Category: NASCAR Cup PR

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, September 13, 2019

SOUTH POINT CASINO 400 | MEDIA AVAILABILITY

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang

WHY IS TEAM PENSKE SO GOOD AT LAS VEGAS? “That is a hard question to answer. It might be an easy question for you. I think there are a few things. I do think this track kind of fits into our wheelhouse. I think it fits into Ford’s wheelhouse as far as engines and the Roush Yates program. I think we have done a good job finding the balance to get through the bumps in 1 and 2 yet still have grip around the rest of the race track. It is never perfect. You are never as good as you want but it seems like we have been able to put together a good package at this race track. I think this race will be much different than it was in the spring considering it was one of the first races with this package and the whole industry has really evolved a lot from what we did here in March. I don’t know if we have figured out what we need to win but we have gotten close and the whole field has kind of done that together. A lot of things have changed over that period of time.”

DOES IT BENEFIT YOU TO NOT HAVE THE SPOTLIGHT ON YOU AS MUCH AS TOYOTA DOES RIGHT NOW? “I really don’t care to be honest. I don’t really care where I stack up in anyone’s mind. The most important piece is believing in yourself and your race team. I think that is what we proved last year. I said last year that I felt like we were the favorites and everyone’s jaw probably dropped asking what this kid was thinking. In our minds we were and that is what mattered the most. When we showed up down there we had the confidence and we felt prepared and we executed our plan to win the race. I think this year is no different for us. It doesn’t really make a difference with who is the favorite, who is the underdog, who is the dark horse or whatever. It matters what you think about yourself and what your team can do.”

DO YOU HAVE TO DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT WITH YOUR CAR SETUP FOR THE DAY TO NIGHT TRANSITION WE WILL HAVE FOR THIS RACE? “I think the sun will still be kinda up at the end of the race but it should be cooling off which will be great for everybody, especially the people[le in the grandstands and me inside the car. There will be a little bit of that as the track cools off and some grip comes back to us and the balance of the car will change a little bit. We have to be ready to adjust to that and it definitely does present another challenge but we already have a challenge even today in practice with what the practice conditions are compared to the race. It will be quite a bit different as the track rubbers up over the weekend. As more rubber lays down and the wind changes and the sun is up or down, we kind of go off a little bit of past history as how that has affected us and make the adjustments. There is no track bar adjuster like we had last year and all those things make it a little harder to overcome.”

KYLE BUSCH SAID IT BOTHERS HIM THE YOUNG DRIVERS HAVE ACCESS TO THE SMT DATA. DOES THAT BOTHER YOU AT ALL THAT THEY COME IN AND CAN SEE YOUR TRADE SECRETS SO TO SPEAK? “Ok. It is the same for everyone. I guess I can learn just as much. Maybe it is easier for them to get the basics and stuff like that figured out but I feel like I don’t have it figured out. Maybe he has everything figured out, but I sure don’t. I mean, you don’t want people to see exactly what you are doing but some people are looking at me and I am looking at them. It goes back and forth. It is a tool and a resource and something that isn’t gospel and not exactly the truth all the way through. There are things you can learn through it if you take it with a grain of salt. I am okay. I can go either way on it. Does it help the rookies come up a little bit quicker? Yeah, it probably does. It is very challenging to get into the sport still and very challenging to be the best of the best in the sport. A lot of times you can read as much as you want but until you actually do it in real life it is a lot different. When you have that life experience it changes quite a bit. It may help a little bit but I don’t think it is everything.”

AS YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH THE YEAR AS THE CHAMPION, HAS ANYTHING REALLY JUMPED OUT TO YOU OF ALL THE EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD REPRESENTING THE SPORT AS THE CHAMPION? “Obviously there are plenty of very special moments. None of them can top the feeling of just crossing the start-finish line and your team and your family, there is no better feeling than that. That is the best, that you accomplished something together. That feeling, I can’t describe it very well but it is unbelievable. A lot of the cool things that come along with it, we got to go to the White House and meet the President and that was really cool. I am a race fan first, so being able to go onto the Hall of Fame voting panel and being on that and listening to all these legends in there from media members to race car drivers and crew chiefs and owners, that was really, really cool for me to be able to listen to everybody and try to put my two-cents in. I didn’t really belong but I tried. I had a lot of fun with that. To me that was one of the coolest things. I didn’t even expect that or knew it would happen until we won the championship. That stuff is neat but it ends pretty quick at the same time. You are still in the grind. You are still trying to win another championship. It is fun and important for me to enjoy that because you work so hard for it that you should enjoy what you accomplished but also keep the eye on the prize and looking forward to the next one.”

WHAT WOULD THE SIGNIFICANCE BE FOR YOU TO BE THE FIRST BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPION SINCE JIMMIE JOHNSON AND THE ONLY GUY OTHER THAN JIMMIE IN THE FIELD TO HAVE MULTIPLE CHAMPIONSHIPS? “It is cool to think about. I guess I never really thought about it that way.”

WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS SO DIFFICULT? “Because everyone is so good. These guys are so good. They are hard to beat. There is not really many teams that are just one step better than everyone all the time. The way this playoff system goes you have to be good. When it was 10 races, most times you had a mulligan of one race that you could maybe afford to have a bad one, crash or whatever because you had nine races to overcome it. Now, you can have a bad race and you have to overcome that in two races to get through to the next round. You either have to win or have two very, very good runs to make that up. I think it is very hard to get to the Championship 4. It is all or nothing when you get there. I don’t want to say it is harder, it is just very different than what it used to be and it has made it more spread out through the field of who the real favorites are and who is able to really get this whole thing in their grasp. It does seem like the Championship 4 does come down to the same cars a lot of times with a couple rotating in and out occasionally. I think it is easy to tell which teams are really the ones that stand out but I don’t think there is one that just has this whole thing figured out.”

HOW HAVE THE PLAYOFFS CHALLENGED YOU MENTALLY? HOW HAVE YOU NOT COME OUT OF IT CRAZY? “I am still kinda crazy. It is just perspective. Just keeping in mind what we are doing and enjoying it. I think that is probably the biggest thing. I work very hard at this but I also absolutely love it. I really love my job. I have the greatest job in the world and I realize that. I can’t say that is the same for the whole garage that everyone enjoys this as much as I do. I guess that gives me a little perspective on just how fortunate and lucky I am. I think in other cases I think our foundation helps a lot. That isn’t the reason why we started it but it has played out that way for me that a bad day at the race track, as hard as it is, a lot of people are having a lot harder time to just make ends meet. That keeps me sane and helps me enjoy it more.”

DO YOU USE VIDEO FOOTAGE OF RESTARTS TO TRY TO FIGURE OUT HOW YOU CAN GET AN ADVANTAGE THERE WITH HOW IMPORTANT THOSE HAVE BEEN THIS YEAR? “Yep, sure do. That is part of doing the job, part of the gig. Our sport, you don’t have time to think things through, you have to react. If you are going to react in the right way, you have to prepare. That is where the prep work and preparation is what you have to lean on because if you hesitate, you are done, you get beat. You are going to get passed. You have to be the one making the moves and to make the right moves you have to kind of have an idea of where things are going to go and what will happen after you make the move. The only way you know is from living through it or really having your head wrapped around the situation of what has happened before. That has been a fun experience this year. Back when we came here for the first time, I talked about how the cars are going to evolve but the drivers are going to evolve too on what works best on the restarts and I guarantee you I am not the only one studying. The whole field is. I can see it. What has worked good in the past and what was a good move I see that not working again because of everyone evolving and that to me has been one of the most fun things this year. It used to be black and white on what to do on restarts and now it seems like you kind of throw some of the things you used to take for granted because the moves have changed to much with the amount of throttle time we carry and the handling and what the draft does.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Thursday, September 12, 2019

NASCAR PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY DRIVER QUOTES

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Ford Mustang

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO MAKE SURE IT DOESN’T COME DOWN TO PHOENIX THAT DETERMINES YOUR FATE AGAIN THIS YEAR? “I think last year we were really close to winning that race and being able to advance. Looking forward to this playoffs, it really is just about worrying about one week at a time. You can’t get too far ahead of yourself or worry about Phoenix. You have to run all of the races before you get there. I think we have got a great opportunity in front of us and we have to go out and maximize that opportunity and that means being at our best every single weekend.”

VEGAS HAS YOU PEGGED AS A LONG SHOT. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO PEOPLE THAT WANT TO TAKE A RISK AND GAMBLE ON YOU? “I would say that we have been in this position before. We were under the radar and an underdog last year going into the playoffs and I don’t think anybody would have picked us to be so close to making it to that final four and going to have a shot to run for the championship. We ended up finishing fifth in the points. Yeah, I am good with flying under the radar. It takes a little of the attention off me and my race team and we can go just do our job.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY RESIDUAL EFFECTS FROM YOUR ACCIDENT AT KANSAS? “Zero. I broke my back in that wreck at Kansas but was able to come back from that seven weeks later and get back in the race car and have had no side effects or anything from that. My body was able to heal up nicely and I had a lot of help from a lot of rehab and physical therapy. Once I got back to 100% I have been that way ever since.”

