Category: NASCAR Cup PR

MENCS Post-Qualifying Report – Dover International Speedway
Denny Hamlin wins his second pole of the season

DOVER, Del. (October 5, 2019) – Denny Hamlin earns Toyota’s second pole position of the season for tomorrow’s race at Dover International Speedway. It’s Hamlin’s fourth-career pole position at Dover International Speedway in his 500th career Cup Series start.

Toyota Racing Post-Qualifying Report
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Dover International Speedway – October 5, 2019

TOYOTA STARTING POSITIONS
1st, DENNY HAMLIN
2nd, Kyle Larson*
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
4th, Kevin Harvick*
5th, Chase Elliott*
8th, ERIK JONES
18th, KYLE BUSCH
20th, MATT DiBENEDETTO
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 1st

Talk about your qualifying lap.

“Going out early was a benefit for us, and we just optimized it. The track tempature stayed pretty consistent through, but certainly didn’t think we were going to run 23.50 by any means. Proud to have that kind of effort with this team and our car has obviously been very good. This weekend, I’ve been very comfortable with it. The speed definitely caught us off guard, but it’s a great thing for us. We can take every advantage that we can at this race track. It’s been pretty tough on me. Certainly, I feel like the advantage of having that number one pit stall and obviously a very fast car bodes well for us.”

It seems like you have more confidence going into this Dover weekend than you have had in the past. What is making that difference?

“I think a lot of it has to do with the crew chief (Chris Gabehart). They’ve done a phemonenal job. When we go back to races the second time, they make the correct adjustments on what I have given them. So I think that has been our strong suit. Vegas, kind of being the only outlier, but we had some car issues there. But all of our other finishes – first, first, second – in all the other races that we have run twice. So I’m pretty optimistic going into this round that we have some tracks that we are repeating. That’s typically where we’ve excelled this year. Even though I’ve had past stumbles here and it hasn’t been my best race track, we know we are fully capable of winning at any race track. It doesn’t matter what the past history is.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd

What is your outlook for this weekend?

“My outlook here’s never really changed. I love this track. The first time I made a lap here I fell in love with it. I still love it as much today. That was a really fun lap out there today. These cars are so fast right now with all this downforce. It felt completely awesome to run that lap.”

How do you feel going into tomorrow?

“I feel good. We won here in the spring and I feel like our car is a little bit better. We will see what we can do tomorrow.”

ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 8th

What are your objectives for the last seven races?

“Just try to win a couple. We’ve shown that we can win races and I think we can do it pretty conistently, we just have to have some things go our way and execute on our end as well. Just go in and do what we can to try to win. Dover has been an okay place for us in the past. We ran okay here in the spring. That’s the goal. We are going to try to get the DeWalt Camry some more wins.”

Walk us through your lap.

“It was okay. Kind of where I expected going out late. It’s getting hotter. We didn’t have a great car yesterday, so just kind of working through and trying to get a good starting spot and out race people. That has been our strength – just out racing people and making good adjustments. It was okay. It could have probably been a little better. I don’t think anyone is going to beat the 11 (Denny Hamlin) going out so early. The track was definitely the coolest there.”

MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 95 Dumont Jets Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing
Starting Position: 20th

How was your qualifying lap?

“We just over adjusted a little bit. Almost everytime I qualify here, you usually get loose and sideways. We just overadjusted a little bit and missed it some. No big deal. We should be okay tomorrow.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit ToyotaNewsroom.com.

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DRYDENE 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
OCTOBER 5, 2019

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd Kyle Larson, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1
5th Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Give A Hoot Camaro ZL1
6th William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1
9th Kurt Busch, No. 1 GEARWRENCH Camaro ZL1
11th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
3rd Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
4th Kevin Harvick (Ford)
5th Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)

NBCSN will telecast the Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway live at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, October 6. The NBC Sports Gold app will stream the race and live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 2nd
YOU MISSED THE POLE BY THREE ONE-THOUSANDS OF A SECOND. THAT’S TIGHT, EVEN FOR A PLACE LIKE DOVER. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU LOST THAT TIME, AND HOW WAS THE CAR HANDLING?
“I felt like I ran a good lap. Based on the data, it looked like I gave up a little bit off of Turn 4. I feel like I got there pretty good, but three thousands of a second when you’re going that fast isn’t much. I wish I was on the pole. I told Denny (Hamlin, pole winner) a few days ago that I was going to get the pole. So, having him be just a little bit quicker then me is frustrating. But we’ll start on the front row here and we have a good race team. Qualifying here, is so much fun (laughs), especially when it’s cooler like this. We’re not all the way out of the gas, ever. So, that was a lot of fun, a lot of fun.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS GIVE A HOOT CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th
“I felt like it was decent. I needed a good couple of tenths I guess to be near the 11 and the 42. We definitely need to be a little better. It felt like a pretty good lap inside the car. I knew that pace those guys put down was quick, so we just weren’t fast enough.”
“I think our car is solid. I felt like it was a solid lap. It felt like a pretty decent lap. I just knew the pace those guys ran, it was going to have to feel like a really good lap to be another two-tenths on top of that. I’m proud of the effort. It was a lot better than what we mocked up yesterday, so that was definitely an improvement. The pit road pick is a big deal here, so that will hopefully be a good spot and we’ll go to work tomorrow.”

HOW IS IT NAVIGATING HERE?
“When you’re good, I think you can make up ground anywhere. It’s just a matter of being that much better than everyone else. I’m sure Martin Truex Jr. will be right up in the front by the end of stage one.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 6th
“I think we could have stood to be a little freer on the corner entry, but you just don’t know how the track is going to evolve. We’re happy with the way our car is and how it responds. It should be fine in the race.”
“It feels fine. I think it feels good. We’ll see what happens, we should be good.”

WHAT DOES A LAP AROUND DOVER FEEL LIKE?
“It’s incredible. A qualifying lap around here as fast as we’re going, there’s more grip than you can even imagine. Sometimes that kind of bites you because you know there’s a lot of grip. You just want to try to push it as hard as you can. I feel like I did, but I could have maybe just squeezed a little more, maybe a couple of hundredths. That was kind of my benchmark there.”
“I love it. It’s an awesome track. I’ve never won here, but I’ve been close. It’s an amazing track. I really loved running the Xfinity car here. I think the Cup car tomorrow will be a lot of fun.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 9th
HOW DOES YOUR MENTALITY CHANGE GOING INTO THE RACE KNOWING YOU AREN’T IN THE PLAYOFFS ANYMORE?
“It’s still the same. You have to gain points, have good races and have a shot to win. It’s still about the same thing.”

HOW DO YOU GET AROUND THIS PLACE?
“We have to make sure that we’re good on the low groove, on restarts especially, and then be able to hold that bottom all throughout the run. The cars that end up moving up is because they’re trying to find the grip in the non-optimum lane. Hopefully we can stay glued to the bottom and keep that speed around there.”

