Category: NASCAR Cup PR

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, November 8, 2019

EVENT: Bluegreens Vacation 500, ISM Raceway (Media Availability)

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 36 Yanman/Martin Generators Ford Mustang – HOW HAS YOUR ADJUSTMENT BEEN TO FRONT ROW? “The second week in a Cup car and I’m still trying to learn. Texas was a learning process of trying to figure out your balance to run as close to wide-open as you possibly could, and it was all about having your car trimmed out or not trimmed out to run wide-open or not wide-open – just trying to figure all that stuff out. Here at Phoenix it’s a little bit different – high downforce and high horsepower and trying to figure all of that out as far as throttle time, brake, how much you need to roll. There are a lot of different characteristics that go into the race track here at Phoenix, so just trying to figure that out to be better for Sunday. We improved all of first practice, made some really good adjustments and hope to continue doing that soon.”

HOW DO HANDLE THINGS LIKE RESTARTS HERE IN A PLAYOFF ELIMINATION RACE WHEN YOU’RE STILL TRYING TO GAIN EXPERIENCE? “We’re here to run all the laps. It is an elimination race, but going back to Texas you just don’t want to be the headline. You don’t want to be the story of taking out a chase guy, so you’re mindful of that. You just have to kind of figure it out and stay out of the way, just run all the laps. I’m here for experience with the team that we’re with, filling in for Matt and only being my second Cup start, we’re here to try to make improvements through the race, try to make improvements to the car and for myself as a driver it’s a big step going to the Cup Series, so I’m trying to better myself as well.”

WHAT WAS LAST WEEKEND LIKE FOR YOU? “It was fun. It was a good weekend. I feel like it was a solid debut, being able to finish 21st only one lap down. I feel like we were on the lead lap most of the race and I feel like that’s really hard to do your first time in a Cup car. We went back to debrief at the shop, looked over a lot of pit road stuff, some on track stuff – throttle traces, what other guys were doing – so just trying to figure out everything that really goes on throughout a race and how to better myself as a driver. It’s a big step going from XFINITY to Cup. That’s why they’re the best of the best and that’s why they’re at where they’re at.”

HOW HARD IS IT TO BE THROWN INTO A TEAM LIKE THAT WITH JUST A COUPLE DAYS ADVANCE NOTICE? “It’s hard being with a different team, different crew chief, different guys, different organization. It’s kind of hard to factor in that I’ve never met those guys until two days before we left to go to the race track, so trying to get the communication down. I felt like we communicated well all weekend and they kind of kept me in a box, which was good and what they thought was gonna be the right choices on adjustments and stuff, so I felt pretty good about it.”

HAS THIS WEEKEND BEEN ANY EASIER AT LEAST OFF THE TRUCK? “No, not really. It’s still a learning process for me. Every time we go to a new race track in a Cup car it’s gonna be a learning process. Nothing is ever the same from one race track to another. There’s definitely some instances and scenarios from restarts and stuff that you can bring from last week to this week. In the Cup Series it’s pretty big. They’re four or five-wide and they’re getting after it and they’re able to get away with that compared to sometimes in the Truck Series when you make it four or five-wide you don’t get away with it, so definitely it’s an improvement for sure going from Trucks to XFINITY to Cup. Three huge steps and going from XFINITY to Cup is the biggest one.”

HOW WAS PRACTICE? “It was OK. I feel like we got better as the runs went on. We just need to keep adjusting and keep getting better as the day goes on in this next practice. I feel like I don’t really know what to expect qualifying, but it’s not where you start it’s where you finish. I just hope to improve throughout the weekend.”

YOU GREW UP IN THIS SPORT AND KNOW A LOT OF THE GUYS ON THE CUP LEVEL. IS THERE ANY INTIMIDATION RACING GUYS LIKE KEVIN HARVICK OR JOEY LOGANO? “I grew up underneath a lot of these guys. Kyle’s first XFINITY start, I think, was in one of my dad’s cars at Nemco Motorsports, so it’s pretty cool to be able to be out here racing against those guys and grow up underneath them and already kind of establishing a relationship. I can lean on them for advice, which I think is really good.”

BUT YOU’RE NOT IN AWE OF THEM. “No. I think when I was younger I was intimidated by them because they are who they are, but in the end you can’t be intimidated by them. You’re out there racing against them. You’re one of them. When you get behind the wheel and put a helmet on you’re the same size as they are.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Dex Imaging Ford Mustang – DOES NASCAR NEED TO GET INVOLVED IF A DRIVER INTENTIONALLY CAUSES A CAUTION? “I think it’s a judgment call on their part, and I think what I read was they made a judgment call and stuff like that. I don’t know if his tire was down or not last week. You couldn’t tell, but everyone has done it. I’ve never done it, but I’ve never really been in that spot where I had to make that decision right then and there. I know it messed up a good amount of guys’ days last week under green flag stops, so that really stinks. I don’t know. I can’t really comment on that because I’ve never been in that spot before.”

THE WAY THEY’VE CALLED IT THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS WOULD IT CHANGE WHAT YOU DO IF YOU GET A FLAT? “That’s an in the moment thing. I can’t really sit here and say what I’d do if I did have a flat. I’ve had flats before and I’ve come to pit road, but I’ve had tire rubs before and stay on the track until it blows. That’s almost you could say an equivalent to that. Your tire is rubbing bad and you don’t come to pit road you know it’s gonna blow out, but the difference is you spin out you save your day. If you don’t come in with a tire rub, you wreck your car. I don’t know. You don’t want to see it. I probably would have been more upset if it ruined my day. We didn’t pit yet, so it didn’t ruin my day, so I don’t know. That’s up to NASCAR.”

KYLE LARSON SAID HE WAS SURPRISED EVERYONE WAS STILL TALKING ABOUT IT. WHAT DO YOU THINK? “It’s been going on for years, decades people have been spinning on purpose to cause cautions so it saves their race. If you have a flat tire and pit under green, you’re gonna lose a couple of laps at least. If you spin out and cause a caution, maybe you stay on the lead lap, so it’s been going on forever. Yeah, I’m surprised it’s still being talked about. I know he brought it up. He brings it up and he’s surprised it’s still being talked about, well it’s like, ‘You brought it up.’ But, I definitely think it’s getting talked about more than it has in the past, but it’s not a new thing. It’s been going on forever, but when it causes implications to some peoples’ days, it definitely gets talked about more, especially when it’s in the playoffs.”

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THIS WEEKEND? “Hopefully pretty good. I thought we had a pretty decent practice today. This place was really good for us in the spring, so we led a lot of laps and had a shot to win it at the end and the 18 just got us. I think we’ll be pretty good. I’ll know a little bit more here in a about an hour.”

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM THE SPRING THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO THIS RACE? “I hope so. You try to take what you learned from previous races, especially when we go to these places twice a year and try to apply them to the next race. We’ll see. We definitely came here a little bit different. We came here trying to be close to where we ended the spring race to try to start a little bit closer to where we think the track is gonna go. Every team does that, it’s not just us. Everyone who was good here is still gonna be good here and hopefully we’re still up in the top handful.”

WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY TO MOVE ON THIS WEEKEND? “We’ve got to win the race. We’re not in a must-win, but it’s gonna be hard to make up points on two guys that are in right now. We’re 23 out. That’s a lot of points. Those guys could have trouble. You never know how it goes, but it’s gonna be really hard for me to believe those guys aren’t gonna get any stage points all day and we’re gonna get 20 stage points. That’s hard to believe. They’re gonna get something. They’re here for a reason and they run well enough, so we’ll just go try to win the race. If something happens to those guys early in the race maybe you switch your mindset and say, ‘OK, we’ve got to beat the 42 and the 11 on points,’ but my thought is just trying to win.”

HOW DIFFERENT IS IT WITH THE NEW CONFIGURATION OF THE TRACK, ESPECIALLY THE NEW TURN ONE? “You saw it in the spring – wild restarts. I mean, four and five-wide. You definitely want to be going forward on the restarts, not getting put three or four-wide. You want to put people three or four-wide. I know we did that a lot. I got put three or four-wide a couple times and it kind of still worked out for us, but it’s gonna be interesting, especially with the stuff they put down on one and two up top. I think people are gonna be using that later in the day and it’s gonna come into play on restarts, so we’ll find out, but just where the start-finish line is and you’ve got all that apron. It’s really enticing to go down there and you definitely want to be the aggressor on that stuff when it comes to restarts now.”

IS IT MORE STRESSFUL OR LESS KNOWING WHAT YOU NEED TO DO? “It’s the same as every week. I don’t really get stressed out too much. You know what the goal is every single week. You fight all season to try to get to this spot and you’re thankful you still have the opportunity. While we’re not in a must-win situation, it’s more than likely we’ve got to win the race, so you just try to do the best job you can. That’s what our mindset is every single week, whether it’s week one or week 36. You just go do the best you can and if the best you can do is win the race, that’s amazing. If the best we can do Sunday is fifth, then we did our best, but you just try to stay positive all weekend and work really hard on what you need to work on for the whole race.”

