there, so I feel like for me – I mean yeah, it affects us, so you look at that. You look at how it resets; kind of just note it and move on. There’s still an appeal next week, so we’ll see how that plays out. It doesn’t change how I drive here because like the math says, it doesn’t really change for us much. All of us just slid one spot. If we gain a handful of points, we’ll be ahead of all of them.”

 
 

About Chevrolet

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

Toyota Racing – Erik Jones
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

BROOKLYN, Mich (August 17, 2024) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

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

How do you prepare for this race with the unpredictability due to the weather?

“Yeah, it is a bummer. I’ve been here since Tuesday and the weather has been great since yesterday morning. It is tough. Going through today, I feel like we are probably going to get practice in, but I’m not sure about qualifying – that is still hit or miss. I feel like tomorrow is going to be similar – hit or miss. It is just challenging from the sense that you don’t know what the track is going to do. Really, with yourself, and getting ready to go on the track and knowing what’s going on – it’s a hassle, for everybody, for us, for the fans – I feel like we get a good crowd here over the last few years. Rain has just torn that up. It’s a bummer. It definitely makes it challenging. I would love a nice, good 78-degree sunny day, like we have had a lot of the summer. It would be nice.”

If NASCAR had not done anything to Austin Dillon, would you have done something similar to make the Playoffs?

“No. No, not a chance. I don’t race that way. I wouldn’t have done it. I can probably count – I honestly don’t know – less than five times that I’ve wrecked anyone intentionally in my entire career. Just not the way I race. Everyone’s got their own code. Everybody has different ways that they go about it. For me, that’s just not the way I raced.”

What if your team said you have to do it?

“I don’t think I could that. That’s not to say that things don’t change in the moment, and how you were raced before that changes things. Obviously, that was not the situation here, but it depends on what is going down, but it is really not in my playbook.”

How do you see racing at the Cup Series level go down to the grassroots level?

“It is funny you ask that question. I was doing some media calls earlier this week and that exact topic kind of inadvertently came up. I guess I was discussing a little bit about it and whether we like it or not, it is a trickle-down effect. What we do on Sunday trickles down and not just to Xfinity and Trucks and ARCA; it trickles down to late models, street stocks, front wheel drives, quarter midgets, go-karts – all of these guys and kids watch what we do on Sunday, and think what we do is right, so I think racing has changed a lot since 2009 – that was the first time I race a full size car, and I can vividly remember my dad and I talking about what this year was about was earning respect. Do not be out there running into people. It is not what we are doing. You have to give these guys respect – earn their respect and then when we get to that point, we will go race. That is how we did things. Things have changed a lot. Racing has gotten a lot more aggressive for a lot of different reasons – cars, it is hard to pass, and everything else. I have seen it. I was watching the CARS Tour race last night at Ace, and those guys could barely go more than 10 laps without a yellow coming out – somebody is spinning somebody, somebody is wrecking somebody. It is not what I enjoy in racing. Some bumping and banging is fine. I don’t have a problem with that. I’ve for sure moved a guy up out of the way for a win. Everybody has that has won a race at some point, but I think there is a line there. Wrecking cars and wrecking stuff out has become more and more acceptable. It just wasn’t really an option when I was younger. We just couldn’t rebuild cars over and over. Things have changed in that aspect, but it is definitely a trickle-down effect.”

Five of the last seven races at Daytona have been won by drivers who were not in the Playoffs. How is Daytona an opportunity and also a challenge?

“It is equal parts both. It is definitely an opportunity. There is no reason that we don’t go to Daytona for a chance to win for sure. How hard is it to take advantage of that opportunity? It is pretty tough. That race is probably more challenging than any of them. I think it is good working with TRD, kind of having a smaller pack. We’ve got eight cars and that is kind of easier to work with as far as pit road. Talladega, obviously, we didn’t make it look easy, but we had a good plan going. I think that helps out. A lot of in Playoff racing, and the way I look at it – it is kind of life too. Some of it is good and bad luck chips. You have to draw each one a little bit, and superspeedway racing is just that. You are going to keep drawing those bad numbers no matter how good you run or how good of a spot that you are in, but at one point, you are going to draw that right card and be in the right spot and make the right move. Some of that is on yourself, and what you do as a driver, and how fast your car is, but you do have to have a lot of things go your way to win too.”

Can you talk about how special it was to have your new deal come out the week you come home?

“It was nice. We got it done recently, and announced it here at Michigan, so I was happy to get it done. It was a pretty easy negotiation, really. I think LEGACY was wanting me back, and I was wanting to go back. Things went really smooth and really quick. I spent my two weeks off up here, so I got to do quite a bit. I went up to the UP and spent a week up there with family and chill out at home in Bryon since Tuesday night. I did to get to hit some local spots close to home that I like to go to. It’s always nice to get home when we can – see friends, see family, and do some things that we all like to do.”

Did you have to talk to some other teams before deciding to return to LEGACY MOTOR CLUB?

“I think you always take a look when this comes around. There was no advance discussions but the team encouraged that. They knew the whole time where I was at, and what I was interested in doing, but we pretty quickly came to a point to redoing a deal with LEGACY. For me, looking at the landscape and where everything was at, what was possibly available and what other opportunities were out there – none of them were enticing enough for me that made me want to make a move. It is a challenge to make a move. It is a big move to switch teams, not matter what you are doing. For me, unless it was going to be a huge leap to a currently a race winning, championship contending team, I just wasn’t interested. I think we are building that right now with LEGACY, and that is a time away right now, but unless that was an instant move that I could make, I wasn’t changing.”