WHAT DO YOU DO ON SUCH A HOT RACE WEEKEND LIKE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE? “It is really a year worth of workouts and routine. On hot weekends like this, that is when it really pays off. If it is 65 degrees out I feel like everybody inside their race cars can manage that. We are all professionals. But when you get into these extreme elements like this weekend when it will be 102-degrees, that level of fitness and being able to adapt and not being completely worn out helps keep you a little more focused when you are really dying inside the race car.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “I think there is still more work to do. It never stops. That is the beautiful thing and crazy thing about our sport. The evolution and amount of work that everybody and all the different race teams put in to being at their best never stops. For us, yeah, it is more of the same. We are going to continue to push really hard and find more speed in our cars and get them to where they not only go fast but they drive good. That has been the biggest challenge this year. You can make your car go fast but you will pay a penalty in how it drives. You can make your car drive good but you will pay a penalty with how fast it goes. Finding the balance has been the key and we are doing a good job with that at Stewart-Haas Racing as of late at getting the cars into race winning condition.”

WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE 10 TEAM SITS GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “I feel like the beginning part of the year we were disappointed when we were running top-10 and top-five. We knew we had more. Then we just got off and we have had things not go our way from bad luck to being caught up in wrecks to a driver not doing his part and miscues on my part and miscues on pit road. Just not firing on all cylinders and we have got to get back in our 10 team ways. When we are at our best we do everything really well. I feel like if we can get back to that, which I feel confident we will be able to here to start the playoffs. Last year we were able to do the same thing. Last year the playoffs started and we came out of the box with our head down and really maximizing our weekends. If we can do that again we will be fine. It has been disappointing leading into the playoffs but the beauty of the playoffs is that those last 26 races don’t matter anymore.”

WHAT PLAYS INTO WHERE SOME TEAMS ARE BETTER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR THAN AT THE END? “I think it is just happenstance. Last year Harvick started out the year on fire, so I think it is cyclical and year to year and team to team. There is a lot that goes into our sport. There is a lot of luck, a lot of human elements and a lot of different things. There are so many variables. To have all those variables line up perfectly to be abel to go win doesn’t happen every weekend. You see teams like the 18 team get off to such a great start at the beginning of the year and then they have gone kind of cold actually. That doesn’t mean they aren’t a great team and Kyle isn’t a great driver, it just means things haven’t been clicking. Same for us. We are a very good race team and I feel like we fly under the radar a lot which is fine but at any moment we can break out and we did that last year. We can contend and compete to win races and make a run at these playoffs.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “I think the biggest difference as you go through the rounds, especially for a team like ourselves, it becomes less about points and more about winning. The first round if you just look at the points now, there are a lot of cars within just a few points and you can make up that points difference. When you get into the third round, the teams that are still in those rounds are usually the teams that have a bunch of bonus points. Those bonus points make a big difference when you get to those rounds. You aren’t going to just out point those teams by 40 points because they are too good. You aren’t going to outrun those teams by 10 positions three weeks in a row. You just aren’t going to do it. It puts the pressure on you to have to win to advance to the next round.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “You do but you still find a way to take it to a whole other level. Every week you go and the mentality is to go try to win but in the back of your mind you want to win but if you have a 10th place car you also want to run top-10 with that car. When you get into that third round of the playoffs you want to win and if you have a 10th place car you want to win with it. Plain and simple. It changes strategy and it changes how aggressive you are on restarts and so I feel like for most of the year you try to win but at the same time you try to not lose. When you get to the playoffs you don’t really care if you lose because winning is all that really matters.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “We were in the final few laps of the race inside 10 laps to go on a late restart and we had been leading the race and in a position to win and through some pit strategy and stuff we got back. We needed to make a bold move there to try to get back to the lead to win the race. We felt like in that second round that we needed to win to make it to the next round. It didn’t work out at Dover but it did the very next week at Talladega.”

RYAN NEWMAN SAID HE THINKS THE FIRST ROUND IS THE MOST DIFFICULT? IS THAT BASED ON WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS? WHAT GOES INTO THAT BEING THE HARDEST ROUND? “I think it is the most difficult because there are the most cars. As it gets slimmer and slimmer in the car count and you start taking four cars away, you have fewer cars to worry about. You aren’t racing as many cars so you aren’t trying to out point or beat as many cars heads up. When you have 16 cars and all 16 are very competitive and can all race each other and take points away from each other and all those things it is difficult. Then on top of that the race tracks and how they stack up. Las Vegas, Richmond and the Roval. Those are some really challenging race tracks and very different race tracks. Quite honestly, we haven’t been on a 1.5 mile race track in a couple of months. So all these race teams have been working really hard on their 1.5 mile program to get where they think they need to be and Vegas is the test and we will all find out where we stack up.”

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “It would be huge. That is what we all strive for, to be a champion of the sport. A sport that I love and have grown up admiring and want to be a part of. To be crowned a champion would mean a lot. It gives you some sort of sense of accomplishment. I have worked my whole life for this. I grew up going to race tracks and started racing go karts when I was eight years-old and put in a lot of long hours and slept on a creeper under the race car many times chasing this dream. To be crowned a champion would be a big deal.”

CAN YOU DO IT THIS YEAR? “I think we can.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Thursday, September 12, 2019

NASCAR PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY DRIVER QUOTES

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Ford Mustang

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHANCES COMPARED TO HOW YOU FELT THIS TIME LAST YEAR? “I feel better about them this year than I did last year, for sure. Last year at this point, we didn’t have many playoff points. We didn’t have the speed that I felt like we needed to win and it seemed like we started picking it up here and getting a little more consistent and getting some solid runs and get through a round and then all of a sudden we were contending for wins. We found ourselves in the hunt. We were still playing a little behind the eight ball because we had no playoff points but getting those wins ultimately gave us an advantage going into Miami. That said, I learned a lot. It almost doesn’t matter who the favorite is because it can change in the matter of a week> I feel better and more confident as a driver and team that we have speed in our cars and have done it before. Anytime you have done something before you feel more confident in what you can do. I feel much better than last year and hopefully we can do the same.”

WITH THE NEW PACKAGE, YOU TAKE EVERYTHING YOU LEARNED AT HOMESTEAD LAST YEAR AND PRETTY MUCH THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW DON’T YOU? “Pretty much, yeah. It is kind of like that everywhere though these days. It will be interesting to see how this race plays out being the second time here at Vegas compared to being here in March. Early March. The amount of time we have had racing at all these different tracks with the new rules package will change a lot of the complexity of this race compared to the spring. That and it being hotter than crap will probably change the race too. I think it will be interesting to see how it playoffs out. It will be a lot different than the spring race.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “It could be. I think we do see that sometimes. We have seen that in the past too. That wouldn’t be anything new. We have also seen some crazy racing on restarts and I could see that happening there because you have a pretty wide racetrack and new tires. If it is a green-white-checker, I don’t think winning the race off pit road means you have won the race at that point. You still have to execute and it is probably harder to maintain the lead on a restart now than it ever has been because you have to rely on other cars around you to push you and help you. One way or another to be able to maintain the lead. I think probably more now than ever I kind of disagree with that. Once you get the lead, maybe it is a little harder to pass the leader but taking that lead on a restart just because you had a good pit stop isn’t any easier.”

DOES YOUR LEGACY CHANGE IF YOU WIN A SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP? “I don’t know. I don’t know if your legacy should be totally hinged on championships. It is nice to say you have one and it would be nice to say you had two and it would be nice to say you had seven but I don’t know if that is what really creates a true champion. I don’t know if it is how many you have. It is what you do with it. What do you do with the platform that God has given you? That is what I think creates a true champion and Hall of Famer. When I was asked that question at the Hall of Fame vote this year, that is what I brought up. What is a Hall of Famer? Is it a champion or someone that has done something to help our sport and help everyone in our sport to grow. I think that might be more of a Hall of Fame thing. Do you have to win a championship to do that? No. I don’t know if winning another championship alters your legacy that much if you don’t do anything with it.”

“Everyone is going to look at it a different way. Everyone has their own way of looking at it. I want to win a second one just as bad as anybody but I don’t think that really changes your legacy if you just win a championship and just going on with normal racing the next year and don’t do anything with it. I think just helping our sport and being a champion for the sport, for our fans, for our media and for our teams. It comes a little bit with the job. It isn’t like you just get the trophy and see ya later. You can do that I guess. I don’t think it is the right way but you can. It has been done before. I think it is important to take that as an opportunity and use that to do something, like you said, a non-profit or something. That is a big deal.”

SO BY YOUR DEFINITION, IT WOULD SEEM YOU HAVE HAD A SUCCESSFUL CHAMPIONSHIP REIGN: “I have tried really hard and put the time in to accomplish the things I have set out to do. Have I done as good a job as others? Probably not, but I tried. I have tried to. I guess it is up to you guys to decide.”