“We’ll see, it just depends. There has to be a good reason to either stay out or pit early. Right now, guys are pitting early a lot to try to get the fresh tires on and try to produce those quick laps at times. You are able to hold guys off with an aero advantage, so it’s tough. If you pit too early, sometimes a yellow comes out and that’s what boxed us in at Richmond.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 11th
“It’s been such an exhilarating lap, I guess, from just the shear fun standpoint. My first time driving a car here was in I think 1998 or 1999, and I just couldn’t believe there was a track shaped like this. The elevation changes, which is kind of hard to see unless you’re out there hanging it off the turns. The amount of banking, the amount of grip, how wide it was; it blew my mind then and I still come back every time and have that same realization.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY OPTIMISM WITH THE CAR THIS WEEKEND? OBVIOUSLY, YOU HAD A FAST LAP IN THE FIRST PRACTICE YESTERDAY. WHAT’S YOUR EXPECTATION FOR TOMORROW?
“We’re really happy with the way practice went yesterday. It’s always helpful coming to a track that you know and have success at. That can help steer the team with our adjustments in a way that I think will be helpful. Yesterday went well and I’m really excited for the rest of the weekend.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CINCINNATI CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 12th
“I think we’ll be OK. We weren’t great on our mock run in practice and it was kind of the same today. It seemed a little disconnected there in qualifying. I think we’ll race just fine. We obviously came all the way from the back last time here, so I think we’ll be alright.”

ARE YOU GOING TO RACE BUBBA WALLACE ANY DIFFERENTLY THIS WEEK AFTER WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEKEND?
“No, I mean I’m just focused on doing the best job that I can here at Dover. That’s about it.”

DO YOU APPROACH THESE THREE RACES DIFFERENTLY COMPARED TO THE LAST ROUND, CONSIDERING YOU’VE HAD SECOND PLACE FINISHES AT EVERY TRACK?
“Yes and no. I feel like it’s some really strong race tracks for us, but we go every week to run the best that we can. There’s no place that we’re going that we feel like we don’t have a great program going into it. These are just good places for us to go”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO WIN OR CAN YOU POINT YOUR WAY IN?
“I think we can point our way in, but obviously a win would make it a lot easier.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 KROGER SIMMER LIKE A WINNER CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 22nd
“I felt fast. This place is really fast and we have good weather. I felt a lot faster inside the car than we actually were, so that’s a little bit of a bummer. We worked really hard to get our Camaro in better shape for this race and I feel like we have something. We should race pretty good. It has been a little bit of a tough track for us in the past, so we do think we’ve made some gains. Our qualifying lap was respectable. We haven’t had that pure speed in the car, but we’ve gotten it to where we’re driving a lot better.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 25th
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CHEVROLET CARS BEING ABLE TO WORK TOGETHER?
“I think just the fact that we got to be involved in the conversation with the Chevy teams during the first go-around as far as working together was big for our team. I’ve always felt really comfortable at superspeedways and just having the opportunity to participate with the group and having that little feeling of security with that number of teams. I think the communication has grown since we’ve done it. But there are also some things that have to be managed in between to keep it as strong as it was the first time. I look forward to going back to Talladega. That’s a place that we’ve always been really strong at, probably more so than even Daytona as far as speed wise. We always see the superspeedways as a place to capitalize and that we can actually get a win at. It’s definitely circled on our map and to have that alliance with the way that the Chevy teams have been working together is very helpful.”

WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS IN YOUR MIND AS TO WHAT YOU’RE EXPECTED TO DO WHEN YOU AREN’T IN THE PLAYOFFS, BUT YOU’RE GOING FOR YOUR FIRST WIN?
“I think early on in the race, it’s still the same racing we’ve done all year. I think when you get to the end of the race, you have to be aware that it’s hard to help someone that’s fighting for a championship. Sometimes at places like Talladega and Daytona, if you try to help somebody, you might have caused a crash or something like that. I think that’s surely known throughout the series as drivers. Everywhere else, I race with the mentality that during the first half of the race, we’re all racing together. If you get down to the end of the race and one of those guys is on your tail and you’re holding them up, I would expect to give those guys a little extra room. They are racing for something bigger right now and it’s with the hopes that the respect will be returned one day in your favor. I expect to be racing for championships at some point in my career. I would just like that kind of respect back. For me, I’m racing for 22nd or 23rd in points. It doesn’t make a whole lot of difference, but those guys have a lot more on the line.”

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 26th
HOW ARE YOU FEELING SO FAR THIS WEEKEND AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT GOING INTO TOMORROW’S RACE?
“I didn’t feel good in qualifying. It felt like karma was coming back to get me, I guess.”

“I’m a little under the weather. I think the weather changes with it being so hot at home and dealing with the cold weather here is unfortunate. It’s all part of it. I’ve driven with the flu, I’ve driven with it all. But I’m all good.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AAA CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 27th
“I didn’t feel very good. I was too loose. I don’t know, I’m not very confident right now in how we look going into tomorrow’s race. We will take it how it goes, I guess.”

CAN YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE SPRING RACE AND APPLY IT TO THIS WEEKEND?
“We learned that we needed to get better before we come back here and we’re not.”

DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 LUCAS OIL CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 31st
ARE OPTIONS OPENING FOR YOU AND HOW DOES THAT PLAY INTO THE RACE WEEKENDS NOW?
“Yeah, options are opening and I think there are some good paths. It’s just a matter of what path you want to go down. Obviously, it’s going to change your life, your lifestyle and what not with the direction that you pick to go. You just try to know that whatever you choose, it has to be the best thing for you long term.”

RYAN PREECE, NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 32nd
HOW DO YOU FEEL GOING AROUND THIS PLACE?
“A handful, I would say. I don’t really know what to expect for tomorrow yet. We kind of changed everything from last night to today, so it’s like going into it blind.”

HAVING ONLY ONE CUP START HERE, WHAT DO YOU TAKE FROM THE SPRING RACE TO APPLY NOW?
“We knew going into this weekend that we weren’t taking anything from what we had in the spring. So, you really didn’t know unloading. Both of our teams kind of went down different paths and took what each other learned or didn’t learned, put together our notes and went into the same direction for today and tomorrow.”
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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Saturday, October 5, 2019

DRYDENE 400 | MENCS QUALIFYING
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
4th – Kevin Harvick (P)
7th – Aric Almirola
10th – Ryan Blaney (P)
13th – Paul Menard
14th – Joey Logano (P)
15th – Daniel Suarez
16th – Brad Keselowski (P)
17th – Clint Bowyer (P)
19th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21st – David Ragan
23rd – Matt Tifft
24th – Ryan Newman
28th – Michael McDowell
29th – Corey LaJoie

(P) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Beer All Harvick Ford Mustang – Qualified 4th

“I feel good after qualifying. I didn’t think that was going to be our strong suit and we got a good lap in there. Starting towards the front will be important. I think our car is really good in race trim.”

“This place wasn’t one of my favorites until I came to SHR. I think as you look at it, it has been a race track that from the very beginning we put a lot of focus on it to make it a better race track. From the very first time we came here we ran well as a group and fine tuned it from there. It is a place you have to have a lot of confidence in your car and they let me do that and it makes it a lot more fun.”

(P) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Wurth Ford Mustang – Qualified 16th

“We made some improvements to our car from yesterday but we just missed it a little bit in some other areas. We start 16th and we will just have to work forward from there. We haven’t been particularly strong this weekend but I was encouraged by some of the things I felt in qualifying, so I am not totally sure what to expect tomorrow.”

ARE YOU DISCOURAGED STARTING 16TH HERE? “It is not the easiest to pass here, certainly. It is a tough round and these two races, a lot can happen, this one and talladega. I am trying not to read too much into it and just take it one race at a time.”

