Category: NASCAR Cup PR

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 18, 2019

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1, Media Breakout Session Highlights:

ARE YOU LOOKING AT KANSAS AS A MUST-WIN SITUATION?
“Yeah, I think it’s definitely a must-win situation. I think we can look at the stages and try to get a bunch of points in those. Ultimately, we’re going to have to win and that’s our goal.”

AFTER THE FIRST PRACTICE, DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CAR TO DO IT?
“We’ll see. It’s hard to say here because of the draft and just the effect it has on lap times based on the group you’re around. We didn’t have as much speed as we wanted to have, in terms of lap times. But the car felt pretty good and I felt like we could move around. We just have to continue to work on it.”

WHAT WAS THE ATMOSPHERE IN YOUR MEETING ON TUESDAY WHEN ALL THREE OF YOU ARE BELOW THE CUT LINE?
“Yeah, I mean we are all kind of in the same boat, which is going to kind of make it every man for himself. We always work really well together when it comes to notes, what we’re learning from each practice and stuff like that. I think we’ll have that ability still. When the race starts, it’s going to be all about going forward and trying to win for each one of our teams.”

IS A CUTOFF RACE NERVE-RACKING? ARE YOU USED TO IT NOW?
“It’s definitely a new level of stress I would say because when you’re racing out there with not much to lose or even if you have a points gap based on the guys you’re around during a regular season, it’s not as big of a deal. You’re just trying to do the best that you can and set yourself up for the playoffs. The three-race elimination deal is just a lot more stress I would say and you don’t know what to think showing up to the race track. You try to stay calm a little bit, but it’s definitely tough too.”

WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK ON HOW THIS SEASON HAS GONE? DO YOU LOOK AT IT AS A SUCCESSFUL SEASON?
“It is. I think our goal was 12th in points going into the year. That was something we thought we could get to, so we’re kind of there. We had to kind of reset going into this round and think about how we can advance. Everything was looking really good until about 25 laps to go last week. Really, you just have to put that behind you and think about what we have to do to win. Ultimately, if we want to advance past this weekend, we’re probably going to have to do that. If we want to advance through the next round, we’re going to have to do that too. That’s kind of what it takes.”

THIS BEING YOUR FIRST TIME IN THE PLAYOFFS, HOW HAS IT BEEN TO HAVE SOMEONE LIKE CHAD (KNAUS) THAT HAS BEEN THROUGH IT?
“Yeah, I mean I’d say he’s calm. He’s a lot calmer than I thought he would be in the playoff situation. I don’t really get a lot of updates, as far as points go and all that stuff, during the race. We really just try to do the best job we can all the way through the race and try to get the best finish we can. I would say I’ve noticed how calm he’s been. I’ve noticed, for the most part, we’ve had a good uptake in performance in our cars and that’s been great. We just have to have that this weekend.”

WHAT HAS THE BEEN THE BIGGEST ASPECT OF PROGRESSION YOUR TEAM HAS MADE COMPARED TO LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME?
“Well, it’s a totally different team, to be honest with you. There are some guys for sure that are the same on my team from last year, which is great. But, as far as the engineering goes, it’s a completely different engineering group in my hauler this year. Chad (Knaus) is obviously different. My lead and second engineers are different, so that makes it a much different environment for me. It took us a few races to gel, but every since probably May, we’ve been pretty solid. There’s a lot that’s unique about this year, but we’re building a great foundation for what’s to come.”

WHAT HAS THIS WEEK BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
“Stressful. Stressful because you’re thinking about what you’re going to have to do and that’s to go out there to win. There’s a possibility of leapfrogging a bunch of guys in points, but you can’t approach it that way. You have to go out there and try to win. That’s kind of what I’ve been thinking about all week. I’ve been doing a lot of preparation, looking at a lot of videos to try and prepare for that feeling in that moment. That’s really all you can do, I think. You can’t lose sleep over the fact that we’ve tried to do all we can to get to this point. That’s just the situation that we’re in and we just have to go do our jobs. That’s just how I try to approach it, but it’s stressful for sure.”

HAVE YOU NOTICED AN INCREASE IN PRESSURE BETWEEN THE ROUNDS? IF YOU GET INTO THE NEXT ROUND, DO YOU THINK THAT WILL INCREASE?
“Yeah, I’m sure there’s pressure for other guys. For us, we really don’t have anything to lose this weekend. So, there’s not really any anxiety I guess about what happens if we don’t advance. It is what it is. We’d love to go through to the next round, that’s the goal and that would be kind of exceeding our expectations. We try to keep the bar kind of low and just try to focus on what we can do.”

IF YOU DON’T END UP GOING THROUGH, WHAT’S YOUR TEAM’S PLAN FOR THE FINAL FOUR RACES AND LOOKING FORWARD TO 2020?
“We want to try to win, if that’s this weekend or going forward. That’s really the goal. That’s how we’re going to approach it, for sure. Hopefully, that’s what we can do.

YOU’VE BEEN IN THE PLAYOFF SITUATION BEFORE IN THE TRUCKS AND XFINITY SERIES. DO YOU TAKE THAT SAME APPROACH?
“Really the biggest difference is that a lot of the time in those series, I was the top seed or whatever. In the trucks, we won and that advanced us through. So, we got really lucky with that. I’m on the other end of the spectrum this time around, so it’s not something I can really look at for advice for. It’s a new situation.”

IF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DOESN’T GET A DRIVER INTO THE NEXT ROUND, HOW DO YOU THINK THE TEAMS WILL LOOK BACK ON 2019?
“The expectations are high for us. We have a lot of resources and have every opportunity to go out and win. It’s been a good year. For our team, it’s been kind of what was expected and everything has kind of gone as planned. I think for the other guys, they’ve been here before so I can’t really speak to what they would think. I think we are still trying to get better and improve, and I think we are turning that corner this year. With us being in the Playoffs, that’s great. We just have to continue to make that climb to get to that next step. For me, looking towards next year, just try to gain more points by winning during the regular season. That’s the easiest way to advance, for sure.”

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, October 18, 2019

Hollywood Casino 400 | MEDIA AVAILABILITY

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Dekalb Ford Mustang — HAVING YOUR CONTRACT EXTENSION HANDLED AND GOING INTO THIS RACE SUNDAY, DOES IT MAKE IT EASIER THAT YOU AREN’T RACING FOR YOUR CAREER OR SOMETHING? “It is always a good thing. I don’t feel like I was racing for my career anyway. I race because I love to do it and I love to come back here and everything else. There is a lot of pride to be a part of a sport like this, something you grew up doing since you were a little boy. A great deal of pride that goes into being a part of this. As far as the aspect of doing it another year, yes, that is great and according to plan. Right now the plan is all about trying to stay alive in these playoffs and our quest for a championship.”

JUST A ONE YEAR EXTENSION? IS THAT GOOD? “Yeah, one year. It is good for me. In today’s day in age there is a lot going on. There are a lot of moving parts in our sport. You talk about everything that is going to happen after that and there is just a lot of unknowns. There is a lot of positive vision and opinions on the direction and everything else but at the end of the day we have to figure that out. I am no different. I am just a competitor within the sport and you work for an organization that puts on a show. How all that is going to play out after the new car and everything happens, at this point in the game you aren’t in situations anymore where you put three years together or long term deals anymore. I am okay. I was fine with a one year deal. That is on my end of it too. I feel like that is where we are at in today’s day in age. I was 100-percent okay with that.”

DO THESE WEEKENDS AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY HOLD AN EXTRA SPECIAL PLACE IN YOUR HEART? “Coming back home is always meaningful and a lot of fun. I have a lot of pride in bringing partners like Dekalb this weekend. It is a great partnership and a great environment. I have been home in Kansas all week long and I have seen nothing but corn and bean fields being harvested all week long. I was around it. I roll in and get in the Dekalb car this weekend and it is pretty meaningful. I just feel at home.”