LAST YEAR YOU WERE SEEDED SIXTH AND WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP: HOW IMPORTANT IS THE SEEDING? “I don’t know about the position as much as the amount of points, the playoff points you have with you. It is a lot different this year because of the big three last year that won a ton of races and they were pretty much a lock to get to Miami unless something crazy happened. They had a mulligan in each round to where they could crash or something could happen and life was going to be okay. I don’t think that anyone really has that anymore this year. The playoff points are spread out between more drivers and more teams than it has been. At least more than last year. It is nice to have that cushion but it isn’t really a cushion when everyone else has the same amount. You have a cushion over the guys towards the back of the playoff grid but I would assume that is going to probably go away as there are less cars in the playoffs. Winning right now is important to get as many playoff points as possible but you also have to be smart with how you get through these rounds.”

IS IT MORE IMPORTANT TO HAVE SHORT RUN SPEED OR LONG RUN SPEED? “It depends on the track. Some tracks you definitely want to be fast on the short run because you have to make the passes while you can. There have also been more long runs this year than I think there has been in the past, maybe? I don’t know. Some places yes, some places no. Last time here at Vegas we only had the stage cautions. It has to be pretty important to be good on the long run in that case. A lot of times you don’t know. You try to make a well rounded car and try to have a car that can do both. Most times that doesn’t happen. Restarts are key. That is when you are in the groups and have the most opportunity to gain and lose many spots. You have to think there are going to be long runs here and have opportunities to pass here. When we go to a narrow race track it is challenging to pass, but this isn’t a narrow race track. When you come to Vegas and can run up by the wall and down at the bottom, you can pass. So long run speed can pay a reward.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HAVING RICHMOND IN THE PLAYOFFS? “I like that. I like Richmond. It is a good track for us, so from a selfish standpoint, I like it. I think it is cool having more short tracks. I am on team short track anyway. I like them. They are fun. Richomond is a tough track, you have to be really smart as a team and driver with how you handle everything there. I am good with it. I am good with switching them up every year. I would be all about that. I think the playoffs should look different every year, at least the last race, it should be in a different place every year.”

YOU DON’T WANT TO GO TO THE ROVAL HAVING TO WIN, RIGHT? “No. You better have two solid races to start so you can breathe going into that place.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THAT ROVAL RACE LAST YEAR? “It was the first time we raced there. So everyone’s kind of learning. It is a very tight road course to where there’s no margin for error. That’s why we crashed so many cars there. You can really spin out without hitting something. That being said, when someone spins out and hits something, they pop back on the racetrack and the crash gets a little bigger. And there are slick parts of the track. There’s parts of the track that have more grip than others and there’s parts that are repaved with newer asphalt than others. So I think that kind of throws everyone for a little bit of a loop as well.”

I KNOW IT IS WAY FAR AWAY, BUT HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOUR RACING CAREER IS OVER? “I can’t say I have thought a whole bunch about it. It has run through my mind. It is natural for that stuff to run through your mind. I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon. Let me make sure that is clear. I will say that I have tried to touch on a lot of different things to where I have opportunities to go different directions and whether that is our studio business or management business or radio and TV stuff or some of my other investments that I like doing. I like to be able to know that when I do retire down the road I can decide which one I want to pour some fuel on. I am going to have to have a job. I can’t sit around. I just can’t do it. I need something to keep me busy and keep me fresh. I know that about me. That is one thing I do know, that I won’t be able to sit still. I will need to be able to have some competitive vibe and in business there is plenty of that.”

“So far, yearh. What I have hoped for is still way, way ahead. I would say that we are on path to kind of grow it in the rate I am comfortable with and do it the right way. Your reputation is on the line doing things like this and you want to make sure you are doing it the right way. You can do something the wrong way and maybe have a short term gain but it isn’t going to last forever doing it that way and it isn’t the way I want someone to do something with me. You have to do it right.”

Toyota Racing – Erik Jones
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day

LAS VEGAS (September 12, 2019) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones was made available to media at Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day.

ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Was there extra pressure to make the Playoffs prior to your win at Darlington?

“It’s pressure it some ways, you always want to be able to go up and get a win, especially when your teammates are winning. I knew we could do it, it was just a matter of getting it done. We had the cars to do it, we had the team to do it, it was just execution. Knew it was coming, hoping we could do it before the Playoffs. It was definitely a weight lifted off my shoulders when we got that win. I just gives you a little bit of confidence, a little bit of momentum to kind of move forward from there. Especially in a race like Darlington, it’s a track everybody wants to win at and you definitely feel accomplished when you can do that. Going into Playoffs with that momentum and that win gives you a little extra steam going in. Took a lot of weight off everybody in our group and we were all itching to get that victory and to make things a little easier the last week and a half.”

Was there a point in the Darlington race where you felt confident you would be in the Playoffs?

“I thought before that race we were in an okay spot on points to be able to lock in on points that night. Obviously, we wanted to get the win and just be done with it, but that race I felt like really the whole night we had a good car, even starting back in 15th, I just felt comfortable with it and felt like it was doing the right things it needed to do to be in competition all night and we just needed to get that track position and finally, with around 100 to go, we were getting up front and then finally got the lead with 80 to go, I felt like we were in good spot to take control of the race. Knew if we could hold the lead, we were probably going to be in contention to win it for the rest of the race and really with 30 to go, I was starting to think it was a good possibility we could win as long as I didn’t make a mistake. That’s always a good feeling, you want to be in control of the race at that point and definitely felt like we had it at that moment.”

What have you learned from your previous showing in the Playoffs?

“You learn each time you do something right and I think the first time in the Playoffs was good for us and it was just learning a little bit more about it. You don’t really know what to expect when you’ve never been there. The Playoffs is just challenging, especially us. We’re going in close to 40 points behind the lead with what we have for Playoff points going in so we’re a little bit behind, but we just need to have smooth races. That’s what hurt us last year was we DNF’d in Vegas and that was really the end of it. We never could make that point deficit back up at Richmond or Charlotte. We were in a must-win situation at the Roval and we don’t want to be there again. We know what we have to do and that’s just have smooth, calculated races, running and getting stage points and running in the top-five. Really doing what we’ve done the last month-and-a-half, two months and just getting those good finishes.”

Do you take a risk to get a win early in the Playoffs?

“You’re going to take the chance if it’s there. If you feel like you’ve got a car that can win and there’s an opportunity to take a gamble, we’re going to do it. It’s never an easy choice during the race, but overall I think we’ve done a good job this year, especially the second half of the year of managing that. Managing our day well. If we don’t have a car that we think can’t win, we’ll take those stage points, we’ll take those points where we can get them and take the best finish we can get. If we have a car that we think can win the race, we’re going to play to win the race. We may bail on some stage points and go more for setting ourselves up for track position for the end of the race. That’s what we really excelled at from June on is just taking advantage of those situations. I think we stay on the same game plan. If there’s an opportunity to win, we’re going to take it and it would definitely be nice to win in Vegas and not have to worry about it and move on from there.”

What is it about the relationship you have with Chris Gayle that gives you confidence?

“I think Chris (Gayle, crew chief) and I are a good balance for each other. Chris has a lot of energy and is an amped up guy, but during the race he is really good at keeping things calm and low key, Chris has worked with me long enough now to really understand me and get me, he knows that I’m not necessarily a guy that needs to be pushed. I don’t need to be pushed to run or work hard during a race. He never does that and he’s not really a cheerleader, he does his job. He takes the feedback that I give him, he applies it and does it. He reassures me that we’re going to make the right changes, the right adjustments to be better and do the right thing. Chris has just really learned and developed as a crew chief in the Cup Series a lot over the last three years and I have as well as a driver, but Chris has been right there with me getting better and better. I would say this is probably the best communication or chemistry we’ve had since our Cup career started with him just really being able to dive into my feedback and make really good adjustments. The last few weeks, Darlington we made great adjustments and Indy we were making great adjustments until we crashed. He’s just really been on top of what we need to do to be fast.”

Did the accident at Indianapolis hurt the momentum from Darlington?

“I was reset after it. It was a bummer, you don’t want to crash. I feel like we had a car that could have run top-three in Indy. For me, you just throw it away. It didn’t make a difference honestly at the end of the day. The only thing that would have been better for us would have been winning that race. I don’t know that we really could have done that, the 4 (Kevin Harvick) was really fast. We would have had to be in the right spot, right position, but I already moved on. I think the Playoffs for me is kind of a new season, that’s the way I look at it. You start that 10-race stretch and it’s like you’re back at Daytona again. In my mind, you’re back starting over. The points are reset, you’re racing a different group of guys and not really racing the whole field anymore and you just have to focus forward. I look at what we’ve done the last few months and just focus on that. Think about what we’ve done to be fast, successful and in contention to win and just need to continue that trend.”

Do you feel you can contend for the championship alongside your teammates?