What is the one thing that you see at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB that makes you know that you can grow with them?
“We are kind of getting to an important part of my career – the next stretch of my career, the next 10 years – are going to be some of my best, I would like to think. I hope that I’m in equipment that is good enough to take advantage of it. There is a lot that I still want to do in the Cup Series, and a lot of goals that I have. Looking at the landscape of LEGACY, obviously, made the move to Toyota – and it has been a challenge. It has been a big undertaking for us, but we have recently brough on more people to kind of build that gap and continue to grow that and figure out how we are going to make ourselves a race winning team. It has been a lot of emotion right. I came to the 43 and it was definitely not a race winning team, and then we got back to a race winning team, and now we are back to in the ebb and flow of not being where we want to be, so but right now, regardless of what the results are showing, I would say that we are in a better spot for the future, than it’s really ever been since I’ve been in the 43 car.”

When you made the decision to return, did you have any discussions with LEGACY MOTOR CLUB on the plan to return to competitiveness?

“I had multiple sit downs with Jimmie (Johnson), Cal (Wells), who is our president there and diving into – okay, here is where we are. We see it. We don’t ignore the fact and how are we going to get where we want to be. It was laid out to me, well enough, that I felt good about coming back. There is a plan in place. There are some people that were in the works of being hired, that weren’t quite down yet when I was redoing my deal. Some are there now, some are still coming in. There are contracts in place, and people have to finish their obligations out. There are enough people coming in that I felt confident that we would see improvement on our end, and I think what TRD has been doing on their end to start giving us what we need. At this point, we kind of have a good list of items that we feel like we need, and what we have and need to be better – to run better. There were definitely multiple conversations about that. I don’t think involved wants to run how we have. We want to be a race winning team. There is a longer road to get there currently. There are plans in place to make it work.”

Looking ahead at Darlington, what is it about Darlington that makes you so good there? Can the driver make up the difference at that track?

“A little bit. I think it is probably less than it has been ever with the Next Gen car. It is just tough because everyone is so close. There is maybe a little more that you can do there – you can save some tire, and you are moving the line around so much – there is more options there than a lot of places that we go. I’m not going to say that it is all driver. That’s not true. You can make a little bit of difference. I’ve always felt good at the track as soon as I got there for the first time in Xfinity. I really liked it. It really reminded me a lot of how I grew up racing – kind of racing the track and not necessarily racing your competitors as much. You are just kind of focusing on yourself and taking care of your equipment and your car. You are probably going to find yourself in a pretty good position if your car is good that day. I’ve definitely had some bad cars at Darlington – not like we went there and ran top-five every time, for sure in the 500, we’ve trended to run better with how things have went. I think some of it is the transition from day to night, and the spring race at Darlington, I don’t run as good at. It really is a different race with the way you have to run it. The 500 has always been the better one.”

About Toyota

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Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 29 electrified options.

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Firekeepers Casino 400 Media Availability | Michigan International Speedway
Saturday, August 17, 2024

Brad Keselwowki, driver of the No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, returns to his hometown track still in search of his first win in the Irish Hills. On Saturday morning, Keselowski spoke about coming home and more.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse

ANOTHER YEAR HERE AT MIS AND OBVIOUSLY BEING A MICHIGAN NATIVE YOU KNOW ALL TOO WELL THIS WEATHER CAN BE A LITTLE BIT FUNKY AT TIMES. HOW ARE YOU APPROACHING YOUR HOME RACE HERE WITH THE FACT THAT WE MIGHT NOT RACE ON TIME ON SUNDAY, AND WE MIGHT HAVE TO GO BACK TO MONDAY AGAIN?

“Yeah, maybe with a little bit of denial. I think when I grew up here it was always the same, wait five minutes, the weather will change. So if it’s a bad forecast that means it will be good on Sunday. Isn’t that right? I don’t know how that works, right? So, starting a week out it was like, oh, it’s going to monsoon all three days. And as we were kind of talking through it this morning in our briefing, it’s already changed to scattered showers, and maybe it’ll change one more time. So we’ll see what today and tomorrow brings. But the thing about it is it’s the same for all competitors and from that perspective, I think we just view it as something to work through, and in some cases, an opportunity.”

IF NASCAR HAD NOT PENALIZED AND TAKEN THE PLAYOFF BID AWAY FROM AUSTIN DILLON, WOULD YOU EXPECT RFK Racing DRIVERS TO MAKE THAT MOVE TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS?

“I don’t know. It’s clear that we’ll just keep moving the line, whatever that line is. If we don’t know where the line is, we’ll just keep pushing to more and more extremes. That’s not limited to Austin. That’s just the entire industry. I have some sympathies for all the parties involved, whether it be NASCAR or Austin, and certainly the guys that got wrecked last week but the way the system is set up I kind of understand it. So that has an effect that transcends not just the Cup Series but on down and it’s something that I think that NASCAR felt a lot of pressure to react on and they did. I don’t know if I have an idea whether they made the right move or wrong move, I guess time will tell. But it’s an interesting situation. I’m kind of more surprised that it didn’t happen earlier, to be honest, in the playoff format. But maybe it’s just part of a natural evolution that happens slowly over time. But with now NASCAR interjecting, I think it’s fair to say that this would just evolve to another step. I don’t know what that would be, but it will always just keep evolving until something gets stopped.”

WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT FROM YOUR DRIVER? EVERY DRIVER CAN SAY HE HAS A CODE. CHRIS BUESCHER SAID HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT, BUT HE WOULD NO MATTER WHAT. WOULD YOU BE OKAY AS AN OWNER?