YOU HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE HERE AT KANSAS. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS TRACK OVER THE YEARS, KNOWING YOU WANT TO WIN HERE SO BAD: “For me, it is a mile-and-a-half track and I struggle on some of them. This is one of them. The weird thing is that I can come here and be just spot on and have a really easy weekend and be successful and other weekends I just feel like a fish out of water the whole weekend. You never do get comfortable. We got some work to do on our hot rod unloading it. In the grand scheme of things for the first practice I looked over and saw a lot of other teams that were struggling. Again, you come here and you practice in one condition. The wind – I am a Kansas boy so nobody understands and is bothered less than me for wind, but it is a problem we all had to manage getting into three and four. That being said, we have some work to do. I feel like it is doable. The next thing is you get into the race and for whatever reason it is always a little different than what you thought it would be in practice sessions.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Dekalb Ford Mustang — IS TOMORROW A MUST WIN FOR YOU TO ADVANCE? “A lot has to happen. There is something that happens in this sport that we don’t talk about a lot. If you don’t make that and you get kicked out, you get thrown back in the pot. Truth be told, you can end up fifth or 16th and they are both doable. I learned that last year the hard way of going for it and throwing all caution to the wind and really throwing hail mary’s out there at the end trying to stay alive in our quest for a championship and it bit us. I remember leaving Phoenix bummed out that we didn’t make the Championship Four and the next thing you know you look over and we are 12th in points. We were eighth and now we are 12th and you only have one race to make that up. You can’t lose sight of that. That is something that I will not make that mistake again. At the end of the day, this is our turn and opportunity to try to stay alive and it is right here at home, so of course we will do everything we can do to get every stage point and every position. Look how many wild things happened in the spring race. As a cookie cutter track, this has always been a track that some crazy things happen. Always. Always a points shakeup or a finish different that you didn’t expect all weekend long from practice. Fundamentally the norm race track as you go through practice sessions and qualifying, you kind of see the same things but there are always some things that trip you up in the race and change things in a big way.”

WHEN YOU COME HOME, THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE HERE ROOTING FOR YOU, BUT DOES IT TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR RACE WEEKEND ROUTINE? “Not really. You know, I am just proud of this race track. I am proud to be from here and growing up watching this track. Every single year I have come back here there has been something new here from its inception in 2001. People can say all they want about our sport or where it is at or an option here and there but there is not one person in this town or this city or this environment around here that will not tell you that the impact was a massive impact that the Kansas Speedway made in this county and this area over here. Dealerships, a shopping mall, go over there and eat. A sporting complex, big businesses, water parks, all of it because of this race track and the investment that was put forth. There is a casino on the back straightaway. A lot of change since 2001. It is all about putting the puzzle together and this was the first piece that set it all off.”

WHAT MEMORIES COME TO YOUR MIND WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING UP TO THIS TRACK? “You know, it is just the task at hand. I am not really somebody that thinks about the past. When I pull up here, I am thinking about how I am going to unload, what the balance will be like. Is the wind that is blowing 24 mph today going to affect things? What will it look like for Sunday or do I only have to worry about it today? Will it be something different on Sunday? I just don’t reflect on the past. It doesn’t matter to me. I have always been that way. The past is behind you and the only thing you can change is what is in front of you. Really, that is all I ever really focus on.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Dekalb Ford Mustang — YOU HAVE HAD A COUPLE GOOD RUNS IN THE PLAYOFFS. WHAT IS CLICKING RIGHT NOW? “We have a lot of positive mojo going on. That sucked last week. The thing that bummed me out the most was that I finally felt like we had some things going our way. All summer long it has been one crummy thing after another of just a let down. A strong run only to be let down with something crazy happening. I thought we had that shook off but I will be damned if I wasn’t stuck on the apron. I didn’t see that coming. Out of 1,000 things that I could have wrote down of possibilities of what could happen and keep us out of this thing at the Talladega wild card race, being struck in the apron – not in the grass – but on the apron would not be one of them. Then going two laps down because nobody could push me was another thing that wouldn’t be on the list. Yes, I am a little bitter about last weekend but there is nothing but pulling into Kansas Speedway and worrying about what is in front of us.”

CARL EDWARDS SAID THAT IF HE HAD WON HERE, IT WOULD BE AS BIG AS WINNING THE DAYTONA 500. DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT? “Negative. No. No. And I don’t think he actually would have either. No. Nothing in our world the way we grew up chasing this dream, nothing is as big as the Daytona 500. If it is an auto race, nothing is as big. There is only one other one. It is the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 and that depends on where you grew up. In our world, I would much rather win the Daytona 500 than the Indy 500. There are a lot of people that is flip-flopped on that, but make no mistake, those are the two biggest races in this country.”

Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson visited with patients undergoing chemotherapy at AdventHealth Cancer Center Shawnee Mission in advance of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 20.

Busch, the former NASCAR Cup Series champion, will drive the AdventHealth No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Kansas Speedway. The car is accented in pink for breast cancer awareness and features Nicole Boxx as the honorary crew chief, with her name on the passenger side of the car. Boxx was diagnosed with breast cancer in her early forties, after a routine mammogram. She celebrated five years cancer free this month.

“I encourage every woman I meet to get her annual mammogram,” said Boxx. “My cancer was small and in an area where it would have been many months before it would be felt with a breast exam. Women are often distracted by taking care of everyone around them, but I hope seeing pink in October and seeing the pink on the No. 1 car will remind women to take care of themselves.”

Boxx joined Busch and Larson as they visited with cancer patients on Friday. The drivers then unveiled the car to Boxx and her family, friends and coworkers.

“It’s an honor to drive this special car recognizing Nicole and all breast cancer survivors,” said Busch. “The women in my family are the bond that keeps our lives together, and I’m happy the Chip Ganassi Racing team and AdventHealth have partnered on this initiative to remind women to take time for themselves and schedule their annual mammograms.”

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission is offering 3D mammograms for $30 throughout October 2019. This limited-time pricing will make it affordable for women who may not be covered by insurance to receive preventive screening. Annual mammograms are recommended for all women beginning at age 40, and earlier for women with higher than average risk of breast cancer.

“Every October we see a sea of pink to remind us that early detection for breast cancer saves lives,” said Bettina Lowe, MD, Medical Director of AdventHealth Shawnee Mission NAPBC Breast Program. “This year it was important to us at AdventHealth Cancer Center Shawnee Mission that we went beyond pink in celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness Month to really make an impact on women’s health in Kansas City.”

For women whose mammograms are covered by insurance, they can also choose to donate $30 to the Women’s Services fund at AdventHealth Foundation Shawnee Mission to support vital health care services – including mammograms – for underserved women in the community.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, October 18, 2019
Hollywood Casino 400 | MEDIA AVAILABILITY

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang — YOU STARTED THE SEASON WITH THREE WINS IN THE FIRST 11 RACES WITH THE LAST ONE COMING HERE IN MAY. HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU THAT YOU CAN GET A WIN HERE THIS WEEKEND? “I would like to think that we are saving the best for last. We didn’t have the summer that we would like to have but I feel like the last few years we have had incredible summers but not good spring or fall. Hopefully that bodes well for this fall. We are happy to be coming back here. Anytime you come back to a track you won at it gives you a lot of confidence. We won this race in the spring and won Martinsville in the spring as well and they are back-to-back races. We are coming into these two races feeling pretty good.”

DID YOU GET TO THE BOTTOM OF WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS WHEN YOU COULDN’T RESTART THE CAR AT TALLADEGA? “No, I never heard. We didn’t have any fuel pressure which was kind of surprising. Thankfully, that could have been a lot worse but we were able to get back to pit road and get going and it didn’t really hurt us that much. We were in a good spot at the end of the race.”

