Category: NASCAR Cup PR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Media Availability Quotes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 
 

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 Returns to Chicago… Following the success of the inaugural event, NASCAR returns to the streets of Chicago this weekend. The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series will compete on a temporary 2.2 mile, 12-turn street course. The 2023 NASCAR Chicago Street Race’s Grant Park 220 was the most watched NBC race broadcast since 2017 and was the most-streamed NASCAR race in NBC Sports history (163,500).

More Than a Race… Race weekend in Chicago will also feature a variety of musical acts, including The Chainsmokers, Keith Urban, The Black Keys, and Lauren Alaina.

NASCAR Racing in Chicago… NASCAR has a rich tradition in Chicago, with the Cup Series competing at five different tracks dating back to 1954 at Santa Fe Speedway. Other tracks to host NASCAR’s premier series include Soldier Field (1956-1957), Chicago Motor Speedway (2000-2001) and Chicagoland Speedway (2001-2019) and the Chicago Street Race (2023)

RCR: A Winning Tradition in the Windy City… Richard Childress Racing racked up seven victories across four NASCAR series at Chicagoland Speedway. Kevin Harvick won the inaugural Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile track, his second career win and added another Cup victory in 2002. Harvick won twice in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (2005 and 2007) while Elliott Sadler added a NXS win in 2012. In 2011, both Austin Dillon (Truck Series) and Ty Dillon (ARCA) were victorious at Chicagoland Speedway.

Catch the Action… The Loop 110 at Chicago Street Course will be televised live on Saturday, July 6 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Follow Sunday’s Action at the Chicago Street Course… The Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course will be televised live on Sunday, July 7 beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet at the Chicago Street Race… The NASCAR Cup Series is headed to Chicago for the second time on the city’s street course. At the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series event in 2023, Dillon had a strong top-five race going before a late-race accident ended his day.

Road Course Experience… Dillon has racked up 36 NASCAR Cup Series starts on road courses with a pair of top-10 finishes at Circuit of the Americas and the Charlotte ROVAL in 2022.

Delivering Performance on the Track and For the Planet… Dillon will race the Get Bioethanol Chevy at the Chicago Street Race, showcasing the performance benefits of racing with earth kind and engine-smart bioethanol blended fuel, Sunoco Green E15. Whether it’s delivering cleaner and cooler high-octane on the racetrack or a more affordable option for summer road trips, plant-based bioethanol makes a positive impact on our planet. NASCAR drivers have now officially raced 23 million NASCAR miles driven on Sunoco Green E15, a notable milestone for the environment as NASCAR’s partnership with Get Bioethanol has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent across its three national touring series while also increasing horsepower on the track. Learn more about bioethanol at getbioethanol.com.

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:

What are your thoughts on going back to the Chicago Street Race?

“The Chicago Street Race was entertaining for sure last year. The weather conditions were treacherous. We had a pretty good opportunity at that race. We were able to get to the front at the end, and coming down to the closing laps, I was running down Justin Haley and clipped the last corner there. Running behind somebody on a street course is tough. It’s easy to try and grab a little extra track that’s not there. Our No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet team learned a lot in 2023. Qualifying is going to be the toughest session we have all season because the course is so tight, and it will be harder to pass than it is on other road courses we go to. You will want to be at the front as much as possible and I’m confident we will be bringing a fast Camaro this weekend.”

Kyle Busch and the No. 8 zone Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at the Chicago Street Race… Kyle Busch will make his second start on the streets of Chicago. Busch scored a fifth-place finish last year at Chicago, one of 10 top-five finishes he would claim during the 2023 season. The Las Vegas, Nev., native will be making his 55th career NASCAR Cup Series road course this weekend. Busch has four victories in 54 previous road course events, winning twice at Sonoma Raceway (2008 and 2015) and twice at Watkins Glen (2008 and 2103). Busch also has two pole positions in road course competition, both at Watkins Glen (2011 and 2017). He has been remarkably consistent in road course events, piling up 29 top-10 finishes (a top-10 finish in 53.70 percent of his starts). Busch has led 429 laps on road courses. and has been running at the finish in 51 of 54 starts.

Did You Know? Since 2022, the No. 8 team at Richard Childress Racing has scored two wins (Road America and Indianapolis), seven top-five finishes, and has led 102 laps in road course competition.

Points Update… Busch enters this weekend 17th in the NASCAR Cup Series Driver Standings, 104 points below the Playoffs cutline.

KYLE BUSCH QUOTES:

What was your experience like last year at the Chicago Street Race?

“The Chicago Street Race last year was pretty exciting. I know we had the weather there and it kind of held up the start of things. I didn’t think we were going to race. I thought it was flooded, but it stopped raining, they got it kind of dried up, the standing water removed, and we were out there as it was still drying, running our wet tires. It was a challenging racetrack already with how narrow it was and how slick it was on city streets. Throw in the rain and wet aspect into it and it totally changes it for us. We struggled a little bit there early in the race, but we were able to turn it around. Our strategy worked really well, some breaks fell our way, and we were able to score a top-five.”

Last year you went nose first into the tire barrier but were able to bounce back and score a fifth-place finish. Were you surprised the car didn’t have more damage?

“I was thankful that the car didn’t have more damage than what it did. I was able to continue racing and was able to score a top-five finish, which was really good for us. I felt like we had a top-five car, so we achieved the finish that we should have so that was pretty good.”

Would you be okay with adding another street race to the schedule? If so, what would be a good location?

“I would say that another street circuit would be a pretty good idea. If we’re going to do it, we should go to an area that we’re not currently racing in. I wouldn’t change racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to run on the streets of Las Vegas. Let’s go somewhere different.”

Austin Hill and the No. 33 United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at the Chicago Street Race… Austin Hill will make his inaugural NASCAR Cup Series start at the Chicago Street Course this Sunday. While Hill has not raced in the premier series at the 12-turn, 2.2-mile circuit, the 30-year-old has made one career NASCAR Xfinity Series start on the street course, earning a fifth-place result in 2023.

Turns for Troops… Through their Turns for Troops program, United Rentals will make a $50.00 donation for each lap that Hill completes in his United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro during the Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course. Funds from the Turns for Troops program support military veterans and their families through Operation Homefront.

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.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTE:

This will be your first road or street course start in the Cup Series. Do you think the Cup Series car will drive differently than the Xfinity Series car?

“I do think the Cup car will be different. One of the biggest things I will have to manage on Saturday when going between the Xfinity car and the Cup car is that the brakes are bigger on the Cup car. I will be able to drive into the corner deeper, so whatever my lift point is in the Xfinity car, I should be able to go a few car lengths further in the Cup car. I don’t know how big that will be yet until I make laps in the Cup car during practice. Another thing I’ll have to manage is wheel hop. In the Xfinity car, you have to worry about wheel hop because the rear of the car can get out of the track very easily. When compared to the Cup car, wheel hop doesn’t seem to be an issue, but those cars can get loose under braking. It will have different feelings that I’ll figure out over the course of the weekend.”

Jesse Love and the No. 2 Whelen Aerospace Technologies (WAT) Chevrolet Camaro SS at the Chicago Street Race… Jesse Love will make his first career NASCAR start at the Chicago Street Course this Saturday. As a current Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender, Love did not participate in last season’s inaugural event on the streets of Chicago. To prepare for the 12-turn, 2.2-mile circuit, the 19-year-old spent time in the simulator at the GM Tech Center in Concord, N.C.

One for One… Love has driven the WAT Chevrolet one prior time this season, earning his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in an overtime finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

WAT Flying High… For this weekend’s event at the Chicago Street Course, Love will trade in his standard red-and-white Whelen Engineering colors for the black-and-yellow Whelen Aerospace Technologies (WAT) brand. Whelen Aerospace Technologies is the global leader in high-end lighting products for the aerospace industry. Their experienced staff designs, engineers, and manufacturers high-quality products that provide safety, visibility, and recognition for aircraft across all platforms. The design engineers work closely with OEM and service provider networks to design high-performance products that enhance the pilot experience, as well as provide safety of flight. As an FAA-approved production holder, WAT owns hundreds of STCs for aircraft landing, taxi, anti-collision and position lights. The in-house composite shop produces a wide variety of STC and PMA approved speed modifications for a number of general aviation aircraft. The expansive product line is sure to provide a solution for pilots and owners alike, based on their individual needs.

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:

Entering the Chicago Street Race, what are your thoughts on the course and overall experience?

“This will be my first street course race, so I’m not 100% sure what to expect. As I normally do each week, I’ve put in a ton of preparation to be as ready as possible. Between watching film and in-car from last year’s races and making laps in the simulator, I’ve done everything besides being in the actual race car. I’m happy that we get a full practice session on Saturday morning, so I can make as many laps before the race starts. The No. 2 boys have been bringing fast cars to the track each week, and it’s nice to have the WAT scheme back. We had success getting those colors into Victory Lane at Talladega earlier this season, so hopefully it brings some luck with it again.”

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Dow Coatings Chevrolet Camaro SS at the Chicago Street Race… With the NASCAR industry returning to the streets of Chicago for the second time in league history, Austin Hill will make his second start at the 12-turn, 2.2-mile circuit. Last year in the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series event, Hill qualified in fifth place, battled through torrential rain conditions, and finished in the fifth position as the race was made official with just 25 laps complete. In preparation for The Loop 110, the Winston, Georgia native has spent time completing laps on the simulator at the GM Tech Center in Concord, N.C.

Dow Brings a Science and Engineering Crew, Driven by Limitless Curiosity, to the RCR Team… As a longstanding partner of Richard Childress Racing, Dow Coatings will make their debut on the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro SS on the Chicago Street Course. The team is supported by Dow’s materials science expertise and technologies. Backed by the power of data analysis and virtual modeling, Dow develops and manufactures high-performance components and materials custom-made for RCR. Dow and RCR’s partnership have expedited innovation and shortened testing time in the automotive industry by recreating in the lab one of the most extreme environments – the racetrack. After 10 years of collaboration, Dow scientists and RCR engineers are continuing to work together to make the cars faster, safer, and more precise. Stay up to date with Dow’s exciting developments at dow.com/sports and follow on X @DowSports.

Welcome, Dow Coating Materials… Dow Coating Materials is the most innovative coatings raw material supplier in the world, driving fundamental shifts in the coatings industry and moving the market as the expert’s expert in coatings solutions. Through its mission of collaboration, inspiration, innovation, and growth, the business provides material products, science, technology, and manufacturing solutions to the architectural and industrial coatings industry worldwide. Dow Coating Materials’ manufacturing and R&D footprint spans across all major geographic markets where Dow does business. For more information, please visit dow.com/en-us/industries/consumer/paints-and-coatings.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTE:

Returning to the Chicago Street Race for a second year, what did you learn in year one that can be applied to this weekend?