“I think there are a couple of different things to unwind there, Bob. You have the culture of the driver, the culture of the garage area, the culture of the sport. Culture is not just what you practice and preach, it’s what you tolerate, whether that’s in the sport or in anything in life. I think NASCAR had to decide what could be tolerated? I think they made a good attempt at putting a line in the sand. We’ll see how that sticks. But that said, we would all adapt to it. Naturally, you have to adapt to it. If that became the norm every week, then I think actions would speak louder than words and we’d all probably fall into that reality, right? So I don’t think we have any intentions of getting to that, being the norm every week, particularly at RFK. But you race what the rules are and if the rules are something’s okay, we’re going to probably find a way to do it, right? Whether that’s on the car or on the racetrack.”

YOU SAID NASCAR MADE A GOOD ATTEMPT AT PUTTING A LINE IN THE SAND. DO YOU KNOW WHERE THAT LINE IS? ARE YOU FAIRLY SURE OF WHAT YOU CAN DO AND NOT DO IN THAT SITUATION REASONABLY?

“I think they made as good an attempt as you could make to draw a line in the sand. Humans and life evolve and we’ll find some other peace. I don’t think there’s a way to have permanent solutions for everything that happens in life and sports. I don’t know what the next thing will be. I think everybody a couple of years ago got a good kick out of Ross’ move and that was certainly an evolution of the sport, right? NASCAR made a point to make that kind of a one and done. I think they’re trying really hard to do that here. Something else I’m sure will pop up, as it always does. You know that’s part of what makes the sport fun too, is seeing what new thing is going We might not always agree with whatever it is, but I think it’s unrealistic for anyone in the industry to expect NASCAR to know everything that’s going to happen before it happens. We want them to be proactive and not reactive, but they’re outnumbered significantly by people that are always trying to find new ways to beat systems. And in some cases, they have to be reactive and this is one of those cases in my mind.”

YOU TALKED ABOUT THE LINE. NASCAR TALKED ABOUT THE LINE. DID THEY FURTHER DEFINE THAT IN THE COMPETITION MEETING THIS MORNING?

“I wasn’t there. I’m here with you. It’s still going. I wanted to talk to Lee.”

YOU’VE WON AT DAYTONA, BUT YOU’VE WON THE SUMMER RACE AND NOT THE CROWN JEWEL. IS THAT KIND OF LIKE KISSING YOUR SISTER?

“I have three sisters but I don’t kiss them much so I don’t have a great answer for that. I feel like the Daytona 500 and this race at Michigan for me feel really similar. We have been in great positions. We have let a lot of laps, we have won the stages, here in particular I have sat on the pole but for whatever reason at the end of the race it just hasn’t come together. A lot of top fives and all those other things, here in particular, a lot of second places. Those things kind of happen when they are meant to happen. For Daytona specifically, I think we will have a great shot of winning in two weeks, or a week and a half, whenever that is when we get there. It was nice to sweep the race 1-2 last year. It was really great for our company and for Chris. We plan on doing the same thing, I can tell you that. It is bittersweet to have so much success in the summer race and not be able to seem to connect the dots in the 500, but that’s life.”

CHRIS SAID HE COULDN’T HAVE WON THAT RACE WIHTOUT YOU. DO YOU BECOME MORE SELFLESS WHEN YOU’RE A DRIVER OWNER?

“I don’t know about that, I guess probably, it’s hard to say when you’re living it every day. I didn’t really feel like I had a great opportunity to pass him. So I was happy to see him win. I’m sure that favor will get returned somewhere down the road.”

I HATE TO ASK ONE MORE QUESTION ON THE DILLON SITUATION, BUT IF IT HAD JUST BEEN LOGANO AND NOT DENNY HAMLIN AND THE SPOTTER COMING OUT WITH HIS COMMENTS, DO YOU THINK DILLON WOULD HAVE SKATED ON THIS?

“I think that is probably a better question for Elton Sawyer and NASCAR. I didn’t sit in the room when they were making their decision to know exactly what was encapsulated in the decision-making process. I think it’s fair to say that adding more things to the scenario doesn’t do any favors to it. I don’t know if I could answer if you subtracted one or two elements if the reaction would have been the same. I don’t know how they looked at that.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ENDING THE REGULAR SEASON AT DARLINGTON, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE SPRING INSTEAD OF A DICEY RACE LIKE DAYTONA?

“Yeah, it’s different. I think for me, I’m really excited about ending the season at Darlington. I think we have a great shot to sweep the races. It’s been a really good track for us at RFK. We’ve got some great cars to go there with. Whether it be Daytona or Darlington, now that the 6 car is locked in or since we’ve been locked in, we’re fairly agnostic to what race it ends with. That said, we’re throwing everything we have at it for Chris Buescher to make his way into the playoffs. Right now he’s the cut-off car to make it. That’s going to be a really difficult race. 500 miles around Darlington is a tough race, but even more so knowing it’s the cutoff race to make the championship that’s going to be a very big challenge for him and for all those drivers that are trying to break through. So I think it almost is fitting in that sense because the Southern 500 is meant to be a very prestigious, very challenging race for the drivers and it will make it even that much more impactful.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Firekeepers Casino 400 Media Availability | Michigan International Speedway
Saturday, August 17, 2024

Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, returns to Michigan as the defending winner of the Firekeepers Casino 400. Buescher, still looking to clinch a spot in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, spoke about his team’s prospects and the events of the week with media members ahead of on-track action in the Irish Hills.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang

DID YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOUR PLAYOFF HOPES CHANGE AT ALL WITH NASCAR’S RULING ON AUSTIN DILLON, CONSIDERING THERE SHOULD NOW BE AT LEAST ONE SPOT MORE IN THE PLAYOFFS BASED ON POINTS? AND THEN ALSO, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE RULING IN GENERAL?