WHAT DOES YOUR POST-HOMESTEAD WEEK LOOK LIKE? “It’s just gonna be nice to be home for a weekend. I haven’t been home, even our off weeks this year, I think I traveled and went overseas or something like that and saw some places. The first week is gonna be nice. Maybe I’ll go up to West Virginia and see my sister and her kid, but just be home and kind of unwind and see everybody at the race shop and things like that. The family time is good. Obviously, part of you wants the season to be over and part you doesn’t want the season to be over because this is what you love to do and this is what you look forward to every single weekend, but it is nice to get a little bit of a break every now and then.”

WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ROGER PENSKE BUYING IMS? “That was a big news announcement. I knew actually nothing about it until Monday morning. I got a call really early Monday morning that said this is what RP did. I was like, ‘That’s pretty big news.’ It’s amazing they kept it secret because you can’t keep anything secret nowadays. It eventually gets out and they did a great job at doing that, but if there was any person that was going to do that, whether buy Indianapolis Motor Speedway or buy Indy Car, I could think of no better person to do that. He’s been the face of Indianapolis for a long time, having 18 wins there in the 500. He’s been the face of Indy Car for a long time and I think it’s great. I think he’s gonna to a great job at integrating new things, not only to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Indy Car as well and NASCAR. There has been a lot of talk about, not from him, but about maybe doing a dual weekend and I think he’s the guy that could definitely make it happen and I think he wants to make that happen. I don’t think there’s really anyone better at figuring out how to make things better. It’s no secret that the Brickyard has been struggling for the last handful of years and I think he’s really gonna bring it back to life. I was really excited to hear that news.”

Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

AVONDALE, Az. (November 8, 2019) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media at ISM Raceway:

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No.19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Would you have any interest in other forms of motorsports after you leave NASCAR?

“When I’m done with this, for sure. I just don’t know what. It will be something sporadically.”

Are you going into this weekend focused on the 2020 championship race?

“For sure. I think it’s an important race, not only here this weekend, but in the spring to get ready for the fall next year. Hopefully, we’ll be racing for a championship here next year. We definitely want to play off of that here this weekend and get a good head start on next year. The rules are all going to be the same next year so it won’t be a huge change. Everybody works on their stuff all winter and there will obviously be changes as far as that goes. Just trying to get a good hold here. It’s not been our greatest track over the years. I felt like in the spring, we were really strong and ran second, but kind of ran out of laps. Definitely want to figure out how to get a little better here, especially for next year if we can make the final four again.”

If you weren’t locked into Homestead, would you still look at this weekend as a test for next year?

“It’s a big deal. We all hope you put ourselves in that position every season. Certainly, next year we would expect to be in the same position with the season we had this year and a lot of things staying the same. It’s an important race and honestly, we show up every week to win so it’s not like we come here and say, ‘Oh, we need to win this race because of next year.’ We try that every weekend. It’s going to be important to get some good notes and get a good head start on next year.”

Do you expect the PJ1 to affect the race on Sunday?

“I would think that Sunday it would probably come in some, in three and four especially. We tend to move up quite high, at least high-middle in the races here on those long runs. I would think it would come into play, especially through the middle on exit. Not sure on entry, it’s pretty high, but guys going in the middle and sliding up into it and getting it worked in, definitely could come into play for sure.”

Do you think adding thee PJ1 this weekend is a setup to the championship race next year?

“I don’t know. Honestly nobody has been in it yet and we haven’t done that here. We tend to run pretty high, especially in three and four here in the races. At some point, it’s going to come into play on Sunday and we’ll have to figure it out from there.”

Does NASCAR need to make judgement calls on drivers intentionally spinning to bring a caution?

“I don’t know who else is going to take care of it. It’s been getting pretty popular to have a flat tire and spin out on purpose. I don’t know, it’s definitely not good. It could affect the championship race. If last week were Homestead, a lot of people would be pretty upset. I’m not sure how to handle it. I don’t run the sport, NASCAR is pretty good at doing that. It’s definitely frustrating when you’re out there leading or doing something good and it could potentially ruin your day by the caution coming out at the wrong time.”

Has it frustrated you previously about these types of cautions?

“It just depends, if it doesn’t affect you. You can pretty much tell if somebody does it on purpose. It’s not rocket science.”

What do you think we will see in the race on Sunday?

“I think it will be pretty typical racing here. Just the PJ1 is the big question mark. How early does it come in? How much does it come in? Can we use it early in runs? I don’t see it happening, but it will change things for sure. Phoenix, it won’t be a whole lot different from the spring race I wouldn’t think.”

What is your balance between focus on Phoenix and Miami?

“We’ve been working on Miami for a few weeks now so it’s definitely high priority, but I think preparation for this race really isn’t any different than any other weekend to be honest. Fortunately, we had a pretty good run in the spring. Had a good car and felt like we could play off of that. We didn’t have to do a whole lot of extra work. Homestead is a one-off race. We haven’t been there with this package and there’s a whole lot that goes into this package in general. They’ve been working pretty hard on it for quite a while now.”

How was practice?

“Pretty good, pretty happy. We had a really good run here in the spring race, came close. Felt like we needed a few more laps to maybe have a shot at it. Had a good long run car and kind of played off of that coming here this weekend. Felt really good about things. Our speeds looked good and probably could have used a little more take-off speed and see if we can work more of that into it in this second practice.”

# # #

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MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
ISM RACEWAY
BLUEGREEN VACATIONS 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
NOVEMBER 8, 2019

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1, Media Breakout Session Highlights:

HAVE YOU TALKED TO BUBBA WALLACE AT ALL AFTER THAT CAUTION? ARE YOU STILL MAD A WEEK LATER?
“No, I haven’t talked to Bubba (Wallace). It’s not an issue with him personally. It is what it is. Like I said, afterwards you can be mad, but I’m still 23 points down. It doesn’t matter, we have to go out here and have a good weekend. We’ll try to get a lot of points and try to win also. I just look forward to the challenge.”

DID YOU TALK TO ANYONE AT NASCAR? WILL YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY IF YOU HAVE A FLAT NOW BECAUSE OF THE WAY THEY’VE CALLED THINGS THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS?
“My luck, I’ll probably get a flat on Sunday, cause a caution and I’ll get sent to the garage or something (laughs). I’ll get made an example of or something like that. But no, I haven’t talked to anyone from NASCAR. I understand it’s a judgement call, but there’s so much data out there now that I don’t think it’s as much of a judgement call as people think it might be.”

YOU WERE TALKING AFTER THE RACE ABOUT A POTENTIAL PENALTY. HAS YOUR OPINION CHANGED ON THAT OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE NASCAR SHOULD STILL STEP IN AND DETERMINE IF SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING INTENTIALLY?
“I’m just a driver, so I don’t really know exactly what the proper thing is, whether it’s a penalty or fine. They’re good at coming up with that stuff. But I don’t know, it affects the race. It saves them, but it can hurt guys. Sometimes you end up on the right side of it and whatnot. But last week, we didn’t so obviously that’s why I was upset. We all have done it; I’ve done it. I got penalized a lap and still was able to recover and win. We’ve all done it, but it can affect the race. I don’t really know, I guess I’ve said it all about it now.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE TOO MUCH WAS MADE OF IT LAST WEEK?
“Yeah, I didn’t expect walking in here we would still be talking about this. I thought we would all be over it by Tuesday, but it’s Friday.”

IT’S HARD TO GET OVER IT WITH THESE THREE RACE ROUNDS AND EVERY CALL IS SO PIVOTAL ISN’T IT?
“Yeah, I mean every lap of the race is pivotal when you get in the playoffs and you’re still in the playoffs. I don’t know, I’m over it.”

WHAT ABOUT HERE THIS WEEKEND? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO ACCOMPLISH?
“We had a decent practice there. I need to get a lot better on the long runs. I’ve raced well here the last few years, so I’d like to hope that I can challenge for the win. It seems like there are a handful of cars that are really fast, especially on the long runs. So, we have to get better at that.”

HOW DO YOU SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM THE OTHER GUYS BELOW THE CUT LINE?
“When you’re below the cut line and more than 20 points back, you definitely figure that you have to win. But, at the same time, you look at Denny (Hamlin) having the week that he had last week and I think it was like a 44-point swing or something they said. If Kyle (Busch) or Joey (Logano) have issues, then it turns into it not being a must win situation. I just need to out perform Denny (Hamlin) and Ryan (Blaney), and then hope that Chase (Elliott) doesn’t win. You just have to wait to see how the race plays out.”