(P) Joey Logano, No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang – Qualified 14th

“That was not very good. I was expecting a lot more speed out of our car. The balance was off. Our car has a lot of potential in it, we just didn’t get it all out of it there.”

David Ragan, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford Mustang – Qualified 21st

“We made a real quick qualifying effort in practice. We spent most of our laps on Friday in race trim just trying to make some adjustments for the race and I didn’t know what to expect but picked up about a second from what I ran in practice. That was an okay lap. You always think if you had one more shot you would make a small adjustment and go do it again. I love this qualifying. A little bit of that was lost with the multi-round group qualifying. This is definitely more intense. All eyes are on you and you have to go get it done and you don’t have a second try.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – Qualified 19th

“We were really loose. Yesterday we were a little tight in our qualifying run and we knew the track would gain grip and we would gain a lot of speed, we just didn’t have it tight enough. All in all we have been pretty happy with our Fastenal Ford Mustang for most of the weekend. We have not had the raw speed but our long run speed hasn’t been bad. We did some long runs yesterday in practice, mainly because I think the last two or three times here on the long run we have blown a right front tire. We made some long runs in practice to make sure we should be safe there. I think we have given up a little bit on the performance side of making sure we were a little conservative on the right front tires. We will see how it all shakes out. For as loose as we were I am happy with the speed.”

(P) – indicates NASCAR Playoff driver

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DRYDENE 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 4, 2019

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AAA CAMARO ZL1, Media Breakout Session Highlights:

TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF TALLADEGA AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOU AND YOU’RE FAMILY.
“Yeah, it’s very cool. It’s where RCR pretty much got everything going. My grandfather gets all the recognition for that. It’s really cool that he’s going to drive the pace car. It’s going to be special to see him out there in the Dale Earnhardt car. I know he’s pumped for that. Hopefully we get the pole so we can push him around a little bit on the track.”

YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN FAST AT THOSE PLATE RACES. DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THOSE EVENTS?
“Yeah, I really enjoy it. All the Chevrolet cars worked really well together at these plate tracks. It’s given us two shots to win. I feel like as a company, we’ve been really close. We thought Daytona was going to be our shot to get into the Playoffs. Obviously, we wrecked right before the rain came trying to hold the lead. It will be fun and I’d love to get out there on the speedways and try to make it happen. It always gets interesting.”

AT THE SPEEDWAY TRACKS, WE’VE SEEN CHEVROLET WORKING WELL TOGETHER. HOW DID THAT TEAM WORK HELP?
“Well, I think it’s great having a guy behind you that you can trust. With a Chevy behind you, you know you have a little more freedom to look out the front. When you’re not looking out the back, it’s a good thing. I think that’s what happens at some of these races in the past where you’re constantly trying to guard who’s behind you because you don’t know if they are going to stay with you or not. When you have a teammate behind you that you know will follow you wherever you go, it definitely gives you that confidence to make moves and put yourself in a good position.”

INAUDIBLE
“It’s tough, but we’ve been able to make it work. I feel like Chevy has probably taken the most stage points, wins, and things like that at plate tracks this year. So, we’ve made it work with our numbers.”

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO TYLER (REDDICK) COMING UP TO CUP?
“Tyler (Reddick) has been great for our team at RCR. He’s won some Xfinity races this year. We’ve had a couple of different teammates over the years and I feel like I’ve been competitive against all of them. Tyler will definitely push me. I feel like he’s really creative with his lines and not afraid to try different things. I’ve been looking for someone like this to come in and help. Everybody thinks he’s the guy that can do that, to help us elevate as a group at RCR. I think together we can do that.”

DID YOU EVER CROSS PATHS WITH TYLER (REDDICK) GROWING UP ON THE DIRT LATE MODEL SCENE?
“Yeah, I did. I watched Tyler (Reddick) dirt racing. I remember him and his long hair running the Bloomquist cars. All the hype was real, he got in the car and did a really good job at a young age. He’s not scared, he’s a good man.”

DID YOU THINK ALL THESE YEARS LATER YOU WOULD BE HIS CUP TEAMMATE?
“I think it’s cool, two guys with the same background in dirt late models racing the same team. I wish I could have ran more late model races. He started a little bit younger than I did, so he got to run some more tracks at different places. It definitely is cool to have two guys that come from a background of dirt late models in the Cup Series and working together.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO TALLADEGA, WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION WHEN YOU TOOK TO THE TRACK FOR THE FIRST TIME?
“Man, it’s big. You get out there and I remember being in a truck for the first time, drafting, and seeing a guy stick his hand out the car waving like let’s go to push him. I was like how is he taking his hand off the wheel right now. I was so gripped up and intense because we were going so fast. But as you start relaxing, you get more comfortable and flowing at that place and it’s fun.”

TELL ME HOW YOU FELT IN PRACTICE.
“Man, this place is fast and exciting. Especially when you have a good car here, it’s fun. You see guys struggle really landing into the corner. It’s kind of fun because you can push those guys into making those mistakes. It’s hard to pass here obviously with the line being right on the bottom. But as the rubber lays down, you can kind of move up and make more moves.”

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND? CAN YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE SPRING RACE TO HELP?
“Our car was really average the last time we were here. We definitely worked a lot on coming here to get it better. I feel like we are a little better right now than what we were. We were a sixteenth-place car last time and that’s what we were the whole race. I felt like I ran in that spot the whole race. So, hopefully we progressed and made the car better for the long haul and better overall. I felt like that last practice, we got it closer. We didn’t start as close as far as heights went, so that took us a little while to get it going. We’ll see what this next practice brings.”

CAN YOU TAKE MORE CHANCES SINCE YOU’RE NOT IN THE PLAYOFFS AT PLACES LIKE TALLADEGA?
“Yeah, you definitely try. You try and put yourself in a place to have a shot to win because it goes a long way going into next year.”

WHAT ABOUT THE MANUFACTURERS WORKING TOGETHER? SOME GUYS DON’T LIKE THAT.
“The drivers that don’t like it usually don’t have enough teammates I guess.”

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.

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DRYDENE 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 4, 2019

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

HOW WAS PRACTICE? WHAT IS YOUR CAR LIKE?
“It’s good. I think that we’re close. I’d like to be a little better in some areas and a little more secure, but I feel like it’s close. Chad (Knaus, crew chief) has a good feel for this place and I feel like our cars, in general, have a good feel for this place, for sure.”

AS THE 11th SEED IN THE PLAYOFFS, THE TOP 8 HAVE BEEN GOOD IN THE SERIES FOR QUITE A WHILE. BUT THIS ROUND, HOW DO YOU FEEL HERE, AT DOVER, AND NEXT WEEK AT TALLADEGA? DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE IN A SPOT WHERE YOU CAN BREAK THROUGH AND TAKE YOURSELF TO THE NEXT LEVEL?
“Yeah, I think so. We’re taking it one step at a time and I feel really good about the tracks that we have in this round. So, I think it’s going to be good and I think we’ll have strong cars at each one of them. So, I feel great about it.”

WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSION OF TALLADEGA THE FIRST TIME YOU WERE THERE?
“It’s really wide for a superspeedway. It feels like a highway out there, it’s so big. And there are so many lanes and there are really three lanes, but each lane can fit about two cars. So, it’s really about six lanes wide. It’s just crazy how big that place is. That was my first impression of it.”