“Yeah, it’s not going to change anything for myself or our team. We knew at the beginning of the year before we ever got to Daytona that this was the only way to really be comfortable at any point before playoffs was a win. And really, there’s no way to get through the next three weeks and be comfortable without one. So no, this isn’t going to change anything for how we approach these next handful of races. For us, we’re looking at a stretch that has been very good to us. I was just laughing coming in here last time we were at this table was for all the right reasons. So, you know, I was looking forward to that for this go around at Michigan. Came up early to be a part of the Roush open house and having our autograph session there and being around Jack and Brad’s hometown. I got to experience some of Michigan and go check out the Woodward Dream Cruise, which I was pretty excited about the last couple nights. So really, it’s just about us coming up here and trying to do all the normal things and figure out how to repeat what we did last time. It’s obviously the talk of the town, right? But it’s not going to change anything for how we’re approaching these races. It’s not going to approach or change my driving style or how we’re going to look at these things. Ultimately, it’s the same thing we talked about throughout the year. If I was willing to do something different, the ending at Kansas mattered just as much as any of these next three and would have done something crazy there. But that’s not how I grew up in this thing. I want to go to these racetracks and figure out how to go put in victory lane and how to have a good, hard race on the way to the end. We had a blast here with the race last year and are really looking forward to giving that another go.”

SPEAKING OF THE ENDING OF KANSAS, THERE WAS SOME CONTACT THERE. THERE WAS A BIG DIFFERENCE SEEMINGLY BETWEEN THAT KIND OF CONTACT AND RICHMOND. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE AS A DRIVER KNOWING WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T DO TO GO FOR A WIN AT THIS POINT?

“Not in my head. I know what I’m here to do, what I’m willing to do, and what I’m comfortable with. Whatever the ruling — there may not be the most clarity there for if you’re trying to put it on paper, but I know. I think that we understand what’s acceptable and what you’re willing to do as a driver. So at the end of that one, we didn’t touch each other until off of four there. So it was one of those where just, you know, good clean racing. Tried to crowd what I could and without straight up trying to block an entire racetrack or crashing and I ended up being on the losing end of it. As much as I’d love to have it back and try something and would, it really wouldn’t change the style of racing that we’re going to do in our camp.”

WITH HOW TIGHT THE BUBBLE IS, HOW MUCH WILL YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE YOUR COMPETITORS ARE ON THE TRACK ON A GIVEN WEEK?

“I would say similar to the last couple months for us. When we go to the racetrack, we need to control what we can. We need to take these Saturdays and be good in qualifying. Figure out how to have a good race car, get into the race. If we can qualify well, then you can typically grab stage points early. That just comes with running well. It’s not that we’re chasing stage points in stage one, right? It’s a matter of just being good. For us, that’s the same way we’re going to approach these, how do we just have fast race cars and how do we get our Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang into victory lane. What we have done or paid attention to is we know the cars that are around us in this bubble. We pay attention to if they have a rough day and if we are handed a gift of sorts in how their race plays out, then to make sure that we don’t hurt ourselves somewhere else along the way. Don’t do anything too crazy and put ourselves in a bad spot. I guess it’s not about laying up any, it’s just about doing everything that we know to do and that we can control until somebody else may or may not have issues. We’ve had a couple of issues where cars will race around, blow up, crash out and it’s just that mentality that we don’t need to have a 30th place day now. We need to be really good and if we have a 10th place car don’t wreck going for 8th, but make sure you get 10th.”

ANOTHER YEAR WHERE MIS HAS LOOMING RAIN IN THE FORECAST HERE. YOU WON THE RACE HERE LAST YEAR ON THE MONDAY. HOW AS A DRIVER DO YOU APPROACH A WEEKEND LIKE THIS WITH SO MUCH UNPREDICTABILITY AND WHEN YOU’RE GOING TO RACE?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t heard anything about that. It’s been a year. It’s been a year for weather. We’re obviously not putting a roof over this place. We are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Last year we joked about it, this week knowing what it’s looking like. Monday wasn’t so bad last year. I don’t want to be here Monday for us, for our fans. The biggest thing I’ve talked about with everybody about the Monday win last season was simply the fact of how many people had to leave, how empty the entire facility felt, and how that can take away from a lot of the excitement. Whether that was a ton of our partners were here for a big event and had to go back to work. Our Victory Lane photos were a lot thinner than they should have been. So many of our of the Ford family and Ford execs had to go back to work as well. So that photo was a lot thinner than it should have been. I mean everything about it, the stands were a lot thinner. I know a ton of people did hang out with us and really appreciated that. But it’s just, it’s not quite as fun when it’s not a packed house, right? And we all remember just a handful of years ago going to empty racetracks and how very strange that felt. And it’s not what you want, right? So that was the biggest part for me was the win was just as important. It meant just as much to us, but the celebration is not as fun when you don’t have all your buddies there right with you. So ultimately, this weekend, we’ll obviously pay attention to it way too much. We’ll have all kinds of conversations about what-ifs, and most of those will never happen. And we’ll just go on with our normal race weekend. Seems like we have been pretty fortunate, been able to just play these things out as scheduled. Everyone keeps telling me, all the locals around here, just said, wait five minutes and it’ll change. We’ll be ready to go. We’ll just go with the locals theory there.”