“Street racing is definitely a different experience. We didn’t get to complete the full race last season, so I’m hopeful that we get all the laps in this year and can see how the entire race plays out. We were decent last year, finishing fifth, but realistically should have been closer to third. You have to have a different mindset going into a street course. Traditionally on a regular road course, I look two or three corners ahead. But with this street course having walls on both sides of you, you can’t see ahead which changes the way you perceive things on the track. Hitting your marks consistently and making the apex of the corner is a little tougher since I can’t see as far forward as I would like to. The course itself has a decent amount of elevation change and is rough. I like that part and hope that it’s as rough as it was last year, because that fits into my driving style. When the track is rougher and the car is uneasy and moving around, it promotes the drivers who can get through the bumps better.”

For years, NASCAR insiders and the sport’s fans were conditioned to look on the Fourth of July weekend as a time to return to Daytona International Speedway for the traditional start to the second half of the season.

But starting last year, NASCAR’s elite Cup Series celebrates Independence Day weekend with a race on the streets of Chicago.

The inaugural event on the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course was plagued by torrential rains, but the race still was a crowd pleaser.

Now the circuit returns, and Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are hoping for sunny skies and a strong run on the most unique course on the circuit.

“I’ll admit I was a skeptic when the Chicago street race was announced last year,” crew chief Jeremy Bullins said. “But considering the rain and everything else that went on I was so impressed with the crowd of fans that stuck it out that I really can’t wait to go back.

“I hope we can have some better weather and put on a good race for the fans.”

He said the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team has had more speed and opportunities to finish well in recent weeks, and he hopes to build on that this weekend.

“We’ve had some decent momentum swinging our way lately, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do with our Motorcraft Mustang this week,” he said.

Practice for the Grant Park 165 is set for Saturday at 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. Eastern Time) to be followed by qualifying at 12:30 p.m. (1:30 Eastern). USA Network will carry the TV broadcast.

Sunday’s 75-lap, 165-mile race is set to get the green flag just after 3:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. Eastern) with TV coverage on NBC.

Stage breaks are planned for Laps 20 and 45.

About Motorcraft®
Motorcraft offers a complete line of replacement parts that are recommended by Ford Motor Company. From routine maintenance to under hood repairs, Motorcraft parts offer value with high quality and the right fit at competitive prices. Motorcraft parts are available nationwide at Ford Dealers and Lincoln Retailers, independent distributors and automotive-parts retailers, and are backed by the Service Parts Limited Warranty* of Ford Motor Company. For more information, visit www.motorcraft.com.
*See your dealer for limited-warranty details.

About Quick Lane® Tire & Auto Center
Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center offers extraordinary service for routine maintenance, serving all vehicle makes and models. Quick Lane provides a full menu of automotive services, including tires, oil change and maintenance, brakes, batteries, alternator and electrical system, air conditioning system, cooling system, transmission service, suspension and steering, wheel alignment, belts and hoses, lamps and bulbs and wiper blades plus a thorough vehicle checkup report. Service is performed by expert technicians while you wait at any of nearly 800 locations in the U.S., with evening and weekend hours available and no appointment necessary. For more information about Quick Lane, please visit www.quicklane.com.
*See your dealer for limited-warranty details.”

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, committed to helping build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. The company’s Ford+ plan for growth and value creation combines existing strengths, new capabilities and always-on relationships with customers to enrich experiences for customers and deepen their loyalty. Ford develops and delivers innovative, must-have Ford trucks, sport utility vehicles, commercial vans and cars and Lincoln luxury vehicles, along with connected services. The company does that through three customer-centered business segments: Ford Blue, engineering iconic gas-powered and hybrid vehicles; Ford Model e, inventing breakthrough EVs along with embedded software that defines exceptional digital experiences for all customers; and Ford Pro, helping commercial customers transform and expand their businesses with vehicles and services tailored to their needs. Additionally, Ford is pursuing mobility solutions through Ford Next, and provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford employs about 177,000 people worldwide. More information about the company and its products and services is available at corporate.ford.com.

About Ford Performance
Ford Performance is based in Dearborn, Mich. It is responsible for Ford’s performance vehicle development and major racing operations globally, including NASCAR, IMSA, SRO British GT, FIA World Rally Championship, Supercars Championship, World of Outlaws, Ultra4, SCORE-International, FIA Rally-Raid, Formula Drift, NHRA, Rebelle Rally, Thailand Super Series and our latest commitment in Formula 1 with RedBull Ford Powertrains. Ford Performance also maintains a constantly evolving fleet of electric performance demonstrators to showcase the limits of electrification technology. In addition, the organization also oversees the development of Ford’s racing engines, as well as the outreach programs with all Ford Clubs and Ford enthusiasts. For more information regarding Ford racing’s activities, please visit Performance.Ford.com or follow @FordPerformance on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.

Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.

CHASE BRISCOE
Chicago Street Race Advance
No. 14 Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Grant Park 165 (Round 20 of 36)
● Time/Date: 4:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 7
● Location: Chicago Street Course
● Layout: 2.2-mile, 12-turn street course
● Laps/Miles: 75 laps/165 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 25 laps / Final Stage: 30 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● “Hot Streets:” In last year’s inaugural Chicago Street Race, temperatures were high before biblical rain inundated the city. Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, described the conditions: “I remember on practice day we had a temperature sensor inside the car and it was 155 degrees. It was going to be brutal on Sunday, and the rain honestly saved us all from baking alive. Hopefully, it’s sunny this year, but 75 (degrees) and not 100.”

● “Street Player:” Briscoe started 16th and finished 20th in last year’s Chicago Street Race. He has 21 career road-course starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, with five top-10 finishes spread across Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, (sixth in 2021), Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (sixth in 2021), Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International (ninth in 2021), the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval (ninth in 2022) and the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (sixth in 2023). In Briscoe’s most recent road course start – June 9 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway – he finished 34th after a broken transmission sent him to an early exit.

● “Saturday in the Park:” Qualifying for the Grant Park 165 takes place on Saturday, and it’s where Sunday’s 75-lap race around the 2.2-mile, 12-turn temporary street circuit could very well be won. Track position will be paramount, as those starting up front are far more likely to stay up front. The fewer cars ahead of a driver, the fewer drivers to pass and the fewer chances to get caught up in someone else’s mistake. Consider that in arguably the most recognized street race in all of motorsports – the Monaco Grand Prix on the streets of Monte Carlo – the race winner has come from the front row 50 times, including all but two of the last 15 races. The furthest back a driver has won the Monaco Grand Prix is 14th, when Olivier Panis won in 1996.

● “Take Me Back to Chicago:” For 19 years, the NASCAR Cup Series competed 45 miles southwest of Chicago in Joliet, Illinois. Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile, D-shaped oval, debuted in 2001 and Briscoe competed in two NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the track, finishing ninth (2018) and 15th (2019) in the stepping-stone division to the elite Cup Series.

● “Just You ‘n’ Me:” While there is still a bit of newness with NASCAR coming to the streets of Chicago, one pairing that has tenure is that of Briscoe and his crew chief, Richard Boswell. The Grant Park 165 will serve as their 40th NASCAR Cup Series race together, but the duo first joined forces back in 2018 when they were paired up in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. They won nine races together before coming to Cup, including Briscoe’s first career Xfinity Series win, which fittingly came at a road course – the Charlotte Roval in 2018.

● “In the Country:” Road courses are the most applicable style of venue to compare to a street circuit. The difference, however, is that road courses are purpose-built facilities designed with plenty of runoff area. These style of tracks comprise acres upon acres of land, which typically places them in more rural settings. Briscoe has made 11 road-course starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In fact, it was road-course racing in the Xfinity Series that helped put Briscoe on the map when it came to his burgeoning NASCAR career, as he scored two road-course wins among eight top-10 finishes. At the inaugural race on the Charlotte Roval on Sept. 29, 2018 in what was Briscoe’s 14th career Xfinity Series start, the Mitchell, Indiana-native scored his first Xfinity Series win. Briscoe said afterward that he tapped into his dirt-track experience in wheeling his Ford Mustang to a strong 1.478-second margin of victory over runner-up Justin Marks. “It drove like a dirt track instead of a road course, and it felt like I was in a sprint car. I just tried to make sure the rear tires never spun. I had to give up a little time coming off the corner, but I’d make it back up on the straightaway, and that’s why I was always better at the end of the run.” Briscoe’s second Xfinity Series win on a road course came in another inaugural race – the 2020 Brickyard 150 on the road course at Indianapolis. On July 4, 2020, Briscoe started 12th and methodically worked his way to the front, taking the lead on lap 24. He wound up leading five times for a race-high 30 laps to take the victory by 1.717 seconds ahead of second-place Justin Haley. Despite the win happening during COVID restrictions, Briscoe was elated to win at his home track in a car owned by Indiana icon Tony Stewart. “Everybody knows that my hero in racing was Tony Stewart. To get to drive for him and watch him win at the Brickyard, climbing the fence was always his signature thing and I just wanted to do it. Obviously, it’s not the same prestige as winning on the oval, but we still won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing on the oval, the road course, the dirt track or even the parking lot, it’s special when you win here. Growing up, coming here all the time, it’s unbelievable to think that I just won here.”

● “State of the Union:” The Grant Park 165 is the third of five races on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule where drivers will turn left and right. Briscoe finished 13th in the first road-course race of the year March 24 at COTA and 34th on June 9 at Sonoma. After Chicago, the series heads to Watkins Glen on Sept. 15 and the Charlotte Roval on Oct. 12.

● “Bigger Than Elvis:” Mahindra Ag North America is a proud sponsor of Briscoe and Stewart-Haas, and 2024 highlights an impressive milestone for Mahindra – 30 years of selling tractors in the United States. Houston-based Mahindra Ag North America is part of Mahindra Group’s Automotive and Farm Sector, the No. 1-selling farm tractor company in the world, based on volumes across all company brands. Mahindra offers a range of tractor models from 20-75 horsepower, implements, and the ROXOR heavy-duty UTV. Mahindra farm equipment is engineered to be easy to operate by first-time tractor or side-by-side owners and heavy duty to tackle the tough jobs of rural living, farming and ranching. Steel-framed Mahindra Tractors and side-by-sides are ideal for customers who demand performance, reliability and comfort. Mahindra dealers are independent, family-owned businesses located throughout the U.S. and Canada.

● “You’re the Inspiration:” Mahindra Ag North America is using the Grant Park 165 to promote its newest line of sub-compact and compact tractors, which are designed with features to enhance operation for first-time buyers. Boasting comfort amenities like telematics, leather seats and USB charging ports, the Mahindra 1100 and 2100 models are designed around ease of use for acreage owners, farmers and ranchers, with features like a push-button PTO and side-by-side HST pedals. Other features include a hand throttle on the console, tilt and telescopic steering, implement quick raise and lower, and auto lift at three points while turning and backing. Every model in the 1100 and 2100 series is available in open station or cab configurations, with an HVAC system exclusive to the 2126. This line of compacts have compatible Mahindra attachments, including loaders, backhoes, mowers, snowblowers, post hole diggers and grapples. The loader on the 1100 series has a max lift of 770 pounds, while the 2100 has a max lift of 1,760 pounds.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

What was your impression of the Chicago Street Race after the checkered flag dropped on last year’s inaugural race?