TALK ABOUT DOVER, TALLADEGA, AND KANSAS. THESE ARE TRACKS YOU CAN WIN AT
“Yeah, for sure. That’s kind of the immediate goal is to win. And, I think if we have a good weekend throughout and do the things we need to do leading up to the race, I think we’re going to have a good shot at it. We just have to continue to kind of tune our car as the weekend progresses and hope that we’re in the right position when it really counts, for sure.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS PIT ROAD AT DOVER COMPARED TO OTHER RACE TRACKS? IN TERMS OF JUST HAVING TO DO IT PERFECTLY, WHERE WOULD YOU RANK IT?
“That’s definitely one of the Top 5 toughest places to get on pit road, I would say. You kind of go onto pit road and it takes all the braking and all the stopping power you have to get slowed down. You can’t just give up a bunch of time or you’re going to lose a lot of time on track. So, you’ve got to push it, but it’s a very tough margin.”

YOU HAVE WON NUMEROUS POLES THIS SEASON. HOW MUCH FOCUS DO YOU PUT ON QUALIFYING AT DOVER?
“We did a qualifying run. I felt like it went pretty well. We were second on the board, so that was good. We qualified good here in the spring and I think it’s just a combination of a lot of things. But, making sure our balance is good for qualifying and making sure we didn’t have any crazy things going on.”

DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE POLE-WINNING SPEED?
“Yeah, I hope so. I think it would be a lot easier to start up front at this race just the way this track is.”

WHAT IS YOUR MENTALITY FOR THE NEXT THREE RACES?
“You’ve just got to be aggressive. There is really no other way to do it. We come into the race and we’re the 11th seed, so we’ve just got to be aggressive and try to advance that way. I think it’s going to take a really good points round. We’ve seen that before. We’ve just got to put it all together.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT TALLADEGA NEXT WEEK?
“I really don’t know. I know our cars are fast there, which is good. Outside of that, I don’t really know what to expect. I think the speeds are going to be higher, just with this package we saw that in Daytona in July. The cars didn’t handle super well, either, with the aero package, so I think we’re just going to have to kind of adjust for that. There is going to be carnage like there always is. It’s probably going to be more than normal, though, with how fast we’re going.”

AS A DRIVER, WHAT’S IT LIKE TO GO INTO A RACE AND JUST EXPECT CARNAGE?
“When you strap in the car at that place, or any of them, you just kind of know that’s what you’re getting into. So, you just try to pretend that you’re wrapped in bubble wrap and nothing can happen because you really just have to go full send, and send it in there. It’s not really something you can prepare for. I feel like the more timid you are at that track, the worse it’s going to go for you. You just can’t be timid at all. And really, as a driver, you don’t even really review, or at least, I don’t go back and look at mistakes or things that happen at those races because it’s such a split-second thing that if you have that thought process of hesitation going into the next race, you’ll really struggle at those places.”

INAUDIBLE
“It hurts for a minute, but I think the more that you get in those crashes there, you’re like okay, it turned out okay and we can go again and try to win the next one. I think you’ve just got to be that way. It’s easy to just say hey, let’s just ride in the back all day and try to make it to the end, but you really can’t do that anymore with stage points. So, you’ve got to be up front. The only way to do that is to be aggressive, or you just get shuffled to the back. So, I think certain guys have a better management of risk than others and you kind of know who those guys are. And you know the guys that are just going to go after it the entire race and they’re probably going to cause a crash, eventually.”

HOW AGGRESSIVE CAN YOU, OR ARE YOU ALLOWED TO BE, HERE AT DOVER?
“I think Dover is a normal place. You’ve got to have good speed over the long run. The runs are typically kind of long here. And then, you have to be good on pit road. It’s a really tough place to make up ground, especially if you’re in the wrong restart lane. I would say those two things and just kind of normal stuff here.”
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.

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DRYDENE 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 4, 2019

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CINCINNATI CAMARO ZL1, Media Breakout Session Highlights:

A LOT OF PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU HUNG IN THERE LAST WEEK. DID YOU KNOW YOU HAD THAT WITHIN OR DID YOU SURPRISE YOURSELF?
“You just can’t give up in situations like that. Obviously, I was really sick all weekend and I made life hard on myself all weekend with my share of the mistakes. I think a lot of it has to do with the race car those guys gave me and I’m really fortunate to have that.”

DID YOU SURPRISE YOURSELF OR NOT?
“I don’t think so, not really. I feel like as a race car driver, you kind of have to think you’re really good.”

IT’S BEEN ONE WEEK REMOVED FROM THE INCIDENT WITH BUBBA WALLACE. WHERE DO YOU SIT WITH THAT TODAY GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND?
“I’m just focused on running well this weekend. I’m focused on my race car, trying to give the best feedback I can throughout practice, and being strong today and Sunday.”

ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT LAST WEEKEND COMING BACK TO HAUNT YOU THIS WEEKEND?
“I think that’s more of a question for those guys than it is for me. All I can do is go out there and do my job. I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them.”

WITH WHAT YOU HAD TO OVERCOME LAST WEEKEND, WAS IT A CHARACTER-BUILDING WEEK FOR YOUR TEAM?
“I think so. We had a few too many of those this year I feel like, but obviously they did a really good job of getting the car back together and putting it together well. Obviously, it was really fast, so that was good to see. I’m just proud of them for the effort.”

INAUDIBLE
“I haven’t. I feel like he said what he had to say after the race. I’ve just been kind of moving forward since then. I don’t think we need to talk before Sunday. I think it is what it is.”

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THIS WEEKEND AND WHAT YOU NEED TO DO?
“Yeah, we just need to go run well. The points become a pretty big separation from the one spot in front of us to the next guy, based on Playoff points. We need to do a good job each and every week to try to bridge that gap. I feel like we are capable of doing that obviously. All three race tracks we finished second in the spring, but it’s going to take some work. I’m just focused on this weekend.”

DID IT BOTHER YOU THAT SO MANY PEOPLE WERE TALKING ABOUT YOU LAST WEEKEND?
“I don’t really like attention, good or bad. I just kind of like to do my own thing and fly under the radar. That’s almost like ‘why do people want to talk to me’, but I’m just focused on moving forward. I feel like that comes with doing my job.”

DID YOU HEAR FROM YOUR CREW CHIEF OR ANYONE? I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT PEOPLE BEING IMPRESSED BY YOU BECAUSE YOU’RE HUMBLE, BUT PEOPLE WERE REALLY IMPRESSED BY YOU.
“Obviously, I talked with Jeff Gordon a lot after the race and a bunch of people from the team. I’m appreciative of all their help and support, I wouldn’t be here without them. I’m glad I’m able to lean on the depth of knowledge from the people we have at HMS.”

WHAT DID JEFF (GORDON) TELL YOU?
“Just that I did a really good job. I felt like I made way too many mistakes over the course of the weekend, but I’m glad we were able to make up for it there at the end.”

DO PEOPLE LIKE JEFF ANDREWS, THE VP OF COMPETITION, COME UP TO TALK TO YOU?
“Yeah, Mr. Andrews and I get along really well. He’s a big asset to me and the company. He’s an old sprint car racer, so it’s become a great friendship and good to be able to lean on him. Mr. Hendrick called me that night and that was really good as well. Yeah, everybody in the company was happy, so obviously that’s a good thing. I need to minimize those mistakes going forward.”