WHERE THE TRACTION COMPOUND IS LOCATED, IS IT GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
“Yeah, I think it’s too high. But the good thing about that is that they can continue to spray and bring it lower. We’ll see what they do. Hopefully, they bring it a little bit lower, especially in three and four it seems really high. One and two, it could be a few feet lower maybe; mostly entry I think into one. Three and four, I think, needs to be a full groove lower.”

“You usually don’t even get that high in the race. If you do, it’s towards the very end of the race. So, you would like use it earlier on in the race. I think if they can move it down, we would be able to use it sooner.”

SINCE KURT (BUSCH) HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS, HAS HE BEEN TRYING TO BE A SECOND SET OF EYES FOR YOU ON THE RACE TRACK?
“Typically in the regular season, you try and fight for your position pretty hard because every point matter. There have been a few times this year I’d catch him and he’d let me go. So, that helps me. It honestly doesn’t seem much different because we already work pretty well together. He’s a great teammate and with I’m being knocked out, he’s even better I guess.”

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, November 8, 2019

EVENT: Bluegreens Vacation 500, ISM Raceway (Media Availability)

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang – WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET KNOWING THE PRESSURE IS OFF? “I think it transfers over to thinking about this race next year. I think it’s the first step in a process of kind of putting Phoenix at a different level for us as far as preparation, the things that we do that come with that, so that when we come back we have a firm understanding of where our simulation and things are for this particular race track and start that process going in the first race and the second race for next year. So it’s obviously been a great race track for us, but we’ve never actually had that type of preparation as we’ve gone into that, knowing that the championship is here next year I think it kind of moves into a different category as far as the things that we’re going to do.”

HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY THOUGHT TO THE OTHER DRIVER WHO MAY BE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4 AND WHAT THEIR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES ARE? “I have not.”

ARE THERE ASPECTS OF YOUR TEAM YOU’RE TRYING TO SHORE UP BEFORE HOMESTEAD OR ARE YOU JUST ROLLING WITH WHAT YOU HAVE? “I think it’s been a very interesting year for us. I think as you look at our year it’s been a challenge in order to get where we are today, just to battle through the beginning of the year and get the ship turned around and in the right direction and really figure out exactly where we needed to be, what we needed to be doing, just totally different concepts than the things that we’ve done in the past and just those new concepts mindsets the way that you race, the way that you call a race, all those things that come together. I think the strength and experience of our race team has kind of carried the results that are in the finish column and the stages won and stage points and those types of things. As we went through the late summer and in the playoffs I feel like we obviously have got our cars back to being competitive and when I say competitive I mean able to lead laps without circumstances, and so we’ve been able to do that and so as long as we keep doing those types of things next week I think that you’ve got to be in it to win it and just have to see how it falls.”

DOES THE WIN LAST WEEK COMPLETELY FREE YOU UP TO DO THAT OR WOULD YOU STILL HAVE DONE THAT? “It would have been the same because that’s just how I guess we’re wired. You have to think about what you’re doing a long ways in advance. It’s from scheduling from a car’s standpoint with less cars next year, the types of race tracks, simulators, all those things have a schedule that’s attached to them. For me and my team it’s not something you want to try to do six weeks in advance. It’s a process to try to get the most out of everything that you do and have some sort of organization and thought around it in order to go to the simulator and try to make it relevant to what you do at the race track and then your simulation and your aero maps and all those things that come with the things that you do. The race still has the same meaning and we’re still gonna approach the exact same way that we would have if we hadn’t have won, just because of the fact that that’s just what we do every week and I know you guys have heard me say that we don’t prepare any different whether we win or lose. We might do things differently to the car as far as setups and the way that they’re built and things like that, but the conversations and preparation are gonna happen on the same days at the same time and you can’t do the type of preparation that you would do for a championship race like this next year overnight, so you have to have a plan.”

DOES NASCAR NEED TO ADDRESS ISSUES OF DRIVERS POSSIBLYL INTENTIONALLY SPINNING OUT TO BRING OUT A CAUTION? “I haven’t even seen the replay, so I wouldn’t be able to comment on it to see if it was no purpose or not. I didn’t even watch the race. I don’t know. I have enough trouble paying attention to my team.”

IF YOU LOOKED AT SOMEBODY’S DATA WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO TELL IF HE SPUN OUT ON PURPOSE? “I don’t want to get in the middle of even having a comment on the whole situation.”

YOU SEEM PARTICULARLY SERIOUS TODAY. WHAT IS IT ABOUT TODAY? “It’s really the same approach. It’s an hour before practice so I’m thinking about what we need to do to our car and talking to the guys of the things that we need to go through. More than anything it’s just really interrupting my routine more than anything.”

IS THERE ANY INTERNAL PRESSURE ON YOU TO KEEP PERFORMING AT THIS LEVEL? “I think the competitive side of me would tell you yes, just because I don’t really want to race for 20th, and that challenge of like the things we went through this year is definitely somewhat interesting to me because of the fact you have to really get in there with your guys and be a part of the process and routine of things in order to change something. It’s been challenging, but it’s also been a little intriguing to me just because of the fact you want to try to fix things and make them better and I feel like we’ve done a good job at that, but I think for me being competitive is really the thing that keeps me motivated. I love the fact that things change so much that you have to be open-minded to change and I always tell the guys in our trailer that you have to be open-minded in this sport or you’ll get left behind. It’s been fun to win races and be competitive, but it is definitely something that I think about every day. I want to be competitive and in order to do that sometimes people pay attention to an age or a stat and I hadn’t looked at a stat or watched a race in I can’t even tell you how long because I’m just worried about what we’re doing and trying to get better and really focused on a week to week basis and worry about the rest of it when you get done.”

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH BALANCING THAT MINDSET WITH FAMILY OR THINGS AWAY FROM THE TRACK? “I would probably never tell you this otherwise, but David Ragan and I have had this exact conversation together as to why he was retiring and he told me the exact same thing and it’s much different. I feel like I have a great group of people around me that really help handle the sponsors and the situations that we’re involved in on a daily basis and I trust those people – some of them have worked for me for over 20 years – a couple of them for over 12 – so it’s a situation where I have a lot of trust and they know exactly what I expect and how things work. I have a crew chief who has a family. I have team members who have families and during the week there’s a lot of texts and a lot of emails and I go to the competition meetings after I drop my son off at school, so everything that we do is prioritized around my family and you’ve seen them at the race track now a lot now that Piper is old enough to go to the race track and sleep normal, so my kids run around the trailer, can’t do that in everybody’s trailer in this garage, it wouldn’t be acceptable, but it’s a very family-oriented situation that I’m in and I think that they understand that if it’s something that I feel like it’s affecting my family to that point, that I probably won’t do it anymore. So they want them to be around and they would obviously want their kids around if they had the same opportunities to do that. For me, I feel like we’ve got different opportunities than David. David was handling the sponsorship and at the shop and making a lot more decisions than I have to make because we’re fortunate to be in a different situation with the right people that you have a lot of trust in and faith in to do those things that he was doing, but he was putting a lot of effort into it.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE TO RACE YOUR WAY INTO MIAMI? “Actually, I felt like we were in a worse spot last year with all the chaos and the inspection violation and just the team not being here and with Rodney not being here and all the things we had totally disrupted from a great year and the week before the championship race and everything just kind of getting out of sync. In 2014, everything was in sync. We had some unfortunate timing of things, but we probably could have won every race in the playoffs, except Martinsville or Talladega if we hadn’t had something go wrong or screwed something up, so I felt like we had everything in place to do that in 2014 at arguably one of our best tracks. Now knowing that you have it all in place and going out and doing that is different, but we’ve been fortunate to have done that at Dover and Kansas and Phoenix and a lot of places. Sometimes I feel like our team kind of thrives on those moments and really gets the most out of everything and probably a little bit more just with the way that we’ve been able to achieve in those moments and there’s no better high than that from a competitor’s standpoint and just achieving in those moments when everybody is kind of laughing and thinking that they’ve got you pinned down and out of the game. The next thing you know they’re out of the game and you’re back in.”