“It was quite the weekend. I just remember being blown away at how well the whole thing was run. We were all apprehensive with how it was going to be like, but I thought they did an amazing job just putting the whole thing together and giving us a racetrack we could actually race on. I was mind-blown at how many people were there in the pouring rain, just thinking how cool it would’ve been if we could’ve had good weather. There could’ve been 300,000, 400,000 people there, I felt like. Hopefully, this year the weather will cooperate.”

What misconceptions did you have going into the Chicago Street Race that turned out to be no big deal once you got there?

“I’d never been to the city of Chicago before. I thought the city was super cool. I felt safe the whole time. It was super nice, well-kept. I actually explored the city quite a bit. I went to a game at Wrigley. That was the one thing I would say that stood out, just how small Wrigley Field is. Even seeing Wrigleyville – growing up I’d always watch on TV during the playoffs and it looked like this massive place, and you get there and it’s small and tiny. Just going to Wrigley and seeing parts of the city I’d always seen on TV, but getting to see them in person was pretty cool.”

Take us through a lap around Chicago. Were there any parts of the track where you enjoyed hustling the car, and what parts turned out to be a challenge?

“All of it was fun and all of it was a challenge, all at the same time. I didn’t feel like there was one part of the racetrack that was necessarily any easier or more fun than another. The back half was pretty narrow versus the front half, but it’s all fun. You’re going through the city streets and there are walls on both sides and it feels like you’re running way faster than you really are. I’d say my favorite part was probably the fountain area. You were bouncing all over the place. You just felt like you were on the ragged edge, which was really cool because it always felt like you really had to risk a lot to gain a lot. I enjoy that part of it, but I honestly enjoyed the whole racetrack. I thought it was a lot of fun.”

Can you take anything from your two road-course races this year at COTA and Sonoma and apply them to Chicago?

“There’s definitely not a whole lot similar in the sense of what the racetracks are, but I definitely think there are things you can take away setup-wise. At COTA, for example, I thought our brakes were among the best in the field, but at Sonoma we tried something totally different and I thought I was the worst-braking car in the field. So, just being able to check that box and know we probably shouldn’t bring back what we had at Sonoma will be good. I definitely think there’s something you can take away from it depending on what you learned at those two races. But it’s still a totally unique situation, a totally different type of racetrack, and you’ve just got to figure out what’s best for that place.”

Talk about what’s going on inside the racecar at Chicago. How much are you thrashing around, grabbing gears, hitting the brakes, smashing the gas? Is it controlled chaos?

“It’s definitely chaos, and it’s even hard to talk to your crew because at times you’re just so far away from where they’re sitting. Unlike a lot of other racetracks, there are buildings and trees and all kinds of stuff that interferes with the radio, so they can’t even hear you half the time. Inside the racecar, there’s no break. You’re just constantly getting after it, you’re sliding around, different parts of the street have more grip, there are potholes, there are manhole covers. It’s definitely a fun place to just turn laps because you’re getting after it the whole time. I’m looking forward to going there the second year now and, hopefully, we can build on what we had last year and make our stuff drive a little bit better and be in the mix at the end.”

With Shane van Gisbergen’s win at Chicago last year, it really shined a spotlight on Australian Supercars drivers. How much did you know about SVG and Supercars prior to his win last year?

“It’s definitely opened up the door for the V8 Supercars guys. I feel like everywhere we go now, there’s always at least one in the field. It’s funny, I was probably 13-14 years old and me and my buddies would always race online and race on rFactor, and I remember we were running dirt midgets and this guy came in there, his name is Shane Van Gisbergen, and he joined the server, and one of my buddies was freaking out. He’s like, ‘Dude, do you know who that is?’ I had no idea who the guy was. I never heard of him before. I hadn’t ever watched V8 Supercars. He started telling me who he was and he started sending me videos of him, SVG ripping around Bathurst and stuff. So then I learned who he was, and ever since then I’ve known of him, but I never did keep up with him. When he came and raced with us last year, I at least knew who he was, but I still haven’t asked him if he remembers ever getting on there and racing with us.”

No. 14 Mahindra Compact Tractors Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe

Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: Richard Boswell

Hometown: Friendship, Maryland

Car Chief: J.D. Frey

Hometown: Ferndale, California

Engineer: Mike Cook

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Spotter: Joey Campbell

Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala

Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal

Hometown: Holland, Michigan

Jack Man: Kapil Fletcher

Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fuel Man: Corey Coppola

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams

Hometown: Plymouth, Wisconsin

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads

Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Shock Specialist: Brian Holshouser

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips

Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable

Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Dale Lackey

Hometown: Taylorsville, North Carolina

RYAN PREECE
Chicago Street Race Advance
No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Grant Park 165 (Round 20 of 36)
● Time/Date: 4:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 7
● Location: Chicago Street Course
● Layout: 2.2-mile, 12-turn street course
● Laps/Miles: 75 laps/165 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 25 laps / Final Stage: 30 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Ryan Preece and the No. 41 team head back to the streets of downtown Chicago for Sunday’s Grant Park 165. Incorporating some of the city’s most famous landmarks, like South Lake Shore Drive and the Buckingham Fountain, the second edition of the Chicago Street Course Race is the only such race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Preece returns to Chicago after scoring a 15th-place finish on the 2.2-mile, 12-turn circuit in the inaugural event last July. The result was his sixth of 12 top-15s of 2023.

● Preece heads to Chicago riding the momentum of his first top-five finish this year. He finished fourth last Sunday at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway after starting 22nd. Preece’s fourth-place run at Nashville is the fourth top-five of his Cup Series career and second with Stewart-Haas Racing. His finish at Nashville is also his best for Stewart-Haas since joining the team last year, bettering his fifth-place finish in last year’s July race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

● Sunday’s Grant Park 165 marks the Cup Series’ third race on a road course in 2024. Preece finished 23rd on March 24 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, and 18th on June 9 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. Preece has 19 career road-course starts in the Cup Series. He had a standout performance at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course in February 2021 for JTG Daugherty Racing, qualifying sixth and finishing ninth for his best starting spot and finish on a road course to date. His best finish on a road course for Stewart-Haas Racing is 11th, which he scored last year on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval.

● Joining Preece and the No. 41 Ford Mustang at the Chicago Street Course event is HaasTooling.com, the cutting tool division of Haas Automation. HaasTooling.com allows CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. Haas Automation, founded in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, rotaries and indexers, and automation solutions.

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

The Chicago Street Course is unlike any other racetrack on the Cup Series schedule. What makes racing on streets different from a typical road course?

“It’s just insane when you’re trying to keep the car under control within these tiny barriers. You can’t slow down. You can’t give up pace. There’s just a lot of things. The bumps throw our cars around. We’re trying to go 160 to 170 miles per hour on roads that average people take to go to work or wherever they have to go. There are a lot of challenges, but it’s certainly a lot of fun. I enjoyed going there last year.”

Do you think the Chicago Street Course is one of the more challenging racetracks on the Cup Series schedule?

“Yeah. I think last year we kind of saw it as a race of survival. The track is just so narrow, but I think it’s an opportunity for us, in the 41 camp, to have another solid day. We ran really well at Chicago in our first race on the streets, and I’m hoping for even more this year.”

What were your thoughts of racing on the Chicago Street Course last year? Would you like to see another street course on the schedule?

“I really enjoyed it. I think there was a lot of speculation going into it because I’d never been on a street course before. I had a lot of fun and certainly wish we had one or two more on the schedule. I think it would be pretty cool to go to New York City or Boston, just because I’m from the Northeast and those are places the sport would have a good impact.”

What’s different about the racecar’s setup for the Chicago Street Course versus a permanent road course?

“There are a lot of things the crew chief and teams change from the shock absorber side. It’s important that the shock absorbers are just right with how bumpy the roads are there. The shocks help keep the racecar balanced over the bumps, and with little room to lose the racecar, we need to have as much handling as possible.”

How much do you have to prepare to race on the streets in Chicago?

“There’s a lot of preparation that goes into it. A lot of us don’t have any experience racing on streets, so it’s just something totally different and something that all of us drivers and teams have to look into closely. With that said, I enjoy racing on road courses, and I’m excited to head up to Chicago with another fast No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.”

You’re coming off your first top-five finish of the season heading to Chicago. How important was that result in Nashville?

“It was certainly a step in the right direction. Leading up to it wasn’t pretty. Track position was a tough thing, and we seem to always be on the other side of it, but for once when it mattered, we happened to be in the right spot. All of the cautions at the end and doing the right things when it counted saved our day. I’m proud of everyone on the team, and hopefully we can keep the momentum going and knock down a few more top-10s and top-fives in the races ahead.”

No. 41 HaasTooling.com Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Ryan Preece

Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Crew Chief: Chad Johnston

Hometown: Cayuga, Indiana

Car Chief: Jeremy West

Hometown: Gardena, California

Engineer: Marc Hendricksen

Hometown: Clinton, New Jersey

Spotter: Tony Raines

Hometown: LaPorte, Indiana

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Devin Lester

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Rear Tire Changer: Austin Chrismon

Hometown: China Grove, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Chad Emmons

Hometown: Tyler, Texas

Jack Man: Sherman Timbs

Hometown: Indianola, Mississippi

Fuel Man: Dwayne Moore

Hometown: Griffin, Georgia

Road Crew Members

Front End Mechanic: Joe Zanolini

Hometown: Sybertsville, Pennsylvania

Interior Mechanic: Robert Dalby

Hometown: Anaheim, California

Tire Specialist: Matt Ridgeway

Hometown: Carrollton, Georgia

Engine Tuner: Jimmy Fife

Hometown: Orange County, California

Transporter Co-Driver: David Rodrigues

Hometown: Santa Clarita, California

Transporter Co-Driver: Charlie Schleyer

Hometown: Youngsville, Pennsylvania

5 KYLE LARSON

Age: 31 (July 31, 1992)

Hometown: Elk Grove, California

Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina

Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels

Standings: 1st

No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

LEADER OF THE PACK: With his eighth-place finish Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway, Kyle Larson broke a tie with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott for the lead in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season standings and now holds a 20-point advantage. The Elk Grove, California, native also has accrued 23 playoff points with seven races to go in the regular season.

CHI-TOWN: The Cup Series will make its second visit to the Chicago Street Race on Sunday. The layout features 12 turns across 2.2 miles in the heart of the Windy City. Last year, Larson started seventh and finished fourth in the inaugural event.

ROAD SUCCESS: Larson is tied for second-most road course wins among all active Cup Series drivers. His five victories on serpentine tracks occurred at Sonoma Raceway (2021 and 2024), Watkins Glen International (2021 and 2022) and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL (2021). All of the triumphs have come with Cliff Daniels, who ranks second among active crew chiefs in road course wins. Larson is one of seven drivers all-time to finish first on at least three different road courses.

MILESTONE MARKER: On Sunday, Larson is scheduled to make his 350th start in NASCAR’s premier series. Throughout his Cup-level career, the Elk Grove, California, native has 26 wins (tied for 32nd all-time), 112 top-five finishes, 174 top-10s and 20 pole awards.

UP ON THE STAGE: Larson has earned 207 stage points this season, 34 more than second place. The 2021 Cup Series champion has run the most laps in the top five (2,838) while his 12.28 average finish ranks second.