WHAT WAS THE TUESDAY COMPETITION MEETING LIKE?
“Really, in our comp meeting, we don’t really individually break down the races that far. Our comp meeting is more of the changes we go through, what they did to the race car, what we did or didn’t fight with our race car, and what we found that did or didn’t help us. It’s a little different atmosphere there.”

INAUDIBLE
“Like you said, I just have to do what got me here and keep running how we have been. We need to run better than we have been. We just need to keep digging. It’s those guys’ job to race as well, they aren’t supposed to pull over and let us go by any means. We’re here to race, we’re here to put on a show. Hopefully the people have been entertained. That’s what we’re here to do, right? We’re entertainers (laughs).”

DOES THAT HURT YOU WHEN TRYING TO MEND ANY KIND OF RELATIONSHIPS IN THE GARAGE IF YOU DON’T LIKE TO TALK TO PEOPLE?
“I don’t know. I feel like, for me, I don’t really talk to those guys anyways. I kind of bring my friends with me to the race track. I’m not here to be driver’s friend. I’ve said that since I started here. I’m not here to be friends with the people that I’m paid to beat every weekend. There are some guys that get along really well in the garage, but I just kind of stick to myself. It’s not anything against anyone. I’m just kind of quite and keep to myself.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN YOU GOT HOME SUNDAY NIGHT?
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. But other than that, I was just really tired. I still didn’t feel very well. I tried to eat, which was a mistake. My stomach was not a fan of that. But I was just kind of wired awake for sure. There was a lot that went on throughout the day, a lot of mixed emotions.”

HOW WAS YOUR PRACTICE TODAY?
“I think we’re pretty decent. We’ve been a little free since we unloaded. Hopefully we are banking on the track coming to us, we don’t want to snug it up too much and be too tight in the race. I think all four of our cars are really good. I think the 24 is exceptionally good, so we’ll probably lean on them a little bit and see where they are different.”

HEADING INTO A RACE LIKE TALLADEGA, HOW IS GOING INTO THAT WEEKEND AS A PLAYOFF DRIVER DIFFERENT THAN THE EARLY PART OF THE YEAR?
“Yeah, it’s probably just a little more stressful. I feel like we’ve obviously done a good job as a company and Chevrolet to run well at those tracks. Our superspeedway cars are always really good, but we’re still at the mercy of everyone else. We just have to be smart. It’s definitely a stressful environment.”

SO, YOU’RE WORKING WITH PEOPLE TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE. HOW DO YOU LIKE TO DO THAT?
“Well the easiest thing to do is stay out front all day. But there’s really no place to hide. You get guys that try to run around the back and they get taken out anyways.”

COMING OUT OF LAST WEEK, IS THAT A GLIMPS OF WHO ALEX BOWMAN IS?
“I don’t know. I don’t really know how to answer that, I guess. I’m just kind of me. I feel like I haven’t really changed much over the course of the years. I just kind of do my own thing. I’m not going to give up. I feel like our team gets written off really quickly in a lot of these situations and people like to say that we’re not going to run well. I have a lot of fun proving those people wrong sometimes.”

YOU’VE RAN SECOND AT THESE THREE TRACKS. DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL WRITE YOU OFF FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS?
“Yeah, we’ll see. I think obviously Talladega is a wild card, but Dover and Kansas we should be really strong. I enjoy this place. I think it’s a really hard race. It’s a long, physical day. Hopefully we’re a little bit better than how we were here in the spring.”
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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, October 4, 2019
Drydene 400 | MEDIA AVAILABILITY

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 PPG Ford Mustang

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS TRACK? “It is a challenging race track no matter what but then you throw it into the start of this round, any race in the playoffs has its own challenges but this place is tough. This is honestly probably the toughest track that we go to as far as the place changing throughout the day. Talladega and Kansas have their excitement but they don’t change as much as this place does over 400 laps. It is important to get started off on the right foot here with where we are in the points deal. There are a handful of us right stacked on top of each other and then a little gap to seventh on up. We have to have a big day. It is a good time to try to start off right.”

DO YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE HERE? “For anybody it is a challenge here. I think we have run alright here. You can always run better. Some things I would like to do better here but you just hope you come back to each track with a little different mindset and figure out how to improve from last time.”

CHEVY SEEMS TO REALLY WORK THE BEST AT THE SUPERSPEEDWAY RACES LATELY, HOW HAS THAT ALTERED WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO? “The last couple of years it has turned into that war, a manufacturer war on the speedways. Do I like it? Not much. I wish everyone could just go out there and race but now you have to realize strength in numbers and the manufacturers really encourage us to work together a lot. You saw the Chevy’s do it at Talladega this year and it worked out for them. I think it was the 500 this year that the Toyota’s and Chevy’s worked together and had a little deal. You are kind of almost in a box because sometimes what is good for the group is not the best for yourself and you feel like you are compromising sometimes. It might not help you out. That part makes it a little bit tough. At the end of the day, Chevy made it work at the first Talladega so hopefully we can make it work. It is hard to plan and orchestrate stuff like that when everything in the race is going. It has turned into that though.”

YOU CAN’T CHANGE THAT THOUGH CAN YOU? “No, you aren’t going to change it. The manufacturers want to win and they find that these speedway races are a big teamwork place and not just teammates but everyone within the manufacturer working together. It has become bigger than that. You can’t blame the manufacturer for wanting to do that, they put a lot of support behind the teams and they find those spots to say that if we have strength in numbers that we should be able to win the race. You can’t blame them for doing that. I don’t see it changing anytime soon.”

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES YOU HAVE TO BALANCE AND HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT DECISION? “It is the same thing you run into sometimes with teammates. Sometimes you don’t want to hang your teammate out but you know that if you don’t go with a certain lane you are going to go backwards but you don’t want to hang your teammate out. It is hard. Sometimes it bites you in the butt trying to be a good teammate at plate races. That is a little different. It is so hard now to kind of keep everyone happy. You are going to make someone very mad throughout the plate races because it is hard to make everyone happy because making everyone happy isn’t the best for yourself and we are here to win races. It is a tricky situation and you go into it thinking the best you can and just try to stay out of wrecks and help the people that you want to help and try to pick the right lanes to go. It is a different deal for sure.”

DOES THE FIRST RACE OF A NEW ROUND FEEL DIFFERENT? “Not really, it just resets. Honestly I thought the first round would be the toughest for us personally given the race tracks. Richmond we struggle with and didn’t get a lot of points there and we knew that would be our toughest one. This round is decent for us. You never know what can happen at Talladega. I don’t really look at them any differently other than resetting and going to do three of them again. We are focused on happy hour and the race here.”

WHAT SORT OF GAINES DOES THE 12 TEAM LOOK FOR AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON? “You can always find speed. The speed in our cars have been okay. Speaking as a whole Penske group too, we went to Vegas and had an okay run but not the greatest run and all our cars I thought we lacked a little bit of something there and the same at Richmond. I thought the Gibbs cars were really special there. At the road course at Charlotte the Hendrick cars were really fast. I think we need a little speed right now. We showed a little in practice and there were some cars that were really good and we will know more after this one but we are trying to make our cars faster and make better decisions on the track and things like that to do the best we can internally.”

DID YOU TALK TO OR HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR BUBBA (WALLACE JR.) AFTER HIS ISSUE WITH (ALEX) BOWMAN LAST WEEKEND? “Nope, it is none of my business.”