“I think we can. We just have to do everything right. We don’t have as many wins as those guys, but we’ve been in contention to win a few more, we just haven’t capitalized on it. We definitely need to win some races here in the Playoffs to really be contender. For us, my goal at least and I think Chris (Gayle, crew chief) is on the same page is just to get to that Round of 8. If we can make it through this round and the Round of 12, you have an opportunity to go to Homestead. In that round, Texas and Phoenix are two great tracks for me. Martinsville is a little bit of a struggle sometimes, but Texas and Phoenix are two places I feel like we can go and win races at. If we can make it there, I feel like we’ve got an opportunity to sneak one out between Texas and Phoenix. You never know from there, it can be a wildcard.”

How do you get through the Round of 12 to position yourself for the Round of 8?

“It’s not easy. You have to have a perfect run. You have to have 10 perfect weeks. There’s no room for error at any of these races. You can’t go in and DNF, you can’t go in and run 25th, you can’t not get stage points in a race. You have to have 10 perfect races of running up really past the Round of 16 in the top-five. Being in contention for wins and challenge for wins and win races. A lot of things have to go right obviously. You can’t have mistakes, you can’t have things that take you out. Last year, Vegas, the race we got taken out of was nothing of our doing. We just got caught up in a wreck that was unfortunate and took us out of the Playoffs. Maybe there is some luck in there, I’m not a big believer in luck, but sometimes things just have to go your way.”

How were you able to have such strong results in recent weeks?

“I don’t know that I’ve done a lot different necessarily. Maybe just things have worked out better and I think everybody has been on it. The pit crew has been the best they’ve been all year, the last two months, they’ve been the best pit crew I’ve had in my Cup career. Chris (Gayle, crew chief) has done an outstanding job from the pit box, making good calls not only in the race, but in practice and making good adjustments and then making good adjustments from practice to the race. A lot of things just clicking and going right. A lot of people doing the right things. I feel like I for the most part limited mistakes and we just need to continue that trend. We’ve got a really good formula right now that’s been working for us over the last eight races and as long as we can keep on that path I think we’ll be in a good spot to make a good run at this thing.”

Do the cars feel any faster?

“Not really. We’ve had fast cars all year, it was just a matter of getting things in line. We had some pit crew issues we needed to work out at the start of the year. I had to work out some issues with just the cars itself and the new package and figuring out what they really needed for the race and giving Chris (Gayle, crew chief) better feedback and Chris had to learn about them too and interpret the feedback I was giving him to make the right adjustments with this package. I think we all kind of learned about that and I think really the cars I’ve had this year have been some of the best cars I’ve had in my career as far as speed, just raw speed in the race. I don’t think we’ve gotten any faster, I just think we’ve executed better.”

Have other drivers interacted differently with you?

“Not really. Maybe here and there. You definitely get more respect as you win races and you’re around longer in general. Third year now in the series I’ve raced with these guys a lot now, we race a lot just in general through the year. I race with these guys a lot and I feel like we all know how we race each other now. You know what to expect, they know what to expect from me and I know what to expect from them. Maybe there’s some more respect there than my rookie season. There were a lot of guys that you’re going to race that don’t know what you’re capable of. You earn that respect as you go and I feel like there’s definitely maybe a little bit more as this year has gone.”

Do off-track relationships translate to at-track help if you need it?

“A little bit, but mostly with teammates. Your teammates always kind of give you the benefit of the doubt. There’s some guys that I have better relationships with than others. At the end of the day, you put that helmet on and it seems like all of us drivers it seems it squeezes our brains a little bit tighter and you lose a little bit of thinking power at certain points. It’s always tough on the track. Especially as the race gets late into it and everybody is going for that win, nobody is giving an inch. It’s never easy and especially with this package, it’s made guys really, really aggressive and defending track position from lap one until we end the race. It’s made the racing real hard and real frustrating, but it’s also made all of us better drivers.”

If you have a good day at Vegas this weekend, do you consider that a big success moving forward?

“Definitely there’s a big emphasis on just having a solid weekend. You want to qualify well and race well. If we can come out of here with – obviously a win is the goal, but if we can come out with a top-five and a good deal of stage points and pick up a couple spots in the standings and jut close that gap to the lead, that’s a solid day. We’re fighting for 12th. That’s what we’re looking at. You’re fighting for that 12th place in points and hopefully getting some Playoff point moving forward and just closing that gap up. You just want to tighten that gap up to the lead, we’re 40 points to the lead and we just need to get that smaller. That’s too much to be in contention to get all the way to Homestead. Have to work hard at it and not have mistakes. We can’t afford them and some guys can’t afford to have worse days so we just have to be perfect.”

Did you try to make the request to get the race-winning car from Darlington?

“I’d love to have it. Unfortunately, we’re taking that same car to Kansas so I won’t be able to have it. Maybe I can get a hood or a door off of it. Definitely the hood would be cool for me because that logo was reminiscent of Paragon and what we ran on my Late Model with the cross-flags and everything. That would be really cool to have, I don’t know if I can get it yet. They were very generous with my Daytona car and gave me that whole car as it came off the track. That’s definitely a special car to me. That was one of the coolest wins of my career, obviously with it being Darlington and all that, but the paint scheme that went with it and the 100th start was a really special moment.”

Will you try to take anything from the Darlington car to Kansas for luck?

“It will be the same helmet I think so we’ll have a piece of it with us. I’m not overly superstitious, but I guess you grow fond of certain race cars right and some seem to be a little better than others just because, who knows. You can’t be perfect every race car you build because there’s still humans building them, it’s not like we’re on some assembly line doing it. Every race car is a little different. Sometimes you get one that’s better than another and maybe that Darlington one has a little better than the rest of them.”

Can you explain what you mean when you reference ‘over-thinking’ in the Playoffs?

“I think for me, you try to do too much. You can only do so much from the seat and that’s drive the race car to the best of your ability or what your car is capable of that day. For me, I was just trying to do too much last year even starting past Las Vegas. If you look at the Roval, we had a very fast car in practice and we were top of the board or second in one of the practices and then qualifying, I think we had a shot at top-three and I ran into the tire barrier once and went back out and then we qualified like 10th or something. Then crashed the car in practice the next day. That was just too much, I was trying to make too much happen. I was trying to be top of the board every session, trying to qualify first, wrecking the car, tearing things up and it wasn’t necessary. It probably took our chance to be competitive in that race away. The backup car is never as good and that for me was just an example of trying to do too much and over-working myself a little bit.”

What advice would you give upcoming Truck Series drivers looking to make it to the Cup Series?

“It’s tough. You never really understand the jump to the Cup Series until you get here and really do it. I think for me the part that I didn’t really think about or focus on or really know about was how much more challenging it is when you get to the Cup level. There’s more good teams, there’s more good drivers, everything is a little bit harder. These guys have been doing it for so long and it’s not easy to race against them. I think the thing that I would tell those guys is just to fodus and learn how to get better. That was the biggest thing I didn’t do in the Truck and Xfinity Series was learn how to better myself. I had good enough race cars in those series that I never had to improve a whole lot on a lot of things. I could just use the speed in my cars to makeup probably for some of my gaps I had in my development and for me, if I could go back there’s so many things I would have worked hard to get better at. Those are the things guys have to learn coming up. You have to learn how to study and how to focus and how to be a better race car driver along the way.”

# # #

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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Thursday, September 12, 2019

NASCAR PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY DRIVER QUOTES

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Ford Mustang

WAS THERE SOMETHING OFF WITH YOUR TEAM A LITTLE THIS YEAR? “Well, we have covered this a number of times but for us we had to make our cars a little better and had to get our arms wrapped around what we needed to do from the new rules package and things. We just made our cars better and started executing throughout the summer and we were able to finally start going to victory lane and find some consistency.”

LAST YEAR THERE WAS A LOT OF CHATTER ABOUT THE BIG THREE. SEEMS LIKE YOU GUYS ARE HITTING YOUR STRIDE RIGHT NOW. DO YOU AGREE? “We have run better. For us, Bristol we broke a gear and Watkins Glen we didn’t run great but got a decent finish but everywhere else we have been in the mix over the whole summer. I think it is a combination of just getting your cars where they need to be and for us it just took us a little longer than some of the other guys.”

I IMAGINE IT WOULD BE PRETTY COOL FOR YOU DO DELIVER ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP NOT ONLY FOR YOU BUT TO BE ABLE TO SHARE WITH KEELAN AND YOUR FAMILY? “For us, having everybody there last week was really cool. To be able to see Piper there for the first time and not understanding anything and see Keelan super excited and to kiss the bricks and climb the fence, I don’t know which one he liked more. Probably climbing the fence. For me, those are pretty motivating factors just because of the fact that I enjoy him being around successful moments and them being around successful moments but I also enjoy them being around the moments and try to help them understand, especially Keelan at this point, understand what it took to get to that point because it wasn’t that way at the beginning of the year. Seeing him and helping him try to understand how we made it better and why the cars are running faster and working together as a team, there are a lot of great lessons in our sport that can be taught. For me, being able to have him around in the good moments and the bad moments, but Indy for sure was pretty special.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL HEADING INTO THIS FIRST PLAYOFF RACE. YOU HAVE PLAYOFF POINTS NOW AND YOU GUYS ARE PERHAPS EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT YOU AS ONE OF THE TEAMS TO BEAT WITH MOMENTUM AND SPEED. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? “Well, I think this has been a good race track for us and obviously the cars are running better at this particular point and there is still that little progression that always happens with all the teams when you start the playoffs. You hope that your progression is better than everybody else and you can put yourself in a position to have speed. In the end, speed and leading laps is as important as anything else that you can do. The third element to that is just the continuity with the team right now and the way we are communicating and the confidence that everybody has in each other. You never really know how it is going to go or where you will stack up but we had a great summer and feel good about the things we have done but you have to continue executing which for us has been really good over the past few months. With execution comes details and everybody is doing a good job at all of that right now.”