FAST CAR: With seven races to go in the regular season, Larson has led 755 laps, which is 35 more than anyone else. The 31-year-old driver also leads the series in pole positions (four) while he is tied for most wins (three).

I DRIVE FASTLY: In just his fourth year driving for Hendrick Motorsports, Larson has already accumulated 20 points-paying wins, which rank him third in team history. He trails only NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (93) and Jimmie Johnson (83) in victories for the organization, which has won Cup races with a record 20 different drivers.

SATURDAY SUCCESS: On Saturday, Larson will wheel the No. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race. In March at Circuit of The Americas, the Hendrick Motorsports driver captured victory on the road course – the organization’s first at the Xfinity Series level with the No. 17 entry.

VALVOLINE ON BOARD: At Chicago, Valvoline will appear for its third of three 2024 primary races with the No. 5 team. Valvoline Inc. is a global leader in vehicle care and supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services. Since 2014, Hendrick Motorsports has earned a NASCAR-best three Cup Series championships (2016, 2020 and 2021) with Valvoline products in its Chevrolet racing engines. Off the track, Valvoline is the preferred lubricant of Hendrick Automotive Group, which operates 93 car dealerships across the United States. See every angle of the paint scheme that will be on track here.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT

Age: 28 (Nov. 28, 1995)

Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia

Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia

Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson

Standings: 2nd

No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

TALKIN’ 2024: With only seven races remaining before the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Chase Elliott ranks second in the regular season standings, only 20 points behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson. The 28-year-old holds an average finish of 10.05, which leads the series and is the best of his Cup career through 19 points-paying races. His seven top-five finishes are tied for second-best and his nine top-10s are tied for sixth-best.

CHASING HISTORY: Elliott has been the king of consistency this season. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native is the only driver to finish all 19 points-paying events inside the top 20, making him the first driver to do so since Ricky Rudd in 1991. His father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, also accomplished the feat in 1988. Bill’s worst finish through 19 events that season was 19th, matching Chase’s lowest result this year. Elliott has completed all but one lap this season, which is the best mark since Kurt Busch finished every lap through the first 19 races of 2016. The Hendrick Motorsports driver’s only performance not on the lead lap occurred at Bristol Motor Speedway where he still drove to an eighth-place finish.

CHICAGO FILES: The Chicago Street Race represents one of only two road courses on the current Cup Series schedule where Elliott has yet to win. After last year’s inaugural event in downtown Chicago was delayed by weather, he started at the rear of the field after moving to a backup car. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 finished the first stage in 20th and followed that with a 25th-place result in stage two after contact with the tire barrier. Strategy in the final stage helped Elliott gain pivotal track position. He held his own through several late-race cautions to take the checkered flag in the third position.

ROAD RACING MASTER: Elliott leads active drivers with seven Cup Series victories on road courses and is tied for the most stage wins with eight. He’s also third on the all-time road course victories list, trailing only NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine) and Tony Stewart (eight). Elliott has triumphs on five different road courses, the most in series history. In 32 Cup starts on tracks with left and right turns, Elliott has an average finish of 8.59, which is not only the best among active drivers, but fourth all-time (minimum of four starts). He also leads active drivers with 489 laps led in road races. Since Elliott’s most recent victory (Road America in 2021), he’s posted three runner-up finishes on serpentine tracks.

SEEKING A NEXT GEN WIN: While it has been three years since Elliott’s last Cup Series victory on a road course, he has continued to be among the best in the field following the 2022 introduction of the Next Gen race car. Since the start of 2022, he has the most top-five finishes (seven), is tied for the third-most top-10s (nine) and holds the second-best average result (9.62) on serpentine tracks. In his most recent road course start, Elliott drove to a fourth-place finish at Sonoma Raceway.

FIRST VICTORY: Elliott’s first career Cup Series victory came at a road course: Watkins Glen International in 2018. The six-time National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver Award winner started the race from third and led 52 of 90 laps en route to the checkered flag.

VIEW FROM THE TOP: On Sunday in Chicago, Alan Gustafson will call his 54th road course race from atop the pit box. In 20 seasons, he has led his teams to seven wins – a series high among active crew chiefs – along with 21 top-five finishes and 29 top-10s. Gustafson’s road course victories have all come with Elliott and the No. 9 team – first at Watkins Glen in 2018 and most recently at Road America in 2021.

FASTEST FIVE: In April at Texas, the No. 9 pit crew laid down the fastest four-tire pit stop (9.076 seconds) of the 2024 season. The over-the-wall squad has remained the same since 2018 and currently holds the fastest average four-tire pit stop time (10.573 seconds) this season. The 2021 Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Crew award-winning group is comprised of Chad Avrit (rear-tire changer), Jared Erspamer (tire carrier), John Gianninoto (fueler), Nick O’Dell (front-tire changer) and T.J. Semke (jackman).

24 WILLIAM BYRON

Age: 26 (Nov. 29, 1997)

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina

Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle

Standings: 7th

No. 24 Relay Payments Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

24 IN ‘24: William Byron’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season started off hot with three wins (currently tied for the most) including the DAYTONA 500. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has six top-five finishes (tied for sixth-most) and 10 top-10s (tied for third-most). He has the best average starting position (9.16) and the sixth-best average finish (13.53). After 19 races, he is seventh in the 2024 Cup Series standings with 16 playoff points.

ROAD COURSE RINGER: In 2024, the Cup Series has competed on two road courses: Sonoma Raceway and Circuit of The Americas, where Byron dominated and captured the pole before securing the win. In the last four road races, he has two victories, one pole award, three top-two finishes and three top-fives. He also has one stage win and 108 laps led with an average starting position of 5.75 and an average finish of 8.5. In 28 career Cup Series road course starts, Byron has five poles on four different layouts with two wins.

CHI-TOWN CHAOS: Like the majority of the Cup Series field, this will be Byron’s second start at the Chicago Street Race. In last year’s inaugural event, he was forced to start at the rear of the field due to a broken toe link in practice. With heavy rain hindering the first half of the race, Byron maneuvered his way to fourth before being collected in an on-track incident. He was able to continue and finished the race 13th.

RUDY RUNDOWN: After scoring a 13th-place finish in the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023, Rudy Fugle and the No. 24 team hope to better that result Sunday. All told, the crew chief has 30 NASCAR national series starts on road courses (20 in the Cup Series, three in the Xfinity Series and seven in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series). With his wins at Watkins Glen and COTA, Fugle is tied for fourth among active Cup crew chiefs on road courses. He also has a road victory in the truck ranks in 2015.

PIT ROAD PROWESS: After 19 races in 2024, the No. 24 pit crew is having another strong season. Currently ranked fifth for the fastest average four-tire pit stop (10.859 seconds), the over-the-wall team consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer), Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer), Ryan Patton (tire carrier) and Landon Walker (fueler).

WELCOME RELAY PAYMENTS: In 2023, Hendrick Motorsports announced a new partnership with Relay Payments, the fintech company modernizing payments for the transportation, logistics and supply chain industries. Sunday’s Chicago Street Race will mark the first of two 2024 events where Relay Payments is the primary partner. Founded in 2019, Relay’s mission is to help digitally transform the logistics industry. The company offers a digital payment network designed to increase efficiencies, reduce fraud, improve driver satisfaction and eliminate operational headaches. Earlier in the year, Relay hosted a fan-based vote for this season’s paint scheme with the winner featuring a split black and white design with green accents and chrome numbers. For a closer look at Byron’s No. 24 Relay Payments Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, click here.

48 ALEX BOWMAN

Age: 31 (April 25, 1993)

Hometown: Tucson, Arizona

Resides: Concord, North Carolina

Crew Chief: Blake Harris

Standings: 13th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

CARS IN CHICAGO: This weekend, NASCAR visits the 2.2-mile, 12-turn Chicago Street Race for the second consecutive year with Alex Bowman seeking his first road course win and eighth overall in sport’s premier series. In 32 Cup Series starts on road courses, he has scored two runner-up finishes: Circuit of The Americas in 2022 and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in 2019. On this track type, he is in a seven-way tie for the fourth-most top-five finishes (four) in the Next Gen car. He has finished in the top 10 in three of the last five Cup Series road races.

FAST IN 2024: Thus far in 2024, Bowman has secured four top-five finishes, including a runner-up performance in the DAYTONA 500. He also has 10 top-10 finishes, representing a personal best through 19 races in a season and placing him in a three-way tie for the third-most alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron. The driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has 15 lead-lap finishes, also his most through 19 races in a single season. He holds the ninth-best average finish in 2024 (14.47).

PLAYOFF PUSH: The 31-year-old Bowman ranks 13th in the regular season Cup Series standings, 165 points behind the leader. With seven events to go before the playoffs and five spots left unclaimed by race winners, he sits 51 points above the cut line.

ALLY 400 RECAP: After hosting several NASCAR national series races, Nashville Superspeedway sat dormant for 10 years until 2021 when sponsor Ally brought racing back to the “Music City” with the inaugural Ally 400. This year, Ally featured a full-scale setup in the fan zone complete with a victory wheel, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 show car, Hendrick Motorsports 40th anniversary street car, cooling zone and more. Country music sensation Luke Combs served as the honorary pace car driver and new Ally Financial CEO Michael Rhodes waved the green flag for Sunday’s race. For the third year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. designed the No. 48 team’s paint scheme for the Ally 400. At the end of the exciting five-overtime race, the Ally Racing team finished 14th.

ONE TAIL AT A TIME: Since 2024, Bowman and Ally have teamed to support Best Friends Animal Society and its vast network of partners. Every race weekend, the pair donates a total of $4,800 to help homeless pets. This weekend, the charitable donation will go to One Tail at a Time. If you’re in town for the race, check out the animals available for adoption at the shelter located just 5 miles northwest of Millennium Park. Not ready to adopt? Visit their website for further details on how to help save a life by donating, volunteering or fostering. Learn more about Best Friends’ new “Bring Love Home” campaign here.

FUELING THE PIT CREW: The Ally Racing pit crew ranks ninth on pit road for the best average four-tire stop this year (10.969). The five-man No. 48 crew is composed of jackman Allen Holman, tire carrier Brandon Grier, front-tire changer Donnie Tasser, rear-tire changer Andrew Bridgeforth and gasman Jacob Conley.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE TRAFFIC: Join Bowman with views from his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 this weekend at Chicago. Fans can ride along Sunday by tuning into NASCAR’s in-car camera on-board. Visit nascar.com/drive to experience the behind-the-scenes perspective.

WIN YOUR WHEELS: Ally is constantly looking for ways to be an ally to No. 48 fans, and what better way than rewarding Ally Nation fandom with a new car – specifically, a special-edition Chevrolet Camaro. To celebrate Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary, a limited line of Hendrick Motorsports 40th Anniversary Edition Chevrolet Camaro street cars will be sold exclusively through select Hendrick Automotive Group Chevrolet dealerships. One lucky fan will win a 40th Anniversary Edition Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE. Enter at Ally.com/sweepstakes/nascar or visit the Ally Fan Zone at select tracks. The promotion will end Sept. 20, 2024.