DO YOU FEEL PLAYOFF PRESSURE MOUNTING? DOES EVERYONE FEEL THAT? “Yeah, it is the playoffs. It was just two drivers heated at each other. One for a gesture and I am sure Darrell wasn’t happy – it wasn’t intentional on Bowman’s part but he had to go through the chicane on the backstretch the first lap and he wasn’t happy about that. Bowman wasn’t happy he got the finger and then got hooked. Listen, you don’t think about this stuff before hand. It is a heat of the moment frustration thing. The water bottle thing, I am going to keep my opinion to myself on that. That is just two drivers heated and that is what it gets to.”

COREY LAJOIE, No. 32 Drydene Ford Mustang

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF BABY ON THE WAY: “Thanks. Yeah, I had told like half the garage already. I have known a lot of these guys my whole life growing up in the garage and it feels like the next chapter of life. Everyone in this industry, we all know each other and travel and work next to each other and have been really supportive. Everybody has either been through it or about to go through it so everyone is offering their two-cents of advice.”

YOU HAVE WON HERE IN THE K&N SERIES, WHAT DOES THIS PLACE DO FOR YOU CONFIDENCE WISE? “Man, I always loved coming to Dover just because anytime you look on the shelf and see a Miles the Monster trophy it is pretty cool. This is a place where the haves and the have-nots are separated more than usual. You have to have a lot of downforce and motor and a good aero balance and if you are a little bit off here at Dover compared to the leaders and guys running fast you are in the way. I have been in the way more than I have been fast here ina a Cup car. I have been good here in an Xfinity car and K&N but the Cup deal, I am not sitting on the fastest horse, but I think I need to do a better job of managing Cup races and hopefully putting a full day together.”

LOOKING TOWARD TALLADEGA, IT IS A WILD CARD RACE FOR THE PLAYOFF GUYS BUT FOR TEAMS LIKE YOURS, IT COULD PRESENT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A REALLY GOOD RUN OR EVEN A WIN: “Yeah, for sure. We have a pretty solid average finish over the three speedway races this year and our game plan is to not get up there and race until right there at the end because normally we have just enough speed to get right into the middle of a crash. We will let everybody crash first because it isn’t a matter of if, it is a matter of when. We will stay within arms distance, not make mistakes on and off pit road, and be there at the end. If there are 15 cars left and we are in a decent spot then you get up there and race.”

WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET AS A NO-PLAYOFF DRIVER TOWARD RACING THE PLAYOFF DRIVERS THESE 10 WEEKS? “You just give those guys a little more room than you normally would. Those guys earned their spot and their season is on the line and you don’t want to be the guy that makes a mistake or holds one of those playoff guys up and costs them a point. It could be the difference between them advancing or not and you don’t want to be that guy that affects that.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 41 ARRIS Ford Mustang

WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOU AND NEWMAN LAST WEEK? “We were running towards the top the entire race and one of the pit stops we decided to stay out with no tires and everyone behind me took tires so we put ourselves in a bad situation. That is racing. Sometimes you make good decisions and sometimes you make bad ones. Unfortunately for us that was a bad one and I put myself in the mess of those guys fighting like dogs out there. It was a tough situation. I was very disappointed and I went to talk to Ryan (Newman) after the race and he swears that he didn’t do it on purpose. Who knows if that is true or not but that is what he said and that is what I have to believe. If he was saying otherwise, I was going to go after him. He said he didn’t do it on purpose. He gave me his explanation of how things happened but as a driver it wasn’t just a little contact. It was pretty hard contact. At that point he was pretty much lost. He missed the chicane and had to do a pass through which is why I was passing him on the outside and all of a sudden he turned right. He told me he was going to do a stop and go. Who knows? Who cares at this point? It is time to move on. I am here in Dover, one of my favorite places to race and I want to take advantage of that.”

IS THERE AN UPDATE ON YOUR CONTRACT SITUATION AND PICKING UP THE OPTION OR NOT? “We are getting close. We are getting close to that but we are not there yet. We are still working. There have been a lot of things moving in the right direction and a lot of things moving in different directions in the next couple of weeks so hopefully things work out for us.”

WHEN YOU SAY ‘DIFFERENT DIRECTION’, THAT COULD BE AT SHR OR ELSEWHERE? “I am talking more sponsor wise. Everything is about a sponsor. If you have a sponsor you can drive tomorrow. That is how racing works these days. We have some important meetings in the next couple of weeks that are going to give us a good direction of where we are at. We have to keep working. I know what I want to be, they know where they want me to be, we just have to make sure we have the funds to do it.”

DO YOU GO INTO TALLADEGA NEXT WEEK THINKING ABOUT WINNING FOR YOURSELF OR HELPING YOUR TEAMMATES IN THE PLAYOFFS? “I have to think of myself and help them when I can. Last week I was helping them when I can, when they were around me, but sometimes I have a lot on the line for myself as well. That is one of the worst situations of not being in the playoffs because some people are expecting you to get out of the way and unfortunately that won’t happen with me. That won’t happen with some people and I am one of them. I just hope the 12 guys that are still in the playoffs don’t have high expectations of myself.”

HOW WELL IS TALLADEGA KNOWN BACK IN MEXICO? “It is a very cool place. I guess it is extremely famous because of the movie, Talladega Nights. Everyone knows that race track because of that. For sure it is a very well known place.”

WHAT IS YOUR PRIMARY GOAL THE REST OF THE YEAR? “I feel like we have been racing okay but I feel like we need to run more consistently in the top-10 like we have before. The competition is picking up. I feel like we have a good car for this weekend. We don’t have a super fast car but we have a very consistent car. Kind of like we can’t do a super fast lap but then they get slower to where I am at and then slower than me. I guess that is good but we do want to make the car a little quicker.”

STATISTICALLY THIS IS YOUR BEST TRACK AT THE CUP LEVEL: “Yeah, this place has been very good to me my entire career, not just the Cup level but Xfinity and K&N and everything I have ever driven here has been good. I love coming here and I always have high expectations here.”

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DRYDENE 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 4, 2019

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1, met with media and discussed today’s announcement that Ally Financial has extended its contract with Hendrick Motorsports through the 2023 season, his undecided future plans, the recent progress of the No. 48 team, the upcoming race at Talladega, and more. Full Transcript:

WE SAW THE ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY ABOUT THE EXTENDED SPONSORSHIP WITH ALLY.
YOU SAID YOU WOULD ANNOUNCE YOUR FUTURE AT A LATER DATE. WHAT’S A LATER DATE FROM THIS MORNING? DO YOU THINK YOU’LL MAKE IT THROUGH 2023 WITH ALLY OR DO YOU HAVE ANY DATES IN MIND?
“No, I haven’t made any decisions at this point. I’m very, very excited that Ally has signed this extension with Hendrick. I think it speaks to the strength of our sport and strength of the relationship with Hendrick Motorsports. I know everybody would like me to be in the car to 2023 and even past that, but I just haven’t made that decision yet. So, I certainly didn’t want to it in the way of this great news coming out, either. And, as this came down the pipeline, I knew I would be in a position to answer a lot of questions that would come with it. But, I just felt like it was such great news, I supported Hendrick in getting this news out right away, and Ally as well, it’s just great for our sport and industry. I don’t have anything to say at this time and I’m going to take every day that I can get from Mr. Hendrick before I have to make my decision.”