CHASE BRISCOE SAID YOU HAVE MENTORED HIM. HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT FOR YOU TO HAVE THE ROLE? “For he and Cole it’s been fun to watch them learn. Both of those guys are very willing to ask questions and be around and do what they need to do to get better. A lot of times the things that I tell Chase or Cole may not be the right thing for them, but they’re willing to at least ask the question and try things and if it doesn’t work it doesn’t work, but a lot of times what they do in a race car – and I feel strongly that everybody likes something different in their cars and the things that they do – but the most important thing is for them to understand that they’re a piece to the process working with their crew chief and their team and the things that happen in that communication most of the time sends the organization in a direction of what they work on, so it may not be telling them how to drive the car or what they like in a car. Sometimes it’s just how the world turns in our sport and the things that change and how you have to communicate. It’s not just show up and drive. The car has become more important through the years, but in the end you still send them in a direction of what they need to work on and how they need to make things better and I think that’s important for those young guys to understand, but we have two of the most willing and hard-working XFINITY drivers in the garage. Those guys bust their butt.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, November 8, 2019

EVENT: Bluegreens Vacation 500, ISM Raceway (Media Availability)

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – WHAT IS THE MINDSET TO GET TO HOMESTEAD? “I’d use the word cushion a little easily. I don’t know. It’s a tough thing to say. Twenty points is nice, but the fact that you’re fourth in points means if one of those other four cars that are not in wins, you’re first out. The good news is we’re only a couple points from the 18 that’s right in front of us, so we have to race him to really kind of control our destiny. Really, winning the race is the best way to control your own destiny, obviously, but I like our position. It’s better than being outside looking in. I’d rather be on the inside still trying to move forward, so we’ll kind of have to wait and see. I’m interested to see in practice the speed we have in our car. I’m excited to work on it and see what we can do and try to score as many points as possible through each stage and have the best finish.”

WHAT DOES IT SAY THAT WE COULD HAVE THE SAME FOUR DRIVERS AS LAST YEAR IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR? “We’re not in yet, but I think there is a common pattern and trend that you see over the years of the drivers that get in consistently, and to that Championship 4 and they always make it to the top eight it seems like here. I think when you have the best teams paired up with the best drivers and they’ve kind of figured out how to get through these rounds at each race track and figure out what they need to do each race depending on their points situation it seems like those teams have really kind of figured that out to where even if they are on the outside looking in they figure out how to win when it matters to get themselves through for whatever reason that is. You can’t say it’s by luck getting there that many times. There’s definitely a few teams – probably six or seven teams that are consistently threats to make it to the top eight no matter what the rules package is or whatever season it is and it probably won’t be much different when it comes to next year and the races are in a different order coming through the playoffs. I would assume it’s still gonna be the same guys mixed in with a couple others as usual to try to get through it, so for whatever reason I think the best teams end up doing it. That’s just the reason.”

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO ATTACK RESTARTS? “That’s the tough part about it. There are a few things that’s hard about it. When you moved the start-finish line to where they put it now the turn one now is so open where you can go three lanes below the yellow line. We saw that happen on a lot of restarts the last time here and that’s all well and good until you get to the exit when there are only three lanes on the exit. So when you’re five-wide or four-wide someone is gonna have to give at some point to get off the corner. The really hard part is the spotters are down at this end and they’re all looking over there and they’re perspective isn’t very clear to be able to say where other cars are. This is a big challenge for them as well and how the PJ1 acts I think that’s still an unknown to see how that’s gonna be. It’s gonna take a minute to activate it and clean it off. I’m not sure if we’re gonna see it in play in practice here today. It might happen if anyone starts making long runs, it might clean up a little bit. But I think we’ll all probably be watching the Truck and XFINITY race and trying to see what happens there. It looks to me just from what I’ve seen that one and two definitely it looks like it’ll probably come into play. Three and four it looks like it’s pretty far up there, so I don’t know. It can. We’ll just have to kind of wait and see.”

WHEN YOU HAVE A FLAT LIKE AT MARTINSVILLE WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR MIND OF WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DO AND DOES NASCAR NEED TO STEP IN AT ALL AND TRY TO DETERMINE ANY INTENT? “It’s up to NASCAR to decide. For the instance in Martinsville you got a flat tire and trying not to crash. You try not to hit anything. You try not to have your quarters torn up. You try to live to race another day basically, so that’s kind of the thought at the moment is how do I continue my race and get the best possible finish and not have a tore up race car. That’s probably every driver’s thought at that point is how do I minimize the damage that’s in my race car at the time. I can’t speak for anyone else because I’m not driving their race car, so all I would do is be speculating on what I think happened. If you’re not in the car it’s really hard to say sometimes, it really is whether it’s on purpose or not. Like I said, a lot of that is probably up to NASCAR on how they want to officiate it if they think it’s happening or it’s not, I don’t really know. I’m probably not the best one to ask that question to, but it’s a tough decision that’s a judgment call. It’s hard to make a black and white rule on that when something is on purpose or one was an accident. How do you really know? All sports deal with that. Think about soccer. Geez, you watch that and they’re flopping all day long out there. It’s like, ‘what the heck is going on?’ So I think it’s a judgment call and each call is gonna be unique and to try to figure out. I’m glad I just drive the car in this case for sure.”

WHEN DID YOU HEAR ABOUT ROGER PENSKE BUYING IMS? “I thought he already owned the race track, or he owned the race at least and now he owns the track. I found out about the same time you guys did, but not much earlier. It was a surprise to me just like it was to everyone else, so obviously it came together really quick and the only way that can happen is just the Penske way of doing it – how quickly they can move and I think what a great thing for the sport in general – just motorsports in general I think. Roger obviously has passion for racing and motorsports and all forms of it and he’s no rookie to owning race tracks and he’s done a great job with that as well. I’m excited to see what they’re gonna end up doing with it and how they can improve it, not that it’s bad in any way right now, but there’s always fresh ideas that can come along now, so it’ll be interesting to see what the future is gonna be.”

DO YOU HAVE A STORY OR ANECDOTE ABOUT SOMETHING YOU’VE LEARNED FROM ROGER OR A TIME HE SURPRISED YOU? “I’m sure everyone in here has probably spoken to Roger at some point and he can be intimidating just by standing there in front of him and you say, ‘Oh my God, this is Roger Penske,’ but the fact that he’s just a racer like all of us. He’s gone about it in a different way and that’s what made him special and made him ahead of the competition. Just the way you dress is such a big deal to what Team Penske is all about, but also the way he took his career from driving to the business side and continues to grow, and I think that to me is the most amazing part. He is not slowing down at all. Most people in his position might just say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a great company and just ride it out’ because he’s already established, but he is always looking to better himself and I think that, to me, is such a key learning for me is that he’s always learning to make himself better and always looking to continue to grow, whether it’s his company, whether it’s his employees – whoever it may be he’s looking to get the best out of every situation and I think that’s something I’m always reminded by just by walking in one of his buildings you can see that. I think that’s special.”

WOULD IT MAKE SENSE FOR NASCAR TO EVEN SAY ANTHING AT THIS POINT WITH WHAT’S AT STAKE OR DOES IT EVEN NEED TO BE SAID? “NASCAR has always said to us in the driver’s meeting and I know you guys stand in them as well, but there are multiple times throughout the season, especially in cutoff races or the championship race they always ask everyone to race with respect to the situation that’s going on and race your race basically. I think that’s your warning. I take it as that way at least, so I think they already have said a lot of this stuff to us before, so I think that’s kind of part of it.”

HAVE YOU TALKED ABOUT RUNNING THE 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA? “I have not. I would like to run it. I think it would be really cool, but I’m so focused in right now I haven’t brought it up. This NASCAR thing takes up a lot of your time and it’s a pretty big deal to be racing for a championship, so I can’t take that lightly. I would like to race that race some day in something. I think it would be a lot of fun to be able to do and be able to say that you’ve done and possibly win, that would be really neat, but at this point I’m focused in on finishing this season right now and if that opportunity ever comes up in the future that would be a really cool thing to be able to do.”

WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THE COMPETITIVENESS OF ROGER PENSKE? “Obviously, he likes to win. He wins a lot. The thing about Roger though is you don’t notice the stress or the pressure that he’s under because I think he’s just been in it so long. When you’re under pressure for every day of your life when there are thousands of employees counting on you to put dinner on their table basically, that’s a lot of pressure, but when you do that every day for year on top of year after year that becomes your new normal and that’s just what you’re used to, and I think that’s just kind of what it is. As he keeps growing and adding more pressure to himself, he’s able to make that his new normal to where he just keeps going on and on and on. That’s what drives him.”