HENDRICK
MOTORSPORTS /

2024	All-Time	Chicago
Races	19	1,364	1
Wins	7*	308*	0
Poles	5*	251*	0
Top 5	25*	1,257*	2*
Top 10	39*	2,151*	2**
Laps Led	1,175	80,932*	0
Stage Wins	10	108	0

*Most **Most (tie)

WIN-DY CITY: Hendrick Motorsports enters Sunday’s Chicago Street Race having won three of the last four NASCAR Cup Series road course events. Of the team’s all-time record 29 road course victories, 14 have come with its current stable of drivers: Chase Elliott (seven), Kyle Larson (five) and William Byron (two). Hendrick Motorsports has won 14 of the last 28 road races on the Cup schedule (50%).

ROAD RECORDS: On road courses, Hendrick Motorsports holds the Cup Series records with 29 wins (most by 14), 26 pole positions (most by 13), 93 top-five finishes (most by 26), 155 top-10 finishes (most by 43) and 2,353 laps led (most by 1,097).

CRUISE BROTHERS: A Cup Series record eight different drivers have won on road courses for Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Gordon is NASCAR’s all-time king of the road with nine victories, while Elliott leads active drivers with seven wins. Larson (five), Tim Richmond (three), Byron (two), Jimmie Johnson (one), Ricky Rudd (one) and Geoff Bodine (one) have all contributed to the organization’s total.

MIDWEST EXPRESS: Hendrick Motorsports has 31 victories on racetracks located in the Midwest – more than any other active organization. Joe Gibbs Racing is second with 27.

SPORTY 40: In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The team holds the all-time NASCAR Cup Series records in every major statistical category, including championships (14), wins (308), pole positions (251) and laps led (80,932). This season, it leads all Cup organizations with seven points-paying victories through 19 races.

QUOTABLE /

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on last year’s race at Chicago: “I thought we had a good race there last year, but we need to improve in some areas to battle for the win. (Winner) Shane (Van Gisbergen) was super fast, so we need to make some gains. The fans in the Midwest are incredible and they braved the elements to support Cup Series racing there last year. It was a cool event — one that we all hope is better this year with better weather.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, reflecting on last year’s Chicago Street Race: “I have nothing but good things to say about that event as a whole. I thought they did a really good job with it last year. I thought the track was laid out really well. The logistics and everything flowed. It took a little time to learn (the course). I spent some time on iRacing, just trying to learn the turns, just because nobody had ever seen it before, so it took me a little time to memorize it. Usually when you get out on track in real life it comes pretty quick, and I was a little nervous about that going in. But it really came pretty fast and once you kind of get in the rhythm, things flow well.”

Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the inaugural Chicago Street Race and returning there this weekend: “I was kind of pessimistic about going there, but I had a great time. I thought the event was amazing. The track was much better than I expected and raced much better than I expected. The rain was a bummer for the crowd, but the element that it brought to the racing was really good. It will be interesting just to be in dry conditions and go through the race a little bit more conventionally. I think there’s still going to be a good amount of cautions. But there’s strategy and everything that goes along with that. I thoroughly enjoyed it last year and I think it’s a great venue. To race in the city like that is kind of surreal. The whole thing has a great vibe to it. I’m looking forward to going back.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his expectations for the second year of the Chicago Street Race: “This track is still new. Last year we didn’t make a ton of laps and we definitely didn’t make a lot of laps in the dry. So this is really new for us as drivers and the teams still. I really enjoyed the challenge it brought last year and all the unknowns behind it. The rain definitely threw a wrench in things, and with the weather being clear this weekend, I think we can expect a completely different track and race. I’m excited for it.”

Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the challenges of the Chicago Street Race: “To me the first challenge is not knowing a lot about the surface. I mean, if someone blew a transmission on the streets downtown last week, that will effect the racing surface for us. All those things are things that are way out of your control when it comes to racing on public roads. The track constantly changes and we don’t technically have a scan of it so we don’t know what bumps are going to be this time either. You’re going to hit the track ready to go fast and it’s going to be vastly different, and that’s not normal compared to the normal wear a track sees in a year. From a fuel standpoint, it’s really looking like one pit stop. And since we didn’t race much in the dry last year, we don’t know how much the tires are going to fall off. If it runs anything like road courses have in the last couple years, fuel will be more important when it comes to strategy. It will be about figuring out that fuel window, when you can short pit or when you can stay out longer based on how your race is going. Knowing it’s a one pit stop race, you would think it could be a boring race because it’s shorter, but I’ve truck raced enough to know that shorter races bring more excitement.”
​

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing the Chicago Street Race: “I’m excited to get there. It is a really fun place to race. It’s honestly difficult just making laps there by yourself. It’s so technical, which actually makes it really fun. I’m excited to get there from that standpoint. I think our road course stuff has been really, really good. Last year, we had a good day going until we encountered a mechanical issue. Excited to go back to Chicago and looking for a little redemption.”

Blake Harris, crew chief of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on calling the shots for the No. 48 team for the second Chicago Street Race: “This weekend we are shooting to have a full solid race. I feel like road courses in general have been a strength of ours this year, so my eyes are set on a top-five finish and hopefully contending for a win. There is potentially a little bit of rain Sunday, so we’ll see how everything plays out. We ended the race a little bit early last year due to a mechanical failure, so I’m a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get more dry track time there. Of what we did run, and even in the wet (tires), I thought we were super competitive. I’m excited to get back there.”

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
Chicago Street Race
Chicago, Illinois
July 6-7, 2024

One year ago, the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) made history by competing in the sport’s first-ever street race. NASCAR will make its return to the “Windy City” this weekend to take on the Chicago Street Course for a doubleheader event featuring two of NASCAR’s top divisions – kicking off Saturday with the NXS’ The Loop 110, with NASCAR’s premier series capping off the weekend in Sunday’s Grant Park 165.

Built among some of the city’s most renowned landmarks, the 2.2-mile, 12-turn circuit features portions of the famed streets of Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue, with the start-finish line situated at the Buckingham Fountain. Chevrolet will return to the course as the defending winners of the inaugural NCS event, while looking to capture its first street race victory in the NXS.

ONE YEAR AGO…

Shane van Gisbergen added to an already history-making weekend on the streets of Chicago by becoming the first driver in 60 years to win in his NASCAR Cup Series debut. Van Gisbergen, who was also piloting a Camaro ZL1 in the Supercars Championship series last season, made the trip to the United States to make his first-career NASCAR start in the inaugural Chicago Street Race. The 35-year-old New Zealander immediately caught the eye of the NASCAR world when his first-ever laps behind the wheel of a Next Gen Camaro ZL1 saw the Team Chevy driver top the leaderboard in the series’ practice session, going on to post a third-place qualifying effort for his series debut.

Enduring a race that saw a crossover from wet to dry conditions, van Gisbergen showcased his mastery in making left- and right-hand turns throughout the race. With the race ultimately shortened due to impending darkness, crew chief Darian Grubb gave van Gisbergen a fresh set of Goodyear tires that allowed the driver to quickly climb through the field to the top position during the final stage. Despite never experiencing an overtime restart, the challenge proved to be no problem for van Gisbergen as he quickly pulled away to take the checkered flag and a historic victory.

Big Day for the Bowtie Brand

Van Gisbergen’s historic victory was celebrated by a dominant performance by the Bowtie brand, with Team Chevy drivers sweeping the top-five finishing positions in the series’ first-ever street race. Van Gisbergen, who was behind the wheel of Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91 Camaro ZL1, led drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations to the finish including: runner-up finisher Justin Haley in the No. 31 Kaulig Racing Camaro ZL1; Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson in the third and fourth positions, respectively; and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch rounding out the manufacturer’s top-five sweep. This marked the second time in the series’ Next Gen era that Chevrolet swept the top-five finishing positions of an event – also accomplishing the feat at Road America in July 2022.

MOMENTUM ON LEFTS AND RIGHTS

Sunday’s Grant Park 165 will mark the NASCAR Cup Series’ third event that will feature left- and right-hand turns. Chevrolet has been unstoppable on road course circuits this season, with wins by Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron (Circuit of The Americas) and Kyle Larson (Sonoma Raceway) keeping the manufacturer undefeated on road courses this season.

While there are unique challenges that come with street racing, Chevrolet has a boost of confidence from its success in making left- and right-hand turns in recent years. With Larson’s win in the series’ most recent road course race at Sonoma Raceway, the Bowtie brand now owns 19 victories in the past 24 NCS road course events – nine of which have come in the series’ Next Gen era. Among the entries for Sunday’s event, there are eight Team Chevy drivers that have recorded a road course/street course win in NASCAR’s premier series.

Topping the list is Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who ranks third on the series’ all-time road course wins list with seven triumphs. Joining Elliott on the list includes Kyle Larson (five NCS road course wins), Kyle Busch (four), AJ Allmendinger (three), William Byron (two), Ross Chastain (one), Daniel Suarez (one) and Shane van Gisbergen (one).

SMITH COLLECTS CAREER-BEST FINISH; ADDS TO MANUFACTURER POINTS LEAD

At Nashville Superspeedway, Team Chevy’s Zane Smith came just 0.068 seconds from becoming a first-time winner in NASCAR’s top division. Settling for a runner-up result, Smith’s career-best finish in the series didn’t come without a fight. The NASCAR Cup Series rookie was sitting outside of the top-20 for the first overtime finish, but pit strategy by the team’s rookie crew chief, Stephen Doran, put the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Camaro ZL1 team in prime position to outlast the long list of drivers that fell short on fuel during the record-setting five overtime attempts.

Smith’s finish helped keep Chevrolet atop the NCS’ manufacturer points standings, with the Bowtie brand heading to Chicago with a four-point lead over second-place Toyota. In 19 points-paying races, five Chevrolet organizations have contributed points towards the manufacturer points standings as the Bowtie brand looks to defend its championship title. Smith also became the ninth different driver to lead Team Chevy to the finish in a NCS race this season.

SVG’S CHICAGO RETURN

While Shane van Gisbergen has already proven his ability to navigate the Chicago Street Course, the 35-year-old New Zealander is on the horizon of his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at the 2.2-mile, 12-turn circuit. Returning to the venue that put his name on the map in the NASCAR world, van Gisbergen heads to the “Windy City” as the series’ most recent road course winner. Just one month ago, van Gisbergen became a first-time NXS winner at Portland International Raceway, with the Team Chevy driver becoming the series’ second rookie to secure a playoff berth this season. Van Gisbergen followed up that performance with yet another trip to victory lane just one week later at Sonoma Raceway – giving the team back-to-back road course triumphs. In addition, van Gisbergen will strap into the No. 16 Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing to defend his title in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event.

Among the nine drivers that will pull double-duty this weekend, five come from the Chevrolet camp. Joining van Gisbergen on that list includes Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who will return to the driver’s seat of the No. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro SS. This weekend will mark Larson’s second NXS start of 2024, with his lone start in the series this season resulting in a trip to victory lane (Circuit of The Americas – March 2024). Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, who became a first-time NCS winner at Sonoma Raceway in 2022, is also tapped to pilot the No. 36 Camaro SS for DGM Racing. Team Chevy’s full-time NXS drivers, AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill, will also compete in Sunday’s NCS race, with Allmendinger driving the No. 13 Kaulig Racing Camaro ZL1 and Hill driving the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Camaro ZL1 – a third entry for both Chevrolet organizations.