DOES HAVING A SPONSOR ALREADY SIGNED CHANGE THE TIMELINE FOR YOU HAVING TO MAKE A DECISION? OBVIOUSLY, IF THERE WASN’T ONE, THOSE THINGS CAN POTENTIALLY GET STRETCHED OUT EVEN LONGER.
“Yeah, I guess I haven’t thought about it on that side. I’ve felt like the relationship has gone very well and I sensed that it would extend all along. But, if we didn’t have a sponsor, there could have been pressure from that side. But, I never felt it and it certainly didn’t get to that spot.”

INAUDIBLE
“I don’t have a timeline. I personally know that I would like every day that I can before I need to make that decision. There’s a lot of things to look at with the Gen-7 car coming and the way our team is performing and what we are building. And, I might want to go longer than 2023. I just don’t know. And, I have not put much time and effort into it. There have been many other things to deal with and look at. These things, in the past, a contract renewal would usually start in the spring of the year the contract would end. So, based on past experience, I would say that probably sprint next year is when I would really get pressure to make a decision if I was going to return in 2021. I hate I don’t have any good news for you. I know you’d love to have that firm timeline, but I just don’t right now.”

AFTER LAS VEGAS, YOU TALKED ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING A NON-PLAYOFF DRIVER AND THAT YOU FELT LIKE MAYBE THERE WERE A COUPLE OF CASES WHERE YOU MAYBE KIND OF GOT USED UP AND SAID HEY, I’VE GOT TO DO A BETTER JOB OF NOT GETTING IN THAT SITUATION. HOW HAVE YOU DONE AT THE OTHER TWO RACES AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO IN ONCE SENSE, NOT BE USED UP BY PLAYOFF DRIVERS NOW?
“I think we all know and understand that you’re going to race others how they race you. And, I think some people take it to higher extremes than personally what I do, but I’m just implementing that in something I’ve done all along. If somebody gives me a hard time in a couple of different ways that I don’t appreciate, I let one slide. Two, I usually say something. And three, you really start playing the game back. That’s just the way I was kind of raised and taught. I can remember Ron Hornaday, back in the day, when that would happen, he would literally show you a one, there’s your first. And then, two. And then you never wanted to see three because it usually didn’t end well. We all handle it differently, and certainly the sport has changed a lot since I first came in and the way the racing takes place. So, I’ve had to grow with the environment on-track as well and then also defend what I need to defend out there.”

MAYBE THIS IS EARLY TO DISCUSS, BUT HAS NASCAR COME TO YOU TO DISCUSS THIS NEXT GENERATION-7 CAR AT ALL AT THIS POINT?
“Yes, they’ve brought it up in driver council meetings. I’m on a rules committee, where I try to stay up to date on that, as well. So, yeah, there is some dialogue taking place. Certainly, there’s a lot of dialogue taking place between OEM’s and owners. At the driver level, some guys are more involved than others.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO TALLADEGA, WHAT IS THE STRATEGY AT THAT RACE FOR THE NO. 48 TEAM?
“I think that’s the one race when you’re actually excited to be a non-Playoff driver (laughs). So, I’ll go and do my best to try to get a trophy and certainly try to help my teammates when I can. That’s one of the few tracks that you can….there, and Daytona. And Daytona is probably on the not-list, where you just can’t help your teammates there. So, I’ll do what I can and try to get this Ally Chevy to Victory Lane.”

IT’S THE 50th ANNIVERSARY FOR TALLADEGA AS WELL. WHAT DOES THAT TRACK MEAN TO YOU?
“I think the history of the track and the fan base and the fact that it’s kind of the roots of our sport. Wander out through the infield and see all the wildness and craziest in action is always fun. So for me, that race, the two times a year that we race there, it’s about the atmosphere and the party and it’s almost a festival of sorts. So, the racing, you try to take it as serious as you can. Just through my experience in being able to create my own luck maybe two or three percent of the time, and then be at the mercy of everybody else’s luck in 98 to 97 percent of the time, you just kind of put it in a different spot in your head and deal with it. So, it’s kind of a couple of fun days hanging out in Talladega until it’s race day, and then you hope you’re in that 2 or 3 percent that makes it through.”

DOES COMING TO A TRACK LIKE DOVER AFFECT YOUR CONFIDENCE OR IS JUST HOW THE CAR IS RUNNING PLAY INTO IT MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE?
“Yeah, car performance….there’s a few things that can out drive that. One, how it’s been going lately and two, how were you the last time you were here? So, those elements play into it. This year is a little different when you have 550 rules package to 750, so I find that whatever the opinion is, good or bad, it helps Monday when the clock starts running and in practice, and once you’re on track again, you’re in the present and the now and you really deal with those issues on-hand. So, I think an opinion or past experience at a track or past history, really gets you through the weekly and up to it, but it doesn’t really change much once you get to the track and get to work.”

WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS HAVE DONE RIGHT OR HAVE BEEN BUILDING UPON IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS OF WHAT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE WITH THIS GROUP?
“I think across the Chevy camps, I think we’re seeing more speed in general. When I look at Hendrick Motorsports, specifically, more speed and more competitiveness. I think that we still have some areas to catch-up in. Those would be the 500 horsepower tracks with less downforce. It seems like when we need max downforce, we’re in a good spot if it’s a road course; and really for 750 or 550 package. I think that’s somewhere that we’re working hard to get better, especially as we know, this 500 package is going to stick around. And then inside the walls of the No. 48, it’s really just about executing. We have so many positive things going on inside….building new cars, new aero balances on cars, refining set-ups that have kind of been our bread and butter, and seeing evidence that that’s proving and that’s working out well. So really, it’s about execution. And that’s where my mindset is, is to try not to overthink it and don’t put too much pressure on myself or on the team. We know what we’re capable of. Let’s just take a deep breath and get out there and get to work.”

CHASE ELLIOTT SAID ONE OF THE THINGS HE ATTRIBUTED TO HIS RECENT SUCCESS IS HAVING YOU AS A TEAMMATE. DO YOU HAVE THOSE CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR OTHER TEAMMATES ABOUT WHAT TO DO HERE TO HELP THE OVERALL TEAM HAVE WINS AND TOP 10 FINISHES AND STUFF LIKE THAT?
“You know, I’m there for my teammates as much as they need me. I feel that with my history inside of the company, I have really good deep conversations with drivers; but then further than that, with crew chiefs and the engineering department and people in key areas. And, I’ve always been able to articulate what I need or what I feel inside the car. And, I’ve seen, especially in the last few weeks, I’ve seen areas where I am describing something and I see a light bulb go off with a teammate in their mind and they get their crew chief’s attention in one of our debriefs. That’s exactly what I’m dealing with or what they’re looking for. Sometimes directly and often times, indirectly. And, I even live that myself in studying Jeff Gordon as closely as I did. I would thank him for helping me and he didn’t know what he did. And, he was just being him. His knowledge and experience was just so evident that I would pull stuff out of that. So, since I’ve experienced it, I try to maybe talk a bit more and open up conversation in different areas just to help my three teammates that are in the Playoffs.”

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.

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

DOVER, Del. (October 4, 2019) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media at Dover International Speedway:

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

Looking at next week, Talladega. We have seen other manufacturers work together. How does that affect you having less cars?

“It’s definitely a huge challenge. I think, just as you mention, strength in numbers is huge. We just don’t have enough cars to be able to do what those guys can do. It makes it a huge challenge. We’ve kind of tried to figure out some strategies to see how we can make things work, but it seems like it just hasn’t worked at all with us yet. I don’t know. We will probably have to come up with a new gameplan next week.”