WHEN YOU’RE AROUND HIM DOES HE MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE HE’S COMPETITIVE? “Obviously you want to go out there and compete and do a good job for him and for our race team, and that’s something we talk a lot about in our meetings is we want this to be the least of headaches for him. He’s got plenty of headaches on his plate for sure, we don’t want racing to be the number one thing for him. We want him to enjoy this and that’s important to us and we want him to be able to go out here and win and keep that same culture that he’s established through all of his companies. We want to be consistent with that. That is something that we’re aware of and something we talk about as a team and that is important to us, so that’s just what it’s like working for Roger Penske, and the fun part about it is I can talk to someone that is at truck leasing or a dealership and we can talk about the same things about Roger and there’s a lot that’s the same no matter what company he’s running. We have a lot in common.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
ISM RACEWAY
BLUEGREEN VACATIONS 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
NOVEMBER 8, 2019

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTOCARE CENTER CAMARO ZL1, met with media to discuss his mindset going into this race weekend, how he’s been able to overcome adversity throughout the Playoffs, what to expect from the traction compound throughout the weekend, and more. Full Transcript:

COMING INTO THIS WEEKEND, OBVIOUSLY YOU ARE LOOKING LIKE YOU NEED A WIN HERE AT PHOENIX TO MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR. IS THAT THE MINDSET COMING INTO THIS WEEKEND AND HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
“Yeah, I would say that would have to be the mindset, for sure. It takes some talent to get 80 points back in two weeks, but we’ve achieved it. Certainly self-inflicted; I hate that I messed up last week as bad as I did, there’s really no excuse for that. But we’re in the position we’re in, we’re there, it’s reality and we certainly will have to win to have a shot next week.”

HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF BEING IN THIS POSITION, HAVING SUCH HIGH EXPECTATIONS COMING OUT OF THE SECOND ROUND?
“We were in a tough spot in that second round too, so it’s definitely not where you want to be by any means. But I do think to still have a chance this weekend I think is good. I feel like our team has worked really hard to get us this far. We could have very easily not made it past Kansas and been out then; for us to be a part of this deal and to still have a chance. There’s three races in every round for a reason and you just can’t let those first two weeks affect your mindset, your approach, your aggressiveness and your will to want to win in this last opportunity for us. Just because we’re in a tough spot and it’s our last chance to make it to Homestead doesn’t mean it’s over. We still have an entire race on Sunday. I just think you have to make sure you keep that in mind. It can definitely be challenging to look and say ‘I crashed on lap eight last week and that’s not good obviously’. But you just have to approach this week as a new one and know if we win on Sunday, we can race again next week and have a shot at it. It’s just not over until it’s over.”

WHAT’S THE BALANCE LIKE THIS WEEK WHEN OBVIOUSLY THAT HAPPENED AND YOU HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY? ARE YOU DWELLING ON THAT AT ALL OR BEATING YOURSELF UP OVER IT? ARE YOU IMMEDIATELY FOCUSED ON THIS OR DO YOU GO BACK AND FORTH?
“No, I had 475 miles to think about it last week. So, I deserved that really, to ride around for 475 miles and think about it. By I would say mile 400 of that, I was pretty much over it and I was really just thinking about Phoenix. During the race last week, I was thinking about Phoenix and thinking about what we struggled with here in the spring, and cruising around and just thinking about what we can do to be better. Obviously, we were just in a position where we needed to finish and my mindset had really moved on by the end of the race last week. I was really just thinking about this weekend, thinking about practice day today and what we could do to be really good. At the time, that’s about all I could do. I’m glad that I was able to do that and, no, I’m not dwelling on last week. At this point, we still have an opportunity ahead. The opportunity is here, right now, and we either make the most of it or we don’t.”

THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF CHATTER ABOUT DRIVERS INTENTIONALLY CAUSING CAUTIONS WHEN THEY’VE HAD FLATS. IS THIS ANYTHING NASCAR NEEDS TO GET INVOLVED IN? FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, FROM WHAT YOU WOULD NORMALLY THINK YOU SHOULD DO IF YOU HAVE A FLAT, HAS THAT CHANGED OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS?
“No, I haven’t really kept up with what people have said about it. But I would say the more NASCAR is in a position to make tough calls like that, the worse it is. That’s such a tough thing and it’s such a tough call. I don’t know how you would ever get that right. Like I said, bottom line is the more they can stay out of it, the better and to not be put in those tough positions. I don’t know what the answer is or whether someone spun out on purpose or not, I really don’t know. I’m not smart enough to tell you what the solution is either.”

INAUDIBLE
“I can’t say I’ve seen one. But I haven’t watched last week’s deal, so I really don’t know. I heard about it, but I don’t know. It’s tough. You could certainly sit there and you might have an assumption, but unless you’re in that car driving it at that particular moment, do you really know for sure? No, you don’t. So, I don’t know.”

YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO OVERCOME ADVERSITY EVERY ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS THUS FAR. WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE TO THAT SUCCESS IN THAT REGARD?
“Well, we had some good fortune at Kansas. I feel like we were in a position where we had to win that race and we were in a position to battle for the win. Obviously, we didn’t win, but things went our way enough to get through the round. That to me was a good opportunity for us to have our backs up against the wall and have to go perform. I thought we did a really good job of having to perform. We didn’t win, but I thought we made the most of an afternoon that really wasn’t going that well. We were struggling in the long runs, had lost a lot of ground. We had a couple of great pit stops there at the end and some good restarts to put ourselves in a position to win, and that’s what you have to do. I just think being put in that position is good, good experience. Whether you are in that position where you have to win now or three weeks ago or if you make it to Homestead, you’re going to be in that position down there. I think just being comfortable with that is a necessity with the way this is and there is no cruising or pointing your way through at this point. When your back is up against the wall, you have to go perform. I think the better you feel about that situation and the more you embrace it, the better off you’ll be. As a team, not that we’ve had the choice, but I feel like we’ve definitely embraced it. We embraced it in Kansas and I’m really looking forward to the weekend. I’m not really concerned over it or anything. We’re just going to go and do our thing, have fun and try to put ourselves in a position to win.”

JUST FROM LOOKING AT THE XFINITY PRACTICE, GIVEN HOW HIGH ON THE TRACK THE PJ-1 IS, DO YOU EXPECT IT TO BE A FACTOR IN SUNDAY’S RACE, PARTICULARLY WHERE YOU GUYS RUN THREE AND FOUR NOW?
“I don’t know until you kind of get out there and see just how high it is or how high up the race track it feels. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t find a little bit of it on Sunday. As your car starts to drive bad, people are passing you or vice versa, people are going to hunt around and try to find some speed. I could see it getting worked in. With the temperature being warm here, it seems like that stuff likes heat. That might promote it some as well. With the weekend being the way it is and these races are kind of short out here in general across the three series, it might take until Sunday to rubber up the rest of the race track enough to want to search up that high. We’ll see, I don’t think it would be a bad thing if we do find it.”

YOU SAID YOU CAN’T LET IT BOTHER YOU, YOU JUST HAVE TO MOVE ON. YOU WERE ONE OF THE WORSE ABOUT BEATING YOURSELF UP AFTER A RACE IN THE PAST. HAS IT BEEN YOUR SUCCESS AND WHERE YOU’RE AT NOW THAT HAS CHANGED THAT? WHEN DID THAT SWITCH HAPPEN TO WHERE YOU CAN PUT IT BEHIND YOU AND CONTINUE TO FOCUS WITHOUT BEATING YOURSELF UP?
“I don’t think I ever did put it behind me. I still do, I still look at last week. Just like I said last week and just like I said today, doing something that dumb, there’s really no excuse for it. Crashing by yourself, ruining your day and putting yourself in the worse points position is never an excusable act from a race car driver’s standpoint. So, I don’t think it was ever that I wasn’t able to put it behind me. I think it just depends upon when you guys ask the questions and what kind of mood I’m in. But I think at this point, we’re in Phoenix and I’ve moved on. As a team, we know the position we’re in right now and it kind of is what it is at this point. We’ll either run good this weekend or we don’t. If we do, we have a chance next week. If we don’t, we’ll go to Homestead and try to build a notebook for hopefully an opportunity down the road.”

I’VE HEARD YOU SAY THE TERM ‘SELF-INFLICTED’ A LOT DURING THIS PLAYOFF, EVEN RELAYING TO THE ENGINE STUFF FOR THE TEAM AS A WHOLE. ARE YOU A BELIEVER IN RACING LUCK AT ALL OR IS EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN A RACE SOMEWHAT SELF-INFLICTED IN YOUR VIEW?
“There might be the occasional thing that’s kind of odd or whatever, but I just really think a lot of it you do to yourself. I know there’s been times in my career where you qualify bad, you’re back in the pack and you crash early in the race. Well, don’t qualify bad and you wouldn’t be racing around that group. Like last week, I crashed, so that’s my fault. I look at the engine failures we’ve had and the parts failures, some of those things we are better than. We should be able to do a better job. As a group, we are better and I don’t point fingers. I say ‘we’ because I’m a part of that as well. The engine shop didn’t come banging down my door on Monday because I crashed on Sunday. So, we all have that respect for one another and I think we all hold each other to a high standard of wanting to do well. I think that’s the standard that everyone as a company and each department needs to hold each other to a high standard. If not, we’re going to struggle and get worse. So, we all need to keep each other propped up and make sure we’re all doing each other’s jobs. I think that’s the part of being good and being honest with your entire company with everyone being able to be transparent. If we’re all lying to each about the jobs we’re doing, then that’s a whole other problem. I like the fact that we can do it as a group, struggle as a group and do well as a group. I think that’s really important.”