WHEN YOU LOOK AT WHERE YOU’RE AT ON THE BUBBLE LINE OR ON THE CUT LINE AS FAR AS THE PLAYOFFS HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS QUALIFYING SESSION GOING TO BE TODAY TO GET SOME EARLY STAGE POINTS AND WHAT’S THE AGENDA FOR YOU GUYS IN PRACTICE IN TERMS OF DIALING IN YOUR RACE CAR AND KIND OF CHECKING ALL THE BOXES BEFORE QUALIFYING?

“Yeah, we obviously had a good notebook to go off from last time here. We’ve been excited to come back to Michigan and show the speed that we’ve had at a lot of these bigger racetracks in the last couple of months. We have not executed the races to the best extent and we don’t have the results to show for it, but we’ve been very fast at these places. Not that long ago in Indy, I was really happy with our performance through practice and maybe a little better in qualifying but got going in the first stage really well and then ended up with our issues on the day. It was a similar day at Pocono, really good there just needed to execute a little bit better overall and with that it’s gonna be important just to clean that up when we come to Michigan here, knowing how we’re going to have green flag pit stops here. We’re going to be chasing dirty air. I know that conversation sucks to have, and we’re all sick of saying it too and hearing it, but it matters when you’re running 200 miles an hour — more than anywhere. So you’re going to have those conversations. For us, it’s not changing because of our situation. We are doing the same things every week, but it’s going to become more and more important for us to execute at the highest level.”

FIVE OF THE LAST SEVEN WINNERS AT DAYTONA ARE DRIVERS THAT HAVE YET TO SECURE A PLAYOFF SPOT AT THIS POINT. WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF BEING IN THAT TYPE OF POSITION GOING INTO NEXT WEEK?

“Well it’s not the last one this year so there’s that and Darlington is obviously very good to us the first go-around as an organization, so you know there’s always one more. It’s always like that right? There’s always that level of unpredictability. Speedway racing, I’ve had an adapting relationship with through the years and really didn’t like it for a long time and ended up on the end of a lot of the big ones with some bad luck along the way and just got to a point where I really did not look forward to heading those tracks. What I’ll say is RFK builds extremely fast Mustangs to go to those tracks. That has certainly made it a lot more enjoyable, but there is a higher luck factor when we go to those. We talk about that quite a bit. You can’t make all your own luck there. There is a matter of being in the right place at the right time simply by circumstance. Mistakes get made. Everyone is a little bit more desperate as it comes down to it. That race definitely has the ability to get a lot more wild, especially as we get into the closing laps. We’ve had these conversations there through the years of how do you run hard, be smart in the stages, try and capture stage points, but ultimately know that with 10, 15 to go, it’s going to get wild. There’s probably going to be a big accident statistically, and it seems like that just keeps getting pushed farther and farther towards the finish, to the point where all the people like us in the past have said, okay, maybe we’ll just wait until we get to that wreck and then we’ll really make that big push. Well, it’s kind of the common mindset. So it just gets later and later at the end of that race. And then it turns into just pure chaos. So it produces very wild, unpredictable finishes with new winners. We’re going to do our best to not let that happen. Myself and Brad have worked really hard to work together and be able to help each other be in the best possible spot at that style of racetrack so that we can try and cover any of the chaos. But ultimately, there’s a level of unknown there. I’m glad it’s not the last one. Let’s put it that way. I’m excited that we get to go to Darlington after that and go to our cutoff race there.”

A WEEK AFTER RICHMOND. LOOKING BACK, HOW DID, FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, THE DIFFERENT TIRE OPTIONS IMPACT WHAT YOU DID OR HOW YOU DID THINGS? AND ARE YOU FINE IF THEY DO SOMETHING IN THE PLAYOFFS?

“I like the reds. I thought the fall-off was very significant. I think that was, I’d be good with running that all the time. I think that would be a lot of fun for our racing. As far as an option when we go to racetracks, I don’t know if I like that part as much, but being on the red tires there, I think that’s a lot of what we’ve been thinking we would like as drivers and as a sport too, it was not something you had to make a decision. You had to be good on fire off, but you had to try and control how hard you pushed it, or you would certainly pay a massive penalty on the backside of it. So I thought that was fun to race. I think Richmond was the right place with track surface the way it is. North Wilkesboro being new asphalt there, we all just stayed on it, right? And that’s not out of the ordinary for new paved racetracks. We go a lot and whatever tire we’re on, we just won’t change them, but it just didn’t give us the best read, whereas Richmond gave us a pretty good idea that a different compound that has some fire-off speed and fell off hard has a lot of potential. For us, through that race, we ended up on a different strategy. After the green flag stop mishap there and had to try and make some headway back, we ended up putting our reds on earlier and trying to get our laps back. Ultimately, we’ve talked about it a little bit afterward and I think if that’s something that stays around, then the teams all kind of converge on a common strategy and it ends up becoming the same old same once everybody gets it figured out. A lot was learned in that race. If we go to the racetrack and we do this several times, then I think you really will just see most of the field on the exact same strategy again. I think it takes away what the big discrepancy between people all over the map, once we have more knowledge.”

THE AUSTIN DILLON DECISION, DID NASCAR MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION, AND WERE YOU SURPRISED AT THE DECISION?

“I’m in a position to where, no matter what I say on this one, you can come across as being biased. And for my sake, for our team’s sake, it’s probably best for me to not go down that road. I got asked about it during the week and the thing I said was, you know what, I know how we’re racing. The way that race played out before anything was talked about, any penalties were assessed, I said no, it’s not going to change what we do. Yes, I see that we’re going to be desperate to come into of these races and it’s going to produce some wild finishes, but it’s not going to change how we’re going to do this. I know what I want to do when I go to the racetrack, I know how I want to race, and ultimately for our team, we know what we’re capable of from a speed standpoint and how we’re going to approach them. So without diving into any of the details of all of that, again, there’s no way for me to have an opinion on it without having a bias. There’s about three of us that there’s no answer that’s the right one in this scenario, right? So we’ll just let it play out the next couple of weeks and then you can ask again. No comment.”