ECKES PROVING TO BE A TITLE FAVORITE

Despite a three-week break in competition for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS), no momentum was lost for Christian Eckes and the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Silverado RST team. At Nashville Superspeedway, the 23-year-old New York native became the series’ second three-time winner this season in dominating fashion. With a third-place qualifying effort, Eckes quickly drove his No. 19 Silverado RST to the lead on the first lap, with the Team Chevy driver going on to lead every lap of the 150-lap event en route to the victory. The triumph also extended Eckes’ lead in the series’ points standings, with the Team Chevy driver now sitting at a 40-point advantage over second-place Corey Heim with three races remaining in the regular-season.

BOWTIE BULLETS:

· The pace car lineup for the second annual Chicago Street Race will feature all three NASCAR OEM partners, with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 helping lead the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series to the green-flag in their respective events.

· With 50 races complete across NASCAR’s three national series this season, Chevrolet has a winning percentage of 54% with 27 victories (NASCAR Cup Series – eight wins; NASCAR Xfinity Series – 10 wins; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – nine wins).

· Shane van Gisbergen captured the win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ inaugural Chicago Street Race last season, with the 35-year-old New Zealander becoming the first driver in 60 years to win in his first career NCS start (last previously accomplished by Johnny Rutherford at Daytona International Speedway in 1963).

· Chevrolet drivers swept the top-five finishing positions in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Chicago Street Race – recorded by drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations. The feat marked the second time the manufacturer swept the top-five finishing results in the series’ Next Gen era – also accomplishing the feat at Road America in July 2022.

· Chevrolet has earned 19 victories in the past 24 NASCAR Cup Series road course events – dating from Chase Elliott’s victory at Watkins Glen International in August 2019, to Kyle Larson’s victory at Sonoma Raceway in June 2024.

· In 13 NASCAR Cup Series road course races in the Next Gen era, Chevrolet leads the series with nine victories – recorded by six drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations.

· In 91 points-paying races in the Next Gen era, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 45 victories – a winning percentage of 49.5%.

· With his victory at Sonoma Raceway, Kyle Larson is the second driver to hit a double-digit win record in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Next Gen era with 10 triumphs. Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, leads the series’ all-time win record in the Next Gen era with 11 victories.

· With its 42 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Championships, and 859 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title as the winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.

 
FOR THE FANS

· Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Plaza at the Chicago Street Course.

· Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: Trax ACTIV, Silverado 1500 ZR2, Colorado Trailboss, Tahoe Z71, Traverse Z71, Blazer EV RS, Equinox EV RS, Corvette Stingray and Corvette Z06.

Team Chevy Driver Appearances at the Display:

Sunday, July 7

· Chase Elliott: 12 p.m. – 12:15 p.m.

· Kyle Busch: 12:15 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.

· Shane van Gisbergen: 12:30 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.

· William Byron: 12:45 p.m. – 1 p.m.

· Carson Hocevar: 1 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.

· Kyle Larson: 1:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation:

· Saturday, July 6: 8:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

· Sunday, July 7: 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Manufacturer Points Standings

Chevrolet: 685
Toyota: 681 (-4)
Ford: 663 (-22)

Manufacturer Points Standings

Chevrolet: 637
Toyota: 606 (-31)
Ford: 535 (-102)

Manufacturer Points Standings

Chevrolet: 498
Toyota: 459 (-39)
Ford: 414 (-84)
 
TUNE-IN:

NASCAR Cup Series

Grant Park 165

Sunday, July 7, at 4:30 p.m. ET

(NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)

NASCAR Xfinity Series

The Loop 110

Saturday, July 6, at 3:30 p.m. ET

(NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)

 
QUOTABLE QUOTES:

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Peach Camaro ZL1

Is there anything you, Daniel or the organization can take from SVG’s Chicago win that will transfer over?

“Well, he’s a machine when it comes to preparation. I would say he’s kind of leading the charge for us in the simulator and getting it how he thinks it will be. But, the streets up there will have changed and we’re all honest with each other that the simulator is a tool. At least I’ll have that to go off of though. Last year, I’ll be honest, that I didn’t put enough stock in his simulator prep but this year I definitely have.”

Do you think SVG will has as much of an advantage in on a dry street course and now that you all have one race there under your belt?

“He is an animal when it comes to road courses and we’ve seen that with his two Xfinity wins already this season. He’s that good.”

What are you most looking forward to at Chicago?

“Getting another crack at it, as SVG would say. Definitely not the result I wanted last year. Didn’t feel comfortable, didn’t make a lot of speed, couldn’t pass and really struggled. It was a concrete canyon feeling and the walls were really close to the left and right of the racing line. Looking forward to getting another shot and seeing if I can do better.”

Having notes and data now, how does that change going into Chicago this time?

“It’s definitely more than last year (laughs). I just have no idea what it would be like but the street could’ve totally changed with regular traffic out there and what’s getting dropped on it, gouges, new paint here and there. I know NASCAR will try to and make it the most similar but still, it’s another level of unknown.”

Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Celsius Camaro ZL1

What’s your perspective heading into this weekend?

“We ran 14th at the Chicago Street Course last year and our goal is to better that this weekend. Our road course program has been solid so we’re looking to have a great run in the Celsius Camaro. There’s no margin for error on the race track so we have to be perfect all weekend. I’m looking forward to going back to Chicago this weekend and putting on a great show.”

Kyle Busch, No. 8 Zone Camaro ZL1

What was your experience like last year at the Chicago Street Race?

“The Chicago Street Race last year was pretty exciting. I know we had the weather there and it kind of held up the start of things. I didn’t think we were going to race. I thought it was flooded, but it stopped raining, they got it kind of dried up, the standing water removed, and we were out there as it was still drying, running our wet tires. It was a challenging racetrack already with how narrow it was and how slick it was on city streets. Throw in the rain and wet aspect into it and it totally changes it for us. We struggled a little bit there early in the race, but we were able to turn it around. Our strategy worked really well, some breaks fell our way, and we were able to score a top-five.”

Last year you went nose first into the tire barrier but were able to bounce back and score a fifth-place finish. Were you surprised the car didn’t have more damage?

“I was thankful that the car didn’t have more damage than what it did. I was able to continue racing and was able to score a top five finish, which was really good for us. I felt like we had a top five car, so we achieved the finish that we should have so that was pretty good.”

Would you be okay with adding another street race to the schedule? If so, what would be a good location?

“I would say that another street circuit would be a pretty good idea. If we’re going to do it, we should go to an area that we’re not currently racing in. I wouldn’t change racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to run on the streets of Las Vegas. Let’s go somewhere different.”

AJ Allmendinger, No. 13 Benesch Camaro ZL1

“I really liked the racetrack last year in Chicago. I thought it was really ‘racey’ for a street course. We definitely didn’t have the result we wanted to, but I’m pumped up to get back there and run both races. I believe with the things we have learned on the road courses, especially with the Cup car, we’ll be better there and have a great weekend.”

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

Bowman on racing the Chicago Street Race:

“I’m excited to get there (Chicago Street Course). It is a really fun place to race. It’s honestly difficult, you know, just making laps there (Chicago Street Course) by yourself it’s so technical that it actually makes it really fun. I’m excited to get there from that stand point of things. I think our road course stuff has been really, really good. Last year, we had a good day going until we encountered a mechanical issue. Excited to go back to Chicago and looking for a little redemption.”

Blake Harris, Crew Chief, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

Harris on calling the shots for the No. 48 team during NASCAR’s second consecutive Chicago Street Race:

“This weekend we are shooting to have a full solid race. I feel like road courses in general have been a strength of ours this year- so my eyes are set on a top-five finish and hopefully contending for a win. There is potentially a little bit of rain Sunday, so we’ll see how everything plays out. We ended the race a little bit early last year due to a mechanical failure, so I’m a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get more dry track time there. Of what we did run and even in the wet (tires) I thought we were super competitive though. I’m excited to get back there.”

Zane Smith, No. 71 Focused Health Camaro ZL1

Career best second-place finish last weekend in Nashville. How does that feel and how will you carry this momentum with you?

“It feels so good to put a solid weekend together. It was an awesome result and obviously it stinks to be 0.068 seconds away from my first Cup victory. You never know when you might get a shot at that again. But so proud of my team for pulling the second-place finish off and the strategy we chose. We know what our cars are capable of now. Going to build off this momentum and continue to learn and get better. I’m looking forward to getting to Chicago this weekend. I’ve heard how cool of an event it was last year and I’m excited to make my first start on a street course.”

Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Camaro ZL1

Even though it’s your debut at the Chicago Street Race, you’ve been putting in extra prep time since last year. Has that extra effort made you feel more ready heading into race week?

“I did a lot of prep work in the SIM. It’s kind of weird to say, I’ve gotten a ton of laps on the Chicago Street Course but I’ve never raced there, so I’m really looking forward to just getting on the actual race track. The SIM was interesting last year without all the buildings, it was just completely bare so I’m excited to go and see the actual Chicago skyline everyone keeps talking about. The extra time makes me feel good about this week. I feel pretty good. I think we are going to have a fast car and I know we can continue to build and get better at road courses.”

Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey x Folds of Honor Camaro ZL1

What are your thoughts on Sunday’s race in Chicago?

“I am very optimistic. We were good there last year. It was frustrating because we had a really good car and I thought we were going to be there at the end, but we ended up having too many issues. We had a good car all weekend and I think everyone knew we were there. I know we are good enough to win this race on Sunday.”

What is the key to winning?

“You have to survive. Stay out of trouble. You do that by qualifying well, making good pit stops, good strategy and having a little bit of luck.”

How important is Chicago to NASCAR?

“I think Chicago is very important. We need as many new markets as possible. We came up here two weeks ago for a Daniel’s Amigos and I was pleased with how enthusiastic everyone was about the upcoming race. The Amigo’s program is about bringing new fans to the sport and going new places is one of the best ways to do that.”

What are your thoughts on running a Jockey paint scheme honoring a fallen Georgia police officer?

“Jockey and Folds of Honor have come up with a great paint scheme to honor Chase Lee Maddox who lost his life in the line of duty. I’m honored to meet his family this weekend and thank them for his service in the military and as a police officer.”

 
Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics

Manufacturers Championships:

Total (1949-2023): 42

First title for Chevrolet: 1958

Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)

Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2023

Drivers Championships:

Total (1949-2021): 33

First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)

Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)

Most Recent: Kyle Larson (2021)

Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021

Event Victories:

Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)

2024 STATISTICS:

Wins: 8

Poles: 6

Laps Led: 1,607

Top-five finishes: 35

Top-10 finishes: 72

Stage wins: 11

· Chase Elliott: 1

· Kyle Larson: 8

· Ross Chastain: 1

· William Byron: 1

CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:

Total Chevrolet race wins: 859 (1949 to date)

Poles won to date: 749

Laps led to date: 250,782

Top-five finishes to date: 4,333

Top-10 finishes to date: 8,932

Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:

       General Motors: 1,193

       Chevrolet: 859

       Pontiac: 154

       Oldsmobile: 115

       Buick: 65



       Ford: 832                                                           

       Ford: 732

       Mercury: 96

       Lincoln: 4



       Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467

       Dodge: 217

       Plymouth: 191

       Chrysler: 59



       Toyota: 187

 

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.