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, November 8, 2019

EVENT: Bluegreens Vacation 500, ISM Raceway (Media Availability)

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 Mannington Commercial Ford Mustang – THOUGHTS ON THESE LAST TWO RACES. “Thanks to Mannington Commercial. It’s their second race on our Ford Mustang this year, so it’s always cool to have some new partners who are excited to be here at Phoenix this weekend. I don’t have a lot of thoughts or emotions going into my final couple of races. I’m a pretty low-key kind of guy and my wife and two girls did a really neat thing this week. They surprised me with a special helmet that they drew and painted for the weekend at Homestead and my guys at Fox on Race Hub covered that and gave me a really big surprise earlier this week, so that was pretty nice. I’m kind of a low-key kind of guy. I don’t know that I would have ever thought about doing something like that, but kudos to my wife for having that thought and for keeping it a secret because I had no idea that was going to happen. I kind of joked with her a few times that we would probably be leaving Homestead next week and I would probably say, ‘Man, I guess we should have taken a few pictures today or something.’ So at least she’s thinking a little bit ahead, but, it’s kind of business as usual. Obviously, we want to finish the year on a good note. I don’t want to have two DNFs and two bad races the final two races of the year. We want to race hard and try to get a good finish. We’re not racing for a playoff spot or Championship 4 at Homestead, but we still have some things we would like to accomplish and try to help Front Row Motorsports learn some more things that will help them over the off season in building cars for next year.”

WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGE IN THE SPORT DURING YOUR TIME? “The first thought that comes to my mind is I feel like the field is separated a little bit more. I feel like when I first came into this sport you had guys that could run in the mid-20s every week, but if they hit the right setup they had the potential in their race car to run in the top five or win a race. You saw that on occasion with some one-off winners at different tracks, and I think that’s harder than ever today because the top two or three teams with so many rule changes that we’ve had the last couple of years, they have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, but that separation is not that big. It’s only a few tenths, but that’s a very important couple a tenths of a second, so you don’t see that many surprise winners anymore, at least not from my perspective in the last few years. Obviously, a Daytona or Talladega can be a little bit of a crapshoot, but even there you don’t see that anymore, certainly at a track like Phoenix or a short track or even at a road course. I felt like there was 12, 13 years ago you could be 25th in points and just have a mediocre season going, but you hit it just right and you had the potential to get up there to the top five. I think that’s kind of gone away and I feel like the biggest reason is some of the rule changes, those top two or three teams have broken away from everyone else and also they are so smart they don’t make many mistakes like they used to. So I think a combination of those two or three things has allowed two or three teams to win all the races, and I think NASCAR has identified that and from my perspective I feel like they’re making some adjustments with this NextGen car that will hopefully address some of that because I think it would be good for the entire sport. I don’t think those top two or three teams would like to have some other guys have chances to win, but I think it’s healthy when you can have 14 to 16, 17 different winners and on some different teams throughout the season.”

HAVE YOU TALKED TO FRONT ROW ABOUT IF THEY NEED SOMEONE NEXT SEASON TO FILL IN FOR MATT TIFFT? WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN THAT? “No, we haven’t talked about that. I’m open to helping out if the situation is right and if it’s right for David Ragan and if it’s right for Front Row Motorsports, but they haven’t asked me and we haven’t had any conversation. I have talked to Matt a couple of times and he seems to be in real good spirits and he’s got a real specific plan on what he’s gonna do the next few weeks, the next month or so, and I think he’s got a good plan of attack, but, no, I haven’t been asked and we haven’t had that conversation.”

IS THERE ANY REASON WHY YOU HAVE BEEN SO SUSTAINABLE IN THIS SPORT AND IS THERE ANY ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE OTHERS? “I think a couple of things. Timing is everything in this world. Getting the right opportunity. Having the right win come at the right time. Having the right sponsorship. Having rules that play in your favor and timing was on my side a few times. There were multiple occasions at Roush, where I was probably close to getting fired, but I was able to win a couple of XFINITY races. We had a new sponsor come in and able to finally win a Cup race and so a few of those things I was able to kind of hang in there, and I think over the course of my career I just felt like I was all-in. I would do anything the sponsors asked. I tried not to burn any bridges. I tried to treat everybody with respect and my wins and championships and top fives and 10s aren’t as good as a lot of the guys I came in with and raced during the last 13 years, but I felt like I was good enough for the teams to help build Front Row Motorsports. I was good for our manufacturer. I was at a point in my career when I didn’t know exactly what my program was gonna look like at Front Row Motorsports and Kyle gets injured and I’m able to go and sub for him and transition over to MWR that season, so things have just kind of fallen to where I was very grateful. They weren’t always easy and it wasn’t always real sexy, but it allowed me to stay full-time and to keep racing. Whether it was a bad opportunity or a good opportunity I tried to take it serious and work as hard as I could on that.”

DO YOU FEEL THERE ARE OTHER WAYS YOU CAN GIVE BACK TO THIS SPORT THAT ISN’T AS A DRIVER? “I’m gonna work on some different projects next year. Ford Motor Company has been a really good partner of mine and a supporter of my career since day one, and so I’m working with those guys on how I can help the big picture from Ford Performance and how we can work on next year and the Next Generation car as it rolls out. I do still want to race some. I feel kind of weird saying I’m retiring. I’m 33 years old. It’s embarrassing to say that, so I’m not retiring I’m just not gonna race full-time anymore. I definitely want to race a few races here and there. I still have a short track car, a Legends car. I’ve looked at the ARCA schedule. I’ve looked at some Late Model races around the country that I’ve had the opportunity to run over the years and because I’ve been so committed to the Cup side I haven’t been able to do that, so I don’t want to sign up for more racing than I’ve done this year. I’m gonna try not to let that happen, but I do have a wish list that I can still go and race and work with some other young drivers and still be a part of the Ford family and help their success on the race track in the top three national series. I’ll know some more of how that’s all gonna shake out over the next six or eight weeks.”

DO YOU HOPE TO DRIVE THE NEXTGEN CAR? “Oh yeah, absolutely. I don’t know if I’ll ever race it, but I’ll get to drive it some.”

HOW MUCH SAFER IS THE SPORT NOW THAN WHEN YOU STARTED? “It’s a lot safer. I raced at tracks that didn’t have SAFER barriers. I’ve always worn a head-and-neck restraint system since day one. From that pivotal point of the late nineties and early 2000s, where we lost a few truck drivers and Adam Petty and then Dale Earnhardt in 2001, the sport and NASCAR in particular and the race tracks made a pretty big investment on driver safety, crew safety and I’m very lucky that I just came in at the right time. My father raced in the 1980s and he’s broken about every bone in his body and you talk to a lot of the guys that raced in that era of the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties and we all should give them thanks and pick up their dinner every time we see them out eating because they paid the price to allow us to come out and race fairly safe. I know there are still opportunities to have some injuries here and there, but we race in an era today – SAFER barriers, our carbon fiber seats that we run. They know exactly the amount of energy absorbent material that we need as a seat padding. The helmets have come so far. The fueling systems are so much more efficient. You don’t have the fires like we used to, and everything is just so much better. I think that’s why we wreck so much at Daytona and Talladega – no one is really afraid to get hurt anymore because you really don’t. Like I said, there are a few freak accidents, but NASCAR does a great job of keeping us safe.”

WILL YOU CONTINUE YOUR ROLE ON THE FOX BROADCASTS? “I’d like to continue to work with Fox some and some in-studio work. I’m not a big fan of flying commercial and I don’t want to go to all of these race tracks all the time. I do want to stay home some and be home on Saturdays and Sundays, but Fox has been really good to me the last few years. They tell great stories as both of our TV partners do in NASCAR, so I’ve been very grateful to have a small role with them and being able to give my insight on what’s going on on the race track and throughout the week, so hopefully I can keep my finger tip on some of the pulse of what’s happening in the sport so I can give a little bit of opinion on a few shows here and there, so hopefully I’ll still be able to do that a little bit.”