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series at Michigan International Speedway… In 186 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 2.0-mile speedway, Richard Childress Racing has recorded three wins with drivers Dale Earnhardt (1987, 1990) and Kevin Harvick (2010), plus 25 top-five and 59 top-10 finishes. Earnhardt scored a dominating victory in 1987, leading 152 of 200 laps and earned a thrilling victory in 1990, edging Ernie Irvan by just .22 seconds (about two car lengths). Harvick’s 2010 victory was the driver’s first in the Irish Hills.

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Michigan… Richard Childress Racing has four victories in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at Michigan with four different drivers: Kevin Harvick (2003), Paul Menard (2014), Austin Dillon (2018) and Tyler Reddick (2019). The Welcome, N.C., team has claimed 14 top-five and 29 top-10 finishes in 54 starts at Michigan.

Catch Saturday’s Action in the Irish Hills… The Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway will be televised live on Saturday, August 17 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. The event will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Follow Sunday’s Action in Michigan… The Michigan 400 will be televised live on Sunday, August 18, beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Dow MobilityScienceTM Chevrolet at Michigan International Speedway… Austin Dillon has 20 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan International Speedway, posting five top-10 results and a career-best finish of fourth in August 2018. Dillon finished 19th in the 2023 Cup Series race after leading two laps. In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Dillon has earned two poles (2012, 2013) and one win (2018) at the 2.0-mile speedway.

Richmond Winner… Dillon enters Michigan International Speedway as the most recent winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. Last Sunday’s win at Richmond Raceway was Dillon’s fifth victory in the premier series.

Welcome, Dow MobilityScienceTM… Dow’s MobilityScience™ platform is designed to enhance the customer experience by tailoring technologies, products, and services from across Dow businesses to the transportation industry. The platform is pursuing accelerated growth by addressing Mobility mega-trends – where lighter weight, longer range, greater comfort, enhanced safety, and lower carbon footprint are the ultimate objectives. That is where Dow science, innovation, and people step in – working closely with customers to create the materials that bring the possibilities to life.

Dow brings a science and engineering crew who is driven by limitless curiosity to the RCR Team… Dillon and the RCR team are again supported by Dow’s materials science expertise and technologies this season. Backed by the power of data analysis and virtual modeling, Dow develops and manufactures high-performance components and materials custom-made for the No. 3 car. Dow and RCR’s partnership has expedited innovation and shortened testing time in the automotive industry by using one of the most extreme environments – the racetrack – as a real-time testbed. After 11 years of collaboration, Dow scientists and RCR engineers are continuing to work together to make the No. 3 car faster, safer, and more precise. Stay up to date with Dow’s exciting developments at www.dow.com/sports, and follow them on X (@DowSports) and LinkedIn (Dow Sports Marketing Solutions).

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:

Michigan International Speedway is a fast, 2.0-mile track. What is it about the track that you like?

“Michigan International Speedway is a big, fast place. It’s one of the roughest tracks we race on. Michigan is always a place where you’re trying to keep the gas pedal down and do whatever it takes to keep the momentum up. You get some good drafts there and you can make some big moves. You will see three or four wide action into the corner sometimes, and the race has gotten better over the years. ECR’s engine package is very good. You always see ECR engines race very well. We have to perform in Dow’s backyard, and I feel like we have a serious shot at winning.”

Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Michigan International Speedway… Kyle Busch will make his 36th NASCAR Cup Series start at Michigan International Speedway this weekend. The driver of the Lucas Oil Chevrolet won at Michigan in 2011, edging seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson in NASCAR Overtime. Busch enters Sunday’s Michigan 400 with nine top-five and 15 top-10 finishes at the 2.0-mile speedway, including nine top-10 finishes in the last 11 Cup Series events. In 11 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Busch has two wins and 10 top-10 finishes. In addition, Busch earned one victory in 10 NASCAR Truck Series events.

Points Update… Busch currently holds the 18th position in the NASCAR Cup Series driver championship point standings, 119 points below the Playoffs cutline.

Lucas Oil’s Role as a Technical and Development Powerhouse in Motorsports at RCR and ECR… Lucas Oil has contributed first-hand to the many on-track successes of one of NASCAR’s legendary race teams since 2014. Lucas Oil’s resources and expertise, including R&D, technical development and support, have provided a competitive on-track advantage that has equated to RCR’s more than 20 trips to Victory Lane over the past decade. All RCR NASCAR Cup and ECR engines rely on the best performance motor oil in NASCAR: a direct result of joint research and development. The same success that Lucas Oil and RCR/ECR have found at the highest levels of motorsports, has been successfully transferred to grassroots racing efforts throughout the country. And all team operations rely on the full line of Lucas Slick Mist appearance products – from metal polish to speed wax and detailers – to keep all types of vehicles looking their best. To learn more about Lucas Oil, visit lucasoil.com.

KYLE BUSCH QUOTES:

How big of a factor is the draft at Michigan International Speedway?

“Over the last couple of years with this new Next Gen car, the draft at Michigan has become less effective in my opinion. These cars don’t quite suck up on the straightaways the way the old cars could.”

Is it refreshing to race at a place like Michigan International Speedway where you can move around the track and find a line that works?

“Michigan over the years has been pretty lane dominant, but with the addition of the traction compound through the corners, it has led itself to widening out and allowing you to try different grooves. It still isn’t as wide as it once was back in 2013 when you could race along the wall, but it’s getting better and going in that direction.”