How much has the package changed how you attack this track?

“It’s definitely different. The biggest thing is you are just going faster. You are using more throttle, using less brake. Mostly, carrying more speed getting into the corner. You drive it as fast as you can go, which you did before as well, it’s just a little bit of a different feel. It’s really fast around here with this new package.”

Is that a good thing or a bad thing in your opinion?

“It’s fine. I think it’s fun. Nothing bad about it.”

We saw both ends of the spectrum winning in the first round: youth and experience. Do you feel the Playoffs favor the veterans and experience?

“I don’t know. I think it could go either way. I think it depends on where you are at with your team at the moment. I think experience helps for sure, especially if you get in a bad situation or your back is against a wall and you need to keep your head straight. Things like that. A guy like Chase (Elliott) and his team – they have been here quite a few years as well. It’s definitely easier when you have done it before. When you understand the pressure and how teams the approach the Playoffs is different than the regular season, but I think everybody left in the Playoffs is good and they can handle it.”

# # #

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit ToyotaNewsroom.com.

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
DRYDENE 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 4, 2019

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS GIVE A HOOT CAMARO ZL1, met with media to discuss his new paint scheme for the weekend, outlook for the next round of the Playoffs, what tributes to his success in road course racing, and more. Full Transcript:

YOU HAVE A SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME HERE THIS WEEKEND. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT TO START OFF?
“Yeah, it’s a really cool cause obviously. With Hooters being Hooters and the month of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, it’s a good fit and they’ve been such a fun partner. Obviously, this is for a good cause. I feel like everyone has a family member or has some way been affected by it unfortunately. I appreciate them being on board and being willing to do something like this, and change up their colors. It’s not as easy of a thing for a corporate partner to give up their colors to do something cool and to do something good like this. So, I appreciate them and what they do.”

DID YOU ORCHESTRATE THE BURNOUT LAST WEEKEND?
“No, definitely not. It was just an accident. But I guess it was a good problem to have if you forgot to put it in gear after you did a burnout after the race. That’s not a bad problem. I figured it was going to hit something sometime and stop, so I just let it go.”

HOW DO YOU COME INTO THIS ROUND OF RACES THAT, ON PAPER, LOOKS GOOD FOR YOU?
“Yeah, I just think you can’t look at that. Past success doesn’t guarantee a good run here Sunday. If it did, we wouldn’t put the effort in or try. It would be guaranteed, so we just wouldn’t come. So, that’s part of racing and knowing that if you have a good run somewhere in the spring or last year if you only go their once, definitely doesn’t guarantee that you’ll run good this time. I think we just have to keep pushing and this round definitely isn’t going to be an easy round. I think it’s going to be tough. I think the caliber of cars left, there are some really strong teams in that 12, so I don’t expect this to be easy and we are certainly going to treat it that way.”

LOOKING AT NEXT WEEK AT TALLADEGA, DO YOU GUYS HAVE A STRATEGY IN PLACE ON HOW YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO RUN THAT RACE?
“We’ve talked about it some. It’s going to look real similar to what it did at Talladega in the spring and Daytona in the summer. We made a pretty conscious effort with our manufacturer of Chevrolet to try and do a better job of working together. It worked at Talladega. A lot of us crashed, but at least a Chevrolet still won the summer race at Daytona. Hopefully it works out. That’s the thing, we can put as much effort as we want or as little effort as we want, but it’s never going to guarantee that you aren’t going to crash or have a bad day there. I expect we’ll do our part on our end to try and make as good of a day as we can out of it, but no guarantees.”

IT’S THE 50th ANNIVERSARY FOR TALLADEGA. WHAT DOES TALLADEGA MEAN TO YOU, WITH YOU BEING FROM GEORGIA AND I KNOW YOU WENT TO THAT TRACK MANY OF TIMES WITH YOUR DAY?
“Yeah, obviously I haven’t been around for very many of the 50, but the race track has always kind of felt like a home race to me. It’s really as close as anywhere, it’s almost as close to going to Atlanta distance-wise. Any time you race close to home, it’s nice because you don’t have to go very far to go over there to the track, which is why I like it. Definitely the crowd makes you feel at home too; they certainly made me feel like that in the spring. I look forward to getting back over there. If it goes good, it goes good. If it doesn’t, we’ll figure it out after that.”

WHAT DO YOU TRIBUTE TO BEING ABLE TO HAVE SUCH SUCCESS HERE AT THIS TRACK?
“I think I’ve been lucky to have some fast cars. Obviously, Jimmie (Johnson)’s success over the years here has laid a great foundation for our cars to have speed and just his natural feel for the track. I honestly think a lot of it is him and being able to lean on him throughout practice, and that has been an asset to us. I’m going to continue to lean on him and hopefully we can have a solid day and try to get some more bonus points.”

JOEY LOGANO WAS JUST IN HERE AND HE HINTED TO THE FACT THAT THE PLAYOFFS SEEM TO BENEFIT THE VETERAN DRIVERS IN BEING ABLE TO HANDLE THE PRESSURE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENTLY THAN THE YOUNGER GUYS. AS A YOUNGER GUY WHO SEEMS TO BE DOING PRETTY WELL RIGHT NOW, WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THAT?
“That’s his opinion and he’s entitled to it. So, whatever makes him feel good.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE PLAYOFFS BENEFIT THE VETERANS?
“I think it benefits to do their job the best.”

YOU’VE PROVEN THAT YOU’RE PRETTY GOOD AT ROAD COURSES. WHERE DID YOU INITIALLY LEARN TO ROAD RACE?
“I was racing some go karts and when I was little, we did some road course racing. I’m not really sure that counts for anything, but I did a little bit there. Really, once we started racing some ARCA races, we started racing some road courses in the ARCA Series. I’m not sure, I think it was 2011 or 2012, something like that. So, that was kind of my first stab at running in a stock car. Through ties with Chevrolet, I had a chance to spend some time at Ron Fellows Driving School out in Vegas and that never hurts. Obviously, those cars are different in driving a Corvette versus one of our cars, it’s very different. But, at the same time, a lot of the techniques I think you can learn from and obviously Ron has been a great one to lean on with all of his success. I guess the ARCA days was the first stab at a stock car on a road course, but I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a challenge, for sure, but I’ve enjoyed the challenge. Last week went good, but it doesn’t mean the next road race is going to go good. You enjoy it while you can.”

SPEAKING OF ARCA, YOU’VE HAD EXPERIENCE WITH K&N AS WELL, THEY’VE ANNOUNCED THE MERGER NEXT SEASON. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
“To be completely honest with you, I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the news this week. So, I really don’t know enough of the details of it to give you a really good quote. I apologize for staying off Twitter this week.”

WHAT ARE THE FIRST FEW LAPS LIKE HERE AT DOVER?
“It’s always a challenge and I think that’s what makes Dover fun I think for the drivers and the teams, and with how much it can change throughout a day. Typically, the first practice is always fast and the pace is up. To me, in the past, it seems like when we’ve been good here, you don’t want it to be really good to start. You don’t want it to be perfect I don’t think. If it is, I think you just have to know in your mind that we have some work to do to get a direction. Yeah, it’s laps on the track, but definitely not the environment that you’re going to see on Sunday after halfway.”

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.