ANY CONCERN ABOUT THIS RASH OF THINGS HAPPENING WITH THE PENSKE CARS RECENTLY? “It was a separate issue from what my teammates had. THose things happen and it is strange when they do because you would think you would find them over the course of the season or seasons because they are the same parts and pieces. For them to just pop up and nobody knows why is really weird and strange and goes against all of our teachings. It is part of the reason why I think you get so much anxiety with this format because I kind of think of it like a bit of a house payment. You want to feel like the season is long enough that you can stretch those things all out and they average out but with the playoffs they don’t. You just hope those things happen in the better times, which is not always the case. I feel like the last few playoffs since we have had this format I have had a lot of those types of failures at inopportune times. In the years where we haven’t, we have been able to go to Homestead or go deep in the playoffs. Hopefully that doesn’t happen for any of the Penske cars the next few weeks.”

DO YOU FEEL THE PRESSURE INCREASES WITH EACH ROUND? AS CLOSE AS YOU ARE TO THE CUT-OFF, DOES THE ANXIETY YOU MENTIONED INCREASE IN THE NEXT ROUND? “I think you look at Martinsville and that is such a big race to win. Joey won it last year. I feel like when you can win that race you get three weeks to prepare for Miami where everyone else gets one or two. It is a huge race to win. Certainly you get to Phoenix and Texas and to your point the pressure is a little different. It is kind of like it is the last chance. There is a lot of pressure to go out and win Martinsville.”

YOU WON HERE IN THE SPRING AT NIGHT WHEN IT WAS COOLER. DOES THAT CHANGE THE WAY YOU GUYS SET THINGS UP HANDLING WISE FOR SUNDAY? “I think it is interesting the day versus night time races. There was a good point in time where I felt like with the rules package and the low downforce and things that the racing was better during the day because the car slid around more and did all of those things that made for multi-grooves. Now it is almost the opposite. I feel like the racing with the 2019 rules is better at night when the track has a lot of mechanical grip because you can draft and you can run close to wide open and use the different lanes in the corners. In the spring the track really came to us at night when it gained a lot of grip and we were able to draft and then run multiple lanes through the corners. Certainly it is going to be a different race. Time will tell what we have but we will do the best with what we’ve got.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang — IS THIS A PLACE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE CONTINUE TO HAVE TWO RACES A YEAR? “I hadn’t thought that much about this track specifically. I know there are some agreements with respect to the casino that have some ramifications on that and I don’t know all the details to it. I know I do enjoy seeing the things here. I have seen this community transform. I was here the first year the track was built and you came down the freeway and there was a race track. The next year you came down the freeway and there was the Great Wolf Lodge. Every year there has been something else, the soccer stadium and the shopping mall. Kansas is the clearest track to indicate to a community of what NASCAR can do for them. I think you look at racetracks that are able to have such a positive impact on the community and you tend to think of them in a very positive light, at least I do. I can’t think of a race track of recent memory that has transformed such a small area in such a quick time in such a large way. WIth that in mind, it certainly seems to lend itself to making this a valuable date to the sport.”

DO YOU REALLY LOOK AT THE SPRING WIN HERE AS A MAJOR SOURCE OF CONFIDENCE OR IS THIS A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME? “There is no doubt the cars have developed a lot since then but the driving tactics have not and I felt really good about some of the tactics we were able to use here and feel like that will apply. It is hard to tell. I will know a lot better after practice and see how the car is handling.”

HOW DIFFERENT IS IT GOING TO BE DRIVING THIS RACE TRACK COMPARED TO THE SPRING? “I think the cars have developed a lot where they have found ways to maximize the aero on them. All the teams spend a lot of time in the wind tunnel making all kinds of tweaks and finding all kinds of efficiencies. With that in mind they have increased the performance in the cars dramatically. I expect it to play out at least somewhat differently, it is just what kind of scope. It is hard to tell. I would expect the cars to qualify a lot faster.”

THE YELLOW LINE WAS A TOPIC LAST WEEKEND AND HERE ON RESTARTS GUYS WILL DIVE TO THE APRON AND COME BACK IN TURN ONE TO MAKE PASSES. IS THAT PROOF THAT THE YELLOW LINE RULE COULD BE EVALUATED? “It is interesting because at this race track you have the white line but it is three or four lanes underneath that. For a long time when they made the yellow line rule at Talladega, at least as my memory serves, it was pretty close to the grass. If you went under the line you were almost in the grass. Now that they have paved Talladega and these places it seems as though it is a little easier to get away with. I kind of like coming here and not having to worry about all that and that there has never been any thought to adding a rule like that here. As for Daytona and Talladega, I have always been the ‘let ‘em race’ kind of guy. They don’t really ask me what I think about those things though. They will make the rules and I will try to beat ‘em.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang — WITH KANSAS ONE OF THOSE TRACKS WITH LOTS OF DIFFERENT RACING LINES AND ONLY TWO SHORT PRACTICES, IS THERE A BALANCE OF SPEED IN LANES? “To win the race on Sunday you are going to have to be able to be good in all the lanes. When you catch lap traffic and get in dirty air, you are going to lose so much speed that if you can’t find another lane to run in you will get passed by someone behind you. You need to be good in all the lanes and we were able to do that here in the spring. It is hard to do because the cars drive differently in all the lanes. The cars have really big splitters on them and they are very sensitive to how high off the ground they are. One of the biggest things that impacts them is the load off the corners. When you run different lanes the aerodynamics change dramatically and the handling changes. You can have a car that is really loose on the bottom of the track and maybe be really tight on the top of the track. As a driver it is hard to prepare for that. It feels more and more like dirt racing where you have some guys that run the cushion and some that run the bottom and you have to be good enough to do both. I see that becoming more and more prevalent over the last few years. It is a challenge for sure but I think it is what separates the winners from everybody else.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, October 18, 2019

Hollywood Casino 400 | MEDIA AVAILABILITY

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET COMING IN HERE IN THIS “MUST-WIN” SITUATION THIS WEEKEND? “We have been in this spot quite a few times. And I say this during the playoffs, at some point no matter what during these playoffs you will be in a do-or-doi moment. Even if you have even the most smooth nine races you can have and you get to the Championship 4, when you go to Miami it is do-or-die. You win or you are out. You will always be put in these situations and I feel like as a team we are pretty strong in these situations. I feel confident. I feel good about this week. I feel prepared and I feel like this is a good race track for us in the past. We have won a couple of times here. After Vegas we had a really, really fast car there and a car capable of winning for sure. This is a similar race track to that now with this 550 package the way it is. I feel good about that. It is still going to be a crazy race and going to be very intense on restarts. I think everyone, if you rewatch the race from the spring here this is maybe one of the best races of the year now here in Kansas. The restarts are just insane where everybody goes and tries to make passes on that curved front straightaway. It is going to be crazy for sure out there. You ahve to make sure you can control what you can control. The restarts and making sure you don’t get any damage and things like that. Outside of that you just do your job and you will be just fine.”

ANY CONCERN ABOUT THE RASH OF MECHANICAL STUFF GOING ON AT PENSKE RECENTLY? “I think it is just kind of freaky things. I am not too concerned about it. It is something I can’t control as a driver. We should make sure everything is fine and it was two different things at Dover, but I think everything is hopefully fixed. They say it is. It should be fine.”