Is there any track on the schedule that you can compare to Michigan International Speedway? Auto Club Speedway was similar.

“Fontana was the closest just because it was a two-mile racetrack. It was special to win the last Cup race there in our Lucas Oil Camaro, but the asphalt, grip level, and banking level is entirely different between Michigan and Fontana. Kansas has really aged well and has progressive banking from the bottom to the top so you can run all over the racetrack. You can run to the top, right up against the wall for the majority of the day at Kansas. Michigan is not quite there yet. I’m not really sure anywhere compares entirely to Michigan.”

Jesse Love and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro SS at Michigan International Speedway… Jesse Love has made one career start at Michigan International Speedway, driving in the ARCA Menards Series event in August 2023. During that race, the Menlo Park, California native qualified in the fifth position, led 35 laps and claimed the checkered flag.

Off Weekend Winner… During the three-week Xfinity Series break, Love visited Montana’s Mission Valley Super Oval to compete in a Montana Big 5 Series super late model race. The 19-year-old driver picked up the victory in the Wild Fire 125 on August 3.

Did You Know? When compared to fulltime Xfinity Series competitors, Love currently holds the sixth-best average running position (12.2). Also, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year points leader has completed 73.3% (2,227) of the laps inside the top 15 and has lead a total of 279 laps.

About Whelen Engineering… Whelen Engineering is a family-owned company with a pioneering spirit and a passion to protect the lives of those who protect and serve others. The company mission is to provide industry-defining safety solutions around the world, while creating a community of problem-solvers who are inspired to push boundaries and continue our legacy of delivering ground-breaking innovation. As a global leader in the emergency warning industry, Whelen has been trusted to perform since 1952, when George Whelen III invented the first rotating aviation beacon. Whelen now encompasses two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire with over 750,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing space and the largest design staff in the industry. Every part of every Whelen product is proudly designed and manufactured in America. We embrace quality as our foundation, we celebrate innovative engineering in every product we produce.

JESSE LOVE QUOTE:

What is the outlook coming out of the Olympic break and returning to Michigan International Speedway?

“I look forward to going back to Michigan International Speedway again this season. It’s always nice to go back to a track for a second time in the Xfinity Series or even back to a track that I’ve raced at in the ARCA Menards Series. My ARCA car last season was not the fastest car there, but we were able to get the job done to secure the victory. Danny Stockman and all of the guys on the No. 2 crew have been putting in the work over these last few off weeks to prepare our team for the final push to the Playoffs. Everything that we are doing in these final six races of the regular season are to prepare us for a race to the championship. Our team is hungry and hopefully we can take Whelen back to Victory Lane soon.”

Austin Hill and the No. 21 United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro SS at Michigan International Speedway… Austin Hill has two career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Michigan International Speedway, earning a best finish of fifth place in 2022. The Winston, Ga. native made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at the Irish Hills facility in 2022, driving the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to a respectable 18th-place finish. In addition, Hill has three NASCAR Truck Series starts at the 2-mile speedway, capturing one victory in 2019.

Did You Know? When compared to fulltime Xfinity Series competitors, Hill currently holds the second-best average running position (8.988). Also, the 30-year-old driver has completed 84.1% (2,544) of the laps inside the top 15.

About United Rentals… United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world. The company has an integrated network of 1,504 rental locations in North America, 38 in Europe, 23 in Australia and 19 in New Zealand. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 26,300 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and others. The company offers approximately 4,800 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $20.66 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Barron’s 400 Index and the Russell 3000 Index® and is headquartered in Stamford, Conn. Additional information about United Rentals is available at unitedrentals.com.

Meet Hill… On Saturday, August 17 at 1:00 p.m. local time, Hill is scheduled to sign autographs at the RCR Merchandise Trailer located in the Midway at Michigan International Speedway. Stop by to meet the United Rentals driver and purchase new gear.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTES:

What are your thoughts about racing at Michigan International Speedway?

“I’ve won at Michigan in the Truck Series, so that gives me a little extra confidence each time we go back. Probably should have a won a second race there in the Truck Series but got wrecked while running second in a green-white-checkered finish. I’ve always seemed to run well there though. My rookie season in the Xfinity Series car, we ran decent. The biggest thing about racing at Michigan is keeping your momentum up. It’s not a superspeedway by any means, but the draft does come into effect on restarts. Having the right lane choices, knowing when to run the bottom or run the top, knowing when to make passes and or push your lane are all keys as a driver to having a good finish. A lot of the superspeedway type feel comes into play until the field gets strung out. Once you get strung out, it’s a normal mile-and-a half style of race.”

What are the keys to having a successful race in the Irish Hills?

“It’s all about momentum and reminds me of when I would race in the Truck Series. If you drive in too deep, you have to lift too much and then you get on throttle too late, which slows lap time down. You are better off to roll out early and get back wide open sooner, to carry the momentum down the long straightaways. We need to have a car that is very versatile, that can go in and out of the juice that gets laid down.”

NOAH GRAGSON
Michigan Advance
No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: FireKeepers Casino 400 (Round 24 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 18
● Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn
● Layout: 2-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 200 laps / 400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 45 laps / Stage 2: 75 laps / Final Stage: 80 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn when he takes the flag for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400. Gragson’s lone Cup Series start at the 2-mile, D-shaped oval came in 2022 when a crash just past the race’s halfway mark left him 30th.