JUSTIN HALEY | KAZ GRALA
Chicago Street Race Advance
Event Overview

● Event: Grant Park 165 (Round 20 of 36)
● Time/Date: 4:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 7
● Location: Chicago Street Course
● Layout: 2.2-mile, 12-turn street course
● Laps/Miles: 75 laps/165 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 25 laps / Final Stage: 30 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Justin Haley, Driver of the No. 51 Pinnacle Home Improvements Ford Mustang Dark Horse

● The NASCAR Cup Series takes to the streets of Chicago Sunday for the Grant Park 165. Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Pinnacle Home Improvements Ford Mustang Dark Horse, started last year’s inaugural event on the 2.2-mile, 12-turn circuit in 37th after contact with the wall in practice, then fought through heavy rain and standing water on the course to take the lead during a caution on lap 48. Haley led 23 laps before giving up the top spot to eventual winner Shane Van Gisbergen with just four laps remaining and crossed the start-finish line near Buckingham Fountain in second for his best finish of 2023.

● Chicago marks the third of five road-course events on the 2024 schedule. In the season’s first, at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, Haley was running 17th on the final lap before the team’s result was disqualified during postrace technical inspection. Haley qualified 13th and spent most of the 68-lap race in the top-10. The second road-course event, at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, also saw the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing (RWR) machine in the top-10 before power steering issues ended Haley’s race 12-laps short of the checkered flag.

● In 21 Cup Series road-course starts, Haley has two top-five finishes and three top-10s. In addition to last year’s runner-up finish in Chicago, Haley finished fifth at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval in 2022.

● Haley is fresh off a 13th-place finish at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, his best result at the 1.333-mile, concrete oval and his second top-13 finish in the last three races. The 25-year-old driver was faced with a prerace inspection issue that required the team to serve a pass-through penalty. Haley passed leader Christopher Bell prior to the conclusion of Stage 1 to regain a lap. The move placed the No. 51 just one lap down to the leaders and in position to wavearound at the stage break to rejoin the lead lap.

● With 19 races complete, Haley is ranked seventh among drivers in laps completed (5,406) and first among Ford drivers.

Kaz Grala, Driver of the No. 15 Remixers.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

● Kaz Grala, driver of No. 15 Remixers.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse, will make his street-course debut in the Cup Series on the circuit surrounding downtown Chicago’s Grant Park. In last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the temporary, 12-turn layout, Grala started 25th and passed Connor Mosack for 10th place on lap 23, only seven laps into the second stage. Just two laps later, the race was red-flagged for lightning in the area. The race was eventually called with just 25 laps completed and Grala emerged with his third top-10 of the 2023 season.

● In four Cup Series starts on road courses, Grala owns one top-10 finish, a seventh-place result earned in the 2020 event on the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course.

● Grala earned a 27th-place finish in the first road-course event of the season at COTA and followed that up with a 23rd-place run at Sonoma in which he was plagued by power-steering issues.

● The 25-year-old Grala cut his teeth racing sportscars before making his way to NASCAR’s premier series. The experience making left- and right-hand turns led Grala to a pair of top-fives and five top-10s over nine road-course starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and four top-fives and eight top-10s in 19 Xfinity Series starts.

Rick Ware Racing Notes

● Modified driver and RWR Suspension and Driveline Specialist Tim Brown earned his 100th win at the famed Bowman Gray Stadium (BGS) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina last Saturday to become the first driver in NASCAR Regional history to accomplish the feat at a single track. It was Brown’s second win of the season and a victory earned by besting rival Burt Myers in a 25-lap sprint race. The winningest Modified driver in BGS history, Brown claimed his first win on May 8, 1993 and his first BGS Modified championship in 1996. In his more than three decades of racing at BGS, Brown has collected a record 12 Modified titles, the most recent coming in 2022, and 141 race starts from the pole.

● The Progressive American Flat Track (AFT) series will compete at the DuQuoin (Ill.) Mile for the 10th event of the season Friday and Saturday after having visited the Lima (Ohio) Half-Mile last weekend. AFT Singles rider and defending class champion Kody Kopp finished second at Lima, ending a three-race win streak. The runner-up finish was Kopp’s eighth podium in nine events completed. He holds onto the top spot in the championship standings by 32 points. Mission SuperTwins rider Briar Bauman finished fifth at Lima, and is currently fourth in the standings with two podium finishes, including a win at the Ventura Short Track in Chico, California.

● Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series Top Fuel driver Clay Millican picked up another first round win in last weekend’s events in Norwalk, Ohio. The racer is eighth in points as the series takes a break before heading to Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Washington July 19-21.

● Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age six when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields two fulltime entries in the NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), where RWR won the 2022 SX2 championship with rider Shane McElrath.

Justin Haley, Driver Q&A

What do you think will be the biggest opportunity or challenge as the Cup Series visits Chicago for the second time?

“What’s good is we’ve been there. I think it was such a shock last year for the whole industry that you almost couldn’t focus on the racecar or the race. The ‘garage’ is on a street and the driver’s meeting is in a building down the street, you’re in a hotel instead of a motorhome, and you’re walking through a city to get everywhere. Everything was different than what we’re used to every other weekend. Plus, it was raining, and pretty heavily at times. So I feel like this year the initial shock of the whole street circuit is is kind of gone. We know the lay of the land. So now we can go and focus on the racing.”

How important is it to participate in the track walk before practice and quaifying?

“We don’t really know what we’re dealing with until the track walk. What’s changed with the road surface – potholes or other repairs, the location of the manhole covers, bumps, seams, paint – anything that could be an obstacle. Going into the second year, NASCAR probably refined a lot of things like barrier replacement or braking markers. I think the track walk is good at a place like Chicago. The bigger teams all have these big cameras and I don’t know what they do with them, but they take videos of every corner and pictures and stuff. And usually it’s just me and my teammate walking and doing the old foot scrub thing you do on the track. You’re like, ‘Well, you’ve got pavement,’ and then you go on with your day.”

The track was new last year, and weather conditions were not ideal, but you led laps late in the race and finished second. Is there anything you can take from the experience for this weekend?

“Last year was the most unprepared I’ve ever felt as a racecar driver when showing up at a track. We started last after I got in the wall during practice and we were all going into the start of the race having no idea what was about to happen. Thankfully, being at the back, I had a little more room to work with than the guys up front going into turn one. But yeah, I think the overall experience is going to be a big opportunity. We’re all more prepared, but running up front and having the information from last year to lean on really helps. I can say that I’m definitely going in with more confidence this year and I think we’ve been so good lately that we’re going to have a lot of fun this weekend.”

Kaz Grala, Driver Q&A

Passing has been a hot topic. Do you feel qualifying is where the race will be won or lost?

“Rain or shine, that could very well be the case. It’s just so narrow and passing is already very tough to do. You could argue that Chicago may be as bad or worse than anywhere else. There’s not a lot of room to pass. I do think qualifying will matter a lot, but with Chicago being so difficult from a track standpoint, there will be mistakes made. If your Saturday isn’t as good as you hope for it to be, if you can at least get through Sunday mistake-free and execute a really, really good race, then I think that will still pay off. We’ll have to make sure to execute Sunday because what would be a small mistake elsewhere is likely going to be a big mistake in Chicago.”

Were you impressed with the course last year for the inaugural street course event?

“I loved the event and I love the track. I was impressed with how nicely it was put together for being our first attempt at a street course. The track layout was great and I thought they did a nice job setting it up from a safety standpoint. I’m sure they picked up on some things to improve on for this year, but I loved the event. I’ve been looking forward to it all year. Speaking from the Xfinity side, the track raced really well and there were opportunities to make passes and it was just a lot of fun. I’ve been waiting for this race to come up on the schedule.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Wood Brothers Racing Announcement | Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Wood Brothers Racing announced that Josh Berry will drive the No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series starting in 2025. The team held a press conference earlier today and answered questions from the media about the move.

JON WOOD, President, Wood Brothers Racing – WHAT WENT INTO THE DECISION TO HIRE JOSH? “I think Josh was the obvious choice. We had to look at Chase (Briscoe) first with the relationship that we had with Ford and he had with Ford, but when it was obvious that wasn’t gonna work out, Josh was by far and away the top prospect. He being a Ford driver works, but his results speak for themselves aside from that. We’re just happy it worked out.”

JOSH BERRY, Driver, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DOES THIS OPPORTUNITY MEAN TO YOU TO BE WITH SUCH AN ICONIC TEAM? “First and foremost just the history, the heritage, the family atmosphere that the Wood Brothers provide. It just really feels like a great fit for me. I feel like I fit their brand and who they are and how I’ve gotten here and how they’ve gotten here. I feel like this is a great fit. I’ve really enjoyed my relationship with Ford and to continue that on was something that’s important to me and I appreciate and I’m thankful to have that opportunity. It just really means a lot to drive an iconic car like the 21. I feel like it’s a great opportunity for me. I feel ready to provide results and I think that, all in all, it’s gonna be a great relationship.”

EDDIE WOOD, Chief Executive Officer, Wood Brothers Racing – THERE ARE SO MANY FACTORS THAT GO INTO THIS DECISION. WHAT WERE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT MADE YOU LAND ON JOSH? “Basically, like Jon said, we had to talk to Chase first because he had a relationship with Ford Motor Company, Ford Performance, through the development series that went back a number of years. So, that didn’t seem like that was gonna work out. He already had an offer when the got there, but we had Josh in the back of our mind anyway and when everything unfolded like it did, we were just really excited to get to talk to Josh and we didn’t waste any time doing it. I think we met the Monday after Sonoma, which was right away, and it was a real easy process. We’re just happy that he’s with us.”

LEN WOOD, Chief Operating Officer, Wood Brothers Racing – WHAT QUALITIES HAVE YOU SEEN IN JOSH THAT MAKE HIM A GOOD FIT FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION? “We started hearing Josh’s name like, who won Hickory? Josh Berry. Who won Tri-County? Josh Berry. That kind of stuck in the back of our head from years ago. I think when he came in and drove for Chase Elliott when he had his leg problem, he did really well. He adapted quickly. I think it was Darlington where he didn’t have a good qualifying lap and started in the back, but he finished third. That kind of catches your eye. And then the last few weeks he’s been pretty much up front at the end of each race, so that’s what we’re looking for.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – “When he substituted for Hendrick that was pretty eye-opening. I mean, he can tell you, but I can’t. These cars are monsters and to have no experience in a Next Gen car or a Cup car and to hop in that thing and go like he did at different types of tracks, I mean, it gave every one of us pause and you don’t really know it at the time. It’s not something that you’re aware of. You’re not like, ‘Well, this might be our next driver,’ but you still remember it and it stood out.”

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION:

JON WOOD CONTINUED – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE CREW CHIEF JOSH WILL BE PAIRED WITH? “We’re stunned that that’s a question first and foremost (laughter). The crew chief part hasn’t been worked out yet. There’s a lot of good people at Team Penske. We have a really good team now and that’s just not something that we’ve really addressed.”