YOU TOOK A LITTLE HEAT FROM OTHER GUYS ABOUT DOVER AND THE WAY YOU WERE RACING. YOU WERE DOING IT BECAUSE OF POINTS. DO YOU FEEL A LITTLE VINDICATED NOW COMING HERE THAT POINTS DO MATTER? “Yeah, I said that two weeks ago that I needed every point that I can get because of the situation that we are in. We used up all our cushion and then last week we got a bunch of points which is good but we are basically on the cut line. We are ahead of it. We were behind it but now we are ahead. If one of those cars inside the bottom four wins this week we would be the first out. We are two points from the 2 car. You tell me what every point means. It could mean the whole championship. That is my mindset and I believe that is where it has to be when we are kind of put with our backs against the wall and have to perform. We have to get every point that is there.”

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THIS RACE? DO YOU HAVE TO TIP-TOE A LITTLE BIT OR CAN YOU BE AGGRESSIVE FROM THE WORD GO TO GET THE STAGE POINTS? “I am not a very good tip-toer. I am more of an aggressive style racer. That has worked for me in the past and I don’t change my style very much from track to track. Only when it is necessary. I think this track rewards the smart racer but it also rewards the aggressive racer in a lot of ways. You can’t be scared to make the moves on the restarts but you don’t want to just make moves to make moves. A lot of times you see drivers do that on restarts and take the run that is ahead of them but it doesn’t mean they actually went anywhere. They may go somewhere for a corner and lose five spots on the straightaway. Those are the things you have to really look out for. Just like superspeedway racing. There were plenty of times you get a huge run and you know you can pull out and pass three cars but nobody goes with you and you are 20th in a second. You have to weigh out how aggressive you want to be, but more importantly how smart you are in those situations.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — COMPARED TO THE NIGHT RACE HERE IN MAY, HOW DO YOU APPROACH THIS ONE? “Handling will come into play more. How you build your car, there are probably three or four ways to look at it, whether you want handling or drag out of your car. That is a question that is up in the air for a lot of race teams. Probably all of them are asking what we will need when it is race time. It was cool out last time we were here. It was dark. It was a little more obvious the direction you should go. Now, I don’t know. You have to wait and see. As we have come around to these race tracks a second time with this new rules package, there are still questions we have not answered that are still up in the air that you think maybe is the way to go but then you go to another track and you may change your mind before you get back here. It is very confusing right now to kind of wrap your head around what is best.”

I JUST WANT TO CIRCLE BACK TO THE WHOLE GLASSES THING LAST WEEK. WAS IT LIKE A JOKE OR WHAT PRECIPITATED THE WHOLE GLASSES SITUATION? “I think it helps. I can see fine, I am not wearing them right now but I tried on Kyle’s glasses back there because we were in the lounge and I was trying to read the ticker of where everyone was in Xfinity practice and I tried on his glasses and saw that his glasses helped me. I figured I should go to the eye doctor and now I have some glasses. I have that to go with my awesome hairline. It is happening guys, it is happening.”

HOW OFTEN WILL YOU WEAR THEM? WILL YOU WEAR THEM EVERY SUNDAY? “I think I will wear them all the time. I have been wearing them during the week a lot to get used to them. They help me see far away, which I think is a good thing when you are driving a race car. Being able to see little things like debris on the track or your sign on pit road, that seemed to help me last week.”

ARE YOU ABLE TO STOP YOUR MIND FROM RACING AND SLEEP AT NIGHT WHEN THE PLAYOFFS ARE ON THE LINE LIKE THIS WEEK? “I do. I do sleep good. I am able to flip a switch. I am able to turn this thing on and off. I think that is really important to be able to do for your health and be able to do this a long time. If you lived in just racing and that was it, I don’t think you would have a long shelf life. I think you would stress yourself out to the point you wouldn’t want to do it. I think it is important to have a work-life balance. Even though I don’t really consider this a job, it is the coolest job ever, but it is still a job and you have to balance that back and forth. When I got home I am able to just shut off and spend time with my family and try to be the best dad and husband I can possibly be and that helps me go to sleep at night.”

WHEN YOU WON HERE BEFORE IT WAS A DIFFERENT RULES PACKAGE, BUT CAN YOU TAKE AWAY THINGS FROM WHEN YOU WON HERE TO NOW? “Certain things, yes. Not everything. Maybe a third of it or less. I do think that when we brought this new rules package that it changes everything. The way I have to drive the car, what I need to look for, how we set our cars up, the strategy. It changes a little of everything but it is still Kansas. It is still a great track and you look for where the bumps are and the line you can run. That stuff is all there. Not a whole bunch transfers over but a good portion does. It is still worth looking back.”

BEING 18 UP BECAUSE OF THE STAGE POINTS YOU GOT AT TALLADEGA, DO YOU LOOK BACK NOW AND UNDERSTAND WHY ALEX (BOWMAN) DID WHAT HE DID AT THE END OF STAGE 2? “The block? Yeah, I mean.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — WOULD YOU HAVE DONE THE SAME THING IN HIS POSITION KNOWING YOU COULD HAVE GONE FROM 10 POINTS TO ZERO IN THAT STAGE? “Yeah, he probably would have been shuffled out pretty big right there and he is smart enough to know he was going to be shuffled out and probably go from first until wherever one of the Chevy’s let him in. I don’t know where the next one was at the time, probably not too far back actually. The run I had was so big. I got that push from the 14 and had to go somewhere. I couldn’t lift because then I was possibly going to get crashed. I had to protect myself and he threw the block and I had nowhere else to go. I can’t change direction that quick down the straightaway without losing control of my car and we ran into each other. It is racing. I don’t blame him for the block but the run was unblockable. It was too big. I understand why he did it. I can’t say that I would or wouldn’t without being in his situation in his car.”

WERE THERE MORE UNBLOCKABLE RUNS THAN NORMAL? “Not more than there have been since we have gone to this rules package. This big spoiler has made the runs closer and doesn’t push the car away ahead of you before you get there. With the small spoiler when you were a car length and a half behind them, the lead car was accelerating so much that you never got there. That doesn’t really happen as much to where you blow right through what we call the bubble, right to the back bumper and the car just keeps drafting right up to ‘em. It makes the blocks have to be quicker and they are physical blocks instead of being an aero block and getting the push and moving along and never having to make contact. Now, when you block someone you better be ready for some contact and make sure your car can handle it. They are big hits. Huge hits. Bowyer was behind me and I was thinking that the guy was an animal back there. I didn’t know our bumpers could withstand the impacts our cars were taking. It is what we needed. It was good that my car was strong enough and had the handling to accept those hits. That is what this rules package does on superspeedway racing.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU CONTROL YOUR OWN DESTINY THIS WEEKEND? “You can control your own destiny by going out there and winning. That would be the best way to do it. That is what you can control. Outside of that, we just have to maximize our day. I have said that since we started when we were out in Vegas. You just have to go out there and get every point possible. Obviously Brad is just a couple points ahead of me and there is going to be a race there and even ahead of him to try to get that spot if you can. You don’t know what is going to happen with those four cars that are outside right now looking in. They are good cars. Those are cars that are capable of winning, especially at a track like this. We need to be smart and aware of that. The best way to do that is to win and don’t worry about any of it. It is definitely in the back of your mind and something you have to think about in the race and you will ask those questions as a driver. You hope they give you the right answers and the things you need to make the smartest move out there.”

ARE YOU EXCITED TO BE A DAD AGAIN? “I am. I am a little nervous and pretty scared. It is quite the adjustment I think. Everyone says that one is one and two is 10. That is really frightening. We were pretty scared when we had Hudson and he is still alive and going, so that is good. I guess we will figure it out. It will be quite the adjustment. We will have to get ready for that over the off-season. We have a big project ahead of us. But we are looking forward to it. It is going to be a lot of fun, probably really hard but a lot of fun too.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, October 18, 2019
Hollywood Casino 400 | MEDIA AVAILABILITY

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dickies Ford Mustang

WITH THE WIN LAST WEEK AT TALLADEGA, HOW MUCH PRESSURE DOES THAT TAKE OFF YOU THIS WEEKEND? “It takes all the pressure off. Going into Talladega after Dover, we were kind of in a must win situation I felt like with how far behind we were. We either had to win Talladega or Kansas. Winning last week takes pressure off this week. You aren’t biting your nails about points, you just go try to win the race to get bonus points for the next round. That is the goal for this weekend. That is kind of where our mindset is. It was a huge weekend for us last week.”