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS TRACK THAT YOU HAVE FIGURED OUT THAT YOUR COMPETITORS IN THE 16 HAVEN’T YET FIGURED OUT? “I think sometimes stats can be misleading. I think there is obviously some guys that run well here that just hadn’t been to victory lane. I know for us through the first several years with Stewart-Haas Racing we would run well enough to win here. For us we are going to look at the things that have happened this year because there are just so many things that have become irrelevant with this particular rules package. When you go back and look at the stats and so many things from setups to stats and you could go on down the list, it is just a different way of thinking with this particular rules package and the way you race and go about things. Who is running good and not running good has been so drastically different this year. The long winded answer to this is, it has been a good race track for us, we have run well here in the spring and I enjoy racing here with the cool element of being able to move all over the race track. The track has some fall off and this weekend it will be hot so I think you have to be careful about all the past stats. I think the most relevant things are the things that have happened this year on this kind of a race track.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK ENABLED SHR TO REALLY TAKE OFF SO QUICKLY WITH FORD? “We are finishing our third year now. For us, we were obviously involved in the new design of the Mustang from a team standpoint, so you got to develop a car with Ford. Ford is very into racing. I think in the beginning, in 2017, there was a very big effort in order to get the company switched over. It all comes down to people. Having good people and we have great owners that let us do the things that we need to do to put the cars on the race track and be competitive.”

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE PLAYOFFS? IS IT RACE BY RACE? WHAT IS THE GAME PLAN? “We want to just hammer away race by race. I think the backup plan is to survive and advance but we want to win. We want to be racing for the lead and trying to win stages and be aggressive. I think that being aggressive is just going to bite you less than kind of being passive and just trying to mediocre your way into the next round by looking at the points. We want to go out there and try to do the things that we have done all year and lean on our experience of being in these types of situations before there is nothing that is going to surprise us. Anything that happens that is off the wall shouldn’t be a surprise to us because we have been a part of some of those situations and seen them as we have gone through the playoffs. You have to adapt and adjust as the weeks go by but it is definitely an aggressive, one week at a time approach.”

IS THERE A TRACK YOU RACED AT THIS YEAR THAT YOU CAN APPLY TOWARDS HOMESTEAD WHERE THIS THING WILL GET DECIDED AT? “I don’t think so. I think Homestead is obviously a very unique race track on its own and you have to prepare for that race track a little different because it isn’t your normal 1.5 mile setup you need because of the way you enter and exit the corners with the flat straightaways. As a driver you have to be prepared to run up against the wall and do the things that it takes. It is always a challenging weekend because of the fact that things are different and you scramble and it is hot. It will be different, just like everywhere else this year.”

Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day

LAS VEGAS (September 12, 2019) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to media at Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

You went from no wins last season to four this year. How does that change your mindset going into the Playoffs?
“It certainly puts in a better position. When you think about how our championship is won, it’s based on going out there in the regular season, building yourself a buffer through performance, and getting to Homestead. It’s all about a one-race shootout after that. We are certainly in a better position now than we have ever been as far as trying to get to Homestead. That was our goal at the beginning of the year – to get to Homestead. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. We are going to play this week-by-week. We are not looking forward to Richmond next week or the Roval the week after. It’s all in on Vegas this week and trying to figure out what we can do to win this week. We’ve got the performance to do it right now.”

Is that a new mindset for you?

I don’t know if it’s a different approach, but certainly more confidence knowing the performance we are having right now and the way that I’m driving right now. All of that is really working well. It’s equaling a lot of great on-track performance. Certainly, if we can come out of this race with a clean race, finish well. We now go into one of my best race tracks knowing we could pad – if not lock ourselves in – just two races in. I’m just focused on Vegas. I cannot wait to get inside the car, just the way we have been running lately, it has been a joy to know that you have had race winning speed. Certainly, my mindset is different than some of the guys out there that have either limped into the Playoffs or have had struggles or wrecks – and we have had our fair share, but I feel like we are on high right now and I want to continue that momentum.”

Do you look at this as one of your best shots because this is the last year, we will end the season at Homestead?

“I don’t know. The consolation prize is that we get to go to ISM, which is a short track, next year. It’s a track that I equally feel that we have been super strong the last few years even with the reconfiguration. Certainly, Homestead has been a really good race track for me over the year’s past. We have won there a couple times. Nothing guarantees success. This is a completely different car. My guess is you are going to be driving the track completely different than you have in years past, so you are going to be going there for the first time. We’re going to pretend that we haven’t had any success there. That’s been our mentality at every race track – improving ourselves every week.”

How do you feel when people put you in the group as one of the best drivers to never win a title?

“I mean, honestly, I’m comfortable in my own skin as far as that’s concerned. I think the way that a champion has been crowned has changed so much within our series over the last 14 years that I have been a part of it. Some of the greatest drivers that are currently still running have only won it one time. It’s such a crapshoot when it comes down to a one race, winner take all type format. I’m okay with the outcome.”

How much confidence do you have going into this stretch of the season?

“It’s been good. We’ve been running as good as we ever have right in this moment. I just see any weaknesses that we necessarily have right now. We are performing well in all aspects of our race team. You just hope that the things you can control, you control well. If you do that, we will be fine.”

What would it mean to hoist the trophy?

“For us to win it, everything we have worked for and have executed and worked tirelessly for has come true. It would show that hard work does pay off. I think that is the most important thing. Certainly, from being a small kid, that is all I have ever wanted to do was to be a NASCAR driver and for you to win the most prestigious award in NASCAR would mean that all the hard work that you have done has paid off.”

Do you feel like this is your best chance?

“No doubt. It’s definitely our best chance heading into the Playoffs. It remains to be seen if it is our best chance when we get to Homestead or not. If we get to Homestead, it will be as an equal chance as we had in 2010. It will be as an equal chance as we had in 2014. But as we enter the Playoffs, certainly it’s our best chance because we already have a 30-point head start on the guys near the cutoff line. Certainly, what you talked about with on track performance, we are not searching for speed, we are not searching for anything right now. As long as we execute, we contend for wins every week and that is something that only a handful or less can say every week.”

Does 2010 and 2014 hang over you?

“No, they do not hang over me. 2010, maybe a little bit more, because I didn’t do my best job in 2010. In 2014, I thought I did the best I could. I led the race inside 10 laps to go, and a lap car or someone way down crashes, and Harvick pits, takes tires and wins the championship. That race I felt like I did everything I could. We weren’t super-fast in 2014. We hadn’t won nearly as many races. Harvick was the most dominate and fastest car that whole season, and we showed up at Homestead and was legit. We ran with him and outran him for a lot of that race and circumstances didn’t work in our favor and we lost. I took way more solace in 2014 than I did in 2010, where there was no reason to kind of lose in 2010. I just got too excited in the moment. I remember when it all started on qualifying day. Watching a couple guys run up high in qualifying and be fast. I’m like, I didn’t practice up there, I need to run up there and I got in the wall and started in the rear and caught up in a three-wide wreck early. That was on the driver, not anyone else in 2010. Since then, I feel like I have gotten better in realizing my surroundings and realizing when I need to push it, when I need to trust in myself to do the right thing.”

You have had a long-standing relationship with FedEx. Have you seen any additional excitement with them this season with all of your on-track success?

“I mean just the texts I get from them every week, and I talk to a lot of executives every week. They are always excited. They are always like this is our year, this is our year, this is our year. I always try to temper expectations. You just never know what can happen. Certainly, I know if that we control our own destiny on performance, we are going to be fine and have a chance. I would love to get a championship for them because they have been so loyal to myself and NASCAR in general over the last 15 years. So, if any sponsor deserves it, they do.”

Is it wrong to say that you seem calmer and more confident this year?

“No, it’s definitely truth and it’s definitely fact that I am calmer and more confident because I have learned to let go of the things that I can’t control. A lot of that has come through self-improvement. I have done a lot of reading, which I wouldn’t consider myself a reader. I didn’t read a book, I guarantee you, from whenever I had to in high school till, I turned 38 this year. I just started reading over the last three or four months. I started learning and trying to be a better person in general. I have learned to really let go of things I can’t control. It has really allowed me to think about the process more. I think it really has helped with my on-track performances. Thinking through the processes more and not focusing on and worrying about the things that I specifically can’t control.”

# # #

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.

Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day

LAS VEGAS (September 12, 2019) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media at Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day.

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

How do you feel about your chances going in?