WHY ARE YOU STEPPING AWAY FROM FULL-TIME RACING AGAIN? “The main reason, the commitment level to be the best driver I can be requires 24/7 commitment. You’ve got to mentally be committed all the time. You’ve got to be thinking about your race car, thinking about your sponsors and how you can do a better job on social media interacting with your fans, promoting your team. You’ve got to be in the simulator. You’ve got to be testing and when you put racing first in your life everything else has to come second, third and fourth. I just got to a point where I didn’t want to put racing first in my life anymore and it was a pretty easy decision that it was time to put other things that I’ve been kind of putting off the last few years with my wife and my kids and my community and things like that. I’ve had a good run for 13 years and I thought it was time to go to Plan B.”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RUN LE MANS? “Yeah, that’s something I really haven’t put much thought into. I might call you and see if you can give me a few contacts I can call to see if I can get me a ride. I’m from a real small time in Unadilla, Georgia. I don’t even know how to spell Le Mans. I know it’s in France, but that’s about all that I know. I’m a big fan of Ford and I love their victories in the 1960s, so that’s about all that I know, but that would be cool. I’ve got a lot to learn before I would go over there and be competitive, but given the right situation absolutely, I’d love to go do something like that.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU’VE PUT OFF THAT YOU WANT TO DO? “A lot of it is just being when I’m home being home. I’m home physically but a lot of times I’m still doing call-ins right before dinner time. I’m typing an e-mail out before the kids go to bed. I’m answering this phone call thinking about my schedule the next day. Even when I’m home we have competition meeting, pre-event planning meetings, I’m on the simulator a couple sessions a week. There’s always stuff going on and so while I physically may be present in my household, a lot of times I wasn’t really there. I didn’t have real conversations with my kids on what they were doing at school or maybe the things that my wife had an interest in. They tagged along with me some on race weekends, but a lot of times that’s a distraction. When I’m here at the race track I’m here to work and I’m here to focus on my race car and I don’t really want my family around sometimes, so I felt like I’ve been fortunate to have a supportive wife and supportive kids, and they’ve been young. When your kids or two or three years old I don’t think they realize a lot of things, but once they get to five and six years old and they’re in kindergarten and playing sports and doing things I can’t attend and I can’t be at it’s like my wife is single mom trying to raise two girls. Those are the things. They played soccer this year and I got to go to about 20 minutes on Saturday morning before Roval practice and that’s the only time I went to one of their games or practices. They do gymnastics on Monday afternoons and that’s our competition meeting, so on occasion I’ll skip a competition meeting, but that’s not fair to my team, it’s not fair to our sponsors, all the employees working. Again, you have to be committed and I think some drivers can play the fence, but I didn’t want to do that to Bob Jenkins and Ford Motor Company, so those are some of the things – just being normal — go to the grocery store, cut my own grass, do some normal things. That’s something that I look forward to doing.”

DO YOU FORESEE A ROLE WHERE YOU COULD BE A DRIVER COACH? “Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, we’ve had some discussions and tentatively I’ve got an idea of some things that I feel strongly about that I can bring to the table and ways that I can help some specific teams, some specific drivers and some new programs that are going to be getting off the ground. So, yeah, there are several ideas like that and I’m sure over the next four to six weeks we’ll have a little more clarity on what they may look like and what kind of duties I may be a part of, but I’ll still be around a little bit.”

Roush Fenway Racing heads to Phoenix this weekend for the second to last stop on the 2019 MENCS circuit. Ryan Newman enters the weekend coming off a win at the track just two years ago, while RFR overall has 17 wins all-time at the 1-mile facility with 134 top-10s across the board.

ISM Raceway
Sunday, Nov. 10 | 2:30 p.m. ET
NBC, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
·         Ryan Newman, No. 6 Mazola Ford Mustang
·         Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 NOS Energy Ford Mustang

Hooked on Phoenix

Roush Fenway has 287 combined starts at Phoenix, totaling 17 wins, 75 top-five and 134 top-10 finishes. RFR Fords have nine poles and have led 4,030 laps at the 1-mile track.

Winning in the Desert

Roush Fenway has won at Phoenix in all three of NASCAR’s major divisions, with the organization’s first win coming in the fall of 1993 with NASCAR Hall of Famer and former driver Mark Martin in the MENCS. Roush Fenway won the second-ever NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in 2000 and former driver Greg Biffle claimed the organization’s 100th overall NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Phoenix in 2009.

Former driver Carl Edwards also won there that fall to give Roush Fenway the season sweep. All in all, six drivers have won NASCAR races for Roush Fenway at Phoenix (Martin, Biffle, Edwards, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Joe Ruttman). In addition, Edwards swept Phoenix in the fall of 2010, winning both the NXS and MENCS events.

Recent Ryan in Phoenix

Two years ago in the Phoenix spring race, Ryan Newman went to victory lane in the No. 31, marking his most recent win in the MENCS. He started 22nd in that race before going on to lead the final six laps en route to his 18th career Cup series win.

Xfinity Success

Phoenix was one of the strongest tracks for Roush Fenway’s Xfinity program. In 91 starts, the organization won eight times, earned 27 top-fives, 53 top-10s and has led 1,406 laps. Roush Fenway most recently went to victory lane with Edwards in Nov. 2010. Its eight wins rank most of any track on the circuit behind only Charlotte (12), Darlington (15), Richmond (9) and Rockingham (10).

Tale of the Tape

Roush Fenway has started 158 MENCS races at Phoenix, recording a total of seven victories, 35 top-five finishes, 60 top-10 finishes, four poles and has led 2,290 laps. Edwards earned Roush Fenway’s most recent victory at Phoenix in the March 2013 event.

Roush Fenway Phoenix Wins
1993       Martin  Cup
1997-2   Ruttman Truck
2000       Burton  Cup
2000       Burton  NXS
2001       Biffle     Truck
2001       Burton  Cup
2001       Biffle     NXS
2002       Kenseth Cup
2005-1   Busch    Cup
2005-2   Edwards NXS
2006-2   Kenseth NXS
2008-2   Edwards NXS
2009-1   Biffle     NXS
2009-2   Edwards NXS
2010-2   Edwards Cup
2010-2   Edwards NXS
2013-1   Edwards Cup

By the Numbers at ISM Raceway
Race      Win       T5           T10         Pole       Laps       Led        AvSt      AvFn     Miles
158         7              35           60           4              47208    2290       18.1        15.8        47208
93           8              27           53           5              17917    1406       11.3        11.7        17917
36           2              13           21           0              5195       334         12.3        12.4        5195
287         17           75           134         9              70320    4030       15.2        14.0        70320

AVONDALE, Ariz.: Officials from Rick Ware Racing (RWR) proudly announced today that Phoenix, Ariz.-based Pit Boss Grills, one of the fastest-growing grill brands will partner with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) team for Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500, the penultimate race of the 2019 season at ISM (Ariz.) Raceway.

Driftwood, Tex. native Bayley Currey will drive the team’s No. 52 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the 312-lap race on Sun., Nov. 10.

Pit Boss Grills is a subsidiary of Dansons which was founded in 1999 by Dan Thiessen and his two sons, Jeff and Jordan.

Pit Boss Grills is known for their durability and craftsmanship, as well as for their family style and approach to business.

From portable grills like the Pit Boss Tailgater, to massive grills like the Pit Boss Austin XL – Pit Boss is honored to create whatever the customers (and employees) dream up.

Leading the path of innovation, Pit Boss Grills’ products are Bigger. Hotter. and Heavier. than the competitions.

“This is a very unique opportunity to be able to partner with Rick Ware Racing and their young driver Bayley Currey,” said Jeff Theissen, president of Dansons, the parent company of Pit Boss Grills. “We have been very happy with our involvement with NASCAR and our at-track activations, but this allows us the opportunity to partner with an up and coming team, and driver, and grow our brand while they try to grow their team.

“What goes better together than grilling and racing? We are excited to be able to bring family and friends to the track and enjoy being in the garage area with the RWR team.”

Rick Ware Racing general manager Bryan Clodfelter says he is proud of the organizations’ ability to continue to showcase new partners at the sports elite level.

“This is really amazing,” offered Clodfelter. “We are very blessed to be able to add a great marketing partner like Pit Boss Grills this late in the season. We take great pride at Rick Ware Racing of being a family-oriented race team.

“We spend the majority of our time working together and spending a great deal of time together. What says that better than grilling and spending quality time together. This is a perfect addition to our growing family of Rick Ware Racing marketing partners.”

Currey, 22, will make his 10th Cup Series start of the year in Phoenix. Earlier this year, he made his Cup Series debut at the 1.0-mile race track earning a respectable 31st place finish for RWR.

“I can’t thank Pit Boss Grills enough for coming on board our race car this weekend,” sounded Currey. “I am excited to get back behind the wheel of the No. 52 Pit Boss Grills Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and try to bring her home with a good finish at ISM Raceway.

“To have the Official Grill of NASCAR on the car is very cool. With the season winding down and having more time to spend with family, it will be nice to be able to do that with a great Pit Boss wood pellet grill!”

The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues with the Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway on Sun., Nov. 10 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Satellite Radio NASCAR Channel 90.

For more on Rick Ware Racing, please “like” them on Facebook (Facebook.com/rickwareracing) or visit WareRacing.com.

Rick Ware Racing is on Twitter. Follow them @RickWareRacing.