● Gragson’s history at Michigan in the NASCAR Xfinity Series is far more robust. In three starts at the track between 2019-2022, Gragson never finished outside of the top-three. He finished second in 2019 before scoring back-to-back third-place drives in 2021-2022. And in his last Xfinity Series start at Michigan in 2022, Gragson won the pole with a lap of 37.821 seconds at 190.370 mph. He then led twice for 39 laps before scoring the 11th of his 21 top-five finishes that season, which was a career high.

● A prelude to Gragson’s Michigan success in the NASCAR Xfinity Series was his two-race run in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He never finished outside of the top-10, recording a seventh-place drive in 2017 and delivering a fourth-place effort in 2018.

● To gain additional experience at Michigan, Gragson will pull double duty during this year’s FireKeepers Casino 400 race weekend. He will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday before piloting his signature No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang on Sunday. Gragson will drive the No. 30 Ford Mustang for Rette-Jones Racing in the Cabo Wabo 250. It will be his third Xfinity Series start of the year as Gragson wheeled a Rette-Jones Racing-prepared Mustang to a 10th-place finish May 25 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway before earning a fifth-place result June 29 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.

● Overstock.com adorns Gragson’s No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Michigan. The partnership amplifies the recent relaunch of Overstock.com, home of crazy good deals that offer quality and style for less. Overstock.com is for the savvy shopper who loves the thrill of the hunt and it includes product categories customers know and love, like patio furniture, home furniture and area rugs, while reintroducing jewelry, watches and health-and-beauty products.

Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Michigan marks a return to a high-speed, high-banked, intermediate track after running a variety of tracks through the summer. Can the knowledge learned early in the year at Las Vegas – or even at places that we’ve raced at more recently like Kansas and Charlotte – be applied to Michigan, or were those races so long ago that it’s no longer applicable?

“We still apply the same stuff, and we did run well at Vegas. Aerodynamics are probably a little bit more important at Michigan because the straightaways are so long, but if you handle well through the corners, you can make moves in traffic and can pass cars. Michigan’s been one of my favorite tracks, so I’m excited for this one. I’ve always been just pretty good there. It definitely fits my driving style.”

We’ve heard the adage of, “Slow down to go fast,” and that seems to be used a lot at Michigan. What does that mean and how does it apply to Michigan?

“You’re just focused on carrying as much speed through the corner and on exit as you can. If you have to lift a little bit early, but stay part throttle and run the corner with a lot of speed, that’s kind of how you do it. Don’t overdrive your entry. You have to wait on the gas, and you’re not carrying a lot of speed down the straightaway.”

Oftentimes, Michigan races have come down to fuel mileage. How does a driver try to save fuel when they’re still trying to outrun other racecars?

“You’ve just got to pick and choose your battles. What’s more important? Is it holding off the guy next to you, is he on the same strategy as you, or can you let him go and just race the racetrack and race your fuel scenario? You’re in a spot, but it almost makes it easier to race other guys when you’re saving fuel because you’re just focused on your throttle inputs. You don’t care if other people pass you in different scenarios because they might have to pit again. You’re just doing your own program.”

Has there been a fuel-mileage race where at the end of it you’ve said, “I did a really good job of saving fuel and got us the best finish possible?” Or have there been races where you’re left scratching your head wondering what you could’ve done differently?

“Earlier this year at Nashville, we ran 110 laps on a tank of fuel when they predicted it would be around 70 to 74 laps when you’ve got full fuel. That just showed how well we were able to save. We were on the same strategy as (Joey) Logano, who ended up winning. He had a little bit better track position, so he got to stay up there a little bit better. But that definitely pushed me to save under caution at every racetrack we go to because you never know. I do take pride with how much I save, and it ended up working out, where other guys who pitted after us were running out of fuel. I saved that much more than they did and we ended up with a top-10 finish. The guys who didn’t save fuel well were lazy and ended up in the back. So, it can make or break your day if you get lazy with it.”

When you’re trying to save fuel, is it easier to make a mistake because you’re sort of out of your rhythm, or do you just adapt into a new rhythm?

“You just find a new rhythm. You’re lifting early and not touching the brake and coasting through the corner and just being super smooth on the throttle and not using more than you need to. You’re just trying to be very, very smooth and not jumping on the gas all too hard in ways that are unnecessary.”

Do you put an asterisk next to a fuel-mileage win, or are you of the opinion that a win’s a win, no matter how you get it?

“I think a win’s a win. You out-saved the other guy and you did a better job than them. You worked your tail off and you strategized better and it all worked out. It is what it is. I think a win’s a win, especially 20 years from now. They don’t ask how, they just ask how many. There’s no asterisk for fuel mileage on the sheet.”

No. 10 Overstock.com Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Noah Gragson

Hometown: Las Vegas

Crew Chief: Drew Blickensderfer

Hometown: Decatur, Illinois

Car Chief: Jerry Cook

Hometown: Toledo, Ohio

Engineer: James Kimbrough

Hometown: Pensacola, Florida

Spotter: Andy Houston

Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Ryan Mulder

Hometown: Sioux Center, Iowa

Rear Tire Changer: Trevor White

Hometown: Arlington, Texas

Tire Carrier: Tyler Bullard

Hometown: King, North Carolina

Jack Man: Sean Cotten

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Fuel Man: James “Ace” Keener

Hometown: Fortuna, California

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Chris Trickett

Hometown: Grafton, West Virginia

Mechanic: Beau Whitley

Hometown: Carmel, Indiana

Tire Specialist: Jacob Cooksey

Hometown: Westbrookville, New York

Engine Tuner: Matt Moeller

Hometown: Monroe, New York

Transporter Co-Driver: Steve Casper

Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Matt Murphy

Hometown: Augusta, Georgia