“Yeah, it has been a pretty good year. It’s been a little bit up and down. Feeling good about things. Four wins and I feel like we have a great team. Feeling lately, we have been really fast, and things just haven’t gone our way. A few mistakes here and there, some stuff happening that has been odd, but I feel like performance wise we are there. If we can keep mistakes to a minimum, not beat ourselves, I definitely see us having a shot at this thing. I feel like if we can get to Homestead, I feel really good about it. Yeah, we will see if we can do it again.”

How does your past playoff experience play into this?

“I think that more than anything it’s a confidence thing. If you have been there and done that, you understand the pressure of the Playoff, you understand the intensity, what it’s going to feel like and how to just block out the things you need to block out to focus on your job. That comes with experience, and the last four years we have had really good Playoff runs. You hope you find that magic. Sometimes it can be hard to find, but for us, I feel like when the Playoffs start, we are at our best. Hopefully, we can do that again.”

Can you talk about your thoughts on the carryover points into the Playoffs due to wins?

“Since stage racing, Playoff points – bonus points – going into the Playoffs has been huge. We’ve seen the importance of it before. We got knocked out by one or two points in 2016 before Playoff points deal started, so we’ve seen the benefit and what it’s like to not have them. Really, in the regular season, after you have that first win, it’s like ok, what do we have to do to get more Playoff points. That is your whole focus – Playoff points. That’s all you focus on. So, stage wins for bonus points, and all these things. So, they are huge. Especially the first couple rounds. I feel like for us, if we don’t beat ourselves, the first round should be pretty simple. It should go pretty easy. That’s where you try to build that momentum, that confidence. But again, we’ve seen that anything can happen. With three-race eliminations, it’s really, really tough. If you have one bad race, next thing you know, you are sitting on the bubble. That’s when you really bank on those Playoff points.”

That’s kind of how it should be though, right. To reward you for the regular season success.

“It gives something to push for after you get locked in. Everybody wants to win races. We don’t need something to push us to want to win. We are all out there to win, but the bonus points are a huge piece fruit hanging there that you want to grab. It definitely keeps your team motivated. It makes important to run well every weekend.”

Do you think the package is going to change how people race in the Playoffs?

“We’ve seen the aggression behind this year. It seems like the field is tighter. The field is closer together – blocking and drafting and everything that goes along with that. For sure it has been ramped up. When everything is on the line with 10 races, it seems to ramp up things even more, so I would say yeah. We will just have to see how it all pans out. Aggression level will be up there.”

Have you changed your mind on what you may have to do on the track to advance especially after last season’s incident in Martinsville ?

“Slightly. Slightly different. I think that I would certainly do Martinsville differently. But, till you in those moments, you just don’t know how you are going to react or what you going to do. It’s not like you plan these things, it just comes naturally. I think for me experience and understanding the guys I race with – who will do what and who won’t do what – definitely makes you think about it more.”

Have you thought about what a second championship would mean to you?
“I’m here to win. I really don’t think about those kind of things. If you think about it, it messes with your head. Yeah, I try not to think about those things. I try to go out there and do the best that I can and hopefully have the opportunity to enjoy it someday.”

It appears from the outside world that nothing has really changed from last year except the car number and the owner. Is that what it is like for you?

“I would say that a lot of things have stayed very similar for me. I would say for our team guys and especially for Cole (Pearn, crew chief) things have been a lot different. For me, it has been real similar. I’m very comfortable where I’m at. I’m very focused. I’ve got a lot of confidence in my team. I’ve got a lot of confidence in what’s going around us. I think the feeling of just being more comfortable in my environment, being more settled, longer-term contract, not a single car team, I’m not worried about what’s going to happen next year. Been through a lot of things in the last couple years really. Just in a comforting spot and excited about this team and what we can do in the next couple years together.”

Is it different that you are racing teammates for the title this year?

“Yes and no. I would say, in general, we treated each other like teammates last year – last couple seasons really. So really just the same cast of characters, pretty much. I think the respect level between all of us is really high. We’ve raced together for a long time, Denny (Hamlin), Kyle (Busch) and I especially, but even Erik (Jones) the last couple seasons, since we were teammates at Furniture Row. He’s really come into his own this last year, year and a half. We have a lot of respect for one another. Obviously, the intensity level gets ramped up in the Playoffs. It’s 10 races, and we know that our stiffest competition could be our teammates. But you just have to do what’s best for you, and not put anyone in a bad position.”

There was a stretch this season that it seemed like every other week you were in Victory Lane. Can you rekindle some of that?

“I think we had a little bit of a lull after those four, but I feel like the last five or six races, we’ve been really good. We’ve been in position to do a lot of great things; things just haven’t played out. We’ve have had a few mistakes here and there – flat tire at Bristol, loose wheel at Michigan. Some really good strong runs and leading stages – being in a position to win a stage and the caution comes out late, and you have to pit and track position flips. Those kind of things have just taken us out of a few races. Finished second at Watkins Glen, and I think Michigan, we were second or third. We’ve been right there; we just haven’t had that magic. Nothing has gone the way we want it to. We just need that little bit extra. Hopefully, we can turn it up this weekend.”

Can you talk about your progress on the mile-and-a-half tracks?

“Yeah, for sure. I feel like we’ve made a lot of gains. We’ve made up a lot of ground. Winning Charlotte was big. But I think for the whole field, the bigger tracks have been such a challenge too, because they are all so different now. Something as small as a change in the weather throughout the weekend could almost make you say, ‘dang, I wish we brought another car. We didn’t build our car right or this or that.’ It’s been really hard to just hit it, because all of the tracks are so different. It’s the first time with the new package. I just feel like this package in general has been way harder to hit it. I think that’s why we have seen different guys at different tracks really stand out and guys that you think are going to run good here don’t. We’ve been in that position. It’s just been really, really tough to guess right on what you need on these places.”

So, what has been your thinking process this weekend with the weather so much hotter than it was in the spring?

“I think everybody is looking at it like yeah, it’s going to be way hotter. How do we approach it? Again, it’s still kind of a big guess for everybody. Some guys are going hit, some guys aren’t. I feel like we have a good approach. I think Cole (Pearn, crew chief) is fired up about it and excited and feels like we are going to be good this weekend. That always gives me confidence.”

For younger drivers, it has been said that fear is a good motivator for them. Now that you are a little more comfortable, where does the motivation come from?

“That is a good question. I think for me it’s just passion. This is what I do. This is what I love. I feel like I’m more fired up and excited about the Playoffs than I have ever been. It’s such a big opportunity to be in this position – winning races with a great team. Just try to seize the moment. You can’t do that forever.”

So comfortable, but not taking it for granted?

“No question. I’ve been on the other side of it, and it wasn’t that long ago. Feeling fortunate for sure and lucky. Yeah, just excited to be on a great team and have another chance to go for the championship.”

Can you talk about the cutoff race in the first round – the Roval, and the finish from last year?

“Yeah, that one hurt. It hurt for sure. It was frustrating. Fortunately, we were able to make it to the next round and at the end of the day that is what it is all about. It would have been nice to have those playoff points – that five for the win. At the end of the day, we got to where we needed to even with that happening, as far as getting to the Final Four. It was frustrating and you want to win. It’s like, you guys went winless in the playoffs last year, and I’m like well, yeah. We got spun out coming to the checkers there, and we got wrecked coming to the checkers in Martinsville. Two of the biggest ones, we were in position to win. It just didn’t happen. That’s racing, and that’s how things go. You try to learn from each of those things, and hopefully, this year we can do better.”

What kind of strategy change is there when you race into the night here?

“Yeah, it’s going to be different. It’s going to be interesting for sure. Especially this year with the cars and the rules that we are running at the mile-and-a-half tracks. The weather is such a big factor on how the cars run, or if the car is good or not. So, it’s going to be really tough.”

# # #

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MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
SOUTH POINT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA PLAYOFF DAY
SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 ROTATION HIGHLIGHTS

WITH ALL THE OTHER STORIES OUT THERE, DO YOU LIKE THAT YOU CAN FLY UNDER THE RADAR?
“It’s a little bit of an advantage to have that lack of pressure on our team. Our goal was obviously to make the Playoffs and to accomplish that has been really good. I feel like now we can focus more on executing the first three races and try to get through that round. So yeah, I don’t think it really matters either way but it does help that we don’t really have that pressure on us.”

DO YOU SEE YOUR TOP 10’S AND TOP 5-FINISHES AS ENCOURAGING?
“Yeah, I think it’s encouraging. I’d much rather be finishing up there than worse than that. You’ve got to finish somewhere and finishing up front is way better. Yeah, I think we’re building on it and gaining on it, for sure. Hopefully as we continue, we can kind of knock off some wins.”

BEING IN THE PLAYOFFS IS A NEW EXPERIENCE FOR YOU. HOW ARE YOU FEELING RIGHT NOW? ARE YOU NERVOUS OR PLAYING WITH HOUSE MONEY OR HOW DO YOU FEEL?
“Yeah, I think for our team we at least expected to make it for a while now. We don’t feel like we’re just sneaking into the Playoffs or anything. We locked it in a couple of races ago. So, I feel good about that. I think the next step is just how do we perform in the Playoffs and how do we get to the next level of our progression as a program.”