For additional information on Pit Boss Grills, please visit pitbossgrills.com or follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

About Pit Boss Grills:

Pit Boss Grills is a subsidiary of Dansons which was founded in 1999 by Dan Thiessen and his two sons, Jeff and Jordan. Pit Boss Grills is known for their durability and craftsmanship, as well as for their family style and approach to business. From portable grills like the Pit Boss Tailgater, to massive grills like the Pit Boss Austin XL – Pit Boss is honored to create whatever the customers (and employees) dream up.

Leading the path of innovation, Pit Boss Grills’ products are Bigger. Hotter. and Heavier. than the competitions.

In 2017, Dansons was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
BLUEGREEN VACATIONS 500
ISM RACEWAY
AVONDALE, ARIZONA
NOVEMBER 10, 2019

BOWTIE BULLETS:
CHECKING ON CHEVROLET CONTENDERS

Heading into the cutoff race for the final round of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Chevrolet drivers Kyle Larson is tied for sixth and Chase Elliott is eighth. Next up is the 312-lap race on the one-mile ISM Raceway. “It’s just all eyes on Phoenix,” said Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1.

HOW CHEVY CONTENDERS HAVE FARED
How the drivers fared at ISM on March 10 and in November 2018 playoff race:
Elliott – Start 2, finish 14 (March) Start 2, finish 23 (2018)
Larson – Start 31, finish 6 (March) Start 8, finish 3 (2018)

Their career-best start and finish at ISM:
Elliott – Start 2 (March 2019, November 2018) * Finish 2 (November 2017)
Larson – Start 2 (March 2018) Finish 2 (March 2017)
* Elliott is tops among active drivers with an average starting position of 5.4 in seven races at the track.

FREQUENT VISITOR TO WINNER’S CIRCLE
Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 23 victories in 46 races at ISM Raceway with six different nameplates (Lumina, Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo SS, Impala, Impala SS, and SS). A Team Chevy driver has sat on the pole 17 times at ISM Raceway.

TUNE-IN:
NBC will telecast the race live at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 10. The NBCSports Gold app will stream the race and live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

BY THE NUMBERS:
* Victories by current Chevrolet drivers at ISM Raceway:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, has four wins (November 2009, April and November 2008, November 2007).
Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1, has one win (April 2005). Last week, Busch signed a multi-year contract extension to drive the Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
* Johnson holds the MENCS track qualifying record of 143.158 mph set on Nov. 15, 2015.
* Johnson is tied for the most lead-lap finishes (27) among active drivers in 32 races at the track.
* Chevrolet has recorded 108 top-5 and 209 top-10 finishes at the track.
* Johnson needs one win to tie Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip (84) for fourth on the all-time list.
* Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Military Camaro ZL1, has been running at the finish in the past 43 races – tops among current drivers.
* Chevrolet has surpassed 100 top-10 finishes for the season.
* Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships.

QUOTABLE QUOTES:
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CAMARO ZL1 – 7th IN STANDINGS
“Phoenix has been a pretty good place for us. We’ve had some strong runs there and competed for wins, and I think we’ll have another competitive Camaro there this weekend. Our team has never made it this close to a shot at the final four, and even though we’re not in great place in the points, we’re excited about our chances this weekend. I think our strategy has been good the last two races, we just didn’t have things work out on track in our favor last weekend. It sounds like the traction compound will be applied this weekend similar to last weekend, and I think that plays into my ability to move around during the race to find speed. So, we’ll head to the track this weekend ready to do what we can to have a good race and hopefully advance.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – 8th IN STANDINGS
ON THE PHOENIX RACE THIS WEEKEND AND WITH THE FLIP-FLOP OF THE START/FINISH LINE, HOW MUCH MORE INTENSE ARE RESTARTS THERE?
“They are definitely different. You can be really brave and sometimes make something work. Other times, you get really aggressive and you find yourself right back in the same spot your started in. You weigh that out, when it’s time to do that and when it’s not. We’ve seen guys make up a lot of ground on restarts and the closing restarts in the past couple of races. There’s a time and there are different opportunities that I think it can work better than others and it just depends on the situation and who’s in front of you and what kind of gap there is to the people around you and all kinds of situational things that you just have to make split second decisions as to what feels right and what’s not.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 – 10th IN STANDINGS
IT’S BEEN TWO RACES NOW AT ISM RACEWAY, BUT IS IT STILL WEIRD TO HAVE THE START/FINISH LINE FLIPPED? DID IT TAKE TIME TO GET ADJUSTED TO IT?
“Last year in the fall we had that configuration and it was really weird. I think it made for a lot of action for the Playoffs though. For the restarts there, you can fan out so much now that it’s kind of like Pocono Raceway is. I think restarts are going to be a premium time to pick up positions and make the biggest moves. After that it will be difficult to make much ground up, I think. Late race restarts especially are going to be hairy there. I’m interested to see how it is though after having a couple races under my belt with the reconfiguration. I think it’s going to be a wild race, but especially being during the playoffs and a cutoff race for some of the other guys.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – 12th IN STANDINGS
“ISM Raceway is one of the tracks that I circle on the calendar. I still feel like the 2016 race was the win that got away. This 88 team had an amazing car from the time we unloaded to the time we went green in the race. We have had some bad luck there these last few races, so I am looking forward to redeeming myself this weekend.”

“A race win at my home track would be extremely special. I think anytime that someone wins at their home track is something that sticks with them forever. Being so close a few years ago was tough, but this team doesn’t give up. We want a win in Phoenix and we know that we have been close before and can unload a good car this weekend.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO MILITARY CAMARO ZL1 – 24th IN STANDINGS
HOW ODD IS IT TO YOU TO STILL SEE THE START-FINISH LINE FLIP-FLOPPED?
“I’m getting pretty comfortable with it now. I think the first couple times were pretty tricky, but it is truly unique. ISM Raceway is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit and all of the short tracks are places that we star as a team, where we feel we can run well and have a good opportunity for a great finish. I look forward to going to ISM and finishing the year out really strong.”

DOES THE WIDE-OPEN SPACE YOU HAVE ON THE RESTARTS MAKE IT EVEN CRAZIER?
“Oh definitely, because we are going to use it. If we have space, we will absolutely use it. Especially with this package that we have run all year. It creates more hectic restarts and if there are holes to fill, we are going to fill them.”

DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 CAT LARGE DOZERS CAMARO ZL1 – 25th IN STANDINGS
HOW DIFFERENT IS RACING AT ISM RACEWAY WITH THE RECONFIGURATION AND THE START-FINISH LINE BEING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DOGLEG?
“It is kind of an on-going debate inside the haulers about the racetrack, because what I am referring to as Turns 1 and 2, others are calling Turns 3 and 4. In all seriousness, you have to be on the same page with your crew chief and spotter throughout the weekend because it is still so new and different. Whenever you take off on the restarts, get up through the gears and go down into the new Turn 1 it so different than restarts use to be at ISM Raceway. Everyone used to talk about how you had to get off the old Turn 2 to make a good lap. Well, now your coming-to-green lap is off the old Turn 2, which is the new Turn 4, and you have to go through that twice to make a complete lap and that changes lap times. There is a lot of time to be made up on that end of the racetrack now. I can’t believe how different the visuals of the track from inside the race car are now that the track has been reconfigured. I remember my first laps on the track after the change and when you come off what is now Turn 2 and you feel like you’re at a totally different racetrack, with the motorhomes on the backstretch and the grandstands wrapping around Turns 3 and 4, the restart box, the start-finish line, all of it. It feels like a completely new racetrack and I feel like we’ve seen it race like one each time we’ve been back since.”

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 UNITED STATES AIR FORCE CAMARO ZL1 – 27th IN STANDINGS
THOUGHTS GOING INTO PHOENIX. HOW DOES THIS TRACK RANK FOR YOU?
“Our short-track program is lacking in strength; however, ISM Raceway has always been good for us. We have always had a lot of speed there and always have had a good race. I am excited to get there. It is a place where when I first arrived, I couldn’t really figure-out the track and something started clicking. Hopefully, our Richard Petty Motorsports team can continue that good luck streak.

“It is going to be hot; next-to-last race of the season. That’s when you start thinking ‘Is the season over with yet?’. Then, we go right into Homestead-Miami Speedway weekend.”

Chevrolet Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Statistics

Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2018): 39
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

Drivers Championships:
Total (1949-2018): 31
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)

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

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

2019 STATISTICS:
Wins: 7
Poles: 15
Laps Led: 2,092
Top-five finishes: 44
Top-10 finishes: 107

CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 786 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 714
Laps led to date: 234,302
Top-five finishes to date: 4,013
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,279

Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date

General Motors: 1,120
Chevrolet: 786
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65

Ford: 786
Ford: 686
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59

Toyota: 141

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with 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.