YOU FINISHED 32ND HERE IN THE SPRING AND YOU SAID THE CAR WAS JUST OFF, DID YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS? HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU ABOUT THIS RACE? “You hope you figured out the problem. I think we did. I think we pinpointed where we missed it. The thing is, I thought we were decent in practice and then we got in the race and we were way off. You think back on that and what you did in practice and how your car felt in practice and what you changed during the race, and think that maybe that is the direction you need to go. It was good to sit down this week and review the first Kansas and figure out what we did wrong and what we can do better to fix it. That was just an off race for us. We usually come here and run really well. It was disappointing, that first race, but hopefully we pinpointed what went wrong and will run better here this weekend.”

BEING LOCKED INTO THE NEXT ROUND ALREADY, IS THIS A WEEKEND TO TRY STUFF? “Maybe one or two things in practice. We don’t get a lot of practice. We only have two practices today and that is it. They aren’t very long either. The way practices are nowadays. Maybe you mock up a couple things at the race shop that maybe you try if you get decent in practice or maybe if you are way off you try some stuff. Not a ton of things we are trying. You kind of want to just work on what your know and see where your speed is at. I feel like if you think you speed is competitive in practice and if you have time you try something else, but we aren’t really on a science project this weekend. We want to be really competitive, but you might try a couple different things, just a different way. There are no science parts and pieces that we are throwing on it this weekend.”

TWO OF YOUR THREE CAREER WINS HAVE COME IN THE POSTSEASON, EITHER ELIMINATION RACES OR MUST-WIN SITUATIONS LIKE LAST WEEK. WHAT IS THE SECRET TO THAT? “I would like to have success in the regular season. You want to collect wins through the regular season and not wait until the playoffs. You don’t want to be a person that just wins one race a year. You could win no races a year, but you want to be able to be consistently in victory lane. That is the thing I look at. We did a good job of surviving last week and putting ourselves in a spot to capitalize but I don’t know, I think this team does great. I think it is where we should be running and be competitive for wins every week throughout the year. It is a shame. It isn’t a shame but I would like to get a couple wins throughout the regular season and continue it through the playoffs, not wait until playoff time. It isn’t like that is my plan,. to wait until playoff time to get wins. I think this team rises to the occasion really well. Even if you are down, like after our bad race at Dover and having that problem, we weren’t defeated or anything like that. We knew what we had to do and kept ourselves in the game last week at Talladega. That is a big wild car drace and we missed some big ones there and controlled the race and lost the lead and was able to get it back. I think that speaks about this team and their perseverance with everything.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dickies Ford Mustang — LOOKING AT THE NEXT ROUND, DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE TO WIN TO ADVANCE TO HOMESTEAD, OR CAN YOU POINT YOUR WAY IN? “I honestly think the round of eight is really good for us. It is probably our best group of tracks. I think in the spot that we are in with not having a ton of bonus points that maybe some of the Gibbs guys have or the 4 car, I think it will take a win in our spot to get to Homestead. We have run really good at Martinsville the last couple years and ran fourth there this year and led laps. We were leading at Texas when we blew up. We led a bunch of laps at Phoenix and ran third. I think it will take a win at one of those places. THe guys that have a ton of bonus points can consistently run well and have a shot at it. I think we can go out and win any one of those three races. Those tracks have been really strong for us. We just ahve to find a little bit at the end to really set yourself apart from everybody else. I do like the three tracks coming up, they are really good for us.”

YOU AND JOEY HAD ISSUES AT DOVER, BRAD HAD AN ISSUE AT TALLADEGA, IS THERE ANY CONCERN AT PENSKE ABOUT THIS RASH OF ISSUES? “No. The thing that Joey and I had at Dover were separate issues. The thing I had was kind of a freak thing that you never see with hubs burning up anymore, especially a place you are barely using brake like Dover. It was a weird thing, nothing special with that left front hub. Just sometimes luck of the draw. I don’t know what happened with Brad last weekend. I am not sure what that was, if it was a fuel pickup issue or something, but there are no concerns on my side on the resilience of our parts and pieces.”

WHEN YOU WIN A BIG RACE, ARE YOU LIKE DRIVING TO THE STORE THIS WEEK AND FIND YOURSELF WHISTLING DUE TO HAPPINESS? HOW DOES IT AFFECT YOUR WHOLE MOOD AFTER A BIG WIN LIKE THAT? “I don’t know. I have never been in a spot like that before where you win a race here in the playoffs that you don’t have any of the pressure the next week. That was a nice feeling. When we won the Roval last year it took us into the next round the following week so you didn’t have time to have any pressure off of you. There were a lot of late nights and headache mornings for sure this past week. But no, it was definitely a good time to celebrate but you then have to focus on the task at hand now. We aren’t just showing up here at Kansas to fart around. We are coming to try to win this race too. It is nice not having that pressure and focus on the win and maybe you take a few more chances than you would, especially here with no tires or two tires, things like that. If we would have ran second last week we would be like seven points out and then we would have to be really worried about that stuff. I wasn’t whistling in stores or anything like that but we had a good week with the team and family and now it is hard at work toward the end of the week.”

HAVE YOU ALL BEEN IN DISCUSSION WITH NASCAR TO FIX THE HOOD FLAP ISSUES WITH THE NEXT CAR? “Yeah. I personally have not been in those discussions but I am sure the teams have. The shop foreman and things like that. The reason I think we saw a lot of hood flap problems is those things aren’t made to take a beating. All the hoods are made of carbon fiber and are lightweight and come from the manufacturers and there are lightweight braces and teather those are held on with. WHen you get in turbulent air like we do now and are pushing a lot, those things haven’t gone through that stress before. They just are flapping so hard they are eventually going to break. It is a super tiny, lightweight, aluminum bracket those are bolted onto. It didn’t surprise me with how many came off. I was surprised one of mine didn’t come off. You are pushing and seeing the thing flapping like crazy and you don’t know how it is hanging on. I am sure they took that into consideration with maybe making a minimum thickness of aluminum bracket the thing is mounted onto to maybe have a little more toughness to it. I haven’t been a part of those but I am sure they are looking at it.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, October 18, 2019
Hollywood Casino 400 | MEDIA AVAILABILITY

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dickies Ford Mustang

HAVE YOU TALKED WITH MATT DIBENEDETTO ABOUT DRIVING THAT 21 CAR NEXT YEAR? ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING HIM AS PART OF YOUR PENSKE/WOOD BROTHERS ALIGNMENT? “I think it is great for Matt. When I heard that news however many weeks ago it was, I was really happy for him. I have always liked Matt and think he is a great racecar driver. He has had some great runs. I am happy for Paul to finish out the year strong and hopefully get those guys their 100th win by the end of this deal. He has had a good career and become a friend of mine. I hate to see him go but I am excited for his next chapter in life. The only thing I told Matt was that the Woods are a lot of fun. I look back and that was some of the most fun times I have ever had at the race track. Getting to see Eddie and Len almost every single day and almost every weekend, and when Leonoard makes it out it always brightens your day> I still see those guys all the time, just not as often as I used to, but I seek them out as much as I can. I think it is a great fit for him. I know that car is capable of winning races and I think Matt is capable of winning races too. I think that is going to be a really good opportunity for him and we are really excited to have him there and have another person who isn’t really new in the sport, he has been around NASCAR a long time but someone who really wants to learn a lot on it and really get his take on things. Maybe take some things that they were doing over at the 95 car, they have run really great. There are always those opportunities you can have some more insight of someone who has had different equipment and car builds and different engines and seeing and comparing that experience. That is really helpful to our team.”