HAS THE SEASON MET YOUR EXPECTATIONS? DID YOU HAVE THAT GOAL OF MAKING THE PLAYOFFS?
“We wanted to perform a 12th place seed or something around there, I think was a good start or kind of a good goal to be around that point. And I think we’ve been able to do that, so that’s been really good that it’s been there for us. It’s a big improvement from last year, for sure; but I think with the team we’ve had this year I kind of hoped and expected to be where we are.”

HOW SATISFYING IS IT IN YOUR YOUNG CAREER TO HAVE A SHOT AT YOUR FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP?
“It’s really great. The second year is great. I wish I could have had the first year back, I guess, and been in the Playoffs last year, but I definitely appreciate it now, and being able to be a part of it.”

INAUDIBLE
“I think you have to be responsive and reactive for every situation. And I think that just comes from preparation and knowing that okay, we’re in a good position if we just go out there and do what we’re capable of doing, that’s going to be enough. And then, react and respond to what happens on the track and try to approach it with a level of aggression, I think, and last weekend was a good experiment for how it’s going to be. We’ve just got to be reactive to the situations the play out and trust in the preparation we’ve done.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR SHORT TRACK PROGRAM WITH RICHMOND BEING THE SECOND RACE?
“I think it’s a work in progress. I think Richmond was okay for us in the spring. I think we’ve got some work to do, but we’ve had some really good things that we’ve done to our car on the No. 24 the last couple of weeks I think have paid dividends with a pole at Darlington and a Top 5 at Indy. So, I feel like we’ve got some gains that we’ve made and hopefully those play out at Richmond and kind of throughout the Playoffs.”

IS THAT THE WEAK LINK IN THE FIRST THREE RACES FOR YOU?
“Yeah, I think it’s going to be a race that we’ve got to kind of grind out and do the best we can. I think we can run top 10 there, which is what it takes in all three races. But, I feel like yeah, the road courses have been really good. Sonoma was a really good track for us. So, I don’t see Charlotte being much different than that. But our 1.5-mile programs have been strong. I would say maybe it’s the toughest track but we’ll see. Maybe we could have something really good show up there and go for it.”

INAUDIBLE
“It’s going to be aggressive. You can make contact and still be okay at a short track. At the big tracks, you can’t even touch each other most of the time. With tighter quarters and things like that, you’ve got to be aware of your surroundings, too and not give your car too much damage. It’s going to be typical Richmond, I think. A Saturday night race. It’s going to be intense and we’ll just see what happens.

ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH CREW CHIEF, CHAD KNAUS
“I feel like the first ten races were kind of that newness and awkward stage of a relationship in trying to figure out how not to step on each other’s toes. And there were some heated moments, to be honest. We had some things that we didn’t execute as well as we wanted to. And then we got to the meat of the season in the summer, and we just started to really click. We still had some finishes that weren’t great just with circumstance (like) Bristol, getting in the crash and Darlington, same thing. But, our performance was good throughout the summer stretch. So, that was great to see. And in fact, that’ll continue.”

HOW HAS CHAD KNAUS HELPED TO SHAPE YOU AND YOU SHAPE HIM?
“I think he’s given me that platform to be organized and be direct and really tell him what’s on my mind. He’s given me that ability to not take feelings into account and just kind of say whatever is on our minds. I think that’s really important. We haven’t really ever had those awkward situations where we just don’t feel comfortable saying something. So, he made that barrier come down really quick. I think that happened probably around the 600 weekend in May. And as far as me shaping him, I think the only thing is just staying positive and staying motivated in the race. I don’t seem to do well with like negative energy. So he’s done really well at really channeling that a different way and I’ve noticed that a lot.

INAUDIBLE
“We had so many new members on our team and it takes a while to get all those members of a team to work well together. I feel like when we made the All-Star race, from the Open, and kind of took an aggressive approach to that weekend; we ran in the top 5 in the All-Star race most of the race and I think we finished like 9th. That was a big turning point. At least for me, I kind of felt like hey, I’m here now. I can compete…..especially in an aggressive race like that. So, that carried over into the 600 and we qualified on the pole there and finished in the top 10. We got so many stage points in that race it really kind of carried over.”

HAVE YOU ASKED CHAD KNAUS, HEY WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW FOR MY FIRST PLAYOFFS?
“Yeah, we’ve talked quite a bit the last couple of weeks about how we approach it. He’s done some cool things (like) bringing the whole team in and doing a couple of team-building events and things like that. I haven’t really noticed a lot of difference in how he approaches it. Maybe there will be once we get to the race track, but I feel like we’re just going to go about doing our normal. He always has something in his bag of tricks, I guess, to apply. Whether that’s the car or just the way we execute the weekend. So, he’s got a good way of using his expertise to kind of make that next step.”

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
SOUTH POINT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA PLAYOFF DAY
SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 ROTATION HIGHLIGHTS:

HOW DO YOU FEEL GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS COMPARED TO LAST YEAR? “I definitely feel more confident, and that comes from the speed that we’ve shown during the year. Even lately we’ve had great speed, we just haven’t really got anything to show for it. I think we have as good of a shot as anybody going in, and win a couple of races here and make a big statement here in the playoffs.”

DO YOU GUYS THINK YOU HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY HERE AT LAS VEGAS TO CAPITALIZE RIGHT AWAY? “I think so for sure. This is a race we have had circled regardless of the playoffs. I think we can be really strong. We were strong here in the Spring and I knocked the right rear off of it, and we kind of had to fight back from that. I think our mile-an-a-half program is really good. It is the same car we won Chicago with so I am really confident.”

ARE YOU AN IMPROVED TEAM FROM A YEAR AGO? “I think we are definitely an improved team from where we were a year ago. We were just trying to be consistently in the top-10 just on speed last year and really struggled with that, and struggled with consistency. This year we have a lot of speed; we just have to finish where we should. I think the speed has really made a big difference for us.”

IS HAVING TWO TEAMMATES IN THE PLAYOFFS WITH YOU A BENEFIT? “I think it Is really important to have as many cars from HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) in the playoffs as possible. Once we get going, we all still lean on each another as much as we do during the normal season. It’s not really a huge positive or a negative from where I sit, but obviously it is a positive for the race team. We want to get all three cars as far as we can.”

ARE THERE ANY PARTICULAR TRACKS IN THE PLAYOFFS THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO? “Yes, I think here (Las Vegas), Kansas, Dover – there is a lot of really good race tracks for us.”

SINCE THE WIN, HAS THERE HAS BEEN INCONSISTENCY? IS THE TEAM DOWN AT ALL? “It has been a rough patch since we did win in Chicago. Had a flat right front running top-five at Kentucky. Crashed at Darlington and Indy. We had a lot of really strong races going for us. Ran out of fuel at Watkins Glen. Some things haven’t gone our way and we’ve been off in some places. This is as good a week as any to kickstart our luck. Same car as we won with at Chicago. We can be really strong this week. We are ready to go win. I think the off week was good for us going into Darlington. We ran really strong in the race. Got into the top-five and knocked the right rear off of it. That’s on me. Then we go to Indy. We are running top-five and we crash. We’ve had more speed the last two weeks than we’ve had for awhile. I think the team is in a good place. This is a place we really have had circled since we won Chicago. We knew that Vegas was going to be a really good race track for us.”

HOW IS THE PRESSURE GOING INTO VEGAS AND THE FIRST RACES TO GET TO THE NEXT ROUND? “There is definitely some added pressure that comes with it. As a driver you really want to make the next round an continue as far through it as you can and go run for a championship. But I welcome that pressure. I feel like my career has kind of been made by performing under those high-pressure situations. I’m all for it and ready to go. You are ten-tenths every weekend and doing everything you can every weekend. There isn’t really a lot more than you can do. I think you kind of see people crack under the pressure. People make mistakes. I’m one that kind of enjoys the pressure and wants to make the best of it.”
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)
Thursday, September 12, 2019

NASCAR PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY DRIVER QUOTES
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Ford Mustang

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR TEAM’S PERFORMANCE SO FAR THIS SEASON? “Obviously we would like to have a better year. You always want to do better. There are some races I wish we could have back but at the end of the day it is nice to be a part of the playoffs. I think our team is plenty capable and I think we have a shot at making a good run. We just can’t have any mistakes and things like that. We have the team to do it, it is just a matter of maximizing your full potential and seeing what happens.”