JOSH BERRY CONTINUED – TO LAND WITH A TEAM THAT HAS SO MUCH HISTORY AS THE WOOD BROTHERS, HOW CAN YOU SUM UP WHAT THESE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS HAS BEEN LIKE? “It’s definitely been a whirlwind from going – 2020 was the weekly series national champion on the NASCAR side of things, late model racing full-time and really didn’t believe that opportunities outside of that were coming my way, and I’ve just been very thankful and very fortunate to have a lot of great people behind me that have given me opportunities, but also opportunities that have provided results and allowed me to continue on this path. It’s been a lot going on the last few years. I’m really thankful for Dale and Kelly, LW, everybody at Junior Motorsports. I called Tony last night. Tony was super excited for this. He spoke so highly of the Wood Brothers and the people that they are and they feel like this is a great fit for me and I’m thankful for Tony and Gene and the opportunity that I had at Stewart-Haas Racing. That landed me here and now I have a new opportunity ahead of me for next year, which I’m really excited for. I think it’s a great fit for me. I have a great opportunity to come in here and help be a part of getting them back to running where they want to run and where they expect to run and I have the same expectations. I feel like between everyone here at the Wood Brothers, between the affiliation at Team Penske and Ford, I think we have the pieces in place to be competitive, and I think where I’m at with the Next Gen car we’ll be able to hit the ground running.”

WHAT IS IT THAT IS GOING TO CARRY THIS ORGANIZATION FORWARD BEYOND WHAT YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS? “From my side of things, I feel like they’re getting somebody that’s not gonna quit. I’ve worked way too hard at this and done it for so long that you can’t beat somebody that gives up and I’ve had to grind it out for years to get to this point, and I feel like I’ve proven myself over and over again, and I feel like I’m ready for this challenge next.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – WHAT DO YOU FEEL THE TEAM HAS BEEN MISSING THE LAST FEW YEARS? “We need to be better. There’s no secret in that. This is a business that’s based on chemistry and it’s a sport that’s based on results and, right now, we’re just not having those results. If Harrison shares some of the responsibility, if it’s on us, we’re not pointing fingers. We’re not here to say this one is at fault or that one is at fault, we’re just not where we need to be. Finding that right chemistry and balance to have those results in performance, that’s what we’re looking for.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – “Like what Jon said, a race team is not unlike a football team or a baseball team, probably more like a football team. You can have the greatest people in the world and it not work. You can’t really figure out why. I used to make fun of people when they would say, ‘Well, the chemistry is not working. You need this and that.’ I believe that now, especially with this race car. This race car is so different from what we grew up with and worked and raced all our life. It’s just so different. We used to go to Talladega and Daytona four times during the winter just to get ready for the 500. You would be there four days each to gain one-tenth, and you felt like you had done something if you did that. Then you’d go home and cut the body off and do all that. Now, it’s like you race speedways every week. Road courses, short tracks, everything matters. Everything on the cars matter. Where you are. Your track position, pit crews, the tiniest thing matters and there’s no leeway. You used to have a little bit of a cushion. If you got a little bit behind you could make it up in the pits or sometimes change two tires versus four. There was always a way, but now you’ve got to do it all right all day long and when things aren’t working and, like I said, we’ve struggled. We can’t figure it out, either. It’s really hard.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – “The cars are just so equal.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – “And then that. It’s just hard. People get with other people and it clicks and you don’t know why, but if you’re one of the fortunate ones when you get together with a group and it clicks, you don’t ask why, you don’t care. It’s just a really hard sport right now.”

JOSH BERRY CONTINUED – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RANGE OF EMOTIONS YOU’VE GONE THROUGH THIS YEAR? “I think we’ve been through this for a decade. She’s been with me through late model racing all the way up to this change in our lives, but, really, the message throughout all that was really simple and that was to go out on the track and perform the best we can. I mentioned this a month ago, but it brought me back to a conversation I had with Dale Jr. last year when I was at Hendrick. He called me almost every week and talked me through all of my emotions and what I was dealing with at that time. He’s like, ‘Man, you’re at your best when your back is up against the wall and you have to go out and perform. That’s what makes you, you.’ I thought back to that this year with everything going on and obviously Stewart-Haas going away, that just provided us an opportunity to go out and perform. That was the only option, really. The emotions of it, yeah, it’s difficult sometimes, but we’ve raced together and we’ve always focused on performing, whether we’re at Hickory or Martinsville or Charlotte. That’s what ultimately my character and what I bring to the race team and being able to keep these opportunities and get these opportunities is what got me here, but also performing on the racetrack. So the main focus all the time was to do everything we could to do that and I think over the last couple of months I thought we did a good job of doing that.”

HOW MUCH CAN A DRIVER MAKE A DIFFERENCE? “From my side of things it’s gonna be a new challenge. I know that we spoke early on the Rodney piece. Rodney and I have had a great relationship for sure, but this opportunity came about and they came to me and said, ‘Hey, we want to get you signed up first. We want to get our driver that we want and then we’re gonna go to work with you and whoever else that we’re gonna meet with, whether that’s at Team Penske or wherever and try to iron this out and figure out what’s the best fit. What I have learned this year is, and I think they spoke on it, how important the culture is and the fit and the belief between the driver and the crew chief and the ownership and the management and the team. That’s what I’ve learned the most about this year is how important that is and that’s just another layer, to me, that I’ve learned to appreciate and understand, and I think now we’re gonna attack this together and go through and make whatever changes or no changes that we feel we need to make to give me what I need and give us what we need to go be competitive. Really, that’s the extent of it, but everyone was very clear to me that they wanted to get this part first. They wanted my commitment first before they went to building around me and I appreciated that and understood it.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – “I think when you plug a driver into a new team, it seems this car the results change faster than any other prior car. You look at Justin Haley. I mean, who would have imagined that? I’m not really wanting to give him credit for it, but Hocevar (laughing). It’s the same thing. You can use your own judgment in how you feel about this, and if I’m right or wrong, but just those two changes they started having results and it gets back to the chemistry thing. It’s not that it’s the driver’s fault that it’s not working out. It just seems like a driver can make a change with this car quicker.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – “To add to that, can anybody in this room explain dirty air? I mean, you’ve got a car and this is just kind of off subject, but let’s say you’re running 25th and you can’t even see the car in front of you, you don’t pick up, but the leader if he’s in that spot, he’s half a second or three quarters of a second faster than you. I’ve never understood that in my whole life, but to answer the question, we’ve had all different ages of drivers. We had Bill Elliott and he was over 50 and all of that worked. It gets back to what Jon and Josh said, it’s about chemistry.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – HOW HAS YOUR NEW ROLE GONE? “I don’t really see that my role has changed that much. The way that our family runs this business is we all just pull together and address whatever issue or whatever task needs to be handled. We never really worried about titles. It never really mattered. Now, I feel like today’s NASCAR is a little different. It kind of calls for those titles and names, but outside on paper that doesn’t really mean anything. We all do what needs to be done and we all just get along and get it done. I don’t really have any other way of explaining it.”

WHAT DO YOU SEE THE WOOD BROTHERS ROLE IN NASCAR GOING FORWARD? “Well, if you would have asked me 10 years ago would we be sitting here in this position I would have felt like I would have been watching it from home. We’ve had so many close calls, so many opportunities that other teams did and would have failed, and somehow we made it through. Whether that’s making a right decision or whether that’s relationships, being good people. Them being good people (Eddie and Len). I’m questionable (laughing). I don’t know what did it, but to make it 74 coming up on 75 years you had to have done something right. A lot of people a lot of times question the decisions we make. That makes it tough to be on Twitter and Facebook anymore, but they give us a hard time at times and you kind of have to take that and brush it off because the mindset and the decisions that they make in the end seem to be right, so I just trust them in their judgment and try to do right.”

JOSH BERRY CONTINUED – DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN CONTINUE THIS SOLID RUN AT SHR TO FINISH OUT THE SEASON? “Yeah, I feel like we can continue that. We have a great group over there and they’re all really motivated to continue to get better like we have throughout the season. It’s gonna get harder and harder as we probably lost people here or there. It’s definitely gonna get more and more difficult as the distractions get more, but, all in all, we have a great group. I think our cars have been running well and I see no reason to think that the wheels are gonna fall off the wagon, so to speak. I feel like we can keep doing what we’re doing. I’m not gonna let us fail, just like Rodney said. I’m gonna do everything I can to keep that deal going as strong as we can week in and week out. I owe it to those guys for the opportunity that they gave me and for how they believed in me and I’m fully committed to continuing to battle all the way to Phoenix.”

IS IT FAIR TO SAY THE LEAST STRESSFUL PART OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE IS DRIVING RACE CARS THESE LAST FEW YEARS? “I don’t know. I don’t really feel like I carry a lot of stress throughout this whole process. Four years ago I was racing late models, building late models, driving my truck and trailer to the racetrack racing with my buddies and winning all over the southeast. Getting an opportunity to go drive in the Xfinity Series and now the Cup Series, I’m still really grateful to be here and have this opportunity. I enjoy doing this and I think back to who I was five years ago and to tell that person that I would be sitting here with Len and Eddie Wood and Jon and getting ready to go drive the 21 car I wouldn’t believe it, just like I wouldn’t have believed that I was replacing Kevin Harvick. At this point I feel like anything is possible and I feel like my resume even outside the race car has helped me tremendously and in the race car as well, and I just feel like even through all this I felt like if we just went out and performed, everything would take care of itself. Obviously, I have a ton of great supporters with Josh Jones and Kevin Harvick at KHI Management and everything we’ve worked through I felt confident that if I just went and did my job, that things would work out and thankfully they did.”

DO YOU FEEL WORKING WITH DIFFERENT CREW CHIEFS AS A FILL-IN DRIVER LAST YEAR WILL HELP YOU ADAPT TO WHOMEVER YOU WORK WITH NEXT YEAR? “I think I’ve grown tremendously in that area. Working with several different guys, I think I have a much clearer picture. When I first sat in and got in an Xfinity car I didn’t really have a clear picture on what I needed as a driver or what I wanted necessarily. I was kind of just happy to be there in a way, and now after working with several different guys I think I have a clearer picture of what I’m looking for and I think that will help us through the process. Like I said earlier, we’re gonna work together through this and find the right fit. Everybody is gonna have a fair opportunity at figuring out what we want to do, but I feel like I have a good understanding and I think that should help the process too.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK IT SAYS ABOUT YOUR PERFORMANCE DURING YOUR ROOKIE SEASON THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO LAND THIS RIDE WITH A RELATIVELY SHORT TIME TO SHOW WHAT YOU CAN DO? “I think it goes back to even last year with the opportunities at HMS, working through that and a couple different cars, and then this period I still, even though we’ve had some bumps in the road and things I wish I could do over or mistakes that I’ve made, I mean, we’re outside the playoffs but we’re on the grid. We’re in the picture, which is cool and I think we can win a race. I think that says a lot for a rookie in this series. We’ve been in contention the last few weeks and I think we have some good tracks coming up that if we do the right things and execute, we could find ourselves in that position again.”