DO YOU EXPECT THAT WE WILL SEE SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THE JOEY AND MARTIN (TRUEX JR.) DEAL FROM MARTINSVILLE LAST YEAR AND IF YOU WERE IN MARTIN’S POSITION, HOW DO YOU DEFEND THAT? “I can’t really speak on things that I wasn’t a part of. That was between those two guys and it is hard to put yourself in hypothetical situations like that. I don’t sit around and think about if I was in Joey’s spot or Martin’s spot, what would I do or how would I respond. I think things happen and you react the way you react in whatever mindset you are in at the time. It is hard to think about that stuff. Martinsville is the first race of the Round of 8 and your ticket right to Homestead, so yeah, guys will be really aggressive out there. Imagine next year with that race as the final race before PHoenix for the championship. That will be even more crazy. It is a good opportunity on a short track to be really aggressive and things like that. It will be really hard racing like it always is at Martinsville. But that ramps up in the playoffs. It is the second best race to win because it gets you right to Miami and you can worry about your Miami car for two weeks straight and not worry about bonus points or things like that. You see what it did for Joey last year. They were able to really focus on that car and they went out and did the deal.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 18, 2019

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1, met with media to discuss dealing with the pressure of a cutoff race, what he can bring from the spring race at Kansas, the strength of his team’s 1.5-mile program, and more. Full Transcript:

THE OBVIOUS QUESTION: YOU’RE ON THAT SPOT FOR THE CUTOFF; HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT PRESSURE FOR THIS RACE? WHAT CAN YOU BRING FROM YOUR GOOD RACE HERE IN THE SPRING?
“I think we can’t approach it any differently than we have every week leading up to this. I feel like when you try to step your game up or change what you’re doing, you end up making mistakes and not executing well. We’re kind of business as usual. Obviously, our 1.5-mile program is our strongest program. We were really strong here in the spring. I feel like we’ve only gotten stronger since then. We have a great race car here and we just have to go execute. Obviously, it’s not an optimal point situation. But all we can do is all we can do. We’re pretty much in a must-win situation. That’s tough, but if we don’t make it, the sun is still going to come up on Monday. If we have a good day and still don’t make it, we were a Talladega away from making it. That’s just part of the sport.”

YOU FINISHED SECOND TO BRAD (KESELOWSKI) HERE IN MAY. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU REPLAYED THOSE LAST 20 LAPS? IF YOU DID IT AGAIN, WOULD YOU WIN 10 TIMES OUT OF 10?
“I’ve definitely thought about it a lot. Really, until we won Chicago, I probably thought about it a lot more than I have thought about it since then. It was a tough situation. Obviously, he was on newer tires than us. You’re running wide open there at that point and I just tried to take the shortest distance. I ended up getting in a bad aero situation behind a lap car, got tight and had to lift. I probably should have just moved up the race track and just controlled the air on the bottom if I had to if he got there. That was going to be a tough race to win regardless. But it’s just part of it. I think in long runs, we were great and maybe that’s what we’ll see on Sunday.”

AFTER THAT RACE, YOU WERE REALLY AT EASE DURING THE POST-RACE OF THAT REALIZING YOU GAVE THAT RACE AWAY. THE FOLLOWING DAYS, DID THE FRUSTRATION BUILDING REALIZING HOW CLOSE YOU WERE?
“Yeah, I mean I was definitely frustrated. But, at the same time, at that point of the year we had zero top-10’s three weeks before that and we went out and finished second three weeks in a row. Obviously, there were a lot of positives going on. I feel like we had really started to turn our program around and it has definitely shown since then. But it was definitely frustrating to not get that win.”

YOU WON YOUR FIRST CAREER CUP RACE OVER THE SUMMER BACK IN CHICAGO. OBVIOUSLY, CHICAGO IS A TRACK THAT’S VERY SIMILAR TO KANSAS. ALSO, IN THE LAST ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS, YOU WERE IN A SITUATION WHERE YOU AND YOUR TEAM HAD TO PERFORM AND YOU CAME THROUGH WITH THE SECOND PLACE FINISH AT THE ROVAL. YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THE SAME SITUATION HERE, WHERE A GREAT FINISH IS CRUCIAL AT KANSAS. HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU IN YOUR TEAM THAT THE MOMENTUM THAT YOU HAD WITH THE SECOND PLACE BACK HERE IN THE SPRING CAN CARRYOVER TO THIS RACE?
“I think if you had to pick a track for us to run well at and it wasn’t Chicago, it would probably be here. I feel like we’re really confident coming into here. But, at the same time, it’s just tough. We’re in a bigger hole than we were going into the ROVAL by quite a bit. We’re there against last year’s champion; he’s the next guy in front of us. It’s going to be tough. To make it without a win, would take a lot to happen I feel like. So, we’re just focused on going out and hopefully getting a win.”

YOU MENTIONED EARLIER HOW WELL YOU RACED HERE BACK IN THE SPRING. ARE YOU SEEING YOUR 1.5-MILE PROGRAM AS THE STRENGTH OF YOUR ABILITIES AND YOUR TEAM RIGHT NOW?
“Yeah, I think that’s where we’ve been the strongest throughout the year. The first couple of races, we weren’t that great. But, when we got here and then went to Charlotte, we’ve been strong at a lot of the 1.5-mile tracks. That’s definitely our strengths right now. Next week is probably our weakness with the short track. We definitely are at the time where we need to go capitalize on that.”

YOU JUST SAID THAT NEXT WEEK AT A SHORT TRACK, YOU DON’T FEEL AS STRONG. WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO IMPROVE ON GOING TO MARTINSVILLE, WHICH ALWAYS SEEMS LIKE IT’S A LITTLE BIT MORE AGGRESSIVE IN THE FALL?
“Obviously, I feel like if we knew exactly what area to improve on our short track cars, we would have been much better at Richmond a couple of weeks ago. We just have some work to do on our short track cars. We’ve been pretty poor all year, as a company and not just our team. We went to Richmond trying to get a car that turned the center all night and it was probably the best turning car there. But it had zero forward drive, it just kind of jumped the fence and didn’t have very good balance. Just having the overall balance in the car and having the best compromise between turn and drive at a place like Richmond or Martinsville is really important.”

LAST TIME AT KANSAS, IT WAS A NIGHT RACE AND A LITTLE COOLER. SUNDAY, IT’S GOING TO BE A DAY RACE AND MAYBE A LITTLE BIT WARMER THAN IT WAS LAST TIME. DOES THAT AT ALL CHANGE THE WAY YOU GUYS SET THINGS UP FOR SUNDAY OR IS IT PRETTY SIMILAR?
“I think it probably fits us a little better than the night race did. I feel like the night race, we were really strong on long runs and we were OK on short runs. But, once handling came into play and the tires started to wear out a little more, that’s when we really seemed to shine. I think handling will probably come into play a little bit more on Sunday and, hopefully, that’s a big benefit for us.”

YOU SHARED A LOT ABOUT GETTING OVER KANSAS LAST TIME. LAST WEEK AT TALLADEGA, HOW WAS THIS WEEK GETTING PAST TALLADEGA, KNOWING THAT’S SUCH A DIFFERENT TYPE OF RACING. HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO PUT THAT AWAY THIS WEEK AND MOVE ON?
“The sun still came up on Monday. Pretty much everything that could have gone bad for us went bad for us. That guy in the back of the room (Ryan Blaney) decided to go win and make my life really tough. We obviously had a better shot at it before that happened, but congrats to them. We executed well the first stage and just made a mistake there. Sometimes that block works, other times the block doesn’t work. That was one of the times it didn’t work. I just really stayed focused on this weekend. You can’t really dwell on that stuff, especially about superspeedway racing, because it just is what it is.”