DO YOU THINK THE ADDED EXPERIENCE OF BEING IN THE PLAYOFFS BEFORE GIVES YOU AN ADVANTAGE AT ALL? “It might help. Experience never hurts, that is for sure. I look at kind of the end of our playoffs last year and we had a terrible second round from running out of gas to getting in wrecks. We just barely missed it. Then we had a really great final three races that I wish we could have back. At the end of the day you take all the experience you have. THings always change and you will rarely find yourself in the same scenario as before but you try to take that experience and apply it and utilize it well.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “Yes and no. It is different, right? Growing up as a kid, this wasn’t part of it. I think I got used to it a little bit early because watching my dad do it all and being around him at the race track and going to events with him like this. I got used to it. I don’t mind it. I enjoy coming out and telling your story and it is just part of the deal. I definitely don’t dislike it, for sure. At the end of the day, racing is the main thing and this just comes along with it.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “A little bit. It is about being smart, right? I try to be myself all the time, whether it is at home or in front of media at the track. There are some things that you have to be different towards. You can’t just have no filter all the time. There is a time and place to be professional but at the same time you don’t want to change who you are. You don’t want to act to be someone at the race track and someone completely different away from the track. That isn’t me. It is a fine balance of controlling those two sides of it, I think.”

WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING QUESTION YOU HAVE GOTTEN TODAY SO FAR? “They have all been pretty good. What time I went to bed last night, I got asked that question.”

WHAT WAS THE ANSWER? “Too early. Too early this morning.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “Yeah, I think so. Honestly I don’t really like to change up kind of the way you go about things in the playoffs. Honestly, if you get to playoff time and then you start driving 110% now, I try to do that all year. Yeah, the intensity level picks up in some scenarios but I just try to be the same because at the end of the day it is the same goal as all year. Racing and winning races and getting points. You know what the end goal is. You can’t have mistakes. You can’t have blow up days that really hurt you, especially as you get later in the rounds. It is hard to make those points back up. You have to be really consistent. The easiest but hardest thing to do is win. Perfect scenario you would go out and win the first race of every round. That is easier said than done for sure. You have to be aggressive but you can’t afford to have really bad days that take you out.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “Not really, I mean, yeah, we didn’t make it to round eight last year. We had a really bad second round from when we had ran out of gas and got in a wreck at Dover. Just actually barely missed by like three points at Kansas. I don’t really like to set the expectation side. You want to get to Miami. That’s the whole thing. And you’re bummed if you don’t get there but from previous years the next year’s I don’t really like to compare just because honestly even though we didn’t make it we made to the round of eight in ‘17 and didn’t make it there last year I thought our last year was better than ‘17 as far as how we performed and and our cars speed it just kind of stunk a couple of races in there. I just treat each year like a new one.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE WHERE YOU SHOULD BE RIGHT NOW IN TERMS OF YOUR CAREER? “I’d like to be doing better. You want to be winning races with your teammates, right? I mean, your teammates winning races you want to win races and you know, it sucks that we haven’t won a race yet this year. There’s a handful of them I wish we got back but you just try to move forward and move on and try to do the best you can. Indy stunk how it kind of played out and ended there. But you definitely want to be doing better. Do I think that I’ve done the best jobs throughout this year and before this? No, I could do a lot better. So that’s kind of a ‘on me’ thing. So you just try to keep learning, keep getting better. You see your teammates winning and you want to be there just to prove that. You want to be part of the part of the show. You want to be in that group. You want to be in that winning group, and hopefully we can figure things out.”.

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “I never really looked at that, though. They’ve been with those guys for a while, and they’re great race car drivers, and they do a good job of figuring out but I, I don’t know, I want to get to where they are now. I know the experience helps. But, man, I just want to do well and I compare myself to those guys a lot and I feel like I don’t meet expectations. So that part stinks. Personally, you want to do well, but at the same time you just try and do the best you can learning and figuring out what you need to do to get to that level. You know, I think Brad and Joey are two of the best guys out here, smartest guys really great race car drivers and do a great job of figuring it out. And you just try to compare yourself to those guys. It’s hard compared to them because they’re so good and past champions. But I think if you try to meet that bar, and you kind of push yourself to be there, hopefully one day you do achieve that goal and get to where those guys are at.”

CAN YOU COMMENT ON MATT DIBENEDETTO GOING TO THE WOOD BROTHERS NEXT YEAR? “I think he’s going to work there very, very well. I was really excited when I heard the news this past weekend. I was really happy for Matt. I’ve always enjoyed Matt. I think he does a really good job. And it was a shame about what happened with the 95 deal with him not being there. But as soon as he announced that he wasn’t going to be there. I was like, well, maybe we can get him. I didn’t know that Paul was going to retire this year or anything like that. But I thought it would be cool to kind of try to get him in our organization somehow and I’m happy it worked out.I I think he will do really good for those guys. He will enjoy the Wood Brothers. I was texting with him a little bit and the Woods will definitely welcome him very well. Hopefully Paul finishes out of the year really well. I want Paul to get their hundredth win. That’d be pretty cool.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “Yeah, definitely, A little bit. It just shows you how critical it is. We went from the Talladega race where we ran out of gas we were going to restart fifth and ended up running out of gas and finished 25th. If we could have gotten four spots better we would have been fine. You dwell on those things but you can’t change those things. It kind of irks you but there is nothing you can do about it now.”

QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “You have confidence in your team. There’s not one part of my mind where if they say go for it and I know we’re close on gas or something let’s say hypothetically and they say go for it, I’m not going to say, ‘Oh no I think I’m too close on gas.’ I trust them that we can make it things like that you know, there’s never a thought where you’re second guessing your team that’s not a good thing.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE FINISH AT THE ROVAL LAST YEAR? “We got the third there on that restart and kind of put ourselves in a good spot. Honestly, those guys were kind of too far ahead of me For me to kind of run them down in two laps or whatever by the time I got to third. So we were into the next round already, you know, we were good on points. Then I saw them really close off the chicane there and I didn’t think anything of it and we went down in there and saw a bunch of smoke and them boys got into each other and we just kind of snuck away through it. That one just kind of worked out for us. I have never won a race like that in anything. Not in any kind of car I have ever driven so I didn’t really know how to react to it. You don’t feel undeserving of it but you are kinda like, ‘Did we really deserve to win the race?’ You look back on it and we put ourselves in position to capitalize on an opportunity. It is the way it worked out for us that day. They rarely work out in your favor. I feel like a lot more of them don’t go in your favor so you get those lucky moments sometimes. A chaotic race for sure.”

WHEN DID YOU REALIZE THAT YOU JUST GOT A GIFT THERE? “When I crossed the line. I saw them kind of spinning and I about wrecked myself trying to get to the last chicane before they got going again. You don’t know how fast those guys are going to get back going again and if they are. I crossed the line and it kind of worked out for us. I couldn’t help but just smile and laugh just because it was unexpected. You didn’t expect anything like that to happen. Those are definitely interesting ones for sure.”

WHAT ARE SOME POSITIVES YOU ARE CARRYING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “We have speed in our cars. We took the lead away from Kevin at Indy on the restart and drove away from him by two-seconds and they got fortunate on that caution coming out when it did when they pitted and it gave the lead back to him and he was able to control the restarts. I was surprised he gave me the top when I took the lead away from him. He didn’t take the bottom again. If you control those starts you can pin that guy down. It was hard to take it back. I needed a really good push. It gave us a lot of condence of taking the lead away from him, driving off from him and I think our cars do have speed, it is just that things have to work out for us. I think the best thing we can do is just do our jobs as best we can and not have any mistakes on all sides. On my side, on the pit stop side and just see where we end up.”

HOW HAS RESTART SKILL CHANGED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THEM THIS YEAR? “This year I think they are more important for a few reasons with the high drag stuff and lower horsepower making it harder to get up to speed. YOu really need that push behind you. It is harder to spin the tires now at the 1.5 mile tracks so you can accelerate hard and it is easier for that guy behind you go get to your bumper and push you out. That part is really important and there is a big emphasis on it. You see a lot of guys playing games on restarts or laying back and trying to get hooked up. That is a skill. YOu have to be able to time it well. If you are the pusher, you have to be able to time his run, when you think he is going to take off and be coming at him when he does go. It has gotten more important this year with how the cars are. It is a lot more important to get a good restart and push.”

HOW DO YOU GET BETTER AT THAT? “Experience. Personal experience. A lot of it is just reaction. It is anticipating and reacting to going with that guy. You kind of can get better at it by playing around with how you are creeping toward that guys bumper getting into the zone and sometimes you just time it wrong. Sometimes they go at a spot where you weren’t expecting them to and you just miss it and time it wrong and don’t get to their bumper. That is kind of the thing. I have always thought I have been pretty decent at the pushing side of it and reacting really quick to when they get on the gas and you get on the gas. It is a blink of an eye that you have to get on the gas with them. It is hard to anticipate sometimes.”

IS IT EASIER OR HARDER IF YOU ARE BEHIND THE LEADER AND ANTICIPATING WHEN THEY WILL GO? “I think it is easier to push – it kind of depends I guess on how good of a start that guy behind you gets. It is almost easier to push the second place guy because they usually don’t get as good of a launch because they are a little behind that guy so they are a little slower and you are coming at them. Let’s say third and fourth are coming at the front row at equal speeds. So the leader is always going to accelerate a little harder before because he is controlling it. YOu are keying off the leader and coming at equal speeds so you will get to that second place guy faster. You are always going to be just a little bit behind.”