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.

Event: Hollywood Casino 400
Venue: Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, KS)
Format: Three Stages – Stages End: Lap 80, 160, 267 = 400.5 Miles
Date/Broadcast: Sunday, October 20 at 2:30 PM ET on NBC

Not only is Corey LaJoie and the Go Fas Racing team headed to Kansas this weekend, they’re bringing along extra recognition for the Sunflower State, with their sponsorship from Kansasland Tire and Service Ford.

Kansasland and Go Fas Racing announced the partnership earlier this week for the Hollywood Casino 400.

Kansasland is your Kansas headquarters for tires and wheels, automotive services and commercial/farm services.

The company boasts over 40 locations across five states, including 25 locations in the state of Kansas. It now ranks among the top-40 independent tire companies in North America and services over 5,000 customers in its varied operations daily.

With the yellow and blue Kansasland colors on board the No. 32 Ford Mustang, Corey LaJoie will look to build off of his momentum at Talladega Superspeedway.

After the remainder of the race was delayed to Monday at the conclusion of Stage One due to rain, LaJoie rallied to his second top-10 finish of the season and the second-best finish of his career, a seventh-place result. Both of his career-best finishes of sixth and seventh have come this season behind the wheel of the No.32 Ford for Go Fas Racing.

The 28-year-old driver started 16th and finished 22nd at Kansas Speedway in May, earning his best finish at the 1.5-mile track. This weekend’s start will mark his sixth at the Kansas City track.

With a 24 point lead over Matt Tifft and the No.36 team, and a 26 point lead over veteran David Ragan and their No.38 group, the Go Fas Racing team focuses on strengthening their points gap in the final five races.

Visit Kansasland.TheTireStore.com to learn more and catch the Kansasland Ford in the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, October 20 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

LaJoie on the upcoming weekend at Kansas Speedway:

“We’ve already had a great week working with the folks from Kansasland Tire and we’re looking forward to having their group out at the track this weekend. We had a very strong points week last week and if we can continue to block and tackle this Sunday, we can continue to stay ahead of those behind us. We had a really strong run at Kansas earlier in the season and if we can continue to capitalize on the chaos of the NASCAR Playoffs, we can position ourselves in a good spot to finish out the 2019 season.”

LaJoie MENCS career highlights at Kansas Speedway:
Starts: 5
Best Finish: 22nd (2019)
Average Start: 29.8
Average Finish: 26.8

In the Rearview Mirror: 1000Bulbs.com 500

Corey LaJoie earned his career-best finish at Talladega by finishing seventh in the No. 32 Visone RV / Wildcat Adventure Park Ford. The result also marked the second-best finish of his career in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. LaJoie clocked in at 4th-quick for the first practice session, and would eventually qualify 33rd for the 500-mile contest.

Early in the 55-lap first stage, the Charlotte, NC native gained five positions while preserving the No. 32 from the chaotic lead draft. After a scheduled pit stop and a caution for the No. 52, LaJoie would line up in 32nd for the restart with just 15 laps to go in Stage One. As the rain gradually became heavier and the green-and-white checkered flag flew for Stage One, the Visone RV Ford would finish 30th and the balance of the race would be postponed to the following day.

Twenty-four hours later, the green flag would fly to resume the race and LaJoie would pick up in 33rd after service on pit road. As the run ensued, LaJoie would climb to 26th with 22 laps to go in Stage Two. Subsequently, with guidance from temporary spotter, Steve Barkdoll, the 28-year-old would be forced to serve a pass-through penalty after being called to pit road for an unscheduled stop due to blowing a tire as a result of overshooting pit road entry. After a four tire stop, the Roush-Yates powered Mustang would be scored a lap down and in contention to race for the free-pass position. As the action ramped up in the main pack triggering a multi-car crash, LaJoie would escape unscathed. Electing to take the wave-around under the caution, LaJoie would be back on the lead lap for the restart, but without service, setting the team up to have to make a green-flag stop in the next 10 laps. Luckily, a caution quickly came out allowing the driver to pit under caution and stay on the lead lap.

Crew chief Randy Cox and the No. 32 team would continue to follow their plan to play it safe, aware of how quickly disaster can strike at the 2.66-mile superspeedway with 38 laps to go. The ‘Big One’ would strike again soon after and LaJoie would manage to maneuver through unharmed as oodles of competitors suffered damage. The break allowed the team to pit for four Goodyear tires and Sunoco fuel after concern of flat-spotting the tires in an effort to avoid the ravaging demolition.

Over the final 10 laps at Talladega, LaJoie would yet again escape the adversity of another ‘Big One’, advancing the No. 32 to the 10th position. The third-generation racer would make his final stop, setting him back to 13th for the three-lap shootout to the checkered flag. The Visone RV machine would forge ahead to finish seventh, the team’s second-best finish of the 2019 season.

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About Our Team

About Kansasland:
Kansasland is your Kansas headquarters for tires and wheels, automotive services, and commercial/farm services. Our team keeps you rolling at 25 locations in Kansas (and 45 stores total across five states). If it’s time to change tires, we stock a large selection of tires from major brands like Goodyear, Kelly, and Mastercraft to name a few. Looking for an automotive repair and maintenance center? Schedule an appointment today. From an oil change and brake repair to wheel alignments and roadside assistance, we have you covered.
Visit your nearest Kansasland tire & auto repair shop today in Andover, Salina, Goodland, Derby, Emporia, Liberal, Hutchison, Wichita, Garden City, Fredonia, Topeka, Park City, Clay Center, Concordia, Norton, Great Bend, Hays, or Pittsburg, Kansas. We look forward to serving you.

Get Corey LaJoie Updates:
To get live updates during the race weekends follow @coreylajoie on Instagram and Twitter. Make sure to give Corey a “like” on Facebook – “@CoreyLaJoieRacing”. For a detailed bio and updated in-season statistics, please visit www.coreylajoieracing.com .

About Go Fas Racing:
Go Fas Racing (GFR) currently fields Ford Mustangs in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for driver Corey LaJoie. Located in Mooresville, North Carolina, GFR has competed in the NASCAR’s premier series since 2014; fielding cars for some of NASCAR’s top drivers, including past champions. To find out more information about our team please visit www.GoFasRacing.com.

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS
OCTOBER 20, 2019

BOWTIE BULLETS:
CATCHING UP WITH CHEVROLET CONTENDERS
Four Chevrolet drivers are among the 12 that remain in contention for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship through five of 10 playoff races. Heading into Round 6, a look at their start/finish in the last race – on the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway oval – and the May 2019 and October 2018 playoff race at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway oval:

* Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
At Talladega: Start 1, Finish 8 At Kansas (May 11): qualified 32, finish 4
At Kansas (Oct. 21, 2018): qualified 13, finish 1
* Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1
At Talladega: Start 12, Finish 39 At Kansas (May 11): qualified 35, finish 8
At Kansas (Oct. 21, 2018): qualified 27, finish 3
* Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1
At Talladega: Start 2, Finish 37 At Kansas (May 11): qualified 5, finish 2
At Kansas (Oct. 21, 2018): qualified 10, finish 9
* William Byron, No. 24 UniFirst Camaro ZL1
At Talladega: Start 3, Finish 33 At Kansas (May 11): qualified 3, finish 20
At Talladega (Oct. 21, 2018): qualified 17, finish 38

BIG MOVERS IN MAY AT KANSAS
Seven Team Chevy drivers finished in the top-10 at Kansas Speedway on May 11, including three of the four playoff competitors. Alex Bowman was the race runner-up, Chase Elliott drove from the 32nd starting position to place fourth and Kyle Larson advanced from the 35th starting spot to finish eighth. Other big movers in the Bowtie brigade were Tyler Reddick from the 21st starting spot to ninth and Chris Buescher from 18th to 10th.

YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE
Entering the third and final race of Round 2 of the playoffs, which will whittle the championship field to eight, there’s a bright immediate future for the Bowtie brigade. The average age of the four Chevy title contenders is 24.25. The average age of the other playoff participants is 35.4. In October 2018, Chase Elliott became the youngest (22 years, 10 months, 23 days) winner of a MENCS race at Kansas Speedway. Another win would guarantee a spot in the next round. “You have to have the mindset to go out there and control what we can control and do everything we can to get a win,” he said.

TAKING IT STAGE BY STAGE
Each of the first two stages at Kansas Speedway will be 80 laps. William Byron won the first stage on October 13 at Talladega Superspeedway for his second stage victory of the season. Chase Elliott leads Team Chevy drivers with 214 stage bonus points, which includes five stage wins, 20 top-five and 36 top-10 finishes. Kyle Larson also has five stage wins along with 16 top-five and 36 top-10 finishes for 204 points. Kurt Busch (3), Jimmie Johnson (1), Austin Dillon (2) and Ty Dillon (2) have also contributed stage wins.

TUNE-IN:
NBC will telecast the 267-lap race live at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 20. 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 Kansas Speedway:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, has three wins (May 2015, October 2011, September 2008).
Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1, has one win (2018).
* Johnson is tied with career Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick for most wins at the track.
* Johnson is the active and career leader with 18 top-10 finishes at the track in 26 starts.
* Johnson needs one win to tie Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip (84) for fourth on the all-time list.
* Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 12 wins in the 27 races at Kansas Speedway, including the first two in September 2001 and ’02 by career Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon.
* Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 10 pole awards at Kansas.
* Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Camaro ZL1, has been running at the finish in the past 40 races. At Talladega, he drove from the 21st starting position to finish 10th.
* Team Chevy drivers have earned 14 pole starts this season, led by William Byron with five.
* Chevrolet needs two top-10 finishes to crack 100 for the season.
* Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships.

FOR THE FANS:
· Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Kansas Speedway
· Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: 2019 Corvette 2LT Z06, 2020 Equinox 2LZ AWD Premier, 2020 1500 Trail Boss, 2020 2500 HD LT Diesel, 2020 Traverse AWD Premier Redline, 2019 Blazer RS AWD, and Pink Camaro ZL1 (Sunday only)
· At the Chevrolet Display, fans can also view Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Mountain Dew Camaro ZL1 show car
· Other activities at the Team Chevy Racing Display include a variety of interactive games for adults and kids

TEAM CHEVY QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS AT THE DISPLAY:
Friday, October 18
· 12:45 p.m. – Michael Annett

Saturday, October 19
· 9:30 a.m. – John Hunter Nemechek
· 9:45 a.m. – Tyler Reddick
· 10:00 a.m. Ray Black Jr.

Sunday, October 20
· 9:25 a.m. – Kyle Larson
· 9:45 a.m. – Bubba Wallace
· 10:10 a.m. – William Byron
· 10:30 a.m. – Alex Bowman
· 11:00 a.m. – Chase Elliott

Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation:
· Friday, October 18th: 12:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
· Saturday, October 19th: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
· Sunday, October 20th: 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

QUOTABLE QUOTES:
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – 9th IN STANDINGS
BOWMAN ON GETTING BACK TO KANSAS:
“I can’t wait to get to Kansas this weekend. I feel like I gave that one away in the spring. I know that car we are taking there is really good. That’s one of my favorite tracks, regardless of everything. I am looking forward to getting there and it definitely is a race that puts on a great show. This track is probably the best place to showcase the current rules package.”

BOWMAN ON THE SPRING RACE:
“At the end of the race earlier this year, we had all of those cautions. Some guys took tires and some stayed out. We were on much older tires than the guys we were racing, so that definitely didn’t help us. I went to the bottom behind a lap car, lost the nose and had to lift. That ultimately gave Brad (Keselowski) the opportunity to get around me. He was faster than we were at that point, just based on him being on fresher tires. I would have likes to put up a better fight than I did.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – 10th IN STANDINGS
“We are going to head out to Kansas and try to get a win. That’s about all we can do now. We just have to have the mindset to go out there and control what we can control and do everything we can to get a win. I feel as confident going there as I do anywhere. Just going to hope for the best. That’s all we can do.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1 – 12th IN STANDINGS
EVERYONE SAYS KANSAS IS A COOKIE CUTTER 1.5-MILE TRACK. IS IT?
“I don’t think so this year. I think it will be interesting to see how things play out with how our mile-and-half packages have evolved just throughout the year; whether it continues that trend this weekend or whether it reverts back to how it was in the spring at Kansas. I’m just interested to see how that is since the cars have come a long way since that race. I’m also interested to see with it being an elimination race, I think it will open things up for different strategies. It’s a bit of an unknown at this point.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 ROLAND CAMARO ZL1 – 22nd IN STANDINGS
HOW IS KANSAS UNIQUE COMPARED TO SOME OF THE OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS?
“Kansas Speedway has done a really good job with their banking. There’s a line right up by the fence that has a little extra grip. There’s an angle up there that I don’t think many tracks have figured out yet, but Kansas got it right. You can run from top to bottom there. The bottom groove is the preferred groove at the beginning, but it becomes too tight to try and run around there in turns one and two sometimes depending on what the balance of your race car is. I’ve enjoyed that track a lot ever since they repaved it. I wish every track could do as good as a job as Kansas has with repaves.”

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: 14
Laps Led: 1,950
Top-five finishes: 39
Top-10 finishes: 98

CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 786 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 713
Laps led to date: 234,160
Top-five finishes to date: 4,008
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,270

Total NASCAR Cup wins by corporation, 1949 to date

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

Ford: 785
Ford: 685
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4

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

Toyota: 139

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.

Roush Fenway returns to The Sunflower State this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) makes its second trip to Kansas Speedway. Jack Roush has sent nine RFR cars to victory lane at the 1.5-mile track, four of which were Cup victories.

Kansas Speedway
Sunday, Oct. 20 | 2:30 p.m. ET
NBC, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
·         Ryan Newman, No. 6 Roush Performance Ford Mustang
·         Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Overall, Roush Fenway has started 165 races across the MENCS, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series (NGOTS), earning a total of nine wins, 41 top-five finishes, 75 top-10 finishes and has an overall average finish of 14.4.

Winning at Kansas

Roush Fenway swept both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and MENCS races at Kansas in the fall of 2012 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt Kenseth. Stenhouse became the sixth driver to win at the track for the organization via his Xfinity victory.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin earned Roush Fenway’s first MENCS win at Kansas in 2005 and former driver Greg Biffle bested the 1.5-mile track in 2007 and 2010. Roush Fenway’s first overall win at Kansas came in 2002 via Jeff Burton in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Three drivers (Jon Wood in 2003, Carl Edwards in 2004 and Erik Darnell in 2007) have won in the NGOTS at Kansas for Roush Fenway.

Tale of the Tape

Roush Fenway has started 96 MENCS races at Kansas, recording four victories, 20 top-five finishes, 35 top-10 finishes, an average finish of 15.9 and has led 955 laps. Kenseth earned the most recent victory at Kansas in the fall of 2012.

Where They Rank
·         Ryan Newman ranks 14th in points entering Kansas Speedway.
·         Ricky Stenhouse Jr., is 21st in points with five races left.

Roush Fenway Kansas Wins
2002       Burton  NXS
2003       Wood    Truck
2004       Edwards Truck
2005       Martin  Cup
2007       Biffle     Cup
2007       Darnell  Truck
2010       Biffle                     Cup
2012-2   Kenseth               Cup
2012       Stenhouse          NXS